Split (1)

train · ~719k rows (showing the first 160k)

ucid stringlengths 13 16	doc_number int64 3.02k 1.99B	country stringclasses 2 values	kind stringclasses 6 values	lang stringclasses 4 values	date float64 19.8M 20.1M	application_date int64 1.98k 1.99k	date_produced float64 20.1M 20.1M	status stringclasses 1 value	main_code stringlengths 4 7	further_codes stringlengths 4 176 ⌀	ipcr_codes stringlengths 5 439 ⌀	ecla_codes stringlengths 6 2.19k ⌀	title stringlengths 3 460	abstract stringlengths 25 14.9k ⌀	description stringlengths 54 959k ⌀	claims stringlengths 7 237k ⌀	applicants stringlengths 3 514 ⌀	inventors stringlengths 4 1.47k ⌀
EP-0488809-B1	488,809	EP	B1	EN	19,960,417	1,992	20,100,220	new	B66B5	F16D55, F16D59	F16D55, B66B5, F16D65, B61H7, B66B1, B60T13, F16D59	B61H 7/08, F16D 65/14D6D4, F16D 59/02, F16D 55/224B, B66B 5/18, B60T 13/74D	Electromagnetic elevator brake	An elevator brake is provided with a redundant means to release the brake to allow an elevator cab to move when a primary releasing manes, such as a coil (13), does not release when desired. When the coil is deenergized or defective, an auxiliary coil (17) is used to release the brake and enable the cab to move.	This invention relates to elevators and more particularly to an electromagnetic brake therefor. Elevators typically use electromagnetic brakes to stop the elevator car. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a typical electromagnetic brake for an elevator is shown. The brake has a pair of arms 2a and 2b which pivot via lugs 3 about an axle 4. Brake pads 7 in shoes 6 are attached to one end of arms 2a and 2b by means of bolts 5. As the brake arms pivot about the axle, the arms move the brake pads into contact with stationary rail 1 to stop the elevator car or out of contact with the rail to release the car for movement. A rod 9a extends from an other end of arm 2a toward arm 2b. A rod 9b extends from an other end of arm 2b and is received axially within a cavity 10 in the end of rod 9a. Rods 9a, 9b are each carried by a pin 16 mounted in a forked end 8 of the respective arm 2a, 2b. A ferromagnetic body 11a is attached to the rod 9a. Similarly, a ferromagnetic body 11b is attached to the rod 9b. A spring 12 is disposed about the rods 9a and 9b within recess 23 and acts to bias the ferromagnetic bodies 11a and 11b apart. A coil 13 is disposed within a circumferential groove 19 within the ferromagnetic body 11b. The coil is connected to a conventional power source (not shown) via an electrical line 15. The electromagnetic brake is attached to the elevator cab, as is known in the art. With this type of electromagnetic brake, when the coil is not energized, the spring urges the brake arms to pivot about the axle 4 thereby forcing the brake pads 7 into contact with the rail. The elevator cab is then effectively stopped from movement. When the coil 13 is excited, the ferromagnetic bodies are attracted to each other, in opposition to the force of the spring, thereby releasing the brake pads from the rail. If the coil 13 is defective or the power source is disconnected, the ferromagnetic bodies will not overcome the spring force to urge the brake pads out of contact with the rail. Since the spring force keeps the brake pads in contact with the rail, the cab may not be easily moved and elevator passengers may be in the cab for an unacceptable time period. As a result, a new type of electromagnetic brake is required. It is an object of the invention to readily remove passengers from an elevator cab in which a brake or braking system is in need of repair. It is a further object of the invention to more readily repair a defective electromagnetic brake or braking system. According to the invention, there is provided an elevator electromagnetic brake for engaging a fixed surface, said brake comprising: a pair of brake arms, said brake arms pivoting about an axis, a braking surface attaching to one end portion of each arm, and a body portion attaching to a second end portion of each arm, a means for urging said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces into engagement with said fixed surface, a primary electromagnet disposed within one of said body portions for urging said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces out of engagement with said fixed surface against a force of said urging means, wherein the elevator electromagnetic brake further comprises: a secondary electromagnet disposed within one of said body portions for urging said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces out of engagement with said fixed surface against a force of said urging means if said primary electromagnet does not urge said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces out of engagement with said fixed surface as desired. According to the invention, an elevator brake is provided with a redundant means to release the brake to allow an elevator cab to move when a primary releasing means does not release when desired. Normally, an elevator electromagnetic brake utilizes a main coil for releasing a brake from an elevator rail. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, when the main coil is not functioning as desired, an auxiliary coil is used to release the brake from the rails to enable the cab to move to a location suitable for making repairs. When the repairs are effectuated, control of the brake release is switched back to the main coil. Since it is possible to disengage the brake even if the main coil is disconnected, it is possible to make repairs after the elevator cab has been moved to the desired location and the people inside have left the cab. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of certain embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Brief description of the drawingsFigure 1 is a plan view of an electromagnetic brake, partially cut away, utilized in the prior art; Figure 2 is a side view of the prior art brake of Fig. 1; Figure 3 shows a first embodiment of an electromagnetic brake employing the concepts of the invention; Figure 4 shows a second embodiment of an electromagnetic brake employing the concepts of the invention; and Figure 5 shows a third embodiment of an electromagnetic brake employing the concepts of the invention. Referring to Figures 3-5, three embodiments of an auxiliary coil for use with the prior art electromagnet of Figures 1 and 2 are shown. Figure 3 shows a ferromagnetic body 11b having a main coil 13 installed in a circumferential groove 19 therein. A ring-shaped auxiliary or secondary coil 17 is installed within the circumferential groove atop the main or primary coil 13. Figure 4 shows the auxiliary coil 17 installed within a radially inward portion of the circumferential groove relative to the main coil 13. Figure 5 shows the auxiliary coil 17 installed in a circumferential groove 21 in the magnet body 11a. Referring to Figures 1 and 3-5, when the main coil 13 is disconnected from a power source (not shown), or is defective, the force of spring 12 pivots arms 2a, 2b to apply the brake pads 7 to the rail 1, as is known in the prior art. The braking force on the rail causes the elevator cab to stop. A switch (not shown) is utilized to supply power to the auxiliary coil 17. The auxiliary coil creates a field which attracts the ferromagnetic bodies into contact (compressing the spring 12) thereby urging the arms to rotate about the axle 4 and release the brake pads from the rail. The cab is then free to move to a position where the passengers may disembark and where the elevator may be expeditiously serviced. Since the coils installed in the magnet bodies are separated into a main and auxiliary coil, if the main coil is disconnected or defective, the brake can be disengaged by having a controller, such as a computer (not shown) send current to the auxiliary coil. Thus, the elevator can be moved to a desired location minimizing the probability that people will be trapped within the cab. While the present invention has been illustrated and described with respect to particularly preferred embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various other changes, omissions, and additions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognise that this brake may also be utilized upon an elevator counterweight.	An elevator electromagnetic brake for engaging a fixed surface (1), said brake comprising: a pair of brake arms (2a, 2b), said brake arms pivoting about an axis (4), a braking surface (7) attaching to one end portion of each arm, and a body portion (11a, 11b) attaching to a second end portion of each arm, a means (12) for urging said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces into engagement with said fixed surface, a primary electromagnet (13) disposed within one of said body portions for urging said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces out of engagement with said fixed surface against a force of said urging means, characterised in that said elevator electromagnetic brake further comprises: a secondary electromagnet (17) disposed within one of said body portions for urging said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces out of engagement with said fixed surface against a force of said urging means if said primary electromagnet does not urge said arms to pivot about said axis to urge said braking surfaces out of engagement with said fixed surface as desired. The elevator electromagnetic brake of claim 1, wherein said secondary electromagnet is arranged in a same one (11b) of said body portions as said primary electromagnet, said secondary electromagnet being disposed concentrically within a diameter of said primary electromagnet. The elevator electromagnetic brake of claim 1, wherein said secondary electromagnet is arranged in a same one (11b) of said body portions as said primary electromagnet, said secondary electromagnet being disposed between said primary electromagnet and the other of said body portions. The elevator electromagnetic brake of claim 1, wherein said secondary electromagnet is arranged in a one (11a) of said body portions and said primary electromagnet is disposed within the other (11b) of said body portions. The elevator electromagnetic brake of any preceding claim, wherein said means for urging said arms comprises a spring (12).	OTIS ELEVATOR CO; OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY	KENMOCHI HISAKI; SUGANUMA MANABU; UEMATSU TOSHIHIKO; KENMOCHI, HISAKI; SUGANUMA, MANABU; UEMATSU, TOSHIHIKO
EP-0488810-B1	488,810	EP	B1	EN	19,950,405	1,992	20,100,220	new	F02F1	F02F1, F01P3	F01P3, F02F1, F02B75	F02F 1/14, R02B75:18C4, F02F 1/10S, F01P 3/02, F02F 1/16, R01P3:02	Liquid cooling and cylinder arrangement for multi-cylinder type engine	Each of a plurality of cylinder liners 1 has a cooling liquid groove 2 at its outer circumferential surface and has a flat surface 5 over an entire axial length at a part of the outer circumferential surface. These cylinder liners 1 are arranged with their flat surface 5 abutted to each other, arranged such that the cooling liquid grooves 2 at the flat surfaces 5 are coincident with each other and inserted into the bores 7 of a cylinder block 6.	This invention relates to a cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine, and more particularly a cylinder arrangement in which cooling is carried out by flowing cooling liquid in grooves formed at the outer circumferential surfaces of cylinder liners inserted into a cylinder block. It is known in the prior art to provide a cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine in which an outer circumferential surface of each of the cylinder liners is formed with a cooling liquid groove, the cylinder liner is fitted into a bore part of a cylinder block, a space is defined between an inner circumferential surface of the bore part in the cylinder block and the cooling liquid groove forms a cooling liquid flow passage. Cooling liquid is flowed at a high speed in the cooling liquid flow passage so as to cool the cylinder liner. EP-A-0356227, on which the preamble to the independent claim is based, discloses a multi-cylinder engine having cylinder liners with axial coolant passages and chamfered surfaces on the adjoining portions of the cylinder liners. With the foregoing arrangement, the cylinder block is provided with a plurality of spaced-apart bores into which the cylinder liners are inserted, and an inter-bore pitch is larger than an outer diameter of each of the cylinder liners. In recent years, an engine has been required to be formed as a small-sized and lightweight unit. There is a need to provide a cylinder arrangement which may respond to this requirement. According to the present invention there is provided a cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine comprising a plurality of cylinder liners, each having a cooling liquid groove at an outer circumferential surface and having a flat surface at a part of the outer circumferential surface and a cylinder block having bores into which said plurality of cylinder liners are inserted, wherein said plurality of cylinder liners are arranged with said flat surfaces abutting each other, such that the cooling liquid grooves at said flat surfaces are coincident with each other and inserted into the bores of said cylinder block, characterised in that each cooling liquid groove has a plurality of annular grooves communicated by a plurality of axial grooves, the sectional area of each annular groove at the location of said flat surface being smaller than that of the annular groove at other circumferential locations. Since a part of the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder liner forms a flat surface and the adjoining cylinder liners are arranged with their flat surfaces abutting each other, a pitch between the cylinder liners can be made smaller than an outer diameter of the cylinder liner. Due to this fact, the cylinder block can be made smaller in size and lighter in weight, as a result of which the engine can be made smaller in size and lighter in weight. According to the invention, the cooling liquid flowing in the cooling liquid groove formed in a circumferential direction shows a fast flow speed at the portion of the flat surface due to the fact that a sectional area of the groove at the flat surface is reduced. Accordingly, since a coefficient of heat-transfer of the cooling liquid at that location is increased, the adjoining locations of the cylinder liners are cooled more than that of other circumferential locations. Due to this fact, the circumferential location in the cylinder liner where an efficiency of thermal dispersion of the cylinder block is poor is cooled more, which may contribute to the formation of a uniform temperature in the circumferential direction of the cylinder liner. Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:- Fig. 1 is a top plan view showing a cylinder block into which cylinder liners are fitted in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section showing a part of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a development showing a part of the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder liner so as to illustrate another example of a cooling liquid groove according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of the present invention applied to a series-connected four-cylinder type engine will be described. In Figs. 1 to 4, each of the cylinder liners 1 is formed with cooling oil grooves at its outer circumferential surface. The cooling oil grooves are comprised of a plurality of annular grooves 2 formed in equal-spaced apart relation in an axial direction of the cylinder liner, a plurality of axial grooves 3 communicating the adjoining annular grooves 2 to each other and an axial discharging groove 4 communicating with the lowermost annular groove 2. Said axial grooves are arranged one by one between the adjoining annular grooves 2 and are alternately arranged along an axial direction at locations spaced apart by 180° in a circumferential direction. The aforesaid axial discharging groove 4 is arranged at a position spaced apart by 180° in a circumferential direction from the lowermost axial groove 3. A part of the outer circumferential surface of each of the cylinder liners 1 forms a flat surface 5 over an entire axial length of the liner, the adjoining cylinder liners 1 are arranged with the flat surfaces 5 abutting each other and at the same time they are arranged with the annular grooves 2 at the flat surfaces 5 coincident with each other. That is, each of the cylinder liners 1 at both ends has one flat surface 5 at a circumferential position spaced apart from the axial grooves 3 and 4 as viewed in Fig. 1. Each of the cylinder liners 1 at intermediate positions has two flat surfaces 5 at circumferential positions spaced apart from the axial grooves 3 and 4, and the two flat surfaces 5 are arranged at positions spaced apart by 180° in the circumferential direction. Then, the cylinder block 6 is provided with bores 7 into which four cylinder liners 1 abutting each other are fitted. The four cylinder liners 1 abutting each other are fitted into the bores 7, and stepped parts 9 arranged at the outer circumferences of the lower ends of the cylinder liners 1 are mounted on liner receiving portions 8 arranged to project from the inner circumferential surfaces at the lower ends of the bores 7. The aforesaid liner receiving portion 8 and the stepped part 9 are arranged at portions other than the axial discharging groove 4. Accordingly, since a pitch between the cylinder liners 1 is smaller than an outer diameter of each of the cylinder liners 1, the cylinder block 6 can be decreased in size and the engine can be made smaller and lighter in weight. Thus, the engine lubricant functioning as a cooling oil is flowed at a fast speed from an upper part toward a lower part in the cooling oil groove in the cylinder liner 1 so as to cool the cylinder liner and then the cooling oil is discharged from the axial discharging groove 4 into an oil pan (not shown). In this case, although the cooling oil flows in sequence in the annular grooves 2 from an upper part to the lower part through the axial grooves 3, the cooling oil flowing in the annular grooves 2 shows a fast flow speed at the portion of the flat surface 5 due to a reduced sectional area of the groove at the flat surface 5 (refer to Figs. 3 and 4). Accordingly, since a coefficient of heat-transfer of the cooling oil at that location is increased, the adjoining portions of the cylinder liners 1 are cooled more as compared with that of other circumferential locations. Due to this fact, the circumferential location in the cylinder liner where an efficiency of thermal dispersion of the cylinder block is poor is cooled more, with the result that the temperature in the circumferential direction in the cylinder liners 1 can be made uniform. In addition, the cooling liquid groove which can be applied in accordance with the present invention is not limited to the foregoing grooves, but other grooves can be applied. For example, there is a helical groove or one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 62-60967 previously filed by the present applicant, i.e. the cooling liquid groove has a plurality of annular grooves, these plurality of annular grooves are divided into a plurality of groups of annular grooves, each of said groups of annular grooves has two axial grooves communicating said annular grooves with each other and forming an outlet and an inlet for the cooling liquid, and said adjoining groups of annular grooves are communicated in series to each other by an outlet and an inlet for the cooling liquid. An example of the cooling liquid groove will be described with reference to Fig. 5. An outer circumferential surface of the cylinder liner 10 is formed with eighteen annular grooves 14 spaced apart in an axial direction. These annular grooves 14 can be divided into three groups of annular grooves. The three groups of annular grooves are the first group 14A of annular grooves ranging from the first annular groove 14 at the upper end of the cylinder liner to the fourth annular groove 14, the second group 14B of annular grooves ranging from the fifth annular groove 14 to the tenth annular groove 14 and the third group 14C of annular grooves ranging from the eleventh annular groove 14 to the last eighteenth annular groove 14. In the first group 14A of annular grooves, two axial grooves 15 and 16 communicating the annular grooves 14 with each other are provided at two positions spaced apart by 180° in a circumferential direction of the cylinder liner 10, in which one axial groove 15 forms a cooling liquid inlet and the other axial groove 16 forms a cooling liquid outlet. Similarly, in the second group 14B of annular grooves, two axial grooves 17 and 18 communicating the annular grooves 14 with each other are provided at the same two positions in the circumferential direction as the axial grooves 15 and 16 of the first group 14A of annular grooves, in which the axial groove 17 located at the cooling liquid outlet side of the first group 14A of annular grooves forms a cooling liquid inlet and the other axial groove 18 forms a cooling liquid outlet. Also in the third group 14C of annular grooves, two axial grooves 19 and 20 communicating the annular grooves 14 with each other are provided at the same two positions in the circumferential direction as the axial grooves 17 and 18 of the second group 14B of annular grooves in their circumferential directions, in which the axial groove 19 located at the cooling liquid outlet side of the second group 14B of annular grooves forms a cooling liquid inlet and the other axial groove 20 forms a cooling liquid outlet. The axial groove 16 forming the cooling liquid outlet of the first group 14A of annular grooves and the axial groove 17 forming the cooling liquid inlet of the second group 14B of annular grooves are communicated in series by the axial groove 21 which is located at the same circumferential location as those of said axial grooves 16 and 17 and is formed at the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder liner 10 between the fourth annular groove 14 and the fifth annular groove 14. In addition, similarly, the axial groove 18 forming the cooling liquid outlet of the second group 14B of annular grooves and the axial groove 19 forming the cooling liquid inlet of the third group 14C of annular grooves are communicated in series by the axial groove 22 which is located at the same circumferential location as those of said axial grooves 18 and 19 and is formed at the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder liner 10 between the tenth annular groove 14 and the eleventh annular groove 14. Then, the aforesaid annular grooves 14 have a rectangular shape in section and all the sectional areas are the same as each other. Flow of the cooling liquid will be described as follows. The cooling liquid flowing into the axial groove 15 forming the inlet of the first group 14A of annular grooves of the cylinder liner 10 flows through 180° to an opposite side of the liner in the-annular grooves 14 of the first group 14A of annular grooves and then the cooling liquid flows from the axial groove 16 forming the outlet of the first group 14A of annular grooves into the axial groove 17 forming the inlet of the second group 14B of annular grooves. Then, the cooling liquid flows through 180° to an opposite side in the annular grooves 14 of the second group 14B of annular grooves and flows from the axial groove 18 forming the outlet of the second group 14B of annular grooves into the axial groove 19 forming the inlet of the third group 14C of annular grooves. The cooling liquid then flows through 180° to an opposite side of the liner in the annular grooves 14 of the third group 14C of annular grooves and further flows out of the axial groove 20 forming the outlet of the third group 14C of annular grooves into the passage arranged in the cylinder block. It is of course apparent that the discharging of the cooling liquid may be carried out by forming the discharging grooves in the cylinder liner in the same manner as that of the aforesaid preferred embodiment and discharging it into an oil pan. In this case the total sectional areas of the annular grooves for the cooling liquid in the three groups 14A, 14B and 14C of annular grooves have a ratio of 2 : 3 : 4. A flow speed of the cooling liquid flowing in each of the groups 14A, 14B and 14C of annular grooves is as follows. A flow speed of the cooling liquid in the second group 14B of annular grooves is faster than that of the cooling liquid in the third group 14C of annular grooves, and a flow speed of the cooling liquid in the first group 14A of annular grooves is faster than that of the cooling liquid in the second group 14B of annular grooves. Accordingly, the coefficient of heat-transfer of the cooling liquid is increased as it goes up to the upper part of the cylinder liner 10, and as a result the cooling capability is increased from a lower-part toward an upper part and an appropriate cooling corresponding to the temperature gradient in an axial direction of the cylinder liner is carried out. Also in the case of this cooling liquid groove, it is preferably that the flat surface to be formed at a partial circumferential outer surface of the cylinder liner is arranged at:a circumferential position spaced apart from the axial groove in the same manner as that of the aforesaid preferred embodiment due to the fact that a uniform temperature can be attained in the circumferential direction. Although in the aforesaid preferred embodiment, the sectional shape of the annular groove is a rectangular one, this it not limited to a rectangular one but it may be a V-shape, a semi-circular one and there is no specific limitation. However, in order to increase a thermal transfer area, a rectangular shape in the present preferred embodiment or a square shape is preferable. In the aforesaid preferred embodiment, a plurality of annular grooves spaced-apart in an axial direction of the cylinder liner are divided into the three groups of annular grooves and a total sectional area of the annular grooves for the cooling liquid in each of the groups of annular grooves is decreased from a lower part toward an upper part. However, it is also preferable that the annular grooves may be divided into two groups of annular grooves or more than three groups of annular grooves and then a total sectional area of the annular grooves for the cooling liquid in each of the groups of annular grooves may be decreased from a lower part toward an upper part. Although in the aforesaid preferred embodiment, a plurality of annular grooves are divided into a plurality of groups of annular grooves, it is also preferable that a plurality of annular grooves may be divided into one annular groove and a plurality of groups of annular grooves, said one annular groove is the first annular groove as counted from an upper end of the cylinder liner, each of said groups of annular grooves has two axial grooves communicating said annular grooves with each other and forming an outlet and an inlet for the cooling liquid, said adjoining groups of annular grooves are communicated in series to each other by an outlet and an inlet for the cooling liquid, a total sectional area of the annular grooves for the cooling liquid in each of said groups of annular grooves is decreased from a lower part toward an upper part in an axial direction of the cylinder liner, and said one annular groove is communicated with the inlet for the cooling liquid in said adjoining group of annular grooves. It is to be understood of course that the cooling liquid is not limited to the cooling oil, but other cooling water or the like can be used. Thus, according to at least preferred embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a cylinder for a multi-cylinder type engine in which an inter-bore pitch (a pitch between the cylinder liners) can be made smaller than an outer diameter of the cylinder liner and the cylinder block can be made smaller in size and lighter in weight.	A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder-type engine comprising a plurality of cylinder liners (1; 10), each having a cooling liquid groove (2,3; 14,15, 16,17,18,19,20,21,22) at an outer circumferential surface and having a flat surface (5) at a part of the outer circumferential surface, and a cylinder block (6) having bores (7) into which said plurality of cylinder liners are inserted, wherein said plurality of cylinder liners are arranged with said flat surfaces abutting each other such that the cooling liquid grooves at said flat surfaces are coincident with each other and inserted into the bores of said cylinder block, characterised in that each cooling liquid groove has a plurality of annular grooves (2;14) communicated by a plurality of axial grooves (3;15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22), the sectional area of each annular groove at the location of said flat surface being smaller than that of the annular groove at other circumferential locations. A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine according to Claim 1 in which said plurality of cylinder liners (1; 10) are arranged in series, each of said cylinder liners at both ends of the series having one said flat surface (5) at its outer circumferential surface, and an intermediate cylinder liner having two said flat surfaces (5) at its outer circumferential surface, the two flat surfaces of said intermediate cylinder liner being arranged at positions spaced apart by 180° in a circumferential direction. A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine according to Claim 1 or 2, in which said axial grooves (3) are arranged one by one between the adjoining annular grooves (2) and are alternately arranged along an axial direction at locations spaced apart by 180° in a circumferential direction. A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine according to Claim 1 or 2 in which said plurality of annular grooves are divided into a plurality of groups (14A,14B,14C) of annular grooves, each of said groups of annular grooves having two of said axial grooves (15,16,17,18,19,20) communicating said annular grooves with each other and forming an outlet and an inlet for the cooling liquid, said outlet (16,18,20) communicating in series with the inlet (15,17,19) in adjoining groups of annular grooves. A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine according to Claim 4 in which the total sectional area of said annular grooves for said cooling liquid in each of said groups (14A,14B,14C) of annular grooves is decreased from a lower part toward an upper part in an axial direction of said cylinder liner (10). A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine according to Claim 1 or 2 in which said plurality of annular grooves are divided into one annular groove and a plurality of groups of annular grooves, said one annular groove being the first annular groove as counted from an upper end of the cylinder liner, each of said groups of annular grooves having two of said axial grooves communicating said annular grooves with each other and forming an outlet and an inlet for the cooling liquid, said outlet communicating in series with the inlet in said adjoining groups of annular grooves, and said one annular groove communicating with the inlet for the cooling liquid in said adjoining group of annular grooves. A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder type engine according to Claim 6 in which the total sectional area of said annular grooves for the cooling liquid in each of said groups of annular grooves is decreased from a lower part toward an upper part in an axial direction of the cylinder liner. A cylinder arrangement for a multi-cylinder-type engine according to any preceding Claim in which said flat surface (5) is arranged at a circumferential position spaced apart from said axial grooves (3; 15,16, 17,18,19,20).	TEIKOKU PISTON RING CO LTD; TEIKOKU PISTON RING CO. LTD.	HAMA FUJIO; HARASHINA KENICHI; HAMA, FUJIO; HARASHINA, KENICHI
EP-0488811-B1	488,811	EP	B1	EN	19,951,025	1,992	20,100,220	new	G11B5	G11B20, G11B5	G11B5, H03G5	H03G 5/10, G11B 5/008T4R, G11B 5/09, G11B 5/035	Magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus	In a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, a reproduced output (V2) obtained from a magnetic tape (3) by means of a rotary head (2) mounted within a drum is current-amplified (6), and a low frequency component thereof is suppressed (11). The reproduced output is thereafter voltage-amplified (12A) and then transmitted outside of the drum via a rotary transformer (12B). The suppression of the low frequency component is compensated by de-emphasis means (12C) arranged outside of the drum. A number of equalising circuits (15A to 15F) may receive an output of the de-emphasis means (12C), the equalising circuits being so arranged as to equalise a higher frequency component of the output in an order of frequencies of the equalising circuits that increases in accordance with the proximity of the equalising circuits to a terminating resistance (R10).	This invention relates to magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to such an apparatus arranged for reproducing an information signal recorded on a magnetic tape by scanning the magnetic tape with a rotary head by a helical scan method. It has been proposed to use a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus as a data recording and reproducing apparatus for recording information data with a high density and reproducing the data by means of a digital video tape recorder employing the helical scan method. In such a data recording and reproducing apparatus, the information data is coded by, for example, an 8-9 modulation method. A signal to be recorded, obtained as a consequence of such coding, is equalised by an equalising circuit and at the same time amplified by a recording amplifier circuit. The information data is then supplied to a rotary head mounted on a drum. The drum has wound thereon a magnetic tape to permit its running in an oblique direction. The rotary head thus scans the magnetic tape by the helical scan method. In such a data recording and reproducing apparatus, the information data is typically recorded at a data rate of 88 Mbps (providing a maximum recording frequency of 44 MHz). A magnetising pattern which is reversed at the shortest interval of 0.9 micrometres is formed on a recording track of the magnetic tape. In this data recording and reproducing apparatus, the speed of rotation of the rotary head and the running speed of the magnetic tape are controlled. The relative speed between the rotary head and the magnetic tape in the direction of the recording tracks is capable of being variably controlled to have a speed factor of 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 or 1/24. This results in the recorded information data having a data rate of 88, 44, 11, 5.50 or 3.76 Mbps, i.e., the recorded signal having a maximum recording frequency of 44, 22, 11, 5.50, 2.50 or 1.84 Mhz. Thus, for example, in the case of information data recorded as a record signal having the maximum recording frequency of 44 Mhz and the data rate of 88 Mbps, the relative speed between the magnetic tape and the rotary head in the recording track direction can be variable-controlled to a speed factor of 2. The information data is thus readable as information data having the data rate of 44 Mbps, i.e., the maximum recording frequency of 22 MHz. Low speed reproduction at a speed factor of 1/2 is thus attainable. As another example, in the case of information data recorded as a record signal having the data rate of 22 Mbps and the maximum recording frequency of 11 MHz, the relative speed can be variable-controlled to a speed factor of 1/1. The information data is readable as a piece of information data having the data rate of 88 Mbps, namely the maximum recording frequency of 44 MHz. As a result, high speed reproduction is thereby attainable at 4 times the speed. As a matter of fact, in the case of the data recording and reproducing apparatus, variable-speed recording may, as described above, be effected at a speed of 1/1 to 1/24. Therefore, in the case of, for example, observation data which varies slowly, as in the case of astronomical observation, the data can be recorded at a data rate as slow as 3.67 Mbps and reproduced at a data rate as high as 88 Mbps. The data can thereby be efficiently analysed in a short time by using a computer system. In contrast with this, in the case of measurement data or observation data which varies quickly, the data can be recorded at a data rate of as high as 88 Mbps and reproduced at a data rate as slow as 3.67 Mbps. The data can be surely analysed at a low speed. With this arrangement, the data recording apparatus is usable as a buffer for frequency conversion of information data containing a large amount of information. In a reproducing system of the thus-constructed data recording and reproducing apparatus, an electromotive force e induced in the rotary head during a reproducing process exhibits a differential characteristicexpressed by the equation: e = -N.dø/dt where N is the output of the rotary head. Supposing that the frequency characteristic of the magnetic tape is flat, the electromotive force e exhibits a rising characteristic of 6dB per octave. The signal to noise (S/N) ratio of the reproduced output transmitted from a preamplifier increasingly deteriorates with reduced frequency on the assumption that this output is amplified by a preamplifier disposed within the drum and comprising a voltage type amplifier circuit having a given noise level. Note that actually, as illustrated in Figure 1A of the accompanying drawings, in the reproducing system of such a data recording and reproducing apparatus 1, the information data recorded on a magnetic tape 3 is read by helical scanning of the magnetic tape 3 with a rotary head 2 having an electromotive force eH. A head output voltage V0 obtained as a consequence of this is amplified by an preamplifier 4, which is a voltage type amplifier circuit, and then transmitted as a reproduced output V1. Where a preamplifier 4 which is a voltage type amplifier circuit is employed in the reproducing system of the data recording and reproducing apparatus for performing the variable-speed recording and reproducing processes in the manner discussed above, the C/N ratio of the reproduced output V1 transmitted by the preamplifier 4 assumes a characteristic as shown in Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings. More specifically, it is presumed that when the C/N ratio for the shortest recording wavelength is set to 40 dB with a frequency band of a measurement object being 100 KHz at, e.g., the fastest relative speed, i.e. a 1/1 times speed factor, the C/N ratio deteriorates by 6 dB each time that the relative speed is slowed down in the speed factor sequence of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/24. Especially at the 1/16 and 1/24 speed factors, the reproduced output V1 cannot be obtained. Therefore, in the data recording and reproducing apparatus 1 arranged to attain the variable-speed recording and reproducing processes at all the relative speeds, it is not feasible to use a preamplifier 4 which is a voltage type amplifier circuit. For this reason, in the data recording and reproducing apparatus for performing the variable-speed recording and reproducing processes, use of a preamplifier which is a current type amplifier circuit with an input impedance approximately equal to zero can be regarded as advantageous in terms of C/N ratio. Namely, as shown in Figure 1B of the accompanying drawings, in the reproducing system of a data recording and reproducing apparatus 5, information data recorded on the magnetic tape 3 is read by the rotary head 2 having the electromotive force eH. The resulting head output current I1 is amplified by a preamplifier 6 which is a current type amplifier circuit and then transmitted as a reproduced output V2. In this case, the electromotive force eH of the rotary head 2 exhibits a rising characteristic of 6dB per octave. Correspondingly, the impedance Z of the rotary head 2 exhibits a rising characteristic of 6dB per octave as expressed by the equation: Z = WL Consequently, if the input impedance of the preamplifier 6 is set to almost zero, the frequency characteristic of the input current becomes substantially flat. As a result, the C/N ratio does not vary substantially in dependence on the frequency. Incidentally, the amplification characteristic of the preamplifier 6 itself, which is a current type amplifier circuit, has a 6dB per octave rising characteristic. This, as a matter of fact, results in a noise characteristic TN as illustrated in Figure 3A of the accompanying drawings, due to input impedance noise and the like. A lower input impedance is advantageous in terms of noise caused by the preamplifier 6 itself. Hence, this is more advantageous in terms of the C/N ratio than the preamplifier 4 which is a voltage type amplifier circuit. In the actual magnetic recording and reproducing operations, however, a magnetic conversion characteristic of the rotary head 2 exerts an influence. For this reason, as illustrated in Figure 3B of the accompanying drawings, the amplitude of a reproduced output V2 of the preamplifier 6 has a characteristic that increases in a long wavelength region. Therefore, if the S/N ratio and the dynamic range are considered, taking account of a driver of a rotary transformer from next and subsequent stages of the preamplifier 6 within the drum, and when trying to secure an upper noise limit of 56 dB of the preamplifier 6 as well as a signal level of the next and subsequent stages with the noise N1 of the preamplifier 6 being set to 100 microvolts, the signal level required as the reproduced output V2 of the shortest wavelength (wavelength of 0.9 micrometres ) is approximately 63 millivolts. When the wavelength obtains a head output of 18 micrometres from the rotary head 2 in such a state, the reproduced output V2 of the preamplifier 6 becomes approximately equal to 2 volts. As a matter of fact, however, it is difficult to drive a signal as high as 2 volts in terms of the current capacity of the preamplifier 6 mounted within the drum and the electric power capacity of an integrated circuit. Therefore, when using a preamplifier 6 which is a current type amplifier circuit for reasons of S/N ratio, a problem arises in that the dynamic ranges of the amplifiers of the next and subsequent stages cannot be secured, particularly with respect to the low frequency component. The present invention, which has been devised in the light of the foregoing points and is intended to solve or at least alleviate the above-mentioned problems en bloc, seeks to provide a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus having a drum incorporating a reproducing amplification means having a good S/N ratio and a large dynamic range. In a thus-constructed data recording and reproducing apparatus, the frequency band of a recording signal changes in response to the maximum recording frequencies of 44 to 1.84 MHz by virtue of a change of the data rate of recorded information data as described above. Therefore, it is necessary to equalise the signal with an equalising characteristic corresponding to the frequency of the recorded signal, in order to form a certain magnetised pattern having compatibility with the data rate of the data recorded on the magnetic tape. In view of this, a data recording and reproducing apparatus as described above has a plurality of equalising circuits having equalising characteristics corresponding to the frequencies of the recorded signal. The equalising circuits are selectively used by means of a branch circuit 21 shown in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings. In the branch circuit 21, a reproduced output is applied to a transmission line, via an input buffer 22 and an input resistance RI, the transmission line including connection nodes a to c to which respective input selection switches 23, 24 and 25, each comprising an analogue switch, are respectively connected. The transmission line is terminated by one end of a terminating resistance RO whose other end is connected to ground. The input selection switches 23, 24 and 25 are controlled to be selectively turned on so that record signals SA, SB and SC sent out from the output terminals of the switches 23, 24 or 25 are inputted to equalisers (not shown) which have equalising characteristics that are different from each other. Assuming that T is a delay time induced from every line connected among the series-connected connection nodes, the signals SA, SB and SC sent out from the input selection switches 23, 24 and 25 can be expressed, respectively, by the following equations: SA = EejωtSB = Eejω(t+T)SC = Ee jω(t+2T)Therefore, the problem arises that if there is mismatching between the line and the terminating resistance RO, the signals SA, SB and SC are, respectively, subjected to distortion as expressed by the following equations: SA = Eejωt + kEe jω(t+4T)SB = Eejω(t+T) + kEe jω(t+2T)SC = Ee jω(t+2T)According to the invention there is provided a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus comprising: a rotary head mounted on a drum on which a magnetic tape can be wound so as to reproduce an information signal recorded on the magnetic tape by helical scanning of the tape; a current amplification means for current amplifying a reproduced output obtained from the rotary head to produce a first reproduced signal, the current amplification means being disposed near the rotary head and inside of the drum; a lower frequency band suppression means for suppressing a lower frequency band component of the first reproduced signal to produce a second reproduced signal; a voltage amplification means for voltage amplifying the second reproduced signal to produce a third reproduced signal; a rotary transformer rotatable together with the rotary head, the transformer having a primary winding for receiving the third reproduced signal and a secondary winding for emitting the third reproduced signal; and a lower frequency band emphasis means for compensating said lower frequency band component suppression, effected by the lower frequency band suppression means, in the third reproduced signal emitted by the rotary transformer, the lower frequency band emphasis means being disposed outside of the drum. A preferred embodiment of the invention described in detail below provides a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus in which reproduced outputs are commonly inputted to a plurality of equalising circuits connected in cascade without (or at least with reduced) distortion of amplitude caused by reflection. In the preferred magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus, a plurality of equalising circuits (15A to 15F) is provided to effect predetermined signal processing. The equalising circuits (15A to 15F) are connected in cascade to have commonly inputted thereto a reproduced output (V12). The equalising circuits (15A to 15F) are so arranged that, in order of their proximity to a terminating resistance (R10), they process a reproduced output (V12) having a higher frequency. The invention will now be further described, by way of illustrative and non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like parts are designated by like reference signs throughout, and in which: Figures 1A and 1B are circuit diagrams of previously proposed data recording and reproducing apparatuses; Figures 2, 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams used for explaining frequency characteristics of the previously proposed apparatuses; Figure 4 is a circuit diagram of a previously proposed branch circuit; Figures 5A and 5B are circuit diagrams of a data recording and reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention; and Figures 6A to 6D are characteristic curves used for explaining the operation of the apparatus embodying the invention. Figures 5A and 5B, in which elements corresponding to elements shown in Figures 1 to 4 are designated by the same symbols, depict a data recording and reproducing apparatus 10 embodying the invention. A rotary head 2 disposed in the interior of a rotary drum reads (reproduces) the content of a magnetic tape 3. A head output current I1 obtained as a result of this is inputted to a preamplifier 6 disposed near the head 2 and inside of the drum. The preamplifier 6, which comprises a current type amplifier circuit, amplifies the head output current I1 and transmits the amplified current as a first reproduced output V2 to an emphasis circuit 11. The emphasis circuit 11 is constructed as an RC differentiating circuit including resistances R1, R2 and a capacitor C1. The emphasis circuit 11 sunpresses a low frequency component of the first reproduced output V2 and inputs it as a second reproduced output V10 to a driver 12A which comprises a voltage type amplifier circuit. The driver 12A amplifies the second reproduced output V10 inputted thereto and supplies it as a third reproduced output V11 to a primary winding of a rotary transformer 12B. The transformer 12B then transmits the output V11 to a de-emphasis circuit 12C disposed outside of the drum via a secondary winding thereof. The de-emphasis circuit 12C is constructed as an RC integrating circuit including resistances R3, R4 and a capacitor C2. The deemphasis circuit 12C emphasises a low frequency component of the third reproduced output V11 and transmits it as a fourth reproduced output V12 to a subsequent reproducing signal processing circuit. The de-emphasis circuit 12C has a characteristic such as to emphasise the low frequency component suppressed by the emphasis circuit 11, thereby compensating for the low frequency component suppression effected by the emphasis circuit 11. As mentioned above, in the data recording and reproducing device 10 in accordance with this embodiment the preamplifier 6 amplifies the level of the head output current I1 sufficiently to obtain the first reproduced output V2. A low frequency component of the reproduced output which may cause a problem in terms of noise level in the driver 12A is suppressed sufficiently and then inputted to the driver 12A. Thus, the preamplifier 6 within the drum is capable of securing an adequate S/N ratio and dynamic range. The first reproduced output V2 obtained from the preamplifier 6, the magnetic conversion characteristic of the magnetic tape 3 and of the rotary head 2, noise TN corresponding to the preamplifier 6 and noise N1 of the driver 12A have, as explained above, frequency characteristics as shown in Figure 6A. The emphasis circuit 11, on the other hand is, as shown in Figure 6B, set to have a suppression characteristic EN such as to depress the low frequency component in which the recording wavelength is 18 micrometres or more by 12 dB. Thus, the second reproduced output V10 inputted to the driver 12A, as well as the noise TN contained in the second reproduced output V10, as shown in Figure 6C, exhibit frequency characteristics such that the low frequency component of the first reproduced output V2 and the low frequency component of the noise TN associated with the preamplifier 6 are suppressed. The noise level of the low frequency component which causes the problem in the driver 12A is thereby sufficiently suppressed. As a result of this, it is possible to obtain a third reproduced output V11 in which the dynamic range is secured by effecting sufficient amplification with a good S/N ratio in regard to the second reproduced output V10 in the driver 12A. This reproduced output is transmitted via the rotary transformer 12B to the de-emphasis circuit 12C. The de-emphasis circuit 12C is, as illustrated in Figure 6D, set to have an emphasis characteristic DE such as to raise the low frequency component having a recording wavelength of 18 micrometres or more by 12 dB with respect to the suppressed characteristic EN of the emphasis circuit 11. A power source voltage and electric power after the rotary transformer 12B are thereby sufficiently secured. In this state, the frequency characteristic of the third reproduced output V11 reverts to the frequency characteristic of the original first reproduced output V2. In addition, the fourth reproduced input V12 is, as shown in Figure 5B, supplied to equalising circuits 15A to 15F via an input buffer circuit 13. The reproduced input V12 is supplied via the input buffer circuit 13 to one end of each of input selection switches 14A, 14B, 14C, 14E and 14F which comprise analogue switches and are connected to respective ones of a series of connection nodes a to f. The one node a forming a terminated end of the series of nodes is connected to ground via an input side terminating resistance R10. One of the input selection switches 14A to 14F is selectively on-controlled so that signals outputted from the other ends of the switches 14A to 14F are inputted to respective corresponding equalising circuits 15A, 15B, 15C, 15D, 15E and 15F. If a mismatch is for example induced between the connecting nodes and the terminating resistance R10, the nearer a node is to the terminating resistance R10 the smaller is the influence on amplitude distortion by reflection, and the further the node is from the terminating resistance the larger is the influence, as is clearly represented by Equations (6) to (8) above. Therefore, in this embodiment, the equalising circuits 15A to 15F sequentially connected to the series of connecting nodes are respectively selected so as to have equalising characteristics corresponding to maximum recording frequencies of 44 MHz, 44/22 (=22) MHz, 44/4 (=11) MHz, 44/8 (=5.50) mHz, 44/16 (=2.25) MHz and 44/24 (=1.84) MHz in their order of proximity (nearness) to the terminating resistance R10. In this way, the influence of reflection on amplitude distortion can be reduced. In practice, the equalising circuits 15A to 15F can be arranged on a printed circuit board with the circuit patterns in the order of proximity described above. As a result, the components of the signal are respectively equalised in the equalising circuits having the maximum recording frequencies of 44 to 1.84 MHz and then supplied to an output buffer 17 via output selection switches 16A to 16F each comprising an analogue switch and one end of an outside terminating resistance R11 which is connected to ground at its other end. Interlocking with the input selection switches 14A to 14F, one of the output selection switches 16A to 16F is on-controlled so that a record signal S1 outputted from the output buffer 17 is equalised with an equalising characteristic corresponding to the maximum recording frequency of 44 to 1.84 MHz. By virtue of the construction as described above, on inputting the reproduced output V12 through the equalising circuits 15A to 15F connected in cascade, equalising circuits having equalising characteristics for such maximum recording frequencies that are of higher frequency in order of proximity to the terminating resistance R10 are connected. It is thus possible to realise a data recording and reproducing apparatus 10 in which induction of amplitude distortion by reflection is avoidable. Based on the construction described above, the preamplifier 6 sufficiently amplifies the level of the head output current I1 so as thereby to obtain the first reproduced output V2. The low frequency component of the output V2, which may cause the above-mentioned problem in terms of the noise level in the driver 12A, is sufficiently suppressed and then inputted to the driver 12A. The power source voltage and electric power after the rotary transformer 12B can be sufficiently secured. In this state, the frequency characteristic reverts to its original characteristic. It is thus possible to attain a data recording and reproducing apparatus 10 in which the preamplifier 6 in the drum is capable of securing a sufficient S/N ratio and dynamic range. Note that the emphasis circuit 11 and the de-emphasis circuit 12C in the above-discussed embodiment exhibit characteristics such as to depress and raise the low frequency component having the recording wavelength of 18 micrometres or more. However, the low frequency component is not limited to the recording wavelength of 18 micrometres or more, but may be set to a variety of values based on a consideration of noise characteristics. In short, the same effects as those described above are attainable by setting a characteristic such as to raise the low frequency component in the de-emphasis circuit provided outwardly of the drum by a value depressed in the emphasis circuit provided inwardly of the drum. In the embodiment described above, the invention is applied to a data recording and reproducing apparatus. But is not limited to this application. The invention is suitable more widely for application to any magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus such as, for example, a digital video tape recorder and a digital audio tape recorder for effecting recording and reproducing processes by helically scanning a magnetic tape with a rotary head mounted on a drum. Further, based on the construction given above, on inputting the reproduced output V12 through the equalising circuits 15A to 15F connected in cascade, the equalising circuits 15A to 15F having the equalising characteristics such that the maximum recording frequencies that are higher in order of proximity to the terminating resistance R10 are connected. It is thus possible to realise a data recording and reproducing apparatus 10 in which the induction of amplitude distortion by reflection is avoidable. In the embodiment described above, the switches 14A to 14F and 16A to 16F, interlocked with each other, are disposed at input stages and output stages of the equalising circuits 15A to 15F, respectively. However, this is not an essential feature of the invention. The invention may be embodied in such a manner that switches disposed at the input stage or the output stage only may be on-controlled. Further, whereas in the embodiment described above the invention is applied to a reproducing signal processing circuit of the data recording and reproducing apparatus, the present invention is also applicable to an equalising circuit of a recording signal processing circuit. Furthermore, although in the embodiment described above the invention is applied to an equalising circuit of a data recording and reproducing apparatus, the invention is more widely applicable to a frequency signal processing apparatus in which a frequency signal is commonly inputted to signal processing circuits which are cascade connected with each other and which comprise for example, a plurality of low pass filters, or a plurality of tuner means, or the like.	A magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus comprising: a rotary head (2) mounted on a drum on which a magnetic tape (3) can be wound so as to reproduce an information signal recorded on the magnetic tape (3) by helical scanning of the tape; a current amplification means (6) for current amplifying a reproduced output obtained from the rotary head (2) to produce a first reproduced signal (V2), the current amplification means (6) being disposed near the rotary head (2) and inside of the drum; a lower frequency band suppression means (11) for suppressing a lower frequency band component of the first reproduced signal (V2) to produce a second reproduced signal (V10); a voltage amplification means (12A) for voltage amplifying the second reproduced signal (V10) to produce a third reproduced signal (V11); a rotary transformer (12B) rotatable together with the rotary head (2), the transformer having a primary winding for receiving the third reproduced signal (V11) and a secondary winding for emitting the third reproduced signal (V11); and a lower frequency band emphasis means (12C) for compensating said lower frequency band component suppression, effected by the lower frequency band suppression means, in the third reproduced signal (V11) emitted by the rotary transformer (12B), the lower frequency band emphasis means (12B) being disposed outside of the drum. Apparatus according to claim 1, which is so operative that, if an information signal of any of a plurality of frequency ranges is recorded with the same recording wavelength on the magnetic tape (3), the recorded information signal is reproduced with a predetermined frequency range. Apparatus according to claim 2, comprising: a plural number of equalising means (15A to 15F) for equalising an output from the lower band emphasis means (12C), said plural number corresponding to said plurality of frequency ranges, each equalising means having an input end for receiving an output from the lower band emphasis means (12C); a terminating resistance (R10) connected to said input ends of the equalising means (15A to 15F) via a transmission line; and a plurality of switch means (14,16) for selectively connecting the plurality of equalising means (15A to 15F) to equalise an output from the lower band emphasis means (12C) which is connected to the transmission line; the plurality of equalising means (15A to 15F) being so arranged that the respective equalising means are connected to the transmission line in an order such that, the nearer the equalising means is to the terminating resistance (R10), the higher is a respective one of said frequency ranges which is associated with the respective equalising means. Apparatus according to claim 1, which is capable of reproducing a said information signal that is a digital type information signal.	SONY CORP; SONY CORPORATION	ARAI HIDEKI C O PATENTS DIVISI; KANETSUKA KEIKO C O PATENTS DI; YOSHIDA TERUYUKI C O PATENTS D; ARAI, HIDEKI, C/O PATENTS DIVISION; KANETSUKA, KEIKO, C/O PATENTS DIVISION; YOSHIDA, TERUYUKI, C/O PATENTS DIVISION
EP-0488812-B1	488,812	EP	B1	EN	19,990,609	1,992	20,100,220	new	C12N15	C07K14, G01N33, C12Q1	C07K16, C12N15, C07K14	M07K203:00, M07K209:00, C07K 16/18, M07K207:00, C07K 14/08	Non-A, non-B hepatitis related nucleic acids, antigens, antibodies and their detection reagents	Deoxyribonucleic acid, GOR gab DNA, and protein, GOR gab Protein; detection assay for antibodies related to non-A, non-B hepatitis using such protein or peptides containing 10 or more amino acids residue of such protein as antigen; monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies obtained by immunization of animals with surh protein or peptides; and detection assay for non-A, non-B hepatitis related antigen using such monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. These detection assays can be used as efficient tools for diagnosis of non-A, non-B hepatitis.	Background to the InventionThe present invention relates to novel non-A, non-B hepatitis nucleic acid, protein, antigens and antibodies, and non-A, non-B hepatitis diagnostic reagents using such materials.The causative agent of non-A, non-B hepatitis (hereinafter NANB hepatitis) afflicts human beings with such diseases as acute hepatitis, fulminant hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Tn transfusion, it presents itself as the major cause of post-transfusion hepatitis (which occurs in approximately 10% of blood recipients in Japan). The causative viruses of hepatitis A and hepatitis B have already been isolated and these diseases are held under close medical control; however, the causative agent of NANB hepatitis has been left in mystery although its presence was assumed over 10 odd years ago.In 1988, a research group at Chiron Corporation announced that they succeeded in cloning the gene of the causative agent of NANB hepatitis, and introduced an immunoassay kit for detection of antibody specific to NANB hepatitis. That diagnostic test is now being evaluated at various hospitals, research institutions and blood centers for its capability. According to the Chiron group, the causative agent is a Flavivirus because of its genomic structure, and they have named it hepatitis C virus (HCV). The data reported to date have confirmed a good correlation between HCV antibody detected by their immunoassay kit and the course of the disease of NANB hepatitis. With respect to the HCV antibody, however, there remain problems yet to be solved and elucidated: its insufficient specificity and sensitivity has been revealed in several reports, cross reaction between HCV and a large part of auto-immune hepatitis and hepatitis B, and proof that what they call HCV is the real causative agent of NANB hepatitis.Non-A, non-B hepatitis specific diagnostic assays based on detection systems using the present invention in this and preceding applications (Japanese Patent Application Nos. 028191/90 dated February 9, 1990 and 153887/90 of June 14, 1990) are capable of detecting patients not detected by the kit using Chiron's antigen (Ortho HCV Ab ELISA test: Ortho Diagnostic Systems, Tokyo, Japan).Summary of the InventionAn object of the present invention is to provide previously unidentified nucleic acid, protein and peptides required for diagnosis of NANB hepatitis. Nucleic acid and protein under this invention have the usefulness in the diagnosis of NANB hepatitis and have been provided only by this invention as totally new materials.Nucleotide sequences and amino acid sequences of nucleic acid and protein under this invention are in no way homologous to those of Chiron's HCV genome (European Patent Application No. 88310922.5.The present invention discloses GOR gab DNA and GOR gab Protein having the following nucleotide and amino acid sequences respectively; detection assay for antibodies related to NANB hepatitis using such protein or peptides (containing 10 or more amino acids residue of such protein) as antigen; monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies reactive against such protein or peptides and methods of making such antibodies by immunization of animals with such protein or peptides; methods of using such protein or peptides to prepare such antibodies; diagnostic test kits for analyzing samples for NANB antigen or for the presence of antibodies directed against NANB; methods of detecting in a sample; NANB antigen or antigens directed against NANB; and detection assay for NANB hepatitis related antigen using such monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. These detection assays can be used as efficient tools for diagnosis of NANB hepatitis.Brief Description of the DrawingFigure 1 shows nucleotide sequence of recombinant lambda-gt11 phage DNA with GOR47-1 DNA inserted at the cleavage by EcoRI (nucleotide sequence of GOR47-1 is shown in the box and that of lambda-gt11 phage DNA is shown on right and left sides of the box).Detailed Description of the InventionGOR gab DNA has the following nucleotide sequence: GOR gab Protein has the following amino acid sequence: In the nucleotide sequence of deoxyribonucleic acid, A, G, C and T stand for Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine respectively.In the amino acid sequence of protein, C, P, R, K, A, E, T, G, V, D, Q, S, N, L, I, M, F, Y, W and H stand for Cysteine, Proline, Arginine, Lysine, Alanine, Glutamic acid, Threonine, Glycine, Valine, Aspartic acid, Glutamine, Serine, Asparagine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Tryptophan and Histidine respectively.Also disclosed is a detection assay for antibodies against NANB hepatitis using as antigen the cited protein, GOR gab Protein, or peptides containing 10 or more amino acids residue of such protein; monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies obtained by immunization of animals with such protein or peptides; and a detection assay for NANB hepatitis antigen using such monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies.The following procedures were utilized:(1) Preparation of animal models for NANB hepatitis.Various animals were injected with sera from donors which were known to have caused post transfusional NANB hepatitis in humans. Among these animals, only chimpanzees responded and expressed symptoms similar to human NANB hepatitis. In case of experimental NANB hepatitis in chimpanzees, some characteristic ultrastructural changes tend to appear in the cytoplasm of liver cells before clinical symptoms appear. Using this ultrastructural change as a reliable marker, experimental passage of the NANB causative agent was undertaken from a human being to a chimpanzee, then from that chimpanzee to other chimpanzees. (2) Materials for isolation of NANB hepatitis related gene.Human serum (No. 30017) was injected into a chimpanzee (C37) and the serum from that chimpanzee in acute phase hepatitis was injected into five chimpanzees (C41, C43, C45, C46, C47). Plasma were taken form those five chimpanzees (when they were in the phase having the aforementioned ultrastructural changes) and pooled for injection to other animals including the chimpanzee CH19. Plasma taken from CH19 in acute phase of NANB hepatitis was used as the material for isolation of NANB hepatitis related gene.(3) Extraction of nucleic acids from chimpanzee plasma.About six liters of plasma from the chimpanzee (CH19) in acute phase of NANB hepatitis was centrifuged on the J6 rotor (Beckman) at 3,000 rpm for 30 minutes and the supernatant was supercentrifuged on the Ti-15 rotor (Beckman) at 30,000 rpm for 5.3 hours at 4°C. The precipitate was suspended in 120 ml of 50 mM Tris-Cl (pH 7.5)/5mM EDT to obtain virus rich fraction concentrated by approximately 50 times. After additional to 6 ml of this fraction (equivalent to 300 ml of the original plasma) of 6 ml of SDS/Proteinase K cocktail (400 mM NaCl/20mM EDTA/4% SDS/100mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0)/Proteinase K 2 mg/ml) and overnight incubation at 37°C, nucleic acids were extracted with phenol and precipitated by ethanol. (4) cDNA synthesis.Using ¼ in volume (equivalent to 75 ml of the original plasma) of the nucleic acids obtained under (3) above, cDNA was synthesized. After incubation of the template RNA at 65°C for three minutes, primary cDNA strand was synthesized in two tubes, one tube with oligo-dT12 and the other with randam-hexanucleotide as primer. This series of cDNA synthesis, including synthesis of the secondary cDNA strand and blunting of double-stranded DNA termini, was conducted according to Cubler's method using a cDNA kit (Amersham, U.K.).(5) Preparation of cDNA libraries.After protecting possible EcoRI cleavage sites in the double-stranded cDNA prepared in (4) above with EcoRI methylase, providing both ends with EcoRI linker, it was integrated into lambda-gt11 DNA at the EcoRI site and assembled with phage protein to make recombinant phage. Series of this reaction was processed using the lambda-gt11 cloning kit (Amersham, U.K.). Library sizes of cDNA primed by oligo-dT12 and by random-hexanucleotide were 1.0 x 106 PFU and 4.3 x 106 PFU respectively.(6) Screening of cDNA library.cDNA libraries prepared under (5) were searched for a NANB hepatitis related cDNA clone by immune screening using two antibodies. After infecting E. coli Y1090 with the above recombinant phage, and dispensing it in LB-Agar plate for incubation at 43°C for three hours, a filter impregnated with IPTG was placed on it and incubated at 37°C for three hours. The filter was then removed and washed with the buffer and primary antibody was added to it. A mixture of plasma of a chimpanzee infected with NANB hepatitis, a human plasma known to have caused NANB hepatitis by needle stick accident, and a plasma of chronic NANB hepatitis patient were used as the primary antibody, and was incubated at 4°C overnight. After washing with the buffer and addition of the secondary antibody (peroxidase labeled anti-human IgG), it was incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes. It was then washed with the buffer and added with the mixture of DAB, Ni, Co, H2O2 for color development. If there were fractions of NANB related gene in the cDNA libraries, and if they were fused with the open reading frame (ORF) of β-galactosidase of lambda-gt11 phage in-frame, there should be fusion protein expressed by E. coli infected with the phage and, upon its recognition by NANB related antibody, it would bind to the antibody giving a positive signal. Inventors' experiment confirmed that point.Among several clones giving a positive signals in the screening test, there was a clone named GOR47-1 described hereafter. (7) Purification of fusion protein made by NANB hepatitis related cDNA clone GOR47-1 and lambda-gt11 and β-galactosidase.E. coli Y1089 was lysogenically infected with the NANB hepatitis related gene (GOR47-1) obtained under (6) above to make lysogen. (Lysogen was prepared according to the method described in Constructing and Screening cDNA Libraries in lambda-gt11 , Thanh V. Huyuh et al., DNA Cloning Vol. 1, a practical approach, ed. by D.M. Clover, 949-78, IRL Press, Oxford, 1985.) After culturing and inducing expression of protein by IPTG, and destruction of the lysogen by means of freezing-thawing and sonication, lysate was obtained and subjected to an affinity chromatography column (Sepharose 4B Immobilized IgG Fraction Rabbit anti-β-galactosidase: Cappel, U.S.A.) to obtain the fusion protein.(8) Detection of NANB hepatitis related antibody by the fusion protein of GOR47-1 and β-galactosidase.The fusion protein obtained under (7) above was electrophoresed by SDS-PAGE and its pattern was transferred onto nitrocellulose membrane by the Western blotting technique. Sample plasma was applied onto this membrane and after incubation anti-human immune globulin labeled with peroxidase was added for detection of the antibody through color reaction.The nitrocellulose membrane with the electrophoresed pattern transferred onto it was rinsed for ten minutes, naturally dried, shredded to strips 3.5mm wide, and those strips were immersed in TBS (50mM Tris-Cl buffer pH 7.4, 150mM NaCl) containing 2% skim milk at room temperature for one hour or at 4°C overnight (blocking), then washed with TBST (TBS containing 0.05% of Tween 20). After immersion at room temperature for one hour or at 4°C overnight in the primary antibody diluted 30 times with 3% BSA (primary antigen-antibody reaction), those strips were washed with TBST, immersed at room temperature for 30 minutes in biotinylated anti-human IgG or anti-human IgM (Vectastain ABC kit: Vector Laboratories, Inc., USA) diluted with TBS (secondary antigen-antibody reaction), washed with TBST, them immersed in peroxidase labeled mixture of biotin and avidin (Vectastain ABC kit: Vector Laboratories, Inc., USA) at room temperature for 30 minutes (biotin-avidin reaction), then washed with TBST followed finally by addition of coloring reagent to examine presence of reactive substances. The coloring reagent was prepared by adding 25 mg of DAB (3,3'-Diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride: Sigma, USA) to 50 ml of 50 µM NaPO4 pH 7.4 and after dissolution of DAB, 1 ml of 5% CoCl3 -6H2O, 5%(NH4)2Ni(SO4)2 6H2O, then, 50 µl of 30% H2O2. When antibody was positive, a band of about 120K Dalton was stained dark blue.Examples of the present invention are described below; however, they in no way limit the scope or extent of the present invention. Examples(1) GOR gab DNA.The nucleotide sequence of NANB hepatitis related cDNA (GOR47-1) was determined in the following way.GOR47-1 phage obtained in the above-mentioned (6) was purified, its DNA cleaved by EcoRI to obtain cDNA, that cDNA subcloned to EcoRI site of Phagescript (Stratagene, USA) and its nucleotide sequence determined by Sanger's method. Nucleotide sequence of the linking part of the insert arm of GOR47-1 phage DNA was similarly determined by the primer derived from the phage DNA. Those sequences revealed that GOR47-1 DNA was inserted in the lambda-gt11 DNA with the nucleotide sequence and direction shown in Figure 1, and insert DNA, that is GOR47-1 DNA, was cut out from DNA47-1 phage DNA. Figure 1 shows the nucleotide sequence of GOR47-1 together with its linking part with lambda-gt11 DNA. The sequence within the box is that of GOR47-1 and sequences on the right and left side of the box are those of lambda-gt11 DNA.GOR47-1 DNA has the following nucleotide sequence: In the similar way, GOR47-1 DNAC (having DNA complementary to strain GOR47-1 DNA) was cut out from GOR47-1 phage DNA.GOR47-1 DNAC has the following nucleotide sequence: In the next step, GOR47-1 RNA and GOR47-1 RNAC were prepared from recombinant phage script of GOR47-1 DNAC using T3 and T7 promoters, they were labeled with radioisotope and used as probe to search the cDNA libraries prepared in (5) above, and GOR gab DNA, clone of cDNA, overlapping with but having longer sequence than GOR47-1, was obtained. The nucleotide sequence of GOR gab DNA was determined in the same way as above.It is well known in the art that one or more nucleotides in a DNA sequence can be replaced by other nucleotides in order to produce the same protein. The present invention also concerns such nucleotide substitutions which yield a DNA sequence which codes for GOR gab Protein (the amino acid sequence of which is described above).(2) GOR gab Protein.From GOR gab DNA, GOR gab Protein coded by it was obtained. Lambda-gt11 phage DNA used for preparation of cDNA libraries form which GOR gab DNA was derived is a so called expression vector and expresses fusion protein of β-galactosidase and cDNA derived protein by assembling cDNA in operon of IacZ gene of lambda-gt11. Among possible reading frames of GOR gab DNA, only one reading frame fuses in frame with open reading frame (ORF) of β-galactosidase of lambda-gt11.Amino acids sequence of GOR gab Protein was shown above. It is well known in the art that one or more amino acids in an amino acid sequence can be replaced by equivalent other amino acids, as demonstrated by U.S. Patent No. 4,737,487 which is incorporated by reference, in order to produce an analog of the amino acid sequence. Any analogs of GOR gab Protein of the present invention involving amino acid deletions, amino acid replacements, such as replacements by other amino acids, or by isosteres (modified amino acids that bear close structural and spatial similarity to protein amino acids), amino acid additions, or isosteres additions can be utilized, so long as the sequences elicit antibodies recognizing NANB antigens.In this invention, β-galactosidase can be substituted by such expression proteins as alkaline phosphatase and superoxide dismutase.(3) NANB hepatitis antigen related epitope by synthetic peptide based on the amino acid sequence coded for by GOR gab DNA.Synthetic peptides of various lengths and for various regions based on the ORF of GOR gab DNA were prepared and examined for reactivity with NANB hepatitis related antibody to determined the location of NANB hepatitis epitope. Polystyrene microplates coated with synthetic peptide prepared by Merrifield's solid phase method as solid phase, sample sera as primary antibody, and peroxidase labeled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies as secondary antibody for color reaction were used. As a result, it has been found that peptides containing 10 or more amino acids residues have the antigen epitope. Any peptide sequence containing 10 or more consecutive amino acids can be utilized so long as the sequences elicit antibodies recognizing NANB antigens. (4) NANB hepatitis antibody detection system using protein and peptide described above as antigen.50 µl each of GOR gab Protein or peptides having 10 or more amino acids residues dissolved in Tris-HCl buffer (10mM, pH 7.5) and adjusted to 5 µg/ml concentration was dispensed in each well on Costar vinyl plates (Toyobo, Japan) and incubated overnight at room temperature (coating of peptide). After washing the wells (0.1% Tween 20, 150mM NaCl; all washing procedures hereafter in this experiment, unless otherwise stated, were with this solution), 100 µl each of the blocking solution (0.1% Tween 20, 150mM NaCl, 30% fetal calf serum) was dispensed in the wells for overnight incubation at 4°C on a vibration free. After washing the wells, 50µl each of sample plasma, or serum preliminary diluted 30 times with the above-mentioned blocking solution, was dispensed in the wells for incubation at room temperature for 30 minutes on a vibrator. After washing the wells, 50µl each of peroxidase labeled anti-human IgG or IgM mouse monoclonal antibody solution was dispensed in the wells for incubation at room temperature for 30 minutes on a vibrator, then peroxidase substrate solution was added for color development and absorbance measurement at wavelength 492nm on a spectrophotometer.When samples from 100 chronic liver disease patients (mixture of hepatitis B and NANB hepatitis) were assayed by EIA method, frequency by the assay using the protein or peptides under this invention turned out to be high for NANB chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, while low for chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma caused by hepatitis B virus, lupoid hepatitis of which autoimmune disorder was suspected, and primary biliary cirrhosis. The assay also showed low frequency for samples from normal subjects, thus proving the efficiency of the protein and peptides under the present invention for use in detection system of NANB hepatitis related antibody.(5) Preparation of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. Specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies were obtained by immunizing such animals as mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, goats and horses with GOR gab Protein and the synthetic peptides bearing NANB hepatitis antigenic epitope described in the above example. (6) Antigen detection assay using antibody specific to NANB hepatitis related antigen. By staining tissue sections of liver, etc. from NANB hepatitis patients with the aforementioned specific antibody labeled labeled with FITC as probe, the presence and locality of NANB hepatitis specific antigen in tissue was examined. By labeling the specific antibody with peroxidase or biotin, assay system for detection of NANB related antigen in patient serum or plasma was developed. The system was the sandwich method in which polystyrene microplates or beads coated with NANB hepatitis specific antibody were used as solid phase and after addition of samples for reaction with the solid phase, labeled specific antibody was added for the second reaction. Experiments of those assays confirmed the effectiveness of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies under the present invention for detection of NANB hepatitis related antigen.The antigens and specific antibodies of the present invention provide diagnostic reagents capable of quicker and wider range of diagnosis of NANB hepatitis than any other conventional reagents, and can be used at blood centers, blood derivatives manufacturers, transfusion departments of hospitals and many others places for elimination of blood carrying the NANB hepatitis agent from transfusion blood and blood derivatives. Screening tests by the diagnostic reagents using the antigen and antibodies of the present invention will provide optimum means for prevention of post transfusion hepatitis which has long been a grave concern.The nucleic acids and proteins of the present invention are manufactured not only as important reagents for serological and virological study of the NANB hepatitis causative agent and for pathological study of the disease caused by it, but also as indispensable materials for manufacturer of the aforementioned antigens and antibodies. U.S. Patents US 5 077 193 and US 5 176 994 are hereby incorporated by reference for its teachings that the materials of the present invention may be utilized in detection kits and as vaccines.	Recombinant GOR gab DNA consisting of the following nucleotide sequence: Recombinant GOR gab protein consisting of the following amino acid sequence: A non-A, non-B hepatitis peptide comprising an amino acid chain of ten or more consecutive amino acids selected from amino acids numbered 1 to 564 of the protein according to claim 2.A non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody reactive with an antigen selected from antigens comprising amino acids numbered 1 to 564 of the protein sequence according to claim 2. A non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody reactive with an antigen comprising the peptide according to claim 3.A non-A, non-B hepatitis diagnostic test kit for analyzing samples for the presence of antibodies directed against a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen, comprising the non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen protein according to claim 2 attached to a solid substrate.The non-A, non-B hepatitis diagnostic test kit according to claim 6, further comprising labeled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies.A non-A, non-B hepatitis diagnostic test kit for analyzing samples for the presence of antibodies directed against a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen, comprising labeled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies and the non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen peptide according to claim 3 attached to a solid substrate.The non-A, non-B hepatitis diagnostic test kit according to claim 8, further comprising labeled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies. A non-A, non-B hepatitis diagnostic test kit for analyzing samples for the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen, comprising the non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody according to claim 4 attached to a solid substrate and said antibodies which are labelled.A non-A, non-B hepatitis diagnostic test kit for analyzing samples for the presence of a non-A, non-B hepatitis antigen, comprising the non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody according to claim 5 attached to a solid substrate and said antibodies which are labelled.A method for detecting non-A, non-B hepatitis antibodies in a sample comprising: (a) reacting said sample with the non-A, non-B hepatitis protein according to claim 2 attached to a solid substrate under conditions which allow the formation of an antigen-antibody complex;(b) reacting said product of step (a) with labelled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies; and(c) detecting the presence of labelled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies bound to said antigen-antibody complex.A method for detecting non-A, non-B hepatitis antibodies in a sample comprising: (a) reacting said sample with the non-A, non-B hepatitis peptide according to claim 3 attached to a solid substrate under conditions which allow the formation of an antigen-antibody complex;(b) reacting said product of step (a) with labelled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies; and(c) detecting the presence of labelled anti-human IgG or IgM antibodies bound to said antigen-antibody complex.A method for detecting non-A, non-B hepatitis antigens in a sample comprising: (a) reacting said sample with the non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody according to claim 4 attached to a solid substrate under conditions which allow the formation of an antigen-antibody complex;(b) reacting the product of step (a) with the non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody according to claim 4 which is labelled; and(c) detecting the presence of labelled antibody.A method for detecting non-A, non-B hepatitis antigens in a sample comprising: (a) reacting said sample with the non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody according to claim 5 attached to a solid substrate under conditions which allow the formation of an antigen-antibody complex;b) reacting the product of step (a) with the non-A, non-B hepatitis specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibody according to claim 5 which is labelled; andc) detecting the presence of labelled antibody.The use of a protein according to claim 2 for the preparation of a non-A, non-B hepatitis specific polyclonal antibody reactive with a protein according to claim 2.The use of a protein according to claim 2, in the production of a non-A, non-B hepatitis specific polyclonal antibody reactive with said protein.The use of a protein according to claim 3 for the preparation of a non-A, non-B hepatitis specific polyclonal antibody reactive with a protein according to claim 3.The use of a protein according to claim 3, in the production of a non-A, non-B hepatitis specific polyclonal antibody reactive with said protein.	JAPAN IMMUNO INC; IMMUNO JAPAN INC.	MISHIRO SHUNJI; NAKAMURA TETSUO; MISHIRO, SHUNJI; NAKAMURA, TETSUO
EP-0488814-B1	488,814	EP	B1	EN	19,970,813	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04N1	H04N1	H04N1, G03B27, G03G15	H04N 1/04D, T04N1:10F, H04N 1/04, H04N 1/387C2, T04N201:04B11, T04N201:04D2	System for scanning signature pages	An electronic printing system for scanning signature pages for signature jobs in which the pages of the document are placed face down in registered position on the platen of a scanner such that the signature images (161, 162) are side by side in the fast scan direction (167).	The invention relates to the scanning of signature documents and more particularly, to the scanning of signature documents for printing in electronic printers and printing systems. Future electronic printers and printing systems are intended to provide the operator or user with as many job programming options and selections as reasonably possible. One desired option answers the need that sometimes makes it necessary or desirable to make copies or prints of signature documents which are often in the form of bound documents such as books. As can be understood, signature documents can be difficult to process since there are two images instead of the normal one on the document to be scanned. As a result, programming a signature job is normally more complex since the programming choices such as image margins, image size, etc. are effectively doubled. Further, in signature jobs, an added complexity is created because of the need to program the system to create a non-image area referred to as a gutter between the two images on the document to avoid obscuring parts of the signature images when the signatures are later folded. In the prior art, U.S. Patent US-A-4,277,163 to Ikesue et al discloses a variable magnification electrostatic copying machine in which vertical and horizontal lengths of an original are automatically sensed and compared with vertical and horizontal lengths of a copy sheet to adjust magnification to the size of the copy sheets. U.S. Patent US-A-4,607,946 to Uchiyama et al is similar in that Uchiyama et al discloses sensing of the size of the document such as a signature document on the platen and comparing the size of the document sensed with the size of the copy sheets. U.S. Patent No US-A-4,659,207 to Maekawa discloses a system for independently scanning two parts of an original document consisting of a first half side and a second half side and copying the scanned images onto two separate pages or onto the front and back sides of a page, with the pages split in the direction of carriage motion. U.S. Patent US-A-4,696,563 to Shibusawa discloses a split scanning copier which divides an original such as a book into two surface sections based on information supplied from a size detector; U.S. Patent US-A-4,702,589 to Ito discloses a copying machine that copies halves of a document onto different recording medium surfaces, and U.S. Patent US-A-4,819,029 to Ito discloses a light/lens type copier enabling a margin to be provided on the copy by shifting the position of the image transferred to the photoreceptor slightly. In contrast, the present invention provides a process for scanning document sheets having first and second discrete images on at least one side to provide corresponding first and second electronic pages for use by a printing system in printing signatures, said system having a scanner with a scanning array and a platen relatively movable with respect to one another in the slow scan direction with said array raster scanning sheets on said platen in the fast scan direction to convert the first and second images scanned to image signals, comprising the steps of: a) programming said scanner to scan one or both of said first and second images on said sheets; b) placing said sheets individually on said platen with said sheets oriented so that said first and second images are side by side one another in the fast scan direction, thereby establishing a first margin of the first and second images substantially adjacent a side of the platen extending along the fast scan direction, a second margin on a side of the first and second images opposite the first margin, outside margins of the first and second images substantially adjacent the sides of the platen extending along the slow scan direction, and confronting inside margins of the first and second images which are located between said first and second images; c) locating said sheets so that said sheets are registered against the sides of said platen along the slow scan direction and the fast scan direction for scanning; d) establishing the width of said first and second images for scanning in the fast scan direction by: 1) determining a first crop offset distance along the fast scan direction between said one side of said platen and one outside margin of said first image; 2) determining a first crop distance between said outside margin and the opposite inside margin of said first image; 3) determining a second crop offset distance between one inside margin of said second image and a side of the platen adjacent an outside margin of the second image, and 4) determining a second crop distance for said second image equal to the crop distance determined for said first image; e) establishing the length of said first and second images for scanning in the slow scan direction by: 1) determining a third crop offset distance between said side of said platen extending along the fast scan direction and the first margin of said first and second images; and 2) determining a third crop distance between said first margin and the second margin of said first and second images; and f) actuating said scanner to move said scanning array relative to said platen and: 1) capturing, during a scan in a slow scan direction, those portions of lines of image signals output by said scanning array which correspond to the area delimited by said first and said third crop distances; 2) capturing, during a scan in a reverse slow scan direction, those portions of lines of image signals output by said scanning array which correspond to the area delimited by said second and said third crop distances. The image signals obtained can be used to produce copies of the signature document, for example by printing in an electronic printer. By way of example only, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a view depicting an electronic printing system which employs a signature page scanning system; Figure 2 is a block diagram depicting the major elements of the printing system shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view illustrating the principal mechanical components of the printing system shown in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a schematic view showing certain construction details of the document scanner for the printing system shown in Figure 1; Figures 5A, 5B, and 5C comprise a schematic block diagram showing the major parts of the control section for the printing system shown in Figure 1; Figure 6 is a block diagram of the Operating System, together with Printed Wiring Boards and shared line connections for the printing system shown in Figure 1; Figure 7 is a view depicting an exemplary job programming ticket and job scorecard displayed on the User Interface (UI) touchscreen of the printing system shown in Figure 1; Figure 8 is a view from the underside of the scanner platen depicting a signature document in registered position on the platen for scanning with crop offset and crop distance areas shown; Figure 9 is a view illustrating a reader's view of an opened bound document; Figure 10 is a view illustrating the bound document shown in Figure 9 oriented on the platen so that the images are side by side in the fast scan direction; Figure 11 is a view of the Ul touchscreen display depicting a Signature Job Ticket and Job Scorecard for use in programming a signature job; and Figure 12 is a view of the touchscreen display following highlighting of the Crop selection showing various programming selections for setting the crop offset and crop distances for scanning signature documents. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown an exemplary image printing system 2 for processing print jobs. Printing system 2 for purposes of explanation is divided into image input section 4, controller section 7, and printer section 8. In the example shown, image input section 4 has both remote and on-site image inputs, enabling the printing system 2 to provide network, scan, and print services. Other system combinations may be envisioned such as a stand alone printing system with on-site image input (i.e., a scanner), controller, and printer; a network printing system with remote input, controller, and printer; etc. Also, various modifications may be made to the printing system illustrated. For example, printer section 8 may use a different printer type such as ink jet, ionographic, etc. Referring particularly to Figures 2-4, for off-site image input, image input section 4 has a network 5 with a suitable communication channel such as a telephone line enabling image data in the form of image signals or pixels from one or more remote sources to be input to system 2 for processing. Where the Page Description Language (PDL) of the incoming imaging data is different from the PDL used by system 2, suitable conversion means (not shown) are provided. Other remote sources of image data such as streaming tape, floppy disk, etc. may be envisioned. For on-site image input, section 4 has a document scanner 6 with a transparent platen 20 on which documents 22 to be scanned are located. One or more linear arrays 24 are supported for reciprocating scanning movement below platen 20 in the slow scan direction (depicted by the arrows 168, 168' in Figure 8). Arrays 24 scan the document 22 on platen 20 line by line in the fast scan direction (depicted by arrow 167 in Figure 8). Lens 26 and mirrors 28, 29, 30 cooperate to focus array 24 on a line like segment of platen 20 and the document being scanned thereon. Image data in the form of image signals or pixels from network 5 or array 24 are input to processor 25 for processing. After processing, the image signals are output to controller section 7. Processor 25 converts the analog image signals output by array 24 to digital. Processor 25 further processes image signals as required to enable system 2 to store and handle the image data in the form required to carry out the job programmed. Processor 25 also provides enhancements and changes to the image signals such as filtering, thresholding, screening, cropping, scaling, etc. Documents 22 to be scanned may be located on platen 20 for scanning by automatic document handler (ADF) 35 operable in either a Recirculating Document Handling (RDH) mode or a Semi-Automatic Document Handling (SADH) mode. A manual mode including a Book mode and a Computer Forms Feeder (CFF) mode are also provided, the latter to accommodate documents in the form of computer fanfold. For RDH mode operation, document handler 35 has a document tray 37 in which documents 22 are arranged in stacks or batches. The documents 22 in tray 37 are advanced by vacuum feed belt 40 and document feed rolls 41 and document feed belt 42 onto platen 20 where the document is scanned by array 24. Following scanning, the document is removed from platen 20 by belt 42 and returned to tray 37 by document feed rolls 44. For operation in the SADH mode, a document entry slot 46 provides access to the document feed belt 42 between tray 37 and platen 20 through which individual documents may be inserted manually for transport to platen 20. Feed rolls 49 behind slot 46 form a nip for engaging and feeding the document to feed belt 42 and onto platen 20. Following scanning, the document is removed from platen 20 and discharged into catch tray 48. For operation in the CFF mode, computer forms material is fed through slot 46 and advanced by feed rolls 49 to document feed belt 42 which in turn advances a page of the fanfold material into position on platen 20. Referring to Figures 2 and 3, printer section 8 comprises a laser type printer and for purposes of explanation is separated into a Raster Output Scanner (ROS) section 87, Print Module Section 95, Paper Supply section 107, and Finisher 120. ROS 87 has has a laser 91, the beam of which is split into two imaging beams 94. Each beam 94 is modulated in accordance with the content of an image signal input by acousto-optic modulator 92 to provide dual imaging beams 94. Beams 94 are scanned across a moving photoreceptor 98 of Print Module 95 by the mirrored facets of a rotating polygon 100 to expose two image lines on photoreceptor 98 with each scan and create the latent electrostatic images represented by the image signal input to modulator 92. Photoreceptor 98 is uniformly charged by corotrons 102 at a charging station preparatory to exposure by imaging beams 94. The latent electrostatic images are developed by developer 104 and transferred at transfer station 106 to a print media 108 delivered by Paper Supply section 107. Media 108 may comprise any of a variety of sheet sizes, types, and colors. For transfer, the print media is brought forward in timed registration with the developed image on photoreceptor 98 from either a main paper tray 110 or from auxiliary paper trays 112 or 114. The developed image transferred to the print media 108 is permanently fixed or fused by fuser 116 and the resulting prints discharged to either output tray 118, or to finisher 120. Finisher 120 includes a stitcher 122 for stitching or stapling the prints together to form books and a thermal binder 124 for adhesively binding the prints into books. Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 5A to 5C, controller section 7 is, for explanation purposes, divided into an image input controller 50, User Interface (Ul) 52, system controller 54, main memory 56, image manipulation section 58, and image output controller 60. Image data input from processor 25 of image input section 4 to controller section 7 is compressed by image compressor/processor 51 of image input controller 50 on PWB 70-3. As the image data passes through compressor/processor 51, it is segmented into slices N scanlines wide, each slice having a slice pointer. The compressed image data together with slice pointers and any related image descriptors providing image specific information (such as height and width of the document in pixels, the compression method used, pointers to the compressed image data, and pointers to the image slice pointers) are placed in an image file. The image files, which represent different print jobs, are temporarily stored in system memory 61 which comprises a Random Access Memory or RAM pending transfer to main memory 56 where the data is held pending use. As best seen in Figure 1, Ul 52 includes a combined operator controller/CRT display consisting of an interactive touchscreen 62, keyboard 64, and mouse 66. Ul 52 interfaces the operator with printing system 2, enabling the operator to program print jobs and other instructions, to obtain system operating information, instructions, programming information, diagnostic information, etc. Items displayed on touchscreen 62 such as files and icons are actuated by either touching the displayed item on screen 62 with a finger or by using mouse 66 to point cursor 67 to the item selected and keying the mouse. Main memory 56 has plural hard disks 90-1, 90-2, 90-3 for storing machine Operating System software, machine operating data, and the scanned image data currently being processed. When the compressed image data in main memory 56 requires further processing, or is required for display on touchscreen 62 of Ul 52, or is required by printer section 8, the data is accessed in main memory 56. Where further processing other than that provided by processor 25 is required, the data is transferred to image manipulation section 58 on PWB 70-6 where the additional processing steps such as collation, make ready, decomposition, etc. are carried out. Following processing, the data may be returned to main memory 56, sent to Ul 52 for display on touchscreen 62, or sent to image output controller 60. Image data output to image output controller 60 is decompressed and readied for printing by image generating processors 86 of PWBs 70-7, 70-8 (seen in Figure 5A). Following this, the data is output by dispatch processors 88, 89 on PWB 70-9 to printer section 8. Image data sent to printer section 8 for printing is normally purged from memory 56 to make room for new image data. Referring particularly to Figures 5A-5C, control section 7 includes a plurality of Printed Wiring Boards (PWBs) 70, PWBs 70 being coupled with one another and with System Memory 61 by a pair of memory buses 72, 74. Memory controller 76 couples System Memory 61 with buses 72, 74. PWBs 70 include system processor PWB 70-1 having plural system processors 78; low speed I/O processor PWB 70-2 having Ul communication controller 80 for transmitting data to and from Ul 52; PWBs 70-3, 70-4, 70-5 having disk drive controller/processors 82 for transmitting data to and from disks 90-1, 90-2, 90-3 respectively of main memory 56 (image compressor/processor 51 for compressing the image data is on PWB 70-3); image manipulation PWB 70-6 with image manipulation processors of image manipulation section 58; image generation processor PWBs 70-7, 70-8 with image generation processors 86 for processing the image data for printing by printer section 8; dispatch processor PWB 70-9 having dispatch processors 88, 89 for controlling transmission of data to and from printer section 8; and boot control-arbitration-scheduler PWB 70-10. Referring particularly to Figure 6, system control signals are distributed via a plurality of printed wiring boards (PWBs). These include EDN core PWB 130, Marking Imaging core PWB 132, Paper Handling core PWB 134, and Finisher Binder core PWB 136 together with various Input/Output (I/O) PWBs 138. A system bus 140 couples the core PWBs 130, 132, 134, 136 with each other and with controller section 7 while local buses 142 serve to couple the I/O PWBs 138 with each other and with their associated core PWB. On machine power up, the Operating System software is loaded from memory 56 to EDN core PWB 130 and from there to the remaining core PWBs 132, 134, 136 via bus 140, each core PWB 130, 132, 134, 136 having a boot ROM 147 for controlling downloading of Operating System software to the PWB, fault detection, etc. Boot ROMs 147 also enable transmission of Operating System software and control data to and from PWBs 130, 132, 134, 136 via bus 140 and control data to and from I/O PWBs 138 via local buses 142. Additional ROM, RAM, and NVM memory types are resident at various locations within system 2. Referring to Figure 7, jobs are programmed in a JOB PROGRAM mode using touchscreen 62 and/or mouse 66. For this, there is displayed a selection of programming file cards 150 (i.e.,'JOB:Standard , PAGE LEVEL , etc). Each file card 150, when selected, displays one or more tabbed Job Scorecards 152 containing the various job programming selections available with the selected Scorecard, and a Job Ticket 154 for the job. The Scorecard selections are in the form of windows with icons while the Job Ticket 154 displays three scorecard selections (i.e., Job Level , Basic , and Special ), each with programming selections. The Job Ticket also displays, under the programming selection headings, the current selections. Where no selection is made by the operator, a default selection is programmed and displayed on the Job Ticket. In the example shown in Figure 7, the default selections are shown, i.e., the JOB-Standard file card 150, the Scorecard 152 for Job Level and Job Ticket 154 for Account: DEFAULT . Referring to Figures 8-10, as referred to herein, a signature document 160 is one page of a document 22 having two discrete images 161, 162 in side by side relation with one another thereon. Images 161, 162 may be on one side only of document 160 or on both sides. Signature document 160 may be an unbound document or may be a page from a bound document such as the book 163 depicted in Figures 9 and 10. The non-image area 165 between the images 161, 162 of each signature document 160, which is ordinarily necessary to prevent parts of the signature images from becoming obscured when the signature is folded, is referred to as a gutter. A signature foldline 164 is centered in gutter 165. The size, i.e. the width, of gutter 165 is determined by the inside margins 180-1 of the images 161, 162 on each side of foldline 164. Inside and outside margins 180-1 and 180-2, and side margins 180-3, and 180-4 define the image areas 161, 162 and gutter 165. In the present system, signature documents 160 are placed face down on platen 20 for scanning with the document oriented so that the images 161, 162 are opposite one another in the fast scan direction (the direction shown by arrow 167). Signature documents may be placed on platen 20 in this orientation while operating document handler 35 in any of the modes described previously. In the instance where book mode is used, book 163 is opened to the desired page and manually placed face down on platen 20 as shown in Figure 10. To enable the signature document 160 to be located in proper position on platen 20 for scanning and insure that each image 161, 162 is completely scanned, the document is registered as for example by abutting the document edges against X and Y registration edges or guides 170, 172 provided along one side and one end respectively of the platen 20. Referring particularly to Figure 8, in order to capture the desired image areas 161, 162 on signature document 160 for later printing as a signature, programming of crop offset distances 177-1, 177-2, 177-3, 177-4 and crop distances 178-1, 178-2, 178-3 in both the fast and slow scan directions are ordinarily required. Crop offset refers to the space between the edge of the document and the margin of the image nearest thereto. As can be understood and as depicted in Figure 8, crop offset distances 177-1, 177-2, 177-3, 177-4 may be provided for up to four sides of each image. Crop distances 178-1, 178-2, 178-3 define the size (i.e., length and width) of the image areas 161, 162 to be scanned and hence captured for printing. The crop distances 178-1, 178-2 in the fast scan direction are equal to one-half the document size minus the sum of the crop offsets for each individual image while the crop distance 178-3 in the slow scan direction is equal to the document size minus the sum of the crop offsets in the slow scan direction. Pre-set or default crop offset and crop distance settings in both the fast and slow scan directions are provided. Where different crop offset and crop distances are desired, the new distances must be programmed in by the operator. To accommodate folding of signatures along foldline 164 and prevent the fold from obscuring parts of the image areas, provision must also be made for gutter 165 when programming a signature job. Normally, signatures are folded and several signatures assembled together to form a book, pamphlet, or the like. In that case, the size of the gutter may require changing from signature to signature in accordance with the location of the signature. As will appear, the size of gutter 165 can also be changed from the default setting when changing the crop offset and crop distances. Referring also to Figures 11 and 12, in order to program printing system 2 for scanning signature documents as part of a signature print job for example, the operator, using Job types & Tickets icon 149, accesses and displays a signature programming file card 150' with signature job ticket 154' displaying three signature scorecard selections (ie Job Level , Basic and Special ). To program scanner 6 to isolate and scan one or both of the images 161, 162 on signature document 160, SPECIAL job scorecard 152' is selected. Crop icon 174 of SPECIAL scorecard 152' is actuated to display an imaginary document 160' with two images 161', 162' in work area 156 of touchscreen 62. Images 161', 162' are displayed one above the other with a gutter 165' displayed therebetween. An imaginary foldline 164 is also displayed in the center of gutter 165' together with default crop offset distances 177-1, 177-2, 177-3, 177-4 around the image margins. There is also displayed an electronic print 166 representative of the signature print that will be printed in the event printing is programmed. Pairs of top and bottom scrolling icons 181, 182 and 184, 186 respectively are displayed on each side of the imaginary document 160' on screen 62 for use in setting crop offset and crop distances for each scanned image 161, 162 of signature document 160. A scale of numbers 188 is provided along one side of the imaginary document 160' to facilitate programming of the crop offsets and crop distances. A window 190 is displayed with each scrolling icon 181, 182, 184, 186 for displaying a numerical value of the crop offset currently programmed. To set crop offset and crop distance in the slow scan direction (the direction depicted by arrow 168 in Figure 8), left and right scrolling icons 192, 194 are provided below display document 160'. A scale 196 of numbers is depicted along the bottom of the display document to facilitate setting of the crop offset and crop distances. Each scrolling icon 192, 194 has a display window 198 associated with it for displaying the current selection made. Where signature documents 160, either as separate pages or as pages in a book, pamphlet, or the like, are to be processed, the signature programming filecard JOB:Signature is selected for display on touchscreen 62. This displays a signature Job Ticket 154' and scorecard 152' depicting current or default signature programming selections including crop offsets and crop distances. Where the operator desires to change the current crop offset and crop distance settings, crop icon 174 of Special scorecard 152' is actuated to display an imaginary signature document 160' and imaginary signature print 166 picturing the current settings. Through selective actuation of scrolling icons 181, 182, 184, 186 and 192, 194, the operator can reprogram the crop offsets and crop distance settings to set new image margins 180-1, 180-2, 180-3, 180-4 and change the size of the images scanned in. Though selective adjust of the crop offsets,the size of gutter 165 may also be changed. Following completion of programming for the signature job, signature documents 160 are input to platen 20 individually with the documents oriented such that the images 161, 162 are parallel to the fast scan direction. Where the signature documents are individual pages, this may be done by operating ADF 35 in a suitable one of the modes described heretofore. Where the signature documents 160 comprise the pages of a book 163, ADF 35 is operated in the book mode. The Start Scan button (shown in Figure 7) is actuated to initiate scanning, causing array 24 to move forward from the home position shown in Figure 3 in the slow scan direction depicted by arrow 168 in Figure 8. As a result of the aforedescribed programming, the portion of the lines of image signals output by array 24 in the slow scan direction between crop offsets 177-3 and 177-4 (i.e., crop distance 178-3) and in the fast scan direction between crop offset 177-1 and the inside margin 180-1 of image 161 (i.e.,crop distance 178-1) are captured. Array 24 is then reversed to scan in the slow scan direction depicted by arrow 168' in Figure 8. During reverse scan, the portion of the lines of image signals output by array 24 in the slow scan direction between crop offsets 177-4 and 177-3 (i.e., crop distance 178-3) and in the fast scan direction between the inside margin 180-1 and crop offset 177-2 (i.e., crop distance 178-2) of image 162 are captured. The resulting image signals are stored in memory 56 pending use. The foregoing process is repeated for each signature document until all of the documents have been scanned in.	A process for scanning document sheets having first and second discrete images (161, 162) on at least one side to provide corresponding first and second electronic pages for use by a printing system (2) in printing signatures, said system having a scanner (6) with a scanning array (24) and a platen (20) relatively movable with respect to one another in the slow scan direction (168) with said array raster scanning sheets on said platen in the fast scan direction (167) to convert the first and second images scanned to image signals, comprising the steps of: a) programming said scanner to scan one or both of said first and second images on said sheets; b) placing said sheets individually on said platen with said sheets oriented so that said first and second images are side by side one another in the fast scan direction, thereby establishing a first margin (180-3) of the first and second images substantially adjacent a side of the platen extending along the fast scan direction, a second margin (180-4) on a side of the first and second images opposite the first margin, outside margins (180-2) of the first and second images substantially adjacent the sides of the platen extending along the slow scan direction, and confronting inside margins (180-1) of the first and second images which are located between said first and second images; c) locating said sheets so that said sheets are registered against the sides (170, 172) of said platen along the slow scan direction and the fast scan direction for scanning; d) establishing the width of said first and second images for scanning in the fast scan direction by: 1) determining a first crop offset distance (177-1) along the fast scan direction between said one side of said platen and one outside margin (180-2) of said first image; 2) determining a first crop distance (178-1) between said outside margin (180-2) and the opposite inside margin (180-1) of said first image; 3) determining a second crop offset distance between one inside margin (180-1) of said second image and a side of the platen adjacent an outside margin of the second image, and 4) determining a second crop distance (178-2) for said second image equal to the crop distance determined for said first image; e) establishing the length of said first and second images for scanning in the slow scan direction by: 1) determining a third crop offset distance (177-4) between said side of said platen extending along the fast scan direction and the first margin (180-3) of said first and second images; and 2) determining a third crop distance (178-3) between said first margin and the second margin (180-4) of said first and second images; and f) actuating said scanner to move said scanning array relative to said platen and: 1) capturing, during a scan in a slow scan direction, those portions of lines of image signals output by said scanning array which correspond to the area delimited by said first and said third crop distances; 2) capturing, during a scan in a reverse slow scan direction, those portions of lines of image signals output by said scanning array which correspond to the area delimited by said second and said third crop distances.	XEROX CORP; XEROX CORPORATION	BLITZ WILLIAM A; COY GERALD L; CROCKER DAVID E; GRAVES JAMES R; BLITZ, WILLIAM A.; COY, GERALD L.; CROCKER, DAVID E.; GRAVES, JAMES R.
EP-0488815-B1	488,815	EP	B1	EN	19,980,304	1,992	20,100,220	new	G08B5	null	G08B5	G08B 5/22C1B4	Data display radio pager	A data display display pager capable of automatically protecting a particular message over a limited period of time. The receiver stores a message signal in a message signal storage area included in control means thereof. When the pager detects out of the snored message signal protection information which is made up of a protection time signal indicative of a period of time for protecting the signal and a set of particular marks occurring before and after the protection time signal, it protects the message signal over the protection time. The message signal is protected in either of two modes which are discriminated from each other on the basis of the number or the kind of particular marks. During the protection time, the snored message (signal) is displayed in a first mode wherein a message without the protection information appears or in a second mode wherein the entire message appears, depending on the above-mentioned protection mode. on the elapse of the protection time, the stored message signal has, in a first protection mode, the protection information thereof deleted or has, in a second protection mode, only the particular marks thereof deleted.	The present invention relates to a data display radio pager and, more particularly, to a data display radio pager capable of automatically protecting a particular message signal over a limited period of time.In a radio paging system, a data display radio pager generally has a radio frequency (RF) section for receiving an RF signal which is produced by modulating a carrier by a digital paging signal including an address signal and a message signal and comes in through an antenna. The RF section converts the RF signal to an intermediate frequency (IF) signal. A demodulator demodulates the IF signal to reproduce the above-mentioned address signal. A decoder decodes the paging signal to produce a call signal including an address signal and a message signal. Control means has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) as a major component thereof and controls the reception in response to the call signal. Specifically, the control means determines whether or not the address signal is coincident with an address assigned to the pager and stored in a ROM. If the former is coincident with the latter, the control means reports the user of the pager of the reception of a call by, for example, an alert tone from a loudspeaker or vibration and/or by displaying a message on message display means.If the received address signal is coincident with the stored address, the control means stores the message signal included in the call signal in a message signal storage area of a memory which is built in the pager and capable of storing a plurality of message signals. On the reception of the message signal or on the entry of a request on, for example, a switch by the user, messages corresponding to the message signals stored in the memory are sequentially displayed on the message display means. The pager further includes message signal protecting means for preventing a message signal more important than a later message signal from being forced out of the message signal storage area and thereby deleted by the later or less important message signal, and message signal deleting means for deleting needless message signals in the storage area. It has been customary with this kind of pager to start each of the message display, message signal protection and message signal deletion in response to the operation of a particular switch by the user. In addition, the number of messages which can be protected have heretofore been limited.Assume that the user of the above-described radio pager has forgotten to delete a message (message signal) which is not necessary due to the elapse of time, e.g., a message relating to an appointment. Then, such an unnecessary message signal would continuously occupy the message signal storage area to thereby reduce the area for the other message signals, obstructing the efficient use of the message signal storage area.Moreover, when the pager is put in the user's bag, for example, it is likely that the switch for protecting a message signal and/or the switch for deleting it is accidentally operated due to the movement of the pager in the bag. Then, a message signal will be protected or deleted against the user's intention.As stated above, the protection and deletion of a message signal relying only on switches is not satisfactory when it comes to the efficient use of message signal storage area and the reliable protection and deletion of a message signal.In the specification of United States patent number 4,742,352, which was published on May 3 1988, there was proposed a radio communication system for use with an appliance, such as a wristwatch, in which a single transmitter transmitted a reference clock pulse, and paging data together with message data, and in which a plurality of receivers each decoded the paging and message data using a local reference clock pulse which had been synchronised with the reference clock pulse from the transmitter, the respective paged operator being warned and the message being displayed.Features of a data display radio pager to be described below, as an example, are that it automatically protects and deletes designated ones of the message signals, protects and deletes message signals with comparative reliability, frees the user from troublesome operations for protecting and deleting message signals, and provides a data display radio pager which enhances the efficient storage of useful message signals in a message signal storage area.A data display radio pager to be described below, as an example, like a previously proposed pager of the type described, has an RF section, a demodulator, a decoder, a ROM, alerting means, message display means, and control means including a message signal storage area capable of storing a plurality of message signals. The radio pager also has a display switch for displaying a message corresponding to a stored message signal on the message displaying means, a protect switch for preventing an important message from being forced out of the storage area and automatically deleted by a succeeding message signal, and a delete switch for deleting an unnecessary message area in the storage area.A radio pager to be described below is mainly characterized by the feature that it automatically protects and deletes, from among the above message signals, a designated message signal. Specifically, the control means first detects protection information requesting the automatic protection of a stored message signal out of the message signal. The protection information consists of a protection time signal indicative of a particular period of time for which the storage message signal should be protected, and a set of particular marks occurring before and after the protection time signal. On detecting the particular mark, the control means starts on checking the time by time counting means and, by referencing the time being counted by the time counting means, protects the stored message with the protection information over the above-mentioned protection time. As the protection time elapses, the control means automatically cancels the protection of the message signal. Before the protection time expires, the user of the pager may operate the display switch to see a message corresponding to the stored message signal on the message display means any time. On the elapse of the protection time, the stored message signal with the protection information is automatically converted to a message signal without protection.Further, the control means determines the kind of the set of particular marks and displays the stored message signal in a mode matching it. Specifically, when the control means determines that the set of particular marks is of a first kind, it displays a message corresponding to the stored message signal from which the particular marks have been removed. When the set of particular marks is of a second kind, the control means displays a message corresponding to the entire stored message signal including the particular marks. On the cancellation of the protection, the control means converts, in response to the detection of the first kind of particular marks, the stored message signal to a message signal from which the protection information has been removed; it converts, in response to the detection of the second kind of particular marks, the stored message signal to a message signal from which only the particular marks have been removed.The two kinds of particular marks are implemented as different characters or as different numbers of the same characters.The following description and drawings disclose, by means of an example, the invention which is characterized in the appended claims, whose terms determine the extent of the protection conferred hereby.In the drawings:- FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a data display radio pager embodying the present invention;FIG. 2 shows a specific format of an RF signal received by the radio pager shown in FIG. 1 and specific formats of a call signal which is the output of a decoder included in the embodiment;FIG. 3 is a flowchart demonstrating a specific procedure to be executed by the embodiment for processing and displaying a message signal; andFIG. 4 schematically shows message signals stored in a RAM included in a control section which forms part of the embodiment.Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a data display radio pager embodying the present invention is shown and includes an antenna 1. A radio frequency (RF) signal S1 generated by modulating a carrier by a paging signal which includes an address signal and a message signal is applied to an RF section 2 via the antenna 1. The RF section 2 converts the RF signal S1 to an intermediate frequency (IF) signal S2. A demodulator 3 demodulates the IF signal S2 to produce the above-mentioned paging signal S3. A decoder 4 decodes the paging signal S3 to produce a call signal which includes the address signal and message signal. A control section 6 has a control circuit 61 as a major component thereof and controls the reception in response to the call signal. Specifically, the control circuit 61 determines whether or not the address signal is identical with an address assigned to the pager and stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 5 and, if the answer is positive, generates a first tone signal S8. An amplifier 8 amplifies the first tone signal S8 to output a second tone signal S9. A loudspeaker 9 produces an alert tone in response to the second tone signal S8. While delivering the first tone signal S8, the control circuit 61 stores the message signal included in the paging signal S4 in a RAM (Random Access Memory) 62 which has a storage area capable of accommodating a plurality of message signals. The control circuit 61 feeds a display control signal S10 associated with the stored message signal to a display 10 with the result that a message corresponding to the signal S10 appears on the display 10. In this manner, the pager informs the person carrying it of the reception of a call by an alert tone and a message.As the user of the pager presses a display switch SW1 at any desired time, the message signal stored in the RAM 62 appears on the display 10 (message displaying function). Such message signals stored in the RAM 62 one after another are sequentially forced out of the RAM 62 by message signals which are received afterwards. However, the user can protect important message signals by turning on a protect switch SW2 to thereby prevent them from being deleted (message signal protecting function). Further, the user can delete needless message signals by turning on a delete switch SW3 (message deleting function).A timer 7 is connected to the control circuit 61 to count time, particularly the time having elapsed after the reception of the message signal. The timer 7 is the major characteristic feature of the embodiment, i.e., it provides time information which is the basis of the automatic protection of message signals containing information to be protected and the cancellation of the automatic protection, as will be described later specifically.Referring also to FIG. 2, the RF signal 2 of the pager receives a digital paging signal (RF signal S1) of POCSAG (Post Office Standardization Advisory Group) format. The RF signal S1 has a preamble signal P and a plurality of batches following the preamble signal P. Each batch of the signal S1 is made up of one frame of frame synchronization signal F, and eight frames of address signal A or message signal M that follows the signal F. The RF section 2 and demodulator 3 receive, demodulate and decode the consecutive batches of the RF signal S1 in a single frame which is assigned to the pager, thereby producing a call signal S4 made up of an address signal n and a message signal M. The message signal M of each batch is constituted by five characters C (alphabets, numerals, and marks).The message signal M constituted by the characters C may have three different kinds of signal formats, as follows. A message signal Md1 having a first format does not include a particular mark * . When such a message signal Md1 is received, the control circuit 61 does not automatically protect the message Md1. A message signal Md2 having a second format contains protection information, i.e., a protection time signal as indicative of a time for which the signal Md2 should be protected and a particular mark * (protection indication signal) which occurs once before and once after the signal aa to show that the signal Md2 is a message signal M to be protected. Further, a message signal Md3 having a third format contains protection information, i.e., a protection time signal bb and a particular mark * occurring twice before and once after the signal bb.If desired, the message signal Md3 having the third format may be replaced with a message signal Md3A, as also shown in FIG. 2. The message signal Md3A has a protection indication signal in the form of a particular mark [ in place of the mark * . The mark [ occurs once before and once after the protection time signal bb.A reference will also be made to FIGS. 3 and 4 for describing a specific operation of the embodiment for automatically protecting the above-stated specific message signal M and automatically cancelling the protection. When the address signal included in the paging signal S4 is coincident with the address stored in the ROM 5 (step 301), the control circuit 61 delivers the first tone signal S8 to the amplifier 8 to thereby produce an alert tone through the loudspeaker 9. At the same time, the control circuit 61 stores the message signal M contained in the paging signal S4 in the RAM (message signal storage area) 62 (302). Then, the control circuit 61 determines whether or not the message signal M having been stored in the RAM 62 includes the mark * (303). Assuming the message signal Md1 which does not include the mark * , the control circuit 61 genrates the display control signal S10 to display a message corresponding to the message signal Md1 on the display 10 (304) while automatically cancelling protection meant for the signal Md1 (313). Regarding the message signal Md1, only the characters C are stored in the RAM 62, as represented by a message signal No. M01, FIG. 4. The user of the pager may turn on the protect switch SW2 to protect the message Md1 or may turn on the delete switch SW3 to delete it, as desired. Such message signals Md1 which do not need protection are sequentially forced out of the RAM 62 by succeeding message signals M and thereby automatically deleted, the message signal Md1 having the largest message number being first. Specifically, in FIG. 4, a message signal No. M16 which is protected is not deleted, and the other message signal Nos. 15, 14 and so forth are sequentially deleted in this order. Assume that the message signals Md2 and Md3 are stored in the RAM 62 as message signals M. Then, since both the message signals Md2 and Md3 include the particular mark * (303), the control circuit 61 starts the timer 7 by a control signal S7a and reads the time information being counted by the timer 7 by a control signal S7b (305). The control circuit 61 counts the mark or marks which occur for the first time in the message signal Md2 (306).Since only one mark * appears for the first time in the message signal Md2, the control circuit 61 displays only the characters C of the message signal Md2 on the display 10 by removing the protection information aa , while automatically protecting the message signal Md2 having been stored in the RAM 62 (307). It is to be noted that the RAM 62 stores all the characters of the message signal Md, as represented by a message signal No. M02, FIG. 4. Subsequently, the control circuit 61 continuously compares the protection time aa of the message signal Md2 having been automatically protected and the time information which it obtains from the timer 7, until they coincide (308). When they coincide, i.e., on the elapse of the protection time, the control circuit 61 deletes the protection information aa from the message signal Md2 stored in the RAM 62 (309). As a result, only the characters C included in the message signal Md2 are left in the RAM 62, as represented by a message signal No. M014, FIG. 4. Hence, the automatic protection of the message signal Md2 is automatically cancelled in a step 313. When the user turns on the display switch SW1 to see the message before the above-mentioned protection time expires, the control circuit 6 causes the display 10 to show a message corresponding only to the characters C.On the other hand, since the mark * appears twice for the first time in the message signal Md (306), the control circuit 61 displays the protection time signal bb and characters C on the display 10 by removing three marks * from the message signal M3 in total. At the same time, the control circuit 61 automatically protects the message signal Md3 stored in the RAM 62 (310). At this instant, the RAM 62 stores all the characters of the message signal Md3, as represented by a message signal No. M03, FIG. 4. Subsequently, the control circuit 62 checks the protection time bb, as in the case with the message signal Md2. On the elapse of the protection time bb, the control circuit 61 deletes the three marks * of the message signal Md3 stored in the RAM 62 to thereby convert the signal Md3 to a message signal No. M15, FIG. 4 (312). As a result, the protection time signal bb of the message signal Md3 has the same meaning as the other characters C, whereby the protection of the message signal Md3 is automatically cancelled (313).When the message signals Md2 and Md3A are the protection signal formats of the message signal M, the message signal M can be automatically protected and freed from the protection as stated above if the decision on the continuation of the mark * is replaced with the decision on the marks * and [ .In summary, in the illustrative embodiment, the control circuit 61 can cause, on detecting protection information of a message signal M stored in the RAM 6, i.e., a protection time and a particular mark, the display 10 to display a message including or not including the protection information. The control circuit 61 protects message signal M over the protection time and, on the elapse of the protection time, automatically deletes it in the RAM 6. This prevents needless message signals from occupying the storage area of the RAM 6 and thereby enhances the effective use of the storage area. Since the message signal M containing protection information is forcibly protected until the protection time expires, it is prevented from being deleted in the storage area against the user's intention. Moreover, the embodiment free the user from troublesome operations for protecting the message signal, which is valid only for a limited protection time, and cancelling the protection by turning on switches. Although the invention has been described with reference to the specific embodiment, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiment, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that the scope of protection granted will cover modifications or other embodiments than those described that fall within the scope of the appended claims.	A data display radio pager including a receiving demodulator (3) for demodulating a radio frequency (RF) signal received via an antenna (1) to produce a paging signal (S3), a decoder (4) for producing a call signal, which includes an address signal and a message signal, in response to the paging signal, a read-only memory (ROM) (5) for storing an address assigned to the pager, an alerting means (9) for providing an alert in response to an alert signal (S9), a display (10) for displaying a message in response to a message control signal, and a control section (6) responsive to the call signal for outputting, if the address signal and the address stored in the ROM (5) are identical, the alert signal (S9), for storing in a memory (62) the message signal in a message storage area, and for outputting via a control circuit (61) the message control signal associated with the message signal stored in the memory (62), characterised in that the control circuit (61) includes means for detecting protection information in the stored message signal produced by the decoder (4), the protection information including a signal indicative of a time during which the message signal should be protected from being erased and a set of particular marks occurring before and after the protection time signal included in the paging signal, and a timer (7) responsive to the protection information for protecting the stored message signal until the protection time established by the protection information in the stored message signal has elapsed.A radio pager as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for detecting the protection information includes particular mark discriminating means for determining the kind of the particular mark, the control circuit (61) feeding to the display (10) a message indication associated with the kind of the particular mark determined by the particular mark discriminating means.A radio pager as claimed in claim 2, wherein the particular mark discriminating means discriminates a first kind of particular mark in the form of a first character which occurs once before and once after the protection time signal, and a second kind of particular mark in the form of the first character which occurs twice before and once after the protection time signal. A radio pager as claimed in claim 2, wherein the particular mark discriminating means discriminates the first kind of particular mark in the form of a first character which occurs once before and once after the protection time signal, and a second kind of particular mark in the form of a second character different from the character and occurring once before and once after the protection time signal.A radio pager as claimed in claim 3, wherein the character includes a numeral.A radio pager as claimed in claim 3, wherein the message indication, which is associated with the first kind of discriminated particular mark and which occurs within the protection time, accords with the message control signal which is associated with the message signal from which the particular marks have been removed, while the message indication, which is associated with the second kind of particular mark and which occurs within the protection time, accords with the message control signal associated with the entire message signal.A radio pager as claimed in claim 6, wherein on the elapse of the protection time, the stored message signal corresponding to the first kind of particular mark has the protection information entirely deleted therefrom, while the stored message signal corresponding to the second kind of particular mark has only the particular marks deleted therefrom. A radio pager as claimed in claim 3, wherein the message indication, which is associated with the first kind of discriminated particular mark and which occurs within the protection time, accords with the message control signal associated with the message signal from which the particular marks have been removed, while the message indication which is associated with the second kind of particular mark and which occurs within the protection time, accords with the message control signal associated with the entire message signal.A radio pager as claimed in claim 8, wherein on the elapse of the protection time, the stored message signal which corresponds to the first kind of particular mark has the protection information entirely deleted therefrom, while the stored message signal corresponding to the second kind of particular mark has only the particular marks deleted therefrom.A data display radio pager as claimed in claim 1, including comparing means for reading, in response to the protection information, the protection time from the stored message signal and for comparing the protection time with the time being counted by the timer (7), message protection means responsive to the result of comparison for protecting the stored message signal until the elapse of the protection time, and protection cancelling means responsive to the result of the comparison for cancelling the protection of the stored message signal after the protection time has elapsed.A radio pager as claimed in claim 10, wherein the control circuit (61) further includes particular mark discriminating means for discriminating the kind of the particular marks detected from the stored message signal, the control circuit (61) delivering the message control signal which gives a message indication corresponding to the kind of the discriminated particular marks.A radio pager as claimed in claim 11, wherein the particular mark discriminating means discriminates a first kind of particular mark in the form of a first character which occurs once before and once after the protection time signal, and a second kind of particular mark in the form of the first character which occurs twice before and once after the protection time.A radio pager as claimed in claim 11, wherein the particular mark discriminating means discriminates the first kind of particular mark in the form of a first character which occurs once before and once after the protection time, and a second kind of particular mark in the form of a second character different from the character and occurring once before and once after the protection time.A radio pager as claimed in claim 12, wherein the character includes a numeral.A radio pager as claimed in claim 11, wherein the message indication corresponding to the first kind of discriminated particular mark accords with the message control signal associated with the message signal from which the particular mark has been removed, while the message indication corresponding to the second kind of discriminated particular mark accords with the message control signal associated with the entire message signal.A radio pager as claimed in claim 15, wherein, on the elapse of the protection time, the stored message signal corresponding to the first kind of particular mark has the protection information deleted therefrom, while the stored message signal corresponding to the second kind of particular mark has only the particular marks deleted therefrom.A radio pager as claimed in claim 12, wherein the message indication corresponding to the first kind of discriminated particular mark accords with the message control signal associated with the message signal from which the particular marks have been removed, while the message display corresponding to the second kind of discriminated particular mark accords with the message control signal associated with the entire message signal.A radio pager in accordance with claim 17, wherein on the elapse of the protection time, the stored message signal corresponding to the first kind of particular mark has the protection information deleted therefrom, while the stored message signal corresponding to the second kind of particular mark has only the particular marks deleted therefrom.	NIPPON ELECTRIC CO; NEC CORPORATION	MATAI MASAHIRO; MATAI, MASAHIRO; MATAI, MASAHIRO, C/O NEC CORPORATION
EP-0488816-B1	488,816	EP	B1	EN	19,950,726	1,992	20,100,220	new	A44B19	null	A44B19	A44B 19/58	Method and apparatus for forming element-free spaces in slide fastener chain	Discrete coupling elements (2) of a slide fastener chain (1) are removed using an apparatus comprising a pair of pressure pads (11), a punch (10), cutters (13), a pair of guides (14), and a die (16). To form element-free spaces (8) in the slide fastener chain (1), coupling elements (2) are removed by clamping the interengaged coupling elements (2) by the punch (10) and die (16), cutting one of the forked legs by the cutter (13), and removing the cut legs from both sides of the slide fastener chain (1).	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention:This invention relates to a method of removing molded synthetic resin or metal coupling elements, each coupling element comprising a head and a pair of forked legs holding a fastener tape, from a pair of faster tapes of a slide fastener chain to form element-free space portions on the slide fastener chain. 2. Description of the Related Art:One method of removing molded synthetic resin coupling elements, each of which comprises a head and a pair of forked legs holding a fastener tape, from a slide fastener chain is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Sho 48-32222 (1973). With this citation, a pair of punches sandwich interengaged coupling elements, pressing their forklike legs to make them thin enough to deform easily. Then, the legs are freed from the punches to pull the fastener tapes from the coupling elements. Japanese Patent Publication Sho 56-52565 (1981) discloses another method. Heads of interengaged coupling elements are sandwiched and pressed by push and remove blocks having a pair of claws at their leading edges, so that legs of the coupling elements are loosened and heads of the coupling elements are crushed to move them to the right and left. Then, the claws at the leading edge of a clamp are contacted with the loosened legs to open them further. After this, the push and remove blocks sandwiching the coupling elements are lowered to remove the coupling elements. With the former above method, not only the legs of the coupling elements but also edges of the fastener tapes are pressed and deformed, which would deteriorate the quality of the tape fabric. Plastic legs would be partially destroyed, remaining stuck to the edges of the fastener tapes, which will cause various troubles in subsequent steps of production. Since the fastener tapes are pulled from the coupling elements, coupling elements near the removed area would be disengaged or cracked. Such disengaged coupling elements would have to be readjusted into their engaging conditions. With the latter above method, the claws of the push and remove blocks cut into the coupling elements, so that the edges of the fastener tapes would be also moved when the heads are crushed and moved laterally. The tape edges would be damaged as they are caught by the claws. As in the former case, the legs of the coupling elements would not be disengaged but would remain stuck to the tape edges, thus resulting in incomplete removal of the coupling elements. US-A-4 131 223 discloses a method of forming an element-free space in a slide fastener chain, said slide fastener chain comprising a pair of opposed fastener tapes and two rows of discrete coupling elements, each said fastener tape having a respective one of said rows of coupling elements provided along one edge of the tape, each said coupling element comprising a head and two legs, with one said leg on either side of the tape, said method comprising the steps of:- (a) clamping, between a coacting punch and die, heads of interengaged coupling elements of the two rows along a section thereof where the element-free space is to be formed; (b) cutting the two legs off the head of each interengaged coupling element of the two rows along said section thereof; and (c) removing each cut coupling element of the two rows along said section thereof. US-A-4 131 223 also discloses an apparatus for forming an element-free space in a slide fastener chain, said slide fastener chain comprising a pair of opposed fastener tapes and two rows of discrete coupling elements, each said fastener tape having a respective one of said rows of coupling elements provided along one edge of the tape, each said coupling element comprising a head and two legs, with one said leg on either side of the tape, said apparatus comprising:- (a) a pair of guides for guiding the fastener tapes of the slide fastener chain along a longitudinal path; (b) a coacting punch and die located upwardly and downwardly respectively of a central gap between said guides, for clamping the heads of interengaged coupling elements of the two rows along a section thereof where the element-free space is to be formed; and (c) two cutter means each movable vertically for respectively cutting the two legs off the head of each interengaged coupling element of the two rows along said section thereof. However, US-A-4 131 223 suffers from at least some of the above-mentioned disadvantages. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide a method of, and an apparatus for, forming an element-free space in a slide fastener chain without the above-mentioned disadvantages and in particular without damaging the tapes, in the case wherein said slide fastener chain comprises a pair of opposed fastener tapes and two rows of discrete coupling elements, each said fastener tape having a respective one of said rows of coupling elements provided along one edge of the tape, each said coupling element comprising a head and two legs, with one said leg on either side of the tape. The invention provides a method of forming an element-free space in a slide fastener chain as claimed in claim 1, to which reference is directed. The invention also provides an apparatus for forming an element-free space in a slide fastener chain as claimed in claim 6, to which reference is also directed. The invention will be described by way of example with reference to the drawings, of which there follows a brief description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of an apparatus for removing coupling elements, according to one embodiment of this invention; FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a slide fastener chain having an element-free space; and FIG. 3(a) to 3(d) are cross-sectional views showing how coupling elements are removed. DETAILED DESCRIPTIONAn embodiment of this invention will be described by way of example with reference to the figures. An apparatus for removing coupling elements comprises an upper unit and a lower unit. The upper unit includes a punch 10, and a pair of pressure pads 11 symmetrically arranged at opposite sides of the punch 10. The pressure pads 11 are set in motion by a drive mechanism such as a fluid cylinder or a cam mechanism, not shown. The lower unit includes a die 16, and a pair of guides 14 at opposite sides of the die 16. A slide fastener chain 1 is placed on the guides 14 and the die 16. The punch 10 is located just above a central portion of the fastener chain 1, being reciprocated by a drive mechanism such as a fluid cylinder (not shown). In cooperation with the die 16, the punch 10 sandwiches heads 3 of coupling elements 2 to be removed to form a space 8 on the slide fastener chain 1. Each pressure pad 11 includes at its edge a number of comb-tooth-like pushers 12, which enter into gaps 9 between coupling elements 2 of the fastener tapes 7 to press the inner edges of the fastener tapes 7. The pressure pads 11 are descended by the drive mechanism via springs, thereby elastically pressing the fastener tapes 7. Each cutter 13 includes a plurality of bill-like edges, which advance between the pushers 12 of the pressure pad 11 to cut portions between the heads 3 and legs 4 of the coupling elements 2. The cutters 13 are moved vertically and horizontally by the drive mechanism, such as a fluid cylinder or a cam mechanism for example, as shown in FIGS. 3(a) to 3(d), cutting the legs 4 of the coupling elements 2 and removing cut chips 5. The guides 14 are fixedly positioned at opposite sides of the die 16 to receive and guide the slide fastener chain 1. Each guide 14 has a step 15 on its upper inner edge near the die 16 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The coupling elements 2 and adjacent areas of the fastener tape fit in the space formed by the steps 15 and the die 16, where they are reliably pressed by the pushers 12 of the descended pressure pads 11. The die 16 is positioned between the guides 14, being vertically movable by the drive mechanism so as to sandwich the coupling elements 2 of the slide fastener tapes 7 between the die 16 and the punch 10. The die 16 has a width equal to the length of the interengaged coupling elements 2. As shown in FIG. 3(a), the die 16 is brought down lower than the guides 14, forming a concavity 17 defined by its upper surface and the side walls of the guides 14. The lower halves of the coupling elements 2 are received in the concavity 17. FIG. 3(a) to 3(d) show how coupling elements are removed to form an element-free space on a slide fastener chain 1. Usually, the punch 10, pressure pads 11 and cutters 13 are at their upper standby positions as shown in FIG. 1. When the slide fastener chain 1 is advanced on the guide 14 to a preset extent determined by a distance meter including a supply roller with an encoder, the slide fastener chain 1 is stopped. As shown in FIG. 3(a), the pressure pads 11 are lowered, so that the pushers 12 of the pressure pads 11 are inserted into gaps 9 between coupling elements 2, elastically pushing the fastener tapes along the coupling elements 2 to reliably and immovably hold a portion of the fastener tapes 7 where the coupling elements will be removed to form an element-free space. Then the punch 10 is lowered to sandwich the heads 3 of the interengaged coupling elements 2, in a region to form the element-free space, in cooperation with the die 16. As shown in FIG. 3(b), the cutter 13 descends to cut the coupling elements 2 between their heads 3 and legs 4 near the core threads along the edges of the fastener tapes 7, thereby cutting and separating the heads 3 and legs 4 on the upper side of the slide fastener tapes 7. Then, the cutters 13 are moved to the right and left, respectively, to move cut chips 5 outwardly of the slide fastener tapes 7. The cut chips will be completely discharged from the slide fastener tapes 7 by a sucking unit or a blower. As shown in FIG. 3(d), both the punch 10 and die 16 are lowered with the cut heads of the coupling elements 2 sandwiched between them. The legs 4 and heads 3 of the coupling elements 2 remaining on the under surface of each of the slide fastener tapes 7 will be pushed downwardly, to be removed from the fastener tapes 7. After this, only the punch 10 is raised to release itself from the die 16. The cut chips 6 on the die 16 are put aside by the sucking unit or blower. The punch 10, pressure pads 11, cutters 13 and die 16 are returned to their standby positions to get ready for a following removal process. The foregoing steps are repeated to form element-free spaces 8 at specified positions of the slide fastener chain 1. Then, the slide fastener chain 1 will be carried to another stage of the production process. According to this invention, the legs and heads of the coupling elements on one side of the slide fastener tape are firstly cut, and the cut legs are removed from the fastener tapes. Then, the heads and the remaining legs on the other side of the slide fastener tapes are lowered while sandwiched between the punch 10 and the die 16, thereby being detached from the edges of the fastener tapes. Mechanical shocks generated to cut the legs of the coupling elements are applied only to a small area near the tape edges, without any damage to the fastener tapes. The coupling elements can be completely removed, forming neat element-free spaces. Further, since the fastener tapes are reliably held by the pressure pads, interengaged coupling elements near the cut area can remain interengaged, so that the fastener tapes can be guided to a succeeding processing step without any inconvenience. The apparatus for removing the coupling element comprises the punch and die to sandwich and lower the heads of the coupling elements, and the cutters for cutting only one of the forklike legs. The apparatus is therefore very simple and compact, and easy to operate.	A method of forming an element-free space (8) in a slide fastener chain (1), said slide fastener chain (1) comprising a pair of opposed fastener tapes (7) and two rows of discrete coupling elements (2), each said fastener tape (7) having a respective one of said rows of coupling elements (2) provided along one edge of the tape (7), each said coupling element (2) comprising a head (3) and two legs (4), with one said leg (4) on either side of the tape (7), said method comprising the steps of:- (a) clamping, between a coacting punch (10) and die (16), heads (3) of interengaged coupling elements (2) of the two rows along a section thereof where the element-free space (8) is to be formed; (b) cutting only one of the said legs (4) off the head (3) of each interengaged coupling element (2) of the two rows along said section thereof, the other leg (4) being left attached to the head (3); (c) removing each cut leg (4) from its respective tape (7) outwardly of the respective coupling element row; and (d) removing the remaining leg (4) and head (3), still attached to each other, from the tape (7). A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coupling elements are of synthetic resin. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coupling elements are of metal. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the heads (3) and uncut legs (4) are removed from the opposed fastener tapes (7) by the heads (3) being clamped between said coacting punch (10) and die (16) and being displaced thereby, through a gap between the opposed tapes (7), to the sides of the opposed fastener tapes (7) corresponding to the uncut legs (4). A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein spaced-apart portions of the opposed tapes (7), located between adjacent coupling elements (2) on each tape (7), are clamped by pressure pad means (11), provided at edges thereof with comb-like pusher means (12), along the section of the tapes (7) where the element-free space (8) is to be formed, during the aforesaid cutting of legs (4). An apparatus for forming an element-free space (8) in a slide fastener chain (1), said slide fastener chain (1) comprising a pair of opposed fastener tapes (7) and two rows of discrete coupling elements (2), each said fastener tape (7) having a respective one of said rows of coupling elements (2) provided along one edge of the tape (7), each said coupling element (2) comprising a head (3) and two legs (4), with one said leg (4) on either side of the tape (7), said apparatus comprising:- (a) a pair of guides (14) for guiding the fastener tapes (7) of the slide fastener chain (1) along a longitudinal path; (b) a coacting punch (10) and die (16) located upwardly and downwardly respectively of a central gap between said guides (14), for clamping the heads (3) of interengaged coupling elements (2) of the two rows along a section thereof where the element-free space (8) is to be formed; said punch (10) and die (16) being movable vertically towards each other and movable as a unit upwardly or downwardly with the heads (3) clamped between said punch (10) and said die (16); (c) cutter means (13) movable vertically for cutting only one of the said legs (4) off the head (3) of each interengaged coupling element (2) of the two rows along said section thereof, and for leaving the other leg (4) attached to the head (3); said cutter means (13) being adapted to be moved horizontally, outwardly of the opposed tapes (7), after the aforesaid cutting of legs (4), for removing the cut legs (4) from their respective tapes (7) outwardly of the coupling element rows; and (d) said punch (10) and die (16) being operative for removing the remaining leg (4) and head (3), still attached to each other, from the tape (7); (e) said apparatus comprising no operative cutter means for cutting said other leg (4) off the head (3) of each interengaged coupling element (2) of the two rows along said section thereof; (f) whereby in use of the apparatus said other leg (4) remains attached to the head (3). Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said coacting punch (10) and die (16) are adapted to remove the heads (3) and uncut legs (4) from the opposed fastener tapes (7) by clamping the heads (3) between said coacting punch (10) and die (16) and by displacing the clamped heads (3) through a gap between the opposed tapes (7), to the sides of the opposed fastener tapes (7) corresponding to the uncut legs (4). Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein pressure pad means (11), provided at edges thereof with comb-like pusher means (12), is adapted for clamping spaced-apart portions of the opposed tapes (7), located between adjacent coupling elements (2) on each tape (7), along the section of the tapes (7) where the element-free space (8) is to be formed, during the aforesaid cutting of legs (4).	YKK CORP; YKK CORPORATION	SHIMAI HIDEO; SHIMAI, HIDEO
EP-0488817-B1	488,817	EP	B1	EN	19,970,326	1,992	20,100,220	new	C08G65	C08G65, C08F299, C08G63	C08G65, C08F290	C08F 290/06	Heterofunctional macromers and polymers derived therefrom	Th invention provides heterofunctional macromers of the formula: in which R1 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms R2 is a (poly)lactone or (poly)ether chain having 1 to 50 lactone or ether repeating units; X1 is (in which R3 is an alkylene group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms or an aromatic or alicyclic group); and A is a or The invention also provides reactive polymers and copolymers derived from such macromers.	The present invention relates to a novel heterofunctional macromer compound having in its molecule both polymerizable, ethylenical unsaturation bond and polymerizable ethynyl unsaturation bond, its preparation and a novel reactive polymer obtained by using said compound. In curing a resinous coating composition applied on electric appliance, electronic parts, automobile, air-craft parts, plant material and the like, has been widely adopted a method wherein a curing agent as amino resins, isocyanate compounds blocked isocyanate compounds and the like is compounded with the abovementioned coating composition and applied composition is cured by effecting a cross-linking reaction, or a method wherein unsaturation bonds are carried on the base resin and a curing reaction is effected through oxidative polymerization. However, these curing reactions always require a high temperature and hence, in the case of curing with an aminoplast resin, there are problems of liberation of volatile materials as alcohol, water and the like or problems of stability of the formed bond after said curing reaction, and in the case of curing with an isocyanate compound, problems of handing difficulties of two liquid packages, application difficulties and the like. Attempts have also been made to use a high solid paint with a resinous material having relatively small molecular weight or a resin having specific polymer structure as comb structure, linear structure, star structure or the like to lower the viscosity of the paint composition. Under the circumstances, have long been desired a novel class of reactive polymers which may be further polymerized or copolymerized with other monomers at a relatively low temperature without liberating undesired volatile materials and can be used as a resinous vehicle in a coating composition. A principal object of the present invention is to provide such novel reactive polymer. Further objects of the invention are to provide a novel macromer to be used in such reactive polymer. According to the present invention, the abovementioned objects of the invention may be attained with a reactive polymer having ethynyl group obtained by the polymerization of a heterofunctional polymerizable macromer compound represented by the formula: Thus, the present invention provides: 1. A heterofunctional macromer compound represented by the formula: in which R1 is hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R2 is a (poly)lactone or (poly)ether chain having 1 to 50 lactone or ether repeating units; X1is group; X2is -O- , group; in which R3 is an alkylene having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, aromatic or alicyclic group; A is -CH2- , or group. 2. A reactive polymer which is obtained by the polymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound of the formula: in the presence of a radical initiator, comprises the repeating unit of the formula: in which R1 is hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R2 is a (poly)lactone or (poly) ether chain having 1 to 50 lactone or ether repeating units; X1is group; X2is -O- , group; in which R3 is an alkylene having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, aromatic or alicyclic group; A is -CH2- , or group, and has a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 100,000. 3. A reactive polymer which is obtained by the copolymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound of the formula: and other copolymerizable vinyl compound in the presence of a radical initiator, the weight ratio of said macromer compound and vinyl compound being 99:1 to 1:99, comprises the repeating unit of the formula: in which R1 is hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R2 is a (poly)lactone or (poly) ether chain having 1 to 50 lactone or ether repeating units; X1is group; X2 is -O- , group; in which R3 is an alkylene having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, aromatic or alicyclic group; A is -CH2- , or group, and has a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 100,000. 4. A reactive polymer which is obtained by the polymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound of the formula: in the presence of a metallic compound, comprises a repeating unit of the formula: in which R1 is hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R2 is a (poly)lactone or (poly) ether chain having 1 to 50 lactone or ether repeating units; X1 is group; X2 is -O- , group; in which R3 is an alkylene having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, aromatic or alicyclic group; A is -CH2- , or group, and has a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 100,000. 5. A reactive polymer which is obtained by the copolymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound of the formula: and other ethynyl compound in the presence of a metallic compound the weight ratio of said macromer compound and ethynyl compound being 99:1 to 1:99, comprises a repeating unit of the formula: in which R1 is hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R2 is a (poly)lactone or (poly) ether chain having 1 to 50 lactone or ether repeating units; X1is group; X2is -O- , group; in which R3 is an alkylene having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, aromatic or alicyclic group; A is -CH2- , or group, and has a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 100,000. The present heterofunctional macromer compounds and homo- or co-polymers derived from said macromer compounds are prepared as follows. (1) Preparation of the present heterofunctional macromer compounds:The present heterofunctional macromer compounds represented by the formula: in which R1 is hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R2 is a poly(lactone) or poly ether chain having 1 to 50 repeating lactone or ether unit number; X1 is or group; X2 is -O-, or group; R3 is an alkylene having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, aromatic or alicyclic group; A is -CH2-, may be advantageously prepared by reacting an ethynyl compound of the formula: CH≡C-A-Y1 in which A is -CH2-, and Y1 is -OH group, with a compound selected from the group consisting of ε-caprolactone, δ-valerolactone, β-methyl-δ-valerolactone, ethyleneoxide, propyleneoxide, tetrahydrofuran, and diisocyanate compound, and then reacting thus obtained compound with an ethylenic compound of the formula: in which R1 is hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and Y2 is an acid halide, -COOB1-O-(C-B2-O)n H or -COO(B2O)n H group; B1 and B2 each represents an alkylene group; and n is an integer of 1 to 50. Examples of said ethynyl compound represented by the formula: CH≡C-A-Y1 are CH≡C-CH2-OH , An example of diisocyanate compounds to be reacted with said ethynyl compound is isophorone diisocyanate. The reaction of the abovementioned ethynyl compound and the compound selected from the group consisting of ε-caprolactone, δ-valerolactone, β-methyl-δ-methyl-δ-valerolactone, ethyleneoxide, propyleneoxide, tetrahydrofuran and diisocyanate compounds may be carried out, with or without reaction solvent, under nitrogen atmosphere, by heating the reaction mixture under stirring. At that time, when a ring-opening catalyst as dibutyl tinoxide or alkali hydroxide is used, cyclic lactone or cyclic ether may be easily ring opened and reacted with the said ethynyl compound. Thus obtained product is then reacted with an ethylenic compound of the formula: in which R1 and Y2 each has the same meaning as defined above. Examples of the said ethylenic compound are methacrylic acid chloride, methacrylic acid bromide, acrylic acid chloride, acrylic acid bromide, methacryloyl acyl isocyanate, acryloyl acyl isocyanate, isocyanate ethyl methacrylate, m-isopropenyl α,α-dimethyl benzoyl isocyanate, and such compounds as being represented by the formula: in which m is a positive number of 1 to 50; R1 is H or CH3, and by the formula: in which n is a positive number of 1 to 50 ; R1 is H or CH3. This reaction may be advantageously carried out in a solvent as methylene chloride, dichloroethane or carbon tetrachloride, at a temperature of -20 to 100°C under stirring. Thus, the present heterofunctional macromer compound having reactivity with both ethylenic compound and ethynyl compound can be obtained. (2) Polymerization:The thus obtained heterofunctional macromer compound may be polymerized by itself or copolymerized with other ethylenically unsaturated monomer(s) in the presence of a radical initiator to give a reactive polymer still having a reactive ethynyl group. Example of the radical initiator used in the invention are azobisisobutyronitrile, azobispropionitrile, azobisvaleronitrile, diazoaminobenzene, p-nitrobenzene diazonium salt, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium persulfate, benzoylperoxide and t-butylhydroperoxide. The other ethylenically unsaturated monomers may be of any kinds usually employed for the preparation of vinyl resin, including, for example, vinylacetate, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, alkylacrylate, alkylmethacrylate, glycidylmethacrylate, glycidyl acrylate, styrene and acrylonitrile. The polymerization is carried out in a solvent as dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, toluene, benzene, xylene, methylethylketone, cyclohexanone, butylacetate, ethyleneglycol diacetate, methyl cellosolve and butyl cellosolve, or in an aqueous medium, in the presence of a radical initiator, at a temperature which is above the decomposition temperature of said radical initiator. The thus obtained polymer is characterized by having a repeating unit of The end ethynyl radical may be further used as a reaction site with other ethynyl compound and in that sense, the present polymer or copolymer may be named as reactive polymer or copolymer. As to the molecular weight of the present reactive polymer, preferably limited to a range of 3000-100,000 (number average molecular weight). This is because, the present reactive polymer is principally intended for use as a resinous vehicle for coating composition or as a molding material and hence, an appropriate flowability, viscosity or the like may be required for the said objects. In the copolymer, the present heterofunctional macromer compound and the other ethylenically unsaturated monomers may be selected in any desired weight ratio, but it is customarily and preferably used in a weight ratio of 99:1 to 1:99. Alternatively, the present macromer compound may be homopolymerized or copolymerized with other ethynyl compound by making use of the reactivity of the ethynyl bond contained. At that time, a metal compound as, for example, molybdenum or tungsten chloride and the like may be used as an catalyst, to obtain a different type of reactive polymer having a repreating unit of in which R1, X1 R2, X2 and A each has the same meanings as defined above. Again, it is also preferable to use the weight ratio of the heterofunctional macromer and the ethynyl compound =99:1-1:99, to give the homo- or co-polymer having a number average molecular weight of about 3000 to 100,000. Examples of the abovementioned ethynyl compounds to be copolymerized with the present macromer compound and the reactive polymer of this invention are esters obtained by the reaction of acrylic or methacrylic acid and propargylamines, ethynylaniline and propargyloxybenzyl alcohol. Thus obtained polymers, in either case of homopolymer or copolymer, still have self-reactive unsaturation bonds at polymer ends, which may be advantageously used for non-volatile crosslinking reaction by the application of heat or light energy or further reacted with unsaturated monomers to give a highly polymerized product. (3) Coating composition use:The present heterofunctional macromer compound or its homopolymer or copolymer may be formulated with other optional reactive monomers and polymerization catalyst, and high molecular weight binder, plasticizer, surfactant, coloring matter and the like, to give a solvent type or water dispersion type coating compositions. As an organic solvent, any of the conventional organic solvents customarily used in coating compositions may be satisfactorily used, including ketone solvents as, for example, methylethylketone, acetone and methylisobutyl ketone; ester solvents as, for example, ethylacetate, butylacetate and ethyleneglycol diacetate; aromatic solvents as, for example, toluene and xylene; cellosolve solvents as, for example, ethyleneglycol monomethyl ether; alcohol solvents as, for example, methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol; ether solvents as, for example, tetrahydrofuran and dioxane; halogenated alkyl solvents as, for example, chloroform; or mixtures thereof. The thus obtained coating composition is applied on a substrate by means of bar-coater, spinner or spraying and the formed coating may be cured by heating at a temperature of 180°C or less, or by illumination with a semiconductor laser, helium neon laser, argon laser, helium-cadmium laser, kryptone laser or mercury lamp, metal halide lamp, tungsten lamp and the like. The invention shall be now more fully explained by means of examples. Example 1Into a reaction vessel fitted with a stirrer, a reflux condenser, were placed 56.06g(1 mol) of dried propargyl alcohol, 171.2g(1.5 mol) of ε-caprolactone and 0.726g of dibutyltin oxide and the combined was reacted under nitrogen gas stream at 140°C until the IR characteristic absorption of ε-caprolactone had disappeared, to obtain an intermediate reaction product A. 17.0g of this reaction product A, 50ml of methylene chloride, and 11.13g of triethylamine were weighed in a reactor and 11.50g(0.11mol) of methacrylic chloride were dropwise added thereto at 20°C and over 60 minutes. After completion of said addition, the mixture was reacted for 5 hours and then treated with H2O/methylene chloride to obtain an organic layer, from which the present heterofunctional macromer A was obtained (yield:78%). H-NMR 2.5ppm (CH≡C-) 5.8-6.8ppm-1 (CH2=C-) IR:3300cm-1;2100cm-1 (CH≡C-) VPO Mn:240 n=1 Example 2Into a reaction vessel fitted With a stirrer, a reflux condenser and a nitrogen gas inlet tube, were placed 5.60g of dried propargyl alcohol, 180.22g (1.8mol) of δ-valerolactone and 0.928g of tetraisopropoxytitanate and the combined was reacted under nitrogen gas stream at 140°C until the IR characteristic absorption of δ-valerolactone had disappeared. From the reaction mixture, unreacted monomer was distilled off under reduced pressure to obtain an intermediate reaction product B. 18.56g(0.01mol) of this reaction product B, 50 ml of methylene chloride, and 1.11g(0.011mol) of triethylamine were weighed in a reactor and 1.15g(0.011mol) of methacrylic chloride were dropwise added thereto at 20°C and over 60 minutes. After completion of said addition, the mixture was reacted for 5 hours and then treated with H2O/ methylene chloride to obtain an organic layer, from which the present heterofunctional macromer B was obtained (yield;68%). H-NMR 2.5ppm (CH≡C-) 5.8-6.8ppm-1 (CH2=C-) 1R:3300cm-1 ;2100cm-1 (CH≡C-) VPO Mn:1850 n=18 Example 3Into a pressure reactor, 56.06g(lmol) of dried propargyl alcohol and 56.1g(1mol) of KOH were weighed and 580.8g(10mol) of propylene oxide were dropwise added at 90°C for 3 hours, under pressure. After completion of said addition, the reaction was continued for 10 hours and thereafter, unreacted monomer was distilled off under reduced pressure to obtain an intermediate reaction product C. This product C was treated with an ion-exchange resin to remove KOH contained. 63.4g of thus obtained product C (0.1mol) and 50ml of methylene chloride were weighed in a reactor and 11.1g(0.1mol) of methacryloylacyl isocyanate were dropwise added under ice cooling over 30 minutes. Thereafter, the reaction was continued at 40°C for 60 minutes until the remaining isocyanate groups had disappeared to obtain a heterofunctional macromer C. (Yield 65%) H-NMR 2.5ppm (CH≡C-), 5.6-6.6ppm-1 (CH2=C) IR:3300cm-1 ; 2100cm-1 (CH≡C-) VPO Mn:750 n=9 Example 4A mixture of 56.0g (1.0mol) of dried propargyl alcohol, 22.2g (1.0mol) of isophorone diisocyanate, 0.028g of dibutyl tin laurate and a solvent was reacted at 100°C under nitrogen atmosphere to obtain an intermediate reaction product E. To 25.6g (0.1mol) of the thus obtained product E, was added N1-5 (manufactured by Nippon Paint Co.,Ltd. end HO containing methacryloyl polytetramethylene oxide) and the mixture was reacted at 80°C to obtain a heterofunctional macromer E. H-NMR 2.5ppm (CH≡C-), 5.6-6.5ppm-1 (CH2=C) IR:3300cm-1 ; 2100cm-1 (CH≡C-) VPO Mn:700 n=5 Examples 5-8Following the procedures as stated in Example 4, the undermentioned heterofunctional macromer compounds were prepared. The structure of the respective compound was confirmed by the test results of IR, H-NMR and VPO. Example 5as CH=C-A-Y1, (1mol) as -R2-, ε-caprolactone (45mol) as CH2=C(R1)-Y2, (1mol) heterofunctional macromer, Example 6as CH=C-A-Y1, (1mol) as -R2-, ε-caprolactone (5mol) as CH2=C(R1)-Y2, (1mol) heterofunctional macromer, Example 7as CH=C-A-Y1, CH≡C-CH2-OH (1mol) as -R2-, ε-caprolactone (5mol) as CH2=C(R1)-Y2, (1mol) heterofunctional macromer, Example 8as CH=C-A-Y1, CH≡C-CH2-OH (1mol) as -R2-, ε-caprolactone (5mol) as CH2=C(R1)-Y2, (1mol) heterofunctional macromer, Example 9Into a reactor fitted with a stirrer, a nitrogen gas inlet tube and a thermo-regulator, were placed 0.1g of N,N'-azobisisobutyronitrile, 50.0g of macromer A obtained in Example 1 and 75.0g of dimethyl formamide and the mixture was, while introducing nitrogen and stirring, heated to 80°C and the reaction was continued at 80°C for 6 hours. The reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature and 100g of the thus obtained mixture was then dropwise added, while stirring, to 3 liters of hexane. The precipitated polymer was filtered, washed and vacuum dried to obtain powder polymer. GPC analysis showed that number average molecular weight of the polymer was 8500 and it had mono-dispersion showing only 1 peak at the molecular weight distribution chart. IR spectrum showed that there were absorptions at 3300cm-1, 2100cm-1 (-C≡CH) and 1720cm-1 (ester bond). Example 10Into a reactor fitted with a stirrer, a nitrogen gas inlet tube and a thermo-regulator, were placed 0.1g of N,N'-azobisisobutyronitrile, 25.0g of the macromer B obtained in Example 2, 25.0g of methyl methacrylate and 75.0g of dimethyl formamide and the mixture was, while introducing nitrogen gas and continuing stirring, heated to 80°C and reacted at the same temperature for 6 hours. The reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature and 100g of the reaction mixture was dropwise added, while stirring, to 3 liters of hexane. The precipitated polymer was filtered, washed and vacuum dried to obtain powder polymer. GPC analysis showed that number average molecular weight was 10000 and it had mono-dispersion showing only 1 peak at the molecular weight distribution chart. IR spectrum showed that there were absorptions at 3300, 2100cm-1 (-C≡CH), and 1650cm-1 (urethane bond). Example 11Into a reactor fitted with a stirrer, a nitrogen gas inlet tube and a thermo-regulator, were placed 0.1g of MoCl5, 25.0g of the macromer B obtained in Example 2, and 150.0g of toluene and the mixture was, while introducing nitrogen gas and continuing stirring, heated to 40°C and reacted at the same temperature for 10 hours. The reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature and 100g of the reaction mixture was dropwise added, while stirring, to 3 liters of hexane. The precipitated polymer was filtered, washed and vacuum dried to obtain powder polymer. GPC analysis showed that number average molecular weight was 15000 and it had mono-dispersion showing only 1 peak at the molecular weight distribution chart. Example 12Into a reactor fitted with a stirrer, a nitrogen gas inlet tube and a thermo-regulator, were placed 0.1g of MoCl5, 12.5g of the macromer A obtained in Example 1, 12.5g of the macromer B obtained in Example 2, and 150.0g of toluene and the mixture was, while introducing nitrogen gas and continuing stirring, heated to 40°C and reacted at the same temperature for 10 hours. The reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature and 100g of the reaction mixture was dropwise added, while stirring, to 3 liters of hexane. The precipitated polymer was filtered, washed and vacuum dried to obtain powder polymer. GPC analysis showed that number average molecular weight was 8000. Example 13The same procedures as stated in Example 10 were repeated, excepting using 0.02g of t-BuOK, 300ml of tetrahydrofuran and 30.0g of macromer A. After completion of the reaction, the formed polymer was separated. GPC showed that the number average molecular weight of the polymer was 6000. IR spectrum showed that there were absorptions at 3300, 2100cm-1 (-C≡CH).	A heterofunctional macromer compound of the formula: in which R1 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R2 is a (poly)lactone or (poly)ether chain having 1 to 50 lactone or ether repeating units; X1is a group; X2is an -O-, group; (in which R3 is an alkylene group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms or an aromatic or alicyclic group); and A is a -CH2-, or group. A reactive polymer obtained by the polymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound as defined in claim 1 in the presence of a radical initiator and comprising repeating units of the formula: (in which R1, R2, X1, X2 and A have the meanings defined in claim 1), and having a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 100,000. A reactive polymer obtained by the copolymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound as defined in claim 1 and another copolymerizable vinyl compound in the presence of a radical initiator, the weight ratio of the macromer compound to the vinyl compound being from 99:1 to 1:99; the polymer comprising repeating units of the formula: (in which R1, R2, X1, X2 and A have the meanings defined in claim 1) and having a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 100,000. A reactive polymer obtained by the polymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound as defined in claim 1 in the presence of a metallic compound, comprises repeating units of the formula: (in which R1, R2, A, X1 and X2 have the meanings defined in claim 1), and having a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 100,000. A reactive polymer obtained by the copolymerization of a heterofunctional macromer compound as claimed in claim 1 and another ethynyl compound in the presence of a metallic compound,the weight ratio of said macromer compound and ethynyl compound being 99:1 to 1:99, and comprising repeating units of the formula: (in which R1, R2, A, X1 and X2 have the meaning defined in claim 1) and having a number average molecular weight of 3,000 to 100,000.	NIPPON PAINT CO LTD; NIPPON PAINT CO., LTD.	AOKI KEI; YAMADA MITSUO; AOKI, KEI; YAMADA, MITSUO
EP-0488818-B1	488,818	EP	B1	EN	19,960,110	1,992	20,100,220	new	H03M3	null	H03M3, H03M1	H03M 3/04	A/D (analog-to-digital) converter	An A/D converter comprises a first stage integrator for receiving an input signal, a last stage integrator, a multibit A/D converter (4) connected to the output terminal of the last stage integrator, an outer feedback loop connected between the output terminal of the multibit A/D converter and the input terminal of said first stage integrator and having a 1-bit D/A converter (11), an inner feedback loop connected between the output terminal of the multibit A/D converter and the input terminal of the last stage integrator and having a multibit D/A converter (6), and a digital signal processing circuit (50), connected to the output terminal of the A/D converter, for performing digital signal processing of an output from the A/D converter to eliminate quantization noise caused by the outer feedback loop.	The present invention relates to an over-sampling type A/D converter and, more particularly, to an A/D converter capable of performing conversion at a high accuracy. In a conventional A/D converter, it is considered that the number of quantized samples is increased to improve conversion accuracy. However, in order to perform this, a large number of code discriminators must be used, and an A/D converter having a large-scale arrangement must be used. For this reason, the following A/D converter is proposed. That is, in this A/D converter, upper bits are roughly determined by a discriminator, and lower bits are determined by this discriminator. In addition to the above A/D converter, an over-sampling type A/D converter represented by a Δ-Σ modulator has received a great deal of attention as A/D converter in which an A/D conversion characteristic having higher accuracy than that of a conventional A/D converter can be obtained by using 1-bit (binary) A/D & D/A converters. This A/D converter is a high-accuracy A/D converter suitable for an integrated circuit. That is, in this converter, even when an analog circuit element does not have high accuracy, an analog-to-digital conversion characteristic having high accuracy of, e.g., about 16 bits can be obtained. The Δ-Σ modulator is described in the literature, e.g., Over-sampling type A/D & D/A conversion technique (first to sixth) , Akira Yukawa, Nikkei Electronics, No. 453-460, 1989. In order to use the Δ-Σ modulator as a high-accuracy A/D converter, there are two conventional problems. First, when an integration order is increased to third or more order to improve an S/N ratio by using a 1-bit D/A converter, an output signal cannot follow an input signal to cause conversion to be unstable. It is known that this drawback can be solved by using a multi-bit D/A converter. However, the multi-bit D/A converter requires, e.g., a high-accuracy analog circuit element having 16 or more bits, therefore, the Δ-Σ modulator loses an important advantage for an IC, i.e., the Δ-Σ modulator can be constituted by elements having no high accuracy. when a high-accuracy analog circuit element is used, A/D converters other than a Δ-Σ modulator can be sufficiently used. Nevertheless, when a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter is used, the Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter loses its merit, because an A/D converter having 16-bit accuracy which can be obtained with good reproducibility without trimming an IC pattern in an IC is almost limited to a 1-bit (binary) converter. In converters other than a 1-bit converter, even when the 16-bit accuracy can be obtained, an area occupied by the converter is to be excessively large. Second, in the Δ-Σ modulator, since the output voltage amplitude of a latter-stage integrator is increased more rapidly than that of a former-stage integrator to degrade a whole dynamic range. For example, an integrator must be able to output a voltage having an amplitude twice the maximum input range without distortion in a Δ-Σ modulator for performing first-order integration, and an integrator must be able to output a voltage having an amplitude four times the maximum input range without distortion in a Δ-Σ modulator for performing second-order integration. Therefore, a dynamic range is determined at a portion where the maximum amplitude is generated. Although this problem can be solved by using a multi-bit D/A converter, the above problem on the accuracy of elements occurs. when an IC is formed by the elements, a high-accuracy A/D converter cannot be obtained. Therefore, when the S/N ratio of a A-Σ modulator is to be improved, extensive studies for developing a circuit arrangement using only a 1-bit D/A converter have been made. For example, an effort of this development is described in the literature Reduction of Quantization noise of 1-bit Over-Sampling Type A/D Converter , Ken Yoshitome and Kuniharu Uchimura, (lecture papers A-126 in the 1988's spring national meeting of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers). In this literature, the following example is disclosed. That is, although 1-bit resolution D/A converters are used in conventional first- and second-order Δ-Σ modulators, a multibit quantizer is used as an A/D converter, and quantization noise caused by a difference between the number of bits of the multi-bit quantizer and the number of bit of the 1-bit D/A converter is removed by digital processing. Therefore, according to this method, an S/N ratio can be advantageously improved compared with a conventional Δ-Σ modulator having 1-bit A/D and D/A converters. However, since the 1-bit D/A converter is used in this method, the second problem is not solved yet, and therefore, the first problem is not solved. As described above, in a conventional Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter, the output voltage amplitude of a latter-stage integrator is increased more rapidly than that of a former-stage integrator to degrade a whole dynamic range. For this reason, a multi-bit D/A converter may be used to solve this problem. However, the A/D converter with a high accuracy can not be attained by the multi-bit D/A converter. An A/D converter according to the preamble of Claims 1 and 13 is known from the 1990 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, May 1-3, 1990, IEEE New York US, pages 372-375, T.C. LESLIE et al. : An Improved Sigma-Delta Modulator Architecture . It is an object of the present invention to provide a general Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter which includes two or more integrators and in which stability can be assured without requiring a high-accuracy element and the output amplitudes of the integrators can be kept to be small. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter comprising at least two integrators connected in series, a multibit A/D converter connected to a last integrator, and a plurality of D/A converters arranged in a feedback loop constituted by the integrators and the A/D converter, wherein the number of quantization levels of a feedback signal supplied to second and subsequent integrators is larger than the number of quantization levels of a feedback signal supplied to the first integrator. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter comprising first and second D/A converters for converting a digital signal into an analog signal, a first subtracter for subtracting an output signal from the first D/A converter from an input signal, a first integrator for integrating an output signal from the first subtracter, a second subtracter for subtracting an output of the second D/A converter from an output of the first integrator, a second integrator for integrating an output from the second subtracter, and an A/D converter for converting an output from the second integrator into a digital signal, wherein the output signal from the A/D converter is input to the first and second D/A converters, and output signals from the first and second converters are used as outputs from the Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter. In an over-sampling type A/D converter according to the present invention includes N (N is an integer of not less than 2) integrators, one multibit A/D converter, and D/A converters. A 1-bit signal is used as only a feedback signal supplied to the first integrator, and a multibit feedback signal having more than 3 values is supplied to the second and subsequent integrators. For this reason, a feedback signal having the highest accuracy is supplied to the first integrator, which influences the accuracy of the D/A converter more than any other integrator, to keep a whole S/N ratio to be high. Meanwhile, the multibit feedback signal is supplied to other integrators, which does not almost influences the accuracy of the D/A converter, to decrease output amplitudes of the second and subsequent integrators. with the above arrangement, when linear operation ranges of the integrators are equal to those of conventional integrators, the over-sampling type A/D converter can be operated without distortion even if a high level input is inputted, and a dynamic range can be increased. This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the principle of an A/D converter according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an A/D converter according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an A/D converter according to another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 4 is a graph for explaining an advantage of the A/D converter in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a graph showing a spectrum of an A/D conversion output of the A/D converter in Fig. 2 according to a simulation; Fig. 6 is a graph showing an S/N ratio of the A/D converter in Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing an A/D converter using three integrators according to still another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 8A is a block diagram showing an A/D converter in which the output of a 1-bit D/A converter is connected to first and second integrators according to still another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 8B is a block diagram showing a digital signal processing circuit included in the A/D converter in Fig. 8A; Fig. 9 is a circuit diagram showing an A/D converter in which the outputs of D/A converters are respectively connected to a plurality of integrators according to still another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 10 is a block diagram showing an A/D converter in which the output of the binary D/A converter is connected to a first integrator and the output of one multibit D/A converter is connected to the outputs of a plurality of integrators according to still another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 11 is a block diagram showing a local D/A converter used in the present invention; and Fig. 12 is a timing chart showing control signals for driving the local D/A converter in Fig. 11. Fig. 1 is a view for explaining the principle of an A/D converter according to the present invention, and Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of an improved second-order Δ-Σ modulator. Note that a digital signal processing circuit is omitted in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, an input signal X is supplied to an input signal terminal 1. A first stage integrator 2 is connected to a second stage integrator 3 through an adder 18, and the output terminal of the second stage integrator 3 is connected to the input terminal of a second A/D converter 4. The output terminal of the second A/D converter 4 is connected to the input terminal of a second D/A converter 6 through an adder 21. The output terminal of the second D/A converter 6 is connected to a coefficient multiplier 8 through an adder 19, and the output terminal of the coefficient multiplier 8 is connected to the adder 18. The output terminal of a first A/D converter 9 is connected to the output terminal of the integrator 3, and the output terminal of the first A/D converter 9 is connected to the input terminal of a first D/A converter 11 through an adder 20. Output signals Y1 and Y2 are output through first and second digital output terminals 13 and 14, respectively. A clock CK is supplied to the A/D converters 4 and 9. In this case, the first D/A converter 11 is a binary (1-bit) converter, the second D/A converter 6 is a multi-valued converter which has more than 3 values. Although the first and second A/D converters 4 and 9 are independently shown in Fig. 1 for descriptive convenience, since 1-bit converter is used as the first A/D converter, the MSB (sign bit) output of the second A/D converter can be used without being changed, and a circuit size can be decreased. An output from the D/A converter 11 is imaginarily shown in Fig. 1, and the adder 16 adds the output of the D/A converter 11 to a noise signal D1 generated due to distortion generated in the D/A converter 11. The value obtained by this addition is subtracted from the signal X input from the terminal 1, and the value obtained by this subtraction is integrated by the first stage integrator 2. An output from the D/A converter 6 is imaginarily shown in Fig. 1, and the adder 19 adds the output of the D/A converter 6 to a noise signal D2 generated due to distortion generated in the D/A converter 6. The value obtained by this addition is multiplied by a constant (e.g., two) in the coefficient multiplier 8, and the multiplication value is subtracted from the integrated value of the integrator 2 and input to the second integrator 3. An output from the second stage integrator 3 is input to the A/D converters 4 and 9. The digital outputs from the A/D converters 4 and 9 are input to the D/A converter 11 to be converted into analog signals again, and the analog signals are finally input to the integrators 2 and 3 so as to form a feedback loop. Signals Q1 and Q2 respectively represent quantization noise components of the A/D converters 9 and 4, and the signals are imaginarily added to the output signals from the A/D converters 9 and 4 by the adders 20 and 21, respectively. Signals D2 and D1 represent noise components caused by distortion generated in the D/A converters 6 and 11, respectively. when the integrators 2 and 3 are constituted by switched capacitor integrators popularly used in a Δ-Σ modulator, since the transfer function of the switched capacitor integrator is represented by z⁻¹/(1 - z⁻¹), a system shown in the block diagram of Fig. 1 is represented by the following equations: Y1=X-Y1-D1Z-11-Z-1-2Y2+D2Z-11-Z-1+Q1 Y2=X-Y1-D1Z-11-Z-1-2Y2+D2Z-11-Z-1+Q2 for Z = exp(jωT) where j is an imaginary unit; ω is an angular frequency; and T is a sampling period of a switched capacitor integrator. This sampling period is usually equal to the period of the clock signal CK. For keeping the A/D converter stable, and obtaining a simple calculation, the coefficient of the coefficient multiplier is set to be 2. When equations (1) and (2) are solved with respect to Y1, the following result can be obtained: Y1 = Z-2(X - D1) - 2Z-1(1 - Z-1)D2 + (1 - Z-1)2Q1 + 2Z-1(1 - Z-1)(Q1 - Q2) = Z-2(X - D1) - 2Z-1(1 - Z-1)D2 + (1 - Z-2)Q1 - 2Z-1(1 - Z-1)Q2 In a conventional arrangement, i.e., when one A/D converter and one D/A converter are arranged, in equation (3), since it can be assumed that Q1 = Q2 = Q and D1 = D2 = D, the following result can be obtained: Y1 = Y2 = Z-2(X - D) - 2Z-1(1 - Z-1)D + (1 - Z-1)2Q = Z-2X - Z-1(2 - Z-1)D + (1 - Z-1)2Q According to equation (4), the following can be understood. 1. Noise In Conventional ArrangementIn a conventional arrangement, as is known well, a noise signal Q is output through a filter having second-order high-pass characteristic represented by (1 - Z⁻¹)², and a noise signal D is output through a filter having characteristic represented by -Z⁻¹(2 - Z⁻¹). Therefore, although the noise signal Q having a largely attenuated low-frequency component is output, since the amplitude characteristic of the filter through which the noise signal D passes is set to be almost 1 when the angular frequency ω is small, the low-frequency component of the noise signal D is output without being changed. For this reason, an S/N ratio equal to or higher than a finally necessary S/N ratio is required to the noise signal D, i.e., the accuracy of the D/A converter. According to equation (3), the following can be understood. 2. Noise Caused By Distortion Generated In D/A ConverterAccording to the first half of equation (3), the following is known. Although the signal D1 having the same transfer characteristic as that of the input signal X is output without being changed, the signal D2 is output through a filter having first-order high-pass characteristic represented by -2Z⁻¹(1 - Z⁻¹). Therefore, in the signal Y1, an influence of the noise signal D2 on low-frequency range noise is smaller than that of the noise signal D1, and the noise signal D2 rarely influences a decrease in S/N ratio of a whole Δ-Σ modulator, because the magnitude of (1 - Z⁻¹) is low when the angular frequency ω is low. Thus, the S/N ratio of the whole Δ-Σ modulator is controlled by the signal D1 but not by the signal D2. In other words, depending on the influence on the final S/N ratio, the accuracy of the D/A converter 6 may be lower than that of the D/A converter 11. Therefore, in the conventional technique, the D/A converters 11 and 6 are not independently arranged, and a binary D/A converter is used commonly as these converters 11 and 6. According to the present invention, a multibit D/A converter can be used as the D/A converter 6 while an S/N ratio is rarely decreased. However, since the signal D1 is directly output, the D/A converter 11 requires an S/N ratio equal to or higher than a finally necessary S/N ratio. In recent IC manufacturing techniques, since the accuracy of a D/A converter obtained without trimming is about 13 bits at most, when accuracy higher than 13 bits is required, a binary D/A converter must be used even in the present invention. 3. Distribution Of Quantization Noise Of A/D ConverterAccording to the second half of equation (3), the following can be understood. That is, the quantization noise signal Q1 generated by the A/D converter 9 outputs through a filter having high-pass filter characteristic represented by (1 - Z⁻²), and the quantization noise signal Q2 generated by the A/D converter 4 outputs through a filter having high-pass characteristic represented by -2Z⁻¹(1 - Z⁻¹). When the noise signal Q1 is compared with the noise signal Q generated by the converter having the conventional arrangement described in item 1, although the signal Q1 outputs to have a second-order differential characteristic, the signal Q1 is outputs to have a first-order differential characteristic. For this reason, quantization noise is increased compared with that in a conventional arrangement, and the low-frequency component of the quantization noise signal Q1 larger than that of the quantization noise signal Q is output. Although the quantization noise signal Q2 is output to have the first-order differential characteristic, the quantization noise signal Q1 is generated according to binary A/D conversion, and the quantization noise signal Q2 is generated according to multibit A/D conversion. For this reason, the quantization noise signal Q2 can be easily reduced by increasing the number of bits. Therefore, in order to obtain a higher S/N ratio in the arrangement of the present invention than in the conventional arrangement, it is important that the effect of the quantization noise signal Q1 must be reduced by some method. A method for reducing the effect of the quantization noise signal Q1 will be described below. In the basic concept of this method, the A/D converter 9 as a 1-bit converter and the A/D converter 4 as a multibit A/D converter are used. The following equation (5) is established by eliminating Q1 from equations (1) and (2): Y1 - (1 - Z-2)(Y1 - Y2) = Z-2(X - D1) - 2Z-1(1 - Z-1)D2 + (1 - Z-1)2Q2 Although the right-hand side of equation (5) has the same form as that of the right-hand side of the first equation of equation (4), Q2 smaller than Q1 appears in place of Q, D1 appears in the first term of equation (5) in place of D, and D2 appears in the second term in place of D. That is, when the value of the left-hand member of equation (5) is calculated using the arrangement of the present invention, quantization noise can be greatly reduced compared with using the conventional arrangement. In addition, although D2 is not necessarily smaller than D1, since D2 is output through a first-order high-pass filter, though D1 is directly output, D2 is rarely superposed on output noise. The following must be noticed. That is, all the values of the left-hand member of equation (5) can be obtained by digitally calculating the values obtained directly from an output terminal as digital values, all the values of the right-hand side can be obtained by calculating analog values, and signals other than the input signal X have values which cannot directly be observed from the outside of the A/D converter. Since the signals Y1 and Y2 are digital signals obtained by A/D-converting an output signal from the second integrator 3, the MSB (sign bit) of the signal Y2 corresponds to the signal Y1 itself. Therefore, since both the signals Y1 and Y2 can be obtained from an output from the multibit A/D converter 4, the 1-bit A/D converter need not be additionally arranged. If the 1-bit A/D converter 9 is additionally arranged, since its output is not always equal to the MSB output from the multibit A/D converter 4 due to an offset, accuracy, or the like, both the signals Y1 and Y2 are desirably obtained from the output from the multibit A/D converter 4. The left-hand member of equation (5) can be rewritten as in, e.g., the following equation: Y1 - (1 - Z-2)(Y1 - Y2) = Z-2Y1 + (1 - Z-2)Y2 = Y2 + Z-2(Y1 - Y2) Therefore, in order to actually calculate the left-hand member of equation (5), depending on an object, a calculation capable of obtaining an actual method of decreasing an amount of hardware for digital calculation is preferably selected. The details of the above description are summed up as follows. Qualitatively, a D/A converter having D1 as small as possible is used as a first local DAC (D/A converter), and a D/A converter having Q2 as small as possible is used as a second local DAC. Therefore, it is apparent that a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter having a small amount of quantization noise and a small amount of distortion can be obtained. Fig. 2 obtained by summing up the above results is a block diagram for explaining an arrangement of the first embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 2, a description of the same parts as in Fig. 1 will be omitted. In Fig. 2, unlike in Fig. 1, an MSB (sign bit) of an output from the A/D converter 4 is used as an input of the 1-bit D/A converter 11, and the output Y2 is subtracted from an MSB (Y1) included in an output Y2 from the A/D converter 4 by a subtracter 22. A value obtained by delaying the resultant signal Y1 - Y2 by 2 clocks in a delay circuit 23 is added to the signal Y2 by an adder 24, and the result is output to an output terminal 25. Since multibit converters are used as the A/D converters 4 and 6 as in the arrangement of the present invention, the output amplitude of the second integrator 3 can be reduced. According to the arrangement of the present invention, since digital signal processing is performed by the adder 22, the delay circuit 23, and the adder 24, quantization noise at the output terminal 25 can be reduced compared with in a conventional arrangement. In the above description, although the coefficient of the coefficient multiplier 8 in Fig. 1 is set to be 2 for obtaining a simple calculation, a case wherein the coefficient is set to be an arbitrary value µ will be described below. When calculations are performed such that the same assumptions as in the above calculations are set, a system represented by the block diagram of Fig. 1 will be described below: Y1=X-Y1-D1Z-11-Z-1-µY2+D2Z-11-Z-1 + Q1 Y2=X-Y1-D1Z-11-Z-1-µY2 + D2Z-11-Z-1 + Q2 Since Y1 - Y2 = Q1 - Q2, when Q1 is eliminated from equation (6), the following equation can be obtained: Z-2Y1 - (1 -Z-1){1 - (1 - µ)Z-1}Y2 = Z-2(X - D1) - µZ-1(1 - Z-1)D2 + (1 - Z-1)2Q2 Therefore, when the left-hand member of equation (8) is calculated as described above, noise is canceled, and multibit quantization noise Q2 smaller than 1-bit quantization noise Q1 appears at the output terminal of a final Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter, thereby improving the accuracy of the A/D converter. In this case, all the values of the left-hand member can be digitally calculated from a digital value in the same as in the above description. A block diagram representing an arrangement of a general second-order Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter including a coefficient µ is shown in Fig. 3. A digital signal processing circuit 50 shown in Fig. 3 performs digital signal processing for canceling noise. Since the value µ is determined depending on an element value of an analog circuit, the value µ assumed by digital signal processing is not always equal to the value µ actually obtained by an analog circuit. For this reason, an influence given when the value µ is changed into a value µ + Δµ will be examined. In equation (8), when µ is increased by Δµ, the following expression can be obtained in accordance with this increase: - (1 - Z-1)ΔµZ-1Y2 Therefore, when the estimated value is different from the actual value by Δµ, noise corresponding to expression (9) is added to a signal. In expression (9), although the value Δµ/µ corresponds to a coefficient error of an integrator, when a general switched capacitor integrator is used as the integrator, a value of about 0.1% (= -60 dB) can be easily obtained as the value Δµ/µ by a recent technology. In addition, contribution of the term of (1 - Z⁻¹) can be estimated in the same manner as that of the quantization noise of a first-order Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter. When a digital audio signal requiring 16-bit accuracy is exemplified, since an over-sampling ratio of about 256 times is required, noise of about -50 dB due to the contribution of the term of (1 - Z⁻¹) appears within a whole signal frequency range. For this reason, assuming that a signal Y2 corresponding to a full scale is input, noise caused by Δµ appears at a level of about 110 dB or less of the full scale. This increase in noise can be neglected, since a S/N ratio in 16 bits for example is about 96 dB. Therefore, when the present invention is applied, it is apparent that an increase in noise caused an error of a coefficient multiplier falls within a negligible range. Fig. 4 is a view for explaining an improvement of the first embodiment of the present invention over the prior art, and Fig. 4 shows comparative simulationed output signal waveforms of a second integrator in a conventional second-order Δ-Σ modulator using a conventional 1-bit A/D·D/A converter and the second order Δ-Σ modulator applying the present invention. In Fig. 4, the abscissa represents a normalized time, and the ordinate represents an output amplitude. In Fig. 4, reference symbol (a) denotes an input signal waveform; (b), an output waveform of a second integrator when a binary converter as a conventional A/D·D/A converter; and (c), an output waveform of the second integrator when a 9-valued A/D converter, a 9-valued D/A converter, and a binary D/A converter are used as the A/D converter, the second D/A converter, and the first D/A converter according to the present invention, respectively. Comparing (b) with (c), the maximum value of the output amplitude of the second integrator is decreased to be half. Therefore, even when the 9-valued A/D and D/A converters are used, the effect of the present invention can be obtained. Fig. 5 shows a result obtained by simulating a spectrum of an A/D conversion output obtained with the arrangement in Fig. 2. In Fig. 5, the ordinate represents a spectrum of an output digital value in decibels, and the abscissa represents a frequency normalized by a sampling frequency. As apparent from Fig. 5, when the D/A converter 6 is a 5-valued converter or a 29-valued converter, a noise component is decreased by about 15 dB and 30 dB, respectively, compared with a case wherein the quantization level of the D/A converter 6 is set to be binary. The line spectrum of Fig. 5 is a spectrum generated by a sine-wave input signal having an amplitude of 0.5 V, and spectra other than the line spectrum are regarded as noise components. This simulation is performed assuming that the range of the input full scale of the A/D converter is set to be ±2 V and that the sine-wave input signal is quantized to a 5-valued signal or 29-valued signal value within this range. An output from the D/A converter 11 is a binary output of ±1 V, the D/A converter 6 directly converts the digital output from the A/D converter into an analog value. Therefore, in the A/D converter according to this embodiment, the range of the input full scale corresponds to ±1 V. In addition, when the number of quantization levels of the A/D converter 9 and the D/A converter 6 is increased, since the output from the second integrator is close to the output from the first integrator, saturation levels of both the integrators can be set to be equal to each other. This is advantageous in circuit design. Since the full scales of the A/D converter 9 and the D/A converter 6 are set to be larger than the full scale of the D/A converter 11, even when the input X is to be close to a full scale, unlike in a conventional Δ-Σ modulator using only a binary DAC, an increase in distortion can be advantageously suppressed. Fig. 6 is a view for explaining this advantage of the present invention. In Fig. 6, the abscissa represents an input signal voltage, and the ordinate represents the S/N ratio of a digital value converted by an A/D converter. As is apparent from Fig. 6, in comparison with use of only a conventional binary D/A converter, when a multibit converter is used as the second D/A converter and the full scale of the multibit converter is set to be twice the full scale of the first D/A converter, not only a total S/N ratio is increased, but saturation of an S/N ratio at a high input level which is characteristic of a conventional Δ-Σ modulator can be improved. Distortion at a high input signal level can be decreased by setting the full scales of the A/D converter 4 and the D/A converter 6 to be larger than the full scale of the D/A converter 11 because of the following reasons. Since the second problem of the problems for the prior art has been described, i.e., since the output from the first integrator falls within a range about twice the maximum input range, the A/D converter 4 must have a full scale corresponding to this range. In a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter having a structure including a plurality of feedback loops shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 and Fig. 7 (to be described later), since the maximum input range is equal to the range of the full scale of the D/A converter included in the outermost feedback loop, the A/D converter 4 must have a full scale having at least a range about twice that of the full scale of the D/A converter 11, and the full scale of the D/A converter 6 must correspond to the full scale of the A/D converter 4. In a conventional arrangement wherein 1-bit D/A converters are used as all local D/A converters, the local A/D converter is a 1-bit A/D converter. That is, since it is sufficient that only the code (polarity) of an output from an integrator is determined, the full scale itself of the A/D converter is meaningless. For this reason, the full scale of the 1-bit local D/A converter is appropriately determined, and a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter having a maximum input range equal to that of the full scale of the 1-bit local D/A converter is obtained. Fig. 7 is a block diagram for explaining an arrangement of the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 7, an input X 1 is subtracted from an output from a D/A converter 11 by a subtracter 17, and an output from the subtracter 17 is input to an integrator 2 and integrated therein. In a subtracter 18, an output signal from the integrator 2 is subtracted from a signal obtained by multiplying an output signal from a D/A converter 6 by a predetermined coefficient in a coefficient multiplier 28. After the subtracted signal is input to an integrator 3 and integrated therein, from the signal is subtracted by a subtracter 27 a signal obtained by multiplying an output signal from the D/A converter 6 by a predetermined coefficient in a coefficient multiplier 29. This output signal is integrated in an integrator 26 and then input to an A/D converter 4 to be A/D-converted. This A/D-converted value is fed back to the D/A converter 6 and the D/A converter 11. In addition, an output signal from the A/D converter 4 is subtracted from the MSB of an output signal from the A/D converter 4 by a subtracter 22, and an output from the subtracter 22 is input to a delay circuit 23. An output signal from the subtracter 22 is delayed by 3 clocks in the delay circuit 23, and this delayed signal and the output signal from the A/D converter are added to each other in an adder 24, thereby obtaining an output 25 from the adder 24. That is, the a Δ-Σ modulator described in the second embodiment is a third-order Δ-Σ modulator. Although a higher order Δ-Σ modulator is generally used to perform highly accurate A/D conversion, when the accuracy of a multibit local DAC used in the Δ-Σ modulator is not higher than a finally necessary accuracy, noise can be reduced by a noise shaping operation, but distortion is not shaped and cannot be reduced. Therefore, a contradictory result is obtained, i.e., the higher order Δ-Σ modulator cannot have necessary accuracy as a whole at last. The third-order Δ-Σ modulator in Fig. 7 is different from the second-order Δ-Σ modulator shown in Fig. 2 by arranging an integrator 26. That is, according to this embodiment, three integrators are used. Therefore, in order to assure the stability of a feedback loop, the coefficients of the coefficient multipliers 28 and 29 must be set to be appropriate values; In the conventional technique, feedback signals are supplied to three integrators using a 1-bit local D/A comventer or a highly accurate multibit local D/A converter. According to the present invention, a feedback signal for the first integrator is supplied from a binary local D/A converter 11, feedback signals for the second and third integrators 3 and 26 are supplied from the multibit local D/A converter 6. According to the above arrangement, as the local D/A converter which requires the highest accuracy and supplies a feedback signal to the first integrator 2, a binary converter which can be high precision even on an integrated circuit can be used. At this time, a demand for the accuracy of the multibit local D/A converter 6 for supplying feedback signals to the second and third integrators 3 and 26 is mostly satisfied by the same reason as described in the first embodiment. As in Fig. 1, assuming that reference symbol D1 denotes a signal representing an error of the D/A converter 11; D2, a signal representing an error of the D/A converter 6; Q2, quantization noise of the A/D converter 4 serving as a multibit A/D converter; Q1, quantization noise of the A/D converter 4 serving as a binary A/D converter; Y2, a digital output from the A/D converter serving as the multibit A/D converter; and Y1, a digital output from the A/D converter 4 serving as the binary A/D converter, when Q1 is eliminated by the same manner as described in the first embodiment, the following equation can be obtained: Z-3Y1 + (1 - Z-3)Y2 = z-3(X - D1) -3Z-1(1 - Z-1)D2 + (1 - Z-1)3Q2 Therefore, the quantization noise of the right-hand side of equation (10) can be suppressed to be lower than the noise Q1 of the binary A/D converter, and the error of the multibit D/A converter 6 passes through a first-order high-pass filter to be attenuated and is output as in the first embodiment. For this reason, influences of the quantization noise and the error are decreased. In this embodiment, each of the gains of the coefficient multipliers 28 and 29 is set to be three times in consideration of their stability. Equation (10) is preferably deformed such that an amount of calculation for digital signal processing is decreased, thereby realizing equation (10). For example, equation (10) can be rewritten as follows: Y1 - (1 - Z-3)(Y1 - Y2) = Y2 + Z-3(Y1 - Y2) For this reason, equation (11) can be realized by a digital signal processing circuit 50 in Fig. 7. Although the delay circuit 23 performs 2-clock delay (Z⁻²) in the circuit having two integrators in Fig. 2, the delay circuit 23 performs 3-clock delay (Z⁻³) in the second embodiment in Fig. 7. Although Y1 and Y2 are described as inputs to the digital signal processing circuit 50, since the Y1 is a part of the Y2, it is sufficient to input only the Y2. This is also held in the digital processing section of the digital signal processing circuit 50. In addition, as in the first embodiment in Fig. 2, when the full scales of the A/D converter 4 and the D/A converter 6 are set to be smaller than the full scale of the D/A converter 11, a decrease in S/N ratio near an overloaded portion can be improved. In order to obtain a final digital output, as in the first embodiment, an amount represented by Y1 - (1 - Z⁻³)(Y1 - Y2) is calculated in a digital form using the output (Y2) of the multibit A/D converter 4 and its MSB, i.e., a sign bit (Y1). Although a feedback signal for the third integrator 26 may be supplied to the third local D/A converter having a larger number of quantization levels, the second local D/A converter may be sufficiently multi-valued at first. However, this is not necessarily advantageous in consideration of complication of a digital processing section connected to the output of the second local D/A converter and an increase in hardware (= an occupied area) of the third local D/A converter. With the above description, as shown in Fig. 8, a feedback signal may be supplied from a multibit D/A converter 6 to the third integrator 26 such that 1-bit feedback signals are supplied to the first and second integrators 2 and 3. These operations will be explained below by mathematical expressions. As in the embodiment in Fig. 7, assuming that reference symbol D1 denotes a signal representing an error of the D/A converter 11; D2, a signal representing an error of the D/A converter 6; Q2, quantization noise of the A/D converter 4 serving as a multibit A/D converter; Q1, quantization noise of the A/D converter 4 serving as a binary A/D converter; Y2, a digital output from the A/D converter serving as the multibit A/D converter; and Y1, a digital output from the A/D converter 4 serving as the binary A/D converter, when Q1 is eliminated as described in the previous embodiment, the following equation can be obtained: Z-2(3-Z-1)Y1 - (1 - Z-1)2(1 - 2Z-1)Y2 = z-3(X - D1) - 3Z-2(1 - Z-1)D1 - 3Z-1(1 - Z-1)2D2 + (1 - Z-1)3Q2 Therefore, the quantization noise of the right-hand side (output) can be suppressed to be lower than the noise Q1 of the binary A/D converter, and the error of the multibit D/A converter 6 passes through a second-order high-pass filter to be attenuated and is output. For this reason, influences of the quantization noise and the error are decreased to be smaller than that of the previous embodiment. At this time, in the above equation, since the second term of the right-hand side represents an error of a binary D/A converter, this value can be decreased to be negligible. However, the output amplitude of the second integrator 3 cannot be suppressed to be small, and the output amplitude of the third integrator 26 is suppressed to only the same extent to that of the second integrator 3. Therefore, an increase in distortion is disadvantageously greater in this embodiment than in the embodiment shown in Fig. 7. In addition, in this case, the digital signal processing circuit 50 has a complicated arrangement as shown in Fig. 8. In contrast to this, however, since the 1-bit D/A converter 11 having a very small error is used for the first and second integrators 2 and 3, noise occurring due to the error of the D/A converter can be advantageously reduced compared with a case wherein a multibit D/A converter is used for the second and third integrators 3 and 26. Fig. 9 shows a high-order, e.g., fourth or more order, A/D converter according to still another embodiment of the present invention. According to this embodiment, an input terminal and a plurality of integrators INT₁, INT₂,... INTn are connected to each other in series through adders ADD₁, ADD₂,... ADDn. A plurality of feedback loops FBL₁, FBL₂,... FBLn each of which is constituted by a D/A converter, an A/D converter, and a coefficient multiplier are connected to the adders ADD₁, ADD₂,... ADDn, respectively. The node between the A/D converter and D/A converter of each of the feedback loops is connected to a digital signal processing circuit 50. In this embodiment, the number of quantization levels of each of the D/A converters of the inner feedback loops FBL₂ FBLn is set to be equal to or larger than the number of quantization levels (1 bit) of the D/A converter of the outer feedback loop FBL₁. In the embodiment in Fig. 9, two or more feedback loops are arranged. In the embodiment in Fig. 10, two feedback loops FBL₁ and FBL₂ are arranged, and the inner feedback loop FBL₂ is a feedback loop connected to the outputs of adders ADD₂,... ADDn through series-connected multibit A/D and D/A converters 4 and 6 and a plurality of coefficient multipliers. The outer feedback loop FBL₂ is a feedback loop connected to the first adder ADD₁ through the multibit A/D converter 4, a 1-bit D/A converter 11, and a coefficient multiplier. A digital signal processing circuit 50 is connected to the node between the A/D converter 4 and the D/A converters 6 and 11. As described above, a D/A converter having a larger number of quantization levels is assigned as the inner feedback loop rather than as the outer feedback loop of the plurality of feedback loops of a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter. Although this embodiment has a large degree of freedom of the above assignment, whether this embodiment or the embodiment in Fig. 9 is selected is a matter of design choice, and it may be determined in consideration of a given specification and realizability. In a higher, e.g., fourth or more order, A/D converter, as described above, only a feedback signal for a first integrator is supplied from a binary local D/A converter, and feedback signals (the number of feedback signals is not limited to one) for second and subsequent integrators are supplied from multibit local D/A converter. Therefore, it is apparent that both the high accuracy and stability of the A/D converter can be obtained. For descriptive convenience, although switched capacitor integrators are used as the integrators 2 and 3 and the like to assume a transfer function of a discrete time system expressed by the Z transform, each of the integrators 2 and 3 may be constituted by a integrator of a continuous time system such as a normal active RC integrator expressed by variables of the Laplace transform. Although a case wherein a feedback signal for the first integrator is supplied from a binary local DAC has been described above, this local DAC is not actually limited to a binary one, and any highly accurate local D/A converter may be used. In fact, in addition to a binary D/A converter, a 3-valued D/A converter can be easily used on an integrated circuit with high accuracy. For example, a 3-valued D/A converter having values of ±1 V and 0 V can be obtained by the circuit shown in Fig. 11. In Fig. 11, the voltage of a reference voltage supply 32 is set to be 1 V. Capacitors 30 and 31 have the same value for obtaining a simple calculation. Analog switches 34 and 40 are controlled as shown in Fig. 12. That is, while an output of +1 V is required, switches 34 and 38 are turned on, and other switches are kept off, while a switch 35 periodically ON/OFF-controlled at a duty ratio of 1 : 1 is kept off (the ON and OFF states of the switches 40 and 35 are controlled to be opposite to each other). Only a switch 37 is turned on in a period when the switch 35 is turned on, and other switches are turned off. In the above state, the capacitor 30 is temporarily charged such that the right (in Fig. 11) electrode is set to be positive. Subsequently, when the switch 35 is turned on, all the charges of the electrode are transmitted to the capacitor 31, and an output 34 of an operational amplifier 33 is set to be +1 V. When an output of 0 V is required, in the OFF state of the switch 35, switches 34 and 39 are turned on, and other switches turned off. Only the switch 37 is turned off in a period wherein the switch 35 is turned on. With the above arrangement, the capacitor 30 is not charged. When the switch 35 is turned on, since there is no charge to be transmitted, no charge is transfered to the capacitor 31 discharged by the switch 40, and the output 34 of the operational amplifier 33 is set to be 0 V. When an output of -1 V is required, in the OFF state of the switch 35, the switches 34 and 39 are turned off, and other switches are turned off. Only a switch 36 is turned on in a period wherein the switch 35 is turned on, and other switches are turned off. With the above arrangement, the left electrode (in Fig. 11) of the capacitor 30 is connected to the positive terminal of the reference power supply 32, and the right electrode is connected an inverting input terminal of imaginary ground of the operational amplifier 33. Since the capacitor 30 is set in a discharging state at first, the left and right electrodes of the capacitor are charged by the reference power supply 32 to have voltages of +1 V and 0 V, and the charging currents are integrated by the capacitor 31. Since the capacitors 30 and 31 have the same value, a voltage of -1 V is output to the output terminal 34. In practice, the opening and closing operations of the switches 34, 36, 35, 37, and 39 are preferably performed such that a logic circuit is formed to be controlled by a 3-valued signal constituted by an output from the A/D converter. In addition, the clock signal 15 can be directly obtained from the switches 35 and 40. With the above arrangement, even when an operational amplifier has an offset, intervals between three values corresponding to voltages of +1 V, 0 V, and -1 V can be kept to be 1 V, a 3-valued D/A converter having a very low distortion can be integrated. In addition, an operational amplifier used for each integrator can be used as an operational amplifier 33, an operational amplifier need not be especially prepared. In this case, since the integrators are not reset, the switch 40 is not required. When the switch 34 is not connected to the ground potential but a signal such as an output from the integrator connected to the input of the switch 34, the switch 34 serves as both of a local D/A converter and an adder. A binary D/A converter may be obtained such that the 3-valued D/A converter outputs voltages of +1 V and -1 V except for a voltage of 0 V. At this time, a logic circuit must be formed such that a control signal for a switch is controlled by the code bit of an output from an A/D converter. According to the present invention, even when conventional elements are used in a Δ-Σ modulation type A/D converter including two or more integrators, an A/D converter having accuracy higher than that of a conventional A/D converter can be obtained. More specifically, when the full scales of a local D/A converter and a multibit A/D converter have a value larger than that of a binary local D/A converter, an A/D converter, an S/N ratio of which is not decreased in an almost overloaded state of the A/D converter, can be obtained.	An A/D converter comprising: a plurality of stages of integrating means (2, 3, 26, INT₁-INRn) having first stage integrating means (2, INT₁) for receiving an input signal and last stage integrating means (26, INTn); at least one A/D converting means (4) connected to an output terminal of said last stage integrating means; at least one outer feedback loop (FBLO, FBL₁) connected from an output terminal of said A/D converting means(4) to at least said first stage integrating means and including first D/A converting means (11); the A/D converter being characterised by a plurality of inner feedback loops (IBLI, FBL₂-FBLn) including second D/A converting means connected between the output terminal of said A/D converting means and said plurality of stages of integrating means arranged after said first stage integrating means; and means (50), connected to the output terminal of said A/D converting means, for performing digital signal processing of an output from said A/D converting means to eliminate quantization noise caused by said outer feedback loop, wherein said second D/A converting means included in said inner feedback loop has the number of quantization levels larger than that of said first D/A converting means used in said outer feedback loop. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said first D/A converting means included in said outer feedback loop is constituted by a 1-bit D/A converter (11), and said second D/A converting means included in said inner feedback loops is constituted by a multibit D/A converter (6). The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising a plurality of coefficient multipliers (M₁, Mn), connected between said second D/A converting means and said plurality of stage integrating means, for multiplying an output from said D/A converting means by a predetermined coefficient. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said second D/A converting means is constituted by a plurality of multibit D/A converters (D/A) connected between the output terminal of said A/D converting means and input terminals of said integrating means. The A/D converter according to claim 4, characterized by further comprising a plurality of coefficient multipliers (M₁-Mn), connected between said plurality of stages of integrating means and said plurality of multi-bit D/A converters, for multiplying an output from each of said A/D converting means by a predetermined coefficient. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said first D/A converting means is constituted by a 1-bit D/A converter (11) connected to an input terminal of said first stage integrating means (2) and an input terminal of next stage integrating means (3) following said first stage integrating means. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said first stage integrating means includes means for (17) subtracting the input signal from an output from said first D/A converting means (11) and outputting a subtraction result and an integrator (2) for integrating the subtraction result, and each of other integrating means is constituted by means (18) for subtracting an output from said first stage integrating means (2) from an output from said second D/A converting means (6) and outputting a subtraction result, and an integrator for integrating the subtraction result. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said means for performing digital signal processing comprises means (50) for canceling the quantization noise caused by said outer feedback loop by an output signal of said A/D converting means and a sign bit signal within the output signal. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said means for performing digital signal processing includes means (22) for subtracting a sign bit signal within an output signal from the output signal from said A/D converting means and outputting a difference signal, means (23) for delaying the difference signal by a predetermined period and outputting a delayed signal, and means for (24) adding the output signal from said A/D converting means and the delayed signal. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said A/D converting means (4) has a full scale value larger than the maximum amplitude of an output signal from said last stage integrating means. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said A/D converting means (4) has a full scale value larger than that of said first D/A converting means provided in said outer feedback loop. The A/D converter according to claim 1, characterized in that said second D/A converting means (6) used in said inner feedback loops has a full scale value larger than that of said first D/A converting means used in said outer feedback loop. An A/D converter comprising: a plurality of stages of integrating means having first stage integrating means (INT₁) for receiving an input signal and last stage integrating means (INTn); a multibit A/D converter (4) connected to an output terminal of said last integrating means; an outer feedback loop(FBL0) connected between an output terminal of said multibit A/D converter and an input terminal of said first stage integrating means and including a 1-bit D/A converter (11); the A/D converter being characterised by an inner feedback loop (FBL1) including a multibit D/A converter (6) connected between the output terminal of said multibit A/D converter (4) and input terminals of said plurality of stage integrating means arranged after said first stage integrating means (INT₁) ; and means (50), connected to the output terminal of said multibit A/D converter (4), for performing digital signal processing of an output from said multibit A/D converte (4) to eliminate quantization noise caused by said outer feedback loop (Fig.10). The A/D converter according to claim 13, characterized by further comprising a plurality of coefficient multipliers (M₁-Mn), connected between said multibit D/A converter and said plurality of integrating means, for multiplying an output from said multibit D/A converter by a predetermined coefficient. The A/D converter according to claim 13, characterized in that said first integrating means includes means (ADD₁) for subtracting the input signal from an output from said first D/A converting means (11) and outputting a subtraction result, and an integrator (INT₁) for integrating the subtraction result, and each of other integrating means includes means for subtracting an output from said first integrating means from an output from said second D/A converting means and outputting a subtraction result, and an integrator for integrating the subtraction result. The A/D converter according to claim 13, characterized in that said means for performing digital signal processing includes means (22) for subtracting a sign bit signal of an output signal from the output signal from said A/D converter and outputting a difference signal, means (23) for delaying the difference signal by a predetermined period and outputting a delayed signal, and means (24) for generating the output signal from said A/D converter and the delayed signal. The A/D converter according to claim 13, characterized in that said multibit D/A converter (6) used in said inner feedback loops has a full scale value larger than that of said 1-bit D/A converter used in said outer feedback loop.	TOSHIBA KK; KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA	TANIMOTO HIROSHI C O INTELL PR; TANIMOTO, HIROSHI, C/O INTELL. PROPERTY DIV.
EP-0488819-B1	488,819	EP	B1	EN	19,990,113	1,992	20,100,220	new	G06F9	G06F12, G06F13	G06F9, G06F12	G06F 9/38E2, S06F12:10L, G06F 12/10L4V	Conditional branch instructions execution apparatus	An electronic computer according to this invention is capable of executing a plurality of instructions simultaneously. It is characterized by comprising a flag adding section for judging whether or not each of a plurality of instruction is either a delayed branch instruction or a squash branch instruction, and based on the results, adding a flag indicating an abort condition to each instruction, and a command execute abort section for aborting execution of each instruction on the basis of whether or not the flag added to each instruction to indicate the abort condition and each branch instruction hold true.	This invention relates to an improved electronic computer, and more particularly to an electronic computer capable of executing a plurality of instructions simultaneously and to an electronic computer capable of supporting a plurality of bus protocols.RISC processors capable of executing instructions at high speeds have been used for parallel arithmetic operation that deals with a plurality of instructions at the same time. Recently, much faster super-scalar processors have been developed; one of commercialized models of this type is the Intel's 80960CA.RISC processors are rich in software resources available. In developing super-scalar processors, to make full use of the existing software, it is necessary to develop processors that have object compatibility with the existing software.Some of RISC processors use delayed branching or squashed branching techniques in order to reduce losses due to wasteful actions in executing branch instructions. Typical processors of this type are the Sun Microsystems' R2000 and R3000. In delayed branching, when a branch instruction is encountered, the instruction immediately after the branch instruction is executed and then the branch destination instruction is executed. In squash branching, when a branch instruction is encountered, in the case of a branch-not-taken mode, the instruction next to the branch instruction is not executed, but the next but one instruction is executed, while in the case of a branch-taken mode, the instruction next to the branch instruction is executed and then the branch destination instruction is executed.Because super-scalar processors are fast in executing instructions but complex in control, it is difficult to directly execute the object codes of RISC machines using the above-described delayed branching or squash branching technique. As a consequence, super-scalar processors have no object compatibility with programs for RISC processors that perform delayed branch instructions or squash branch instructions.For example, the Intel's super-scalar processor 80960CA has object compatibility with the Intel's RISC processor 80960KA. However, at present, the 80960KA has not used delayed branching or squash branching techniques.As noted above, super-scalar processors, which have recently been developed in place of RISC processors, cannot execute delayed branch or squash branch instructions as matters stand. Therefore, they have no object compatibility with programs for RISC processors capable of executing those types of branch instructions.In a multiprocessor system having a plurality of processors, there is a time when communication between processors coexists with data communication between a processor and other peripheral units. In this case, the protocol of data transfer procedure for each communication is different from the other. Thus, to achieve those two types of communication, it is necessary to actively switch bus protocols depending on the communication mode used.However, for a system where processor-to-processor communication and processor-to-peripheral communication coexist, an effective means has not yet been found which switches bus protocols according to mode to allow those two types of communications on the same system.Some electronic computers employ a copy-back virtual cache system. In such computers, such as the SUN workstation, the cache tag of the cache memory is provided with a dirty bit and the TLB (address translation buffer) is assigned a dirty page bit. Those computers have a hardware mechanism that asserts the dirty bit of the cache tag when data is stored in the cache memory, and that copies into the TLB dirty page bit the dirty bit of the cache line to be copied back when copy back occurs, which action indicates that data has been written into the page. By above operation, the hardware mechanism rewrites the TLB dirty page bit at the time of uncache write access.However, computers with a virtual cache system rewrite the TLB dirty page bit by means of hardware, which results in more complicated hardware construction, larger LSI chip size, and longer development time.Among related literature are IBM RISC System 1600 Technology, 1990, IBM Corporation, and 80960 Users' Manual, Intel Corporation.A RISC microprocessor having delayed branching with squashing is disclosed in the paper IEEE International Conference on Computer Design:VLSI In Computers & Processors; October 1989, Massachusetts, pages 385-390.An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic computer having a super-scalar processor capable of executing both delayed branch instructions and squash branch instructions and achieving object compatibility with RISC processor programs.This is accomplished by providing an electronic computer capable of executing a plurality of instructions simultaneously, comprising: abort condition synthesizing means for judging whether or not each of a plurality of instructions is either a delayed branch instruction or a squash branch instruction, and based on the results, adding to each instruction a flag indicating an abort condition; andcommand execute abort means for aborting execution of each of the instructions on the basis of whether or not the flag added to each instruction to indicate the abort condition and the branch instruction hold true.With this electronic computer, it is possible to abort the execution of each instruction using a delayed branch instruction or a squash branch instruction on the basis of whether or not the abort condition flag added to each instruction and the branch instruction hold true. Therefore, even in super-scalar processors, both delayed branch instructions and squash branch instructions can be executed, which provides object compatibility with RISC processor programs having a great variety of software resources. Making effective use of abundant software resources allows high speed processing. This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall construction of an electronic computer according to a first embodiment, associated with the first object, of the present invention;Fig. 2 is a block diagram for the execute unit of Fig. 1;Fig. 3 is a block diagram for the abort condition synthesis unit of Fig. 1;Fig. 4 shows a first way of executing a delayed branch command;Fig. 5 illustrates a second way of executing a delayed branch command;Fig. 6 depicts a third way of executing a delayed branch command;Fig. 7 illustrates how a squash branch command is practically executed.Referring to the accompanying drawings, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained.Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a 5-stage pipeline 4-instruction simultaneous-execution super-scalar machine to which an electronic computer according a first embodiment, associated with the first object, of the present invention. In Fig. 1, the pipeline consists of a fetch stage (F), a decode stage (D), an execute stage (D), a memory access stage (M), and a write stage (W).In the figure, a fetch circuit unit 100 accesses an instruction cache memory (not shown) to fetch a plurality of instructions.Those instructions stored in the fetch circuit unit 100 are sent to an instruction buffer unit 110 that latches them. The latched instructions in the instruction buffer unit 110 are sent to a command supply unit 120 as well as an abort condition synthesis unit 200.The command supply unit 120 supplies the instructions to individual execute units 300A and a branch execute unit 300B. The execute unit 300A is made up of a decode stage (D), an execute stage (E), a memory access stage (M), a write stage (W), and a command execute abort unit 350A.The abort condition synthesis unit 200, which will be explained in detail later, is a unit that generates conditional abort flags for the execute units 300A and 300B and fetch circuit unit 100. Specifically, it supplies a D-stage condition abort signal 291 and an E-stage condition abort signal 292 to the execute units 300A and branch execute unit 300B and an F-stage condition abort signal 295 to the fetch circuit unit 100.Fig. 2 shows a practical arrangement of the execute units 300A and 300B. Because the execute units 300A and 300B have the same circuit configuration, they will be referred to as the execute unit 300.In Fig. 2, the instructions supplied from the command supply unit 120 are sent to a D-stage decoder 310. The decoder 310 decodes the instructions from the command supply unit 120 to produce a D-stage valid signal 312. The valid signal 312 is supplied to one input terminal of an E-stage AND circuit 361.Depending on the contents of the output from an abort decision circuit unit 360 supplied to the other input terminal, the AND circuit 361 can negate the valid signal 312.The abort decision circuit unit 360 makes abort decision depending on the relation between the D-stage condition abort signal 291 latched in a latch 223 and a branch-taken signal 290 indicating whether to branch or not.The output of the AND circuit 361 is latched in an E-stage latch 365 and sent as an E-stage valid signal 367 to one input terminal of an AND circuit 371. Depending on the contents of the output from an abort decision circuit 370 supplied to the other input terminal, the AND circuit 371 can negate an E-stage valid signal 367.The abort decision circuit 370, like the aforementioned abort decision circuit 360, makes abort decision depending on the E-stage condition abort signal 292 latched in a latch 221 and a branch-taken signal 290 indicating whether to branch or not.The output of the AND circuit 371 is supplied as a write enable signal EW to a register file 345 via an M-stage latch 375 and a W-stage latch 380.The command execute abort unit 350 is composed of the abort decision circuit units 360 and 370, AND circuits 361 and 371, and latches 365, 375, and 380.The contents of the output of the register file 345 are supplied to an arithmetic unit 325 via the E-stage latches 320 and 322 and are calculated in the arithmetic unit 325. The calculation results are written into the register file 345 again via the M-stage latch 330 and W-stage latch 340.Fig. 3 illustrates a practical configuration of the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 200.In Fig. 3, a plurality of instructions (four in this case) latched in the instruction buffer unit 110 are sent to a branch instruction decoder 210.The branch instruction decoder 210 decodes the instructions from the instruction buffer unit 110 to judge whether it is a delayed branch instruction, squash branch instruction, or another instruction.The decision at the branch instruction decoder 210 is sent to each of abort condition synthesis circuit units 220, 222, and 224.The abort condition synthesis circuit unit 220 produces abort conditions regarding a subsequent series of four instructions including a branch instruction. The abort condition synthesis circuit unit 222 produces abort conditions regarding a subsequent series of four instructions. The abort condition synthesis circuit unit 224 produces abort conditions regarding another subsequent series of four instructions.The output of the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 220 is supplied as an E-stage condition abort signal 292, and at the same time, can be supplied as a D-stage condition abort signal. 291 via the multiplexer 230, and as an F-stage condition abort signal 295 via the multiplexer 235. The output of the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 222 can be supplied as a E-stage condition abort signal 292 via the multiplexer 230, and as an F-stage condition abort signal 295 via the multiplexer 235. The output of the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 224 can be supplied as an F-stage condition abort signal 295 via the multiplexer 235.In this case, the multiplexers 230 and 235 are controlled by the control circuit 240 according to a signal indicating that a fetch has been done. The control algorithm of the multiplexers 230 and 235 is as follows: 1) D-stage condition abort signal 291: the condition abort flag for a series of four instructions including a branch instruction generated at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 220 is supplied as it is.2) E-stage condition abort signal 292: when no fetch has been made during branch judgment (the time from when a branch instruction is decoded at D stage until execution is completed at E stage), the condition abort flag for a series of four instructions including a branch instruction generated at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 220 is supplied via the multiplexer 230; and when one fetch has been made during branch judgment, the condition abort flag generated at the abort condition synthesis circuit 222 for a subsequent series of four instructions is supplied via multiplexer 230.3) F-stage condition abort signal 295: when no fetch has been made during branch judgment, the condition abort flag for a series of four instructions including a branch instruction generated at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 220 is supplied via the multiplexer 235; when one fetch has been made during branch judgment, the condition abort flag generated at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 222 for a subsequent series of four instructions is supplied via multiplexer 235; and when two fetches have been made during branch judgment, the condition abort flag generated at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 224 for another subsequent series of four instructions is supplied via multiplexer 235.For each of the delayed branching method and squash branching method, operation will be explained below.First, how a delayed branch instruction is executed in the delayed branch method will be described.For example, a condition abort flag is added to the assembler code using a delayed branch instruction as follows: StepAssembler CodeCondition Abort Flag1addi r1, r 0, 1alex2addi r2, r 0, 2alex3addi r3, r 0, 3alex4 beq r29, r 20, x1alex5addi r4 , r 0, 4 alex 6 addi r5 , r 0, 5brab7addi r6 , r 0, 6brab8addi r7 , r 0, 7brab9addi r8 , r 0, 8brab10addi r10, r 0, 10brabAs listed above, a condition abort flag alex (always execute) is added to the instructions at steps 1 to 3. When a delayed branch instruction beq is encountered at step 4, the condition abort flag alex will still be added to the delay instructions at steps 4 and 5. To the instructions at step 6 and later, a condition abort flag brab (branch then abort) is added. Therefore, when a delayed branch instruction beq is encountered, then the branch destination instruction will be executed after the instruction at the next step is executed.Fig. 4 illustrates a first way of executing a delayed branch instruction in the super-scalar machine.Among the consecutive instructions, instruction 2 is a branch instruction, instruction 13 is a branch destination instruction, and instruction 3 is a delay instruction. The condition abort flags for instructions 1 to 3 are alex (always execute) and those for instructions 4 to 12 are brab (branch then abort).A plurality of instructions fetched by the fetch circuit unit 100 are latched at the instruction buffer unit 110, and at the same time, are supplied to the command supply unit 120 and abort condition synthesis unit 200.In the abort condition synthesis unit 200, the branch instruction decoder 210 decodes a plurality of instructions to judge whether or not instruction 2 is a delayed branch instruction. The result is sent to the abort condition synthesis units 220, 222, and 224.The abort condition synthesis circuit unit 220 produces the condition abort flag for instructions 1 to 4 as abort conditions regarding a series of four instructions including a branch instruction. The abort condition synthesis circuit unit 222 produces the condition abort flag for instructions 5 to 8 as abort conditions regarding a subsequent series of four instructions. The abort condition synthesis circuit unit 224 produces the condition abort flag for instructions 9 to 12 as abort conditions regarding another subsequent series of four instructions.The abort flag for instructions 1 to 4 produced at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 220 is supplied as an E-stage condition abort signal 292 to the first-stage pipeline. The abort flag for instructions 5 to 8 produced at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 222 is supplied as a D-stage condition abort signal 291 to the second-stage pipeline via the multiplexer 230. The abort flag for instructions 8 to 12 produced at the abort condition synthesis circuit unit 224 is supplied as an F-stage condition abort signal 295 to the third-stage pipeline via the multiplexer 235.When the instruction buffer unit 110 supplies a plurality of instructions to the command supply unit 120, the command supply unit 120 sends instructions to the individual execute units 300.In each execute unit 300, the D-stage decoder 310 decodes instructions, while a D-stage valid signal 312 is supplied to the D-stage AND circuit 361 and an E-stage valid signal 367 to the E-stage AND circuit 371.In the execute unit 300 corresponding to instruction 1, the abort flag for the E-stage condition abort signal 292 is alex (always execute). In this case, the branch-taken signal 290 indicates don't branch , so that the output of the abort decision circuit unit 370 is supplied to the AND circuit 371, which passes the E-stage valid signal 367 as it is. The output of the AND circuit 371 is supplied as a write enable signal to the register file 345. Based on the contents of the register file 345, the E-stage arithmetic unit 325 performs calculations.As with instruction 1, in the execute unit 300 corresponding to instruction 2 of a branch instruction, the abort flag is alex (always execute). Here, the branch-taken signal 290 indicates don't branch , so that calculation is performed at E stage as mentioned above.In the execute unit 300 corresponding to instruction 3 of a delay instruction, the abort flag is also alex (always execute). Because the branch-taken signal 290 here indicates don't branch , calculation is performed at E stage as described above.In the execute unit 300 corresponding to instruction 4, the abort flag is brab (branch then abort). In this case, the branch-taken signal 290 indicates branch , so that the AND circuit 371 negates the E-stage valid signal 367 according to the output of the abort decision circuit unit 370, thereby aborting the execution of instruction.For instructions 5 to 8, like instructions 1 to 4, each execute unit 300 performs abort operation on the basis of the abort flag of the D-stage condition abort signal 291 and the branch-taken signal 290. For instructions 9 to 12, each execute unit 300 still carries out abort operation on the basis of the abort flag of the F-stage condition abort signal 295 and the branch-taken signal 290. In this way, a delayed branch instruction can be executed by the super-scalar machine.Fig. 5 illustrates a second way of executing a delayed branch instruction in the super-scalar machine.In Fig. 5, of the consecutive instructions, instruction 4 is a branch instruction, instruction 13 is a branch destination instruction, and instruction 5 is a delay instruction. The condition abort flags for instructions 1 to 5 are alex (always execute) and those for instructions 6 to 12 are brab (branch and abort).The operation as shown in Fig. 5 also allows the super-scalar machine to execute a delayed branch instruction as described in the first way.Fig. 6 shows a third way of executing a delayed branch instruction in the super-scalar machine.In Fig. 6, among a series of instruction, instruction 3 is a branch instruction, instruction 13 is a branch destination instruction, and instruction 4 is a delay instruction. The condition abort flags for instructions 1 to 4 are alex (always execute) and those for instruction 5 to 12 are brab (branch then abort). Here, because instructions 3 and 4 are interdependent, instruction 4 is executed with a delay of one cycle, though instruction 3 is a branch instruction.The abort flag produced at the abort condition synthesis unit 220 is supplied as an E-stage condition abort signal 292, and at the same time, is supplied as a D-stage condition abort signal 291 via the multiplexer 230. The abort flag produced at the abort condition synthesis unit 222 is supplied as an F-stage condition abort signal 295 via the multiplexer 235.With this approach, the super-scaler machine can execute delayed branch instructions as with the first operational example.Next, how a squash branch instruction is executed in a squash branching method will be explained.In this method, for example, execution sequence of assembler codes using delayed branch instructions is given as follows: StepAssembler CodeCondition Abort Flag1addi r1, r 0, 1alex2addi r2, r 0, 2alex3addi r3, r 0, 3alex4sbeq r29, r 20, x1alex5addi r4 , r 0, 4alex6addi r5 , r 0, 5brab7addi r6 , r 0, 6brab8addi r7 , r 0, 7brab9addi r8 , r 0, 8brab10addi r10, r 0, 10brabIn this method, a condition abort flag alex (always execute) is added to the instructions at steps 1 to 3. When a squash branch instruction is encountered at step 4, then a condition abort flag brex (branch then execute) will be added at step 5. To the instructions at step 6 and later, a condition abort flag brab (branch then abort is added. When a squash branch instruction sbeq is encountered, in the case of a branch-not-taken mode, the instruction next to the branch instruction is not executed, but the next but one instruction is executed, whereas in the case of a branch-taken mode, the instruction next to the branch instruction is executed and then the branch destination instruction is executed.Fig. 7 illustrates how a squash branch instruction is practically executed in the super-scalar machine.In Fig. 7, among a series of instructions, instruction 2 is a squash branch instruction, instruction 13 is a branch destination instruction, and instruction 3 is a delay instruction. The condition abort flags for instructions 1 to 2 are alex (always execute), that for instruction 3 is brex (branch then execute), and those for instructions 4 to 12 are brab (branch then abort).In the execute units 300 corresponding to instruction 1 and squash branch instruction 2, the abort flag for the E-stage condition abort signal 292 is alex (always execute) for either case. In this case, the branch-taken signal 290 indicates don't branch , so that based on the output of the abort decision circuit unit 370, the AND circuit 371 passes the E-stage valid signal 367 as it is. This output is supplied as a write enable signal to the register file 345. Based on the contents of the register file 345, the E-stage arithmetic unit 325 performs calculations.In the execute unit 300 corresponding to instruction 3, the abort flag is brex (branch then execute). When the branch-taken signal 290 indicates branch not taken meaning don't branch, instruction 3 will not be executed and control proceeds to instruction 4 and later. In contrast, when the branch-taken signal 290 indicates branch taken meaning branch, instruction 3 will be executed and then control will proceed to instruction 4. In the execute unit 300 corresponding to instruction 4, the abort flag is brab (branch and abort). In this case, the branch-taken signal 290 indicates branch , so that the AND circuit 371 negates the E-stage valid signal 367 according to the output of the corresponding abort decision circuit unit 370, thereby aborting the execution of instruction.For instructions 5 to 8, like instructions 1 to 4, each execute unit 300 performs abort operation on the basis of the abort flag of the D-stage condition abort signal 291 and the branch-taken signal 290. Similarly, for instructions 9 to 12, each execute unit 300 carries out abort operation on the basis of the abort flag of the F-stage condition abort signal 295 and the branch-taken signal 290. In this way, a squash branch instruction can be executed by the super-scalar machine.	An electronic computer capable of executing a plurality of instructions simultaneously, comprising: abort condition synthesizing means (200) for judging whether each of a plurality of instructions is one of a delayed branch instruction and a squash branch instruction, and based on the results, adding to each instruction a flag Indicating an abort condition; andcommand execute abort means (350) for aborting execution of each of said instructions on the basis of whether the flag added to each instruction to indicate the abort condition and said branch instruction hold true.An electronic computer according to Claim 1, wherein the electronic computer further comprises: fetching means (100) for accessing an instruction cache memory to fetch a plurality of instructions;latching means (110) for latching the output of said fetching means (100);a command supplying unit (120) for receiving the latched instructions from said latching means (110); anda plurality of executing means (300) for receiving the instructions from said command supplying unit (120) and said abort condition synthesizing means (200) and performing processes according to said instructions, each of said executing means including said command execute abort means (350).An electronic computer according to claim 2 , characterized in that said abort condition synthesizing means (200) includes: a branch instruction decoder (210) for decoding the instructions from said latching means (110) to judge whether each of the instructions is any of a delayed branch instruction, a squash branch instruction, and other instructions;a plurality of condition abort synthesizing units for receiving the instructions from said branch instruction decoders (210), and based on said instructions, producing abort conditions for the instructions including a branch instruction, each of said condition abort synthesizing units treating four instructions as an instruction unit and sequentially producing the abort condition for each of said instructions by said instruction unit; anda plurality of multiplexers selectively connected to the output of each of said condition abort synthesizing units, which supply a condition abort signal to said command execute abort means (350) according to the signals from each of said condition abort synthesizing units and said latching means (110).An electronic computer according to claim 2, characterized in that one of said executing means (300) is a branch executing unit (300B).An electronic computer according to claim 2, characterized in that said executing means (300) further includes: a decoder (310) for decoding the instructions from said command supplying unit (120);a register file (345) for storing the output of said abort condition synthesizing means; andan arithmetic unit (325) for performing calculation according to the contents of said register file (345).An electronic computer according to claim 2, characterized in that said command execute abort means (350) includes: abort decision circuits arranged so as to correspond to the individual stages of said executing means (300), which make abort decision on the basis of the stage condition abort signal corresponding to each of said stages and the branch-taken signal indicating whether to branch;a plurality of AND circuits arranged so as to correspond to said abort decision circuits, selectively in each stage, each AND circuit having two input terminals one of which is connected to the output of said abort decision circuit; anda plurality of latches for latching the output of each of said AND circuits.	TOSHIBA KK; KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA	AIKAWA TAKESHI; MINAGAWA KENJI; SAITO MITSUO; AIKAWA, TAKESHI; MINAGAWA, KENJI; SAITO, MITSUO; Aikawa, Takeshi, c/o Intell. Property Div.; Minagawa, Kenji, c/o Intell. Property Div.; Saito, Mitsuo, c/o Intell. Property Div.
EP-0488820-B1	488,820	EP	B1	EN	19,980,401	1,992	20,100,220	new	H01S3	H01L33, G02B6	H01S5	T01S5:22F, T01S5:062H, T01S5:227C, T01S5:12, T01S5:20M2, T01S5:343B, T01S5:06W, H01S 5/343C, Y01N10:00, H01S 5/20, T01S3:19B4C4D, H01S 5/227	Optical semiconductor device	A semiconductor laser of multiple quantum well structure includes a multiple quantum well active layer (32) having a well layer of InxGa1-xAs (0 < x ≦ 1), a first p-type clad layer (33) which is formed on the active layer (32) and lattice-matches with InP, and a second p-type clad layer (37) having a higher acceptor concentration than the first p-type clad layer (33). The acceptor concentration of the first p-type clad layer (33) is set to be not more than 2 x 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ and that of the second p-type region (37) is set to be not less than 1 x 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ in the range of 0.25 µm from the active layer. The well layer of the active layer (32) is formed of InxGa1-xAs (0.53 < x ≦ 1). A laser in which the efficiency of injection into the active layer is increased and which has a small threshold value and excellent high-speed characteristic can be provided.	This invention relates to an optical semiconductor device having a buried quantum well structure, and more particularly to an optical semiconductor device designed for improving the characteristic of a laser of multiple quantum well structure or the like.In recent years, a so-called quantum well semiconductor laser having at least one quantum well structure obtained by forming a well layer of a film thickness less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons in an active layer and barrier layers whose forbidden band width is larger than that of the well layer and which are disposed on both sides of the well layer has been developed. The quantum well semiconductor laser has various advantages over a semiconductor laser of double hetero structure having no quantum well formed in the active layer in that the oscillation threshold value can be lowered, the modulation bandwidth can be widened, the oscillation spectrum width can be narrowed, the temperature characteristic can be improved, and a high output power can be obtained, for example.Further, recently, the degree of freedom of the oscillated wavelength may be enhanced and the characteristic may be further improved by using material which does not lattice-match with the substrate to form the quantum well layer. In general, if a material which does not lattice-match with the substrate exists near the active layer, a large number of lattice defects occur and the reliability and characteristic of the laser may be significantly deteriorated. However, even when a material which does not lattice-match with the substrate is used in the quantum well layer, the layer may be elastically strained so as not to generate lattice defects which may deteriorate the reliability and characteristic of the laser if the thickness of the layer is smaller than a critical thickness. The result of calculation obtained by use of a model of Matthews and Blakeslee may be used as one measure of the critical thickness.A high power laser and a laser with an extremely small threshold value are realized by use of an InGaAs/AℓGaAs semiconductor laser formed on a GaAs substrate of 0.98 µm bandwidth utilizing the above-described strained quantum well structure. Various possibilities of changing the TE/TM mode characteristic and changing the switching characteristic and absorption characteristic can be obtained by introducing a strained optical waveguide layer in an optical semiconductor device other than the semiconductor laser, for example, a semiconductor laser amplifier, optical switch and optical modulator.In the case of an InGaAs/InGaAsP series semiconductor laser formed on the InP substrate mainly used in the optical fiber communication, a so-called buried heterostructure in which the right and left portions of the active layer are filled with material having a larger forbidden bandwidth than the active layer is frequently used in order to obtain the single lateral mode oscillation of small threshold value. In this case, the strained quantum well layer comes to have a strained hetero interface on the side surface thereof and a large strain and stress are generated.Now, a laser of In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well structure formed on a (001) InP substrate 1 shown in Fig. 15 is explained in detail as an example. The semiconductor laser is constructed by forming a multi-layered structure of an active layer (optical waveguide layer) 4 of strained quantum well structure, p-type InP clad layer 5 of 1.5 µm thickness and p-type InGaAsP (composition corresponding to a photoluminescence wavelength of 1.2 µm (1.2 µm-wavelength composition)) contact layer 6 of 0.8 µm thickness on the n-type InP substrate 1 (which is also used as a clad layer) and burying the laminated structure in an Fe-doped semi-insulative InP layer 7. The active layer 4 has undoped In0,7Ga0,3As well layers 2 of 4.2 nm thickness and undoped InGaAsP (1.2 pm-wavelength composition) barrier layers 3 which lattice-match with InP and are respectively disposed on both sides of a corresponding one of the well layers.The barrier layers 3 are formed with a thickness of 12 nm between the well layers 2 and a thickness of 20 nm on each of the uppermost and lowermost well layers and thus have a total thickness of 76 nm. Therefore, the total thickness of the active layer 4 is 92.8 nm. Further, the width of the buried active layer 4 is 2 µm. Electrodes 11 and 12 for current supply are formed on opposite sides of the substrate. Further, a laser resonator (optical cavity) with a length of 1 mm is formed by cleavage.The lattice constant of the InP substrate is 0.58688 nm and the lattice constant of In0.7Ga0.3As is 0.59381 nm. Assuming now that there is an infinite plane having no side surface, the well layer 2 is elastically strained since it is as thin as 4.2 nm. The degree of strain is εxx = εyy = -0.01167, εzz = -2(C12/C11)xεxx = 0.011974, εyz = εzx = εxy = 0. C12/C11 = 0.504 is the Poisson's ratio of In0.7Ga0.3As. As a result, the lattice constant of the strained In0.7Ga0.3As well layer 2 becomes equal to that of InP in the xy plane and the lattice constant in the z direction is 0.60092 nm. However, in practice, the active layer 4 is buried in the Fe-doped InP blocking layer 7 in a stripe form with a width of 2 µm. As a result, lattice-mismatching occurs in the boundary between the well layer 2 and the blocking layer 7. Since the thickness of the well layer 2 is 4.2 nm, it may be formed of approx. 6.99 unit layers on average. In the face-centered cubic zinc blende structure, four atomic layers are present in the lattice interval a with a positional deviation in the <001> direction, and in this case, four layers (lattice constant a) which are aligned with each other are counted as one unit lattice layer.When the thickness is divided by the lattice constant of InP, 7.16 unit lattice layers can be obtained. The well layer 2 has four layers and therefore lattice-mismatching corresponding to the 0.68 unit lattice layer will occur in the side surface of the active layer 4. Since the width of the active layer 4 is as large as 2 µm, the entire portion of the active layer 4 will not be elastically compressed. As a result, lattice defects such as dislocations may tend to occur near the side surface of the active layer 4.Since the degree of lattice-mismatching of the upper side surface of the strained quantum well layer is larger than the 0.5 unit lattice layer, the lattice plane of the strained quantum well layer becomes nearer to a lattice plane of the blocking layer lying directly above the strained quantum well layer and will be more easily connected to the lattice plane on the side surface thereof, and the possibility of occurrence of dislocations becomes high. With such lattice defects, segregation of impurity tends to occur. Further, with such lattice defects, significant reduction in the reliability and deterioration in the laser characteristic such as reduction in the light emission efficiency rise in the oscillation threshold value and reduction in the differential gain may occur. In an optical semiconductor device other than the semiconductor laser, defects due to the lattice-mismatching occur in the side surface of the buried strained quantum well optical waveguide layer to cause various demerits. For example, in the buried strained quantum well optical waveguide, an increase in the absorption coefficient and an increase in the light scattering coefficient may be caused by the defects. Further, in a light detection device having a buried strained quantum well light absorption layer, various problems such as an increase in a generation recombination dark current caused by the defects on the side surface, irregularity of the internal electric field caused by impurity segregated by the defects, reduction in the quantum efficiency due to recombination in the defects and reduction in the reliability may occur.Further, in a semiconductor device other than the optical semiconductor device, a strained semiconductor layer such as a pseudomorphic HEMT strained channel layer or a strained In(Ga)As ohmic contact layer is used to improve the characteristic. When the strained semiconductor layer is buried in part of the substrate instead of the entire portion of the substrate, various problems such as reduction in the carrier lifetime, reduction in the electron mobility due to an increase in the scattering centers, an increase in noises, and reduction in the reliability which are caused by segregation of impurity and lattice defects due to the lattice-mismatching on the side surface may occur.In a quantum well laser having InGaAsP or InGaAs at the well layer widely used in the optical communication field, the well barrier of the conduction band is low and the well barrier of the valence band is high so that overflow of electrons to the barrier layer and optical waveguide layer may easily occur and the injection efficiency of holes into the well layer will become low. For this reason, the utilization efficiency of carriers becomes low and the effect of reduction in the oscillation threshold value and extension of the modulation bandwidth is not significant in comparison with a case of a bulk type double hetero semiconductor laser having the same oscillation wavelength.Since the injection efficiency of holes into the well layer becomes low when stimulated emission becomes large and the number of carriers becomes insufficient, a difference in the hole density occurs between the wells and the gain saturation ε for light becomes large. This means that damping becomes large and the frequency bandwidth will not be extended irrespective of an increase in the differential gain caused by the effect of the quantum well. A high power laser may have a preferable characteristic when it is of long resonator and a large number of wells are used, but since the above problems are present, the number of wells cannot be fully increased in practice.In general, since saturation of the gain G with respect to the carriers is significant in the quantum well laser, the differential gain becomes significantly deteriorated when the oscillation threshold carrier density becomes high. Therefore, reduction in the oscillation threshold value is important in view of the high-speed response characteristic. Since the oscillat ing condition can be expressed by ΓG=α, the optical total loss α must be set to a small value to decrease the gain necessary for the oscillation in order to reduce the oscillation threshold value.In a quantum well laser, particularly, in a strained quantum well laser having strains in the well layer, the waveguide loss of the active layer can be suppressed to an extremely small value, but the loss may become large when the acceptor density of a p-clad layer is high. Since the optical confinement coefficient Γ of the quantum well laser is small, influence by absorption in the clad layer is extremely large. Therefore, in order to obtain a quantum well laser of low threshold value, it is necessary to reduce the acceptor density of the p-clad layer.In this case, however, since a large band barrier is created in the hetero junction portion between the p-clad layer and the active layer, there occurs a problem that the injection efficiency of holes into the quantum well active layer is lowered. This means that it is difficult to form a quantum well laser which has a small threshold value and a high-speed response. In order to solve the problem of the barrier of the hetero interface, use of GRIN (graded index) is proposed, but in this case, precise control for the crystal growth becomes necessary and the process becomes complicated.In addition, a problem that defects of dislocations tend to occur in the side surface of the active layer by the lattice-mismatching has occurred in the strained quantum well laser of buried structure. In particular, when a layer doped with a transition metal such as Fe is formed on the side surface, there occurs a possibility that composite defects of dislocations and the transition metal serving as impurity deteriorate the laser characteristic.Thus, in the conventional semiconductor device having the strained semiconductor layer of buried structure, defects such as lattice defects and impurity segregation caused by the lattice-mismatching of the side surface of the strained semiconductor layer may occur, thereby significantly deteriorating the characteristic and reliability.Further, in the multiple quantum well laser of InGaAs or InGaAsP, the injection efficiency of holes into the well layer is low and a difference in the hole density tends to occur between the wells, thereby making it difficult to increase the number of wells. Further, it is difficult to realize a laser which has a small absorption loss and high injection efficiency of holes and reduction in the oscillation threshold value and the improvement of the high-speed response characteristic cannot be easily attained.This invention has been made in view of the above problems and an object of this invention is to provide a semiconductor device of buried strained quantum well structure having an excellent characteristic and reliability by alleviating the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of a strained semiconductor layer.Another object of this invention is to provide a semiconductor device having a small threshold value and an excellent high-speed response characteristic and capable of enhancing the injection efficiency of carriers into a quantum well active layer.This invention is roughly divided into the following two features. That is, the first feature is the alleviation of the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the strained quantum well layer and the second feature is the improvement of the injection efficiency.According to a first aspect of this invention, there is provided an optical semiconductor device comprising a stripe-form optical waveguide layer formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers; blocking layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer; and cladding layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer; wherein the side surfaces of the optical waveguide layer are tapered with respect to the normal of said substrate at an angle of not less than 45 degrees.According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided an optical semiconductor device comprising: a stripe-form optical waveguide layer formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers; blocking layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer; cladding layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer; wherein the average lattice constant of each blocking layer has a value between the lattice constants of said substrate and said first semiconductor layer.The optical semiconductor device may be constructed by use of a semiconductor layer of tetragonal system having the c axis set in the direction of the normal to the substrate to form part of the semiconductor layer of the clad layer which extends in the right and left directions of the strained quantum well layer and lies in a plane parallel to the substrate and the lattice constant of the a axis thereof is set to be less than that of the semiconductor substrate.In each of the above mentioned arrangements, it is assumed that the stripe-form optical waveguide layer (corresponding to the active layer in the semiconductor laser and the light absorption layer in the optical detection device) is surrounded at the right, left, upper and lower portions thereof by the clad layer having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of the barrier layer of the strained quantum well. Of course, the first arrangement can be used together with the other two arrangements. The important factor of a third aspect of this invention is to alleviate the lattice-mismatching caused in the side surface of the strained semiconductor layer of the first region buried in the second region. This is achieved by an optical semiconductor device comprising: a stripe-form optical waveguide layer formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers; blocking layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer; cladding layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer; wherein a composition changing region whose lattice constant is changed continuously or stepwise between that of said optical waveguide layer and that of each blocking layer is formed between the blocking layers and the optical waveguide layer.In this case, the strained semiconductor layer indicates a semiconductor layer having strains elastically and intentionally introduced therein by laminating semiconductor layers of compositions which have different lattice constants and each of which has a film thickness less than the critical thickness and it is not assumed that the strains are inadvertently introduced by the incomplete composition control of crystal growth. In general, in the case of a semiconductor layer grown on the GaAs and InP substrate, the maximum value of strains inadvertently introduced by the incomplete composition control of crystal growth is 0.2% or less, and if a larger degree of lattice-mismatching has occurred, it can be considered that the strained semiconductor layer is intentionally formed.In an optical semiconductor device using a buried optical waveguide having the strained semiconductor layer as a portion thereof, it can be considered that a portion in which the optical waveguide is formed is a first region and a buried portion adjacent to the side surface of the optical waveguide is a second region.The composition changing region can be formed by diffusing impurities to activate the mutual diffusion of atoms in the boundary portion, for example. when one of the first and second regions is formed by selective growth, it can be formed by utilizing variation in the crystal composition according to the distance from a mask formed on the other region.The important factor of a fourth aspect of this invention is to reduce the possibility of generation of dislocations by reducing the accumulated lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the buried strained semiconductor layer to less than half the unit lattice interval. In this case, as described before, the strained semiconductor layer indicates a semiconductor layer having strains elastically introduced therein by laminating semiconductor layers of composition having different lattice constants with the film thickness of each strained semiconductor layer set less than the critical thickness.Therefore, this is achieved by an optical semiconductor device comprising: a stripe-form optical waveguide layer formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers; blocking layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer; cladding layers formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer; wherein the expression that absolute (Z2(n) - Z1(n)) < δmin(n)/2 is satisfied when said first and second semiconductor layers are alternately laminated, the lower main surface of the lowermost one of said first semiconductor layers of said optical waveguide layer is used as a reference plane, the coordinate system Z is set in the upward direction along the normal of a low index plane which is the nearest to said reference plane, the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said optical waveguide layer from said reference plane is Z1(n), the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said blocking layers from said reference plane is Z2(n), and the smallest one of four values of Z2(n+1)-Z2(n) , Z2(n)-Z2(n-1) , Z1(n+1)-Z1(n) and Z1(n)-Z1(n-1) is δ min(n). In the semiconductor device having a strained semiconductor layer buried in the first region, this invention is made to satisfy the following-expression (1) for a given value n; absolute {Z2(n) - Z1(n)} < δmin(n)/2 where the lower main surface of the lowermost strained semiconductor layer is used as a reference lattice plane (z = 0), the coordinate system Z is set in the upward direction along the normal thereof, the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane from the reference lattice plane of the first region is Z1(n) when the first region is assumed to infinitely extend, the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane from the reference lattice plane of the second region is Z2(n) when the second region adjacent to the first region is assumed to infinitely extend, and the smallest one of four values of Z2(n+1)-22(n) , Z2(n)-Z2(n-1) , Z1(n+1)-Z1(n) and Z1(n)-Z1(n-1) is δmin(n). In this case, absolute{x} indicates the absolute value of x. In other words, the maximum degree of accumulated lattice-mismatching in the boundary between the first and second regions is suppressed to a value less than half that of the unit lattice layer. In this case, the term unit lattice layer is defined as a period of the crystal structure in the Z direction. For example, in the case of zinc blend structure, the lattice constant a comes to correspond to one unit lattice layer when the Z direction is set to the <001> direction and 31/2a comes to correspond to one unit lattice layer when the Z direction is set to the <111> direction. When the reference plane is not a low index plane, for example, when it is an off substrate, the theory as described above can be similarly applied by setting the normal of the nearest low index plane to the Z direction.As one means for satisfying the expression (1), a method of laminating at least one first strained semiconductor layer having a larger lattice constant than the semiconductor substrate and at least one second strained semiconductor layer having a smaller lattice constant than the semiconductor substrate and canceling the accumlated lattice-mismatching of the side surface caused by one of the first and second strained semiconductor layer groups with the lattice-mismatching of the side surface caused by the other strained semiconductor layer group. This method is effective when the total thickness of one of the strained semiconductor layer groups becomes too large and the expression (1) cannot be satisfied only by use of the strained semiconductor layer group.In some cases, m atomic planes of the same group of elements exist in one unit lattice in the Z direction. For example, if the reference lattice plane of Z=0 is a Group-III atomic plane in the (001) plane of III-V compound semiconductor of zinc blende structure, m becomes 2 since a Group-III atomic plane exists in a/2. In the case of (110) plane, since Group-III atoms and Group-V atoms are present on the same plane, the same group atomic planes of m=4 exist in the unit lattice layer 21/2a. In such a case, lateral deviation may occur and dislocations will be caused in different atomic planes of the same group in the unit lattice layer. At this time, it is preferable to satisfy the following expression (2) for a given value n. absolute {Z2(n) - Z1(n)} < δmin(n)/(2m)In an optical semiconductor device using a buried optical waveguide which is partly formed of a strained semiconductor layer, it can be considered that a portion in which the optical waveguide is formed is a first region and a buried portion adjacent to the optical waveguide is a second region.In the case of a strained quantum wire or strained quantum box, it can be considered that a semiconductor region forming the strained quantum wire or strained quantum box is a first region and a semiconductor region forming the barrier of the side surface thereof is a second region. Of course, the above embodiments can be used in combination.In the optical semiconductor device of the first aspect, since the lattice-mismatching of the side surface of the optical waveguide is distributed in the tapered plane, distortion of the lattice gradually occurs over the taper width so as to suppress occurrence of large strains and stresses. As a result, an optical semiconductor device in which lattice defects such as dislocations and segregation of impurity can be prevented and which has an excellent characteristic and high reliability can be attained.In the optical semiconductor device of the second aspect, since the average lattice constant in a plane parallel to the substrate including the stripe-form optical waveguide layer takes a value between the lattice constant of the substrate and the lattice constant of the strained quantum well layer, the lattice-mismatching of the side surface of the optical waveguide layer can be alleviated. As a result, an optical semiconductor device in which lattice defects such as dislocations and segregation of impurity can be prevented and which has an excellent characteristic and high reliability can be attained.Further, since the tetragonal system material (semiconductor of chalcopyrite structure) is used in a plane parallel to the substrate including the stripe-form optical waveguide layer and the lattice constant a of the tetragonal system material is set to be smaller than the lattice constant of the substrate. A value c/2 obtained by dividing the lattice constant of the semiconductor mixed crystal of chalcopyrite structure in the direction along the axis c by 2 is generally smaller than the lattice constant a in the direction of axis a. Therefore, if the thickness thereof is properly determined, the average lattice constants of the blocking layer and active layer in the direction of the normal to the substrate can be approximately matched to each other in the optical semiconductor device having a buried strained quantum well optical waveguide layer whose strained quantum well layer has a lattice constant smaller than that of the substrate. Thus, it becomes possible to alleviate the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the optical waveguide layer without causing the lattice-mismatching with respect to the semiconductor substrate. As a result, an optical semiconductor device in which lattice defects such as dislocations and segregation of impurity can be prevented and which has an excellent characteristic and high reliability can be attained.In the optical semiconductor device of the third aspect, since the stress caused by the lattice-mismatching between the first and second regions is distributed in the entire portion of the composition changing region formed therebetween. Therefore, an optical semiconductor device in which generation of dislocations caused by concentration of stress on the boundary surface can be suppressed and whose characteristic and reliability will not be degraded by the dislocations can be attained.In a case where impurity is doped into the second region with high impurity concentration, mutual diffusion of host atoms in the diffusion regions can be activated if impurity diffusion from the boundary portion into the first region has occurred. As a result, in the boundary portion between the first and second regions, the mutual diffusion of host atoms between the regions proceeds while the strained quantum well is being disordered, thus forming a composition changing region.When the semiconductor mixed crystal is subjected to the selective growth, the composition, film thickness and distortion amount of the mixed crystal depend on the distance from the mask and the opening ratio thereof. Based on this fact, a region having varying lattice constants can be formed in the boundary portion. The above composition changing region can be formed by setting the varying direction of the lattice constant from one region to the other region such that the lattice constant at a portion closer to the other region will become nearer to the average lattice constant of the other region.In the fourth aspect, if the maximum degree of accumlated lattice-mismatching of the boundary portion between the first and second regions is suppressed to a value less than 1/2 of that of the unit lattice layer to satisfy the expression (1), generation of dislocations in the boundary between the first and second regions can be efficiently suppressed since the n'th unit lattice plane in the second region is located at a shorter distance from the n'th unit lattice plane in the first region than the (n±1)'th unit lattice plane in the second region.It is possible to increase the film thickness and the number of layers of the strained semiconductor layer which satisfies the expression (1) by laminating at least one first strained semiconductor layer having a larger lattice constant than the semiconductor substrate and at least one second strained semiconductor layer having a smaller lattice constant than the semiconductor substrate and canceling the lattice-mismatching of the side surface caused by one of the first and second strained semiconductor layer groups with the lattice-mismatching of the side surface caused by the other strained semiconductor layer group.If m atomic planes of the same group of elements exist in one unit lattice in the Z direction, an atomic plane of the same group of the adjacent region which is not deviated can be set at a shorter distance than an atomic plane of the same group of the adjacent region which is deviated by one to satisfy the expression (2). Generation of dislocations in the atomic planes of the same group accompanied by lateral deviation can be efficiently prevented since the maximum degree of accumlated lattice-mismatching in the Z direction of the boundary between the first and second regions is suppressed to a value less than 1/2 of the interval of the same group atomic planes. In either case, an optical semiconductor device in which generation of lattice defects such as dislocations in a portion near the boundary between the first and second regions can be prevented and which has an excellent characteristic and high reliability can be attained. This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to a first embodiment of this invention;Figs. 2A to 2C are cross sectional views showing a process of manufacturing the laser according to the first embodiment;Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to a second embodiment of this invention;Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to a third embodiment of this invention;Figs. 5A to SD are cross sectional views showing a process of manufacturing the laser according to the third embodiment;Figs. 6A and 6B are cross sectional views showing a process of manufacturing a semiconductor laser according to a fourth embodiment;Fig. 7 is a characteristic diagram showing the dependency of the laser differential gain on the number of well layers in the fourth embodiment;Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to a fifth embodiment of this invention;Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view showing the main structure of the laser of the fifth embodiment;Fig. 10 is a model diagram showing deviation of a lattice plane in the Z direction of the side surface of an active layer in the fifth embodiment; Fig. 11 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to a sixth embodiment of this invention;Fig. 12 is a model diagram showing the band structure of an active layer of the laser in the sixth embodiment;Fig. 13 is a model diagram showing another example of the band structure of an active layer in the sixth embodiment;Fig. 14 is a model diagram showing still another example of the band structure of an active layer in the sixth embodiment; andFig. 15 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a conventional multiple quantum well semiconductor laser.There will now be described an embodiment of this invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.First, the first and second embodiments are explained.Fig. 1 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to the first embodiment of this invention. An n-type InP buffer layer (clad layer) 1b is formed on an n-type InP substrate la. A multiple quantum well active layer 4 having InGaAs strained quantum well layers 2 and InGaAsP barrier layers 3 alternately laminated is formed in a stripe form on the buffer layer 1b. A blocking layer 8 having p-type InAℓAs layers 18 and p-type InP layers 17 alternately laminated is formed on the side surface of the active layer 4. A p-type InP clad layer 5 is formed on the active layer 4 and the blocking layer 8 and a p-type InGaAsP contact layer 6 is formed on the clad layer 5. A p-side electrode 11 is formed on the contact layer 6 and an n-side electrode 12 is formed on the rear surface of the substrate 1a.The semiconductor laser is manufactured as follows. First, as shown in Fig. 2A, an n-type InP buffer layer 1b of a thickness of 2 µm is formed on an n-type InP semiconductor substrate 1a having a (001) main surface by a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method, then an undoped InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple quantum well active layer 4 is formed on the buffer layer 1b and a thin undoped InP dummy layer 14 of 10 nm thickness is formed on the active layer 4. The active layer 4 is formed by alternately laminating four undoped In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well layers 2 of 4.2 nm thickness and five undoped InGaAsP (1.2 µm-wavelength composition) barrier layers 3 of 12 nm thickness (20 nm on both ends), which lattice-match with InP.An SiO2 film 15 is deposited on the laminated structure and patterned by a conventional PEP technique so as to etch out both end portions of each stripe of 2 µm width serving as an active layer by 1 µm width. At this time, hydrochloric-series etchant is used to etch the thin InP dummy layer 14 and SH series (mixture of sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide liquid and water) is used as etchant for etching the active layer 4. A photoresist is removed after the process of etching the SiO2 film 15. The cross section of an active layer having a recess at the center thereof as shown in Fig. 2A can be obtained by the SH series etching using the SiO2 film 15 and InP dummy layer 14 as a mask. The width of the tapered portion on each side is 0.4 µm and the width of the active layer at the central portion is 1 µm.Next, as shown in Fig. 2B, strained blocking layers 8 are grown on both side portions 16 of the active layer 4 by the MOCVD method without removing the SiO2 film 15. The strained blocking layer 8 is formed by alternately laminating four p-type In0.7Aℓ0.3As layers 18 of 4.2 nm thickness and five p-type InP layers 17 of 12 nm thickness (but the lowermost and upermost layers are 20 nm thick) and the total thickness thereof is substantially the same as that of the active layer (92.8 nm). After this, as shown in Fig. 2C, the SiO2 film 15 is removed, and a p-type InP clad layer 5 of 2 µm thickness and a p-type InGaAsP contact layer 6 of 0.8 µm thickness are sequentially grown on the resultant structure by the MOCVD method. Then, a p-type ohmic electrode (Ti/Pt/Au) 11 is formed on the contact layer 6 and an n-type ohmic electrode (Au/Ge) 12 is formed on the rear surface of the substrate 1.Next, the contact layer 6 and p-type clad layer 5 are selectively etched to form a mesa structure of 10 µm width including the active layer 4. Further, the outside portion of the active layer 4b is removed by use of SH series etchant to form a semiconductor laser wafer of self aligned constricted mesa (SACM) structure having a cross section of mushroom form as shown in Fig. 1. The wafer is cleaved into a bar form of 1 mm length, then cut into chips of 300 µm width and mounted on a module (not shown). The oscillation wavelength is approx. 1.55 µm.In the above structure, the In0.7Aℓ0.3As layer 18 and the InP layer 17 have a forbidden bandwidth larger than the active layer 4. The In0.7Aℓ0.3As layer 18 has substantially the same lattice constant as the In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well layer 2. Therefore, the blocking layer 8 has a structure having substantially the same lattice constant as the active layer 4 and the average lattice constant (0.58813 nm) thereof takes a value between those of the InP substrate 1 and the In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well layer 2. It is ideal to completely align the positions of the strained quantum well layer 2 and the In0.7Aℓ0.3As layer 18, but the positional difference caused by the crystal growth may occur. However, since the active layer 4 is formed with a tapered side surface, influence by the lattice-mismatching may be distributed on the tapered portion, thus preventing generation of extremely large strain and stress even if the position difference occurs between the strained quantum well layer 2 and the In0.7Aℓ0.3As layer 18. Therefore, a strained quantum well laser of buried structure in which segregation of impurity and lattice defects such as dislocations can be prevented and whose characteristic and reliability will not be degraded can be realized.With the above structure, an excellent characteristic of the strained quantum well of the linewidth enhancement factor (α parameter) as small as 2 can be stably obtained, and as a result, a semiconductor laser having an excellent characteristic that the chirping (-20 dB average spectrum width) at the time of 10 Gb/s modulation (bias of the threshold value, modulation pulse current 40 mApp) is less than 0.3 nm can be realized. Further, with the semiconductor laser of this invention having the high reliability and small chirping, a several hundred km optical fiber transmission system of 10 Gb/s direct intensity modulation-direct detection system having no external optical modulator can be put into practice.In a modification of the above embodiment, the blocking layer 8 may be formed of a single layer of In0.667Aℓ0.333As instead of using the laminated structure. In this case, the average lattice constants (0.58813 nm) of the active layer 4 and the blocking layer 8 are substantially equal to each other and the value thereof lies between the lattice constants of the substrate and the In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well layer 2. The microscopic lattice-mismatching occurs in the side surface of the active layer 4, but since the side surface of the active layer is formed in a tapered form, the strain and stress are dispersed in the tapered portion and the segregation of impurity and lattice defects can be prevented in the same manner as in the former example. Further, even though the average lattice constants of the active layer 4 and the blocking layer 8 do not completely coincide with each other, the lattice-mismatching occurring in the side surface of the active layer can be effectively alleviated by setting the average lattice constant of the blocking layer to an intermediate value between those of the InP substrate 1 and the strained quantum well layer 2.Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to a second embodiment of this invention. The construction and the manufacturing process of the semiconductor laser are substantially the same as those of the semiconductor laser of the first embodiment, but this is different from that of the first embodiment in that the strained quantum well layer 2 is formed of In0.48Ga0.52As and a layer 9 of Ag0.65Cu0.35GaSe2 of chalcopyrite structure (tetragonal system) of 1.56 nm thickness is formed in the InP blocking layer 17 instead of the InAℓAs layer. The oscillation wavelength is 1.48 µm which is suitable for optical fiber amplifier excitation.The lattice constant of the In0.48Ga0.52As strained quantum well layer 2 is 0.58485 nm and is smaller than the lattice constant 0.58688 nm of the InP substrate unlike the former embodiment. The magnitude of the strain of the strained quantum well layer 2 obtained when it is assumed that the strained quantum well layer 2 infinitely extends is εxx = εyy = 0.003471, εzz = -2(C12/C11)εxx = -0.003422, εyx = εzx = εxy = 0. In this case, it is assumed that the Poison's ratio of In0.48Ga0.52As is C12/C11 = 0.493. The lattice interval of the strained quantum well layer 2 in the normal direction of the substrate after it is strained is 0.58284 nm. The lattice constant of the Ag0.65Cu0.35GaSe2 layer 9 is a = 0.5845 nm and c = 1.092 nm, and if the thickness thereof is 1.56 nm and the strain thereof in the direction of axis a is neglected, the microscopic lattice matching with respect to the strained quantum well active layer in the strained state can be attained in the direction of the normal to the substrate. In practice, since the strain of the Ag0.65Cu0.35GaSe2 layer 9 occurs, complete matching cannot be attained unless the composition and thickness thereof are adjusted.Further, even when the perfect lattice matching is attained for the average of the film thicknesses, microscopic lattice-mismatching may occur in the side surface of the active layer 4. However, even if the lattice matching is imperfect, influence of the lattice-mismatching is dispersed on the entire portion of the tapered portion and the segregation of impurity and lattice defects can be prevented since the side surface of the active layer 4 is formed in a tapered form like the former embodiment. Further, the forbidden bandwidth of the Ag0.65Cu0.35GaSe2 layer 9 is approx. 1.77 eV which is larger than that of the InP substrate and this is preferable for the current constriction and light confinement. Since various other chalcopyrite materials are present, the degree of freedom of selection can be increased in view of the lattice constant and forbidden bandwidth. Therefore, a high power and highly reliable buried type strained quantum well semiconductor laser can be realized by use of the above method.This invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made. The barrier layer is not necessarily formed of constant composition but may be formed with the GRIN structure in which the refractive index is decreased (the forbidden bandwidth is increased) continuously or stepwise from the active layer towards the clad layer. The quantum well layer may be a double quantum well structure or double barrier structure. The material of the active layer may be of various combinations including InGaAs, InGaAsP, InGaAℓAs, InGaAsSb, GaAℓAsSb, GaAℓPSb, InAℓSb, and InGaAℓSb.The lateral light (and current) confinement structure of the optical waveguide layer may be formed with various structures such as buried hetero structure and semi-insulative InP buried structure in addition to the above SACM structure. In the case of a semiconductor laser, a distributed feedback type (DFB) laser, distributed Bragg reflector type (DBR) laser, wavelength tunable laser having a plurality of electrodes, complex resonator laser, monitor integrated laser, optical waveguide integrated laser, or bistable laser can be used. Of course, this invention can be applied to various optical semiconductor elements such as a semiconductor optical waveguide, semiconductor light detector (photodiode), semiconductor optical switch, semiconductor directional coupler, semiconductor light modulator, and photonic IC having the above units integrated therein in addition to the above semiconductor laser. In the case of a semiconductor optical waveguide, the stripe is not limited to a straight line, and this invention can be applied to various optical waveguides having side surfaces, such as a bent optical waveguide, a total reflection type optical waveguide, a Y-branch, a cross and a taper. The cross sectional taper form is not limited to the tapered form in which the central portion is formed in a concave configuration.Next, a third embodiment is explained.Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to the third embodiment of this invention. Figs. 5A to 5D are cross sectional views showing the semiconductor laser. The semiconductor laser is manufactured as follows. First, as shown in Fig. 5A, an undoped InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple quantum well active layer 4 is formed over an n-type InP semiconductor substrate 1a having a (001) main surface with an n-type InP buffer layer (clad) 1b of 2 µm thickness disposed therebetween by the metal organic vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. As shown in Fig. 5B, the active layer is formed with a structure constituted by seven undoped In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well layers 2 of 3 nm thickness, and undoped InGaAsP layers 3 (1.2 µm-wavelength composition) which each have 10 nm thickness (but the lowermost layer 3x is 30 nm thick and the uppermost layer 3y is 100 nm thick), lattice-match with InP and are respectively disposed on both sides of a corresponding one of the well layers 2.After a diffraction grating is formed on the uppermost InGaAsP layer 3y, an SiO2 film 15 is formed on the diffraction grating and patterned by use of a normal PEP technique to remove the both end portions of the stripe of 2 µm width serving as an active layer by the width of 1 µm as shown in Fig. 5C. At this time, if SH series etchant (mixture of sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide liquid and water) is used as etchant for etching the active layer 4, the cross section of an active layer having a recess at the center thereof as shown in Fig. 5C can be obtained. The width of the tapered portion on each side is 0.4 µm and the width of the active layer at the central portion is 1 µm. Next, as shown in Fig. SD, after the SiO2 film 15 is removed, a p-type InP clad layer 5 of 2 pm thickness having an acceptor concentration of 2 × 1018 cm-3 and a p-type InGaAsP contact layer 6 of 0.8 pm thickness are sequentially grown on the entire portion of the resultant structure by the MOCVD method. During the growing process, zinc which is a p-type dopant is diffused from the re-growth interface into the active layer 4. As is well known in the art, if impurity such as zinc is diffused into semiconductor superlattices, mutual diffusion of Group-III atoms is activated and disordering occurs. As a result, the zinc diffused region in the side surface of the active layer 4 becomes a region of intermediate composition between the compositions of the strained quantum well layer 2 and the no-strain barrier layer 3.The crystal mixing also occurs in a portion between the p-type InP clad layer 5 and the active layer 4, but since the side surface thereof is tapered, the intermediate composition region of the side surface of the active layer serves as a composition changing region 27 having a composition nearer to the composition of InP in a portion closer to the outermost end portion thereof. Since the lattice-mismatching of the side surface is distributed in the entire portion of the composition changing region 27, excessive concentration of the stress can be alleviated and generation of defects such as dislocations can be prevented. Further, diffusion of zinc from the upper portion into the active layer 4 can be prevented by the presence of the InGaAsP layer 3b.After this, a p-type ohmic electrode (Ti/Pt/Au) 11 is formed on the contact layer 6, an n-type ohmic electrode (Au/Ge) 12 is formed on the rear surface of the substrate 1, and the contact layer 6 and p-type clad layer 5 are sequentially and selectively etched to form a mesa structure of 10 µm width including the active layer 4. Further, the outside active layer is removed by use of SH series etchant to form a semiconductor laser wafer of self aligned constricted mesa (SACM) structure having a cross section of mushroom form as shown in Fig. 4.The wafer is cleaved into a bar form of 1 mm length, then cut into chips of 300 µm width and mounted on a module (not shown). The oscillation wavelength is approx. 1.55 µm. As described above, since generation of dislocations can be suppressed irrespective of the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the active layer, a strained quantum well distributed feedback type semiconductor laser having a small threshold value, high power, high speed, low chirping, narrow spectrum line width, and high reliability can be realized.In this embodiment, diffusion of zinc is effected in the overgrowth step but can be effected in a step independent from the overgrowth step. Further, the diffused impurity is not limited to zinc but may be another impurity such as cadmium, magnesium, beryllium, carbon, or silicon. Next, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor laser according to a fourth embodiment is explained with reference to Fig. 6. The process from the initial crystal growth step to the active layer patterning step is the same as that shown in Figs. 5A to 5C. After this, as shown in Fig. 6A, a blocking layer 26 of multi-layered structure having an In0.52Aℓ0.48As layer 26a and an InP layer 26b is selectively grown on a portion in which the active layer has been removed without removing the SiO2 film 15 used for patterning the active layer. The forbidden bandwidth of the blocking layer 26 is larger than that of the active layer 4 so that the leak of current which does not pass the active layer can be prevented. At this time, since the diffusion length of In is larger than that of Aℓ in a portion on the SiO2 film 15, In of a larger amount than that of Aℓ is excessively supplied to a portion near the SiO2 film 15 at the time of growth of the In0.52Aℓ0.48As layer 26a. As a result, the In0.52Aℓ0.48As layer 26a comes to have a ratio of In/(In+Aℓ) larger than 0.52 in a portion 28 near the SiO2 film 15. Since the ratio In/(In+Aℓ) becomes larger than 0.52 and the lattice constant becomes larger in a portion nearer to the active layer 4, the average lattice constant of the blocking layer 26 becomes nearer to that of the active layer 4. That is, the composition changing region 28 acts to disperse the influence of the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the active layer in combination with the effect obtained by the tapered side surface. As a result, concentration of the stress can be alleviated and generation of defects such as dislocations can be prevented. The average lattice constant of a portion of the blocking layer 26 near the active layer 4 can be adjusted by changing the crystal growth condition, the thickness and the number of layers of the In0.52Aℓ0.48As layer 26a. After this, a semiconductor laser as shown in Fig. 6B is completed by removing the SiO2 film 15, forming a p-InP clad layer 5 and p-InGaAsP contact layer 6 and forming electrodes and mesa structure like the former embodiment. Also, in this embodiment, generation of defects due to the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the active layer can be suppressed and a semiconductor laser having a high performance and high reliability can be realized. It is also possible to form the active layer by selective growth after formation of the blocking layer. The characteristic of the quantum well laser depends on the number of quantum well layers. Fig. 7 shows examples of calculations for the dependency of the differential gain of the In0.7Ga0.3As/InGaAsP-seriesstrained quantum well laser on the number of well layers. In order to attain a good characteristic, it is necessary to provide a certain number of layers. However, unless means for alleviating influence of the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the active layer is used as in this embodiment, serious dislocations will be generated near the side surface when the number of layers is large (the total film thickness is large). According to the method of this embodiment, the total film thickness can be made larger without generation of dislocations near the side surface of the active layer. A highly reliable semiconductor laser which has a small threshold value, small line width increasing coefficient (α parameter) and large differential gain can be stably attained by use of the structure of this embodiment. The strained quantum well semiconductor laser having the excellent characteristic may be used as a light source in the very high speed optical communication or coherent optical communication, or high power light source for optical amplifier excitation, for example.This invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made. For example, each semiconductor layer is not necessarily formed of constant composition but may be formed with the GRIN structure in which the refractive index is decreased (the forbidden bandwidth is increased) continuously or stepwise from the active layer towards the clad layer. The lateral light (and current) confinement structure of the optical waveguide layer may be formed with various structures such as buried hetero structure and semi-insulative InP buried structure in addition to the above SACM structure. The shape of the side surface is not limited to the tapered shape having a recess in the central portion as in the above embodiment, but may be a vertical plane, and the cross section of the active layer may be a trapezoid, inverted trapezoid or any desired form.In the case of a semiconductor laser, a Fabry-Perot (FP) laser, distributed Bragg reflector type (DBR) laser, wavelength tunable laser having a plurality of electrodes, complex resonator laser, monitor integrated laser, optical waveguide integrated laser, or bistable laser can be used in addition to the distributed feedback type (DFB) laser. Of course, this invention can be applied to various optical semiconductor elements such as a semiconductor laser amplifier, semiconductor optical waveguide, semiconductor light detector (photodiode), semiconductor optical switch, semiconductor directional coupler, semiconductor light modulator and photonic IC having the above units integrated therein and electronic devices such as a pseudomorphic HEMT and hetero junction bipolar transistor in addition to the above semiconductor laser.The shape of the first region is not limited to the linear stripe, but may be a desired form such as a rectangular, polygon, circle, comb-shape, Y-branch, cross (X), or curve, for example. It will be easily understood that even if the first region is not completely surrounded by another region, if a strained semiconductor layer is also formed in the second region, or if a third region is formed, the effect of this invention can be attained by forming a composition changing region in the side surface of each region including a strained semiconductor layer. The manufacturing method is not limited to the MOCVD method. For example, another method such as the ALE (atomic layer epitaxial growth) method can be used and the order of steps for forming the respective regions can be changed. The material may be of various combinations including SiGe, SiC, ZnSSe, CdSSe, HgCdTe and chalcopyrite in addition to Group-III-V mixed crystal such as InGaAs, GaAℓAs, InGaAsP, InGaAℓAs, InGaAℓP, InGaAsSb, GaAℓAsP, GaAℓAsSb, GaAℓPSb, InAℓPSb, InGaAℓSb and AℓGaN.Next, a fifth embodiment is explained.Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to a fifth embodiment of this invention. The semiconductor laser is formed as follows. An n-type InP buffer layer (clad) 1b of 2 µm thickness is formed on an n-type InP semiconductor substrate 1a having a (001) main surface by the metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method, then an undoped InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple quantum well active layer 4 is formed on the buffer layer 1b.As shown in Fig. 9, the active layer 4 is constructed by using seven laminated structures each formed of an undoped In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well layer 2 of 4.206 nm thickness and undoped In0.48Ga0.52As0.78P0.22 strained barrier layers 3a of 2.005 nm thickness disposed on both sides of the strained quantum well layer 2 and disposing each of the seven laminated structures between corresponding two of undoped InGaAsP layers 3b of 1.2 µm-wavelength composition which lattice-match with InP and each have a thickness of 10 nm (but the lowermost layer has a thickness of 30 nm and the uppermost layer has a thickness of 70 nm). After a diffraction grating is formed on the uppermost InGaAsP layer 3b, an SiO2 is formed thereon and then a patterning process is effected by use of a conventional PEP technique to etch out portions of 1 µm width on both sides of the stripe of 2 µm width serving as an active layer. At this time, if SH series etchant (mixture of sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide liquid and water) is used as etchant for etching the active layer 4, the tapered cross section of an active layer having a recess at the center thereof as shown in Fig. 8 can be obtained. The width of the tapered portion on each side is 0.4 µm and the width of the active layer at the central portion is 1 µm.Next, after the SiO2 film is removed, a p-type InP clad layer 5 of 2 µm thickness and a p-type InGaAsP contact layer 6 of 0.8 µm thickness are sequentially grown on the resultant structure by the MOCVD method. Then, a p-type ohmic electrode (Ti/Pt/Au) 11 is formed on the contact layer 6 and an n-type ohmic electrode (Au/Ge) 12 is formed on the rear surface of the substrate 1. Next, the contact layer 6 and p-type clad layer 5 are selectively etched to form a mesa structure of 10 µm width including the active layer 4. Further, the outside active layer 4b is removed by use of SH series etchant to form a semiconductor laser wafer of self aligned constricted mesa (SACM) structure having a cross section of mushroom form as shown in Fig. 8. The wafer is cleaved into a bar form of 1 mm length, then cut into chips of 300 µm width and mounted on a module (not shown). The oscillation wavelength is approx. 1.55 µm.The lattice constant of the InP substrate 1 is 0.58688 nm, and the lattice constants of the In0.7Ga0.3As strained quantum well layer 2 and the In0.48Ga0.52As0.78P0.22 strained barrier layer 3a are respectively 0.59381 nm and 0.57986 nm. Assuming now that there is an infinite plane having no side surface, the strained quantum well layer 2 and the strained barrier layer 3 are as thin as 4.206 nm and 2.005 nm and elastically strained. The degree of strain of the strained quantum well layer 2 is εxx = εyy = -0.01167, εzz = -2(C12/C11)xεxx = 0.011974, εyz = εzx = εxy = 0. C12/C11 = 0.504 is the Poison's ratio of In0.7Ga0.3As.The degree of strain of the strained barrier layer 3a is εxx = εyy = 0.012106, εzz = -2(C12/C11)xεxx = -0.012106, and εyz = εzx = εxy = 0. Since, the Poison's ratio of In0.48Ga0.52As0.78P0.22 is not exactly derived, it is assumed that C12/C11 = 0.5. As a result, the lattice constant of the strained In0.7Ga0.3As quantum well layer 2 becomes equal to that of InP in the xy plane and the lattice constant in the z direction is 0.60092 nm. The thickness of 4.206 nm corresponds to seven unit lattice layers. The lattice constant of the strained In0.48Ga0.52As0.78P0.22 barrier layer 3a becomes equal to that of InP in the xy plane and the lattice constant in the z direction is 0.57284 nm. The thickness of 2.005 nm corresponds to 3.5 unit lattice layers.The degrees of deviation of the lattice plane in the <001> direction and (Z direction) of the side surface of the active layer 4 are shown in Fig. 10. The maximum deviation of the lattice plane is 0.04914 nm and is sufficiently smaller than 0.14321 nm which is 1/4 of δmin = 0.57284 nm and satisfies the expression (2). Therefore, generation of dislocations caused by deviation in the (001) same group atomic plane accompanied by lateral deviation can be prevented. Of course, since it is difficult to completely control the film thickness and composition by use of the normal MOCVD method which is different from the ALE (atomic layer epitaxial growth), it is considered that a slight variation occurs in the thickness of each strained semiconductor layer.Further, there is a possibility that the values of the above lattice constant and C12/C11 are not precise. However, in either case, if the deviation of the lattice plane in the Z direction of the seven-layered layer can be controlled so as not to exceed 0.28642 nm, that is, so as to satisfy the expression (1), generation of dislocations corresponding to deviation of the unit lattice plane can be prevented. The microscopically small lattice-mismatching occurs in the surface of the active layer 4, but since the side surface of the active layer is formed in a tapered form, the strain and stress are dispersed in the tapered portion and alleviated, and each semiconductor layer can be elastically strained also in the boundary portion of the side surface. Therefore, a buried type strained quantum well laser in which the segregation of impurity and lattice defects such as dislocations in the side surfaces of the strained semiconductor layers 2 and 3a can be prevented and the characteristic and reliability can be kept high can be provided.The characteristic of the quantum well laser depends on the number of quantum well layers. Fig. 7 shows examples of calculations for the dependency of the differential gain of the In0.7Ga0.3As/InGaAsP-series strained quantum well laser on the number of well layers. In order to attain a desired characteristic, it is necessary to provide a certain number of layers. However, unless means for alleviating influence of the lattice-mismatching in the side surface of the active layer is used as in this embodiment, serious disloca tions will be generated near the side surface when the number of layers is large (the total film thickness is large). For example, if the In0.48Ga0.52As0.78P0.22 barrier layer 3a is omitted in the example of Fig. 8, the accumulated degree of mismatching of the side surface obtained by calculation becomes 0.68796 nm and exceeds the magnitude of the unit lattice layer so that dislocations will occur in the side surface. According to this invention, the total film thickness can be increased without generation of dislocations in the side surface of the active layer.With the structure of this embodiment, the threshold value can be kept small and an excellent characteristic of the strained quantum well of the linewidth enhancement factor (α parameter) as small as 2 can be stably obtained, and as a result, a semiconductor laser having an excellent characteristic that the chirping (-20 dB average spectrum width) at the time of 10 Gb/s modulation (bias of the threshold value, modulation current 40 mApp) is less than 0.3 nm can be realized. Further, with the semiconductor laser of this invention having the high reliability and small chirping, a several hundred km optical fiber transmission system of 10 Gb/s direct intensity modulation-direct detection system having no external optical modulator can be put into practice.In a modification of the above embodiment, the barrier layer except the uppermost and lowermost layers may be formed of a single strained InGaAsP layer instead of the multi-layered structure of the strained layers 3x and the non-strained layers 3y. Also, in this case, the same effect can be obtained by setting the composition of the strained InGaAsP barrier layer and the thickness thereof in the lattice matching state with respect to the substrate on the xy plane so as to satisfy the expressions (1) and (2).This invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be variously modified as explained in the fourth modification of this invention. It will be easily understood that even if the first region is not completely surrounded by another region, if a strained semiconductor layer is also formed in the second region, or if a third region is formed, the effect of this invention can be attained by setting the amount of deviation, thickness and position of each layer such that the deviation of the lattice plane in the side surface of each region including the strained semiconductor layer may satisfy the expression (1). Further, this invention can be used to alleviate the influence by the lattice-mismatching of the side surface of quantum wires and quantum boxes containing strains. Next, the sixth embodiment is explained.Fig. 11 is a cross sectional view showing the schematic structure of a semiconductor laser according to the sixth embodiment of this invention. The semiconductor laser is manufactured as follows. An n-type InP buffer layer 1b of 2 µm thickness is formed on an n-type InP semiconductor substrate la having a (001) main surface by the metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) method, then an undoped InGaAsP optical waveguide layer 3a, undoped InAs/InGaAsP multiple quantum well active layer 4 and undoped InGaAsP optical waveguide layer 3b are sequentially laminated on the buffer layer 1b. As shown in Fig. 12, the active layer 4 is constituted by twelve undoped InAs strained quantum well layers 2 of 2 nm thickness and undoped InGaAsP barrier layers 3 of 5 nm thickness each disposed between corresponding two of the well layers. After a diffraction grating is formed on the InGaAsP optical waveguide layer 3b, an SiO2 film is deposited on the resultant structure and patterned by use of the conventional PEP technique to etch out end both portions of the stripe of 2 µm width serving as the active layer by 1 µm width.After the SiO2 film is removed, a p-type InP clad layer 5 of 2 µm thickness is formed on the entire portion of the resultant structure and then a p-type InGaAsP contact layer 6 of 0.8 µm is formed on the clad layer 5. A p-type ohmic electrode (Ti/Pt/Au) 11 is formed on the contact layer 6 and an n-type ohmic electrode (Au/Ge) 12 is formed on the rear surface of the substrate 1. The contact layer 6 and the p-type clad layer 5 are selectively etched into a mesa shape of 10 µm width including the active layer 4. Further, the outside portion of the active layer is removed by use of SH series etchant to form a semiconductor laser wafer of self-alignment constricted mesa (SACM) structure having a cross section of mushroom form as shown in Fig.11. The wafer is cleaved into a bar form of 1 mm length, then cut into chips of 300 µm width and mounted on a module (not shown).Assume that the composition of the InGaAsP barrier layer 3 is so selected that the forbidden band end thereof may coincide with the band edge ELH for light holes in the strained InAs layer 2. At present, the band alignment of the In1-uGauAsvP1-v (0 ≦ u ≦ 1, 0 ≦ v ≦ 1) on the InP substrate is not completely known. However, since it is known in the art that the strained InAs layer with InP disposed on both sides thereof forms a shallower quantum well for light holes than that which the In0.53Ga0.47As layer with InP disposed on both sides thereof forms, it is sure that non-strained In1-xGaxAsyP1-y composition (0 < x < 0.47, 0 < y < 1) which satisfies the above condition is present.When the above condition is set, no barrier is created for light holes so that light holes can freely move in the respective well layers 2 and barrier layers 3. Further, light holes are partly coupled with heavy holes in the internal portion of the well layer because the overlapping integral of the wave function for the light holes and heavy holes is not 0. Therefore, holes can be efficiently injected into a well which is far apart from the p-clad layer and the wells can be effectively coupled. As a result, a strained multiple quantum well laser having a small threshold value and high-speed response can be realized.It is possible to confirm that no barrier is created for light holes by measurement of photoluminescence, for example. That is, light emission by recombination of heavy holes and electrons is permitted only for polarized components parallel to the well layer, but light emission by recombination of light holes and electrons is permitted for polarized components parallel to and perpendicular to the well layer. Therefore, the light emissions can be discriminated from each other and whether the valence band ends ELH for light holes are substantially aligned or not can be determined by checking whether or not light emission by light holes is caused by the quantized level.This invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be variously modified. For example, the InGaAsP barrier layer 3 can be formed of material having a lattice constant smaller than that of InP. The conceptional diagram of the band structure obtained at this time is shown in Fig. 13. In this case, since influence of the lattice-mismatching in the side surface can be cancelled by the positive and negative strains in the strained multiple quantum well laser having the active layer buried therein, generation of the lattice defects can be suppressed when the number of laminated layers of the strained well layer is increased.When a semiconductor layer having a lattice constant smaller than that of the substrate is used as a well layer, the hole injection efficiency can be enhanced and the coupling efficiency between the wells can be improved also with respect to the quantum well for light holes by setting the valence band edges EHH for heavy holes in the strained layer and the barrier layer to substantially the constant level. The band structure obtained at this time is shown in Fig. 14.As the lateral light (and current) confinement structure of the optical waveguide, various structures other than the above SACM structure, for example, buried hetero structure and semi-insulative InP buried structure can be considered. A Fabry-Perot (FP) laser, distributed Bragg reflector type (DBR) laser, wavelength tunable laser having a plurality of electrodes, complex resonator laser, monitor integrated laser, optical waveguide integrated laser, or bistable laser can be used in addition to the distributed feedback type (DFB) laser. Of course, this invention can be applied to various optical semiconductor elements such as a semiconductor laser amplifier, carrier injection type semiconductor optical switch, semiconductor light modulator and photonic IC having the above units integrated therein. Of course, material is not limited to InAs or InGaAsP.	An optical semiconductor device comprising: a stripe-form optical waveguide layer (4) formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate (1a) and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers (2) which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers (3) which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers;blocking layers (8) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer (4); andcladding layers (1b, 5) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer (4);wherein the side surfaces of the optical waveguide layer (4) are tapered with respect to the normal of said substrate at an angle of not less that 45 degrees.A device according to claim 1, characterised in that the average lattice constant of each blocking layer (8) which is in contact with said side surfaces of the optical waveguide layer (4) has a value between the lattice constants of said substrate (1a) and said first semiconductor layer (2).A device according to claim 1, characterised in that the expression that absolute (Z2(n) - Z1(n)) < δmin(n)/2 is satisfied when said first and second semiconductor layers (2,3) are alternately laminated, the lower main surface of the lowermost one of said first semiconductor layers of said optical waveguide layer (4) is used as a reference plane, the coordinate system Z is set in the upward direction along the normal of a low index plane which is the nearest to said reference plane, the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said optical waveguide layer from said reference plane is Z1(n), the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said blocking layers from said reference plane is Z2(n), and the smallest one of four values of Z2(n+1)-Z2(n) , Z2(n)-Z2(n-1) , Z1(n+1)-Z1(n) and Z1(n)-Z1(n-1) is δmin(n).A device according to claim 3, characterised by further comprising a compensation semiconductor layer (3a) having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layer and in which the sign of a difference between the lattice constant of said compensation semiconductor layer and the average lattice constant of each blocking layer (8) is opposite to the sign of a difference between the lattice constant of said first semiconductor layer (2) and said average lattice constant, and influence of the lattice-mismatching between said first semiconductor layer (2) and each blocking layer (8) is removed by said compensation semiconductor layer (3a).A device according to claim 1, characterised in that said first and second semiconductor layers (2,3) respectively serve as quantum well layers and barrier layers and are alternately laminated, and the forbidden band edge of a light hole band in said first semiconductor layer substantially coincides with that of a light hole band in said second semiconductor layer.A device according to claim 1, characterised in that said first and second semiconductor layers (2,3) respectively serve as quantum well layers and barrier layers and are alternately laminated, and the forbidden band edge of a heavy hole band in said first semiconductor layer substantially coincides with that of a heavy hole band in said second semiconductor layer. A device according to claim 3, characterised in that each blocking layer (8) is formed of third and fourth semiconductor layers (18,17) each having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layer (2) and said third semiconductor layer (18) has substantially the same lattice constant as said first semiconductor layer (2) and is formed in substantially the same plane as said first semiconductor layer.A device according to claim 2, characterised by further comprising a composition changing region (27,28) which is formed between the blocking layers (8) and the optical waveguide layer (4) and whose lattice constant is changed continuously or stepwise between that of each blocking layer (8) and that of said optical waveguide layer (4).A device according to claim 1, wherein the cladding layer (5) formed on the upper side of the optical waveguide layer forms the blocking layers.An optical semiconductor device comprising: a stripe-form optical waveguide layer (4) formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate (1a) and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers (2) which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers (3) which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers;blocking layers (8) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer (4); cladding layers (1b, 5) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer (4);wherein the average lattice constant of each blocking layer (8) has a value between the lattice constants of said substrate (1a) and said first semiconductor layer (2).A device according to claim 10, characterised in that each blocking layer (8) includes a semiconductor layer of tetragonal structure having a c axis set in the direction of the normal to said substrate and the lattice constant of the a axis of said semiconductor layer of the tetragonal structure is smaller than that of said substrate.A device according to claim 10, characterised in that the expression that absolute (Z2(n) - Z1(n)) < δmin(n)/2 is satisfied when said first and second semiconductor layers (2,3) are alternately laminated, the lower main surface of the lowermost one of said first semiconductor layers of said optical waveguide layer (4) is used as a reference plane, the coordinate system Z is set in the upward direction along the normal of a low index plane which is the nearest to said reference plane, the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said optical waveguide layer from said reference plane is Z1(n), the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said blocking layers from said reference plane is Z2(n), and the smallest one of four values of Z2(n+1)-Z2(n) , Z2(n)-Z2(n-1) , Z1(n+1)-Z1(n) and Z1(n)-Z1(n-1) is δmin(n).A device according to claim 12, characterised by further comprising a compensation semiconductor layer (3a) having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layer and in which the sign of a difference between the lattice constant of said compensation semiconductor layer and the average lattice constant of each blocking layer (8) is opposite to the sign of a difference between the lattice constant of said first semiconductor layer (2) and said average lattice constant, and influence of the lattice-mismatching between said first semiconductor layer (2) and each blocking layer (8) is removed by said compensation semiconductor layer (3a).A device according to claim 10, characterised in that said first and second semiconductor layers (2,3) respectively service as quantum well layers and barrier layers and are alternately laminated, and the forbidden band edge of a light hole band in said first semiconductor layer substantially coincides with that of a light hole band in said second semiconductor layer.A device according to claim 10, characterised in that said first and second semiconductor layers (2,3) respectively serve as quantum well layers and barrier layers and are alternately laminated, and the forbidden band edge of a heavy hole band in said first semiconductor layer substantially coincides with that of a heavy hole band in said second semiconductor layer.A device according to claim 12, characterised in that each blocking layer (8) is formed of third and fourth semiconductor layers (18,17) each having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layer (2) and said third semiconductor layer (18) has substantially the same lattice constant as said first semiconductor layer (2) and is formed in substantially the same plane as said first semiconductor layer.A device according to claim 10, characterised by further comprising a composition changing region (27,28) which is formed between the blocking layers and the optical waveguide layer and whose lattice constant is changed continuously or stepwise between that of each blocking layer (8) and that of said optical waveguide layer (4). An optical semiconductor device comprising: . a stripe-form optical waveguide layer (4) formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate (la) and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers (2) which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers (3) which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers;blocking layers (5, 26) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer (4);cladding layers (1b, 5) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer (4);wherein a composition changing region (27,28) whose lattice constant is changed continuously or stepwise between that of said optical waveguide layer (4) and that of each blocking layer (5, 26) is formed between the blocking layers and the optical waveguide layer.A device according to claim 18, wherein the cladding layer (5) formed on the upper side of the optical waveguide layer forms the blocking layers.An optical semiconductor device comprising: a stripe-form optical waveguide layer (4) formed on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate (1a) and having a strained quantum well constituted by first semiconductor layers (2) which each have a thickness of less than the de Broglie wavelength of electrons and which do not lattice-match with said substrate, and second semiconductor layers (3) which each have a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layers and which are respectively disposed on upper and lower sides of a corresponding one of said first semiconductor layers;blocking layers (8) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on both lateral sides of said optical waveguide layer (4);cladding layers (1b, 5) formed of semiconductor having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said second semiconductor layer (3) and formed on upper and lower sides of said optical waveguide layer (4);wherein the expression that absolute (Z2(n) - Z1(n)) < δmin(n)/2 is satisfied when said first and second semiconductor layers (2,3) are alternately laminated, the lower main surface of the lowermost one of said first semiconductor layers of said optical waveguide layer (4) is used as a reference plane, the coordinate system Z is set in the upward direction along the normal of a low index plane which is the nearest to said reference plane, the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said optical waveguide layer from said reference plane is Z1(n), the coordinate of an n-th unit lattice plane of said blocking layers from said reference plane is Z2(n), and the smallest one of four values of Z2(n+1)-Z2(n) , Z2(n)-Z2(n-1) , Z1(n+1)-Z1(n) and Z1(n)-Z1(n-1) is δmin(n).A device according to claim 20, characterised by further comprising a compensation semiconductor layer (3a) having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layer and in which the sign of a difference between the lattice constant of said compensation semiconductor layer and the average lattice constant of each blocking layer (8) is opposite to the sign of a difference between the lattice constant of said first semiconductor layer (2) and said average lattice constant, and influence of the lattice-mismatching between said first semiconductor layer (2) and each blocking layer (8) is removed by said compensation semiconductor layer (3a). A device according to claim 20, characterised in that each blocking layer (8) is formed of third and fourth semiconductor layers (18,17) each having a forbidden bandwidth larger than that of said first semiconductor layer (2) and said third semiconductor layer (18) has substantially the same lattice constant as said first semiconductor layer (2) and is formed in substantially the same plane as said first semiconductor layer.	TOSHIBA KK; KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA	HIRAYAMA YUZO; ONOMURA MASAAKI; SUZUKI NOBUO; HIRAYAMA, YUZO; ONOMURA, MASAAKI; SUZUKI, NOBUO; Hirayama, Yuzo, c/o Intell. Property Div.; Onomura, Masaaki, c/o Intell. Property Div.; Suzuki, Nobuo, c/o Intell. Property Div.
EP-0488823-B1	488,823	EP	B1	EN	19,970,312	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04L12	H04L12, H04B7	H04L12, H04B7, H04H1	T04L12:18W, H04L 12/18, T04W4:06	Broadcasting of packets in an RF system	An RF communication system contains a control module (22) which communicates with a plurality of user modules (20) that are each connected to at least one user device (24). The system provides a means for packet communications in which traditional destination addressed packets (34) are communicated to the specified destination point (24) or user module (20) while also permitting information (52) intended for a plurality of user modules (20) to be broadcast simultaneously to all user modules (20) using a broadcast protocoal (46). The probability of each UM (20) receiving the broadcast packet (46) is enhanced by the transmission by the control module (22) of each broadcast packet (46) over at least several of its directional antennas (A1-A6) and preferably repeated over each antenna (A1-A6) a number of times (R). Packets of data (34) which are longer than a predetermined number of bytes (L) are broken into packet fragments (46).	Field of the InventionThis invention is directed to a radio frequency (RF) packet communication system in which selected packets are broadcast by a control module to a plurality of user modules. This invention is especially suited for an RF system in which directional antennae are utilized. Background Of The InventionIn an Ethernet local area network (LAN), broadcasting refers to a transmission of information intended to be received by a plurality of remote devices with different addresses. One simple broadcast algorithm is known as flooding, in which each incoming packet is sent out on every outbound line except the one it arrived on. Obviously this technique generates a large number of duplicate packets. Typically some method is used to damp or reduce the number of duplicates. In an Ethernet (LAN), a predetermined destination address in the header of a packet identifies the packet as one to be broadcast. The level of broadcast can either be to all members of the network or to a defined group. Receiving units interpret the packet as addressed to them if a flood broadcast is detected or if a group broadcast address is detected in which they are a member. Units which are not part of the selected group reject the packet as not addressed to them. Using flood broadcast techniques in an RF LAN environment presents difficulties. The error characteristic of the RF system, especially where the communication path is not line of sight, will probably be poorer than the error characteristic of a wired or cabled LAN. A further difficulty is presented if the RF system uses directional or sectorized antennas where only one antenna is active at a time. The best antenna utilized by a first RF unit when communicating with a second unit will typically be different than the best antenna for communicating with a third unit. Multiple antenna choices complicate the use of flood broadcasting in an RF LAN since a signal sent over a selected antenna by the transmitting unit may not be received by all other units. It would be extremely advantageous therefore to provide a packet transmission communications system and protocol capable of resolving these shortcomings. In WO-A-8 911 126, there is disclosed a radio frequency (RF) system wherein information is communicated by packets between a control module and a plurality of user modules. In the article Validation of the Single-Route Broadcast in Token Rings published in the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 18, June 1990, Armonk, US at pages 439-440, there is disclosed a ring network system in which each station is able to label a packet as a broadcast packet. Summary Of The InventionAccordingly, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a radio frequency (RF) system as claimed in claim 1. In a second aspect, the invention provides a method for selectively broadcasting packets in a radio frequency (RF) system as claimed in claim 4. Brief Description Of The DrawingsFIG. 1 illustrates is a block diagram of an RF LAN system in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control module and a user module as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 illustrates the format for an Ethernet packet. FIG. 4 illustrates a format for an RF packet in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the transmission of a packet by a user module in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of a packet by a control module in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of a received packet by a user module in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a fragment routine utilized to break larger packets into smaller packets for transmission in accordance with the present invention. FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary timeout timer utilized in accordance with FIG. 7. Description Of A Preferred Embodiment Before describing an embodiment of the present invention, it is believed that an overview of the invention will aid the reader in understanding the invention. The problems identified in utilizing a flood broadcast technique in an RF LAN system are minimized, if not overcome, by the present invention. In order to maximize the probability that each user module will receive each flood broadcast packet, hereinafter referred to as simply a broadcast packet, the control module preferably transmits each broadcast packet sequentially over each of its sectorized antennas and retransmits the same packet a number of times over each antenna to further enhance the probability of reception by each user module. As part of the RF LAN system protocol, each user module marks a packet as being a broadcast type packet so that the control module will recognize it as a packet to be broadcast to all user modules. Packets from the user modules which are not marked are handled using a normal destination transmission protocol where only the best antenna for communicating with the destination user module is used. Thus, the present invention contemplates an RF LAN system in which broadcasting is permitted where appropriate to maximize throughput while using a normal transmission protocol for other packets. FIG. 1 illustrates an RF LAN system in accordance with the present invention. A plurality of user modules (UM) 20 are capable of RF communication with control module (CM) 22. Each user module 20 is connected to one or more user devices such as a personal computer (PC) 24 by wire connections 26. The CM is connected to packet network 28 by wire or optical link 30. The packet network 28 in the illustrative embodiment may utilize an ethernet protocol and may also include other RF LANs. FIG. 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a CM in accord with the present invention. A communications unit 18 includes an RF transmitter 16, RF receiver 14, and a microprocessor system which controls the operation of the unit 18. An antenna system 32 includes six directional antennae A1-A6. Each antenna provides approximately 60° of coverage in the horizontal plane so that the entire antenna system is capable of 360° coverage. One antenna is selected by unit 18 for use at a given time. Antenna systems such as the illustrated system 32 are known in the art and require no additional discussion at this time. Notwithstanding, for additional information on such systems, the interested reader may refer to U.S. Pat No 4,317,229-Craig et al, issued Feb. 23, 1981 and U.S Pat No. 5,117,236-Chang et al., issued Mar. 26, 1992, both assigned to the assignee of the present application. The communications unit 18 and antenna system 32 are also suited for use as user modules 20. When a UM is in communication with the CM, the UM will normally select the antenna with the best signal quality for use while the CM simultaneously selects its antenna with the best signal quality for use in communicating with the UM. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that for optimal communications the CM will likely select different antennae for communicating with different UMs. This is especially true where the RF LAN system is situated in a building with the CM located centrally in an area and the UMs located about it. In the illustrative embodiment, a single frequency is utilized for RF communications between the CM and UMs. Thus each UM is capable of receiving a communication transmitted from the CM. FIG. 3 illustrates a typical packet format 34 used for the transmission of information. The format includes a destination address 36, a source address 38, a type designator 40, information 42 to be communicated, and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) 44 used for error checking. Portions 36, 38, and 40 comprise what is commonly referred to as a header. In the preferred embodiment the data format 34 follows an Ethernet format in which the destination address contains a pre-determined address that identifies the packet as a general broadcast packet to all devices, as a limted broadcast packet to a subgroup of devices, or as a non-broadcast packet destined for a single address. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary data format 46 utilized to define packets to be transmitted by RF communications between the user modules and the control module. These RF packets are used to carry information between modules including Ethernet packets. The format includes a general information data field 52, a CRC 54, and a header portion 48 which includes a broadcast M field 50 and a fragment identification N field 51. M Field 50 is utilized in the present invention as a flag which determines whether or not the packet 46 is to be handled as a broadcast packet or as a single destination type packet N. Field 51 is used to identify packets 46 in which the data fields 52 of several packets (packet fragments) are to be combined in order to recreate original data too long to fit into one data field 52. N Field 51 contains the total number of packet fragments sent and the specific number of each packet fragment, i.e. fragment No. 2 of 4 total fragments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that header 48 includes additional overhead information needed by packet systems including destination address, source address, and other miscellaneous overhead information and instructions. Data field 52 may contain an entire Ethernet packet 34 if it is not longer than a predetermined number L of bytes. A maximum length of packet 46 is determined in accordance with the error probabilities associated with the RF LAN. The length is selected in view of the error probabilities and the percent of overhead information transmitted with each packet. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the step implemented by the communications unit 18 and the microprocessor 10 of a UM 20 in accordance with FIG. 2 to process packets 46 originated by a user module and transmitted to the control module. These steps start at BEGIN entry 56. At step 58, a UM receives a packet 34 from a PC 24 connected to the UM. In step 60 microprocessor 10 processing is transferred to the fragment routine described in connection with FIG. 8. The purpose of the fragment routine is to determine if packet 34 is so large that it has to be separated into fragments and, if so, to generate new RF packets 46 for each such fragment. Following a return from the fragment routine 60, the communications unit 18 determines, at decision step 62, whether the packet 34 is of the broadcast type. This determination may be made by inspecting the destination address 36 in packet 34 to determine if it corresponds to a broadcast or limited broadcast type. If the determination of step 62 is YES, the M (multicast) flag in field 50 of each UM packet 46 is set by the microprocessor unit 10. This flag is not set if the decision by step 62 is NO. In step 66 the UM transmitter 16 transmits N of packets 46 to the CM. The number N represents the number of fragments determined by the fragment routine. This routine terminates at EXIT 68. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps implemented by the communications unit 18 and the microprocessor 10 of a CM 22 of FIG. 2 process packets received from a user module 20 or the packet network 28. The process starts at step 70 in which the variable Net is set equal to zero. A determination is made by the communications unit 18 in step 71 if the received packet came from the packet network, i.e. via channel 30. If YES, step 72 causes a jump to the fragment routine and upon return sets variable Net equal to one. Step 73 is executed either upon a NO decision by step 71 or upon completion of step 72. It should be noted that before processing by step 73 begins the received packet will be in a packet format 46. If the packet received by the CM came from a UM, it will be received in the packet 46 format directly. If the CM received the packet from the packet network in format 34, fragment routine called for in step 72 will have created appropriate packets 46 to carry the information originally contained in the packet format 34. Thereafter, communications unit 18 determines, at decision step 73, whether the received packet is of the broadcast type. If NO, step 74 causes the CM transmitter 16 to transmit the N packets 46 to the UM to which it is addressed. This routine then ends at EXIT 75. A YES determination by step 73 indicates that the received packet is to be broadcast. In step 76 a determination is made if Net equals zero. This determines if the received packet being processed was sent by a UM. If YES, determination step 77 determines if all fragments have been received. Upon a NO decision by step 77, the communications unit 18 stores the received fragment at step 78 and the routine terminates at EXIT 79. A YES determination by step 77 results in the microprocessor assembling the unit 10 fragments stored back into the original packet 34 which is sent to the network 28 at step 80. Upon a NO decision by step 76 or upon completion of step 80, step 81 sets the M flag in each packet. This will provide information to the UMs receiving the broadcast that the packet is of the broadcast type and should be received by each UM. Step 82 consists of a series of three nested DO loops which causes the packets 46 to be broadcast. Variable K corresponds to a specific one of different directional antennae at the CM, with A corresponding to the total number of available antennae. Thus, the first nested loop causes the packet fragment N to be transmitted on each of antenna. The variable J in the second nested loop determines how many times (repeats) R the same packet fragment is to be retransmitted over each of the antennas. The third nested loop includes a variable H in which the number N represents the number of packet fragments and hence the number of packets 46 that have to be transmitted. Thus in step 82 each of the packet fragments is transmitted over each antenna R times. In this example, A=6, 1≦R≦ 5. Following the transmission of packets this routine ends at EXIT 83. FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps implemented by the communications unit 18 and the microprocessor 10 of a UM 20 in accordance with FIG. 2 to process packets received by a user module from the control module. Following the beginning of this routine at step 84, the microprocessor 10 of communications unit 18 at decision step 85 determines if the received packet's header has M = 1, i.e. if the broadcast flag is set. Upon a NO decision, decision step 86 determines if the destination address of the packet matches the UM address. This system also contemplates that each device or PC coupled to a user module may have a separate address. In this case the destination address of the received packet would have to be compared to each of the associated user device addresses. A NO decision by step 86 results in termination of this routine at EXIT 87 since the received packet need not be processed further by the user module. A YES decision by step 86 causes the address specific packet to be accepted, decoded, and delivered by step 88 to the addressed user device. Following this step the routine terminates at EXIT 89. Following a YES determination by step 85, the received packet is accepted and decoded by step 90 since the packet is a broadcast type to be received by each UM. Decision step 92 determines if the received broadcast packet is a duplicate of a previously received packet. If YES, the routine terminates at EXIT 89 since the UM need not reprocess and another duplicate of a previously received packet containing the same information. It will be remembered that duplicate packets are possible since each packet or packet fragment will be rebroadcast on different antennas and repeated transmissions made. If the packet is not a duplicate, that is a NO decision by step 92, decision step 93 determines if the received packet constitutes one of several packet fragments which contain the original information. This determination is made from information contained in field 51 of the packet 46 which contains the total number of packet fragments containing the original information and the particular number of the packet fragment. A NO determination by step 93 results in step 94 delivering the single packet to the user device(s) coupled to the user module. This routine then terminates at EXIT 95. A YES determination by step 93 corresponds to a determination that the original information being transmitted was segregated into multiple packet fragments. In step 96 the received fragment is stored in the communications unit 18 and a timeout timer is set to time T on receiving the first fragment, i.e. if N=1. The action of the timeout timer is described with regard to FIG. 9. In determination step 97, a NO decision terminates the routine at EXIT 95. This routine terminates since additional packet fragments must be received before the original information can be fully recovered. A YES determination by step 97 results in step 98 assembling all of the required packet fragments into the original packet and delivering it to the corresponding user device(s) coupled to the user module. This routine then terminates at EXIT 99. It will be noted that in step 96 the timeout timer is reset when the first packet fragment is received. The timeout timer functions to provide a time window in which all remaining packet fragments must be received. If the timeout timer reaches time T without being reset, which occurs upon receipt of the last fragment in the series, the system assumes that at least one packet fragment is missing and aborts the attempt to recover the original information being broadcast in multiple packet fragments. Fig 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the series implemented by the microprocessor 10 of a UM 20 or a CM22 in accordance with FIG. 2, during the packet fragment routine. This routine begins at entry point 100. Determination step 102 determines if the received packet is greater than L (length) bytes. A NO decision results in step 104 setting N=1. This corresponds to an original packet 34 that can be contained within one packet 46. A YES decision by step 102 results in the original packet 34 being separated into N fragments of L bytes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the last fragment N may contain less than L bytes. In step 108 a DO loop generates a new packet 46 for each of the N fragments. Each of the packet fragments is identified as being a particular number in a total number of N fragments in field 51. This enables the receiving module to determine that all packet fragments required have been received. The routine terminates at RETURN 110. FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a timeout time routine as referenced in step 92. This routine begins at entry 112. In step 114 a determination is made as to whether the timer is set. A NO determination results in this routine terminating at EXIT 116. A YES determination by step 114 results in step 118 determining if time T has expired. A NO determination terminates routine at EXIT 116. A YES determination results in step 120 deleting any previously stored packet fragments and resetting the timeout timer. This action occurs since all packet fragments in the current fragment series have not been received within a predetermined time. If not received within this time the system determines that it is not likely that the complete series will be received and thus aborts further attempts to reconstruct the original packet. This routine terminates at EXIT 122. It is believed to be apparent to those skilled in the art that the timeout timer routine will be executed by the system frequently enough to ensure that the predetermined time T can be reasonably monitored. The present invention provides an RF LAN system in which packet communications is enhanced by permitting selected packets to be broadcast to all user modules while maintaining destination address routing of other packets. The probability of reception of a broadcast packet is improved by transmission from multiple directional antennae and rebroadcasts of the packets. The system also generates packet fragments to accommodate the more efficient transmission of large input packets. Although an embodiment of the present invention has been described and illustrated in the drawings, the scope of the invention is defined by the claims which follow:	A radio frequency (RF) system wherein information is communicated by packets (46) between a control module (22), and a plurality of user modules (20), characterised in that the control module (22) is connected to a packet network (28), the user modules (20) are connected to user devices (24) and the control module (22) comprises: multiple directional antennae (A1-A6) each oriented to cover a different segment of a 360° horizontal pattern, wherein only one of said antennae is active at a time; control means (10), coupled to said multiple directional antennae, for determining whether to communicate a packet received from said packet network (28) as a broadcast packet to said user modules (20) and further for determining whether to communicate a packet received from a user module (20) as a broadcast packet to said user modules (20) and to said packet network (28) and further, for labelling each broadcast packet to be transmitted to said user modules with a predetermined code (M) in a header portion (50) of said broadcast packet, said header portion (50) generated by said control means (10); and means (16) connected to said control means (10) for transmitting each broadcast packet on each one of said antennae, wherein only one of said antennae is active at a time. The system according to claim 1, wherein the control means (10) further comprises means (100-110) for converting a received packet having a length L longer than a predetermined number of bytes into a series of packet fragments, said control means (10) labelling each packet fragment to be broadcast with a code (N) in a header portion (51) of each packet fragment, said header portion (51) identifying a total number of packet fragments comprising the converted packet and a number for each specific packet fragment relative to the total number of packet fragments. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means (16) for transmitting each broadcast packet (46) on each one of said antennae a predetermined number of times (R). A method for selectively broadcasting packets (34) in a radio frequency (RF) system in which information is communicated by packets between a control module (22), and a plurality of user modules (20), the control module (22) and the user modules (20) each including multiple directional antennae oriented to cover different segments of a 360° horizontal pattern, characterised in that the control module (22) is connected to a packet network (28), the user modules (20) are connected to user devices (24), and the method comprises the steps of: the control module: determining whether to transmit a packet received from the packet network (28) as a broadcast packet to said user modules (20); and determining whether to transmit a packet received from a user module (20) as a broadcast packet to said user modules (20) and to the packet network (28); and the step of determining whether to transmit a packet to said user modules (20) as a broadcast packet further comprises the steps of: labelling each such broadcast packet to be transmitted to said user modules (20) with a predetermined code (M), in a packet header portion (50), identifying the packet as a broadcast packet; and transmitting each broadcast packet on each one of said control module (22) antennae, wherein only one of said control module (22) antennae is active at a time. The method of claim 4, wherein the steps of determining whether to transmit a packet to said user modules (20) as a broadcast packet further comprises the step of transmitting each broadcast packet a number of times (R) on each one of the control module (22) antennae, wherein only one of the control module (22) antennae is active at a time. The method of claim 4, wherein the steps of determining whether to transmit a packet to said user modules (20) as a broadcast packet further comprises the steps of: generating a plurality of broadcast packet fragments each containing a portion of the received packet when the received packet has a length L greater than a predetermined number of bytes; identifying a total number of broadcast packet fragments representing the received packet; and assigning individual numbers (N) to each broadcast packet fragment in a header portion of each broadcast packet fragment. The system according to claim 2, wherein said transmitting means transmits a first broadcast packet fragment a number of times (R) on a first antennae prior to transmitting said first broadcast packet fragment on a second antennae. The system according to claim 7, wherein said transmitting means transmits a first broadcast packet fragment a number of times (R) on each antenna prior to transmitting a second broadcast packet fragment on any one of said antennae, only one of said antennae being active at a time. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of transmitting a first broadcast packet fragment a number of times (R) on a first antennae prior to transmitting said first broadcast packet fragments on a second antenna. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of transmitting a first broadcast packet fragment a number of times (R) on each antennae prior to transmitting a second broadcast packet fragment on any one of said antennae, wherein only one of said antennae is active at a time. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether a packet is received from a user module; said determining means further determining whether all packet fragments associated with the received packet have been received by the control module; means, coupled to the determining means, for assembling the packet fragments associated with the received packet fragments associated with the received packet into an original packet; and means coupled to the assembling means, for communicating the original packet over the packet network. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining whether to transmit a packet to said packet network (28) as a broadcast packet further comprises the steps of: determining whether the received packet was communicated to the control module by a user module; determining whether all packet fragments associated with the received packet have been received by the control module; assembling all packet fragments associated with the received packet into an original packet; and communicating the original packet over the packet network.	MOTOROLA INC; MOTOROLA, INC.	BUCHHOLZ DALE ROBERT; CHANG HUNGKUN J; DOSS WILLIAM K; WESSELMAN BRIAN; BUCHHOLZ, DALE ROBERT; CHANG, HUNGKUN J.; DOSS, WILLIAM K.; WESSELMAN, BRIAN
EP-0488824-B1	488,824	EP	B1	EN	19,961,002	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04B7	H01Q3	H04B7, H04W16	H04B 7/24, T04Q7:36S, T04W16:24, H04W 16/14	In-building microwave communication system permits frequency reuse with external point microwave systems	A wireless in-building RF communications system operates within a building (10) in a microwave frequency range (2-20 GHz) which is also utilized by a point-to-point microwave communication system (26) such that frequency reuse is provided. Central modules (12) and user modules (14) each consist of RF transceivers and antenna systems (17). The wireless communication system includes a mechanism (SW1-SW6 and 62) for limiting magnitude of RF signals transmitted by it from exceeding a predetermined level sufficiently small to prevent interference with the point-to-point communications system (26).	Background of the InventionThis invention is generally directed to a radio frequency (RF) local area network (LAN) which operates within a building and facilitates the sharing of the same frequencies utilized by existing microwave point-to-point systems. The worldwide availability of additional frequencies for expanding communication demands is limited. The choice of frequency spectrum is further limited due to substantially different propagation characteristics at different frequencies. Therefore, different communication systems which need the same propagation characteristics all contend for desirable frequencies. This creates a need to share scarce RF channels wherever possible. It is believed that the microwave frequency range of 2-20 gigahertz (GHz) represents a good choice for an in-building RF LAN. This choice is shaped by several factors. For such a system to be commercially viable, it must be reasonably cost effective. The ability to manufacture transmitters and receivers which can be sold at reasonable consumer prices suggests the range not exceed 20 GHz. At frequencies lower than about 2 GHz the size of components utilized in the RF portion of the system begin to increase in size such that the finished unit starts to become large. Also as the frequency decreases, the propagation characteristics becomes unfavorable for in-building communications where frequency reuse is desired since too great a communication range may occur. Another reason this choice of frequencies is desirable for such systems is that substantial contiguous bandwidths are available to support needed communication throughput. The possibility of interference to an existing microwave point-to-point communications system by such an in-building RF LAN presents an important consideration. The present invention addresses this concern. US-A-4941207 discloses a wireless in-building RF communications system comprising a central module that includes an RF transmitter, RF receiver and an antenna system, a plurality of user modules each including an RF transmitter for transmitting signals to said central module receiver, an RF receiver for receiving signals from said central module transmitter, and an antenna system. In this system, the outer wall of the building has to be made of an electromagnetically shielding material. Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 illustrates a partial top view of a floor of a building having an RF LAN system in accordance with the present invention that is located in the vicinity of a microwave point-to-point communication system. FIG. 2 illustrates a control module of the RF LAN system located in a building relative to an outside window. FIG. 3 is an elevational view of an area inside a building illustrating a propagation path between a user module and a control module. FIG. 4 illustrates a user module in which certain of its antennas can be inactivated to prevent selection of an antenna which would produce undesired external radiation levels. FIG. 5 illustrates a user module in relation to exterior windows in which antennas which would point towards external windows are shielded to prevent undesired external radiation levels. FIG. 6 is a graph of the transmission characteristic of a typical window glass treated to reduce heat transmission versus the incident angle of RF energy. FIG. 7 illustrates a user module antenna pattern in the horizontal plane. FIG. 8 is a user module antenna pattern in the vertical plane. Description of a Preferred EmbodimentFIG. 1 illustrates a partial top view of a building 10 with an RF LAN system consisting of a control module 12 and a plurality of user modules 14 in accordance with the present invention. The control module 12 acts as a node which is capable of communication with each of the user modules 14. The control module and each of the user modules consist of a microwave RF transceiver capable of communications with each other. Each user module contains a plurality of directional antennas 16 and in the illustrative embodiment consists of six unidirectional antennas with approximately 60° of horizontal plane coverage thereby providing 360° of horizontal coverage. It is preferred that the control module 12 also contain the same antenna arrangement 17 permitting the best antenna at the control module and the best antenna at the user module to be selected for communications between same. In the illustrative embodiment the same frequency within the range of 2-20 GHz, with a frequency of approximately 18 GHz being preferred, is utilized for information transmitted from the user module to the control module and from the control module to the user module. The building 10 includes a plurality of interior walls 18, exterior walls 20, exterior windows 22, and an interior door 24. The illustrated building is representative of a relatively modern office building in which each of the user modules serves a person or a device with which communications is required. The external windows 22 represent openings or ports through which a microwave RF signal transmitted inside the building can escape without substantial attenuation. The control of undesired radiation of RF signals generated within the building is of key importance in permitting an RF LAN system in accordance with the present invention to be utilized concurrently with other communication systems operating at the same frequencies. A microwave point-to-point transceiver 26 utilizes the same frequencies as the RF LAN system in building 10 and transmits its signals 28 by unidirectional antenna 30 which typically consists of a parabolic dish antenna having a narrow beamwidth. FIG. 2 illustrates a control module 12 transmitting a signal 32 directed towards window 22. The signal 32 is intended for a user module situated generally in the direction of signal path 32 somewhere between the control module and the window. That portion of signal 32 which is transmitted through window 22 escapes the building and is identified as signal 34. The magnitude of signal 34 which escapes the building depends on the distance between the window and the control module 12, the angle 36, i.e. the angle formed by the center lobe of signal 32 perpendicular to the plane of window 22, and the effective radiated power of the signal as transmitted. A signal transmitted normal to window 22 would have an angle of 0° and a signal transmitted substantially parallel to the plane of window 22 would have an angle of approximately 90°. FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating the transmittance of a single pane window 22 relative to angle 36. FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate antenna patterns for a preferred embodiment of antennas utilized in accordance with the present invention. The horizontal characteristics of the unidirectional antenna is shown by FIG. 7. FIG. 8 illustrates the vertical pattern for the antenna in which 0 represents the horizontal plane and 90 the vertical plane. As seen, the main pattern is directed within a 60° horizontal plane with the maximum transmission in the vertical plane occurring at approximately 15° above the horizontal plane. The user module is typically placed on a desk or other fixture in the room. The same type of antenna and patterns are utilized for the control module except that the antenna is rotated 180° with the control module preferably being mounted to the ceiling of the office building so that the primary beam points down from the ceiling in the office area. FIG. 3 illustrates typically locations within office building 10 of a control module 12 and a user module 14. The control module is mounted to the ceiling 38 of the office area. The user module 14 is located on the top of a desk 40 which also supports a personal computer 42 and a telephone 44. The user module is connected to the computer and telephone to provide wireless communications to other computers and telephones. In the preferred microwave frequency range, signals can effectively penetrate conventional walls made of drywall material and other non-metal materials. In the illustrative situation shown in FIG. 3, a partition (wall) 46 consists of sheet metal and impairs the direct signal path 48 between the user module and control module such that the direct signal path is not usable. The user module and the control module each are capable of selecting the most appropriate antenna to facilitate communications between a particular control module and user module. Various antenna selection techniques exist for selecting a particular antenna based on various parameters. Because of interfering wall 46, assume that a signal path 50 between the control module and user module is selected. As illustrated this signal path includes an intermediate reflection on window 22. Considering the condition in which the user module 14 is transmitting to the control module 12, part of the signal along path 50 is reflected at window 22 and part is transmitted as signal 52 outside of the building. As previously discussed with regard to FIG. 6, the attenuation provided by the window is a function of the incident angle of path 50 to the window. In FIG. 3 the distance between the user module 14 and window 22 is substantially closer than the distance between the control module and the window. The control module is, in a preferred embodiment, located at least seven meters from the nearest external window. Thus, for the same effective radiated power (ERP) and angle of incidence, the escaping signal 52 generated by the user module will be larger than the escaping signal 34 generated by the control module. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that escaping signal 52 thereby presents the greatest possibility for interference for an external RF system, such as microwave transceiver 26, utilizing the same frequency. The following example identifies the parameters which must be maintained in order for the RF LAN system in accordance with the present invention to reuse frequencies used in a point-to-point microwave system. For an RF LAN system to coexist with a point-to-point microwave system, the RF LAN signal at the point-to-point receiver must be below the level of the signal from the corresponding point-to-point transmitter by at least the capture ratio of the point-to-point system. The required capture ratio normally falls within the range of 17-24 dB. Taking the worse case number (24 dB) and adding a 3 dB path tolerance results in: (1) Pr = 27dB where Pr equals protection required at point-to-point receiver. The free space path loss Lf between isotropic antennas at 18 GHz is: (2) Lf = 117.8 + 20 log (Dkm) where Dkm is the distance between antennas in kilometers. For a 20 km path between point-to-point antennas the path loss is: (3) Lf = 144 dB Most point-to-point transmitters in the 18 GHz band utilize a transmitter power of about 50 mW. Using a typical 40 dBi gain antenna, the resulting effective radiated power is 57 dBm. The received signal Sr at the point-to-point receiver is: (4) Sr = 57 dBm - 144 dB = -87 dBm The above received signal Sr ignores the antenna gain at the receive antenna since the gain will be the same for the desired and undesired signal. The maximum allowed RF LAN signal Sw at the point-to-point receiver antenna is: (5) Sw = Sr - Pr = -87 - 27 dBm = -114 dBm The EIRP of the RF LAN transmitter at the point of maximum antenna gain is 25 dBm. The preferred embodiment antenna of the RF LAN system has a gain in the horizontal plane which is 10 dB lower than the peak power; thus the available interfering power is 15 dBm. The path loss Lw required between the RF LAN transmitter and the point-to-point receiver antenna is: (6) Lw = 114 dB + 15 dB = 129 dB The outside building wall provides a transmission loss or attenuation of at least 25 dB at 18 GHz. However, the worse case situation arises where an RF LAN antenna points directly out a window. A thermo pane window provides approximately 6 dB of loss. Thus, the remaining loss Lr which must be acquired with physical separation and antenna directionality is: (7) Lr = 129 dB -6 dB = 124 dB The consideration of the directionality of the point-to-point receiving antenna presents two significant cases: off-beam location and on-beam location. In the off-beam case, the sidelobe level of 30 dB of the point-to-point receiver antenna is anticipated. Thus the remaining loss Lp is: (8) Lp =124 -30 dB = 94 dB The required separation distance for the off-beam case is determined from equation (2) where: (9) 94 = 117.8 + 20 log(Dp) resulting in a minimum distance of 65 meters. For the on-beam case, the required distance also found from equation (2) is: (10) 124 = 117.8 + 20 log(Dr) resulting in a required separation distance of 2040 meters. Typical directional antennas used for the point-to-point service exhibit a 10 dB beamwidth of 1.2 degrees. At a distance of 2040 meters, this corresponds to a zone width Wz of: (11) Wz = 2 * 2040 sin (0.6 degrees) = 43 meters Thus, the RF LAN system should not be placed within 43 meters of the center of the beam of the point-to-point receive antenna if the RF LAN system is within 2040 meters of the antenna. To be within the parameters of the on-beam case is unlikely, as the point-to-point paths are normally designed to be line-of-sight, with no buildings or other obstructions within a 50 meter or greater clearance radius about the center of beam path. Also, point-to-point transmission distances are greater than 2 km so that an RF LAN located in a building at the center of a point-to-point link would not fall within the 2040 meter requirement. Summarizing, the distance between an exterior window from which the RF LAN signal is radiated and the receive antenna of an external point-to-point microwave receiver, the required separation is as follows. For the off-beam case the required separation is 65 meters. For the on-beam case the required separation is 2040 meters. Generally, the off-beam case can usually be satisfied since it would be rare that a building would be within 65 meters of the point-to-point receiving antenna. While the on-beam case requires a substantial distance separation, it must be remembered that these calculations represent conservative path loss estimates for the external window and maximum radiation angles from the RF LAN antenna, and that point-to-point path design constrains path clearance to much larger numbers than 43 meters. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary arrangement for the RF LAN system in accordance with the present invention in which the radiated external signal 52 transmitted from the user module 12 may exceed desired limits. Since the user modules maybe located relatively close to an external window, the magnitude of a resulting external signal 52 should be limited to less than 30%, and preferably less than 10%, of the effective radiated power from the user module. In this example, a metal wall 54 impairs the transmission path 56 between antenna 17A of the user module and the utilized antenna on the control module 12. Because of the loss of signal strength the user module would have normally selected an alternate antenna 17B which would result in the radiation of signal 52. In order to prevent such undesired radiation, user module 12 includes switches Sw1 - Sw6 corresponding respectively to each of the six directional antennas. Each of the six antennas can be disabled by opening the respective switch. In the illustrative situation, antenna 17B is disabled by opening switch Sw1. This leaves the user module with five other antenna choices for communications with the control module 12. In the illustrative embodiment antenna 17A may be selected as the best path since wall 54 does not totally block the 60° beam from antenna 17A. Thus, the switches provide a means for inhibiting certain antennas thereby minimizing outside radiation levels that would have been caused by the use of such antennas. FIG. 5 illustrates another example of an RF LAN system in which the potential for excessive external radiation from windows 22 is possible if antenna 17A or 17E is selected for transmissions from the user module to the control module. An object 58 which provides at least partial attenuation for signals between the user module and control module could induce the user module to select antenna 17E for communications with control module by path 60. The transmission by the user module along path 60 could produce an undesired level of radiation 52. Metal reflectors 62 are shown placed between antennas 17A and 17E and windows 22 in order to prevent use of such antennas from resulting in excessive outside signals 52. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these elements 62 which are preferably placed relatively close to the respective antennas may either substantially reflect the RF energy or provide for substantial RF energy absorption. Reflective elements would of course permit the antennas to be utilized by providing a reflective surface for redirecting the path of the RF energy. An RF absorber would substantially absorb energy transmitted from such antennas and thus rely on the antenna selection of the user module to select alternate antennas for use. Dependent upon the environment and other conditions either type of element could be utilized to achieve the desired results of preventing excessive signal levels 52 from occurring. Although embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in the drawings, the scope of the invention is defined by the claims which follow.	A wireless in-building radio frequency (RF) communication system disposed in a building (10) for communications therein and operating on a first frequency which is also available for use by a different communications system (26) located outside of the building (10), the in-building communications system comprising: a control module (12) that includes an RF transmitter, RF receiver and an antenna system (17); a plurality of user modules (14) each including an RF transmitter for transmitting signals to said control module receiver (12), an RF receiver for receiving signals from said control module transmitter, and an antenna system (17); characterised in that: each antenna system consists of unidirectional antennas (17A-17F) each having a predetermined horizontal pattern beamwidth and being oriented to provide substantially 360° of total horizontal pattern coverage for each user module; the system further comprising switching means (SW1-SW6), coupled to the user module antenna system (17), for limiting the magnitude of RF signals (34,52) transmitted by said control module (12) and user modules (14) exiting said building to a predetermined level, said predetermined level being below a transmit signal level for the different communications system (26) by at least the capture ratio of the different communications system, to prevent interference to the different communications system (26) outside of the building (10). The system according to claim 1 wherein said first frequency is within the range of 2-20 GHz. The system according to claim 1 wherein said antenna system (17) of each user module (14) consists of six unidirectional antennas (17A-17F) each having a horizontal beamwidth of substantially 60°. The system according to claim 1 in which said building (10) includes external windows (22) and said switching means (SWI-SW6) for limiting is further characterized by said control module (12) being located at least 7 meters (20 feet) from the nearest external window (22) and means (SW1-SW6 and 62) for preventing signals (5) transmitted by certain antenna (17A-17F) of each user module (14) from being directed toward an external window (22) where more than 30 percent of the effective radiated power of the signal (50) would exit the window. The system according to claim 4 wherein said switching means (SW1-SW6) is characterized by means (SW1-SW6) for inhibiting said certain user module antennas (17A-17F) from being utilized. The system according to claim 4 wherein said switching means (SW1-SW6) is further characterized by means (62) disposed between said certain antennas (17A-17F) and said windows (22) for intercepting said signals (50) and substantially preventing and signals (50) from reaching the window (22). The system according to claim 1 wherein said different communication system (26) is characterized by a microwave point-to-point communications system utilizing unidirectional antennas (30) for signal transmission and reception. A wireless in-building radio frequency (RF) communication system disposed in a building (10) for communications therein and operating on a first frequency within the 2-20 GHz range which is also available for use by a point-to-point microwave communications system (26) located outside of the building (10), the in-building communications system comprising : a control module (12) that includes an RF transmitter, RF receiver and antenna system (17); a plurality of user modules (14) each including an RF transmitter for transmitting signals to said control module receiver, an RF receiver for receiving signals from said control module transmitter, and an antenna system (17) characterised by: each antenna system (17) consisting of a plurality of unidirectional antennas (17A-17F) each having a predetermined horizontal pattern beamwidth; means (SW1-SW6, 62) for limiting the magnitude of RF signals (32,52) transmitted by said control module (12) and user modules (14) exiting said building (10) to a predetermined level, said predetermined level being sufficiently small to prevent interference to the point-to-point communications system (26) outside of the building (10), in which said building (10) includes external windows (22) and said means (SW1-SW6, 62) for limiting is constituted by said control module (12) being located at least 7 meters from the nearest external window (22) and means (SW1-SW6 and 62) for preventing signals (50) transmitted by certain antennas (17A-17F) of each user module (14) from being directed toward an external window (22) where more than 30 percent of the effective radiated power of the signal (50) would exit the window, said means (SW1-SW6) and 62) selected from the group consisting of: means (SW1-SW6) for inhibiting said certain user module antennas (17A-17F) from being utilized; and means (62) disposed between said certain antennas (17A-17F) and said windows (22) for intercepting said signals (50) and substantially preventing said signals (50) from reaching the window (22). The system according to claim 8 wherein said antenna system (17) of each user module (14) consists of six unidirectional antennas (17A-17F) each having a horizontal beamwidth of substantially 60°.	MOTOROLA INC; MOTOROLA, INC.	FREEBURG THOMAS A; WARREN CHARLES L; FREEBURG, THOMAS; WARREN, CHARLES L.
EP-0488825-B1	488,825	EP	B1	EN	19,960,619	1,992	20,100,220	new	C08G77	C08G77, C08K5, C09K19, C08L83	C09K19, C08G77	C08G 77/382, C09K 19/42, C09K 19/40F2	Liquid crystalline organopolysiloxanes and liquid crystal compositions	Liquid crystalline organopolysiloxane is provided having the general formula: Ra(A)b(B)cSiO(4-a-b-c)/2 wherein R is independently selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and phenyl group, A is a group of the formula: wherein m, n, and x are integers in the range: m ≧ 3, n ≧ 2, 5 ≦ m + nx ≦ 15, x = 1 or 2, B is an organic chromophore group having an absorption peak in the visible spectrum, a, b, and c are numbers in the range: 1 ≦ a < 2, 0 < b + c ≦ 1, 0.45 ≦ b(b + c) ≦ 0.95, and 1 < a + b + c ≦ 3. This organopolysiloxane as a high molecular weight liquid crystal is combined with a low molecular weight liquid crystal to form a liquid crystal composition.	This invention relates to liquid crystalline organopolysiloxanes and, in preferred aspects, to liquid crystalline organopolysiloxanes having a wide effective temperature range as liquid crystal, capable of reversibly altering light transmittance in the visible light spectrum, possessing electrical memory ability, and thus finding use as lighting control glass, recording material or the like. It also relates to liquid crystal compositions comprising the same as a high molecular weight liquid crystal. Liquid crystals are generally classified into low and high molecular weight liquid crystals. The low molecular weight liquid crystals characterized by very quick response are currently used in display elements or the like, but are difficult to form large surface area elements because of processing difficulty. On the other hand, the high molecular weight liquid crystals include high molecular weight compounds having a mesogen group bonded to their backbone and compounds having a mesogen group grafted to a side chain, and the latter side chain type compounds are known to have useful characteristics as display elements. These compounds having a mesogen group on a side chain can have a backbone selected from a variety of chains while compounds having a siloxane backbone have superior temperature properties and weather resistance among others. For example, JP-A-234086/1988 discloses thermally stable, weather resistant siloxane compounds which can be manufactured in film or sheet form having a large surface area. Siloxane type liquid crystalline compounds, however, have the drawback of low response speed though acceptable for use as lighting control glass or the like. This is because these high molecular weight liquid crystals are too viscous at room temperature to drive by the conventional liquid crystal cell driving method. Therefore, these liquid crystals must be placed in a constant temperature tank or heated by a dryer or heater before they can be driven. Further, dye-modified liquid crystals having polyacrylate and polymethacrylate backbones are known from EP-A-90282. Liquid crystalline copolymers having a siloxane backbone are also known from JP-A-77910/1988 disclosing liquid crystalline copolymers containing an anthraquinone dye. Although the liquid crystalline copolymers are described as useful in information storage, no reference is made to a mechanism or process of recording information or providing memory. The only description found therein is that the liquid crystalline copolymers are colored with the dyes and effective as auxiliary substances for dissolving dyes in a guest-host manner. Additionally, JP-A-282269/1989 discloses silicone liquid crystals containing azo dyes while a mesogen group is not specified. A general description indicating the potential use as information recording material is found, but memory ability is referred to nowhere in Examples and the specification. Dyes are described as simply imparting color. In summary, no references have specifically described the memory ability of liquid crystal. The general problem addressed herein is to provide new liquid crystalline substances and liquid crystal compositions, as well as methods of making them and suggested uses thereof. It would be desirable to provide a liquid crystalline organopolysiloxane having a specific combination of a mesogen structure and a dye modifying group or chromophore group, featuring a wide, practical effective temperature range as liquid crystal, reversible alteration of light transmittance in the visible light spectrum, and electrical memory ability. It would also be desirable to provide a liquid crystal composition having a wide, practical effective temperature range as liquid crystal, capable of reversibly altering light transmittance in the visible light spectrum, and possessing a light transmittance memory ability. In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystalline organopolysiloxane having the general formula (I). Ra(A)b(B)cSiO(4-a-b-c)/2 In formula (I), R is independently selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and phenyl group. A is a group of the formula (II): wherein m, n, and x are integers in the range: m ≧ 3, n ≧ 2, 5 ≦ m + nx ≦ 15, x = 1 or 2. B is an organic chromophore group having an absorption peak in the visible spectrum. Letters a, b, and c are numbers meeting the requirement: 1 ≦ a < 2, 0 < b + c ≦ 1, 0.45 ≦ b/(b+c) ≦ 0.95 and 1 < a + b + c ≦ 3. We have prepared organopolysiloxanes of formula (I) with a wide, practical effective temperature range as liquid crystal and electrical memory ability, and processable to have a large surface area. The other feature of coloring or tinting permits one to visually distinguish the difference of orientation of liquid crystal without a need for a polarizing plate, with the benefit of possible manufacture of display elements. The compounds of the invention may find a wide variety of applications such as lighting control glass and recording material. In another aspect, the present invention provides a liquid crystal composition comprising an organopolysiloxane of formula (I). In one preferred embodiment, the liquid crystal composition comprises 35 to 80 parts by weight of the organopolysiloxane of formula (I) as a high molecular weight liquid crystal and 65 to 20 parts by weight of a low molecular weight liquid crystal. The inventors have discovered the interesting phenomenon that such compositions may be rendered transparent when AC voltage, often of 50 to 300 V, preferably of 100 to 250 V, often at a frequency of 20 to 500 Hz, preferably 50 to 400 Hz is applied thereto, but become scattering or opaque and colored when DC voltage, often of 50 to 300 V, preferably of 100 to 250 V or low frequency AC voltage, often of 50 to 300 V, preferably of 100 to 200 V at a frequency of up to 20 Hz, preferably 0.01 to 1.0 Hz is applied thereto. In this way it becomes possible to provide for practical performance of reversibly altering light transmittance in the visible light spectrum. Due to the inclusion of high and low molecular weight liquid crystals and an optional dye, the present composition may provide a low viscous liquid crystal as a whole and is considered to be a molecular level mixture, offering a wide useful temperature range, adequate viscosity, and high memory ability. The composition allows for switch drive because it can be turned transparent by applying AC voltage and scattering by applying DC voltage, both in a reversible manner at room temperature. Increased surface area elements are achievable because the composition is advantageous to operate without a need for an orienting agent. Display elements can be manufactured due to the additional benefit of coloring which permits one to visually distinguish the difference of orientation of liquid crystal without a need for a polarizing plate. In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the liquid crystal composition further contains 0.01 to 0.5% by weight of an organic electrolyte material based on the total weight of the organopolysiloxane of formula (I) or high molecular weight liquid crystal and the low molecular weight liquid crystal. We find an interesting phenomenon in such compositions in that they are rendered transparent when AC voltage, often of 50 to 300 V, preferably of 100 to 250 V, often at a frequency of at least 600 Hz, preferably 1 to 5 kHz is applied thereto, but becomes scattering or opaque and colored when DC voltage, often of 50 to 300 V, preferably of 100 to 250 V or low frequency AC voltage, often of 50 to 300 V, preferably of 100 to 200 V at a frequency of up to 30 Hz, preferably 0.01 to 10 Hz is applied thereto. Due to the inclusion of an organic electrolyte in a high and low molecular weight liquid crystal mix, this liquid crystal composition significantly shortens the response time of display elements upon application of DC voltage as compared with organic electrolyte-free compositions. Some organic electrolytes can shorten the response time of display elements upon application of AC voltage. Liquid crystal compositions embodying the invention may be widely used as lighting control glass in housing applications as well as automobile applications. The liquid crystal compositions may also be usable as recording material. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 is a proton NMR spectrum of the organopolysiloxane obtained in Example 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross section of a cell used in the evaluation of the liquid crystals of Examples 7 and 8. FIG. 3 is a diagram of light transmittance versus wavelength showing the drive characteristic of the liquid crystal of Example 7. FIG. 4 is a diagram of light transmittance versus wavelength showing the driving characteristic of the liquid crystal of Example 8. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross section of a cell used in the evaluation of the liquid crystal composition of Example 9. FIG. 6 is a graph of light transmittance versus standing time, showing the memory performance of the liquid crystal composition of Example 9. FIG. 7 is a graph of light transmittance versus drive frequency, showing the driving of the liquid crystal composition of Example 9. DETAILED DESCRIPTIONThe liquid crystalline organopolysiloxanes of the invention are represented by the general formula (I). Ra(A)b(B)cSiO(4-a-b-c)/2In formula (I), R, which may be identical or different groups, is independently selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and phenyl group, for example, -H, -CH3, -CH2 CH3, and A is a group of the formula (II): wherein m, n, and x are integers in the range: m ≧ 3, n ≧ 2, 5 ≦ m + nx ≦ 15, x = 1 or 2. Examples of the formula (II) group are given below. As seen from formula (II), component A consists essentially of a mesogen group and a spacer for attaching the mesogen group to the siloxane backbone. When the mesogen group is oriented under the impetus of an external electric or magnetic field, the spacer represented by -(CH2)mO[(CH2)nO]x- has a significant influence on the orientation, orientation maintenance or memory ability, and useful temperature range. The length of the spacer meets the requirement: m ≧ 3, n < 2, 5 ≦ m + nx ≦ 15, and x = 1 or 2. If m < 3, n < 2 or m + nx < 5, then the mesogen group is so intensely bound by the siloxane backbone as to alter the orientation as liquid crystal. If m + nx > 15, increased softness would rather disturb regular orientation. For component A of formula (II), a balance of binding and softness is a key for affording orientation, memory ability, and a wide useful temperature range as liquid crystal. Moreover, component A contains an ether bond in the spacer moiety, which allows for electrical memory and other liquid crystalline properties. In formula (I), B is an organic chromophore group having an absorption peak in the visible spectrum, for example, a group of the formula (III) having an azo or anthraquinone group. -F-ZIn formula (III), F is a linear or branched alkylene group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, which may contain -O- , -COO- or -OCO- in the chain. Preferably, F is a group: -X-COO-wherein X is an alkylene group having 3 to 10 carbon atoms. Z is an organic group containing an azo or anthraquinone group having an absorption peak in the visible spectrum, that is, a chromophore moiety containing an azo or anthraquinone group. B is selected from the following exemplary chemical formulae where the chromophore moiety in the formula (III) group is an azo-containing one. In the formulae, F is as defined above and R1 is an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms. Preferred azo-containing chromophore groups B are of the formula (III a): wherein Y is a hydrogen atom or a monovalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and ℓ is an integer of from 3 to 10. Their examples are given below. B is selected from the following exemplary chemical formulae where the chromophore moiety in the formula (III) group is an anthraquinone-containing one. In the formulae, F and R1 are as defined above. As mentioned above, component B consists of a chromophore moiety (Z) and a spacer (F) for attaching the chromophore moiety to the siloxane backbone. The chromophore moiety is an essential component for achieving the original function of imparting coloring ability to the compounds of the invention,and also can have the additional function of improving the orientation regularity of the mesogen group in component A, thereby contributing to increased response speed and widened effective temperature range. It will be understood that a high molecular weight compound having a chromophore group incorporated at a side chain thereof tends to maintain its arrangement intact since the chromophore group is restrained for motion by the backbone. More specifically, once a cell is turned transparent or colored through the application of voltage, the chromophore group would maintain its attitude unchanged even after voltage interruption, achieving a high degree of transparency or coloring. In contrast, a simple blend of a liquid crystal and a low molecular weight dye substance in which a chromophore molecule of the dye substance is allowed for free motion provides comparable light transmittance (either transparent or colored) when voltage is applied, but after voltage is interrupted, undesirably experiences a loss of transmittance in the transparent state or an increase of transmittance in the colored state. It is thus critical that a chromophore group be attached to a high molecular weight chain. Referring to formula (I) again, letters a, b, and c relate to the type, length, rate of modification of siloxane and are numbers meeting the requirement: 1 ≦ a < 2, 0 < b + c ≦ 1, and 1 < a + b + c ≦ 3, preferably 1.8 ≦ a + b + c ≦ 2.2. The siloxane structure may be straight, cyclic, or branched, with the straight chain being preferred. The value of b/(b + c), that is, the proportion of components A and B, representing the rate of modification of siloxane ranges from 0.45 to 0.95, preferably from 0.55 to 0.85. No electrical memory would be achieved with a value of b/(b + c) of less than 0.45 whereas a value of b/(b + c) of more than 0.95 would result in an impractical liquid crystal temperature range. The liquid crystalline organopolysiloxanes of formula (I) may be synthesized by effecting addition reaction of a mesogen compound having a terminal unsaturated bond and a chromophore group - containing compound having a terminal unsaturated bond to a siloxane having a Si-H group in the presence of a well-known catalyst for hydrosilylation although their preparation is not limited thereto. For example, liquid crystalline organopolysiloxanes having formula (I): Ra(A)b(B)cSiO(4-a-b-c)/2 wherein A is a group of formula (II): B is of formula (III a): wherein the symbols are as defined above can be readily synthesized by adding a compound of formula (IV): and a compound of formula (V): to an organohydrogenpolysiloxane through hydrosilylation reaction. It should be understood that if a compound of formula (IV) alone is addition reacted to organohydrogen-polysiloxane, there would be synthesized a high molecular weight liquid crystal having a narrower useful temperature range. By mixing compounds of formulae (IV) and (V) and reacting them with organohydrogenpolysiloxane for acxhieving co-modification, there is synthesized an organopolysiloxane having a useful temperature range extended to a practical range. The organohydrogenpolysiloxane used herein may be selected from linear, branched and cyclic ones in accordance with the end organopolysiloxane, with the linear ones being preferred. Preferred organohydrogenpolysiloxanes are of the following formula (VI): R′pHqO(4-p-q)/2 wherein R′ is a hydrocarbon group havig 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a phenyl group, and letters p and q are numers in the range: 1 ≦ p < 3 and 0 < q ≦ 1, preferably 1 ≦ p ≦ 2 and 0.5 ≦ q ≦ 1. Exemplary compounds are of the following structures. Desirably, hydrosilylation is effected in the presence of a catalyst. Examples of the catalyst include well-known platinum, palladium, and rhodium complexes, such as PtCl4, H2PtCl6·6H2O, Pt-ether complexes, Pt-olefin complexes, PdCl2(PPh3)2, PdCl2(PhCN)2, and RhCl2 (PPh3)3 wherein Ph is a phenyl group, other well-known hydrosilylating catalysts, and mixrures thereof. These catalysts are preferably used by diluting with suitable solvents such as alcohol, aromatic, hydrocarbon, ketone, and chloride solvents. The catalysts are used in catalytic amounts. Reaction conditions desirably include about 60 to 150°C and about 1 to 50 hours although no particular limit is necessary. Reaction is desirably effected in organic solvents, for example, toluene, xylene, tetrahydrofuran, and dioxane. After hydrosilylation, an olefin such as hexene may be introduced into the resulting compound by hydrosilylation in order to block the residual Si-H groups. At the end of reaction, the end organic polysiloxane can be isolated by conventional procedures, for example, column chromatography, liquid chromatography, recrystallization, and reprecipitating fractionation and decantation utilizing differential solubility in various solvents. The liquid crystalline organopolysiloxane of formula (I) has a wide, practical effective temperature range as liquid crystal and electrical memory ability and can be processed to have a large surface area. The additional feature of tinting permits one to visually distinguish the difference of orientation of liquid crystal without a need for a polarizing plate, ensuring manufacture of display elements. Thus the organopolysiloxane of formula (I) is effective as a high molecular weight liquid crystal in formulating a liquid crystal composition. Accordingly, the liquid crystal composition in the second aspect of the present invention contains an organopolysiloxane of formula (I). In one preferred embodiment, the liquid crystal composition comprises 35 to 80 parts by weight of the organopolysiloxane of formula (I) as a high molecular weight liquid crystal and 65 to 20 parts by weight of a low molecular weight liquid crystal. This liquid crystal composition is designed to enhance response by blending a high molecular weight liquid crystal of formula (I) with a low molecular weight liquid crystal. Little improvement in response would be achieved with less than 20 parts by weight of low molecular weight liquid crystal since such smaller amounts fail to reduce the liquid crystal viscosity so that the response at room temperature remains rather low. More than 65 parts by weight of low molecular weight liquid crystal would adversely affect the thermal stability of high molecular weight liquid crystal, the mechanical strength, the manufacture of large area elements, and memory nature. Better results are obtained with 35 to 55 parts by weight of the low molecular weight liquid crystal. Accordingly, the amount of high molecular weight liquid crystal ranges from 35 to 80 parts by weight, more preferably from 45 to 65 parts by weight. The term high molecular weight liquid crystal means that the compound has a plurality of recurring siloxane units as shown in formula (I) and a degree of polymerization of at least 3 whereas the low molecular weight liquid crystal is a compound free of any identical recurring unit within its molecule. A liquid crystal mixture containing at least one nematic liquid crystal is a preferred low molecular weight liquid crystal used herein. Examples of the low molecular weight liquid crystal include biphenyl, cyanobiphenyl, phenylcyclohexane, cyanophenylcyclohexane, alkoxysubstituted phenylcyclohexane derived ones. Exemplary biphenyl derived liquid crystals are of formula (VII): CnH2n+1-Ph·Ph-CmH2m+1 wherein n is 5 to 6, m is 2 to 6, and Ph is phenyl; exemplary cyanobiphenyl derived liquid crystals are of formulae (VIII) to (X): CnH2n+1Ph·Ph-CNCnH2n+1-O-Ph·Ph-CN wherein n = 3 to 12, CnH2n+1-Ph·Ph·Ph-CN wherein n = 3 to 8; exemplary phenylcyclohexane derived liquid crystals are of formula (XI): CnH2n+1-CyH·Ph(Ph)k-CmH2m+1 wherein n = 2 to 5, k = 0, 1 or 2, CyH is cyclohexane; exemplary cyanophenylcyclohexane derived liquid crystals are of formulae (XII) and (XIII): CnH2n+1-CyH·Ph-CN wherein n = 2 to 7, CnH2n+1-CyH·Ph·Ph-CN wherein n = 1 to 9; and exemplary alkoxy-substituted phenylcyclohexane derived liquid crystals are of formula (XIV): CnH2n+1-CyH·Ph-O-CmH2m+1 wherein m = 2 to 6 and n = 2 to 6. To the liquid crystal composition, a dichroic dye may be used for enhancing the contrast of display elements without losing the remaining properties. Preferably, the dye is added in an amount of 0.3 to 10.0 parts by weight, more preferably 0.5 to 5.0 parts by weight, most preferably 0.5 to 2.5 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the total liquid crystals. The dichroic dyes used herein are those having a dichroism ratio in excess of 4 and include azo and anthraquinone dyes. Exemplary dichroic dyes are shown below. For example, azo dyes having at least one azo group include mono- , di- , tris- and polyazo dyes as exemplified below. Exemplary anthraquinone dyes are given below. Also useful are merocyanine, styryl, azomethine, and tetrazine dyes as shown below. Use of these dichroic dyes helps enhance the contrast of liquid crystal display elements. In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the liquid crystal composition comprising a blend of a high molecular weight liquid crystal of formula (I) and a low molecular weight liquid crystal is further blended with a suitable amount of an organic electrolyte material, thereby shortening the response time from transparent to scattering state by the application of DC voltage, for example, to 1/7 or less of the response time of the electrolyte-free composition. The organic electrolyte used herein may be selected from well-known organic electrolytes insofar as they can be uniformly dissolved or dispersed in the liquid crystal composition without adversely affecting the operation of display elements. For example, well-known cationic and anionic surfactants, ammonium salts, sodium salts, potassium salts, and calcium salts are useful. Among others, quaternary ammonium salts, especially ammonium salts resulting from tertiary amines and alkyl halides and ammonium salts resulting from tertiary amines and aromatic carboxylic acids are preferred for substantial reduction in the response time upon DC voltage application. The organic electrolyte may be added in an amount of 0.01 to 0.5% by weight based on the weight of the liquid crystal mixture. Less than 0.01% of organic electrolyte is ineffective for the response time shortening purpose whereas no further improvement is expected in excess of 0.5%. EXAMPLEExamples of the present invention are given below by way of illustration and not by way of limitation. Example 1A separable flask equipped with a condenser, thermometer and stirrer was charged with 15.0 grams (0.046 mol) of a compound of formula (1), 5.0 grams (0.012 mol) of a compound of formula (2), and 100 grams of dioxane. The contents were agitated while heating at 100°C. To the flask was added 0.06 grams of 0.03% chloroplatinic acid in 1-butanol. To the flask at 100°C was added dropwise 3.4 grams (0.0014 mol) of an organohydrogenpolysiloxane of formula (3). The solution was agitated for 15 hours at 100°C. At the end of reaction, excess hexane was added to the reaction solution and the resulting precipitate was collected by decantation. The precipitate was purified by dissolving it in acetone, adding excess methanol thereto, and collecting the resulting precipitate by decantation. Vacuum drying yielded 10.8 grams of a reddish orange organopolysiloxane. The resultant organopolysiloxane was identified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), obtaining the spectrum shown in FIG. 1. The following peaks were found. δ =0 ppm :Si - CH30.2 - 0.7 :Si - CH2 - 0.7 - 0.9 :1.0 - 2.0 :Si - CH2CH2CH2O - , Si - CH2(CH2)8CH2 , 2.1 - 2.7 :3.1 - 3.8 : 3.8 - 4.2 :6.6 - 8.0 : It is to be noted the NMR spectrum was analyzed by comparing with the NMR spectra of the two starting monomers. UV spectroscopy showed a peak in promixity to λ max = 340 nm, indicating the presence of an azo group. The compound was identified to have the following structure (4). This organopolysiloxane was measured by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and observed under a polarizing microscope, with the following results. Glass transition temperature : -11°C Melting point: 67°C This indicated a useful temperature range of from -11°C to 67°C where liquid crystalline nature was recognized. The organopolysiloxane was admitted into a cell having a pair of opposed walls defining a gap of 30 µm, a transparent electrode coextensive over one wall, and a comb-shaped transparent electrode on the other wall. AC current having a voltage of 40 V and a frequency of 60 Hz was applied across the cell at 25°C whereupon the organopolysiloxane was oriented in conformity to the comb-shape. After interruption of AC current, the orientation was maintained, indicating electrical memory ability. The cell was measured for light transmittance using light having a wavelength of 550 nm, finding a transmittance of 78% in the oriented state and 1% in the non-oriented state, which indicated liquid crystalline nature. Example 2The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that 13.4 grams (0.042 mol) of the compound of formula (1) and 7.1 grams (0.017 mol) of the compound of formula (2) were used. There was obtained 11.2 grams of an organopolysiloxane. The resultant organopolysiloxane was identified by proton NMR to have the following structure (5). Its DSC measurement and polarizing microscope observation gave the following results. Glass transition temperature: -15°C Melting point: 70°C This indicated a useful temperature range of from -15°C to 70°C where liquid crystalline nature was recognized as well as electrical memory ability. Example 3The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that 3.5 grams (0.012 mol) of a compound of formula (6) was used instead of the compound of formula (2). There was obtained 10.3 grams of an organopolysiloxane. The resultant organopolysiloxane was identified by proton NMR to have the following structure (7). Its DSC measurement and polarizing microscope observation gave the following results. Glass transition temperature: -3°C Melting point: 61°C This indicated a useful temperature range of from -3°C to 61°C where liquid crystalline nature was recognized as well as electrical memory ability. Example 4The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that 4.0 grams (0.012 mol) of a compound of formula (8) was used instead of the compound of formula (2). There was obtained 10.6 grams of an organopolysiloxane. The resultant organopolysiloxane was identified by proton NMR to have the following structure (9). Its DSC measurement and polarizing microscope observation gave the following results. Glass transition temperature: -7°C Melting point: 63°C This indicated a useful temperature range of from -7°C to 63°C where liquid crystalline nature was recognized as well as electrical memory ability. Example 5The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that 17.0 grams (0.046 mol) of a compound of formula (10) was used instead of the compound of formula (1) and 3.5 grams (0.014 mol) of a compound of formula (11) was used instead of the compound of formula (3). There was obtained 11.9 grams of an organopolysiloxane. The resultant organopolysiloxane was identified by proton NMR to have the following structure (12). Its DSC measurement and polarizing microscope observation gave the following results. Glass transition temperature: -10°C Melting point: 70°C This indicated a useful temperature range of from -10°C to 70°C where liquid crystalline nature was recognized as well as electrical memory ability. Example 6The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that 21.0 grams (0.046 mol) of a compound of formula (13) was used instead of the compound of formula (1). There was obtained 13.8 grams of an organopolysiloxane. The resultant organopolysiloxane was identified by proton NMR to have the following structure (14). Its DSC measurement and polarizing microscope observation gave the following results. Glass transition temperature: -20°C Melting point: 30°C This indicated a useful temperature range of from -20°C to 30°C where liquid crystalline nature was recognized as well as electrical memory ability. Comparative Example 1The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that 18.7 grams (0.058 mol) of the compound of formula (1) and 3.4 grams (0.0014 mol) of the compound of formula (3) were used and the compound of formula (2) was omitted. There was obtained 11.2 grams of an organopolysiloxane. The resultant organopolysiloxane was identified by proton NMR to have the following structure (15). Its DSC measurement and polarizing microscope observation gave the following results. Glass transition temperature: 7°C Melting point: 49°C This indicated a useful temperature range of from 7°C to 49°C where liquid crystalline nature was recognized as well as electrical memory ability. Actually, however, this organopolysiloxane could not be used outdoor as compared with the organopolysiloxane of Example 1. It showed inferior contrast to Example 1 as demonstrated by transmittance of 60% in the oriented state and 5% in the non-oriented state. Example 7Liquid crystal composition Nos. 1 to 9 were prepared by mixing a high molecular weight liquid crystal of formula (16) with low molecular weight liquid crystals of formulae (A) to (D) in the proportion shown in Table 1. High molecular weight liquid crystal Low molecular weight liquid crystal (A) C4H9 - O - Ph·Ph - CN (B) C4H9 - CyH·Ph - CN (C) C5H11CyH·Ph - CN (D) a mixture of low molecular weight liquid crystals C3H7 - CyH·Ph -O-C2H520% C3H7-CyH·Ph - CN30% C3H7 - CyH·Ph - O - C4H920% C5H11 - CyH·Ph - CN20% C5H11 - CyH·Ph·Ph - C2H55% C5H11 - CyH(Ph)2CyH - C3H75% (% by weight, CyH=cyclohexane, Ph=phenyl) More particularly, the high molecular weight liquid crystal of formula (16) and each low molecular weight liquid crystal were mixed by dissolving them in xylene in the proportion shown in Table 1 and heating the solution for about 12 hours at 130°C in vacuum until the xylene was removed. The residue was admitted into a cell as shown in FIG. 2 to a thickness of 30 µm. The liquid crystal cell is shown in FIG. 2 as comprising a pair of glass substrates 1 having transparent electrodes 2 on their inner surface. The cell is filled with a liquid crystal mixture 3 which is confined therein by a sealant 4. At room temperature, the cell was measured for light transmittance at a wavelength of 550 nm both when the cell was turned transparent by applying an AC voltage of 100 to 250 V at 400 Hz across the electrodes and when the cell was turned colored by applying a DC voltage of 150 to 250 V across the electrodes. In this way, the liquid crystal composition could be switch driven by AC-DC changeover. When colored, this liquid crystal composition became yellow turbid due to the chromophore group in the high molecular weight liquid crystal. Memory ability was expressed by the number of days passed from the turning-off of the voltage until a change of more than 5% from the initial transmittance occurred. The response time from colored to transparent state was expressed by the time (sec.) passed from the application of AC 150 V, 60 Hz (rectangular wave) until the cell became transparent, and the response time from transparent to colored state was expressed by the time (sec.) passed from the application of DC 200 V until the cell was colored. The driving characteristic of liquid crystal composition No. 9 is shown in FIG. 3. In the transparent state, it showed substantially constant transmittance relative to wavelength, indicating superior transparency. All these liquid crystal compositions exhibited high contrast (or a larger difference in transmittance), improved memory ability, and shortened response time. The liquid crystal compositions can be used as lighting control glass and display elements in automobile, housing, and other applications. Example 8In order to demonstrate that the addition of a dichroic dye helps enhance the contrast as lighting control glass and display elements, a mixture of high and low molecular weight liquid crystals was blended with a dichroic dye as shown in Table 2. The high and low molecular weight liquid crystals used were the same as in Example 7. The dye used was an anthraquinone dichroic dye commercially available as G209 (Blue) from Nippon Kanko Shikiso Kenkyujo. Composition No. Low-MW LC type High-MW LC wt% LOW-MW LC Dye wt% parts10A50501.5 11B65351.5 12C50501.5 13D50501.5 More particularly, the high molecular weight liquid crystal of formula (16), each low molecular weight liquid crystal, and the dye were mixed by dissolving them in xylene in the proportion shown in Table 2 and heating the solution for about 12 hours at 130°C in vacuum until the xylene was removed. The residue was admitted into a cell as shown in FIG. 2 to a thickness of 30 µm, followed by deaeration. The liquid crystal cell, as shown in FIG. 2, included a pair of glass substrates 1 having transparent electrodes 2 on their inner surface and was filled with a liquid crystal mixture 3 which was confined therein by a sealant 4. The cell was examined for light transmittance, memory ability, and color tone. At room temperature, the cell was measured for light transmittance at a wavelength of 550 nm both when the cell was turned transparent by applying an AC voltage of 100 to 250 V at 400 Hz across the electrodes and when the cell was turned colored by applying a DC voltage of 150 to 250 V across the electrodes. Memory ability was labeled OK when the light transmittance achieved with applied voltage did not change by 5% or more within 24 hours from the turning-off of the voltage. The results are shown in Table 3. No. Light transmittance Tone Transp. (%) Colored (%) Memory Transp. Colored 10652OKpale green transparentgreen turbid 11555OKpale green transparentgreen turbid 12361OKpale green transparentgreen turbid 13600.5OKpale green transparentgreen turbid As is evident from Table 3, the dye addition resulted in an increased difference in light transmittance between the transparent and colored states and improved display performance with respect to memory and tone. The driving characteristic of dyed liquid crystal composition No. 13 is shown in FIG. 4. Despite the inclusion of the dye, the composition showed acceptable light transmittance in the transparent state and a transmittance of approximately 0 in the colored state. It quickly responded to a changeover between AC ad DC to turn transparent or colored with thigh contrast and memory ability. Example 9Three liquid crystal composition Nos. 14 to 16 were prepared by adding 0.1% by weight of organic electrolytes L, M and N shown below to a liquid crystal mixture of 65 parts by weight of a high molecular weight liquid crystal of formula (16) and 35 parts by weight of a low molecular weight liquid crystal (ZLI-1840 commercially available from Merck Co.). The same liquid crystal mixture free of an organic electrolyte is designated liquid crystal composition No. 17. Organic electrolyte L: (C4H9)4N+Cl-·H2OOrganic electrolyte M: (C4H9)4N+Br-Organic electrolyte N: NLI-235 (Merck Co.) Each liquid crystal composition (Nos. 14-16) was prepared by dissolving the high and low molecular weight liquid crystals in xylene, adding the organic electrolyte to the solution, uniformly dispersing the electrolyte therein, and heating the solution for about 12 hours at 130°C in vacuum until the xylene was removed. It is to be understood that composition No. 17 was obtained by similarly concentrating the solution, but without adding an organic electrolyte. These liquid crystal compositions were examined for response time using a liquid crystal element as shown in FIG. 5. The liquid crystal element is shown in FIG. 5 as comprising a pair of 1.1-mm thick substrates 11 of soda-lime glass having transparent electrodes 12 in the form of 150-nm thick ITO film on their inner surface. The element is filled with a liquid crystal composition 13 which is confined therein by a sealant 14 in the form of 30-µm thick heat fusible film. A power supply 15 of AC-DC switchable type is connected to the electrodes 12 for applying a selected voltage across the liquid crystal fill. The liquid crystal elements filled with liquid crystal composition Nos. 14 to 17 were tested by applying a DC voltage of 100 V across the transparent electrodes at room temperature and measuring the time taken until the element turned opaque from the transparent state. The results are shown in Table 4. Composition No. Response time (DC drive) 1413 sec. 1525 sec. 1642 sec. 17350 sec. As compared with composition No. 17 which was free of an organic electrolyte, composition Nos. 14 to 16 containing a quaternary ammonium salt were significantly shortened in response time. The liquid crystal elements were also tested for response time from opaque to transparent state by AC 100 V, 1 kHz driving. The results are shown in Table 5. Composition No. Response time (AC drive) 1422 sec. 15150 sec. 1680 sec. 17150 sec. As compared with electrolyte-free composition No. 17 showing a response time of 150 seconds, composition Nos. 14 and 16 showed a shortened response time of 22 and 80 seconds, respectively, although composition No. 15 remained unchanged in response time from No. 17. This indicates that the addition of selected quaternary ammonium salts can shorten the response time upon application of AC voltage. It was found that blending of such organic electrolytes did not alter optical memory performance. FIG. 6, which is a diagram of light transmittance relative to the lapse of time, shows the memory performance of liquid crystal composition Nos. 14 to 17. Upper curves show how the once AC driven liquid crystal display elements change their light transmittance with time after switching off. Lower curves show how the once DC drive liquid crystal display elements (remaining dark) change their light transmittance with time after switching off. In either case, electrolyte-containing composition Nos. 14-16 showed substantially straight lines with the lapse of time as did electrolyte-free composition No. 17. That is, all the compositions maintained memory ability. Unlike low molecular weight liquid crystals, the addition of organic electrolytes does not adversely affect the memory performance. FIG. 7 shows the light transmittance of liquid crystal composition Nos. 14-17 relative to driving frequency. Scattering occurred with electrolyte-free composition No. 17 in the low frequency range while the electrolyte addition caused the scattering range to shift toward higher frequencies (composition Nos. 14-16). Although some preferred embodiments have been described, many modifications and variations may be made thereto in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.	A liquid crystalline organopolysiloxane having the general formula (I): Ra(A)b(B)cSiO(4-a-b-c)/2 wherein R is independently selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and phenyl group, A is a group of the formula (II): wherein m, n, and x are integers in the range: m ≧ 3, n ≧ 2, 5 ≦ m + nx ≦ 15, x = 1 or 2, B is an organic chromophore group having an absorption peak in the visible spectrum, letters a, b, and c are numbers in the range: 1 ≦ a < 2, 0 < b + c ≦ 1, 0.45 ≦ b(b + c) ≦ 0.95, and 1 < a + b + c ≦ 3. The organopolysiloxane of claim 1 wherein B in formula (I) is of the formula (III)) - F - Z wherein F is a linear or branched alkylene group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, which may contain -O-, -COO- or -OCO- in the chain, and Z is an organic group containing an azo or anthraquinone group having an absorption peak in the visible spectrum. The organopolysiloxane of claim 2 wherein B is of the formula (III a): wherein Y is a hydrogen atom or a monovalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and ℓ is an integer of from 3 to 10. A liquid crystal composition comprising as a high molecular weight liquid crystal a liquid crystalline organopolysiloxane having the general formula (I): Ra(A)b(B)cSiO(4-a-b-c)/2 wherein R is independently selected from the group consisting of a hydrogen atom, hydrocarbon group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and phenyl group, A is a group of the formula (II): wherein m, n, and x are integers in the range: m ≧ 3, n ≧ 2, 5 ≦ m + nx ≦ 15, x = 1 or 2, B is an organic chromophore group having an absorption peak in the visible spectrum, letters a, b, and c are numbers in the range: 1 ≦ a < 2, 0 < b + c ≦ 1, 0.45 ≦ b/(b + c) ≦ 0.95, and 1 < a + b + c ≦ 3. The liquid crystal composition of claim 4 which further comprises a low molecular weight liquid crystal. The liquid crystal composition of claim 5 wherein the low molecular weight liquid crystal is a nematic liquid crystal. The liquid crystal composition of claim 5 which comprises 35 to 80 parts by weight of the high molecular weight liquid crystal and 65 to 20 parts by weight of the low molecular weight liquid crystal. The liquid crystal composition of claim 5 which further comprises 0.3 to 10 parts by weight of a dichroic dye per 100 parts by weight of the total liquid crystals. The liquid crystal composition of claim 5 which further comprises 0.01 to 0.5% by weight of an organic electrolyte material based on the total weight of the high and low molecular weight liquid crystals. The liquid crystal composition of claim 9 wherein the organic electrolyte material is a quaternary ammonium salt. A process comprising the preparation of an organopolysiloxane as defined in any one of claims 1 to 3 by addition reaction of a mesogen compound having a terminal unsaturated bond, of the formula and a compound containing the organic chromophore group B and a terminal unsaturated bond to a siloxane having a Si-H group, in the presence of a hydrosilylation catalyst. A process according to claim 11 comprising the preparation of an organopolysiloxane as defined in claim 3, wherein the chromophore-containing compound B has the general formula A process in which a liquid crystalline composition as defined in any one of claims 5 to 10 is produced by combining the organopolysiloxane of formula (I), as a high-molecular weight liquid crystal, with the low molecular weight liquid crystal.	SHINETSU CHEMICAL CO; TOYOTA MOTOR CO LTD; SHIN-ETSU CHEMICAL CO., LTD.; TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA	KONDOU TAKASHI; OHKUWA NAOMI; OHTSUKA YASUHIRO; OKAYAMA SHINOBU; SHIBATA YASUFUMI; TOJIMA KAZUO; YAMAYA MASAAKI; YOSHIOKA HIROSHI; KONDOU, TAKASHI; OHKUWA, NAOMI; OHTSUKA, YASUHIRO; OKAYAMA, SHINOBU; SHIBATA, YASUFUMI; TOJIMA, KAZUO; YAMAYA, MASAAKI; YOSHIOKA, HIROSHI
EP-0488826-B1	488,826	EP	B1	EN	19,960,731	1,992	20,100,220	new	H03K3	null	H03K3	H03K 3/037B, H03K 3/037, H03K 3/3562B, H03K 3/356G4B	Flip-flop circuit having CMOS hysteresis inverter	A flip-flop circuit includes a hysteresis inverter (100), a data input terminal (4), a data output terminal (5), a clock input terminal (6) and a transfer gate (3). The hysteresis inverter has a first inverter (1) whose input and output nodes are connected respectively to the data input and output terminals, and a second inverter (2) whose input and output node are connected respectively to the data output and input terminals. The transfer gate is connected between the data input and output terminals, and turns on and off in response to a clock signal applied to the clock input terminal, thereby changing hysteresis area or effects of the hysteresis inverter. The transfer gate causes the area of hysteresis to be variable, so that the circuit requires only a small number of gate stages, can operate at a high speed, and can operate at a low power supply voltage.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION(1) Field of the InventionThe present invention relates to a high speed flip-flop circuit and, more particularly, to a flip-flop circuit having a CMOS inverter (hereinafter referred to as a CMOS flip-flop circuit ). (2) Description of the Related ArtAn example of a conventional high speed CMOS flip-flop circuit is shown in Fig. 1. The CMOS flip-flop circuit shown is a dynamic type flip-flop circuit. As shown in the drawings, complementary clock signals are inputted to clock signal input terminals 6 and 7, respectively, and when a CMOS transfer gate circuit 9 composed of a complementary pair of P-channel and N-channel transistors turns on in response to the clock signals, the data signal applied to a data input terminal 4 is latched and then inverted by an inverter 1 with the inverted signal being outputted at a data output terminal 5. Thereafter, when the transfer gate circuit 9 turns off, this state is held. Fig. 2 shows a conventional example of a master-slave type flip-flop circuit wherein two stage flip-flop circuits each of which is the same as that shown in Fig. 1 are connected in series and wherein an output of the second stage flip-flop circuit (composed of a transfer gate circuit 19 and an inverter 11) is inverted by an inverter 21 and fed back to a transfer gate circuit 9, whereby a T-type flip-flop circuit is formed. In this T-type flip-flop circuit, when the complementary clock signals are applied to the clock signal input terminals 6 and 7, a signal whose frequency is half that of the complementary clock signal is outputted at the output terminal 5. Another CMOS flip-flop circuit capable of operating at a high speed is shown in Fig. 3. The CMOS flip-flop circuit shown in Fig. 3 is disclosed in a publication Multi-gigahertz CMOS Dual-Modulus Prescalar IC (by H. Cong et al, in IEEE Sc. Vol. 23 No. 5, October 1988, pages 1189 - 1194). In the above CMOS flip-flop circuit, the master-slave configuration is realized by use of two hysteresis inverters, one being composed of inverters 1, 2 as a first hysteresis inverter and the other being composed of inverters 11, 12 as a second hysteresis inverter. The clock input signal adopts a single-phase signal and not complementary signals. The clock signal inputted to the clock signal input terminal 6 is applied to the gates of P-channel transistors 31, 32 for the master stage and the same is applied to the gate of an N-channel transistor 35 for the slave stage. The signals inputted to the data input terminals 4, 8 are the complementary signals which are applied to the gates of N-channel transistors 33, 34 and which cause the P-channel transistors 31, 32 to function so that such complementary data signals can change the input and output potentials of the first hysteresis inverter (1, 2). N-channel transistors 36, 37 function as a differential pair having a common source connection and control the data inputs of the slave flip-flop stage. The transistor 35 functions so that the data inputs can change the input and output potentials of the second hysteresis inverter (11, 12). In the conventional dynamic type flip-flop circuits shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there is no particular holding circuit for data signals, and the data is held and stored in the form of a charge to a gate capacitance of the field effect transistors constituting the inverter 1. Therefore, although the circuit can operate at a comparatively high speed, a low speed operation conversely results in loss of the charge thereby causing malfunctions to occur. Also, since the flip-flop circuits shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are CMOS circuits, the above mentioned gate capacitance must be charged and discharged with the signals fully swinging to the power supply voltage and this has limited the realization of a circuit capable of operating at a high speed. The master-slave flip-flop circuit shown in Fig. 3 involves the problem that the level of the single-phase clock signal to be applied to the clock signal input terminal 6 cannot be decided by a single standard since the P-channel transistors 31, 32 are used for the master flip-flop stage, and another type, that is, the N-channel transistor 35 is used for the slave flip-flop stage. This problem arises because threshold values of the P-channel transistors are established in the course of manufacture of the component transistors with no correlation being made with the threshold value of the N-channel transistor and also because such threshold values can vary in the course of manufacture. The variation thus occurring has influence on the production yield at the fabrication or integration of the device. Further, since the transistor 35 is connected in series with the differential pair transistors 36, 37, this results in a disadvantage of the realization for a low power supply voltage operation. A further disadvantage is that the number of elements required for the flip-flop circuit is large. EP-A-0 250 933 discloses a flip-flop circuit according to the preamble of claim 1 comprising a pair of cross-coupled CMOS inverters and a switching means which turns on and off in response to a clock signal applied to the clock signal input terminal of the circuit. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the invention to overcome the above mentioned problems existing in the conventional flip-flop circuits and to provide an improved flip-flop circuit which is capable of operating at a low power supply voltage, is capable of operating not only at a high frequency but also at a low frequency, and requires a small number of elements. According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a flip-flop circuit which comprises: a data input terminal, a data output terminal and a clock signal input terminal; a hysteresis inverter having a first inverter whose input node and output node are connected respectively to the data input terminal and to the data output terminal, and a second inverter whose input node and output node are connected respectively to the data output terminal and to the data input terminal; and a switching means which is connected between the data input terminal and the data output terminal, which turns on and off in response to a clock signal applied to the clock signal input terminal and which changes the area of hysteresis of the hysteresis inverter, said flip-flop circuit being characterized in that: the hysteresis area of said hysteresis inverter is set such that, when said switching means is in its OFF state, the states of said first and second inverters are not inverted even if a data signal is supplied to said data input terminal; and the on-resistance of said switching means is set sufficiently low such that,. when the switching means is ON, the hysteresis becomes small and a data signal at said data input terminal is latched. The above switching means can be realized by a transfer gate consisting of an N-channel field effect transistor or a P-channel field effect transistor. For the complementary clock signals, the switching means can be realized by a transfer gate circuit formed by a complementary pair of N-channel and P-channel field effect transistors connected in parallel with each other. The invention also provides a master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit comprising a pair of the above mentioned flip-flop circuits, one of said pair of flip-flop circuits forming a master stage flip-flop circuit and the other one of said pair of flip-flop circuits forming a slave stage flip-flop circuit, said slave stage flip-flop circuit being connected in series with said master stage flip-flop circuit, said master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit further comprising a feed back inverter connected to the data input terminal of said master stage flip-flop circuit and in parallel with the data output terminal of said slave stage flip-flop circuit, the output node of said slave stage flip-flop circuit being connected with the input node of said master stage flip-flop circuit through the feedback inverter. Hysteresis effects of the hysteresis inverter are sufficiently large while the switching means is switched off, so that in this state even if the data is supplied to the data input terminal, the data is not latched. On the other hand, when the switching means turns on, the hysteresis effects of the hysteresis inverter become smaller and potentials at the input and output nodes of the hysteresis inverter change in accordance with the voltage level of the data at the data input terminal, thereby causing the data to be latched according to the hysteresis curve. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional flip-flop circuit; Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit; Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional master-slave flip-flop circuit; 5 Fig. 4 is a diagram showing operation waveforms of a conventional T-type flip-flop circuit shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a flip-flop circuit of a first embodiment according to the invention; Fig. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a flip-flop circuit of a second embodiment according to the invention; Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram showing a flip-flop circuit of a third embodiment according to the invention; Fig. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a flip-flop circuit of a fourth embodiment according to the invention; Fig. 9 is a circuit diagram showing a master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit of a fifth embodiment according to the invention; and Fig. 10 is a diagram showing operation waveforms of the fifth embodiment shown in Fig. 9, according to the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSNow, some preferred embodiments of the invention will be explained with reference to the. accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, throughout the following explanation, similar reference symbols or numerals refer to the same or similar elements in all the figures of the drawings. Fig. 5 diagrammatically shows a flip-flop circuit of a first embodiment according to the present invention. In Fig. 5, the numerals 1 and 2 denote the inverters constituting a hysteresis inverter 100, the numeral 4 denotes a data input terminal of a flip-flop circuit, and the numeral 5 denotes a data output terminal for outputting an inverted data signal. Between the input and output terminals 4 and 5 of the hysteresis inverter 100, there is provided a switching means 9 which turns on and off in response to a clock signal supplied to a clock signal input terminal 6. The hysteresis area of the hysteresis inverter 100 is set such that, while the switching means 9 is in its off state, the state of the hysteresis inverter 100 may not be inverted even if an output from another CMOS circuit is applied to the data input terminal 4. Such setting can be achieved through the selection of, for example, gate lengths and/or widths of the field effect transistors constituting the inverters 1, 2. The on-resistance of the switching means 9 is set sufficiently low such that, when the switching means 9 is on, the amount or area of the hysteresis becomes small and the data signal at the data input terminal 4 may be latched. When the output of the hysterisis inverter 100 is inverted when the switching means 9 is off, since a voltage level of the data input terminal 4 and an output voltage level of the inverter 2 are opposite to each other, the output of the inverter 2 does not change to the level of the power supply potential or to the level of the ground potential but changes slightly either towards the level of the power supply voltage or towards the ground potential by the level of the threshold voltage. The same is true for the output voltage level in the inverter 1 and the next switching on of the switching means 9 results in a precharge for the inversion of the voltage in the data output terminal 5, thereby enabling to realize a high speed operation. Next, Fig. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a flip-flop circuit of a second embodiment according to the invention in which the feature resides in the use of an N-channel transfer gate 29 in place of the switching means 9 of the first embodiment shown in Fig. 5. The explanation on the circuit operation is omitted here as it is the same as that for the first embodiment. Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram showing a flip-flop circuit of a third embodiment according to the invention, which is featured in the use of a P-channel transfer gate 39 as the switching means 9 shown in Fig. 5. The explanation on the arrangements and circuit operation is omitted here as it is the same as that for the first embodiment. Fig. 8 is a circuit diagram showing a flip-flop circuit of a fourth embodiment according to the invention, the feature of which resides in the realization of the switching means 9 shown in Fig. 5 by the CMOS transfer gate circuit 49 which is composed of a complementary pair of N-channel and P-channel transistors connected in parallel. The explanation on the remaining arrangements and circuit operation is omitted as it is the same as that for the first embodiment except that the CMOS transfer gate circuit 49 receives complementary clock signals applied to the clock signal input terminals 6 and 7 and it turns on and off in response to these signals. Fig. 9 is a circuit diagram of.a master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit as a fifth embodiment according to the invention, whose typical operation waveforms are shown in Fig. 10. The waveforms in Fig. 10 show that the circuit is capable of operating up to 1 GHz of the input signal frequency. The master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit shown in Fig. 9 comprises two stages of hysteresis inverters 100, 100′, the first and second stages being composed of the inverters 1, 2 and 1′, 2′ and the complementary transfer gate circuits 59, 59′, respectively, shown in Fig. 8. Each of the complementary transfer gate circuits 59, 59′ receives complementary clock signals applied to the clock signal input terminals 6 and 7. The output of the second stage hysteresis inverter 100′ and the input of the first stage hysteresis inverter 100 are connected through an inverter 21. Fig. 4 is a diagram of the operation waveforms in the conventional dynamic T-type flip-flop circuit shown in Fig. 2. For the purpose of comparison, it is assumed that a transistor size and other conditions in the conventional example are the same as those of the fifth embodiment shown in Fig. 9. Despite being a dynamic circuit, the waveforms show that the conventional circuit can operate only up to 0.8 GHz of the input signal frequency, and this is due to the output being in a full-swing between the ground potential and the power supply potential. As explained above, according to the invention, the data are not lost even when the circuit operates at a low frequency since they are memorized in the hysteresis inverter. Since the switching means is provided between the input and output nodes of the hysteresis inverter for causing the area of hysteresis to be variable, the circuit requires only a small number of gate stages and also since the area of hysteresis reduced by the data need only be inverted, the data are not required to be in a full-swing and this enables the circuit to operate at a high speed. Further, since the operation point is decided by a size ratio between the N-channel transistor and the P-channel transistor of the inverters 1, 2 constituting the hysteresis inverter and the control of the amount or area of the hysteresis is decided by the size of the switching means, the circuit has a strong stability against the variation which may develop in the course of manufacture and requires also only a small number of elements, all of which are suited to the advancement of large scale integration (LSI) circuits. Even in the case where the flip-flop circuit according to the invention is used for dealing with a high speed operation and a signal slowed down is interfaced with an ordinary CMOS circuit, the circuit according to the invention can be operatively connected directly to the CMOS circuit concerned.	A flip-flop circuit comprising: a data input terminal (4), a data output terminal (5) and a clock signal input terminal (6); a hysteresis inverter (100) having a first inverter (1) whose input node and output node are connected respectively to said data input terminal and to said data output terminal, and a second inverter (2) whose input node and output node are connected respectively to said data output terminal and to said data input terminal; and a switching means (9) which is connected between said data input terminal and said data output terminal, which turns on and off in response to a clock signal applied to said clock signal input terminal and which changes the area of hysteresis of said hysteresis inverter (100), said flip-flop circuit being characterized in that: the hysteresis area of said hysteresis inverter (100) is set such that, when said switching means is in its OFF state, the states of said first and second inverters are not inverted even if a data signal is supplied to said data input terminal; and the on-resistance of said switching means is set sufficiently low such that, when the switching means is ON, the hysteresis becomes small and a data signal at said input terminal is latched. A flip-flop circuit according to claim 1, in which each of said first and second inverters (1, 2) comprises a complementary pair of transistors and said switching means comprises an N-channel type transfer gate (29). A flip-flop circuit according to claim 1, in which each of said first and second inverters (1, 2) comprises a complementary pair of transistors and said switching means comprises a P-channel type transfer gate (39). A flip-flop circuit according to claim 1, in which each of said first and second inverters (1, 2) comprises a complementary pair of transistors and said switching means comprises a complementary transfer gate circuit (49) having an N-channel field effect transistor and a P-channel field effect transistor which are connected in parallel with each other, said N-channel field effect transistor and said P-channel field effect transistor receiving complementary clock signals. A master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit comprising a pair of flip-flop circuits according to any one of the preceding claims, one of said pair of flip-flop circuits forming a master stage flip-flop circuit and the other one of said pair of flip-flop circuits forming a slave stage flip-flop circuit, said slave stage flip-flop circuit being connected in series with said master stage flip-flop circuit, said master-slave T-type flip-flop circuit further comprising a feed back inverter connected to the data input terminal of said master stage flip-flop circuit and in parallel with the data output terminal of said slave stage flip-flop circuit, the output node of said slave stage flip-flop circuit being connected with the input node of said master stage flip-flop circuit through the feedback inverter.	NIPPON ELECTRIC CO; NEC CORPORATION	ASAZAWA HIROSHI; ASAZAWA, HIROSHI
EP-0488828-B1	488,828	EP	B1	EN	19,960,814	1,992	20,100,220	new	G05D1	null	G06K9, G05D1	S05D1:02E6N, G05D 1/02E8, S05D1:02E14M, G05D 1/02E14D, G05D 1/02E6V, G06K 9/46A3, G05D 1/02E3S	Control device of an autonomously moving body and evaluation method for data thereof	A control device of an autonomously moving body according to the present invention comprises at least one image pickup unit (101,102) which picks up the image of a moving road of an automatically moving body; an image processing unit (104,105,106) which processes a plurality of image data outputted from the image pickup unit and detects and outputs the condition of said moving read, or an outside information obtaining unit (103) which obtains environmental information other than image; a storage means (110) which stores data outputted from said image processing unit or said outside information obtaining means; a data control section (109) which corrects said data stored in said storage means to data of an arbitrary time and position; a data evaluating section (111) which integrates a plurality of data outputted from said data control section into one moving road data; and a control section (114,116,117) which controls the movement of the autonomously moving body according to the moving road data outputted from said data evaluating section.	The present invention relates to a control device to be used for running control of an autonomously moving body such as an autonomously running vehicle or robot and a method to evaluate the data of the moving body obtained in an image processing by the control device. Conventionally, various running control devices have been proposed in order to automatically move an automobile or a robot in an autonomous manner. Running control of an autonomously running vehicle has been conventionally conducted by continuously picking up images of a front view by a camera mounted on the vehicle body; and a running course is recognized according to the inputted image. However, the reliability of techniquesto recognize a running course only by image data obtained from one camera, is rather low. Therefore, in order to improve the reliability of obtained road data, attempts have been made to stably control autonomous running by inputting road images from a plurality of cameras and detecting running conditions by a plurality of sensors. However, in order to control running and movement while the body is moving, the manner of evaluating a plurality of image information and data obtained from a plurality of sensors was a problem. That is, because each data is obtained at different time and position, it is difficult to evaluate the data under the same time. Further, there has been no established technique to uniformly process the recognized data. Proceedings of the 1987 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 1, pages 99 to 105 describe a prior art moving body control device. The preamble to claim 1 is based on that document. An object of the present invention is to increase the reliability of the data obtained by a control device and to provide an evaluation method therefor which is used to evaluate data under the same time. The present invention has been achieved in order to solve the aforementioned problems. The present invention provides a control device of an autonomously moving body comprising: a plurality of image pickup units which pick up the image of a moving road of an autonomously moving body; a plurality of image processing units which process a plurality of image data outputted from the image pickup units and detect and output the condition of said moving road; a storage means which stores data outputted from said image processing units; a data control section which corrects said data stored in said storage means to data of an arbitrary time and position; a data evaluating section which integrates a plurality of data outputted from said data control section into one moving road data; and a control section which controls movement of the autonomously moving body; characterized in that: said image pickup units include a first image pickup unit for picking up a colour image of a moving road of an autonomously moving body; and a second image pickup unit for picking up a monochromatic image of a moving road of an autonomously moving body; said image processing units include a first image processing unit for processing image data outputted from the first image pickup unit to extract the road area of the moving road; a second image processing unit for processing image data outputted from the second image pickup unit to extract a small area of the edge of the moving road; and a third image processing unit for processing image data outputted from the second image pickup unit to extract relatively large area of the edge of the moving road so as to obtain a guide line of the moving road; said data evaluating section verifies whether or not the three image processing data from said first image processing unit, said second image processing unit and said third image processing unit outputted from said data control section are appropriate as road data to eliminate abnormal data and integrates the remaining normal data to obtain said one moving road data based on a predetermined priority order for the three image processing data; and in that said control section controls the movement of the autonomously moving body according to the moving road data outputted from said data evaluating section. Data inputted and stored in the past is evaluated by being corrected to a desired time. Consequently, image data which was inputted into a plurality of image pickup units and obtained after different processing time, can be uniformly judged under the same time. Evaluation is preferably conducted not on a level of line segment but on a level of dot, so that a complicated shape of vehicle moving road can be recognized. Preferably, likeness to a vehicle moving road is judged according to the sequence of points data sent from a plurality of image pickup devices, so that the reliability of data obtained can be improved. The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not to be considered as limiting the present invention. Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. Brief Description of the DrawingsFig. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire structure of the running control unit of an autonomously running vehicle of an embodiment according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view to explain the outline of one function of the data control section of the embodiment; Fig. 3 is a view to explain inconvenience caused when the data control section is not used; Fig. 4 is a view to explain another function of the data control section of the embodiment; Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the data control section of the embodiment; Each of Fig. 6, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing of the data control section; Fig. 9 is a graph showing the position and direction of a vehicle body which is used for the explanation of the flow chart shown in Fig. 8; Figs. 10A and 10B are graphs to explain positional correction processing conducted in the data control section; Figs. 11A, 11B and 11C are views to explain the time relation between the image processings in the positional correction; Figs. 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D are views to explain an input image at each time in this positional correction; Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing the flow of processing in the data evaluating section; Fig. 14 is a block diagram showing the structure of the locus control section; and Fig. 15 is a block diagram showing the structure of the vehicle speed control section. Fig. 16 is a view showing the structure of data inputted into the data evaluating section; Fig. 17 is a view showing the structure of data in the data evaluating section; Fig. 18 is a graph to explain the calculation of road width in which the outer product of a vector is used; . Fig. 19 is a view showing an example of road data to which the road width calculation utilizing the outer product of a vector is applied; Fig. 20 is a view to explain judgment to judge whether or not a point is inside or outside of a region; Fig. 21 is a view to explain a condition under which a point is smoothly connected with a line segment; Fig. 22 is a view showing an example of data before conducting integration processing of different kinds of data; Fig. 23 is a view showing an example of data after conducting integration processing of different kinds of data; Fig. 24 is a flow chart showing the outline of processing conducted in the data evaluating section; Fig. 25A, 25B and 25C are views showing examples of data inputted into the data evaluating section from each image processing device; Fig. 26A, 26B and 26C are views showing data judged appropriate by the data evaluating section among data shown in Fig. 25; Fig. 27 is a view showing data outputted from the data evaluating section after the data shown in Fig. 26 has been integrated; and Each of Fig. 28, Fig. 29, Fig. 30, Fig. 31, Fig. 32 and Fig. 33 is an example of experimental data showing the process of data processing conducted in the data evaluating section. Description of the Preferred EmbodimentThis unit according to an embodiment of the invention comprises an image processing section, a navigation system section, a data control section, a data evaluating section, an environmental description making section, a motion control supervisor, a locus estimating section, and a driving control section. The image processing section includes a plurality of image pickup devices, an outside information obtaining means to obtain outside information other than images, and an image processing device in which a plurality of image processing techniques are used. In general, a plurality of standard focal distance image pickup devices, telephoto image pickup devices, color image pickup devices, infrared image pickup devices, or super sensitive image pickup devices are used to compose at least one image pickup device, however in this embodiment, a color camera 101 and a monochromatic camera 102 are used for the image pickup device. A radar, an ultrasonic sensor and the like are used for the outside information obtaining means to obtain outside information other than images however in this embodiment, a radar system 103 is utilized. This radar system is used to detect an obstacle which is located in a far front position of a driving vehicle, and information about the number and position of the obstacle can be obtained by the radar system. The obtained obstacle information is outputted into the data control section 109. Also image processing in the image processing device is conducted for the purpose of extracting road data. The image processing means comprises a region extracting means, a local line segment tracing means, a general line segment extracting means, a stereoscopic means, and a moving image processing means. In this embodiment, image information inputted from the color camera 101 is processed using the region extracting means 104 and a road region is extracted based on color images. The extracted road region boundary data and positional data are outputted to the data control section 109. Image information inputted from the monochrome camera 102 is processed by the local line segment tracing means 105 and the general line segment extracting means 106. The local line segment tracing means 105 extracts small area of road edges which have been obtained by processing a monochromatic image. The extracted local line segment data is outputted into the data control section 109. The general line segment extracting means 106 approximates and estimates generally the road edge to obtain a guide line. The general main line segment obtained is outputted to the data control section 109. The navigation system 107 is provided with an interface to communicate with a user (human being) 108, with the object to make and instruct a general running schedule. At present, this general driving schedule such as destination, etc., is inputted into the navigation system 107 by the user 108. According to the map information stored inside, the navigation system 107 outputs global map information such as a general route and its peripheral map information, a route instruction, and a legal speed limit, to the environmental description making section 112 and motion control supervisor 114. Also the user 108 can command the motion control supervisor 114 to change over the driving mode. Various image processing data are inputted into the data control section 109 from the image processing device, and information concerning obstacle is inputted from the radar system 103. Environmental description data at an arbitrary time is inputted into the data control section 109 from the environmental description making section 112. The data control section 109 stores these various inputted data in a data base (DB) 110 to control data base, that is to control the result of image processing and the time of obstacle information detected by the radar. Road edge data on an image pickup surface which has been obtained by an image pickup device installed diagonally with regard to a road surface and processed by the image processing device, is projectively transformed and projected on a two dimensional road surface. The coordinate of data is transformed into a coordinate system of a past arbitrary time according to the time accompanying the data and an estimated locus table calculated by the locus estimating section 115. A candidate region is instructed to the region extracting means 104 so that a search starting point and searching direction are instructed to the local line segment tracing means 105 and a candidate line segment is instructed to the general line segment extracting means 106. Image processing data with time and coordinate being matched, is inputted into the data evaluating section 111 from the data controlling section 109, and environmental description data at an arbitrary time is inputted into the data evaluating section 111 from the environmental description making section 112. Incorrect data are eliminated by judging a plurality of two dimensional road data, transformed in same time coordinates, with respect to their conformity with the road model and compatibility between each road data. A plurality of data which have been judged to be appropriate as road data, are integrated into one datum. Integrated road data which are the result of data evaluation are outputted into the data control section 109 and the environment describing section 112. The environmental description making section 112 integrally holds results of recognizing obstacle information or the like to describe the environment in which the vehicle is situated. That is to say, the road data inputted from the data evaluating section 111 is expressed by means of a vector, and held and controlled as the environmental data base 113. Also, inputted road data is superimposed on the environmental description being already held, to determine and eliminate an attribute of each line segment in the data according to connecting relation with past data and relative position etc. with regard to the vehicle. The motion control supervisor 114 makes a movement plan of the autonomously driving vehicle and instructs its movement. That is, by a man-machine interface between the motion control supervisor 114 and the driver (the user 108), changeover is conducted between automatic and manual driving, and between start and stop of driving. Judgment of necessity to evade an obstacle and select a traffic lane is conducted according to the environmental description data sent from the environmental description making section 112, guiding information from the navigation system 107, movement amount of the vehicle from the locus estimating section 115, and vehicle speed information sent from the vehicle speed control section 117, to prepare a route plan. A speed plan composed of a driving speed and a specified distance at which the vehicle speed reaches said driving speed, is made according to the visual field distance of an image, the vehicle speed, the time needed for recognizing the environment, and the legal speed obtained from the navigation system 107. Further, on the basis of the route plan and the speed plan, movement is instructed by matching control sections (the locus control section 116 and the vehicle speed control section 117). This movement plan is outputted into the environmental description making section 112. The instructed route is outputted to the locus control section 116, and the instructed speed is outputted to the vehicle speed control section 117. Information from a vehicle speed sensor 118 and a yaw rate sensor 120 is inputted into the locus estimating section 115, and a locus of the vehicle body on a coordinate is calculated from the movement of the vehicle body. When the time and coordinate are written in a shared-memory, the locus control section 116 functions as a reference clock of the system. According to the calculated result of the locus, the movement amount of the vehicle is found, which is outputted to the data control section 109, the environmental description making section 112, and the motion control supervisor 114. The driving control section is composed of the locus control section 116 and the vehicle speed control section 117. To the locus control section 116 sensor information is inputted from the vehicle sensor 118, the steering angle sensor 119, and the yaw rate sensor 120. This locus control section 116 is provided with a steering angle control means which can control at least one of the front and rear wheel. To the vehicle speed control section 117 sensor information sent from the vehicle speed sensor 118 and an acceleration sensor 121 is inputted. This vehicle speed control section 117 is provided with a means to control engine output and brake force by adjusting opening of an accelerator and brake pressure, and vehicle speed information is outputted to the motion control supervisor 114. Next, the main devices which compose the control section of an autonomously driving vehicle, will be described in detail as follows. First, a color camera 101 and monochromatic camera 102 will be explained. Since an image pickup device has to be installed in a vehicle, it is desirable that one set of camera is shared among a plurality of processings. However, since various natural images are processed and further the vehicle speed is varied, it is preferable that a plurality of image input means are provided to suit various circumstances. The image input means which is suitable for various circumstances is for example, when a telephotographic camera and a wide angle camera are utilized, a visual field can be covered in such a manner that both cameras compensate with each other. In the case of driving at night, an infrared camera is suitable since it can detect the difference in temperature between a road and a road shoulder, and being further hardly affected by light of a vehicle running on the opposite lane. In case a stereoscopic vision is used to find the distance from a foregoing vehicle, more than two cameras are necessary. Therefore, in this embodiment, two kinds of image pickup devices (the color camera 101 and the monochromatic camera 102) are utilized, and further a radar system 103 is employed to secure information appropriate for various circumstances. Next, the region extracting means 104 will be explained. In the case of a road on which such definite boundary as a white line is not drawn, and which is composed of asphalt, mud and weeds, extracting a line segment becomes extremely unstable. In the case of a road abovementioned, extracting a region by color characteristics is effective (Lightness I, Saturation S, Hue H). Therefore, in this embodiment, a color camera 101 is adopted as one of the image pickup devices so that the road region is extracted by the road extracting means 104 in accordance with the characteristic of colors. The extraction of road region described above is conducted on the assumption that the area immediately in front of the vehicle is a road region, and a portion with color characteristic similar to that of the road region is extracted. It is also possible to extract a road region at night by a technique essentially the same as the aforementioned extracting process, utilizing an infrared camera to judge temperature of a road from an infrared image at night. High reliability of the region extraction processing can be attained by comparing the present data with the result obtained until the last occasion, utilizing environmental description sent from the environmental description making section 112. By the extraction processing of the aforementioned region, a rough contour of the road (the region in which the vehicle can travel) can be obtained. The aforementioned processing is important not only in the case where a definite boundary can not be obtained, but also as a foundation for the segment extracting processing in the local line segment tracing means 105 and the general line segment extracting means 106 to not mistakenly take a guard rail and wall for a road. Next, the general line segment extracting means 106 will be explained as follows. According to this means, a wide range in an image can be processed all at once in the case where the road structure is simple, for example in the case of a highway in which the road is straight. For example, a region in which a road is assumed to exist from the setting angle of a TV camera, Hough-Transformation which is an excellent straight line detection means is applied. Even when the region is not wide enough to cover the entire road, the boundary can be extracted if the road is straight, and as it suffices to apply Hough-Transformation only once, the boundary can be extracted with extremely high speed. In general, the Hough-Transformation is considered to require a large amount of time. However, the applicant has made it possible to conduct high speed Hough-Transformation with a speed close to a video rate by high speed Hough-Transformation hardware, which has been disclosed in a previous application. According to the general line segment extracting processing of this embodiment, the data of the main road boundary line segment, which is the same as the data obtained when the road is viewed generally, can be received and utilized for road region extraction processing, to extract highly reliable road region. Next, the local line segment tracing means 105 will be explained. When an intersection, or a complicated branch and a sharp curve is recognized, a minute and local tracing of road boundary becomes necessary. Although there is a method by which a boundary is searched successively at each pixel, it seems to be more effective in case of a natural environment to trace the road boundary utilizing a small region by which the road boundary can be detected with the Hough-Transformation method. By the local segment tracing processing described above, a precise road boundary line segment necessary to travel on a road having a complicated structure can be outputted. By receiving initial data such as search starting point and searching direction, when the processing results of the aforementioned general line segment extraction and region extraction is utilized, reliability can be improved and processing time can be reduced. Next, the data control section 109 will be explained. In an autonomously driving vehicle, it is very advantageous to have a plurality of image processing means as well as distance information obtaining means such as the radar system 103 in order to recognize various environments. However, the time to execute each processing is not the same and becomes varied according to circumstances. Therefore, in this embodiment, to judge and process each processing data at the same time is made possible by this data control section 109. For example, it will be explained, using Fig. 2. In the general line segment extracting means 106, a traffic lane dividing line extraction processing 201 is executed as one image processing. Also, in the region extracting means 104, a road region extracting processing 202 is executed as another image processing. In the radar system 103, a distance information obtaining processing 203 is executed. Processing time of each processing is represented by the length of an arrow illustrated in the drawing. However, at a point of time indicated by a straight line 204, the third time processing of the traffic lane line extracting processing 201 has just been completed. Also the road region extracting processing 202 has completed the first processing, and the second processing is in the middle of being conducted. The distance information obtaining means 203 has completed the processing twice, and the third processing is in the middle of being conducted. As described above, the time to execute each processing is not the same and becomes varied depending on circumstances. The data control section 109 executes a coordinate transformation processing by which the result of each processing can be uniformly treated on the coordinate at the same time. In other words, the data control section 109 can be described to be an independent module provided with a function to obtain the time and movement amount of a vehicle from a reference clock and a locus estimating section which measures the vehicle position of every changing moment; and according to the time and movement amount obtained, to transform the aforementioned results of processing conducted non-synchronously onto an arbitrary coordinate. As a result, when the processing results obtained at a time indicated by a straight line 204 shown in the drawing are transformed by the data control section 109, the processing results transformed into the same time and same coordinate are obtained. That is, the road segment 205 obtained by the traffic lane dividing line segment extracting processing 201, the road region 206 obtained by the road region extracting processing 202, and the distance information 207 obtained by the distance information obtaining processing 203, can be treated transformed into the same hour and same coordinate. The independent module mentioned above is effective in case a plurality of image processing means to recognize a driving road of an autonomously driving vehicle and the distance information obtaining means such as the radar system 103 are provided as shown in this embodiment. Due to the abovementioned function, the following advantages can be obtained. First, the result of each processing executed non-synchronously and in parallel can be effectively transformed into the same time and onto the same coordinate. Secondly, the same processing such as a coordinate transformation can be unified. Thirdly, the load in image processing and distance information detecting processing, and the load in communication and arithmetic processing at the stage of total evaluation conducted later can be reduced. Fourthly, communication among processings can be simplified. For example, in order to evaluate a plurality of processing results integrated into the same time and coordinate, all the processings may be started at the same time, and the inputted image and distance data may be processed at the same point. That is, when a plurality of processings, such as processing A301, processing B302, and processing C303, are synchronously operated as shown in Fig. 3, the processings 301 - 303 are started by means of communication at the same time indicated by a straight line 304 and it suffices that the inputted image and distance data may be processed at the time indicated by the straight line 305. In this case, the interval between the straight lines 304 and 305 becomes the total processing cycle. However, according to the aforementioned method, all processing cycles are restricted by the longest processing time, therefore a close communication between processing time of the operations becomes necessary in order to align the starting time. In the example shown in Fig. 3, all processing cycles are restricted by the processing time of processing B302. According to the data control section 109 in this embodiment, only adding the image input time to the result of each processing, all processings can be conducted individually thereafter. For example, if a driving road not far off can be recognized by a short processing cycle, even when it takes some time to recognize a driving road far off, the vehicle can be driven at a high speed when both processings are executed in parallel. In the case of an autonomously driving vehicle having a plurality of image processing means and distance information obtaining means such as a radar system 103, the reliability of recognition can be greatly improved when the result of driving road recognition obtained so far and the result of processing are referred to and utilized. However, the time to execute each processing is not the same as described above, which varies depending upon circumstances. Also, in some cases, the coordinate systems to be used are different. Therefore, in case each processing directly exchanges the data so that the time and coordinate are transformed, communication and calculation will take a long period of time, which becomes a heavy processing load. The data control section 109 in this embodiment realizes a processing technique in which information required by each processing in the aforementioned system can be effectively exchanged. That is, the data control section 109 as described above, is an independent module having the function to obtain the time and movement amount of the vehicle from the locus estimating section which is provided with a reference clock and a means to measure the movement amount of the vehicle of every changing moment and according to the obtained result, to transform the driving road recognition result and other processing results required in the aforementioned processing carried out non-synchronously, onto an arbitrary coordinate of an arbitrary time. For example, the foregoing will be explained as follows, referring to Fig. 4. Now, a traffic lane dividing line extracting processing 401, a road region extracting processing 402, and a distance information obtaining processing 403 are executed in parallel. The processings 401 - 403 are performed utilizing and referring to the processing results with each other by the time and position correcting function of the data control section 109. The length of an arrow in the drawing represents the period of time necessary for conducting processing for one time. Assume that: in the road region extracting processing 402, a data request is made to the traffic lane dividing line extracting processing 401 and the distance information obtaining processing 403 at a time marked -. The latest processing result which has been processed immediately before the requested time is outputted to the traffic lane dividing line extracting processing 401. The input time of the image which is an object of the aforementioned processing, is represented by a point of time at a straight line 404 in the drawing. In the same manner, the distance information obtaining processing 403 outputs the latest processing result which has been processed immediately before the requested time. The time at which the input data of this processing is obtained, is represented by a point of time at a straight line 405 in the drawing. In the road region extracting processing 402 which has made the request, the time of input of the image to be processed is represented by a point of time at a straight line 406 in the drawing. The data control section 109 to which the processing results outputted from each processing are inputted, corrects the time and position when input was performed to the time when the processing which made data request has obtained own input data and the estimated position of the vehicle at that time. That is, the processing results outputted from the traffic lane dividing line extracting processing 401 and the road region extracting process 402, outputted with a difference in time between the time at which one data request processing obtains input data and the time at which another data request processing obtains input data, being corrected according to the movement amount of the vehicle during that period. In the same manner, the processing result outputted from the distance information obtaining processing 403, is outputted, with the same time difference being corrected to the time when input data was obtained time of the input data requesting processing on the basis of the movement amount of the vehicle. As a result, the traffic lane dividing line and distance information data 407 transformed into an integrated time and coordinate system are obtained. As explained above, the data control section 109 conducts time-adjustment of each processing data according to the movement amount of the vehicle, and makes it possible to utilize past driving road recognition result and mutual processing results. That is, by data control section 109, the result of each processing which is conducted in parallel, is sorted and stored by the module, and further the data of an arbitrary time and style can be calculated as requested. By this function, the following advantages can be provided. First, a time and coordinate-transformation can be effectively conducted, complying with various requests from a plurality of processings. Secondly, the same processing such as a coordinate transformation can be unified. Thirdly, the load in each processing such as communication and calculation time can be reduced. As a result, the communication and calculation time of the control unit can be greatly reduced, resulting in increase of the processing speed of the total processing cycle. Next, the structure of this data control section 109 will be explained referring to Fig. 5. In order to integrally control the processing results of a plurality of image processing means and the distance information obtaining means such as the radar system 103 and to effectively perform function transforming the processing results into data of an arbitrary time on the same coordinate, the data control section 109 is structured as shown in Fig. 5. A road region extracting means 501 corresponds to the region extracting means 104 in Fig. 1 based on color information sent from the color camera 101. A traffic lane dividing line extracting means 502 corresponds to the local segment tracing means 105 and the general segment extracting means 106 which both based on image information sent from the monochromatic camera 102. A distance information obtaining means 503 corresponds to the radar system 103, and a locus estimating section 504 corresponds to the locus estimating section 115 in Fig. 1. Image data and distance information outputted from the road region extracting means 501, the traffic lane line extracting means 502 and the distance information obtaining means 503, and movement data of the vehicle outputted from the locus estimating section 504, are non-synchronously written in Dual Port RAM (D. P. RAM) 505. The data evaluation result, (not shown in the drawing,) outputted from the environmental description section 112, is also stored in the environmental description of DPRAM 505. The data control section 109 periodically reads this DPRAM 505, and when new data is found, the data is stored in data base (DB) corresponding to each means. This storing operation is executed by a data base writing means 506. Data outputted from the road region extracting means 501 is stored in DB 507 by the writing means 506, data outputted from the traffic lane dividing line extracting means 502 is stored in DB 508, data outputted from the distance information obtaining means 503 is stored in DB 509, and data outputted from the locus estimating section 504 is stored in DB 510. When request for some data is made by other means, the data control section 109 searches the requested data in DB 507 - DB 510, and reads out said data with a reading means 511. The read-out data is transformed into a time and position coordinate requested, by time and position correction means 512. At this time, a correction processing is executed, using locus estimating data outputted from the locus estimating section 504 as a parameter. Data outputted from the road region extracting means 501 and the traffic lane dividing line extracting means 502 is transformed into a coordinate on an actual road by a projective transforming means 513 to correct time and position. Thereafter, road image information which has been projectively transformed, and distance information sent from the radar system 103, are outputted from a time and position correction means 512 into DPRAM 513, and transmitted to the data evaluating section 111. Also the result of data evaluation outputted from the data evaluating section 111 is returned to this DPRAM 513, and stored into DP 514 by the data base writing means 506. Incidentally, DB 507 - 510 and this DB 514 correspond to the data base 110 shown in Fig. 1. Information outputted from the time and position correction means is given to a reverse projective transformation means 515 together with the data evaluation result outputted from the data evaluating section 111, and transformed into positional coordinates on a memory for image processing. Further, the transformed positional coordinate information is given to DPRAM 505 for input use, to be used for processing in the road region extracting means 501 and the traffic lane line extracting means 502. Next, the processing conducted in the data control section 109 will be explained in detail, referring to a flow chart. First, the processing in a main loop will be explained referring to Fig. 6. In order to find whether or not there is a new result outputted from the means 501 - 504 and whether or not there is a data request, the data control section 109 periodically reads out from DPRAM 505 information indicating the above (step 601). The read out information is judged whether it is a data request or a newly outputted result (step 602). When the result is judged to be not a data request, the result of each processing is read out from DPRAM 505 and written in DB 507 - 510 (step 603). After that, the process is returned to step 601, to execute aforementioned processing repeatedly. When the judgement result in step 602 is a data request, necessary data is read out from one of DB 507 - 510, and request response processing described later, is executed (step 604). Next, the request response processing in this step 604 will be explained referring to Fig. 7. First, it is judged whether this request response is a request from the data evaluation section 111 or not (step 701). When the request response is a request from the data evaluating section 111, the latest image processing data and the latest obtained distance information data are read out from DB 507, 508 and DB 509 (step 702). When the read-out data is an image processing data, the projective transformation processing is executed (step 703), and positional information is transformed onto a coordinate of an actual road. Further, the transformed information is corrected to a positional relation of the vehicle at a desired time (step 704). The processings up to from step 702 to step 704 are repeatedly executed by the number of times input processing was requested (step 705). Then, the corrected processing result is outputted to the data evaluating section 111 which is the source of request (step 706). When the judgment result of step 701 is not a request from the data evaluating section 111, the requested data is read out from the corresponding DB (step 707). Projective transformation processing is executed (step 708) so that the data can be corrected into a positional coordinate at a desired time (step 709). Next, it is judged whether or not the request is made by an image processing means such as the road region extracting means 501 or the traffic lane dividing line extracting means 502 (step 710). When the request is from the image processing means, reverse projective transforming processing is executed (step 711), and the positional information is reversely projectively transformed into a positional coordinate on an image memory. Therefore, the processing load of the image forming means can be reduced. When the request is not from the image forming means, this reverse projective transformation processing is not executed. After that, the processing result is outputted to the requesting source which made the request (step 706). Next, referring to a flow chart in Fig. 8 and a graph in Fig.9, the processing to correct data in accordance with a positional relation to the vehicle at a desired time in step 704 and step 708, will be explained. First, it is judged whether input time t1 at which relevant data such as image input time is inputted, is equal to time t2 or not (step 801). When time t1 is different from time t2, locus estimating data at time t1 is read out from locus estimation DB 510 (step 802). This locus estimating data is shown by a vector 901 in Fig. 9, which represents the position and direction of the vehicle in the absolute positional coordinate at time t1. Successively, locus estimation data at time t2 is read out from locus estimation DB 510 (step 803). This locus estimation data is represented by a vector 902 in Fig. 9, which shows the position and direction of the vehicle in an absolute positional coordinate at time t2. According to the locus estimation data at time t1 and t2, each point of corresponding data at time t1 is positionally corrected, and each point is corrected to a position on a relative coordinate at time t2 (step 804). Next, referring to Fig. 10, positional correction in step 804 will be explained. Positions of the vehicle at time t1 and t2 are shown by points 1002 (Xt1, Yt1), 1003 (Xt2, Yt2) on an absolute positional coordinate 1001 shown in Fig. 10(a). This absolute positional coordinate 1001 is represented by X axis and Y axis. Point P (x1, y1) on a relative positional coordinate 1004 at time t1 is transformed into point P′ (x2, y2) on a relative positional coordinate 1005 at time t2 which is shown in Fig. 10(b), by this positional correction. The relative positional coordinate 1004 at time t1 is shown by x axis and y axis, and the relative positional coordinate 1005 at time t2 is shown by x′ axis and y′ axis. Here, the directions of x axis and x′ axis of the relative positional coordinate at time t1, t2, show the directions of the vehicle at time t1, t2, and respectively form angle 1 and angle 2 with X axis of the absolute coordinate. Also transformation at the aforementioned positional correction is conducted according to the following equations. where Δ = 2 - 1 In the manner described above, when three kinds of image processing results are integrally controlled and each road description data is corrected with regard to time and position, past image data is expressed in the form of image data on the desired present coordinate, which will be explained specifically, referring to Fig. 11. Fig. 11 shows progress in time of each processing. Fig. 11(a) shows progress in time of region extracting processing in the road region extracting means 501. Fig. 11(b) shows progress in time of general line segment extracting processing in the traffic lane dividing line extracting means 502. Fig. 11(c) shows progress in time of local line segment tracing processing in the traffic lane dividing line extracting means 502. Each time axis is divided by a certain amount of time, and one section of time represents a period of time in which one processing is conducted. Assume that a data request is made at the present time t4 shown by a dotted line, then each processing outputs the last time processing result which is the latest processing result. That is, the region extracting processing outputs the processing result of an image which has been taken in at time t1, the general line segment extracting processing outputs the processing result of an image which has been taken in at time t2, and the local line segment tracing processing outputs the processing result of an image which has been taken in at time t3. For example, in the case where the shape of a road is shown in Fig. 12(a), the image pickup range of the autonomously running vehicle varies at time t1 - t4 as illustrated in the drawing. Therefore, images taken by a camera at time t1, t2 and t3 are as shown in Fig. 12(b), Fig. 12(c) and Fig. 12(d). The data control section 109 corrects the movement of the vehicle during the present time and each time by means of locus estimation in the manner described above, and expresses the data of the present time on the relative coordinate at the present time t4. As described above, when processing results between image processing algorithms are mutually utilized, various advantages can be obtained. For example, when the processing result of the general segment extraction is utilized, the local line segment tracing processing becomes easy. Also, when the extracted road edges are utilized, accuracy of region extracting processing can be improved. Furthermore, every image processing algorithm can utilize own processing result previously obtained. Next, the data evaluating section 111 will be explained. First, the outline is explained. Road data is very important for an autonomously running vehicle, because the more correct is the road data, the more stably the system can run. In order to make it possible to drive a vehicle at a higher speed with a more flexible and stable system, the following technique is utilized in the data evaluating section 111. First, by utilizing a plurality of image processing results, output can be made in which mutual weak points of each processing are compensated. Secondly, each image processing result is verified under a simple condition to find whether or not the image processing result is appropriate as road data. Due to the aforementioned first technique, data evaluation can be conducted more flexibly on a diversely changing environment. That is, in the case of a road on which a white line is drawn, the image processing result best suited to white line extraction can be utilized, and in the case of a road on which a white line is not drawn, the result of color region processing can be utilized. When road data is evaluated by the second technique, more reliable road data can be made. The aforementioned second technique is similar to a conventional method of Kuan and Sharma (Kuan,D. and U.K Sharma). This method is shown in a document titled Model Based Geometric Reasoning for Autonomous Road Following (Proc. 1987 IEEE ICRA, pp.416-423 (1987)). However, the method according to this embodiment which can be applied to an ordinary road, is superior to that of Kuan and Sharma in view of the fact that the technique evaluates road data by dot and not by line segment, or region data and line segment data are matched with each other. The flow of data processing in the data evaluating section 111 is shown in Fig. 13. By the way, the data evaluating section 111 inspects first three kinds of the image processing results as described above and harmonizes the results inspected to form the road data. However, in order to achieve this function, it is possible to take an inspection processing and a mutual make-up processing in reverse order, that is, to have a processing flow where the three image processing results are harmonized first and the result of the harmonization is to be inspected. But the processing in the reversed order was not adopted in the present embodiment for the following reasons. First, it is possible to evaluate which data is reliable by taking an inspection at first. Second, the amount of data to be processed is relatively small since the output data is made only based on the data inspected. Third, the harmonization is not always necessary. Fourth, it becomes possible to process in parallel what may be inspected independently for inspection of road data. First, three image processing results after projective transformation which have been corrected to the same desired time, are inputted from the data control section 109. Since the image processing results are transformed to the same time, the data can be easily compared, and since the image processing results are projectively transformed, a geometrical evaluation of road data can be easily conducted on the assumption that a road is plane. The data evaluating section 1301 determines whether or not the three image processing results are appropriate as road data, under the following conditions and from these results, reliable road data is made to be outputted to the environmental description making section 112. The conditions of appropriateness as road data are as follows. As the road width condition, the road must have a certain road width, and as the smoothness condition, the road segment must be smooth. As the abnormal point condition 1, number of points of road data shall be not less than a certain value. As the abnormal point condition 2, road data shall not exist outside the measurement range. As the abnormal point condition 3, road data shall not exist outside the road region. In order to verify appropriateness of road data, it is necessary to provide a road model which describes what is a road. A road model in this embodiment is made under the following conditions. That is, as <road width condition>, the road must have a road width, and as <smoothness condition>, the line segment composing the road must be smooth Furthermore, <abnormal point condition 1> for removing abnormal data, shall have a number of points of road data not less than a certain value, as <abnormal point condition 2> road data shall not exist outside the measurement range and as <abnormal point condition 3> road data shall not exist outside the road region. When observing the aforementioned conditions only, it will be found that the road model of this embodiment is simpler than the conventional road model of Kuan and Sharma (Document: Model Based Geometric Reasoning for Autonomous Road Following , Proc.1987 IEEE ICRA, pp.416-423(1987)). That is, the road condition of this embodiment, does not include the condition of parallelism of road edges. This is because it is possible to estimate the parallelism only by road width. Further, the condition of continuity of a road is not included. The reason is that continuity can be verified to a certain extent by the environmental describing section 112. Furthermore, the system of this embodiment is different from their system in a manner that three image processing results are utilized. Accordingly, in some cases, the results of present time data evaluation and the last time data evaluation are generated from an image processing result entirely different, therefore data evaluation results can not be simply compared. Next, processing to verify appropriateness as road data by a road width condition will be explained. The measurement of road width is different from the method by Kuan and Sharma in that the road width is calculated with an outer product at a level of point. Kuan and Sharma also use an outer product to measure a distance between an endpoint of a line segment and corresponding line segment so that the distance between line segments can be found by averaging end points. In this embodiment however, the outer product is used to measure distance between a point and corresponding line segment. Further, by measuring road widths of a plurality of line segments, the application of the method to a multi-traffic lane road is made possible. Measurement of a road width utilizing an outer product is conducted as follows. Next, the environmental description making section 112 will be explained. When divided roughly, this module is composed of two portions. One is a portion which represents the environment surrounding an autonomously running vehicle in the form of environmental description according to traffic lane dividing line data outputted from the data evaluating section and the position of an obstacle outputted from the radar system 103. The other is a portion which controls the environmental description that has been made in the aforementioned manner. Here, the environmental description is an environmental map on which a traffic lane dividing line and an obstacle position are projected onto a ground surface coordinate, whereon the autonomously running vehicle is grasped at the origin. As compared with a method characterized in that autonomous running is conducted utilizing only the result of image processing, a method provided with an environmental description has the following advantages. First, output from various sensor systems can be uniformly treated. Secondly, a portion (such as a corner) which can not be viewed by one image processing operation being in a dead angle of the camera, can be grasped by utilizing past data. Thirdly, when a module of the sensor system refers to an environmental description, reliability of the system can be improved. In the environmental description of this embodiment, vector data is adopted as basic data, and the relation of combination and junction between data is represented with a bidirectional list. Since a plurality of environmental description is made and held, when an access request is made by another module, not only it suffices that the data of environmental description which has been already processed, is being referred but it is not necessary to wait for the completion of environmental description being processed at present, with additional advantage that, NOT-IF-THEN control is not necessary, so that access control becomes easy. Next, the locus control section 116 will be explained. The control is conducted in a manner that with regard to the sequence of points of road sent from the external environment and making the target sequence of points, a planned smooth running locus is made considering the characteristic of vehicle body and the vehicle traces this planned locus. As the composition is shown in Fig. 14, the locus control section 116 is composed of a planned locus generating section 1401, a tracing section 1402 which traces this planned locus, and a steering angle control section 1403. The sequence of points of road and the sequence of points of target are inputted into the planned locus generating section 1401 from the motion control supervisor 114, and the vehicle own position, the absolute angle and skid angle are inputted from the locus estimating section 115. With regard to the inputted road sequence of points and the target, sequence of points, the planned locus generating section 1401 generates a planned driving locus in which the vehicle body characteristic with regard to the present position and direction of the vehicle is considered with consideration to the position of the vehicle, the absolute angle and the skid angle. Sent from the locus estimating section 115. With regard to the generated planned locus, the present condition (such as a yaw rate, vehicle speed and steering angle) of the vehicle is fed back to the planned locus generating section 1401, and the present steering angle is generated so that the locus can follow the planned locus. The steering angle section 1403 conducts steering angle position control with regard to a directed steering angle. Next, the vehicle speed control section 117 will be explained. The composition of the vehicle speed control section 117 is shown in Fig. 15. The vehicle speed control section 117 is composed of a vehicle speed plan generating section 1501, a target vehicle speed tracing section 1502, and an actuator control section 1503. A sequence of points of target route speed (target distance Xref, Yref, target speed Vref) is inputted into the vehicle speed plan generating section 1501 from the motion control supervisor 114, and actual distance Xact and actual speed Vact are inputted into the vehicle speed plan generating section 1501 from a vehicle body 1504 of the autonomous driving vehicle. Then, a target vehicle speed changing pattern which satisfies the target, is generated from each given data by means of fuzzy inference. The target vehicle speed tracing section 1502 outputs a target throttle opening and a target brake pressure so that the vehicle speed can follow target speed Vref outputted from the vehicle speed plan generating section 1501. Calculation of this opening and pressure is conducted in such a manner that: actual speed Vact and actual acceleration Oact are detected; and calculation is conducted on the basis of the aforementioned quantity of state of the vehicle body by means of fuzzy inference. An actuator control section 1503 controls a throttle motor 1505 and a brake solenoid valve 1506 so that the throttle opening can agree with the target throttle opening outputted from the target vehicle speed tracing section 1502 and the pressure can agree with the target brake pressure. Due to the aforementioned control, driving of the vehicle body 1504 can be controlled and the autonomous running vehicle is driven automatically. As explained above, according to the present invention, data inputted and stored in the past is corrected to a desired time so that it can be evaluated. Consequently, image data which was inputted into a plurality of image pickup units and obtained after different processing time, or data obtained by the outside information obtaining means to obtain data other an image, can be integrally judged at the same time. Therefore, even when running control is conducted while the body is moving, a plurality of image information and each data obtained from a plurality of sensors can be corrected to the data of a desired time and position. The above provides a technique to integrally evaluate and process the data obtained at a different time and position. According to the aforementioned technique, movement control of an autonomously moving body can be conducted more accurately and stably. Next, an evaluation method conducted in the aforementioned data evaluation section 111 will be described in detail. In order to evaluate data effectively, in the data evaluating section 111, as the data of each inputted image processing result, data in the form shown in Fig. 16 is used. As described above, in the data control section 109, all the data is projectively transformed, and all of the three image processing results are corrected to the same time. Also in Fig. 16, only input data structure by region extracting processing is shown among three data input structures, and structures of other two processings can be represented in the same manner. That is, the data structures inputted from region extracting processing, local line segment tracing processing, and general line segment extracting processing are commonly defined. Inputted data are grouped according to the connecting condition of each line segment. The maximum number of groups is 16 (group 0 - group 15). The maximum number of sequence of points composing the group is limited to 30. A line attribute is given to each segment. A coordinate (x, y) is assigned to the point which composes each line segment, and an attribute is given to each point. Sequences of points which are in an opposing relation with each other are grouped, and the groups are identified by the identification marks ID0, ID1, .... This opposing relation is defined as a relation in which segments are opposed with each other. However,even when there is no information of this opposing relation, the opposing relation can be identified when data evaluation is conducted on all sequences of points. That is, the opposing relation is utilized here to reduce the search region when data is evaluated. The number of connecting points between groups is found with regard to the groups which are in an opposing relation. The maximum number of the connecting points is limited to 5. The maximum number of groups which are in a connecting relation is also limited to 5. The connecting points found are given identification numbers ID0, ID1, .... Here, the connecting relation indicates a connecting relation of own segment group with other different segment groups. Data structure inside the data evaluating section 111 is also commonly defined with regard to the data obtained by local line segment tracing processing, general segment line extracting processing, and region extracting processing. Next, referring to an outline view of Fig. 17, the data structure inside the data evaluating section will be explained, by taking as an example the data structure by general line segment extracting processing. Each data is represented in a manner that the data is hierarchically fractionalized into groups, lines and points, and connected with each other by a pointer for the convenience of reference. Also in this data structure, a variable which has a name of flag such as road width flag, includes a verification result obtained by data evaluation. When this flag is referred to, the most appropriate evaluation data can be ultimately produced. With regard to the data obtained by general segment extracting processing, the number of groups in a connecting relation, data input time, and reject flag are first defined. This reject flag is to indicate whether input data is appropriate or not, after being processed by general line segment extracting processing. Input data are divided into groups g[0]... g[1] ... g[MAX _ G-1], Wp to MAX _ G. With regard to each group, the identification number ID, number of sequences of points, number of segments, attribute of a line segment, number of opposed groups, pointer to an opposed group, number of adjacent groups, road edge flag, and region flag are defined. Further, the points of each group are divided into p[0] ... p[j] ... p[MAX _ L] and maximum up to MAX _ L + 1. With regard to each of these point, identification number ID, attribute of a point, x coordinate, y coordinate, road width, road width flag, horizontal line flag, cross flag, outside region flag, duplication flag, number of belonging groups, and pointer to the belonging groups are defined. The line of each group is divided into ℓ[O] ... ℓ[k] ... ℓ[MAX _ L - 1] and maximum up to MAX _ L. With regard to each line, the identification number, starting point, ending point, number of next line segment, and length of line segment are defined. Further, each line segment is provided with next line segment NextLine [O] ... NextLine[m] ... NextLine[MAX _ N - 1] and maximum up to of MAX _ N. With regard to each next line segment, a pointer to the next line segment and an angle with the next line segment are defined. Next, the verification of appropriateness to verify whether or not data outputted from the data control section 109 is appropriate for road data, is explained. In Fig. 18, X and Y represent a vector, and respective start point coordinates are (x0, y0). The end point coordinates of vector X (X, Y) are coordinates of point P, and the end point coordinates of vector Y are (x1, y2). These vectors X, Y are expressed by the following equations. X = (X - x0, Y - y0) Y = (x1 - x0, y1 - y0) Also in the drawing,  is an angle formed by vector X and vector Y, and X x Y indicates respective outer products. At this time, distance vector d of straight line L formed by point P and vector Y, can be expressed by the following equation. d = (X x Y) / \|Y\| Since d = \|X\|sin , d is positive when  is 0-180°, and negative when  is 180 - 360°. Therefore, the positional relation between point P and straight line L can be found by the sign of d. Utilizing the outer product, when road width information is found with regard to the data shown in Fig. 19, the results are as shown in the following table. Unit of values in the table is cm. The distance between a point and a line segment opposed to the point on the right side, is shown in the upper column of Table 1. In the case where the point is located on the left boundary of the region and there is no line segment on the left side, the distance between the point and line segment opposed on the right side which is further opposed on the right side, is shown in the lower column of the table. The upper column of Table 2 shows the distance between a point and a line segment opposed to the point on the right side, and the lower column shows the distance between a point and line segment opposed to the point on the left side. The upper column of Table 3 shows the distance between a point and a line segment opposed to the point on the left side. In the case where the point is located on the right boundary of the region and there is no line segment on the right side, the distance between the point and a line segment opposed on the left side which is further opposed on the left side, is shown in the lower column of the table. Point p00 p01 p02 p03 p04 Distance between a point and a line segment opposed on the right side-300-200-550-300-300 Distance between a point and a line segment opposed on the left side-600-600-700-600-600 Point p10 p11 p12 p13 p14 Distance to a line segment opposed on the right side300300200400300 Distance between a point and a line segment opposed on the left side-300-300-400-300-300 Point p20 p21 p22 p23 Distance to a line segment opposed on the right side300350300300 Distance between a point and a line segment opposed on the left side600600600600 The reason why distance to a line segment which is further opposed to a line segment opposed to the point shown in Table 1 and Table 3, is that there is no relation of opposed line segment in the sequence of both encl points data in the example of road data shown in Fig. 19. In the case where the relation of opposed line segment properly exists, the distance shown in the lower column is not calculated with regard to points p0, p2 (mark * stands for an arbitrary number) in Table 1 and Table 3. Also when the road width is verified, the minimum road width found is utilized with regard to each point excluding abnormal point. When the road width is not less than 300cm and not more than 400cm, the minimum road widths in each table above which are outside the aforementioned range are point p01, p02, p12. Line segments in which these three points are not included satisfy parallelism because vectors which are approximately the same as the outer product distances remain. The following simple proposition proves that parallelism can be satisfied by an outer product distance. (Proposition)The necessary and sufficient condition for a line segment 1 to be parallel with another line segment m and to have a distance D from the line segment m, is as follows: d = an outer product distance between the start point of line segment 1 and line segment m = an outer product distance between the end point of line segment 1 and line segment m and \|\|d\|\| = D. (Proof)Suppose that the start point of line segment 1 is p, the end point is q, the start point of line segment m is r, and the end point is s. When vector Y = s - r, vector X1 = q - r, and vector X2 = p - r, the following relation is established with regard to an arbitrary line segment 1. Outer product distance between the start point of line segment 1 and line segment m = Outer product distance between the end point of line segment 1 and line segment m (X1 x Y) / \|\|Y\|\| = (X2 x Y) / \|\|Y\|\| (x1 x Y) / \|\|Y\|\| = [(X2 x kY) x Y] / \|\|Y\|\| where k is a constant and vector Y is not a 0 vector, therefore the following equation is established. X1 = X2 + kY Consequently, line segment 1 and line segment m are in parallel with each other. Also, a norm of the outer product distance is equal to the distance between the two line segments (end of the proof). Next, a processing will be explained in which appropriateness as road data is verified by verifying smoothness of data. This processing is based on a condition that an angle formed by vectors which are adjacent to each other is not more than a certain value when a road is smoothly continuous. However, when a result of image processing has become stabilized, this processing may not be necessary. Next, a processing will be explained by which abnormal data is removed from road data. Sometimes, an abnormal result is outputted from image processing. For example, when only plane objects are aimed and projectively transformed, if a solid object is extracted and projectively transformed, the solid object is outputted in the form of an abnormally far away point. Further, a processing extracting road composing line segment from monochromatic image may mistakenly extract a line segment outside a road region. In order to remove such abnormal data, the following is carried out in the data evaluating section 111. (1) Data with few points of road data is not utilized. (2) Points which are located too far, are not utilized. (3) With regard to the result of monochromatic processing, points outside a road region found by a color region processing, are not utilized. In the cases of (1) and (2), it suffices to only establish a flag at an abnormal point by an inequality processing using the number of points and the farthest point coordinate as discriminate line. The aforementioned (3) will be explained in a verification processing of consistency of region data with line segment extracting data. The outline of this consistency verification processing is as follows. In the case of line segment extracting processing by monochromatic processing, extraction of a line segment which appears to form a road is conducted according to monochromatic image, however a line segment outside the road region is often extracted from said processing. Therefore, in the data evaluating section 111, a line segment outside the road region is removed utilizing a road region obtained by region extracting processing. In order to realize this function, the data evaluating section 111 has adopted a technique in which region judgment is conducted by measuring distance utilizing above described outer product. In this technique, for each point of line segment data, the distance to each line segment of region data is calculated by outer product, to judge by the calculated value whether the point is inside or outside the region. In order to add information of a region to region data, region data is expressed by a vector. This vector is such that the region is expressed by the vector which always views the road region on the right side. For example, referring to Fig. 20 in which a road region is expressed by a hatched portion, the vector will be explained. That is, to judge whether each point is inside the region or outside, the vector expression is utilized. In Fig. 20, points p and q are investigated. The distance between the point and the line segment of region data, that is, the distance to boundary of the road region is found by calculating an outer product with regard to the two points. This outer product is calculated with regard to the boundary vector and the vector which is directed to points p, q from the start point of the boundary vector. When the minimum value is checked, the value of point p is negative, and that of point q is positive. The sign of outer product distance is defined as follows: the upper direction with regard to the drawing is defined as positive; and the lower direction is defined as negative. Therefore, the point p which outer product is negative, is judged outside the region, and point q which outer product is positive, to be inside the region. As described above, each point can be classified into outside or inside of the region according to the vector of region data. This technique is characterized in that: judgment can be flexibly conducted to determine whether a point is inside or outside the region. That is, judgment can be conducted using a norm like distance and not by a two digit value of inside or outside. This technique is useful to render it significant when treating an object relating to both inside and outside of a region with regard to a point. Next, processing to produce output road data will be explained. When one piece of road data is made utilizing a result of verification conducted on road data which has been obtained from three image processings, the output rule was set as shown in Table 4, based on the following three basic concepts. The basic concepts are as follows. (1) Data judged to be appropriate as a result of verification, is outputted without processing as far as possible. (2) When there is a plurality of appropriate results, output data is determined according to priority. (3) In case there is no appropriate data, integrated data is made from a plurality of data and outputted. The reasons behind those concepts are as follows: Concept (1) is set for obtaining the real time property. That is, if data is appropriate, it is sufficient for driving without going through processing. The system requires output road data as quickly as possible, therefore it is effective to output the data as it is. Concerning concept (2), it is due to the difference in the characteristic of data. At present, the region extracting processing, which is one of the three image processings, does not output data except for road edge data. Also, because the general line segment extracting processing is a general processing it can not be applied to a complicated road in that condition. Accordingly, when a recognized road structure is monotonous, the general line segment extracting processing is useful, and if the result of verification of data sent from the general line segment extracting processing is appropriate, then the data is outputted. The judgement of whether the road structure is monotonous or not is estimated from the data sent from the general line segment extracting processing. At present, a situation wherein the result of the local line segment tracing processing is appropriate; the number of groups of the general line segment extracting processing < 7; and the angle formed with a next line segment < 30 ° has been repeated continuously more than three times, the road structure is defined to be monotonous. On the other hand, when a recognized road structure is complicated, the priority is determined in such a manner that: local line segment tracing processing > region extracting processing > general line segment extracting processing (wherein sign > represents that the left side processing has a higher priority) and when a plurality of data is appropriate, output data is determined according to this order. Concerning basic concept (3), when data is individually not appropriate as road data, different kinds of data are integrated so that the defects can be compensated. Different kinds of data have within a point judged to be appropriate by an evaluation, and these appropriate points are integrated. Detail of this integration is described as follows. Table 4 is viewed as follows. When the result of check on appropriateness of data obtained by the region extracting processing is normal and when the result of check on appropriateness of data by the local line segment tracing processing is also normal, the data according to the local line segment tracing processing is outputted from the data evaluating section 111. The result of check on appropriateness of other rows can be similarly read out from Table 4. Next, integration processing of different kinds of data will be explained. When all the results of data verification are abnormal, one piece of data is made integrating a plurality of data into a point based on point which has been determined to be appropriate in the verification. The main flow of integration processing of different kinds of data is as follows. First, concerning the data obtained after three image inputs have been verified, the data which has the most numerous appropriate points is defined as primary data, and the data which has the second numerous appropriate data is defined as auxiliary data. Secondly, concerning each line segment group of primary data, a point which can be integrated into auxiliary data is found and integrated. Whether a line segment can be integrated or not is determined by whether or not a point in auxiliary data is smoothly connected to a line of primary data. Judgment whether the point in auxiliary data is smoothly connected or not, is determined by an angle formed by an extended line segment and a line segment on this side. For example, in Fig. 21, point P is smoothly connected to straight line L means that angle q formed by a line segment 2101 connecting an endpoint of straight line L with point P and an extended line of straight line L is not more than a certain value. In the case of the autonomously running vehicle in this embodiment, cos q > 0.8. According to this reference, only point P1 is integrated in the case of data shown in Fig. 22. That is, an angle formed by a line segment connecting the endpoint of an existing line segment with point P2 and an extended line of the existing line segment is more than a reference value. On the other hand, an angle formed by a line segment based on point P1 and the existing line segment is in a range of a reference value. As a result, point P is integrated with the existing line segment, so that a smoothly connected straight line shown in Fig. 23 can be obtained. Next, a data evaluating algorithm in the data evaluating section 111 will be explained. A main flow chart of data evaluation processing is shown in Fig. 24. First, initialization processing is conducted (step 2401). Then, three image processing results are read in (step 2402). The three image processing results are transformed into an internal data structure so that the processing results can be easily treated in the process of data evaluation (2403). Thereafter, appropriateness as road data is checked for each image processing results independently (step 2404). At that time, whether the data is appropriate or not is verified by the method described above at each point, and data which has too many inappropriate points, is judged to be abnormal. According to the result of this verification of appropriateness, whether or not all data is abnormal is judged. In case all data is abnormal, an appropriate point is found in all data (even when data is abnormal, some points composing the data are appropriate), and data is integrated according to the appropriate point which was found (step 2406), to be outputted as one road data (step 2407). When even one piece of appropriate data exists in the judgment of step 2405, it is subsequently judged whether or not general line segment extracting processing is normal and the road is monotonous (step 2408). At this time, the same reference as that of output road data making processing is utilized. When it has been realized that general line segment extracting processing is normal and the road is monotonous, the result of general line segment extracting processing is outputted (step 2409). If not, appropriate data is outputted according to priority (step 2410). The priority is determined in such a manner that: the first priority is given to the data according to local line segment tracing processing; the second priority is given to the data according to region extracting processing; and the third priority is given to the data according to general line segment extracting processing. A simple example will be explained as follows. Taking as example a case wherein the input data is as shown in Fig. 25, Fig. 25(a) represents input data from local line segment tracing processing, Fig. 25(b) represents input data from general line segment extracting processing, and Fig. 25(c) represents input data from region extracting processing. First, appropriateness as a road of each data is evaluated. As a result, input data from local line segment tracing processing, which is shown in Fig. 25(a), is determined to be abnormal since points ℓp3 and ℓp6 are abnormal judging from the reference of road width. Input data from general line segment extracting processing, which is shown in Fig. 25(b), is determined to be abnormal since points gp0 and gp1 are outside the road region and data itself becomes abnormal. Input data from region extracting processing, which is shown in Fig. 25(c), is determined to be abnormal since points cp5 and cp6 are abnormal judging from the reference of road width and evaluation results of the region extracting processing become abnormal. As described above, because all data are judged to be abnormal, integration of data is conducted according to Table 4. Fig. 26 shows the points which have been determined to be appropriate after the verification of appropriateness of each data. That is, appropriate points in the input data of local line segment tracing processing, general line segment extracting processing, and region extracting processing, which are shown in Fig. 25(a), (b) and (c), are shown corresponding to Fig. 26(a), (b) and (c). As described above, several points which seem to be appropriate remain in the data which has been judged to be abnormal, therefore these points are utilized. In Fig. 26, the input data from local line segment tracing processing has the most numerous appropriate points, and the input data from region extracting processing has the second most numerous appropriate points. Therefore, the input data from local line segment tracing processing is selected for primary data, and the input data from region extracting processing is selected for auxiliary data. The primary and auxiliary data are integrated with reference smoothness, and one road data shown in Fig. 27 becomes the result of output. Next, an experimental result according to this embodiment will be explained. Experimental examples are shown in Fig. 28 to Fig. 33. The experiment was conducted on Work Station SUN4/110 made by Sun Micro Systems Co. in USA and 68020CPU Board MUME 133XT made by Motorola Co. in USA. The language used was C-language, and the processing time was 20 - 100msec in the case of SUN4/110, and 40 - 300msec in the case of 133XT. Characters (a), (b) and (c) in each drawing represent inputted data from local line segment tracing processing (local Hough-Transformation processing), inputted data from general line segment extracting processing (general Hough-Transformation processing), and inputted data from region extracting processing (color region processing). Characters (d), (e) and (f) in each drawing represent evaluation result of data concerning inputted data from local line segment tracing processing, evaluation result data about inputted data from general line segment extracting processing, and evaluation result data about inputted data from region extracting processing. Characters (g) and (h) in each drawing represent primary data and auxiliary data, and character (i) in each drawing represents output data. Fig. 28 shows an example in which the aforementioned three road boundary extracting processings are conducted on a curved road, and receiving from which each input data. Each input data shown by (a), (b), (c) in Fig. 28 is evaluated in the data evaluating section 111. The results of the evaluation are shown by (d), (e), (f) in Fig. 28, which seem to be correct. Therefore, all of the three input images are judged to be correct, and according to the priority described above, evaluation data obtained by local line segment tracing processing, that is, the data shown in Fig. 28(d) is outputted, and the outputted results become those as shown in Fig. 28(i). Fig. 29 to Fig. 31 show examples in which only data obtained by local line segment tracing processing shown by (a) in each drawing, is inputted. Fig. 29 shows an example in which a redundant line is extracted due to a failure in tracing processing. A redundant line which exists in Fig. 29(a) diagonally to the left, is removed by data evaluation as shown in Fig. 29(d). This input data has numerous inappropriate points so that it has been judged to be not appropriate as road data, and as data processing integration of data was conducted by integration processing. However, in the case shown in this drawing, other input data does not exist, therefore road data consisting only of points evaluated as appropriate, that is, evaluation data which is shown in Fig. 29(d) becomes primary data shown in Fig. 29(g), eventually becoming the output data shown in Fig. 29(i). Fig. 30 and Fig. 31 both show the results of local line segment tracing processing of a T-shaped road. In Fig. 30, the far off boundary of the T-shaped road is not extracted, however, in Fig. 31, the far off boundary is extracted. That is, in Fig. 30, a line segment corresponding to an end of a boundary of the T-shaped road in the data shown in Fig. 30(a) can not be found. Therefore, the points after the corner at the end of the T-shaped road are processed bas being inappropriate, to become the data evaluation result as shown in Fig. 30(d). Inappropriate points are so numerous that data integration processing is being conducted. However, the only available data is the data of local line segment tracing processing, therefore the evaluation data shown in Fig. 30(d) becomes the primary data shown in Fig. 30(g), to become the output data shown in Fig. 30(i) in that condition. Also, in Fig. 31, all points of the T-shaped road are extracted, therefore all points are evaluated to be appropriate, and evaluation data shown in Fig. 31(d) is obtained, to become output data shown in Fig. 31(i). As explained above, this processing is of a bottom-up type, not utilizing any data other than results of image processing, therefore this processing can not predict the structure of a road. However, if the existence of a T-shaped road can be predicted, by utilizing a navigation system and the like, the result of Fig. 30 naturally will be different. That is, one end of the T-shaped road can be predicted and correct road data can be obtained. Fig. 32 is an example which allows to easily grasp the function of road structure verification by road width and the function of integration of different kinds of data. Points of input data shown in Fig. 32(a) sent from local line segment tracing processing are judged not to be appropriate since the far end of the road is widened. Therefore, these points are removed by means of data evaluation, to obtain evaluation data shown in Fig. 32(d). Also, points of input data shown in Fig. 32(b) sent from general line segment extracting processing are judged not appropriate since the road width of the far side is narrow, to obtain evaluation data shown in Fig. 32(e). Further, concerning input data shown in Fig. 32(c) sent from region extracting processing, the points in the middle distance are judged not appropriate since the road width of the middle distance is narrow, to obtain evaluation data shown in Fig. 32(f). As described above, all input data includes a large amount of abnormal data, therefore data output is conducted by producing integrated data. At that time, the primary data for integration is the evaluation result data of local line segment tracing processing shown in Fig. 32(g). Auxiliary data shown in Fig. 32(h) is a group of appropriate points within input data sent from region extracting processing. By integration of data the sequence of points on the right side of the road with regard to primary data is integrated, and data shown in Fig. 32(i) is outputted. At that time, the reason why the sequence of points on the left side of the road is not integrated, is because a far end point on the left side of the road with regard to primary data is somewhat widened, and not being connected smoothly with auxiliary data. Fig. 33 is an example which clearly shows the verification of consistency between input data sent from region extracting processing and line segment extracting data obtained by small region tracing processing. Evaluation data shown in Fig. 33(f) can be obtained from input data sent from region extracting processing shown in Fig. 33(c). With regard to input data from two small region tracing processings shown in Fig. 33(a) and Fig. 33(b), the points outside the road expressed in evaluation data of region extracting processing are judged abnormal. Therefore, with regard to each line segment extracting data obtained by small region tracing processing, the points outside the road processed by region extracting processing are removed, to become evaluation data shown in Fig. 33(d) and Fig. 33(e). Since input data inputted from region extracting processing does not include an abnormal point, the data is judged appropriate as road data, and outputted in the form of data shown in Fig. 33(i). As described above, in this embodiment, a plurality of road data which have been corrected to the same time are inputted, and each road data is verified according to the road model expressed by a level of point, and then one road data is made according to a plurality of road data obtained after verification. Since a plurality of image processing results are inputted in the manner described above, data which most look like a road can be obtained therefrom as output. Consequently, weak points of each image processing can be compensated as compared with a conventional case in which a single image processing result is utilized. According to the conventional road recognition method by Kuan and Sharma, a road is recognized in such a manner that: the road is verified by a road model which is expressed by line segments; and because too much weight is given to parallelism of the road model, a complicated road shape such as a branched road or multi-traffic lane road could not be verified. However, when verification is conducted on a level of point as shown in this embodiment, parallel line segments inside the road are obtained, as a result, so that the road recognition can be also conducted on a branched or multi-traffic lane road. As explained above, according to the present invention, data evaluation is conducted not on a line segment level but on a point level, so that a vehicle running road having a complicated shape can be recognized. Therefore, a road closer to reality having a branched portion, etc. can be recognized whereas only a monotonous road having one traffic lane is recognized by a conventional method. Likeness to a vehicle running road is judged by the sequence of points data outputted from a plurality of road boundary extracting processings, so that the reliability of obtained data is improved. Therefore, stable road data can be obtained. As a result, according to the present invention, an autonomously running vehicle can be automatically driven in a condition similar to a real driving condition.	A control device of an autonomously moving body comprising: a plurality of image pickup units (101,102) which pick up the image of a moving road of an autonomously moving body; a plurality of image processing units (104,105,106) which process a plurality of image data outputted from the image pickup units and detect and output the condition of said moving road; a storage means (110) which stores data outputted from said image processing units; a data control section (109) which corrects said data stored in said storage means to data of an arbitrary time and position; a data evaluating section (111) which integrates a plurality of data outputted from said data control section into one moving road data; and a control section which controls movement of the autonomously moving body; characterized in that: said image pickup units include a first image pickup unit (101) for picking up a colour image of a moving road of an autonomously moving body; and a second image pickup unit (102) for picking up a monochromatic image of a moving road of an autonomously moving body; said image processing units include a first image processing unit (104) for processing image data outputted from the first image pickup unit to extract the road area of the moving road; a second image processing unit (105) for processing image data outputted from the second image pickup unit to extract a small area of the edge of the moving road; and a third image processing unit (106) for processing image data outputted from the second image pickup unit to extract relatively large area of the edge of the moving road so as to obtain a guide line of the moving road; said data evaluating section (111) verifies whether or not the three image processing data from said first image processing unit (104), said second image processing unit (105) and said third image processing unit (106) outputted from said data control section are appropriate as road data to eliminate abnormal data and integrates the remaining normal data to obtain said one moving road data based on a predetermined priority order for the three image processing data; and in that said control section (116,117) controls the movement of the autonomously moving body according to the moving road data outputted from said data evaluating section. A control device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an outside information obtaining unit (103) which obtains environmental information other than image; and wherein said storage means (110) stores the data outputted from said image processing units and said outside information obtaining unit. A control device as claimed in claim 1 or 2 further comprising: an environmental description making section (112)which accumulates the moving road data outputted from said data evaluating section, and holds and controls said moving road data as an environmental description; and a motion control supervisor (114) which plans the movement schedule of said autonomously moving body in accordance with an environmental description made by said environmental description making section, and instructs its movement at the same time; said control section controlling the movement of said autonomously moving body in accordance with the instruction of said motion control supervisor. The control device of an autonomously moving body according to claim 3, comprising a locus estimating section (115) which detects the movement amount by a sensor (118,120) provided to said autonomously moving body, and outputs the detected movement amount to the data control section, the environmental description making section, and the motion control supervisor. The control device of an autonomously moving body as defined in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the image processing units are respectively independent modules (104,105,106) which conduct non-synchronous processing. The control device of an automonously moving body as defined in claim 2 and any one of claims 3, 4 or 5, wherein the outside information obtaining unit which obtains information other than image, is composed of respectively independent modules (104,105,106) and conducts non-synchronous processing. The control device of an autonomously moving body as defined in any preceding claim, wherein the data control section corrects the data stored in the storage means to the data of time and position designated by a request signal. The control device of an autonomously moving body as defined in claim 7, wherein the data control section projectively transforms the latest positional data stored in the storage means, onto a coordinate of the moving road surface, and corrects the transformed data to a positional coordinate of the time designated by a request signal. The control device of an autonomously moving body as defined in claim 8, wherein the data evaluating section removes wrong data from a plurality of moving road data which is corrected to a positional coordinate of the same time and outputted from the data control section, and integrates and outputs a plurality of data which has been judged appropriate to be used as moving road data. The control device of an autonomously moving body as defined in claims 3 and 9, wherein the environmental description making section integrates the moving road data outputted from the data evaluating section with past moving road data outputted from the data evaluating section, and the environmental description making section holds the integrated data as a environmental description and takes out the moving road data of an arbitrary time in the past from said environmental description. The control device of an autonomously moving body as defined in claim 10, wherein the data control section outputs the moving road data taken out from the environmental description making section, to said image processing unit when the image processing unit requires past moving road recognition data. The control device of an automonously moving body as defined in claim 2 and claim 10 or 11, wherein the data control section outputs the moving road data taken out from the environmental description making section to said outside information obtaining unit when the outside information obtaining unit requires past moving road recognition data. The control device of an autonomously moving body as defined in claim 11 or 12, wherein the motion control supervisor forms a plan of movement at the present time according to an environmental description outputted from the environmental description making section, and outputs a command of movement at the present time to the control section.	HONDA MOTOR CO LTD; HONDA GIKEN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA	HASEGAWA HIROSHI; SAKAGAMI YOSHIAKI; TSUJINO HIROSHI; YAMASHITA HIROKAZU; HASEGAWA, HIROSHI; SAKAGAMI, YOSHIAKI; TSUJINO, HIROSHI; YAMASHITA, HIROKAZU
EP-0488829-B1	488,829	EP	B1	EN	19,960,403	1,992	20,100,220	new	B41J2	null	B41J2	B41J 2/175C1, B41J 2/175C3A, B41J 2/175C2	Ink container and recording head having same	An ink container (3) includes an ink discharging portion (7) for discharging ink; an air vent (11); first liquid absorbing material (6) for absorbing the ink therein; a second ink absorbing material (5), disposed between the air vent (11) and the first absorbing material (6), for absorbing the ink, the first and second absorbing materials being at least partly contacted to each other.	The present invention relates to an ink container and a recording head having the same usable with a recording apparatus for effecting recording operation using liquid ink in the form of a copying machine, facsimile machine, printer, compound machines or the like. U.S. Patents Nos. 4,095,237 and 4,306,245 disclose an ink container accommodating a liquid absorbing material occupying a part or entirety of the inside space thereof. In the latter mentioned patent, an end of the ink supply pipe communicating with an ink jet recording head is enclosed by a porous elastic material, and therefore, the ink supply performance is quite satisfactory, and is practically advantageous from the standpoint of preventing influences of the air introduced into the container. U.S. Patent No. 4,164,744 discloses a structure in which a coloring material is stored in a sealed container. This relates to a printing pen, and therefore, the introduction of the air in accordance with the consumption of the ink as in the case of the ink jet recording is not recognized. U.S. Patent No. 3,967,286 discloses an example using plural ink absorbing materials, more particularly an ink absorbing material in an ink container movable together with the recording head and a wick contacted to the ink absorbing material. However, it does not recognize the problem of the air introduction when the ink absorbing material is opened to the air. U.S. Patent No. 4,368,478 discloses provision of porous material in a common liquid chamber and/or ink container of the ink absorbing portion, and discloses that the fibers are suspended in the ink at a position upstream of the porous material in the direction of the ink supply so as to prevent the porous material from being clogged with the air bubbles. This however deals with the bubbles having passed through the ink supply pipe, but does not disclose the prevention of the introduction of the air into the recording head itself. This would be because the mechanism of the introduction of the bubbles is not analyzed sufficiently. It seems to base on the assumption that the introduced air is immediately conveyed into the recording head from the ink supply container. It involves the problem that the fibers and filler materials are deposited on the inner wall of the container and the problem of the insufficient ink supply when the number of ejection outlets is increased or when the apparatus is driven at a high speed. In the prior art, the ink supply container capable of sufficiently supplying the ink for driving more than 10 ejection outlets or at the frequency not less than 5 KHz. European patent application EP-A-419 192 proposes the internal structure of the container and the end position of the ink supply pipe wherein the influence by the introduction of the air to the ink supply performance is avoided. According to this proposal, the time required for the introduced air to reach the ink supply pipe end is significantly delayed, and is therefore, it is practical and good. With a container in which one porous ink absorbing material is used, it has been found that there is a limit to the delay which can be caused to the arrival of the air to the ink outlet portion (as seen from the ink supply container) along the inside of the absorbing material or along between the container wall and the absorbing material, and therefore, there is a limit to the reduction of the amount of the unusably remaining ink. Reference is made to US-A-4771295 which discloses an ink jet pen having multiple ink storage compartments each according to the preamble of claim 1. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONVarious aspects of the present invention are concerned with stopping or delaying the introduction of air into an ink container so as to increase the ink suppliable period; minimising the amount of the unusable remaining ink when the ink container accommodates an ink absorbing sponge; arranging a plurality of ink absorbing materials so as to preclude the introduction of air to the recording head; enabling initial conditions to be properly set for an ink container having a plurality of absorbing materials; filling or refilling the container with ink; properly mounting a plurality of absorbing materials in the ink container before filling with ink; and sure operation of a multi-nozzle recording head having not less than 10 ejection outlets when recording on materials such as paper or cloth. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink container, comprising: an ink discharging portion for discharging ink; an air vent; first liquid absorbing material for absorbing the ink therein; a second ink absorbing material, disposed between said air vent and said first absorbing material, for absorbing the ink, said first and second absorbing materials being at least partly in contact with each other, characterised in that said first liquid absorbing material includes fibrous material, the fibres of which extend in the direction of the contact surface between said first and second absorbing materials. The ink container may have a partition member for providing a first region for accommodating said first absorbing material and a second region for accommodating said second absorbing material and for directly communicating with said air vent, said partition member comprising an opening for permitting the contact between said first and second absorbing materials. The partition member may be of a flexible resin material enclosing the fibrous material and compressing them in a direction crossing with lengths of the fibrous materials. Preferably, the fibres of the first absorbing material are compressed in a direction crossing the lengths of the fibrous material, and a peripheral portion of a bundle of the fibrous material is contacted to said second absorbing material. The recording head is preferably constructed with more than 10 ejection outlets for ejecting ink and electrothermal transducers for the respective ejection outlets for creating bubbles through a film boiling by thermal energy and a common chamber for supplying the ink to the ejection outlets; an ink supply member for supplying the ink to the common chamber and provided with a filter at an ink receiving end thereof; a discharging portion for discharging the ink to the ink receiving end for said ink supply member; an air vent; a first absorbing material for absorbing ink therein, said first absorbing material comprising a number of fibrous materials in a compressed state and a flexible resin material enclosing member having an opening for exposing said fibrous materials, said first absorbing material exhibiting ink guiding property; a second absorbing material for absorbing the ink, disposed between said air vent and said first absorbing material, said second absorbing material being contacted to the fibrous material through the opening, said second absorbing material being compressed to provide vacuum, said second absorbing material being of continuous porous elastic material; and wherein in said discharging portion, a filter at the ink receiving end of said ink supply member is inserted into said first absorbing material in the direction of the length of the fibrous material, wherein a depth of the insertion is not less than 3 mm, wherein a diameter D of said ink supply member in a perpendicular cross-section with respect to a direction of the ink supply adjacent the filter of the ink supply member and a diameter d of said first absorbing material in the perpendicular cross-section adjacent to the filter satisfy d ≧ 1.5D, and the opening has an area of not less than 100 mm². Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a sectional view of an ink jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2A schematically shows the mechanism of the air bubble introduction into a bundle of fibers (ink guiding members), when the air bubble is not capable of entering the bundle of the fibers. Figure 2B shows the same when the slight amount of the air bubbles can enter the bundle of the fibers, but the prevention is better than the conventional case. Figure 3 is a sectional view of an ink jet recording head according to another embodiment of the present invention. Figures 4A and 4B are a sectional view and a perspective view of an ink container. Figure 5 is a recording head assembly having the ink container shown in Figure 4, the head assembly being detachably mountable. Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the internal structures of the ink accommodating container according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 7 is a sectional view showing the position and configuration of the absorbing material in the ink container and the position of the ink supply pipe. Figure 8 shows the internal structures of the ink accommodating container, which is a modification of Figure 6 embodiment. Figure 9 shows a structure of an ink container constituting an ink jet recording head. Figure 10 shows an ink jet cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 11 is a perspective view of an ink jet cartridge. Figure 12 is a schematic view of an ink jet recording apparatus. Figure 13A and 13B show a first ink absorbing material according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figures 14A and 14B show fibers extending in one direction, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 15 shows the ink container, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 16 shows an ink container illustrating a method of filling it with the ink. Figure 17 shows a major part in the method of Figure 16. Figure 18 shows a driving mechanism for a recording head. Referring to Figure 1, there is shown in cross-section an ink jet recording head according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 designates the recording head. The recording head 1 comprises a main assembly having an ink ejecting function which will be described hereinafter and an integral ink container 3 for supplying the recording ink to the main assembly 2. The ink container 3 functions to contain the recording liquid and has a partition wall 4 for providing a first chamber 3A adjacent the main assembly and a second chamber 3B adjacent an air vent of the container, the partition wall 4 being integral with the casing of the container 3. In this example, the partition wall 4 extends substantially parallel to the wall portion 12A of the first chamber 3A. A partial opening 4A is formed substantially at the center of the partition wall 4 so that the two chambers communicate with each other. In the first chamber 3A, an end of a supply pipe 9 communicating with the main assembly 2 is inserted. The end of the supply pipe 9 is provided with a filter 8 for preventing introduction of foreign matter into an ink passage 10. The other end of the supply pipe 10 constitutes an ink discharger 7. The second chamber 3B is provided with an opening 11 communicating with the ambience (air vent). The second chamber 3B of the ink container 3 is filled with a sponge 5 (second liquid absorbing material) made of continuous fine porous material such as polyurethane or the like having sufficient elasticity and liquid absorbing property. The first chamber 3A is filled with fibers 6 (first absorbing material) in the form of a bundle of polyester resin fibers compressed an extended in the same direction. It is desirable that the fibers 6 extend in the direction toward the end of the supply pipe 9 for the recording head, although they may be vent partially. This direction is advantageous since the ink supply property is improved. By constituting the bundle by a quite large number of fibers (8000, for example) and are compressed in the direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which they are extended, so that the fine capillary forces can be provided. This is effective to delay the introduction of air bubbles, and simultaneously, the increase of the size of the air bubble can be prevented. If the fibers are compressed within a proper range, the ink guiding properties are enhanced in accordance with the consumption of the ink, and therefore, the supply of the ink into the bundle of the fibers is better, and the long term ink supply is assured. Even if the air bubbles are introduced, the good ink guiding property is effective to exclude the bubbles from the bundle of the fibers. This is also advantageous from the standpoint of the ink supply. In this embodiment, the directions in which the fibers are extended is substantially parallel with the wall surface of the partition wall 4 and the wall portion 12A of the first chamber 3A. The longitudinal end portions of the fibers are assuredly contacted to the other wall portions 12B and 12C of the first chamber 3A which are perpendicular to the above wall surfaces. The central portion of the bundle of fibers at an end is in contact with one surface of the filter 8 for the supply pipe 9, as shown in the Figure. Preferably, the central portion is press-contacted to the surface. The opening 4A of the partition wall 4 is away from the end of the supply pipe 9 by a proper distance, but they are sufficiently close to each other. In such an ink jet recording head 1, in accordance with the ejection of the ink from the ink ejector 7, the ink is gradually consumed from the neighborhood of the filter at the end of the supply pipe 9. The ink retained in the bundle of the fibers is subjected to the capillary force in the direction of the fibers, since the number of fibers are bundled and are extended in the same direction. Because of the capillary force, the ink smoothly moves along the fibers to the filter 8, and are assuredly supplied from the end of the ink supply pipe 9 to the ink ejector 7 having an unshown ink ejecting means. As will be understood from the foregoing, if the ink is assuredly supplied to the fibers, then the ink can be assuredly supplied to the ink ejector. For example, when the recording head is directed downwardly, the ink is supplied from the upper position, and is further supplied to the recording head by the fibers. In this case, the ink container may be sealed from the ambient air. Referring back to Figure 1, the ink contained in the sponge 5 in the second chamber 3B is supplied by the vacuum through the opening 4A of the partition wall 4 to that portion of the fibers in the first chamber 3A which is in contact with the sponge 5. In response to the consumption of the ink, the air enters the second chamber 3B through the air vent 11 so as to balance the pressures in the first and second chambers 3A and 3B, thus assuring the continuous supply of the ink. As regards the relative characteristics of the fibers 6 and the sponge 5 are as follows. First, the ink supply to the recording head is accomplished by the fibers 6, and the sponge 5 is between the fibers and the air vent. Second, the fibers and the sponge are in contact with or in press-contact with each other. Those two points are effective to delay the motion of the air in the container so that the ink can be more efficiently supplied to the recording head. Third, the fibers 6 are better than the sponge 5 in all of the capillary force, the ink retaining characteristics and the air excluding characteristics. Therefore, the introduction of the ink mainly occurs in the sponge 5 or the space between the sponge and the inner wall surface, so that the arrival of the air at the first chamber 3A can be significantly delayed. Therefore, the quantity of the wasteful ink which remains unusably in the container can be minimized. Here, the advantageous effects of this embodiment which are common to the embodiments which will be described hereinafter, will be described, in comparison with the problems with the conventional structures. In the case in which the ink container is filled with compressed single sponge, it is known that the air enters the inside of the sponge by the vacuum of the sponge. However, before the air enters the inside of the sponge, the air main move along the inner surface of the container immediately after the consumption of the ink even to the extent to the recording head. Once this occurs, the air exists in the form of a bubble or bubbles, and the size thereof increases with the result of reduction of the ink supply performance. For the purpose of recovery, the air can be sucked out through the recording head ejection outlets, using a sucking pump. However, this provides only a temporary recovery at the cost of a large quantity of the ink. The same problem will be repeated. In this embodiment, or in the embodiments which will be described hereinafter, the time of the occurence of this problem can be significantly delayed, or can be completely eliminated. Since in this embodiment, the sponge 5 and the fibers 6 are directly contacted through the opening 4A, the ink movement from the sponge 5 to the fibers 6 is smooth. Preferable condition of the relation between the sponge 5 and the fibers 6 in the opening 4A will be described. Since the opening 4A is defined by the partition wall 4, and therefore, the opening is defined by the material which is more rigid than the sponge or the fibers, and therefore, not easily deformed. The thickness of the wall 4 is preferably small, but it still has a certain thickness. Therefore, one or both of the sponge 5 and the fibers 6 are bulged into the opening. In this embodiment, the opening area is not less than 100 mm², more particularly, 200 mm², and therefore, both of them are bulged for direct contact therebetween (Figure 1). Existence of the fibers 6 in the opening is effective to prevent movement of the air bubble from the second chamber 3B into the first chamber 3B, in other words, the reception of the ink by the fibers from the sponge 5 is enhanced. Additionally, the existence of the sponge in the opening is effective to slightly shift the center of the vacuum toward the opening 4A, and therefore, the finally remaining quantity of the ink in the sponge can be further reduced. In this embodiment, the state of contact between the sponge 5 and the fibers 6 is preferable. Figures 7A and 7B show examples of the structures usable with the present invention, but the structure of Figure 7A is preferable. The preferable one is used in this embodiment. In Figure 7, the reference X indicates the direction in which the ink moves from the sponge 5 to the fibers 6, and therefore, the air bubble or bubbles also move in the direction X. In Figure 2A, the periphery of the bundle of the fibers 6, that is, the side of the bundle is contacted to the sponge 5. In other words, the direction of the ink supply from the sponge crosses with the ink guiding direction of the bundle of fibers. By this way of the contact, the introduction of the air into the fibers from the sponge can be further prevented. When the cross-sectional surfaces of the fibers 6 are contacted to the porous material, as shown in Figure 2B, the air bubble or bubbles retained in the bundle of fibers are confined in the fine clearances among the fibers, but the ink is more positively guided than the air bubble, and therefore, the ink can be supplied stably for a long term. Figure 2A arrangement is, however, better than Figure 2B arrangement. Even if the air bubble enters the bundle of the fibers, the contacts of the ends of the fibers to the wall surface portions 12B and 12C of the first chamber 3A is effective to expel the air bubbles toward the wall portions 12B or 12C. For this reason, the air bubbles do not reach the filter 8 of the supply pipe 9, and therefore, they are excluded from the neighborhood of the filter 8. In addition, the opening 4A of the partition wall 4 is formed at a position away from the supply pipe 9 inlet by a proper distance, the ink in the sponge 5 is supplied through the opening 4A and is once retained by the fibers 6, and only then the ink is supplied to the ink ejector 7 through the supply pipe 9. This is also advantageous in that the introduction of the air from the sponge 5 into the ink ejector 7. Figure 3 is a sectional view of an ink jet recording head according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this Figure, reference numeral 60 designates the ink jet recording head. The structure of the recording head 60 is substantially the same as the recording head 1 of Figure 1, and therefore, the same reference numerals are assigned to the elements having the corresponding functions, and the detailed description thereof is omitted for simplicity. In the recording head shown in Figure 3, the ink container 3 is provide with two partition walls 61 and 62 which are integral with the inner wall of the ink container 3. By the two partition walls 61 and 62. there are provided one first chamber 3A and two second chambers 3B and 3C adjacent and at the opposite sides of the first chamber 3A. The first and second partition walls 61 and 62 are provided with partial openings 61A and 62A substantially at the center thereof. In the first chamber 3A, an end of a supply pipe 9 in communication with the ink passage 10 and therefore, with the ink ejector 7 is inserted so that the portion of the ink pipe 9 extends parallel with the partition walls 61 and 62. The end of the supply pipe 9 is provide with the filter 8. In the first chamber 3A, fibers 6 are extended in the manner that the direction of the fibers are parallel with the partition walls 61 and 62 and that the central portion of one end of the bundle of the fibers is contacted to a surface of the filter 8 at the end of the supply pipe 9. The second chambers 3B and 3C are filled with sponges 5, respectively. Although in the Figure the air vent 11 is provided only for 3B of the second chambers, but the air vent is also provided for the other second chamber 3A. The first absorbing material 5 and the second absorbing material 6 are directly contacted through the two openings 61A and 62A, respectively, so that the ink is smoothly supplied from the absorbing materials 5 to the absorbing material 6. In the liquid jet recording head 60, in accordance with the ejection of the ink through the ink ejector 7, the ink is gradually consumed from the neighborhood of the filter 8. Since the fibers 6 are extended in the same direction, the capillary forces are applied along the fibers. By the capillary force, the ink smoothly moves along the fibers to the filter 8. Then, the ink is supplied to the ink ejector 7 by the ink ejecting means not shown by way of the supply pipe 9. The ink contained in the first absorbing material 5 in the second chambers 3B and 3C is supplied to the second absorbing material 6 in the first chamber 3A through the openings 61A and 62A of the partition walls 61 and 62. They are, similarly consumed for the recording. Simultaneously with the ink consumption, the air enters the second chamber 2B through the air vent 11, so that the pressures in the first chamber 3A and in the second chambers 3B and 3C, are balanced, by which the ink supply is assured. According to this embodiment, the opening area may be larger than in the first embodiment, the ink supply from the sponge 5 to the fibers 6 is more efficient. Since the sponges 5 and the fibers 6 are directly contacted to each other through the openings 61A and 62A, and therefore, the ink movement is small. The contacts at the respective positions between the fibers 6 and the sponges 5, are the same as in the case of Figure 2A. In the foregoing embodiment, the partition in the ink container is provide by the partition walls 61 and/or 62, but the partition may be provided inside ribs or a member joined to the inside surface of the container. The partition member may be in the form of a flexible elastic sheet mounted in the ink container. In this case, by the deformation or displacement of the ink retaining material due to the air or gas in the ink container, the state of ink, temperature or another ambient condition may be accomodated by the deformation of the elastic sheet so that the ink supply can be maintained. The partition wall may be in the form of a cylinder in which the bundle of fibers is disposed, and porous material having the elasticity and liquid absorbing characteristics may be disposed between the partition wall and the ink container. Figures 4A, 4B and 5 shows an embodiment in which the partition member is integral with the fibers or the absorbing material, but is not fixed on the inside of the ink container. In Figures 4A, 4B and 5, the fibers and the sponge providing the vacuum in the ink supply action, are freely deformed when receiving the ink. In this embodiment, the stabilized vacuum and therefore, the ink supply is stabilized. By the partition member, the deformation of the fibers can be suppressed to stabilize the vacuum. Thus, the contact between the sponge and the fibers can be stabilized. The motion of the air between the different absorbing materials can be prevented. The partition member usable with this embodiment may be in the form of a sheer, plate. Preferably, it may be resin or aluminum sheet enclosing the fibers mostly to retard movement of the air or to stop it. Figures 4A and 4B are sectional view and perspective view of the ink container of a partition sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the Figure reference 1A designates an ink container. The inside of the ink container 1A is divided into two chambers by the partition member 40 having the partial opening 40A. Adjacent the ink discharging portion of the ink container, the portion (one of the chambers) connected to the communicating pipe 9 is filled with fibers 6. The other chamber is filled with a porous material 5 having elasticity and liquid absorbing property. Here, an air vent 11 is formed. The partition member 40 is made of flexible sheet, more particularly, polyethylene resin material in this embodiment. The ink is supplied through the pipe 9, and the quantity of the image inside the ink container 1A decreases in accordance with the ink supply. To permit this, the space of the ink is replaced with the air through the air vent 11. However, the supply pipe 5 is isolated by the partition member 40, and by the capillary action of the fibers 6, the neighborhood of the pipe 9 is filled with the ink, so that the ink supply is stabilized. In addition, since the partition member 40 is made of flexible sheet, it can flexibly follow the internal pressure between the two materials 5 and 6 due to the supply of the ink, so that the contact between the fibers 6 and the porous material 5 is stabilized. In Figures 4A and 4B, the ink supply direction by the fibers and the ink supply direction by the porous sponge cross with each other, as in Figure 2A example. The elastic porous material is usually compressed in the container and increases its volume when the air is introduced thereinto as a result of the ink consumption. To the contrary, the spaces between fibers expand when the ink is absorbed. When the ink is discharged therefrom, the spaces contract. Therefore, even if the volume of the bundle of the fibers changes slightly, the pressure by the porous material in the direction crossing with the fiber direction increases with the ink supply to the bundle of the fibers. This is effective to maintain the good contact between them, and is also effective to maintain the capillary force by the fibers. Therefore, the ink supply to the ink container is stabilized for a long period of time. Figure 5 shows a bubble jet cartridge BD01 available from Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan having the ink container 1A shown in Figures 4A and 4B. The detailed description thereof will be made hereinafter in conjunction with Figures 10, 11 and 12. Here, the major parts only will be described. An ink jet cartridge IJC has a cartridge main assembly 1000, an integral ink jet unit IJU and an integral ink jet head IJH. The cartridge main assembly 1000 comprises the bundle of fibers, a partition member 40 having an opening 40A, a porous material 900 in the order named with compression. The ink supply from the container to the head IJH is effected through an ink supply pipe 2200 penetrating the supply port 1200 and through an ink conduit 1600 to the ink inlet port 1500 of the common chamber. The ink jet head IJH forms a bubble using thermal energy, as will be described hereinafter to eject the ink. It comprises plural ejection outlets and effects on-demand recording at high frequency. With the use of the ink container 1A, the ink can be stably supplied to the recording head from the ink container, and therefore, the bubble creation using the film boiling, can be stabilized. The above embodiment uses a flexible sheet, but the same advantageous effects are provided when a flexible tube enclosing the fibers is used. It is preferable that the fibers are compressed in the tube, since then the bundle of the fibers can be easily mounted in the ink container. As described in the foregoing, Figures 4 and 5 embodiment is preferable in that the second absorbing material which is controlling with respect to the vacuum but which is deformed when receiving the ink from the first absorbing material or which is locally deformed, can be stabilized in the formation of the vacuum and in the supply of the ink. The formation of the second absorbing material is suppressed by the partition member, and the vacuum is stabilized. The contact between the first absorbing material and the second absorbing material can be stabilized, and the movement of the air or the like between the absorbing materials can be prevented. Figures 6, 7 and 8 shows the embodiment wherein a member enclosing the fibers is used. In Figures 6 - 8, the fibers are uniformly distributed relative to the ink discharging portion, and is advantageous in that the ink supply is made uniform to the ink discharging portion. In this embodiment, the bundle of fibers and the porous material are simultaneously mounted in the ink container, by which the deformation of the bundle of the fibers is prevented, thus stabilizing the contact between the absorbing materials. The ink can be supplied thereafter with stability without remaining the air, by which the ink communication at the contact portion is stabilized. Figure 6 shows an exploded view of the ink container. In this Figure, the porous material 900 is different from the foregoing embodiments is cut at a corner to accommodate the bundle of the fibers. To the cut-away portion, an opening 904 of the cylindrical partition member is contracted with good close-contactness with the fibers 902. The ink container comprises the porous material 900 for retaining the ink, a bundle of fibers 902 for retaining a constant amount of the ink, a tube for holding the fibers 902 and functioning as a partition member press-contacted to the porous material 901 and made of flexible material, an ink supply port 904 for supplying the ink from the porous material 900 to the fibers 902. The supply port 904 is formed in the tube 903. Figure 7 shows the ink container having the absorbing material 901 in the ink container 1000, and an ink supply pipe 2200 for the ink jet unit IJU inserted in the fibers 902. The porous material 900 is made of polyurethane or the like capable of retaining the ink. It is preferably provided with inclined or recessed portion for permitting deformation of the fibers 902. The contact between the porous material 900 and the bundle of the fibers 902 may be made at plural surfaces or by a curved surface, rather than a single flat surface, so that the ink is stably supplied. The bundle of fibers 902 functions to retain a sufficient quantity of the ink to supply the ink from the porous material 900 to the ink supply pipe 2200 of the ink jet unit IJU. The fibers in this example are made of polyester resin or the like which provides large capillary force and which prevents introduction of the air. In addition, the direction of the fibers 902 are made parallel with the direction of the ink supply pipe 2200. The outside of the bundle of the fibers is enclosed with a flexible tube 903 made of polyethylene or the like. With this structure, the ink is smoothly supplied to the ink jet unit, and in addition, the air coming along the internal surface of the ink container IT can be stopped so as not to introduce the air into the absorbing material. In addition, as shown in Figure 7, the ink supply pipe 2200 can perform its function if it is inserted into the bundle of the fibers 902. In order to prevent the leakage of the ink, the end of the ink supplu pipe 2200 is press-contacted to the bundle 902. The press-contact is also preferable to maintain the stabilized ink supply. It is preferable that the porous material 900 and the bundle 902 are simultaneously mounted into the ink container IT. By the simultaneous mounting, the undesirable deformation of the bundle 902 can be prevented, and the contact area between the porous material 901 and the bundle 902 can be stabilized. In addition, the non-uniform distribution of the ink can be prevented. Furthermore, the air is prevented from remaining, thus assuring the ink movement through the contact area is assured. With this structure, the constant quantity of the ink can be retained at all times in the bundle of fibers adjacent the end of the ink supply pipe 2200 for supplying the ink to the ink jet head unit IJU. Therefore, the insufficient supply of the ink to the ink jet unit IJU can be prevented. The bundle 902 retains the ink by the capillary action, and therefore, the retaining characteristics are immune to the temperature, humidity, pressure and impact thereto. Therefore, the conventional problem of the insufficient ink supply due to the ink retaining charateristics change resulting from the change in the ambient condition, can be prevented. Figure 8 shows the ink container according to a further embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the bundle of the fibers 902 is in the form of a rectanglular cylinder. To accomodate it, the porous material 900 has a rectangular cut-away portion. The cut-away portion receives the bundle of fibers 902 enclosed with the partition member. The bundle having the rectangular cross-section is also usable with the same advantageous effects as in the foregoing embodiments. As described in the foregoing, according to this embodiment of the present invention, the fibers are disposed between the inside surface of the container and the porous material to stably position the fibers relative to the porous material, thus preventing insufficient ink supply. Using the porous material enclosing the bundle of the fibers, is preferable in that the ink retaining or ink supplying performance to the contact area is enhanced, so that the efficiency of the ink supply is improved. In addition, by the use of the fibers, the formation of the air layer can be prevented between the ink absorbing material and the ink supply pipe of the recording head, and therefore, the deterioration of the resultant image or the occurence of the ejection failure can be assuredly prevented. Thus, the ink consumption for the recovery operation can be reduced, and the reliability of the ink jet cartridge is significantly improved. Referring to Figures 9 - 14, a preferable embodiment of the ink jet recording head and an ink jet recording apparatus will be described. In this embodiment, the ink absorbing material in the recording liquid container comprises a first absorbing material exhibiting higher liquid absorbing property and disposed adjacent to the recording liquid supplying pipe (ink discharging side) and a second absorbing material exhibiting lower ink absorbing property than the first liquid absorbing material. The first absorbing material and the second absorbing material are at least partly contacted to each other so as to provide the vacuum. Figure 9 shows an ink container constituting a part of the liquid jet recording head. Referring to Figures 10, 11 and 12, the description will be made, before describing the ink container of Figure 9, as to an ink jet unit IJU, an ink jet head IJH, an ink container IT, an ink jet cartridge IJC, an ink jet recording apparatus main assembly IJRA, a carriage HC, to which the present invention is suitably incorporated. As will be understood from Figure 11 which is a perspective view, the ink jet cartridge IJC of this embodiment has a large ink absorbing region by projecting the ink jet unit IJU slightly beyond the front surface of the ink container IT. The ink jet cartridge IJC is supported by an unshown positioning means of the carriage HC in the ink jet recording apparatus main assembly IJRA and by electric contacts. The ink jet cartridge IJC is detachably mountable to the carriage HC, wherein the ink can be refilled. (i) Ink Jet Unit IJUThe ink jet unit IJU is of an ink jet recording type using electrothermal transducers which generate thermal energy, in response to electric signals, to produce film boiling of the ink. Referring to Figure 10, the unit comprises a heater board 100 having electrothermal transducers (ejection heaters) arranged in a line on an Si substrate and electric head lines made of aluminum or the like to supply electric power thereto. The electrothermal transducer and the electric leads are formed by a film forming process. A wiring board 200 is associated with the heater board 100 and includes wiring corresponding to the wiring of the heater board 100 (connected by the wire bonding technique, for example) and pads 201 disposed at an end of the wiring to receive electric signals from the main assembly of the recording apparatus. A top plate 1300 is provided with grooves which define partition walls for separting adjacent ink passages and a common liquid chamber for accommodating the ink to be supplied to the respective ink passages. The top plate 1300 is formed integrally with an ink jet opening 1500 for receiving the ink supplied from the ink container IT and directing the ink to the common chamber, and also with an orifice plate 400 having the plurality of ejection outlets corresponding to the ink passages. The material of the integral mold is preferably polysulfone, but may be another molding resin material. A supporting member 300 is made of metal, for example, and functions to support a backside of the wiring board 200 in a plane, and constitutes a bottom plate of the ink jet unit IJU. A confining spring 500 is in the form of M having a central portion urging to the common chamber with a light pressure, and a clamp 501 urges concentratedly with a line pressure to a part of the liquid passage, preferably the part in the neighborhood of the ejection outlets. The confining spring 500 has legs for clamping the heater board 100 and the top plate 1300 by penetrating through the openings 3121 of the supporting plate 300 and engaging the back surface of the supporting plate 300. Thus, the heater board 100 and the top plate 1300 are clamped by the concentrated urging force by the legs and the clamp 501 of the spring 500. The supporting plate 300 has positioning openings 312, 1900 and 2000 engageable with two positioning projections 1012 and positioning and fuse-fixing projections 1800 anf 1801 of the ink container IT. It further includes projections 2500 and 2600 at its backside for the positioning relative to the carriage HC of the main assembly IJRA. In addition, the supporting member 300 has a hole 320 through which an ink supply pipe 2200, which will be described hereinafter, is penetrated for supplying ink from the ink container. The wiring board 200 is mounted on the supporting member 300 by bonding agent or the like. The supporting member 300 is provided with recesses 2400 and 2400 adjacent the positioning projections 2500 and 2600. As shown in Figure 11, the assembled ink jet cartridge IJC has a head projected portion having three sides provided with plural parallel grooves 3000 and 3001. The recesses 2400 and 2400 are located at extensions of the parallel grooves at the top and bottom sides to prevent the ink or foreign matter moving along the groove from reaching the projections 2500 and 2600. The covering member 800 having the parallel grooves 3000, as shown in Figure 11, constitutes an outer casing of the ink jet cartridge IJC and cooperates with the ink container to define a space for accommodating the ink jet unit IJU. The ink supply member 600 having the parallel groove 3001 has an ink conduit pipe 1600 communicating with the above-described ink supply pipe 2200 and cantilevered at the supply pipe 2200 side. In order to assure the capillary action at the fixed side of the ink conduit pipe 1600 and the ink supply pipe 2200, a sealing pin 602 is inserted. A gasket 601 seals the connecting portion between the ink container IT and the supply pipe 2200. A filter 700 is disposed at the container side end of the supply pipe. The ink supply member 600 is molded, and therefore, it is produced at low cost with high positional accuracy. In addition, the cantilevered structure of the conduit 1600 assures the press-contact between the conduit 1600 and the ink inlet 1500 even if the ink supply member 600 is mass-produced. In this embodiment, the complete communicating state can be assuredly obtained simply by flowing sealing bonding agent from the ink supply member side under the press-contact state. The ink supply member 600 may be fixed to the supporting member 300 by inserting and penetrating backside pins (not shown) of the ink supply member 600 through the openig 1901 and 1902 of the supporting member 300 and by heat-fusing the portion where the pins are projected through the backside of the supporting member 300. The slight projected portions thus heat-fused are accommodated in recesses (not shown) in the ink jet unit (IJU) mounting side surface of the ink container IT, and therefore, the unit IJU can be correctly positioned. (ii) Ink Container ITThe ink container comprises a main body 1000, a first ink absorbing material 900, a second ink absorbing material 902 and a cover member 1100 for sealing the cartridge after the absorbing materials 901 are inserted through a side opposite from the unit mounting side of the assembly 1000. The ink absorbing material 900 is inserted into the main body 1000 from the side opposite from the unit (IJU) mounting side, and thereafter, the cover member 1100 seals the main body. The second absorbing material 902 is enclosed with a flexible sheet 903 having an opening (not shown), and the opening portion is press-contacted to the first ink absorbing material 900, when it is disposed in the main assembly 1000. An ink supply opening 1200 functions to supply the ink to the unit IJU comprising the various elements 100 - 600. The opening also functions as an injection port for supplying the ink to the absorbing materials 900 and 902 therethrough before the unit is mounted to the portion 1010 of the main assembly 1000 of the cartridge. In this embodiment, the ink may be supplied through an air vent port and this supply opening. In order to good supply of ink, ribs 2300 is formed on the inside surface of the main body 1000, and ribs 2301 and 2302 are formed on the inside of the cover member 1100, which are effective to provide within the ink container an ink existing region extending continuously from the air vent port side to that corner portion of the main body which is most remote from the ink supply opening 1200. The number of the ribs 2300 in this embodiment is four, and the ribs 2300 extend parallel to a movement direction of the carriage adjacent the rear side of the main body of the ink container, by which the absorbing material 900 is prevented from closely contacted to the inner surface of the rear side of the main body. The partial ribs 2400 and 2500 are formed on the inside surface of the cover member 1100 at a position which is substantially an extension of the ribs 2300, however, as contrasted to the large rib 2300, the size of the ribs 2301 an 2302 are small as if it is divided ribs, so that the air existing space is larger with the ribs 2400 and 2500 than with the rib 2300. The ribs 2302 and 2301 are distributed on the entire area of the cover member 1100, and the area thereof is not more than one half of the total area. Because of the provisions of the ribs, the ink in the corner region of the ink absorbing material which is most remote from the supply opening 1200 can be stably and assuredly supplied to the inlet opening by capillary action. The cartridge is provided with an air vent port 1401 for communication between the inside of the cartridge with the outside air. Inside the vent port 1401, there is a water stopping material 1400 to prevent the inside ink from leaking outside through the vent port 1401. The ink accommodating space in the ink container IT is substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and the long side faces in the direction of carriage movement, and therefore, the above-described rib arrangements are particularly effective. When the long side extends along the movement direction of the carriage, or when the ink containing space is in the form of a cube, the ribs are preferably formed on the entire surface of the inside of the cover member 1100 to stabilize the ink supply from the ink absorbing material 900. The cube configuration is preferable from the standpoint of accommodating as much ink as possible in the limited space. However, from the standpoint of using the ink with minimum an available part in the ink container, the provisions of the ribs formed on the two surfaces constituting a corner. In this embodiment, the inside ribs 2301 and 2302 of the ink container IT are substantially uniformly distributed in the direction of the thickness of the ink absorbing material having the rectangular parallelepiped configuration. Such a structure is significant, since the air pressure distribution in the ink container IT is made uniform when the ink in the absorbing material is consumed so that the quantity of the remaining unavailable ink is substantially zero. It is preferable that the ribs are disposed on the surface or surfaces outside a circular are having the center at the projected position on the ink supply opening 1200 on the top surface of the rectangular ink absorbing material and having a radius which is equal to the long side of the rectangular shape, since then the ambient air pressure is quickly established for the ink absorbing material present outside the circular arc. The position of the air vent of the ink container IT is not limited to the position of this embodiment if it is good for introducing the ambient air into the position where the ribs are disposed. After the ink jet cartridge IJC is assembled, the ink is supplied from the inside of the cartridge to the chamber in the ink supply member 600 through a supply opening 1200, the whole 320 of the supporting member 300 and an inlet formed in the backside of the ink supply member 600. From the chamber of the ink supply member 600, the ink is supplied to the common chamber through the outlet, supply pipe and an ink inlet 1500 formed in the top plate 1300. The connecting portion for the ink communication is sealed by silicone rubber or butyl rubber or the like to assure the hermetical seal. In this embodiment, the top plate 1300 is made of resin material having resistivity to the ink, such as polysulfone, polyether sulfone, polyphenylene oxide, polypropylene. It is integrally molded in a mold together with an orifice plate portion 400. As described in the foregoing, the integral part comprises the ink supply member 600, the top plate 1300, the orifice plate 400 and parts integral therewith, and the ink container body 1000. Therefore, the accuracy in the assembling is improved, and is convenient in the mass-production. The number of parts is smaller than inconventional device, so that the good performance can be assured. (ii) General Arrangement of the ApparatusFigure 12 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA in which the present invention is used. A lead screw 5005 rotates by way of a drive transmission gears 5011 and 5009 by the forward and backward rotation of a driving motor 5013. The lead screw 5005 has a helical groove 5004 with which a pin (not shown) of the carriage HC is engaged, by which the carriage HC is reciprocable in directions a and b. A sheet confining plate 5002 confines the sheet on the platen over the carriage movement range. Home position detecting means 5007 and 5008 are in the form of a photocoupler to detect presence of a lever 5006 of the carriage, in response to which the rotational direction of the motor 5013 is switched. A supporting member 5016 supports the front side surface of the recording head to a capping member 5022 for capping the recording head. Sucking means 5015 functions to suck the recording head through the opening 5023 of the cap so as to recover the recording head. A cleaning blade 5017 is moved toward front and rear by a moving member 5019. They are supported on the supporting frame 5018 of the main assembly of the apparatus. The blade may be in another form, more particularly, a known cleaning blade. A lever 5021 is effective to start the sucking recovery operation and is moved with the movement of a cam 5020 engaging the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor is controlled by known transmitting means such as clutch or the like. The capping, cleaning an sucking operations can be performed when the carriage is at the home position by the lead screw 5005, in this embodiment. However, the present invention is usable in another type of system wherein such operations are effected at different timing. The individual structures are advantageous, and in addition, the combination thereof is further preferable. In Figure 9, there are shown a first ink absorbing material 900 and a second ink absorbing material 902. The second ink absorbing material 902 has a high ink absorbing characteristics than the first ink absorbing material 900. In this embodiment, the first ink absorbing material 900 is of urethane resin material, and the second ink absorbing material 902 is a one directional bundle of polyester fibers. The second ink absorbing material 902 is enclosed with a flexible sheet 903 having an opening (not shown) at a part thereof. The first and second ink absorbing materials 900 and 902 are disposed so as to press-contact to each other through the opening and is accommodated in the main assembly 1000 of the ink container cartridge. Figures 13A, 13B, 14A and 14B show the first ink absorbing material 900 and the second ink absorbing material 902 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figures 13A and 13B, the first ink absorbing material 900 is partially cut away at the portion having the dimension of l₁, l₂ at a corner to provide a stepped portion. The lengths l₁ and l₂ are smaller than the second ink absorbing material 902 so as to press-contact the second absorbing material 902 of Figure 14 to the inside surface of the ink container. In this embodiment, the diameter of the second ink absorbing material 902 is 16 mm, and the lengths l₁ and l₂ and 11 mm and 12 mm, respectively. With these dimensions, the press-contact between the first ink absorbing material 900 and the second ink absorbing material 902 was satisfactory at the cut-away portion of the absorbing material 900. In Figure 14, the area of the opening 904 of the flexible sheet 903 where the first ink absorbing material 900 and the second ink absorbing material 902 are directly press-contacted is determined on the basis of the characteristics of the recording head and the rate of ink supply required. In this embodiment, the length l₃ and l₄ are preferably 12 mm and 16 mm, respectively. If the area of the opening 904 is not less than 100 mm², the fibers 902 are assuredly projected slightly through the opening, as shown in Figure 14B, so that the side of the bundle of the fibers are partly formed into a projection or bulge 902A. The bulge 902A functions to receive the ink efficiently and not to receive the air. As described in the foregoing, according to this embodiment, when the desired content of the ink is obtained by partly discharging the ink after the ink is supplied, the press-contact of the flexible sheet enclosing the one directional fibers to the inside surface of the ink cartridge is effective to shut the air coming along the surface, and therefore, the introduction of the air into the ink jet unit can be prevented, thus stabilizing the ink supply. The ink is discharged or removed from the absorbing material having the lower absorbing characteristics (porous material or the like) than the one directional fibers, and therefore, the fibers are not influenced by the non-uniform distribution of the ink at the time of the ink discharge. As a result, the introduction of the air into the ink jet unit can be prevented, thus providing the smooth ink supply. Figure 15 illustrates a further embodiment of the present invention. The ink container IT generally comprises a main assembly 100A and a cover 8 A for covering the opening of the main assembly 100A. Into the main assembly 1000A, an end of an ink supply pipe 2200 is inserted through one wall thereof. The ink supply pipe 2200 functions as an ink supply passage for supplying the ink in the main assembly 100A to the ink ejector of the ink jet head. In the main assembly 1000A, there are a first absorbing material 900 made of porous material such as polyurethane resin or the like to retain the ink and a second absorbing material 905 comprising a bundle of one directional fibers 902 (not shown) may be polyester resin or the like and a flexible material tube 903 made of polyethylene resin or the like and enclosing the bundle of the fibers. They are compressed in the container main assembly 1000A. The tube 903 enclosing the second absorbing material 905 is provide with an opening 904 functioning as an ink supply port from the first absorbing material 900 to the inside 905 of the second absorbing material. The fibers 902 extend in the direction of the length of the tube 903, and the bundle thereof is compressed in the direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the fibers extend. A sealing member 1000B is effective to prevent the leakage of the ink. In this structure, the porous material constituting the first absorbing material 900 is contacted to the peripheral portion of the bundle of the fibers 902 constituting the second absorbing material 905 through the opening 904 of the tube 903, and therefore, the ink supply from the first absorbing material 904 to the seond absorbing material 905 is assured. The end of the ink supply pipe 220 is pressed into the central portion of an end of the bundle 902 enclosed by the tube 903, so that the end is positioned in the container main assembly 1000A. It is preferable that the ink container IT has the opening 904 in the tube 903, the opening having the area S which is not less than 100 mm². The depth of insertion of the ink supply pipe 220 at the end into the tube 903 (l) is preferably not less than 3 mm, and the inside diameter D of the tube 903 is not less than 1.5 (further preferably 2.0) times the inside diameter d of the ink supply pipe 5 at the end. By satisfying them, the ink supply is stabilized at high efficiency without influence to the ejection performance by the ink ejector. These conditions are preferably since they are satisfied, the advantageous effects of the present invention are assured with the manufacturing error or the like. The high rate ink supply is possible to permit high speed recording operation. It is further preferable that the supply pipe is inserted into the fibers at the center of the bundle thereof, and also it is preferable that the direction in which the fibers extend is codirectional with the supply pipe. The diameter of the supply pipe is preferably not more than 10 times, or further preferably 5 times. In this manner, the concentrated ink supply by the bundle of the fibers with the difference of not less than 3 mm, if effective to delay the arrival of the air to the end of the supply pipe almost until the use-up of the ink. The contact in the area not less than 100 mm² between the first absorbing material of the porous material and the second absorbing material of fibers, is effective to prevent the discontinuance of the ink supply path between the first absorbing material to the second absorbing material event when the remaining amount of the ink reduces or even when the ambient condition changes. Figures 16 and 17 illustrate a further embodiment. In the present invention, the ink supply is better than in the conventional structure even if the ink container contains small amount of air. However, at the initial stage of the use of the ink container, it is preferable that there is no air adjacent the contact area between the different absorbing materials. In this embodiment, the ink can be supplied or re-supplied into the container so that the air does not exists in the neighborhood of the contact portion between the two ink absorbing materials. In order to solve the problems, the recording head of this embodiment is characterized by the ink injecting opening formed in the ink container wall in the neighborhood of the opening for permitting direct contact between the porous material and the bundle of the fibers. With this structure, the discharge outlet of the ink container is sealed; the air is removed through the above-described air vent 1401 until the vacuum of the inside of the ink container is sufficient; the air vent 1401 is closed; and the ink is injected through the injection opening. By doing so, the air does not remain in the ink absorbing material, particularly the portion between the absorbing materials. In addition, a small diameter pipe is inserted into the porous material through the air vent, and the ink is injected through the pipe so that the air does not remain in the ink container. Figure 16 shows a further embodiment. In this Figure, the same reference numerals as in the foregoing embodiments are assigned to the elements having the corresponding functions, and the detailed description thereof are omitted. An ink injecting opening 1000C is provided in the ink container itself and is formed adjacent the opening 904 of the tube 903 enclosing the fibers 902 at the side where the porous material 900 is formed. When the ink is supplied through the air vent, the air remains in the neighborhood of the opening 904 of the tube 903. However, by injecting the ink through the injection opening 1000C, the air in the porous absorbing material is easily moved to the air vent. In addition, the ink is supplied into the fibers through the opening 904, and therefore, the air removal from the contact area is assured. By injecting the ink through the injection opening 1000C adjacent the opening 904, the quantity of the remaing air can be reduced. It is preferable that the ink injecting opening 1000C is provided with a removable cap permitting the re-injection of the ink, so that the recording head is reusable. Figure 17 shows a further embodiment wherein without the injecting opening 1000C of Figure 14, the same advantages can be provided using the air vent 1401. It is preferable that the injection end of the liquid injecting pipe is positioned to the neighborhood of the contact area between the different ink absorbing materials, and the ink is supplied there. The end of the injecting pipe may be positioned to the porous material and the fibers. It is most preferable that the end is positioned correctly at the contact position. When the ink container is to be refilled, there exists the remaining ink in the contact portion, and therefore, the end of the injecting pipe may be slightly away from the contact portion, as compared with the case of the initial supply of the ink thereto. In any case, the ink is injected at the neighborhood of the contact portion of the ink container. By inserting the small diameter pipe 100 through the air vent, as shown in Figure 17, the same advantageous effects as in the foregoing embodiment can be provided. As described in the foregoing, in the ink container having plural absorbing materials, the ink injecting opening is disposed adjacent the opening permitting the motion of the ink between the absorbing materials, and therefore, the quantity of the ink remaining in the container in the absorbing materials can be reduced. Since the ink supply side absorbing material of the recording head is constituted by fibers enclosed by a compressing tube, the capillary force is increased, so that the air is not easily accumulated below the filter. Without use of this method, the ink container becomes non-usable in one hour at 60 °C acceleration test due to the introduction of the air, but with the use of this method, it is extended to 16 hours. Figure 18 shows an ink jet recording apparatus having electrothermal transducers with plural ejection outlets, which is suitably usuable with the present invention. An ink jet head H comprises at least 10 ejection outlets, the electrothermal transducers EH corresponding to the injection outlets and a common liquid chamber C commonly communicating with the ejection outlets. A supply pipe SP functions to supply the ink from the ink containing portion to the common liquid chamber. A selection circuit EC functions to individually or simultaneously driving the electrothermal transducers EH. The recording heads has a common electrode and is driven by a driving means DM. A recording signal generators RS comprises reading means, communication means, receiver or a host computer or the like. The driving means DM is responsive to the recording signal RS, and is capable of driving the electrothermal transducers at the driving frequency of not less than 5 KHz. The direction of the ink supply in the pipe SP is indicated by a reference Y. In Figure 18, the ink container has the structure of any one of the foregoing embodiments. The fibers are indicated by ITA, the partition member is indicated by HM, the opening of the partition member is indicated by TH, the air vent is indicated by AH, the ink retaining portion is indicated by ITB, which may be in the form of the above described porous material or the cavity. In this embodiment, an end of the ink supply pipe is tapered, and a filter is provided for the end, so that the filter is inclined relative to the direction of the fibers. The depth of the insertion in the partition member HM is l₁ at minimum and l₂ at the maximum. In this case, the insertion depth l is considered as (l1 + l2)/2 in the foregoing embodiment, and therefore, (l1 + l2)/2 ≧ 3 mm is practically preferable. Further preferably, the minimum depth l₁ satisfies l₁ ≧ 3 mm. The inside diameter of the supply pipe is perpendicular to the ink supply direction Y, and therefore it is the inside diameter d at the position in the partition member HM, and therefore, S ≧ 100 mm², d ≧ 1.5D, l ≧ 3 mm are preferable. The typical structure and the operational principle of preferably the one disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740,796. The principle is applicable to a so-called on-demand type recording system and a continuous type recording system particularly however, it is suitable for the on-demand type because the principle is such that at least one driving signal is applied to an electrothermal transducer disposed on a liquid (ink) retaining sheet or liquid passage, the driving signal being enough to provide such a quick temperature rise beyond a departure from nucleation boiling point, by which the thermal energy is provide by the electrothermal transducer to produce film boiling on the heating portion of the recording head, whereby a bubble can be formed in the liquid (ink) corresponding to each of the driving signals. By the development and collapse of the the bubble, the liquid (ink) is ejected through an ejection outlet to produce at least one droplet. The driving signal is preferably in the form of a pulse, because the development and collapse of the bubble can be effected instantaneously, and therefore, the liquid (ink) is ejected with quick response. The driving signal in the form of the pulse is preferably such as diclosed in U.S. Patents Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262. In addition, the temperature increasing rate of the heating surface is preferably such as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,313,124. The structure of the recording head may be as shown in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,558,333 and 4,459,600 wherein the heating portion is disposed at a vent portion in addition to the structure of the combination of the ejection oulet, liquid passage and the electrothermal transducer as disclosed in the above-mentioned patents. In addition, the present invention is applicable to the structure disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 123670/1984 wherein a common slit is used as the ejection outlet for plural electrothermal transducers, and to the structure disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 138461/1984 wherein an opening for absorbing pressure wave of the thermal energy is formed corresponding to the ejecting portion. This is because, the present invention is effective to perform the recording operation with certainty and at high efficiency irrespective of the type of the recording head. The present invention is effectively applicable to a so-called full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recording width. Such a recording head may comprise a single recording head and a plural recording head combined to cover the entire width. In addition, the present invention is applicable to a serial type recording head wherein the recording head is fixed on the main assembly, to a replaceable chip type recording head which is connected electrically with the main apparatus and can be supplied with the ink by being mounted in the main assembly, or to a cartridge type recording head having an integral ink container. The provision of the recovery means and the auxiliary means for the preliminary operation are preferable, because they can further stabilize the effect of the present invention. As for such means, there are capping means for the recording head, cleaning means therefor, pressing or sucking means, preliminary heating means by the ejection electrothermal transducer or by a combination of the ejection electrothermal transducer and additional heating element and means for preliminary ejection not for the recording operation, which can stabilize the recording operation. As regards the kinds of the recording head mountable, it may be a single corresponding to a single color ink, or may be plural corresponding to the plurality of ink materials having different recording color or density. The present invention is effectively applicable to an apparatus having at least one of a monochromatic mode mainly with black and a multi-color with different color ink materials and a full-color mode by the mixture of the colors which may be an integrally formed recording unit or a combination of plural recording heads. As described in the foregoing, even if the air is introduced into the first ink absorbing material, it is not introduced into the second ink absorbing material constituted by fibers extended in the same direction. Therefore, the air is not accumulated in the neighborhood of the supply port. Therefore, the ink supply is not stopped by the air, thus stably supplying the ink. In addition, plural absorbing materials having different configurations and materials are disposed with a partition wall therebetween, which is integral with the inside wall of the container. Therefore, the motion of the air due to the consumption of the ink can be delayed, so that the improper ink supply occurrence can be significantly delayed or completely avoided. Therefore, ink can be consumed efficiently in connection with the amount of the ink contained in the container.	An ink container, comprising: an ink discharging portion for discharging ink; an air vent (11); first liquid absorbing material (6) for absorbing the ink therein; a second ink absorbing material (5), disposed between said air vent and said first absorbing material, for absorbing the ink, said first and second absorbing materials being at least partly in contact with each other, characterised in that said first liquid absorbing material includes fibrous material, the fibres of which extend in the direction of the contact surface between said first and second absorbing materials. A container as claimed in Claim 1, further comprising a partition member (4) for providing a first region for accommodating said first absorbing material and a second region for accommodating said second absorbing material and for directly communicating with said air vent, said partition member comprising an opening for permitting the contact between said first and second absorbing materials. An ink container as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that said first absorbing material comprises fibres which are compressed. A container as claimed in Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that said second absorbing material comprising a continous porous elastic material which is compressed. A container as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the contact surface is adjacent a center of the length of a bundle of the fibrous material. A container as claimed in Claim 5, characterised in that in the discharging portion, the longitudinal end portion of the bundle of the fibrous materials is compressed at a central portion of the end of the bundle. A container as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 6, characterised in that said partition member is in the form of a flexible resin sheet enclosing the fibrous material and is contained in said ink container in contact with said first ink absorbing material. A container as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 7, characterised in that said first absorbing material has a property of increasing its volume when the ink is removed therefrom, and said second absorbing material has a property of increasing its volume by absorbing air when it supplies the ink to said first absorbing material, wherein capillary force in the first absorbing material is larger than that in the second absorbing material. An ink jet recording head comprising an ink container as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 8, a number of ejection outlets for ejecting ink, a common chamber for supplying the ink toward the ejection outlets, and an ink supply member (9, 2200, SP) for supplying the ink from said container to the common chamber. A recording head as claimed in Claim 9, characterised in that the number of the ejection outlets is not less than 10, said recording head further comprises electrothermal transducers for creating a bubble through film boiling by thermal energy, provided for respective ejecting portions, a filter (8, F) at an end of the ink supply member, said filter being inserted into the fibrous material in the direction of the length thereof. A recording head as claimed in Claim 9 when dependent on Claim 2, characterised in that the ink supply member for supplying the ink to the common chamber is provided with a filter at an ink receiving end thereof; said filter being inserted into said first absorbing material in the direction of the length of the fibrous material, the depth of the insertion being not less than 3 mm, and the diameter D of said ink supply member in a perpendicular cross-section with respect to the direction of the ink supply adjacent the filter of the ink supply member and a diameter d of said first absorbing material in the perpendicular cross-section adjacent the filter are dimensioned such that they satisfy the equation d ≧ 1.5D, and the opening has an area of not less than 100 mm². A recording apparatus having a recording head as claimed in Claim 9, 10 or 11, further comprising driving means for driving the electrothermal transducers at a frequency not less than 5 kHz. A method of supplying ink to an ink container as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 8, to a recording head as claimed in claims 9 to 11 or to a recording apparatus as claimed in claim 12, said method comprising inserting an ink supply pipe so that an end of the ink supply pipe is adjacent the contact portion; and supplying the ink through the ink supply pipe.	CANON KK; CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA	ARASHIMA TERUO; ASAI NAOHITO; IKEDA MASAMI; IZUMIDA MASAAKI; KIMURA MAKIKO; KUWABARA NOBUYUKI; TANAKA SHIGEAKI; ARASHIMA, TERUO; ASAI, NAOHITO; IKEDA, MASAMI; IZUMIDA, MASAAKI; KIMURA, MAKIKO; KUWABARA, NOBUYUKI; TANAKA, SHIGEAKI; ARASHIMA, TERUO, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA; ASAI, NAOHITO, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA; IKEDA, MASAMI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA; IZUMIDA, MASAAKI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA; KIMURA, MAKIKO, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA; KUWABARA, NOBUYUKI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA; TANAKA, SHIGEAKI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
EP-0488837-B1	488,837	EP	B1	EN	19,970,402	1,992	20,100,220	new	H01L39	H01L39	H01L39	H01L 39/14C2	Method for manufacturing superconducting device having a reduced thickness of oxide superconducting layer and superconducting device manufactured thereby	For manufacturing a superconducting device, a compound layer which is composed of the same constituent elements of an oxide superconductor is formed on a surface of the substrate, and a gate electrode is formed on a portion of the compound layer. Portions of the compound layer at both sides of the gate electrode are etched using the gate electrode as a mask, so that a shallow step is formed on an upper surface of the compound layer and side surfaces of the step exposed. After that electric power is applied to the gate electrode to heat the gate electrode so as to carry out a heat-treatment on the portion of the compound layer under the gate electrode locally, so that a gate insulator formed directly under the the gate electrode and a superconducting channel which is constituted an extremely thin superconducting region composed of the oxide superconductor and formed under the gate insulator are produced in a self alignment to the gate electrode.	Background of the InventionField of the inventionThe present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a superconducting device, and more specifically to a method for manufacturing a superconducting device including an oxide superconducting layer having a partially reduced thickness portion forming a superconducting channel controlled by a gate electrode, and a superconducting device manufactured by the method. Description of related artTypical three-terminal devices which utilize a superconductor include a so called superconducting-base transistor and a so called super-FET (field effect transistor). The superconducting-base transistor includes an emitter of a superconductor or a normal conductor, a tunnel barrier of an insulator, a base of a superconductor, a semiconductor isolator and a collector of a normal conductor, stacked in the named order. This superconducting-base transistor operates at a high speed with a low power consumption, by utilizing high speed electrons passing through the tunnel barrier. The super-FET includes a semiconductor layer, and a superconductor source electrode and a superconductor drain electrode which are formed closely to each other on the semiconductor layer. A portion of the semiconductor layer between the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode has a greatly recessed or undercut rear surface so as to have a reduced thickness. In addition, a gate electrode is formed through a gate insulator layer on the recessed or undercut rear surface of the portion of the semiconductor layer between the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode. A superconducting current flows through the semiconductor layer portion between the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode due to a superconducting proximity effect, and is controlled by an applied gate voltage. This super-FET also operates at a high speed with a low power consumption. In addition, in the prior art, there has been proposed a three-terminal superconducting device having a channel of a superconductor formed between a source electrode and a drain electrode, so that a current flowing through the superconducting channel is controlled by a voltage applied to a gate formed above the superconducting channel. The European Patent Application EP-A-0 478 464, which belongs to state of the art pursuant to Article 54(3) E.P.C, relates to such a three-terminal superconducting device. This document describes that the substrate is heat-treated in an oxygen atmosphere so that oxygen is diffused into a portion of a compound oxide layer between the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode, so as to constitutes an extremely thin superconducting region, i.e the superconducting channel. This document doesn't describe nor suggest the fact that the gate electrode is heated as in the present invention. The article superconducting thin films for device applications , published in the 2nd workshop on high-Temperature superconducting electron devices, 7 June 1989, p.281-284, relates also to a three-terminal device. This document particularly discloses that a voltage is applied to the insulated gate in order to heat the superconducting oxide layer, thereby forming the superconducting channel. Both of the above mentioned superconducting-base transistor and the super-FET have a portion in which a semiconductor layer and a superconducting layer are stacked to each other. However, it is difficult to form a stacked structure of the semiconductor layer and the superconducting layer formed of an oxide superconductor which has been recently advanced in study. In addition, even if it is possible to form a stacked structure of the semiconductor layer and the oxide superconducting layer, it is difficult to control a boundary between the semiconductor layer and the oxide superconducting layer. Therefore, a satisfactory operation could not been obtained in these superconducting devices. In addition, since the super-FET utilizes the superconducting proximity effect, the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode have to be located close to each other at a distance which is a few times the coherence length of the superconductor materials of the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode. In particular, since an oxide superconductor has a short coherence length, if the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode are formed of the oxide superconductor material, a distance between the superconductor source electrode and the superconductor drain electrode has to be not greater than a few ten nanometers. However, it is very difficult to conduct a fine processing such as a fine pattern etching so as to ensure the very short separation distance. Because of this, in the prior art, it has been impossible to manufacture the super-FET composed of the oxide superconductor material. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the conventional three-terminal superconducting device having the superconducting channel shows a modulation operation. However, the conventional three-terminal superconducting device having the superconducting channel could not realize a complete ON/OFF operation, because a carrier density is too high. In this connection, since an oxide superconductor material has a low carrier density, it is expected to form a three-terminal superconducting device which has a superconducting channel and which can realize the complete ON/OFF operation, by forming the superconducting channel of the oxide superconductor material. In this case, however, a thickness of the superconducting channel has to be made on the order of 5 nanometers. Summary of the InventionAccordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a superconducting device, which have overcome the above mentioned defects of the conventional ones. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an FET type superconducting device including an oxide superconducting layer having an extremely thin portion forming a superconducting channel, with a good repeatability by using existing established processing techniques. Still another object of the present invention is to provide an FET type superconducting device having a unique structure which have overcome the above mentioned defects of the conventional ones. The above and other objects of the present invention are achieved in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention by a method for manufacturing a a superconducting device, comprising the step of forming on a surface of a substrate a compound layer which is composed of the same constituent elements of an oxide superconductor and forming a gate electrode on a gate insulator layer formed on a portion of the compound layer, and comprising the step of applying electric power to said gate electrode to heat said gate electrode so as to carry out a heat-treatment on the portion of said compound layer under said gate electrode locally, so that a superconducting channel which is constituted of an oxide superconductor having a thickness of not more than 5 nanometers is produced in a self alignment to said gate electrode. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects of the present invention are achieved in accordance with the present invention by a method for manufacturing a a superconducting device, comprising the step of forming an oxide superconductor thin film on a surface of a substrate, and forming a gate electrode on a portion of the oxide superconductor thin film , characterized in that it comprises the step of etching portions of said oxide superconductor thin film at both sides of said gate electrode using said gate electrode as a mask, so that a shallow step is formed on an upper surface of the compound layer and side surfaces of the step exposed, and applying electric power to said gate electrode to heat the gate electrode so as to carry out a heat-treatment on the portion of said compound layer under said gate electrode locally, so that a gate insulator formed directly under said gate electrode and a superconducting channel which is constituted of a thin superconducting region having a thickness of not more than 5 nanometers, composed of the oxide superconductor and formed under said gate insulator is produced in a self alignment to said gate electrode . According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a superconducting device which comprising a substrate, a superconducting channel formed of an oxide superconductor on the substrate, a superconducting source region and a superconducting drain region formed at both sides of the superconducting channel separated from each other but electrically connected by the superconducting channel, and a gate electrode formed on a gate insulator placed on the superconducting channel for controlling the superconducting current flowing through the superconducting channel characterized in that said superconducting channel , said superconducting source region, said superconducting drain region and said gate insulator are formed of a single oxide thin film, in which said superconducting channel, said superconducting source region and said superconducting drain region are formed of an oxide superconductor at three superconducting portions of said single oxide thin film and said gate insulator is formed of a nonsuperconducting oxide having the same constituent elements as those of said oxide superconductor but includes said oxygen amount less than that of said oxide superconductor. In a preferred embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, the compound layer is an oxide superconductor thin film and the heat-treatment is carried out under high vacuum so that oxygen of the crystals of the portion of the oxide superconductor thin film just under the gate electrode escapes through the side surfaces so as to convert the portion into a non-superconducting compound oxide material and to constitute an extremely thin superconducting region under the non-superconducting compound oxide material layer. Preferably, the oxide superconductor thin film is formed as thick as the sum of the necessary thickness of the superconducting channel and of the gate insulator. In a preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, the compound layer does not show superconductivity but will become an oxide superconductor when the compound layer is heated in an oxygen atmosphere or when oxygen ions are injected and the heat-treatment is carried out in an oxygen atmosphere so that the oxygen is diffused through the side surfaces into a portion of the compound layer under the gate electrode in a lateral direction so as to constitute an extremely thin superconducting region. In this connection, before the heat-treatment is carried out, oxygen ions are selectively injected into two portions of the compound layer separated from each other, so that the two separated portions of the compound layer are converted into a pair of thick superconducting regions composed of the oxide superconductor. Preferably, the compound layer is formed of a compound oxide which is composed of the same constituent elements as those of an oxide superconductor but includes the oxygen amount less than that of the oxide superconductor, so that the compound oxide layer will be brought into an oxide superconductor when the compound oxide layer is heated in an oxygen atmosphere or when oxygen ions are injected. It is desired that the abovementioned oxide superconductor is a high-Tc (high critical temperature) oxide superconductor. This high-Tc oxide superconductor has been studied by many researchers since the discovery of Bednorz and Müller in 1986, and is said to indicate oxide superconductor having a critical temperature of not less than 30K. More specifically, the oxide super conductor is a high-Tc copper-oxide type compound oxide superconductor including a Y-Ba-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor, a Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor and a Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor. In addition, the substrate, on which the oxide superconductor thin film or the compound layer is deposited, can be formed of an insulating substrate, preferably an oxide single crystalline substrate such as MgO, SrTiO3, CdNdAlO4, etc. These substrate materials are very effective in forming or growing a crystalline film having a high orientation property. However, the superconducting device can be formed on a semiconductor substrate if an appropriate buffer layer is deposited thereon. For example, the buffer layer on the semiconductor substrate can be formed of a double-layer coating formed of a MgAlO4 layer and a BaTiO3 layer if silicon is used as a substrate. In the superconducting device manufactured in accordance with the present invention, the superconducting current flowing between the source and drain oxide superconducting regions through the superconducting channel formed of the first oxide superconducting region is controlled by a voltage applied to the gate electrode. Namely, the superconducting device constitutes the super-FET. In order to ensure that the superconducting channel can be turned on and off by a voltage applied to the gate electrode, a thickness of the superconducting channel has to be on the order of 5 nanometers in the direction of an electric field created by the voltage applied to the gate electrode. This extremely thin superconducting channel can be easily realized or formed and the gate electrode, the gate insulator and the superconducting channel are arranged in a self alignment in accordance with the method of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, a c-axis orientated oxide superconductor thin film is formed to have the thickness on the order of about 20 nanometers. A gate electrode is formed on the c-axis orientated oxide superconductor thin film and the c-axis orientated oxide superconductor thin film is shaped into a superconducting channel, a superconducting source region, a superconducting drain region and a gate insulator which are formed integrally. Since under the gate electrode the gate insulator and the superconducting channel are stacked upper and lower, an upper portion of the shaped c-axis orientated oxide superconductor thin film having a thickness of more than 10 nanometers is converted into an oxide insulating layer so that a lower portion of the c-axis orientated oxide superconductor thin film becomes a superconducting channel having a thickness of about 5 nanometers. To convert the upper portion of the c-axis orientated oxide superconductor thin film into the oxide insulating layer, the portion is heated under high vacuum. Particularly, according to the present invention, the heat-treatment is carried out by applying electric power to the gate electrode. The upper portion of the oxide superconductor thin film just under the gate electrode is converted into the gate insulator by the heat-treatment which heats the portion locally, so that the gate insulator is arranged just under the gate electrode and the superconducting channel is arranged just under the gate insulator, automatically. Oxygen of crystals of an oxide superconductor escapes when the oxide superconductor is heated under vacuum. Superconducting properties of an oxide superconductor is sensitive to amounts of oxygen which is included in the crystals of the oxide superconductor. If the crystals of the oxide superconductor lack oxygen, the critical temperature of the oxide superconductor lowers considerably or the oxide superconductor loses its superconductivity. Therefore, the upper portion of the c-axis orientated oxide superconductor thin film is converted into an oxide insulating layer substantially and the extremely thin oxide superconductor thin film can be formed. The thickness of the oxide insulating layer is controlled by the heat process time. It is preferable to etch the oxide superconductor film so that side surfaces of a portion which will be converted into the oxide insulating layer, which are parallel to the c-axes of crystals of oxide superconductor, are exposed, since the oxygen of crystals of oxide superconductor migrates to a direction perpendicular to the c-axis of crystals of oxide superconductor easier. In another preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, the compound layer which does not show superconductivity but will become an oxide superconductor when which is heated in an oxygen atmosphere or when oxygen ions are injected is formed to have the thickness on the order of about 200 nanometers. A stacked structure including a gate insulator and a gate electrode is formed at an appropriate position on the compound layer. Oxygen ions are injected into two portions of the compound layer at both sides of the gate electrode using the gate electrode as a mask so that the portions are converted into a superconducting source region and a superconducting drain region. The portions of the compound layer at both sides of the gate electrode are etched using the gate electrode as a mask, so that a shallow step is formed on an upper surface of the compound layer. Since the superconducting channel is positioned under the gate electrode and between the superconducting source region and the superconducting drain region, the portion of the compound layer under the gate electrode having a thickness of about 5 nanometers is converted into an oxide superconductor. To convert the portion into superconductor, the portion is heated in an oxygen atmosphere. Particularly, according to the present invention, the heat-treatment is carried out by applying power to the gate electrode. The portion of the compound layer under the gate electrode is converted into the superconducting channel by the heat-treatment which heats the portion locally, so that the superconducting channel is arranged under the gate electrode and just under the gate insulator, automatically. Oxygen penetrates into a compound which is composed of the same constituent elements as those of an oxide superconductor but includes the oxygen amount less than that of the oxide superconductor when the compound is heated in an oxygen atmosphere. If oxygen diffuses into the compound, the compound changes to the oxide superconductor and gets superconductivity. Therefore, the portion of the compound layer is converted into an extremely thin oxide superconductor thin film by the heat-treatment. The thickness of the oxide superconductor thin film is controlled by the heat process time. It is preferable to etch the compound layer so that side surfaces of a portion which will be converted into the oxide insulating layer, which are parallel to the c-axes of crystals of compound, are exposed, since the oxygen of crystals of compound migrates to a direction perpendicular to the c-axis of crystals of compound easier. The extremely thin oxide superconductor thin film thus formed is very preferable in thickness and the crystal orientation to form a superconducting channel. In addition, according to the present invention, the gate electrode, the gate insulator and the superconducting channel are arranged in a self alignment. As seen from the above, the method in accordance with the present invention includes no process which requires high-precision for forming the superconducting channel. Therefore, the limitation in the fine processing techniques required for manufacturing the super-FET can be relaxed. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. Brief Description of the DrawingsFigures 1A to 1F are diagrammatic sectional views for illustrating a first embodiment of the process in accordance with the present invention for manufacturing the super-FET; Figures 2A to 2I are diagrammatic sectional views for illustrating a second embodiment of the process in accordance with the present invention for manufacturing the super-FET. Description of the Preferred embodimentsReferring to Figures 1A to 1F, the process in accordance with the present invention for manufacturing the super-FET will be described. As shown in Figure 1A, a substrate 5 having a substantially planar principal surface is prepared. This substrate 5 is formed of for example, an insulator substrate such as a MgO (100) substrate, a SrTiO3 (100) substrate, a CdNdAlO4 (001) substrate or others, or a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon substrate having a principal surface coated with a buffer layer composed of an insulating film. In the case of the silicon substrate, the principal surface of the silicon is preferably coated with MgAlO4 by a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) and also with BaTiO3 by a sequential sputtering process. As shown in Figure 1B, a c-axis orientated Y1Ba2Cu3O7-δ oxide superconductor thin film 1 having a thickness on the order of about 20 nanometers is deposited on the principal surface of the substrate 5, by for example an off-axis sputtering, a reactive evaporation, an MBE (molecular beam epitaxy), a CVD, etc. A lower portion of this oxide superconductor thin film 1 forms a superconducting channel 10 when the super-FET is completed. The superconducting channel is preferably formed of c-axis orientated thin film, since the c-axis orientated thin film has a large critical current density in the direction in parallel to the substrate surface. A condition of forming the c-axis orientated Y1Ba2Cu3O7-δ oxide superconductor thin film 1 by off-axis sputtering is as follows: Sputtering GasAr: 90% O2: 10% Pressure10 Pa Temperature of the substrate 700°C The oxide superconductor thin film is preferably formed of a high-Tc (high critical temperature) oxide superconductor material, particularly a high-Tc copper-oxide type compound oxide superconductor material, for example, a Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material, or a Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material other than Y-Ba-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material. Then, as shown in Figure 1C, a normal conducting layer 17 is deposited on the oxide superconductor thin film 1. The normal conducting layer 17 can be deposited by a vacuum evaporation or any other suitable process. The normal conducting layer 17 can be formed of Au, or a refractory metal such as Ti, W or a silicide thereof. Thereafter, as shown in Figure 1D, the normal conducting layer 17 is etched by a reactive ion etching process or an ion milling using Ar-ions so as to form a source electrode 2, a drain electrode 3 and a gate electrode 4. For this purpose, the normal conducting layer 17 is selectively etched, so as to remove all of the metal layer excluding portions which become the source electrode on the superconducting source region 12, the drain electrode on the superconducting drain region 13 and the gate electrode on the superconducting channel 10, so that the source electrode 2, the drain electrode 3 and the gate electrode 4 are formed on the oxide superconductor thin film 1 and the oxide superconductor thin film 1 is exposed excluding portions under the source electrode 2, the drain electrode 3 and the gate electrode 4. Thereafter, as shown in Figure 1E, the exposed portions 18 of the oxide superconductor thin film 1 are selectively etched by a thickness of about 5 to 10 nanometers by a reactive ion etching process or an ion milling using Ar-ions in a self alignment to the patterned the source electrode 2, the drain electrode 3 and the gate electrode 4, so that the superconducting source region 12 and the superconducting drain region 13 are formed under the source electrode 2 and the drain electrode 3. A projecting portion of the oxide superconductor thin film 1 under the gate electrode 4 will be the gate insulator in future. Then, the gate electrode 4 is applied electric power and heats up to more than 400 °C under a pressure of 10-5 Pa. The projecting portion of the oxide superconductor thin film 1 under the gate electrode 4 is heated locally and oxygen of the crystals of the portion escapes through side surfaces 19 so that the portion changes to the gate insulator 6. The portion of the oxide superconductor thin film 1 under the gate insulator 6 becomes the superconducting channel 10 which is constituted an extremely thin superconducting region, as shown in Figure 1F. In this connection, the gate insulator 6 is formed to have a thickness sufficient to preventing a tunnel current, for example, a thickness of not less than 10 nanometers. An oxide superconductor loses its superconductivity when it lacks oxygen of its crystals. Therefore, after the process, the oxide which forms gate insulator 6 becomes an oxide insulator for lack of oxygen. In above process the oxygen of the crystals of the oxide superconductor escapes only through sides 19, since the oxide superconductor has larger diffusion coefficients of oxygen along the a-axis and the b-axis of the crystal than along the c-axis. With this, the super-FET in accordance with the present invention is completed. As explained above, if the super-FET is manufactured in accordance with the first embodiment of the method of the present invention, the limitation in the fine processing technique required for manufacturing the super-FET is relaxed. Since the flatness of the upper surface of the superconducting device can be improved, it become easy to form conductor wirings in a later process. Accordingly, it is easy to manufacture the super-FET with good repeatability, and the manufactured super-FET has a stable performance. Referring to Figures 2A to 2I, a second embodiment of the process for manufacturing the superconducting device will be described. As shown in Figure 2A, there is prepared a substrate 5, similar to the substrate 5 of the Embodiment 1. As shown in Figure 2B, a compound oxide layer 11 of Y1Ba2Cu3O7-y having a thickness of for example 200 nanometers is deposited on the principal surface of the substrate 5 by for example an off-axis sputtering. The off-axis sputtering is performed under the same condition as that of the first embodiment. Comparing Y1Ba2Cu3O7-y with the Y1Ba2Cu3O7-δ oxide superconductor, they are formed of the same constituent elements, but y > δ, namely, Y1Ba2Cu3O7-y contains the oxygen number less than that of Y1Ba2Cu3O7-δ so that Y1Ba2Cu3O7-y shows an electrical insulation. But, Y1Ba2Cu3O7-y easily becomes Y1Ba2Cu3O7-δ if Y1Ba2Cu3O7-y is heated in an oxygen atmosphere or if oxygen ions are injected. In addition, a c-axis orientated thin film is preferably deposited, since the c-axis orientated thin film has a large critical current density in the direction in parallel to the substrate surface. As shown in Figure 2C, an insulating layer 16 formed of for example a silicon nitride is deposited to cover the whole surface of the oxide thin film 11. This insulating layer 16 has a thickness sufficient to preventing a tunnel current, for example, a thickness of not less than 10 nanometers. In addition, the insulating layer 16 is formed of an insulating material which does not form a large density of energy levels between the superconductor thin film and the insulating layer 16. Furthermore, in view of a mechanical stress, the insulating layer 16 is preferred to have a composition near to that of the oxide superconductor and be formed continuous on the oxide superconductor. As shown in Figure 2D, a metal layer 14 for a gate electrode is deposited on the insulating layer 16. The metal layer 14 is preferably formed of a refractory metal such as Ti, W, etc., or Au, or a silicide thereof. Thereafter, as shown in Figure 2E, the stacked layer of the insulating layer 16 and the metal layer 14 is selectively removed so as to form a gate electrode. For this purpose, the metal layer 14 is selectively etched by a reactive ion etching process or an ion milling using Ar-ions so as to remove all of the metal layer excluding a portion which becomes the gate electrode on the superconducting channel 10, so that the gate electrode 4 is formed. Then, the insulating layer 16 is selectively etched by a reactive ion etching process or an ion milling using Ar-ions in a self alignment to the patterned gate electrode 4, so that an gate insulator 6 is left on the oxide thin film 11 and only under the patterned gate electrode 4. In this connection, it is desired that the gate insulator 6 is side-etched in comparison with the gate electrode 4, so that the gate insulator 6 has a length shorter than that of the gate electrode 4. Thereafter, oxygen ions are ion-implanted so that a superconducting source region 12 and a superconducting drain region 13 having a substantial thickness are formed in the oxide thin film 11 as shown in Figure 2F. The condition for the oxygen ion-implantation is that the acceleration energy is 40KeV and the dose is 1 × 1015 to 1 × 1016 ions/cm2. An exposed portion of the oxide thin film 11 are etched with Ar-ions by means of an anisotropic etching, so that a shallow step is formed and side surfaces of a portion 15 of the oxide thin film 11 under the gate insulator 6 are exposed, as shown in Figure 2G. Then, the gate electrode 4 is applied electric power and heats up so as to heat the portion 15 of the oxide thin film 11 in an oxygen atmosphere, so that oxygen is diffused from the exposed side surfaces of the portion 15. As a result, a superconducting channel 10 is formed as shown in Figure 2H. In this connection, the oxide thin film 1 is heated simultaneously, if necessary. The condition for the heat-treatment is that the temperature is 350 °C, the partial oxygen pressure is 1 × 104 Pa and the time is one hour. A portion of the oxide thin film 11 under the superconducting channel 10 is maintained in an insulating condition, and therefore, constitutes an insulating region 50. Finally, as shown in Figure 2I, a source electrode 2 and a drain electrode 3 are formed on the superconducting source region 12 and the superconducting drain region 13, respectively. The source electrode 2 and the drain electrode 3 are formed of for example a refractory metal such as Ti, W, etc., or Au, or a silicide thereof, similarly to the gate electrode 4. As explained above, if the above mentioned super-FET is manufactured in accordance with the above mentioned process, the limitation in the fine processing technique required for manufacturing the super-FET is relaxed. In addition, since the substantially planarized upper surface is obtained, it become easy to form conductor wirings in a later process. Accordingly, it is easy to manufacture the super-FET with good repeatability, and the manufactured super-FET has a stable performance. In the above mentioned four embodiments, the oxide superconductor thin film can be formed of not only the Y-Ba-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material, but also a high-Tc (high critical temperature) oxide superconductor material, particularly a high-Tc copper-oxide type compound oxide superconductor material, for example a Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material, and a Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material. The invention has thus been shown and described with reference to the specific embodiments. However, it should be noted that the present invention is in no way limited to the details of the illustrated structures but converts and modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims.	A method for manufacturing a superconducting device, comprising the step of forming on a surface of a substrate (5) a compound layer (11) which is composed of the same constituent elements of an oxide superconductor and forming a gate electrode (4) on a gate insulator layer (6) formed on a portion of the compound layer, and comprising the step of applying electric power to said gate electrode (4) to heat said gate electrode so as to carry out a heat-treatment on the portion of said compound layer under said gate electrode (4) locally, so that a superconducting channel (10) which is constituted of an oxide superconductor having a thickness of not more than 5 nanometers is produced in a self alignment to said gate electrode (4). A method claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that said compound layer (11) does not show superconductivity but will become an oxide superconductor when oxygen is added by an ion injection and/or a heat-treatment in an oxygen atmosphere, and the method comprising the step of adding oxygen to said compound layer (11) and applying electric power to said gate electrode (4) to heat said gate electrode so that the oxygen is diffused through the side surfaces into a portion of said compound layer under said gate electrode (4) in a lateral direction so as to constitute said superconducting channel (10). A method as claimed in Claim 2, characterized in that oxygen ions are selectively injected into two portions of said compound layer (11) separated from each other, so that said two separated portions of said compound layer are converted into a superconducting source region (12) and a superconducting drain region (13) formed of a pair of thick superconducting regions composed of said oxide superconductor. A method for manufacturing a superconducting device, comprising the step of forming an oxide superconductor thin film (1) on a surface of a substrate (5), and forming a gate electrode (4) on a portion of the oxide superconductor thin film (1), characterized in that it comprises the step of etching portions of said oxide superconductor thin film (1) at both sides (18) of said gate electrode (4) using said gate electrode (4) as a mask, so that a shallow step is formed on an upper surface of the compound layer and side surfaces (19) of the step exposed, and applying electric power to said gate electrode (4) to heat the gate electrode so as to carry out a heat-treatment on the portion of said compound layer under said gate electrode (4) locally, so that a gate insulator (6) formed directly under said gate electrode (4) and a superconducting channel (10) which is constituted of a thin superconducting region having a thickness of not more than 5 nanometers, composed of the oxide superconductor and formed under said gate insulator (6) is produced in a self alignment to said gate electrode (4). A method claimed in Claim 4, characterized in that said heat-treatment is carried out under high vacuum so that oxygen of the crystals of the portion of said oxide superconductor thin film (1) just under said gate electrode (4) escapes through the side surfaces (19) so as to convert said portion into a non-superconducting compound oxide material to form said gate insulator (6) and to form said superconducting channel (10). A method claimed in Claim 4 or 5, characterized in that said oxide superconductor thin film (1) is formed as thick as the sum of the necessary thickness of said superconducting channel (10) and of said gate insulator (6). A method as claimed in anyone of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the oxide superconductor (1, 10, 12, 13) is formed of high-Tc (high critical temperature) oxide superconductor, particularly, formed of a high-Tc copper-oxide type compound oxide superconductor. A method as claimed in Claim 7, characterized in that the oxide superconductor (1, 10, 12, 13) is formed of oxide superconductor material selected from the group consisting of a Y-Ba-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material, a Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material, and a Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O type compound oxide superconductor material. A method as claimed in anyone of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that said gate electrode (4) is formed of a refractory metal or a silicide thereof. A method as claimed in Claim 9, characterized in that said gate electrode (4) is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of Au, Ti, W, and a silicide thereof. A method as claimed in anyone of Claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the substrate (5) is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of a MgO (100) substrate, a SrTiO3 (100) substrate and a CdNdAlO4 (001) substrate, and a semiconductor substrate. A method as claimed in anyone of Claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the substrate (5) is formed of a silicon substrate having a principal surface coated with an insulating material layer which is formed of a MgAl2O4 layer and a BaTiO3 layer. A superconducting device comprising a substrate (5), a superconducting channel (10) formed of an oxide superconductor on the substrate (5), a superconducting source region (12) and a superconducting drain region (13) formed at both sides of the superconducting channel (10) separated from each other but electrically connected by the superconducting channel (10), and a gate electrode (4) formed on a gate insulator (6) placed on the superconducting channel for controlling the superconducting current flowing through the superconducting channel (10),characterized in that said superconducting channel (10), said superconducting source region (12), said superconducting drain region (13) and said gate insulator (6) are formed of a single oxide thin film, in which said superconducting channel (10), said superconducting source region (12) and said superconducting drain region (13) are formed of an oxide superconductor at three superconducting portions of said single oxide thin film and said gate insulator (6) is formed of a nonsuperconducting oxide having the same constituent elements as those of said oxide superconductor but includes said oxygen amount less than that of said oxide superconductor. A superconducting device as claimed in Claim 12, characterized in that said superconducting channel (10) is disposed on a projecting insulating region formed of a nonsuperconducting oxide having the same constituent elements as those of an oxide superconductor but includes the oxygen amount less than that of said oxide superconductor, which is projected from the bottom the substrate (5).	SUMITOMO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES; SUMITOMO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES, LTD.	IIYAMA MICHITOMO; INADA HIROSHI; NAKAMURA TAKAO; IIYAMA, MICHITOMO; INADA, HIROSHI; NAKAMURA, TAKAO
EP-0488842-B1	488,842	EP	B1	EN	19,950,215	1,992	20,100,220	new	B25B5	null	B23Q3, B22D17, B25B5, B29C45, B21D37, B29C33	B29C 45/17C, B25B 5/06B	Clamping apparatus	a clamping-member (7) is adapted to be straightly actuated from slantly above relative to a clamped surface (2a) of a clamped object (2) placed in front of a housing (4) and is provided with a clamping end surface (22) formed substantially in parallel to the clamped surface (2a). A shuttle member (21) for sliding is interposed between the clamped surface (2a) and the clamping end surface (22) and supported by the clamping end surface (22) so as to be slidingly movable within a certain extent in front and rear directions.	The present invention relates to a clamping apparatus adapted to clamp an object to be clamped or fixed ( referred to as a clamped object hereinafter ) such as a metal mould, a work pallet and the like onto a fixed table of a process machine such as an injection moulding machine, a machining center and so on, and more specifically to a clamping apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1. Description of Prior Art Such a prior clamping apparatus is described in FR-A-2 595 291. According to this prior art, a clamping end surface of a clamping-member is adapted to be directly brought into contact with a clamped surface of a metal mould. According to the aforementioned kind of clamping apparatus, at the end of the clamping actuation a small dynamical friction force takes effect between both the clamped surface of the metal mould and the clamping end surface of the clamping-member, and at the beginning of the unclamping actuation a large statical friction force takes effect between both those surfaces. In order to prevent an obstruction to an unclamping actuation of the clamping apparatus from being caused by the large statical friction force, conventionally it is required to make the unclamping actuation force of the clamping apparatus stronger. As a result, the clamping apparatus becomes larger in size. In order to attain a downsizing of the clamping apparatus, the inventors of the present invention proposed the following previous to the filing of the present invention. That is, a coefficient of friction between the clamped surface of the metal mould and the clamping end surface of the clamping-member was made smaller by covering the surface of the clamping-member with a sliding enhancement material such as a coating, a lubricant and the like so as to allow a reduction of the unclamping actuation force. But, since such a sliding enhancement material tends to stick to the metal mould to be replaced and then removed thereby, its service life is extremely short, so that an improvement is required for ensuring the unclamping actuation of the hydraulic clamp. Further, usually a finished accuracy of the clamped surface of the metal mould is different in the respective metal moulds to be replaced. In the case of a bad finished accuracy of the clamped surface, since a layer of the sliding enhancement material is readily broken, both the clamped surface and the clamping end surface tend to cause local seizures. As a result, it is apprehended that a coefficient of friction between both those becomes larger gradually and finally the clamping apparatus becomes incapable of effecting its unclamping actuation. On the other hand, a technology for allowing the reduction of the unclamping actuation force, which has a basic construction different from that of the clamping apparatus with the inclined direct operated clamping-member according to the present invention, is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,932,640 previously proposed by one of the inventors of the present invention. It employs a sliding member interposed between a wedge supporting surface formed in a housing of a wedge force-multification type hydraulic clamp and a sliding contact surface of a tightening wedge. But, since this wedge force-multification type hydraulic clamp is constructed so as to clamp a clamped object by means of a swinging actuation of its clamping-member, it doesn't suffer an abuse of abnormally increasing the coefficient of friction between the clamped object and the clamping-member. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide a clamping apparatus with an inclined direct operated clamping- member, which enables the clamping apparatus to be manufactured in a small size and its unclamping actuation to be surely effected. For accomplishing the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention a clamping apparatus with the features of claim 1 is provided. When the clamping-member is advanced forwardly and downwardly at the time of clamping actuation, firstly the shuttle member is brought into contact with the clamped surface of the clamped object from slantly above. In case that the coefficient of friction between the clamped surface and the shuttle member is abnormally large, the shuttle member is frictionally secured onto the clamped surface. Subsequently only the clamping- member slides forwardly downwardly keeping the shuttle member left behind and then the clamping-member serves to strongly press and fix the clamped object onto a fixed table through the shuttle member. To the contrary, when the unclamping actuation is effected from the above-mentioned clamped condition, firstly a sliding is caused between the clamping-member and the shuttle member frictionally secured onto the clamped surface, then only the clamping-member is actuated backwardly upwardly keeping the shuttle member left behind. Subsequently, the shuttle member retracts together with the clamping-member actuated backwardly upwardly, so that the clamped object is changed over to the unclamped condition. Since both the shuttle member and the clamping-member are component members of the clamping apparatus, differing from the clamped objects such as the metal mould and the like, their materials, finished accuracies and surface treatments are selected with large freedom respectively. Therefore, it is easy to decrease the coefficient of friction between the sliding surfaces of both the object and the member. Accordingly, the unclamping actuation force can be small and the clamping apparatus can be manufactured in a small size. Further, since the sliding surfaces of both the object and the member don't suffer from the removal of the sliding enhancement material such as the coating and the lubricant by the clamped object, the coefficient of friction therebetween can be kept small for a long time. Accordingly, it becomes possible to reliably effect the unclamping actuation of the clamping apparatus for a long time. Further, the shuttle member is kept in a forwardly resiliently urged condition by a resilient means such as a spring and the like relative to the clamping-member. Under that condition, it becomes possible to return the shuttle member to the front position by means of the resilient means at the end of unclamping actuation, so that the clamping apparatus can be prepared automatically for its next clamping actuation. Incidentally, in the above-mentioned construction, the surface hardness of the shuttle member is preferably set at a larger value than those of the clamped object and the clamping end surface for preventing seizures. Since the present invention is constructed and functions as mentioned above, the following advantages can be obtained. Since the clamping apparatus can have its unclamping actuation force made small by the interposition of the shuttle member, the unclamping spring can be downsized in the case of a single acting spring return type as well as a sectional area of the unclamping actuation fluid chamber can be decreased in the case of a fluid return type spring clamp or a double acting type one. As a result, the clamping apparatus can be manufactured in a small size. Further, since the sliding enhancement material is not removed from both the sliding surfaces of the shuttle member and the clamping-member, a good condition of a small coefficient of friction can be maintained for a long time and as a result the unclamping actuation can be reliably effected for a long time. When summarizing the above, the clamping apparatus can effect the unclamping actuation reliably though it is manufactured in a small size. Further, as noted above, since the coefficient of friction between the clamped object and the clamping-member can be kept at a small value owing to the interposition of the shuttle member at the end of clamping actuation, it becomes possible to prevent an unexpected shifting of the clamped object at that time and to improve a finishing accuracy of a process machine such as an injection moulding machine and the like. The above and other advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFigures 1 through 16 show embodiments of the present invention; Figures 1 through 7 show a first embodiment thereof; Figure 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a hydraulic clamp taken along the section line I - I in Figure 2; Figure 2 is a plan view of the hydraulic clamp; Figure 3 is a view taken along the arrow line III - III in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a view taken along the arrow line IV - IV in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a view taken along the arrow line V - V in Figure 1; Figure 6 is an enlarged partial view of Figure 1; showing a clamping transient condition; Figure 7 is a view corresponding to Figure 6 and showing a clamped condition; Figures 8 through 15 show variants of the first embodiment; Figure 8 shows a first variant thereof and otherwise corresponds to Figure 6; Figures 9 and 10 show a second variant thereof; Figure 9 is a view corresponding to Figure 8; Figure 10 is a left side view of Figure 9; Figures 11 and 12 show a third variant thereof; Figure 11 is a view corresponding to Figure 8; Figure 12 is a bottom view of Figure 11; Figures 13 through 15 show a fourth variant thereof; Figure 13 is a view corresponding to Figure 6; Figure 14 is a view taken along the arrow line XIV - XIV in Figure 13; Figure 15 is a sectional view taken along the section line XV - XV in Figure 13; and Figure 16 shows a second embodiment of the invention and is a vertical sectional side view of the hydraulic clamp. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSPreferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to attaching drawings hereinafter. (First Embodiment)Figs. 1 through 7 show a first embodiment. A metal mould 2 generally referred to as a clamped object is clamped onto a fixed table 1 of an injection moulding machine by means of a hydraulic clamp 3 of the single acting spring return type. The hydraulic clamp 3 has a housing 4 fixedly secured at its paired side walls 5 · 5 to the fixed table 1 by means of two bolts 6 · 6 and a clamping-member 7 adapted to be advanced from the housing 4 so as to press the clamped surface 2a of the metal mould 2 from slantly above. That is, a cylinder bore 9 is formed in the housing 4 so as to extend in a forwardly downwardly declining direction. An inclination angle ϑ of the cylinder bore 9 is set at 40 degrees herein, but it may be from 10 to 45 degrees. A piston 10 is inserted in fluid tight relationship into the cylinder bore 9 through a U-packing 11. A clamping actuation hydraulic chamber 12 is formed therein so as to face the rear side of the piston 10. An oil supply and discharge port 13 communicates with the clamping actuation hydraulic chamber 12. An upper portion 9a of the surrounding surface of the cylinder bore 9 opens at a front surface 4a of the housing 4. The clamping-member 7 is formed by a direct protruding part of the upper portion of the piston 10 extending from its front end and guided by the upper portion 9a of the surrounding surface of the cylinder bore 9. A spring accommodation recess 15 is formed in the piston 10 in such a manner as to extend backwardly from the front end of the clamping-member 7. An axis of the spring accommodation recess 15 is arranged to lie below an axis of the cylinder bore 9. Pin insertion holes 16 · 16 are transversely formed in the front lower portions of the opposite side walls 5 · 5 of the housing 4. A spring retaining pin 17 is so disposed as to cross over both the clamping-member 7 and the spring accommodation recess 15, and its opposite end portions are supported by the pair of pin insertion holes 16 · 16. The spring retaining pin 17 is anchored by means of both the bolts 6 · 6. An unclamping spring 18 is installed between the rearmost position of the spring accommodation recess 15 and the spring retaining pin 17. Incidentally, the clamping-member 7 is provided at its left and right walls with admittance grooves 19 · 19 so formed as to open in its front end for preventing an interference with the spring retaining pin 17. A first shuttle member 21 of the sliding type is interposed between the clamped surface 2a of the metal mould 2 and the clamping-member 7 so as to be slidingly movable within a certain extent in front and rear directions. That is, a shuttle supporting groove 22 as the clamping end surface is so formed in the front lower surface of the clamping-member 7 as to open downwardly (refer to Fig. 4). The first shuttle member 21 inserted into the supporting groove 22 is urged forwardly by a C-shaped spring 23 as a resilient means and adapted to be blocked by two stop pins 24 from moving forwardly beyond a certain distance. Large through-holes 25 · 25 are formed in the first shuttle member 21, corresponding to the respective stop pins 24. The first shuttle member 21 is manufactured from a harder material than those for the metal mould 2 and the clamping-member 7. That is, a hard material obtained by applying a heat treatment or a nitriding treatment to an alloy metal is used for the first shuttle member 21. In this case, it is enough that only the upper and lower surfaces or only the surface of the first shuttle member 21 are harder than the clamped surface 2a and the shuttle supporting groove 22. Further, a surface treatment such as a coating, a plating and the like is applied to such a hard material so as to increase its sliding capability. Incidentally, in order to provide a smoother sliding between the first shuttle member 21 and the clamping-member 7, a lubricant such as grease, molybdenum disulfide and the like is preferably applied to the sliding surfaces of both those members. Further, between the upper portion 9a of the surrounding surface of the cylinder bore 9 and the upper portion of the surrounding surface of the clamping-member 7 a second shuttle member 28 of the sliding type is so installed as to be slidingly movable within a certain extent in the front and rear directions. The second shuttle member 28 is manufactured substantially similarly to the first shuttle member 21. By the way, a grease fill-up port 30 is opened in a second shuttle member accommodation groove 29 formed in the housing 4. The coefficient of friction between the clamping-member 7 and the housing 4 becomes smaller owing to the provision of the second shuttle member 28. As a result, the unclamping actuation force becomes smaller accordingly. A proximity switch 32 for detecting the clamped and the unclamped conditions is located in the side wall 5 of the housing 4 so as to face the cylinder bore 9. The operation of the hydraulic clamp will be explained with reference to Fig. 1 and Figs. 6 and 7. Fig. 6 is an enlarged partial view of Fig. 1 and shows a clamping transient condition. Fig. 7 shows a clamped condition, but otherwise corresponding to Fig. 6. At the time of changeover from the unclamped condition to the clamped condition, a pressurized oil is supplied to the clamping actuation hydraulic chamber 12. Thereupon, the piston 10 is actuated to extend forwardly by means of the hydraulic pressure so as to advance the clamping-member 7 forwardly downwardly. Thus, as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 6, the lower surface of the first shuttle member 21 is brought into contact with the clamped surface 2a of the metal mould 2 from slantly above. Subsequently, when the piston 10 is further actuated to extend forwardly, as shown in Fig. 7, a sliding is caused between the first shuttle member 21 frictionally secured onto the clamped surface 2a and the supporting groove 22 formed as the clamping end surface of the clamping-member 7 so that only the clamping-member 7 can be driven forwardly downwardly keeping the first shuttle member 21 left behind. Thus, the metal mould 2 is strongly pressed and fixedly secured onto the fixed table 1 by means of the clamping-member 7. To the contrary, at the time of changeover from the clamped condition shown in Fig. 7 to the unclamped condition, the operation is as follows. When the pressurized oil is discharged from the clamping actuation hydraulic chamber 12, the piston 10 is actuated by means of the resilient force of the unclamping spring 18 so as to retract backwardly upwardly. Thereupon, as shown in Fig. 6, firstly a sliding is caused between the first shuttle member 21 frictionally secured onto the clamped surface 2a and the supporting groove 22 so that only the clamping- member 7 can be retracted backwardly upwardly keeping the first shuttle member 21 left behind. Subsequently, when the clamping-member 7 and the first shuttle member 21 are actuated backwardly upwardly for unclamping by means of the further backwardly actuated piston 10, the metal mould 2 is unclamped. Incidentally, in the case that a height dimension of the clamped surface 2a of the metal mould 2 becomes larger so that a thickness to be clamped becomes larger correspondingly, height adjustment adapter plates ( not illustrated ) are to be interposed according thereto between the lower surface of the housing 4 and the fixed table 1 so that it becomes possible to readily consider a countermeasure for a change of the thickness to be clamped. Figs. 8 through 15 show first through fourth variants. (First Variant)Fig. 8 shows a first variant. A clamping-member 36 is provided with a stop wall 37 facing a rear surface of a first shuttle member 35. A stop gap A for the stop wall 37 is set at a smaller value than a play gap B for the first shuttle member 35. Thus, even if an advancement distance of the clamping-member 36 becomes too large relative to the first shuttle member 35 due to any reason when the clamping-member 36 is changed over from the clamping transient condition to the clamped condition, the stop wall 37 is brought into contact with the first shuttle member 35 earlier than the stop pin 38 to prevent a damage of the stop pin 38. (Second Variant)Figs. 9 and 10 show a second variant. In this case, the aforementioned shuttle supporting groove is omitted and a first shuttle member 41 is secured to a clamping-member 43 by means of two bolts 42. The symbol 43a designates a clamping end surface. Compression coil springs 45 · 45 as a resilient means are inserted into two spring accommodation recesses 44 · 44 formed in the clamping-member 43. The first shuttle member 41 is resiliently urged forwardly by means of these compression springs 45. (Third Variant)Figs. 11 and 12 show a third variant. In this case, a shuttle supporting groove 47 as the clamping end surface is transversely formed in the lower surface of a clamping-member 46. A first shuttle member 48 is inserted into the supporting groove 47 so as to be slidingly movable in the front and rear directions. The symbol 49 designates a stop pin. (Fourth Variant)Figs. 13 through 15 show a fourth variant. A first shuttle member 61 is interposed between the clamped surface 2a of the metal mould 2 and a clamping end surface 62 of a clamping-member 67 so as to be slidingly movable in the front and rear directions through a key 64. The shuttle member 61 is resiliently urged forwardly by means of a coil spring 63. Thereupon, the shuttle member 61 is restrained by means of a pair of stop bolts 66 · 66 put into large through-holes 65 · 65 so as not to move forwardly beyond a certain extent. The symbol 68 designates a support plate, and the symbol 69 designates a sleeve. (Second Embodiment)Fig. 16 shows a second embodiment of the invention A hydraulic clamp 53 is of the double acting type. A cylinder bore 79 of a large diameter and a rod bore 80 of a small diameter are formed in series within a housing 54, and a piston 60 and a clamping-member 57 are inserted into these bores 79 · 80 in parallel to a fixing surface of a fixed table 51. A clamped surface 52a of a metal mould 52 is formed as a backwardly downwardly declining surface. Corresponding thereto, also a front lower portion of the clamping-member 57 is provided with a backwardly downwardly declining surface, in which a shuttle supporting groove 72 is formed as a clamping end surface. A first shuttle member 71 is supported by the supporting groove 72 so as to be slidingly movable in the front and rear directions. A second shuttle member 78 is formed in an annular configuration and externally fitted around a mid way portion of the clamping-member 57 in the front and rear direction. Incidentally, the second shuttle member 78 may be formed in such a configuration as to be inserted only between the upper portion 80a of the surrounding surface of the rod bore 80 and the upper portion of the surrounding surface of the clamping-member 57 instead of the annular configuration. The above-mentioned embodiments may be modified as follows. The clamping apparatus may be a fluid pressure clamp such as a pneumatic clamp and the like instead of the hydraulic clamp. The type of the clamp may be a fluid pressure returned type spring clamp besides the spring returned type fluid pressure clamp and the double acting type clamp. Further, the second shuttle member 28 · 78 may be accommodated within the clamping-member instead of within the housing 4 · 54. As many different embodiments of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art, some of which have been disclosed or referred to therein, it is to be understood that the specific embodiments of the invention as presented herein are intended to be by way of illustration only and are not limiting on the invention, and it is to be understood that such embodiments, changes, or modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims appended hereto.	A clamping apparatus comprising : a housing (4,54) having a front surface (4a,54a) ; a clamping member (7, 36, 43, 46, 57, 67) with a clamping end surface (22, 47, 62, 72) for clamping a substantially parallel clamped surface (2a, 52a) of a clamped object (2,52) placed in front of said front surface (4a,54a) and slantly below the clamping member, said clamping member being adapted to be straightly actuated towards said clamped object, the direction of movement being at an angle with the normal to the clamping end surface, characterized in that it further comprises : a shuttle member (21, 35, 41, 48, 61, 71) disposed between said clamping end surface (22, 47, 62, 72) of the clamping member and said clamped surface (2a, 52a) of the clamped object and supported on said clamping end surface (22, 47, 62, 72), said shuttle member being adapted to be slidable within a certain extent in front and rear directions substantially parallel to said clamping end surface ; and resilient means (23, 45, 63) disposed between said clamping member and said shuttle member, for resiliently urging said shuttle member in said front direction. A clamping apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that at least the surface hardness of said shuttle member (21, 35, 41, 48, 61, 71) is greater than the surface hardness of said clamped surface (2a, 52a) and said clamping end surface (22, 47, 62, 72). A clamping apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said clamping member (7, 36, 43, 46, 57, 67) is accomodated in a bore (9,80) of said housing (4,54) and another shuttle member (28,78) is disposed between at least an upper portion (9a, 80a) of a surounding surface of said bore (9,80) and said clamping member, said another shuttle member being adapted to be slidable within a certain extent in said front and rear directions.	KOSMEK KK; KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOSMEK	SHIRAKAWA TSUTUMO KABUSHIKI KA; YONEZAWA KEITARO KABUSHIKI KAI; SHIRAKAWA, TSUTUMO, KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOSMEK; YONEZAWA, KEITARO, KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOSMEK
EP-0488850-B1	488,850	EP	B1	EN	19,950,823	1,992	20,100,220	new	A47C27	A47C27, A61N2	A61N2, A61H39	A61N 2/06	Mattress for magnetic treatment	A mattress for magnetic treatment which produces magnetic treatment effects by permanent magnets and chiropractic effects by protuberances while sleeping. The mattress therefore comprises an elastic body (1) of crosslinked foamed polyethylene, foamed urethane or the like, the elastic body (1) having protuberances on its surface for producing chiropractic effects, damper felt (4) fixedly secured to the surface of the elastic body (1), the damper felt (4) being dotted with permanent magnets (6), a fiber layer (7) fixedly secured to the surface of the damper felt and used for holding the permanent magnets (6) and the protuberances of the elastic body (1), and a thin soft fiber layer (10) covering the surface of the fiber layer (7). The elastic body (1) comprises short (1a) and tall (1b) barrel-like bodies, these being disposed at fixed intervals.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the Invention:The present invention relates to a mattress for magnetic treatment which produces magnetic treatment effects by permanent magnets and chiropractic effects by protuberances while sleeping. Description of the Prior Art:Magnetism has been known to produce various magnetic treatment effects as it promotes circulation of the blood and relieves fatigue by freeing stiffness in the muscles. Varieties of products incorporating permanent magnets have also been sold on the market and a magnetic mattress is typical of many. However, most of the conventional magnetic mattresses are only dotted with single permanent magnets on their surfaces (e.g., Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6148/1989). The conventional magnetic mattresses are often dotted with permanent magnets on their surfaces as stated above and because the magnets are widely spaced apart, the magnetic flux tends to concentrate on the vicinity of the surface of a magnetic material forming the permanent magnet. As a result, a high-density magnetic field is hardly obtainable at a place far from the magnet and the magnet effect is barely produced in a deep part of the human body on the mattress. In other words, satisfactory magnetic treatment effects are not anticipated. In US-A-4,330,892 is described a mattress comprising a principal constituent on which is placed a first felt mat and a second felt mat placed on said first felt mat. The second felt mat comprises a number of holes which contain permanent magnet pieces. In EP-A-0 137 072 is described a sleeping mattress which comprises a structure of four layers in which a first layer is a wave layer, a second layer is a magnetic layer including magnets, a third layer is a compression palm lock layer, and a fourth layer is a cushion layer. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn object of the present invention is to provide a mattress for magnetic treatment which generates magnetic lines of force that draw a high-density loop and effectively act on even a deep part of the human body, and thereby produces satisfactory magnetic treatment effects. Another object of the present invention is to provide a mattress for magnetic treatment which produces appropriate chiropractic effects as well as magnetic treatment effects. A mattress for magnetic treatment according to the present invention comprises an elastic body of crosslinked foamed polyethylene, foamed urethane or the like, the elastic body having protuberances on its surface for producing chiropractic effects, damper felt fixed to the surface of the elastic body, the damper felt being dotted with permanent magnets, a fiber layer fixed to the surface of the damper felt and used for holding the permanent magnets and the protuberances of the elastic body, and a thin soft fiber layer covering the surface of the fiber layer, characterized in that said elastic body (1) includes short (1a) and tall (1b) barrel-like bodies joined and arranged in rows and columns. With this arrangement, magnetism is allowed to infiltrate into a deep part of the human body so as to produce satisfactory magnetic treatment effects as the permanent magnets thus disposed have high-density magnetism flying intensely over the surface in contact with the human body. Moreover, the protuberances provided on the elastic body produce appropriate chiropractic effects. Dependent claims 2 to 5 define various modification of the mattress of claim 1. Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will appear more fully from the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 is a partial cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a partial enlarged top view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line A - A of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line B - B of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 6 is a partial cutaway perspective view of still another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 7 is a partial enlarged top view of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line C - C of Fig. 7. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSReferring to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. First, an embodiment of the present invention shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, will be described. Fig. 1 is a partial cutaway perspective view of the embodiment shown, wherein a turnup 2 is formed at two places (when folded in three) to make foldable a relatively thin elastic body 1 of crosslinked foamed polyethylene, foamed urethane or the like. The elastic body 1 is in such a form that a number of barrel-like bodies are coupled together crosswise, with an air vent 3 which is a vertical through-hole and provided in each barrel-to-barrel coupling portion. The air vents 3 are intended to smooth the circulation of air through the whole mattress. Among the barrel-like bodies, there are a large number of short barrel-like bodies 1a and a small number of tall barrel-like bodies 1b, these being disposed at fixed intervals. Damper felt 4 made of mixed-spun felt is adhesion-bonded to the surface of the elastic body 1. A through-hole 5 is bored in a portion of the damper felt 4 corresponding in position to the tall barrel-like body 1b and the head of the tall barrel-like body 1b is exposed therethrough (see Fig. 4 especially). Several rows of continuous magnetizing magnets 6 extending in the longitudinal direction of the mattress are secured to the surface of the damper felt 4 with an adhesive, for instance. The continuous magnetizing magnet 6 is formed by alternately N- and S-poles on a magnetic material mainly composed of rubber, plastics or the like and having parallel conical heads semicircular in section as shown in Fig. 3. The magnetic line of force is generated from the continuous magnetizing magnet 6 in such a way that it is directed from the crest of the N-seeking conical head to that of the adjoining S-pole conical head. As each conical head is isolated from the adjoining one with a valley there between, the magnetic path becomes long and the magnetic line of force is generated vertically. In other words, the magnetic flux density is rendered higher at a position away from both magnetic poles. Therefore, the magnetic lines of force reach a deep part of the human body lying down on the mattress having the magnets for magnetic treatment as described above and satisfactory magnetic treatment effects are produced. Moreover, the conical heads produce substitute chiropractic effects. The tall barrel-like body 1b is disposed between the parallel continuous magnetizing magnets 6. The damper felt 4 is located beneath the continuous magnetizing magnets 6 and prevents these magnets from sinking. A soft fiber layer 7 formed of synthetic fiber cotton is secured to the surface of the damper felt 4 by knitting or bonding. The fiber layer 7 is arranged so that it is about the same height as that of the continuous magnetizing magnets 6 on the damper felt 4. Moreover, the fiber layer 7 is provided with through-holes 8 for relieving the heads of the respective rall barrel-like bodies 1b, each hole communicating with the through-hole 5 of the damper felt. The fiber layer 7 is also provided with longitudinal grooves 9 for relieving the respective continuous magnetizing magnets 6. Further, a thin soft fiber layer 10 made of unwoven fabric is affixed to the surface of the fiber layer 7 by knitting. When the mattress thus completed according to the present invention is used, a sheet may be laid out thereon or a bag-like cover may be employed for wrapping the mattress. In another embodiment of Fig. 5, the thin layer 10 in the previous embodiment is formed into a bag for enclosing the continuous magnetizing mangets 6 and the fiber layer 7 and this bag is affixed to the damper felt 4 by bonding or knitting. Figs. 6 to 8 inclusive, refers to an embodiment wherein square multipolar magnets 11 in place of the continuous magnetizing magnets 6 in the previous embodiment are employed. The multipolar magnet 11 comprises magnetic binding plates 12 disposed in the form of a square and magnetic materials 13 secured to the respective corners of the square, the magnetic materials 13 adjacent to each other being oppositely polarized. The combination of the binding plates 12 may be what has been preformed integrally into such a square. The multipolar magnet 11 is square in shape and one side thereof forms a double-pole magnet. As the magnetic lines of force generated from the combination of magnetic poles are caused to fly high in a concentrated manner, waste of time is eliminated. The magnetic line of force generated from the N-seeking magnetic pole flies to return to the S-seeking magnetic pole and proceeds from the S-seeking magnetic pole to the N-seeking magnetic pole through the binding plate 12. As the magnetic poles are sufficiently spaced apart, the magnetic lines of force strongly act on the human body and promote the circulation of the blood. The magnetic treatment effect is thus promoted. Even in this embodiment, the damper felt 4 is fixedly secured to the surface of the elastic body 1 and the fiber layer 7 is further secured to the surface of that combination. A through-hole 14 for use in relieving each magnetic material 12 of the multipolar magnet 11 fixed onto the damper felt 4 is formed in the fiber layer 7 . Moreover, there is provided a shallow recess for accommodating the binding plate 12 as occasion demands. The remaining part of the construction is similar to what has been described above. As set forth above, the provision of the continuous magnetizing magnets or multipolar magnets allows high-density magnetism to infiltrate into a deep part of the human body with the effect of promoting the circulation of the blood in various parts thereof so as to free the stiffness in the muscles. In addition to the excellent magnetic treatment effects, the elastic body equipped with the protuberances produce chiropractic effects appropriate to the human body, so that the mattress according to the present invention contributes to not only fatigue recovery but also maintenance of health with the treatment effects described above. As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.	A mattress for magnetic treatment comprising an elastic body (1) of crosslinked foamed polyethylene or foamed urethane, the elastic body (1) having protuberances on its surface for producing chiropractic effects; a damper felt (4) fixed to the surface of the elastic body (1), the damper felt (4) being dotted with permanent magnets (6); a fiber layer (7) fixedly secured to the surface of the damper felt (4) and used for holding the permanent magnets (6) and the protuberances of the elastic body (1); a thin soft fiber layer (10) covering the surface of the fiber layer (7); said elastic body (1) including short (1a) and tall (1b) barrel-like bodies joined and arranged in rows and columns. A mattress for magnetic treatment as claimed in claim 1, wherein a vertical through-hole (5) is provided in each barrel-to-barrel coupling portion. A mattress for magnetic treatment as claimed in claim 1, wherein said permanent magnets take the poles form of a magnetic material which includes parallel conical bumps having a semicircular section, the bumps having N- and S-poles alternately. A mattress for magnetic treatment as claimed in claim 1, wherein said permanent magnets take the form of multipolar magnets (11), each having a magnetic binding plate (12) on which magnets are arranged at all the corners, the adjacent magnets having opposite poles. A mattress for magnetic treatment as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is provided a thin bag-like layer for enclosing the permanent magnets and the fiber layer.	JAPAN LIFE; JAPAN LIFE COMPANY LIMITED	KOBAYASHI ISAMU C O JAPAN LIFE; YAMAGUCHI TAKAYOSHI C O JAPAN; KOBAYASHI, ISAMU, C/O JAPAN LIFE., LTD.; YAMAGUCHI, TAKAYOSHI, C/O JAPAN LIFE., LTD.
EP-0488875-B1	488,875	EP	B1	EN	19,970,108	1,992	20,100,220	new	E21B17	F16F7	E21B17	E21B 17/07	Perforating apparatus incorporating a shock absorber	A shock absorber (38) is adapted to be disposed within a perforating gun string (32) or within the tubing string above the perforating gun (30) and includes an energy absorbing element (16,18) adapted to absorb and store mechanical energy during detonation of the perforating gun and to permanently deform in response to the storage of the mechanical energy, the stored energy being released in the form of heat, and not in the form of kinetic energy. Therefore, following absorption of the mechanical energy by the shock absorber, no further expansion of the shock absorber is experienced. The shock absorber includes an inner housing (12), an outer housing (10), a connection (14) for interconnecting the inner and outer housing, and a break up charge (20) for breaking the connection and releasing the inner housing from the outer housing when the perforating gun is detonated whereby the shock absorber is as strong as the tubing string before the connection is broken and is flexible after the connection is broken. The energy absorbing element (16,18) may be a damping coil or it may be a honeycomb. The damping coil and honeycomb energy absorbing elements permanently deform when mechanical energy is absorbed; therefore, the stored mechanical energy is subsequently released in the form of heat and not in the form of kinetic energy.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to perforating apparatus incorporating a shock absorber, and more particularly, provides a shock absorber which is incorporated in a perforating gun string and which includes a collapsible energy absorbing element adapted to permanently deform when absorbing shock. Perforating guns are adapted to be disposed in a wellbore for perforating a formation. Well fluids flow from the perforated formation. When the perforating gun fires, a shock is received in the tubing string above the perforating gun. A shock absorber is usually incorporated in the tubing string above the perforating gun for absorbing the shock. The shock absorber usually includes a spring which stores mechanical energy by compression in response to the shock and releases the mechanical energy by expansion following compression over a longer period of time such that the force exerted is reduced. Although this configuration absorbs mechanical energy associated with the shock, attempts to improve this shock absorber have focussed on achieving a smoother release of the mechanical energy from the spring coil shock absorber system following storage of the mechanical energy. However, the problem associated with the release of the mechanical energy could be eliminated entirely if the absorbing element in the shock absosrber did not expand following compression but, instead, released the stored energy in a different form, such as heat. US-A-4 905 759 discloses a collapsible perforating gun assembly, comprising a spacer mandrel having two telescopically collapsible parts which are initially prevented from relative axial movement, but which are freed to telescope together during firing of the perforating gun. The purpose of this arrangement is to reduce the length of the assembly after firing, and no mechanism for absorbing the shock resulting from firing is disclosed. US-A-3 856 335 discloses a rolling diaphragm slip joint for inclusion in a casing string leading to an underground nuclear test site. The shock caused by the explosion is partly absorbed by plastic deformation of the rolling diaphragm. It is an object of the present invention to provide perforating apparatus having improved shock absorbing characteristics. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided perforating apparatus for use at the lower end of a tubing string in a well bore, the apparatus comprising: a perforating gun for perforating the formation around the well bore; a detonating cord for firing said perforating gun; and shock absorbing means between the perforating gun and the tubing string for absorbing the shock produced by the firing of said perforating gun; characterised in that the shock absorbing means comprises: inner and outer housing members which are initially rigidly connected together; means responsive to the detonation wave which propagates along the detonating cord during the firing of the perforating gun to break the connection between the housing members and thereby render them relatively axially movable; and collapsible energy absorbing means arranged to be permanently deformed by the relative axial movement of the housing members, whereby to absorb said shock. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method practised by a shock absorber adapted to be connected to a well apparatus for absorbing shock, the shock absorber including an energy absorbing element, comprising the steps of: breaking a connection between an outer housing and an inner housing of said shock absorber immediately prior to said shock, the inner housing being released from the outer housing when the connection is broken; receiving said shock in said energy absorbing element of said shock absorber; storing mechanical energy associated with said shock in said energy absorbing element; and subsequently releasing the stored energy in the form of heat and not in the form of kinetic energy. Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description presented hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while representing a preferred embodiment of the present invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the scope of the invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSA full understanding of the present invention will be obtained from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment presented hereinbelow, and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only and are not intended to be limitative of the present invention, and wherein: figure 1 illustrates an optimum theory associated with shock absorption in a perforating gun string; figure 2a illustrates a perforating gun including a firing head disposed on an end of a tubing string, and an energy absorbing element shock absorber disposed below the firing head within the perforating gun; figure 2a(1) illustrates the shock absorber of figure 2a in greater detail; figure 2b illustrates a perforating gun including a firing head disposed on an end of a tubing string, and an energy absorbing element shock absorber disposed above the firing head of the perforating gun; figure 3 illustrates an energy absorbing element adapted to be disposed within the shock absorber; figure 4 illustrates perforating apparatus in accordance with the present invention, comprising a novel shock absorber adapted to be incorporated below a perforating gun firing head and within a perforating gun string, the shock absorber including a damping coil mechanical energy absorbing element; figures 5a and 5b illustrate the shock absorber of figure 4 during and after detonation of the perforating gun; figure 6 illustrates perforating apparatus in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention and comprising a further novel shock absorber adapted to be incorporated above a perforating gun firing head and within a tubing string, the shock absorber including a honeycomb mechanical energy absorbing element; figure 6a is a cross-section of the shock absorber of figure 6, taken along section lines 6a-6a of figure 6; and figure 7 illustrates a plurality of graphs of force vs displacement for various types of energy absorbing shock absorbers. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTPerforating guns are utilized in well logging for perforating a formation traversed by a borehole, well fluids being produced from the perforated formation. The perforating guns contain shape charges; when the shape charges detonate, the formation is perforated; however, a shock is generated from the gun, the shock propagating up the gun string. In order to reduce the severity of the shock, shock absorbers are usually incorporated within the tubing string above the perforating gun. All such shock absorbers to date absorb mechanical energy and subsequently release the mechanical energy in the form of kinetic energy. It has been important to carefully analyze the release of mechanical energy since an abrupt release of the mechanical energy may produce still another shock. Typical prior art shock absorbers store mechanical energy during absorption of a shock and subsequently release the mechanical energy in the form of kinetic energy. For example, in a standard spring shock absorber, the mechanical energy is stored during compression of the spring and is released in the form of kinetic energy during expansion of the spring. Shock severity may be reduced by storage of the input energy and its release in a smoother form over a longer period of time. For example, referring to figure 1, the energy input IN to a shock absorber system is shown by the first energy pulse, and the energy released OUT from the shock absorber system is shown by the second energy pulse. Note that the second energy pulse OUT illustrates a relatively flat amplitude pulse, the amplitude of the second pulse being smaller than the amplitude of the first pulse thereby indicating a release of the mechanical energy in a smoother form over a longer period of time. Shock absorbers of the prior art released their stored mechanical energy in the form of kinetic energy. Improvements to the shock absorbers of the prior art have primarily involved generating a smoother release of the stored mechanical energy in the form of kinetic energy. However, the shock absorber of the perforating apparatus of the present invention ultilizes a different principle of operation; that is, it is a single event shock absorber, one which receives mechanical energy during energy absorption but does not subsequently release the stored mechanical energy in the form of kinetic energy; instead, it releases the stored mechanical energy in the form of heat. This permits the shock absorber to be incorporated within the perforating gun string as well as within the tubing string above the perforating gun. Referring to figures 2a and 2a(1), a shock absorber in perforating apparatus in accordance with the present invention is disposed below a firing head of a perforating gun and within the perforating gun string. In figure 2a, a perforating gun 30 is connected to one end of a tubing string 32 in a borehole and an isolation packer 34 is disposed within the tubing string 32 above the perforating gun 30; when the packer 34 is set, an interval between the tubing string and a wall of the borehole above the packer is isolated from an interval between the tubing and the wall of the borehole below the packer. A gun release sub 50, a debris circulating sub 52, a drop bar firing head assembly 36, and a single event shock absorber assembly 38 are disposed between the perforating gun 30 and the isolation packer 34 on the tubing 32. The firing head assembly 36 is disposed above the perforating gun 30, and the single event shock absorber assembly is disposed below the firing head 36 and within the perforating gun 30 (and not within the tubing string above the firing head). In figure 2a(a), the shock absorber assembly 38 contains an energy absorbing element (not shown) disposed within a space 38a of the shock absorber 38, the energy absorbing element storing mechanical energy during shock absorption, and subsequently releasing the stored energy in the form of heat (not kinetic energy). As a result, since the shock absorber 38 is not located above the firing head 36 within the tubing string 32, fullbore access to the firing head 36 is available to a user at the well surface. Figure 2b shows perforating apparatus in accordance with the present invention, in which a shock absorber is disposed above a firing head of a perforating gun and within the tubing string. In figure 2b, a perforating gun 30 is connected to one end of a tubing string 32 in a borehole and an isolation packer 34 is disposed within the tubing string 32 above the perforating gun 30; when the packer 34 is set, an interval between the tubing string and a wall of the borehole above the packer is isolated from an interval between the tubing and the wall of the borehole below the packer. A single event shock absorber 38, a gun release sub 50, a debris circulating sub 52, and a drop bar firing head assembly 36 are disposed between the packer 34 and the perforating gun 30 on the tubing 32. The single event shock absorber assembly 38 is disposed above the firing head 36 of perforating gun 30 and between the gun release sub 50 and the packer 34 within the tubing 32. Since the shock absorber 38 is a single event type, it can be equally effective, relative to the shock absorber of figure 2a, in absorbing shock when disposed above the firing head 36 within the tubing string 32. The shock absorber of figure 2b also includes a space 38a in which a single event energy absorbing element is disposed. The term single event connotes the absorption of mechanical energy resultant from a shock produced during detonation of the perforating gun, but not the release of the stored mechanical energy in the form of kinetic energy. Referring to figure 3, one embodiment of a single event energy absorbing element, adapted to be disposed within space 38a of figure 2a(1), is illustrated. In figure 3, the energy absorbing element comprises a hollow damping coil 18. When a compressive force is applied to both of the ends of the hollow coil 18, the hollow coil 18 will permanently deform. The coil 18 will not expand following compression; therefore, the stored mechanical energy is not subsequently released in the form of kinetic energy; rather, the stored energy will be released in the form of heat. Referring to figure 4, a detailed construction of the shock absorber 38 of figure 2a, designed to be fit below the firing head assembly 36 and within the perforating gun 30, is illustrated. In figure 4, one embodiment of the shock absorber 38 of figure 2a is shown, and comprises an outer housing 10 having one end including a first inwardly disposed transverse member 10a, an inner housing 12 which includes a second transverse member 12a transversely disposed with respect to the inner housing 12 and having a surface in contact with an inner surface of the outer housing 10, and a joining member 14 which joins the outer housing 10 to the inner housing 12, the joining member 14 including an inner piece 14a forming an integral part of the inner housing 12, an outer piece 14b having one end integrally joined to the inner piece 14a, and a third transverse member 14c integrally joined to the other end of the other piece 14b, the third transerse member 14c contacting an inner surface of the outer housing 10. A first space is defined between the inner housing 12 and the outer housing 10 by the first inwardly disposed transverse member 10a of the outer housing 10 and the second transverse member 12a of the inner housing 12; a first energy absorbing element 16, otherwise termed a damping coil 16, is disposed within the first space. A second space is defined between the inner housing 12 and the outer housing 10 by the second transverse member 12a of the inner housing 12 and the third transverse member 14c of the joining member 14; a second energy absorbing element, or damping coil, 18 is disposed within the second space. The first and second damping coils 16 and 18 may each be made of aluminum or stainless steel. Each damping coil 16 and 18 has a hollow interior such that the damping coil will collapse and permanently deform when a compressive force of a predetermined magnitude is applied to the coil. A break up shape charge 20 is disposed within the inner housing 12, and a detonating cord 22 passes through the center of the break up charge 20. As will be more apparent with reference to figures 5a-5b, the break up shape charge 20 detonates when a detonation wave propagates along the detonating cord 22 and through the shape charge 20, the shape charge 20 severing the inner piece 14a of the joining member 14 into two parts thereby separating the inner housing 12 from the outer housing 10. Before the inner housing 12 is separated from the outer housing 10 by the shape charge 20, the shock absorber 38 is as strong as the tubing string 32; however, after the inner housing 12 is separated from the outer housing 10 by the break up shape charge 20, the shock absorber 38 is as flexible as any other shock absorber and therefore functions as a shock absorber. A functional description of the shock absorber 38 of figures 2a, 2a(1) and figure 4 will be set forth in the following paragraphs with reference to figures 4, 5a and 5b of the drawings. In figures 4, 5a, 5b, the shock absorber is incorporated below firing head 36 within a perforating gun string. The perforating gun 30 includes a plurality of shape charges. In figure 4, the shock absorber is shown before detonation of the shape charges disposed within the perforating gun; in figure 5a, the shock absorber is shown during detonation of the charges; and, in figure 5b, the shock absorber is shown after detonation of the perforating gun charges. In figure 4, the shock absorber is shown undisturbed, since a detonation wave has not yet propagated along detonating cord 22, and none of the shape charges of the perforating gun have detonated. In figure 5a, a detonation wave propagates along detonating cord 22 indicating that the plurality of shape charges in the perforating gun are either detonating or are about to detonate. when the detonation wave passes through the center of the break up charge 20 in figure 5a, the charge 20 cuts the joining member 14 into two pieces (e.g., severs the inner piece 14a into two pieces) thereby separating the inner housing 12 from the outer housing 10. In figure 5a, the breakup charge 20 is shown cutting the joining member 14 into two pieces, but the shock from the detonation of the perforation gun has not yet been received. In figure 5b, the joining member 14 has been cut, the inner piece 14a being shown as separated from the outer piece 14b of the joining member 14. As a result, inner housing 12 is separated from outer housing 10. In addition, a shock from the detonated perforating gun has been received, the shock causing the inner housing 12 to move upwardly in figure 5b relative to the outer housing 10. The second transverse member 12a of the inner housing 12 moves toward the third transverse member 14c of the joining member 14 thereby crushing the second damping coil 18 disposed within the second space. As a result, the second damping coil 18 has collapsed and is now permanently deformed. Although mechanical energy was stored in the damping coil 18 during compression, since the damping coil 18 has collapsed and is permanently deformed, no expansion of the coil 18 will occur; therefore, the mechanical energy is not released in the form of kinetic energy; rather, it is released in the form of heat. Referring to figures 6 and 6a, a detailed construction of the shock absorber 38 of figure 2b, designed to be fit above the firing head assembly 36 within the tubing string 32, is illustrated. While the shock absorber 38 of figures 4, 5a, 5b was designed to fit below the firing head 36 and within the perforating gun 30, the shock absorber 38 of figure 6 is designed to fit within the tubing string 32 above the firing head 36. The only other significant difference between the shock absorber 38 of figures 4, 5a and 5b and the shock absorber 38 of figure 6 is the specific structure of the energy absorbing element adapted to fit within space 38a of figure 2a(1). Whereas the damping coil 18 of figure 4 was the energy absorbing element used in connection with the shock absorber of figures 4, 5a and 5b, a corrugated honeycomb 40 is the energy absorbing element used in connection with the shock absorber of figure 6. Figure 6a illustrates the cross-sectional structure of the honeycomb 40 of figure 6, figure 6a being a cross section of the shock absorber 38 of figure 6, taken along section lines 6a-6a of figure 6. In figure 6a, note the corrugated structure of the honeycomb energy absorbing element 40 of figure 6. In fact, there are a plurality of layers of the corrugated structure 40 in figure 6a, each corrugated layer being disposed on top of its adjacent corrugated layer, the plurality of corrugated layers 40 collectively comprising the honeycomb energy absorbing element adapted to fit within space 38a of the shock absorber 38 of figure 2b. When the perforating gun charges detonate, the honeycomb 40 energy absorbing element absorbs mechanical energy and permanently deforms, the deformation being the same as that illustrated in figure 5b. Mechanical energy is absorbed and stored during the deformation of honeycomb 40; however, the stored energy is released in the form of heat, and not in the form of kinetic energy. Referring to figure 7, a plot of force vs. displacement for various types of energy absorbing elements disposed in a shock absorber is illustrated, the energy absorbed by a particular energy absorbing element being equal to the area under its curve. In figure 7, a prior art rubber elastomer energy absorbing element is illustrated as having the worst energy absorption, since the area under its curve is the least as compared to a spring element, a damping coil element and a honeycomb element. The honeycomb energy absorbing element 40 possesses the best energy absorption since it has the largest area under its curve and exhibits the lowest reaction force for a given energy absorption. The damping coil energy absorbing element 18 possesses the next best energy absorption.	Perforating apparatus for use at the lower end of a tubing string in a well bore, the apparatus comprising: a perforating gun (30) for perforating the formation around the well bore; a detonating cord (22) for firing said perforating gun (30); and shock absorbing means (38) between the perforating gun (30) and the tubing string (32) for absorbing the shock produced by the firing of said perforating gun; characterised in that the shock absorbing means (38) comprises: inner and outer housing members (12, 10) which are initially rigidly connected together; means (20) responsive to the detonation wave which propagates along the detonating cord (22) during the firing of the perforating gun (30) to break the connection between the housing members (12, 10) and thereby render them relatively axially movable; and collapsible energy absorbing means (16, 18 or 40) arranged to be permanently deformed by the relative axial movement of the housing members, thereby absorbing said shock and releasing energy in the form of heat rather than in the form of kinetic energy. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the collapsible energy absorbing means comprises a coiled tube (16 or 18). Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the collapsible energy absorbing means comprises a honeycomb (40). Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein respective collapsible energy absorbing means (16 or 18, or 40) is provided for both possible directions of relative movement between the inner and outer housing members (12, 10). Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the detonation wave responsive means comprises a shaped charge (20). A method practised by a shock absorber (38) adapted to be connected to a well apparatus for absorbing shock, the shock absorber including an energy absorbing element (16, 18 or 40), comprising the steps of: breaking a connection between an outer housing (10) and an inner housing (12) of said shock absorber (38) immediately prior to said shock, the inner housing being released from the outer housing when the connection is broken; receiving said shock in said energy absorbing element (16, 18 or 40) of said shock absorber (38); storing mechanical energy associated with said shock in said energy absorbing element (16, 18 or 40); and subsequently releasing the stored energy in the form of heat and not in the form of kinetic energy.	SCHLUMBERGER HOLDINGS; SCHLUMBERGER LTD; SCHLUMBERGER SERVICES PETROL; SCHLUMBERGER HOLDINGS LIMITED; SCHLUMBERGER LIMITED; SERVICES PETROLIERS SCHLUMBERGER	HUBER KLAUS; MISZEWSKI ANTONI; HUBER, KLAUS; MISZEWSKI, ANTONI
EP-0488877-B1	488,877	EP	B1	EN	19,950,419	1,992	20,100,220	new	A47K13	null	A47K13	A47K 13/20	Apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seats	This apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat comprises; a) an electrically driven seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) for feeding seat covering paper (P) from a seat covering paper roll stored in a seat covering paper roll storage portion (E) onto a toilet seat body (11) through a seat covering paper feed path; b) a seat covering paper cutting mechanism (D) for cutting the seat covering paper fed to the surface of the toilet seat body at the rear edge portion of the paper, c) a control unit (F) for operating said electrically driven seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) by predetermined control signals sequentially output therefrom to thereby control feeding of said seat covering paper to be fed on said toilet seat body (11); and d) battery means (15c) for supplying electricity to said seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) and said control unit (F).	STATE OF ARTThe present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seats BACKGROUND OF INVENTIONConventionally, an apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seats comprises, as disclosed in JP-A-2-177 916 on which the preamble of the appended Claim 1 is based, a functional casing including a feed mechanism for feeding seat covering paper from a seat covering paper roll stored in a roll storage portion onto a toilet seat body through a feed path, a cutting mechanism for cutting the seat covering paper fed to the surface of the toilet seat body at the rear edge portion and clamping the rear edge portion of the paper, and a control unit for controlling operations of the feeding mechanism and cutting mechanism, the mechanisms and control unit being driven by a commercial power supply. Since such an apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat is arranged to be driven by a commercial power supply, when the toilet seat with the automatic seat covering paper feeder is to be provided, for example, for a toilet in a public lavatory of a public institution or a toilet in a general house where there is no power supply facility for supplying power to the toilet equipment though there is a power supply facility for illumination, it is required to newly establish a power supply facility for the toilet equipment. Therefore it is rather difficult to introduce the toilet seat with the automatic seat covering paper feeder into such a toilet. In restaurants, department stores, and such commercial buildings, a power supply cord hanging from the ceiling is unsightly and it has been difficult to dispose of it. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat which can resolve the above-defects of the conventional apparatuses. It is another object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein mechanisms such as the feeding mechanism and cutting mechanism are driven by a battery, and thereby, it is made possible to use the apparatus in a place within an existing building or others where it is difficult to arrange commercial power supply wiring and also to overcome the problem of unsightliness. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein the apparatus is controlled by a control program in which after a seat covering paper feeding switch is turned on or during the paper feeding operation, the battery indicator is lit on for a predetermined time to alarm the coming use-up of the battery to a user or a repair person so that he can readily replace the battery with a new one to assure the normal operation of the apparatus. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein the apparatus is provided with a control program in which the control unit jugdes the used-up of the battery when the seat covering paper feeding switch is used several times after the above-mentioned alarming and thereafter the battery indicator is continuously lit, whereby the incomplete or erroneous operation of the mechanisms which are caused by the shortage of voltage of the power source can be prevented effectively. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein the apparatus is provided with a control program in which a seat covering paper detecting sensor is only operable to check the perforation on the seat covering paper after the seat covering paper feeding switch is turned on and the seat covering paper is fed to a position where the detecting of the perforation is possible so that the consumption of the battery due to the operation of the seat covering paper detecting sensor can be minimized. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein the apparatus is provided with a control program in which the control unit judges the occurrenre of the clogging or used-up of the seat covering paper within the functional casing in case the seat covering paper position detecting sensor does not detect the perforation within a predetermined time and makes the emergency signal generating means operate for a predetermined time and makes the paper cutting mechanism to return to and stop at the original or standby position, whereby even when the battery-driven apparatus is out of order due to any causes other than the battery, the operation of the apparatus can be readily stopped thus preventing the unnecessary consumption of the battery. Furthermore, with this control program, since the paper cutting mechanism is to return to and stop at the original or standby position, as soon as the above causes are removed, the apparatus can resume the paper feeding operation readily. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein the apparatus is provided with a control program in which the control unit operates a plurality of electrically driven mechanisms by predetermined control signals sequentially output therefrom to thereby control feeding of seat covering paper stored in the apparatus and the control unit also comprises a supply voltage detection portion for detecting supply voltage to the control unit or a plurality of mechanisms, and changes the control signals supplied to the plurality of mechanisms in accordance with results of detection by the supply voltage detection portion, whereby the most suitable control of the apparatus for automatically feeding the seat covering paper according to the voltage supplied to the apparatus can be obtained. Thus, incomplete operations of a plurality of mechanisms due to shortage of currents and any trouble due to such incomplete operations, and, further, unstable outputting of control signals from the control unit can be reliably prevented. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein the apparatus is further provided with seating detection means in the toilet seat and voltage is intermittently applied, at predetermined intervals, to the seating detection means provided for detecting sitting on and standing of a user from the toilet seat, whereby a considerable consumption of electricity caused by the continuous supply of electricity to the seating detecting means from the time of sitting onto the seat to the time of leaving from the seat can be avoided so that the effective operable voltage level of the battery can be prolonged. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat wherein said apparatus is further provided with paper position detection means for detecting presence or absence of seat covering paper fed onto said toilet seat body and voltage is intermittently applied to said paper position detection means at predetermined intervals, whereby a considerable consumption of electricity caused by the continuous supply of electricity to the paper position detecting means can be avoided so that the effective operable voltage level of the battery can be prolonged. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat, wherein the control unit controls the cutting mechanism such that when the cutting mechanism is unable to cut the seat covering paper within a preset condition, the cutting mechanism is controlled to return to a predetermined position. Accordingly, even when the torque of the motor is rapidly lowered due to the sharp drop of the battery voltage or the motor has to bear a torque which exceeds the rated torque, the consumption of the electricity caused by the continuation of the actuation of the motor can be effectively prevented. Furthermore, since the cutting mechanism returns to the original position, the locking of the motor which leads to the trouble on the motor can be minimized. Still furthermore, since the cutting mechanism can be returned to the original position, at the time of repairing or maintenance, the apparatus can be readily dismantled and the seat covering paper can be readily replaced. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat, wherein the apparatus is further provided with operating quantity detection means for detecting the operating quantity of the feeding mechanism and time counting means or timer means for measuring the operating time of the feeding mechanism, and the feeding mechanism, when the time counting means counts out a preset time period after the feeding mechanism has started up, is controlled in accordance with the detected value by the operating quantity detection means. In case the feeding of the seat covering paper cannnot be conducted normally due to the reasons such as the clogging of the paper, the lowering of battery voltage or the mulfunction of the motor, the motor cannot achieve the rated revolution which is necessary for the normal feeding event when the preset time necessary feeding operation elapses. Accordingly, simultaneous with the actuation of the feeding motor, the timer is set to count out the time and when the revolution of the motor detected by the revolution detecting means at the time of the time over is lower than the predetermined level, it is judged that the feeding of the seat covering paper is abnormal. Thereafter, the feeding motor is readily stopped so that any troubles such as the overload on the motor, the paper clogging or the wosening of the troubled condition can be avoided. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a battery-driven apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat, wherein the rotary encoder is employed as the revolution detection means for the paper feeding motor so that the revolution of the feeding motor can be accurately detected resulting in the accurate and readily detection of the paper clogging. The construction fo the revolution detecting means can be simplified as well. Furthermore, the rotary encoder requires the least consumption of the electricity in its operation so that it facilitates to prolong the life of the battery. Furthermore, even if the voltage of the battery is lowered, the rotary encoder can accurately detect the revolution of the feeding motor and thereby can accurately detect the clogging of the paper at the time of paper feeding operation even if the voltage level of the battery is considerably lowered. It may be possible to use Hall IC element as the revolution detecting means in lieu of the rotary encoder, wherein the Hall IC element makes use of the change of the magnetic field caused by the rotation of the motor. The Hall IC element consumes a considerable amount of electricity and cannot accurately detect the revolution of the motor when the voltage lever is lowered. Accordingly, it is preferable to use the rotary encoder to the Hall IC element. EP-A-0316815 discloses a commercially-available-electrically-operated apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat which prevent the wear of the cutting edge which is generated through the tearing operation thus minimizing the maintenance or repairing operation of the cutting mechanism. Since the apparatus is operated using the commercially-available electricity supplied to each household from the power station, it is unnecessary for the apparatus to consider the consumption of the electricity as in the case of the apparatus operated by the battery for its operation. EP-A-0292946 also discloses a commercially-available-electrically-operated apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat which can smoothly feed a seat covering paper onto a toilet seat by preventing the curling of the seat covering paper which tends to occur during the paper feeding operation. Since the apparatus is also operated using the commercially-available electricity supplied to each household from the power station, it is unnecessary for the apparatus to consider the consumption of the electricity as in the case of the apparatus operated by the battery for its operation. WO-A-8707494 discloses an apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat which avoids safety hazards. SUMMARY OF INVENTIONIn summary, this invention discloses an apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat which is characterized by the features defined in independent claim 1. Dependent claims 2 to 10 define various modifications of the invention according to claim 1. BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 is a general perspective view of toilet equipment provided with a toilet seat with an automatic seat covering paper feeding apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the above toilet equipment. FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway plan view of the above toilet equipment. FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway right-hand side view of the automatic seat covering paper feeding apparatus. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the above paper feeding apparatus in the direction of the arrow I - I in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the above paper feeding apparatus in the direction of the arrow II - II in FIG. 4. FIG. 7 is an enlarged elevational view of the power transmission mechanism for the paper feeding and cutting mechanisms. FIG. 8 is a cutaway right-hand side view of the above paper feeding apparatus showing the battery case storing a plurality of batteries therein. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the cartridge storing the batteries. FIG. 9A is a partial plan view of the battery case. FIG. 9b is a partial elevational view of the modified battery case. FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view of the above paper feeding apparatus. FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing the manner of replacing the seat covering paper roll. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a power supply circuit. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a motor driving circuit. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of connections between a microprocessor and various circuits. FIG. 15 is an enlarged cutaway elevational view of the paper position detection sensor. FIG. 16 is an enlarged plan view of the paper position detection sensor. FIG. 17 is a cross sectional view in the direction of the arrow III- III in FIG. 16. FIG. 18 is a cross sectional view in the direction of the arrow IV-IV in FIG. 17. FIG. 19 is a plan view of a movable plate position detection sensor. FIG. 20 is a perspective view of the above sensor. FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of the above sensor. FIG. 21A is a perspective view of the rotary encoder which works as the operation amount detection means. FIG. 22 is a plan view of seat covering paper. FIG. 23 is a flow chart showing controlled operational sequence of the above paper feeding apparatus. FIG. 24 is a flow chart showing controlled operational sequence of the above paper feeding apparatus. FIG. 25 is a flow chart showing controlled operational sequence of the above paper feeding apparatus. FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing controlled operational sequence of the above paper feeding apparatus. FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram of operational positions of the above paper feeding apparatus. FIG. 28 is a flow chart showing an additional controlled operational sequence of the above paper feeding apparatus. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTIONAs an example of an apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper onto a toilet seat according to the present invention, a general structure of a toilet seat with automatic seat covering paper feeder A driven by a dry battery will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a toilet seat with automatic seat covering paper feeder A is formed of a toilet seat body 11 operatively mounted on a flush toilet bowl 10 for opening and shutting and a functional portion 14 fixedly mounted on the rear portion of the flush toilet bowl 10 for pivotally supporting the rear portion of the toilet seat body 11 for vertical rotation around a functional shaft 13 and a simple shaft 13a and standing upright. The toilet seat body 11 is shaped in an oval ring form with an opening 11e in the center. The functional shaft 13 is operatively interlocked with a later described seating detection means 72. The functional portion 14 is formed, as shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, of a functional casing 15 attached to the rear portion of the flush toilet bowl 10 and a feeding mechanism C, a cutting mechanism D, a roll storage portion E, a control unit F, an operation portion G, and a dry battery case 15a are disposed within the functional casing 15. Now, the arrangement of the functional casing 15 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 6, the functional casing 15 is formed of a lower casing 16 incorporating the feeding mechanism C, the cutting mechanism D, etc. and an upper casing 17 engaged with the top edge portion of the lower casing 16 and having the roll storage portion E formed therein. As shown in FIG. 5, on both left and right sides of the lower casing 16, there are erected bearing boxes 30 and 31, respectively, and in the bearing box 31 on the right-hand side, there are disposed a feeding motor M1 as the driving power source of the feeding mechanism C and cutting mechanism D and a cam-driving motor M2. The feeding mechanism C includes, as shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 6, a feeding shaft 32 coupled with the feeding motor M1 and transversely disposed between upper rear portions of the bearing boxes 30 and 31 on the left and right sides of the lower casing 16. The feeding shaft 32 has a feeding roller 33 fixedly attached thereto, and this roller and a presser roller 34 disposed above the same are adapted to sandwich the seat covering paper P therebetween exerting a pressure thereon and feed the seat covering paper P from the roll storage portion E onto the toilet seat body 11. Between the feeding motor M1 and the feeding shaft 32 is interposed a power transmitting mechanism K as shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7. The power transmitting mechanism K as shown in FIG. 7 encases a worm gear arrangement made of a worm pinion K1 and a wormwheel K2 which works as a speed reduction as well as a reverse rotation preventing mechanism in a power transmission case K4. The rotating power is transmitted from the output shaft m of the feeding motor M1 to the feeding shaft 32 by way of the above mentioned worm gear arrangement. Namely, the power transmission case K4 has an inversely-L-shaped configuration and encases the feeding motor M1 at the lower end of the horizontal casing of the inversely-L-shaped configuration, the output shaft of the feeding motor M1 is connected to the worm pinion K1, the worm pinion K1 and wormwheel K2 are encased in the horizontal casing in a meshed condition, an intermediate shaft K3 which is connected to the wormwheel K2 is horizontally disposed in the horizontal casing, and the intermediate shaft K3 and the feeding shaft 32 horizontally disposed in the longitudinal casing of the inversely-L-shaped configuration are operably connected by way of the meshed construction of the gears K5,K6. Accordingly, although the rotation is transmitted from the feeding motor M1 to the feeding shaft 32, the transmission of the rotation from the feeding shaft 32 to the feeding motor M1 is prevented by the friction resistance of the worm gear arrangement so that an irregular rotation of the feeding roller 33 caused by any outer force such as a tension force exerted at the time of cutting of the seat covering paper P as shown in FIG. 27. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 13, both terminals X1b. X1b of the feeding motor M1 are connected to the power source by way of a relay. Accordingly, when the power source is off so as to stop the operation of the feeding motor M1, the terminals X1b. X1b are short-circuited by the activation of the relay to generate a braking force to rapidly stop the rotation of the output shaft of the feeding motor M1 thereby accurately regulating the stop position of the feeding roller 33. Furthermore, since both terminals X1b, X1b of the feeding motor M1 are short-circuited, when the outer force which tends to rotate the feeding roller 33 occurs, for example, upon cutting of the seat covering paper P by the application of the tension on the seat covering paper P, an induction voltage is generated within the feeding motor M1 to make the feeding motor M1 conduct a self regulation so as to prevent an irregular rotation of the feeding roller 33. In this manner, by preventing the irregular rotation of the feeding roller 33 caused by any outer force and accurately regulating the stop position of the feeding roller 33, the feeding amount of the seat covering paper P can be accurately determined so that breaking perforations c which will be described later can be accurately aligned with the cutting portion 58 of the cutting mechanism D. Accordingly, a considerable outer force can be applied on the seat covering paper P at the time of cutting of the seat covering paper P so that the cutting can be effected readily and without fail while accurately cutting the seat covering paper P on the breaking perforations c. The cutting mechanism D, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, includes a disc cam 44 fixed to a power transmission shaft 43 coupled with the cam-driving motor M2 disposed in the right-hand bearing box 31, a movable plate 50 disposed around a shaft 49 for swinging around the shaft 49 and having its peripheral face engaged with the peripheral face of the disc cam 44, and a swing plate 51 disposed above the movable plate 50 and pivotally supported on a shaft 52 for swinging. Reference numeral 56 denotes a presser piece disposed at the rear of the top face of the movable plate 50, and this presser piece 56 and a presser piece 57 forming the front portion of the swing plate 51 are adapted to cooperate in clamping the seat covering paper P. At the rear of the swing plate 51, there is formed a cutting portion 58 integrally with the presser piece 57. Reference character BP denotes a barrier fitted to the front portion of the top end of the movable plate 50 for preventing contaminated water from getting inside. The roll storage portion E, as shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6, has roll holders 60 and 61 disposed on the left-hand and right-hand bearing boxes 30 and 31, respectively, so that a seat covering paper roll R, formed by winding the seat covering paper P around a paper cylinder R1 many times, is exchangeably supported thereon. The construction of the seat covering paper roll storage portion E is further described in detail. As shown in FIG 11, a sleeve 38 is rotatably supported within a left-side bearing box 30 and the distal end of the holder mounting sleeve 62 is rotatably and reciprocably disposed within the sleeve 38. The holder mounting sleeve stores a spring 63 therein, and the spring 63 biases the holder mounting sleeve 62 in an extending direction. The holder mounting sleeve 62 rotatably receives a seat covering paper holder 60 at the extended end thereof by means of a removable preventing plug 64. Meanwhile, a sleeve 39 which is rotatably disposed in the right-side bearing box 31 receives the seat paper roll holder 61 by means of the removable preventing plug 64. Due to such a construction, by compressing the spring 63 so as to retract the holder mounting sleeve 62 and seat paper roll holder 60, both ends of a paper sleeve R1 of the seat covering paper roll R can be supported by the seat paper roll holders 60, 61 respectively. Furthermore, when the seat covering paper P on the paper sleeve R1 is all used up, the spring 63 is compressed so as to retract the holder mounting sleeve 62 and seat paper roll holder 60 and both ends of the paper sleeve R1 of the seat covering paper roll R can be removed from the seat paper roll holder 60,61 as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 11 enabling the readily replacement of the seat paper roll. The control unit F, as shown in FIG. 12 to FIG. 14, includes a power supply circuit 102, various circuits connected to the input and output terminals of a microcomputer 104, and a motor driving circuit 107 including a first and a second motor circuits 105 and 106 having contacts of relays provided in the aforesaid various circuits, and further includes an interface n connected with control output generating means such as a paper position detection sensor 70 generating an output upon detecting a position detection through-hole b formed in the seat covering paper P (refer to FIG. 22), as well as a feed switch 71, the seating detection means 72, etc. provided in the later described operation portion G, an output interface connected with the feeding mechanism C, cutting mechanism D, etc., a memory for storing seat covering paper P feeding, clamping, and cutting programs, and a timer. The operation portion G is , as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 10, provided above the forward right portion of the lower casing 16 and includes the feed switch 71, a power supply lamp formed of a light emitting diode or the like, and a display portion g1 including a paper trouble lamp having an alarming function in the event of an abnormal condition such as paper clogging, need for a supply of paper, etc. Below the operation portion G, there is provided, as shown in FIG. 8 to FIG. 10, a dry battery case 15a capable of containing four 'single type No. 1' dry cells 101, formed integral with the lower casing 16. It is adapted such that electric power for driving the mechanisms C and D and the control unit F is supplied from the dry battery 101 in the dry battery case 15a. Reference numeral 15b denotes a cover operatively arranged for opening and shutting. The battery case 15a forms a cartridge insertion opening 15e of an approximately rectangular shape at the front wall thereof through which a cartridge 15d can be stored. The cartridge 15d has, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, an approximately box-like construction with upper end thereof opened. The cartridge 15d is devided into several chambers by means of a plurality partition walls and a battery 15c is accommodated in each chamber. As shown in FIG. 9A, on the partition wall 15n which faces the positive pole of each battery 15c, a pair of left and right protrusions 15k are formed and a contact 15m is disposed between these protrusions 15k. Therefore, when the battery 15c is correctly inserted into the chamber (FIG. 9A(a)), the positive pole 15j of the battery 15c cames into contact with the contact 15m, while when the battery 15c is incorrectly inserted into the chamber (FIG. 9A(b) ), the negative pole 15p of the battery 15c does not come into contact with the contact 15m so that a wrong connection caused by the incorrect insertion of the battery 15c can be perfectly prevented. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 10, the cartridge 15d is provided with an elongated guide groove 15g on the rear half portion of the outer bottom surface thereof, while an elongated guide protrusion 15f is formed on the rear half portion of the inner bottom surface of the battery case 15a. Therefore, when the cartridge 15d is to be inserted into the cartridge case 15a in an incorrect manner the guide protrusion 15f bumps into the front wall of the cartridge 15d so that the cartridge 15d can only be inserted in case the cartridge 15d is correctly inserted through the cartridge insertion opening 15e thereby perfectly preventing incorrect insertion of the cartridge 15d. In this manner, by preventing the wrong connection caused by the incorrect insertion of the battery 15c to the cartridge 15d and the wrong insertion of the cartridge 15d into the cartridge insertion opening 15e, the wrong connection at the time of battery replacement can be prevented. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, on the rear wall 15r of the cartridge insertion opening 15e and the rear wall of the cartridge 15d, a cartridge side contact 15t and a case side contact 15u are mounted. The case side contact 15u is made of a resilient metal plate with a corrosion-resistant plating and such a contact 15u is folded in an approximately U-shaped shape with an opening angle ϑ₁ in a free condition as shown in dotted lines. Upon insertion of the cartridge 15d into the battery case 15a, the case side contact 15u is pressed to the cartridge side contact 15t and the case side contact 15u is resiliently reformed giving rise to a relative slide movement between the contacts 15t and 15u so that an oxide film or a corrosion film formed on the surface of the contacts 15t,15u can be effectively removed at each inserting operation assuring the favorable electrical connection between the cartridge 15d and the battery case 15a. In FIG. 9B, a modification of the above battery construction is disclosed, wherein upon insertion of the cartridge 15d, a cartridge-side contact 15v slides on the surface of a case-side contact 15w to clean the surfaces of both contacts 15v,15w. On the forward right side of the functional casing 15, there is disposed, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 15, a paper position detection sensor 70, which includes a phototransistor and a photodiode. The paper position detection sensor 70, when the seat covering paper P is fed a predetermined length from the seat covering paper roll R onto the toilet seat body 11 detects the position detection through-hole b formed in the seat covering paper P at predetermined intervals ( see FIG. 22 ) and thereupon stops the operation of the feeding mechanism C so that the seat covering paper P is accurately fed onto the toilet seat body 11. Namely, when the seat covering paper P is fed out on the toilet seat body 11 from the seat covering paper roll R in a predetermined length by activating the seat covering paper feeding mechanism C, the seat covering paper position detection sensor 70 detects the position detection through-hole b, stops the operation of the seat covering paper feeding mechanism C and thereby assures accurate feeding and locating of the seat covering paper P on the toilet seat body 11. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 15, the seat covering paper position detection sensor 70 is covered by a waterproof cover 70a, and the electric connection between the sensor 70 and the control unit F disposed on the front right portion of the lower casing 16 is carried out by means of a pair of lead wires L1, L2 which pass through a cylindrical boss 39. The seating detection sensor 72 as the means for detection sitting on the seat of the user detects whether or not the user is seated by sensing the load exerted on the toilet seat body 11 through the arrangement of both ends of the rear portion of the toilet seat body 11 removably fitted, for rotation and standing upright, to pivotal support portions 15d provided on both sides of the front portion of the functional casing 15 through the functional shaft 13 and simple shaft 13a. The sensor 72 is operatively interlocked with the functional shaft 13 disposed within the pivotal support portion 15d. Such a seating detection means 72 is explained in detail in view of FIG. 16 to FIG. 18. As shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 16, both rear ends of the seat body 11 are fitted by a functional pivot shaft 13 and a simple pivot shaft 13a, to pivot portions 15a, 15b provided on both front ends of the functional unit casing 15, removably and rotatably to be able to move upwardly and downwardly. Further, the seating detection means 72 is disposed within the pivot portion 15a and connected with the above-mentioned functional pivot shaft 13. The functional pivot shaft 13, as shown in FIGs. 16 to 18, is inserted into the pivot portion 15a while passing through the long-length hole 75 provided longitudinally on the inner wall 74 of the pivot portion 15a. The inserting portion of the functional pivot shaft 13 is rotatably supported in a movable bearing 77 which is mounted elevatably within an elevation guide casing 76. Although the movable bearing 77 is constantly biased by a coil spring 78 upwardly, since the upper limit position is restricted by a restriction plate 79, the movable bearing 77 assumes normally an upper position (not yet seating position) as shown in FIG. 17, and the functional pivot shaft 13 and the toilet seat body 11 also assume an upper position as well, as shown in FIG. 17. The functional pivot shaft 13 is provided with a lever pressing member 80 on the inserting extremity thereof. As apparent from Fig. 18, the lever pressing member 80 is shown as a segment having approximately a quarter of a circle which is coaxial with the functional pivot shaft 13, and the radius of the outer periphery of the segment is made considerably larger than the radius of the functional pivot shaft 13. The shape of the lever pressing member 80 is not limited to the segment having approximately a quarter of a circle but any shape may be used if the radius of the outer periphery thereof is considerably larger than the radius of the functional pivot shaft 13. Below the above-mentioned lever pressing member 80, a sensor activating lever 81 having an L-shape when viewed in plan is mounted. The sensor activating lever 81 has a proximal end 81a which is elevatably supported in an upwardly biased condition within a lever elevation guide casing 83 housing a coil spring 82 in the inside thereof, while on the distal end 81b, a shield plate 84 is provided. Therefore, the upper surface of the sensor activating lever 81 is constantly in contact with the lever pressing member 80 by means of the coil spring 82. The above-mentioned shield plate 84 is interposed between a light emitting device 85a and a light reception device 85b of an infrared sensor 85 provided within the pivot portion 15a of the functional unit casing 15. Next, the operation of the seating detection means 72 having the above-mentioned construction is explained hereinafter. When the user sits on the seat body 11, the functional pivot shaft 13, the movable bearing 77 and the lever pressing member 80 are integrally lowered by the user's weight against the biased force of the coil spring 78, and in communication with such lowering movement, the sensor activating lever 81 is also lowered to make the shield plate 84 release the shield of conduction between the light emitting device 85a and the light reception device 85b, thereby enabling the infrared sensor 85 to generate the output of ON. On the other hand, when the user leaves the toilet seat body 11, the weight is eliminated and the functional pivot shaft 13, the movable bearing 77 and the lever pressing member 80 are integrally raised by means of the biased force of the coil spring 78, and in communication with such raising movement, the sensor activating lever 81 is also raised by the biased force of the coil spring 82 so that the shield plate 84 stops the conduction between the light emitting device (photodiode) 85a and the light reception device (phototransistor) 85b, thereby enabling the infrared sensor 85 to generate the output of OFF. In the seating detection means 72 having the above construction, the detection output thereof allows each mechanism for stopping the automatic feeding of the seat covering paper to perform any desired operation. In this embodiment, the following operation is carried out. Namely, when the user leaves the toilet seat body 11 after the user sits on the toilet seat body 11 and a predetermined time passes, the seating detection means 72 generates a detection output signal to operate the control unit F and to release the clamping of the seat covering paper P by using the seat covering paper cutting mechanism C. Thereafter, when the user removes the used seat covering paper P, the signal of the seat covering paper position detection sensor 70 helps the movable plate 50 to rotate, thus preventing the contaminated water from entering into the seat covering paper feeding path 8. Further, the seating detection means 72 prevents the seat covering paper P from being fed out even if the seat covering paper feeding button switch 71 is pressed down while the user is still sitting on the toilet seat body 11. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 16 to 18, the seating detection means 72 is constructed so as to function as a seat body erection detection means as well. Namely, as shown in FIGS. 16 to 18, the functional pivot shaft 13 is provided with a seat body engaging portion 86 having a flat cross section which is formed by cutting the side opposite (180 degrees) to the seat body. The seat body engaging portion 86 is mounted removably on the side corresponding to the rear portion of the toilet seat body 11, and is inserted into a pivot shaft engaging hole 87 having the same shape as the seat body engaging portion 86. Accordingly, since no relative rotation is produced between the toilet seat body 11 and the functional pivot shaft 13, when the toilet seat body 11 is rotated and erected, the functional pivot shaft 13 is rotated integrally, thereby effecting the rotation of the lever pressing member 80 provided on the inserting end of the functional pivot shaft 13. Since the radius of the lever pressing member 80 is made considerably larger than the radius of the functional pivot shaft 13, by the rotation of the lever pressing member 80, the functional pivot shaft 13, the movable bearing 77 and the lever pressing member 80 are lowered integrally against the biased force of the coil spring 78, and in communication with such lowering movement, the sensor activating lever 81 is also lowered so that the shield plate 84 releases the shield of conduction between the light emitting device 85a and the light reception device 85b, thereby enabling the infrared sensor 85 to generate the output of ON. On the other hand, when the toilet seat body 11 is returned from the erected position to the level seating position, since the pressing force of the lever pressing member 80 for the sensor activating lever 81 is released, the functional pivot shaft 13, the movable bearing 77 and the lever pressing member 80 are elevated integrally by means of the biased force of the coil spring 78, and in communicaiton with such elevation, the sensor activating lever 81 is also elevated by means of the biased force of the coil spring 82, so that the shield plate 84 provides the shield of conduction between the light emitting device 85a and the light reception device 85b, thereby enabling the infrared sensor to generate the output of OFF. With such an output of the sensor, the control unit F performs the control to stop the operation of the seat covering paper feeding mechanism C when the toilet seat body 11 is in an erected condition, thus preventing the seat covering paper P from being fed out from the functional unit casing 15, even if the seat covering paper feeding switch 71 is pressed down erroneously or mischievously and from twisting or clogging within the functional unit casing 15. Next, the construction and the operation of the movable plate position detection sensors 93,93a which detect the present position of the movable plate 50 after the rotation are explained in view of Figs. 6 ,7 and FIGS. 19 to FIG. 21. Such movable plate position detection sensors 93,93a are accommodated, in a juxtaposed condition, in a sensor fitting box 95 which is disposed at the bottom surface of the casing 94 so that the rotation of a power tansmission shaft 43 may not be interfered, in the vicinity of the power transmission shaft 43 to which a disc cam 44 is fixed. Further, the movabable plate position detection sensors 93,93a have a shape of sector when viewed in plan, as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, and are provided with the light emitting device (photodiode) and the light reception device (phototransistor) on walls facing to the opening of ⊐ -shape, respectively. In the ⊐ -shaped portion of the movable plate position detection sensors 93, 93a, a pair of detection plates 96, 96a fixed to the power transmission shaft 43 with a predetermined space in the axial direction thereof are loosely fitted. As shown in FIGS. 19 to 21, the detection plates 96, 96a are arc-shaped with provision of cut-away portions g, h which are about one third of a circle, and fitted into the power transmission shaft 43 eccentrically in the circumferential direction so that the cut-away portions g, h make the cut angle ϑ of about 50 degrees. Due to such construction, the movable plate position detection sensors 93, 93a can detect the rotating position or the moving position of the movable plate 50 which moves in communication with the disc cam 44 fixed to the power transmission shaft 43 corresponding to the light-shielding or the light-emitting of the light emitting device caused by the rotation of the power transmission shaft 43. Namely, due to the rotation of the detection plates 96, 96a, the movable plate position detection sensors 93, 93a can reliably detect the timing when the movable plate 50 reaches each operational positon a-h as shown in FIG. 27 showing the order of operation of the seat covering paper automatic feeding toilet seat A to be described later, and based on this detection output, activate accurately the seat covering paper feeding meahcanism C and the like to perform predetermined operations. As mentioned above, the relationship between the positions of the movable plate position detection sensors 93, 93a and the detection plates 96, 96a (FIG. 21) and the positions of the above mentioned operations a-h (FIG. 27) is shown in the following table. The operation amount detection means for detecting the amount of operation carried out by the feeding mechanism C is explained hereinafter in view of FIG. 21A, wherein an incremental-type rotary encoder 113a which optically carries out the detecting operation is employed as the operation amount detection means. For detecting the revolution of the feeding motor M1, as shown in FIG. 14, the revolution detecting circuit 113 is connected to the input interface n of the microcomputer 104 and the commertially available incremental-type rotary encoder 113a is employed as the revolution detecting circuit 113. As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the rotary encoder 113a is coaxially mounted on the rear portion of the feeding motor M1. To explain the incremental-type rotary encoder briefly, as shown in FIG. 21A, along with the rotation of a rotary shaft 113a-1, a disc 113a-2 on which black and white patterns are printed is rotated. Corresponding to this rotation of the disc 113a-2, the light pass through an A-phase slit 113a-3 and a B-phase slit 113a-5 or are shut off by the disc 113a-2. The light passed through the slits 113a-3, 113a-5 is transformed into electric current by means of phototransistors 113a-6 which faces the respective slits to generate two rows of outputs of rectangular-formed waves and the microcomputer 104 counts the output pulses and detects the amount of revolution of the motor M1 by the number of counts. Since the incremental-type pulse signal cannot be recognized one by one, the rotation amount from the reference position of the input shaft can be measured by the number of counts of pulses accummulated from the reference position. Accordingly, the any desired reference position can be chosen and the detection of endless amount of revolution becomes possible. The two-phase signal slits 113a-3, 113a-5 generate one signal per one revolution of the disc 113a-2 and are used as the origin of the coordinate axes. In FIG. 21A, the numeral 113a-7 denotes a photodiode. Due to the provision of the rotary encoder 113a, the consumption of the electricity can be drastically decreased compared to a Hall IC element which is an IC element developed for measuring the revolution number of a rotating body making use of a Hall effect. Especially, in case the rotary encoder 113a is employed in the battery-driven apparatus for feeding seat covering paper P, even if the battery voltage is decreased, the accurate detection of the revolution can be assured thus eliminating the inaccurate operation of the HOLL IC element operated with an voltage around the allowable operation battery voltage. The seat covering paper P, as shown in FIG. 22, is provided with linear cutting perforations c in the transverse direction at intervals of a predetermined length in the feeding direction and further provided with cutting perforations a in conformity with the inner shape of the toilet seat body 11 in each of the portions between neighboring breaking perforations c. However, there is provided a perforation-free portion d between both of the rear ends of the cutting perforations a so that when the paper is cut along the perforations a, the center portion hangs down into the flush toilet bowl 10. Further, in one side edge portion of the seat covering paper P, there are provided position detection through-holes b at intervals of a predetermined length in the longitudinal direction. Furthermore, in the last sheet P1 of the seat covering paper P of the seat covering paper roll R, there is provided an end-of-paper detection through-hole b1 so that the paper trouble lamp LED2 is lighted when the paper position detection sensor 70 detects this perforation. Now, various circuits constituting the control unit F will be described with reference to FIG. 12 to FIG. 14. FIG. 12 shows a power supply circuit including a dry battery 101, which is adapted to output driving power supply Vcc to the feeding motor M1 and the motor for cutting etc. M2 and constant-voltage power supply Vdd to the control unit throught a voltage stabilizer 103. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of circuits connected with input and output terminals of the microcomputer 104 and the circuits are structured as described below. Reference numeral 110 denotes a position detection circuit of the seat covering paper which comprises a paper position detection sensor 70 including a photodiode and a phototransistor, and a transistor, connected between the photodiode whose emitter is grounded and the constant-voltage power supply Vdd, for functioning as a switch. The base of the transistor is connected with an output terminal O1 of the microcomputer 104 through a resistor and the emitter of the photodiode is connected with the input terminal I1 of the microcomputer 104. The photodiode is lighted when the transistor is turned on by an output from the output terminal O1 and thereby the paper position detection sensor 70 is brought into its state capable of detecting the position of the seat covering paper. A seating detection circuit 111 and movable plate detection circuits 112 and 112a are of the same structure as that of the above described position detection circuit 110. Reference numeral 113 is a number-of-rotation detection circuit of the feeding motor M1 in which a rotary encoder 113a of an incremental type on the market is used. Reference numeral 114 denotes a switch circuit in which reference numeral 71 denotes a feed switch. Reference numeral 115 denotes a relay driving circuit, in which X1-X3 denote relays adapted to be turned on/off by outputs of output terminals O6-O8 of the microcomputer 104 supplied through the respective transistor having the bases connected with the output terminals and the emitters grounded. Reference numeral 116 denotes a display circuit for indicating paper clogging and battery used-up conditions, LED1 denoting a battery used-up indicating lamp and LED2 denoting a paper trouble lamp. Reference numeral 117 denotes a battery voltage detection circuit constituting a supply voltage detection portion. The circuit 117 is formed of a first voltage detecting IC1, a second voltage detecting IC2, and a third voltage detecting IC3, which supply detection signals corresponding to battery voltage to specific input terminals I7-I9 of the microcomputer 104 to thereby cause the indicating lamp LED1 to indicate the battery voltage. Reference character RC denotes a reset circuit. A motor driving circuit 107 shown in FIG. 13 includes a first motor driving circuit 105 having contacts X1a and X1b of a relay X1 and a feeding motor M1, and a second motor driving circuit 106 having contacts X2a,X2b and X3a,X3b of relays X2 and X3, respectively, and or cutting etc. M2, both circuits being individually connected in series and inserted between the driving power supply Vcc and ground. Referring now to the other components of the apparatus A of this invention which appear in the drawings, numeral 8a indicates a seat covering paper feed port, numeral 19,20 indicate longitudinal extensions of the functional portion 14, numeral 21 indicates a front wall of the lower casing 16, numeral 22 indicates a rear wall of the lower casing 16, numeral 27 indicates a front wall of the upper casing 17, numeral 28 indicates a rear wall of the upper casing 17, numeral 35 indicates a suspension support frame and numeral 36 indicates left and right rocking arms. In the toilet seat with the automatic seat covering paper feeder A structured as described above, the essential point of the present invention is that the battery or the dry battery is used to supply electricity to the electrically operated mechanisms such as the feeding mechanism C and cutting mechanism D and the control unit F and that the control signals from the control unit F to the mechanisms C and D are changed according to change in the battery voltages. Operations of the above described toilet seat with the automatic seat covering paper feeder A, divided into initial-stage operations and normal operations, will be described below in detail with reference to flow charts shown in FIG. 23-FIG. 26 and explanatory diagrams of a sequence of operations shown in FIG. 27. Initial-stage Operations(Battery loading and initial setting) (Refer to FIG. 23.)Upon insertion of a battery into the dry battery case 15a, the program starts (400). If no resetting is being made (4011N), RAM is cleared (4012), and the battery is checked in steps(401)-(403). If the battery is normal, the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted for 0.3 second in step (404), and then the flow advances to step (406), in which voltage is supplied to the rotary encoder 113a, movable plate position detection sensors 93 and 93a, and seating sensor 72 to turn on each sensor. When resetting is being made in the step (4011) or when the battery voltage is lower than 4V in the step (402), the flow moves to step (407), in which the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is continuously lighted (407) and the cam is reversely rotated so as to restore its original position (4071) and a standby state is brought about (4072). When the battery voltage is above 4.5V in the step (403), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted for 5 seconds (405) and then the flow moves to the step (406). In the following step (408), it is decided whether or not the movable plate 50 is in its paper feeding position (FIG.27(b)) according to the detection outputs from the sensors 113a, 93, and 93a and when it is in the paper feeding postion(408Y), the motor for cutting etc. M2 is reversely rotated (409) and the cam is returned to its original position so that the movable plate 50 is brought into its position ready for feeding the seat covering paper as shown in FIG. 27(a). At this time, if the movable plate 50 does not return to its original position within 5 seconds, for example, by the rotation of the motor for cutting etc. M2 (410N), the motor M2 is rotated for 1 second in the normal direction (411) and a standby state is brought about (trouble of failure in paper feeding). When, in the step (408), the movable plate 50 is in a position other than the paper feeding position (408N), it is decided in step (412) whether or not the movable plate 50 is in its original position. If it is in the original position (412Y), the flow advances to step (413), and if it is not in the original position (412N), the motor M2 is rotated in the normal direction to return the movable plate 50 to its original position (414) and the flow advances to step (413). In the step (413), it is decided whether or not there is paper present, and if the decision is Y , the flow moves to step (4141), and if it is N , the flow jumps to A (normal operations) of FIG 24. The paper position detection sensor 70 makes decision as to whether or not there is paper present by illuminating instantaneously. In the step (4141), it is decided whether or not the motor for cutting etc. M2 is operating normally. When it is not operating normally (4141Y), a standby state is directly brought about (4142) (trouble). When, in the step (4141), the motor for outting etc. M2 is operating normally (4141N), it is decided in the following step (415) whether or not the feed switch 71 is closed. If it is closed (415Y), it is decided in the following step 416 whether or not the toilet seat is standing upright or the user is seated. If the decision is Y (416Y), paper clogging and battery are checked (4163) and the flow returns to the step (415), and if the decision is N (416N), it is decided whether or not there is paper present (4161), and if the decision is Y (416Y), an operation switch flag is set (4162) and the flow moves to B of FIG. 24, and when the decision is N (4161N), the flow directly moves to B of FIG. 24. The operation switch flag is for storing the result of detection as to whether the paper is slightly fed or not when the paper is set. In the flow chart of FIG. 23, the rotation of the cam to the paper feeding position means the rotation of the disc cam 44 together with the detection plates 96 and 96a causing the movable plate 50 to rotate to assume its horizontal position, and the rotation of the cam to the original position means the rotation of the same causing the movable plate 50 to return to the position closing a delivery opening 8a. In this state, the disc cam 44 and the detection plates 96 and 96a are returned to their starting positions. Normal Operations(Refer to FIG. 24-FIG. 26.)In step (419) from A of FIG. 23, the operation switch 71 is closed. Then, flow advances through steps (420)-(421) to step (422), where voltage is applied to the rotary encoder 113a and movable plate position detection sensors 93 and 93a. Meanwhile, when, in the step (419), the operation switch 71 is not closed (419N), or when, in the step (420), the motor for cutting etc. M2 is in failure and not operating (420Y), a standby state (4191) is directly brought about (trouble). Further, when, in the step (421), the battery voltage detected by the battery voltage detection circuit 117 is below 4V (421Y), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is continuously lighted (423) and a standby state is brought about (4231), wherein the toilet seat with automatic seat covering paper feeder is not driven and paper feeding is not performed like in the case where the motor for cutting etc. M2 is in failure. Then if, in step (424), the toilet seat is standing upright or the user is seated (424Y), the flow returns to the step (419) after having paper clogging and battery checked (4241), and if the toilet seat is not standing upright (424N), the program advances to the next step (425), in which, if the battery voltage is bolow 4.5V (425Y), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted for 5 seconds in the following step (426) to give warning of the battery going to die, and the flow adavances to step (427). If, in the step (425), the battery voltage is higher than 4.5V (425N), the flow directly moves to the step (427). In the step (427), it is decided whether or not a supply of paper is necessary, and if the decision is Y (427Y), the paper trouble lamp LED2 is lighted for 5 seconds (429) and a standby state is brought about (4291) (the paper is supplied). When the decision in the step (427) is N (427N), it is decided in step (428) whether or not the retry is finished, and when it is finished (428Y), the flow moves to step (429), whereas when it is unfinished (428N), it is decided in step (429) whether or not the paper is clogging. When the decision is N (429N), it is decided in the next step (430) whether or not there is the paper present, and if the decision is N (430N), the flow advances to the next step (4301). When the decision in the step (430) is Y (430Y), the flow moves to step (4307), in which, if the battery voltage is below 4.5V (4307Y) the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted for 5 seconds in step (4306) to give warning of the battery going to die and a standby state is brought about (4308). When, in the step (4307), the battery voltage is above 4.5v (4307N), the flow skips the step(4306) and a standby state is directly brought about (4308). In the step (4301), it is decided whether or not the paper is clogging, and when the decision is N (4301N), the cam is moved to the paper feeding position (4302), the timer in the microcomputer 104 is set to 8 seconds (4303), the counter within the control unit is started (4304), the feeding motor M1 is turned on (4305), and then the flow moves to E of FIG. 25. When the decision in the step (4301) is Y (4301Y), the flow skips the step (4302) and directly moves to the step (4303). In the step (434) from E of FIG. 25, it is decided whether or not the 8 second period set in the step (4303) is expired, or timeouted (the case where it is timeouted (434Y) will be described later), and when the decision is N (434N), it is decided in step (435) whether or not the leading end of the paper is arrived at the position of the paper position detection sensor 70 according to the detection output of the sensor 70 (the sensor illuminates at the point of time at which the feeding motor M1 has started). When it is arrived (435Y), it is decided, in the next step (4351), whether or not the operation switch flag is set, and when it is not set (4351N), a paper supply flag is reset (4361). In the next step (436), it is decided whether or not the feeding motor M1 has rotated the portion corresponding to the distance Xa shown in FIG. 17, and when it has rotated that portion (436Y), the paper position detecting sensor 70 is off (436a) and subsequently the flow advances to the next step (437). In this step, it is decided whether or not the feeding motor M1 has rotated the portion corresponding to the distance Y in FIG. 22, and when it has rotated that portion (437Y), the paper position detecting sensor 70 is on ( 437a) and it is decided in step (438) whether or not the position detection through-hole b formed in the paper has passed the position of the paper position detection sensor 70 according to the detection output of the sensor 70, and when it has passed the sensor position (438Y), it is decided, in the next step (439), whether or not the feeding motor M1 has rotated the portion corresponding to the distance Z in FIG 22, and when it has rotated that portion (439Y), the flow moves to F of FIg. 26. While the paper is being fed in the interval Y, the paper position detection sensor 70 is not illuminating. When the paper has been shifted the distance Y in the step (437), the sensor 70 illuminates again and the light of the sensor 70 goes out again after the detection. The feeding of the paper is stopped when the paper is further shifted the distance Z shown in FIg. 22. More specifically, when the paper has been shifted the distance Z in the step (439) after the detection of the position detection trough-hole b, the feeding motor M1 is stopped (stopped suddenly by D.C. braking). Accordingly, it is assured that the linear perforations provided in the paper is accurately set in the cutting position. When the decision in the step (435) is N (435N), the decision in the step (437) is N (437N), the decision in the step (438) is N (438N), and the decision in the step (439) is N (439N), it is detected whether or not the toilet seat is standing upright or the user is seated in the step (440). When the result is Y (440Y), the feeding of the paper is suspended in step (441) and the flow returns to the step (440), and when the result is N (440N), the flow returns to the step (434). When the decision in the step (4351) is flag is set (4351Y), the flow moves to the step (438), and when the decision in the step (436) is N (436N), the paper supply flag is set in step (4362) and the flow moves to the step (438). At the point of time when the 8-second period, set in the step (4303), has timeouted in the step (434)(434Y), it is decided whether or not there is the paper present in step (442) (the paper position detection sensor 70 illuminates and detects whether or not the paper is present). If the decision is Y (442Y), it is determined in step (4421) whether or not the operation flag is set. When the decision is N (4421N), the flow advances to step (443), in which it is decided whether or not the number of rotations of the feeding motor M1 is over 70% of the number of rotations necessary for feeding the paper the distance Y in FIG. 22 (it is calculated by the microcomputer 104 according to a signal from the rotary encoder 113a). If the decision is Y (443Y), the setting time of the timer is prolonged by 4 seconds in step (444). The flow then returns to the step (434), and the paper is fed again (steps 434-439), so that the remainder of the paper is fed out by force and the frequency of occurrence of paper clogging is reduced. When in the step (443) the number of rotations of the feeding motor M1 is less than 70% of the above described number of rotations (443N), the feeding motor M1 is stopped in the following step (445). When the decision in the step (442) is N (442N), and when the decision in the step (4421) is Y (4421Y), the flow moves to step (445) in which the feeding motor M1 is stopped. Then, in the step (446), 1 is incremented to the counter storing the number of retries, and in the following step (4461) it is decided whether or not the battery voltage is below 4.5 V. If the decision is N (4461N), it is decided in the following step (447) whether or not the number of retries stored in the counter is 4, and when the decision is 4 (447Y), the motor for cutting etc. M2 is reversely rotated so that the movable plate 50 returns to its original position (448). When the battery voltage is below 4.5 V in the step (4461) (4461Y), 2 is set to the battery used-up flag (4462) and the movable plate 50 and cam are returned to their original positions (448), and the flow advances to the next step (4481). When the decision in the step (447) is N (447N), the operation switch flag is set (4471) and the flow advances to step (4481). The operation switch flag is set (4471) for storing that the paper was fed the last time as reference for the retry next time. The timer is set to 5 seconds in the step (4481) and it is decided, in the following step (4482), whether or not the battery voltage is below 4 V. When the decision is below 4 V (4482Y), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is continuously lighted (4483) and the paper trouble lamp LED2 is lighted. When the decision is N (4482N), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is not lighted but the paper trouble lamp LED2 is lighted (449). When, in step (450), the period of time 5 seconds set in the timer has elapsed (450Y), the paper trouble lamp LED2 is cut off (453) and a standby state is brought about (4531). When 5 seconds has not yet elapsed (450N) and the feed switch is not pushed (451N), the flow returns to the step (450), but when the switch is pushed (451Y) the paper trouble lamp LED2 is cut off (452) and the flow returns to A of FIG. 24, and the above described program is executed again (retry). When the number of retries becomes 4 (step 447) the retry is ended (step 428), the paper trouble lamp LED2 is lighted (429), and a standby state is brought about (4291). At this time, the movable plate 50 and cam are returend to their original positions (step 448). The program shown in FIG. 26 is that executed when it is decided in the steps (436 - 439) in FIG. 25 that the feeding motor M1 is normally operating. First, the feeding motor M1 is stopped (454) and, in the following step (455), it is decided whether or not a new supply of the paper is necessary according to the detection of the paper-end position detecting through-hole (refer to FIG. 22) by the paper position detection sensor 70. When the decision is necessary (455Y), the motor for cutting etc. M2 is reversely rotated so that the movable plate 50 restores its original position (4591) and then the battery voltage is detected (4593). When the battery voltage is below 4.5 V (4593Y), the battery used-up flag is set to 2 (4594), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted for 5 seconds (4595), the paper trouble lamp LED2 is lighted (4592), and a standby state is brought about (4596). When, in the step (4593), the battery voltage is above 4.5 V (4593N) , the flow skips the steps (4594) and (4595) and moves to the step (4592). When the decision in the step (455) is the supply of the paper being not necessary (455N), the motor for cutting etc. M2 is started again so that the movable plate 50 is moved to its paper clamping position (456) and the battery is checked (4561). When it is detected that the movable plate 50 has reached its paper clamping position (457Y), the operation switch flag is referred to. When the flag is not set (4571N), a sitting/standing 1-minute timer is set and the operation switch flag is checked (4572), and then the movable plate 50 is moved to the paper clamping position (458). When the operation switch flag is set in the step (4571) (4571Y), the step (4572) is skipped and the movable plate 50 is moved to the paper clamping position (458). Then, the operation switch flag is reset (4581), the timer is set to 1 minute (4582), and the timer is started (464). In the case where the feed switch is unpushed in the step (465) (465N), when the set time period 5 seconds in the timer has elapsed (4651Y) and the paper position detection sensor 70 detects the presence of the paper (4652Y), the timer is restarted for the piriod of time 5 seconds (4653), and when one minute has elapsed (474Y), the movable plate 50 is returned to its original position (475). When, in step (476), the battery voltage is below 4 V (476Y), the presence of the paper is checked in step (477), and if the paper is not present (477N), the paper is fed for preventing occurrence of paper clogging (478) and a standby state is brought about (4781). When 5 seconds has not yet elapsed in the step (4651) (4651N), the flow jumps to the step (474), and if one minute has not yet elapsed in the step (474) (474N), the flow returns to the step (465). When, in the step (457), the movable plate 50 has not yet reached the paper clamping position (457N), the motor for cutting etc. M2 is reversely rotated so that the movable plate 50 is returned to its original position (459), and the battery voltage is checked in step (460) using 4.5 V as the threshold value and in step (461) using 4 V as the threshold value. When the battery voltage is below the threshold value (460Y or 461Y), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted corresponding to the respective threshold values (4611) and a standby state is brought about (4612). When the feed switch is pushed in the step (465) (465Y) and the user is seated or the toilet seat body 11 is standing upright (466Y), paper clogging and battery are checked (4661), and then the flow moves to step (4661). When the user is not seated and the toilet seat body 11 is not standing upright in the step (466) (466N), presence or absence of the paper is detected (467). When it is present (467Y), the flow moves to step (4651) and when it is absent (467N), the battery voltage is checked in the following step (468). When the battery voltage is below 4.5 V (468Y), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted (469), while when it is above 4.5 V (468N), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is not lighted, and the movable plate 50 is moved to its original position (470). When, in the following step (471), the battery voltage is below 4 V (471Y), the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted continuously (473) and a standby state is brought about (4731). When it is above 4 V (471N), the movable plate 50 is moved to the paper feeding position (472) and the flow moves to D of FIG. 24. When the paper feed switch is operated, voltage is supplied to each sensor according to the above described program, and while the user is sitting on the toilet seat, the seating detection sensor 72 is continually detecting whether the user is still sitting on or has left it (intermittent voltage application for prolonging the life of the battery). When the user has left the toilet seat, the seating detection sensor 72 is turned off, and immediately the movable plate 50 moves driven by the motor for cutting etc. M2 from its paper clamping position to its paper releasing position. Also, the timer starts and intermittently applies voltage to the paper position detection sensor 70 at intervals of 5 seconds during the period of one minute so that presence or absence of the paper is detected thereby. Thereafter, upon closing of the feed switch 71, whether or not the user sits on the toilet seat, whether or not the paper is present, and the used up condition of the battery are detected. When the paper is removed (discharged by the flushing water) while the voltage is applied to the paper position detection sensor 70 (within one minute), new paper can be fed in succession. At this time, the movable plate 50 returns to its original position in preparation for feeding the new paper. But, when the feed switch is not pushed, the paper position detection sensor 70 puts out its light and the movable plate 50 returns to its original position. At this time, if the paper is already removed, the paper is fed a predetermined length in preparation for feeding the paper next time and the apparatus goes into a standby state. However, if the paper is remaining unremoved, it is judged as paper clogging and the apparatus goes into a standby state having nothing done. If, even in such a case, the paper is removed by the user, the apparatus goes into the standby state as described above in preparation for feeding the paper next time. During the standby state, the control unit is supplied with a minimum of electricity so that wasteful use of the battery is prevented. In the memory p, at least the following programs are stored to allow the microcomputer 104 to perform the following functions. (1) A program for switching the paper feed mode to the maintenance mode according to the detection input of the user's sitting on the toilet seat or the toilet seat's standing upright. ( steps 416Y,4163 of FIG. 23) For preventing the waste of battery, even when the battery voltage is decreased or the seat covering paper P is used up, abnormal operation indicating LED is lighted for a predetermined time such as 5 seconds. However, with this program, the user can readily judges whether the battery is to be replaced since the LED is lighted when the user sits on the toilet seat body 11 or lifts up the toilet seat body 11 in the maintenance mode. (2) A program for bringing the control unit F into its standby state except when the seat covering paper P is being fed so that the battery is prevented from being wastefully used up. More specifically, according to this program, voltage is adapted to be output from the output port O only for a predetermined time period (for example 8 seconds) and not to be output when there is no need of operation and control. Thereby, the dry battery 101 can be prevented from being wastefully used up. ( steps 419N,4191 of FIG. 24) (3) A program for lighting the paper trouble lamp LED2 in the display portion g1 for a short period of time (for example 5 seconds) and also disallowing the motors M1 and M2 of the mechanisms C and D to operate when paper trouble such as paper clogging or paper breakage occurs (the apparatus is reset when the trouble is remedied by a maintenance operation). ( steps 450∼4531 of FIG. 25) With this program, the waste of battery caused by the prolonged lighting of the LED as well as the unnecessary operation of several mechanisms at the time of trouble occurrence can be effectively prevented. (4) A program for setting the timer to the aforesaid predetermined time period (for example 8 seconds) at the time when paper feeding is started. ( step 4303 of FIG. 24) With this program, the waste of battery caused by the prolonged operation of the feeding motor M1 can be prevented.. (5) A program for bringing the control unit F in its standby state into the paper feed mode (when the toilet seat body is in its normal state) or into the maintenance mode (when the toilet seat body is standing upright). (6) A program for giving an output to the display portion g1 when the output voltage of the dry battery 101 has fallen to a first threshold value, for example 4.5 V, so that the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted for a short period of time (for example 5 seconds) to inform the user of the fact that the dry battery 101 is about to die and urge him to exchange the dry battery 101. ( steps 403Y,495 of FIG. 23, 4307Y,4306 of FIG. 24) With this program, if the lowering of the baltage still does not ill-affect the normal operation of mechanisms and the control unit, the LED1 is lighted for a short time so that the the waste of battery caused by the lighting of the LED1 can be minimized. (7) A program for giving an output to the display portion g1 when the output voltage of the dry battery 101 has fallen to a second threshold value, for example 4.0 V, so that the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is lighted continuously to inform the user of the fact that the dry battery 101 is dead and also causing the mechanisms to stop their operations after returning to their original positions. With this program, if the lowering of the voltage is detrimental to the operation of mechanisms and the control unit, the LED1 is lighted continuously lighted to urge a service man to replace the battery as soon as possible. (8) A program for lighting the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 in the display portion g1 for a short period of time (for example 0.3 second) when the output voltage of the dry battery 101 is above the first threshold voltage, for example 4.5 V, at the time the dry battery 101 is inserted into the dry battery case 15a. ( step 404 of FIG. 23) With this program, the user is informed that the battery voltage is normal. (9) A program for counting the output from the rotary encoder 113a to thereby detect the number of rotations of the feeding motor M1 and measure the fed length of the seat covering paper P. The number of rotations of the feeding motor M1 required for shifting the seat covering paper P the distances A - B, B - C, C -D, and D - E (refer to FIG. 22) are each stored in the memory. ( steps 436,437 of FIG. 25) (10) A program for operating only the paper position detection sensor 70 while the seat covering paper P is traveling the distances A - B and C - D and not operating other parts than that (for preventing of wasteful consumption of the battery). ( steps 436∼ 437′ of FIG. 25) With this program, the total time for supplying electricity to the paper position detection sensor 70 can be minimized so that the waste of battery caused by the operation of the sensor 70 can be minimized. (11) A program for operating the feeding motor M1 so that, after a piece of the seat covering paper P is removed, a new piece of the seat covering paper P is fed a predetermined length (for example 20 mm). ( step 478 of FIG. 26) With this program, the clogging of the paper within the functionla casin can be effectively prevented. (12) A program disallowing the motors M1 and M2 of the mechanisms C and D to operate when the paper position detection sensor 70 detects the last piece P1 of the seat covering paper. (steps 455Y, 4591 ∼ 4596 of FIG. 26) With this program, the cutting of the last seat covering paper which is unnecessary can be prevented so that the waste of battery caused by the operation of the cutting motor M2 can be minimized. (13) A program for moving the movable plate 50 to its original position by means of the motor for cutting etc. M2 when the battery has been exchanged. ( steps 409,414 of FIG. 23) With this program, along with the resetting of the power source, all the operation mode is resetted so that the reliable operation of the apparatus is assured. (14) A program for causing the paper position detection sensor 70 to illuminate for a short period of time to decide presence or absence of the paper when the feed switch is closed. (step 4161 of FIG.23, step 430 of FIG. 24) With this program, the total time for supplying electricity to the paper position detection sensor 70 can be minimized so that the waste of battery caused by the operation of the sensor 70 can be minimized. (15) A program for operating the motor for cutting etc. M2 to cause the movable plate 50 to return to its original position, by closing of four times of the feed switch 71 (retries), when paper clogging has occurred. ( steps 447,448 of FIG. 25) With this program, the uncessary operation of the cutting motor M2 with the operation of the feed switch 71 can be prevented so that the waste of battery caused by the operation of the cutting motor M2 can be minimized. (16) A program for starting the DC motor for cutting etc. M2 to move the movable plate 50 to its paper clamping position after the feeding motor M1 has stopped and, when the movable plate 50 does not reach the paper clamping position within 5 seconds, causing the movable plate 50 to return to its original position. ( steps 457N,459,4612 of FIG. 26) With this program, the uncessary operation of the feed motor M1 can be prevented so that the waste of battery caused by the operation of the feeding motor M1 can be minimized. (17) A program for supplying voltage to the seating sensor 72 at intervals of 0.5 second after the feed switch 71 is operated until the user sits on the toilet seat (electricity saving effect). ( steps 419Y ∼ of FIG. 24, 458 of FIG. 26) With this program, the total time for supplying electricity to the seating sensor 72 can be minimized so that the waste of battery caused by the operation of the sensor 72 can be minimized. (18) A program for supplying voltage to the paper position detection sensor 70 to decide whether the paper is present or absent at intervals of 5 seconds for one minute after paper clamping has been released (electricity saving effect). ( steps 464∼474 of FIG. 26) With this program, the total time for supplying electricity to the paper position detection sensor 70 can be minimized so that the waste of battery caused by the operation of the sensor 70 can be minimized. (19) A program, when the paper has not been fed a predetermined length even when the number of rotations of the feeding DC motor M1 has exceeded 70% of the set value during the course of the paper feeding, for driving the feeding DC motor M1 for a suitable length of time (for example 4 seconds) additional to the predetermined set time (for example 8 seconds). ( steps 443Y,444 of FIG. 25) With this program, even when the feeding speed is lowered, the seat covering paper P can be reliably and accurately fed onto the toilet seat body 11. (20) A program for automatically stopping the operation of the microcomputer when the battery voltage has fallen below a third threshold voltage, for example 3.5 V. ( all steps of FIG.23 to FIG. 26 ) With this program, the erroneous operation of the mechanisms and the control unit F can be reliably prevented. As shown in the above described programs (6), (7), (8), and (20) and corresponding FIG. 23 - FIG. 26, it is adapted such that the voltage of the battery is detected by means of the supplied voltage detection portion provided in the control unit F, and when the battery voltage is fallen to a first threshold value, for example 4.5 V, the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 in the display poriton g1 is lighted for a short period of time to give warning of the battery going to die, and when the battery voltage is fallen to a second threshold value, for example 4.0 V, the battery used-up indicating lamp LED1 is continuously lighted to inform the user of the battery being dead and urge him to exchange the battery, and at the same time, the motors M1 and M2 remain stopped after returning the feeding mechanism C and cutting mechanism D to their original positions. Accordingly, trouble due to incomplete operations of these mechanisms can be prevented. Further, when the battery voltage is fallen below a third value, for example 3.5 V, the control sequence of the microcomputer 104 of the control unit F is stopped while voltage supply to the microcomputer 104 is continued. Accordingly, trouble such as run away of the microcomputer 104 due to unstable operation of the control unit F can be prevented. It can also be arranged such that a minimum of mechanisms are operated while other mechanisms are not operated. For example, according as the voltage falls, only the feeding mechanism is allowed to operate while specific mechanisms consuming large current flows (such as the cutting mechanism) are not allowed to operate (skipping operation of the cutting mechanism), the order of operation of various mechanisms is changed (mechanisms consuming smaller current are operated earlier), and operating and controlling periods of time of mechanisms and sensors are changed (shortened). As to the supplied voltage detection means, it is not limited to that described above detecting the voltage supplied to the control unit but various changes are possible such as those detecting the voltages supplied to each of the mechanisms or that detecting the voltage of the power source supplying currents to the control unit F and various mechanisms. (modification of operation program)This modification of the operation program substantially descrives the detailed flow of the above-mentioned programs (17) (18) and is characterized by periodic supply of electricity to paper position detecting means for detecting the presence of the seat covering paper fed on the toilet seat body 11. The modification will be explained hereinafter explained in detail in view of FIG. 28. When the feed switch 71 is turned on, the seat covering paper P is fed on the toilet seat body 11. Subsequently the movable plate 50 is rotated so as to clamp the seat covering paper P between to presser pieces 56 and 57. Then, when the user sits on the toilet seat body 11, the seating detection means ( sensor ) 72 is turned on, while when the user stands up from the toilet seat 11, the seating detection means 72 is turned off. When the seating detection means 72 is turned off, the movable plate 50 is shifted from a paper clamping position to a paper clamping released position so that along with the drainage of the waste water in the toilet bowl, the used seat covering paper P is discharged from the toilet bowl and the program advances to the next step. In the above set of several operations, when the movable plate 50 is shifted to the paper clamping released position to release the clamping of the seat covering paper P after detecting of the standing up of the user, the electricity is intermittently supplied for a predetermined period to detect whether the seat covering paper P is removed from the toilet seat 11 or not. For example, after releasing of the paper clamping, the electricity is intermittently supplied to the sensor 70 twelve times within 1 minute at an interval of 5 seconds to check the presence of the seat covering paper P. The manner in which the paper position detecting sensor 70 which is intermittently supplied with electricity is operated is hereinafter described in view of the feeding operation of the seat paper P in conjunction with FIG. 27 and FIG 28. When the feed switch 71 is turned on (501), the movable plate 50 is moved from the original or stand-by position to a paper feeding position (FIG. 27(b)). In step (503Y), when the toilet seat is lifted or the user sits on the toilet seat, the microcomputer 104 is switched to the maintenance mode (504), and when the detected voltage of the battery is less than 4V, the battery used-up indication lamp LED1 is continiously lit on to indicate the used-up of the battery inhibiting the feeding of the seat paper P. When the initial battery mounting operation is completed the feed switch 71 is turned on to carry out the feeding operation of the seat paper P. Namely, when the feed switch 71 is turned on (501), the electricity is supplied to the rotary encoder 113a, the movable plate position detection sensors 93,93a and sit-on detecting sensor 72 (502). When the toilet seat is lifted or the user sits on the toilet seat, the microcomputer 104 is switched to the maintenance mode (504). When the microcomputer 104 judges that the toilet seat is not lifted and the user does not sit on the toilet seat (503N), the movable plate 50 is moved to a cam-paper feeding position where the movable plate 50 takes a horizontal position to open the seat paper delivery opening 8a (505) (FIG. 27(b)). After the above movement of the movable plate 50, when a timer within the microcomputer 104 is set ( 8 seconds ) (506), the timer starts (507) and the DC feeding motor M1 is driven to start the feeding of the seat paper (508). Due to the provision of the paper position detecting sensor 70 and the rotary encoder 13a, the breaking perforations formed on the seat paper P are accurately conveyed to a paper cutting position (509). Simultaneously with the above operation, when the DC feeding motor M1 is stopped, the DC cutting motor M2 is actuated and the movable plate 50 is shifted clamping position, whereby the clamping and cutting of the seat paper P can be simultaneously conducted (510) (FIG. 27(e)-(f)). Meanwhile, the intermittent supply of electricity with an interval of 0.5 seconds to the sit-on detected sensor is started along with the turn-on of the operation switch 71 (503,511,512 and so on). The sensor 72 detects the sitting on of the user on the toilet seat to generate an ON signal and thereafter detects the standing up of the user from the toilet seat to generate an OFF signal (512Y) and the DC cutting motor M2 is readily actuated to move the movable plate 50 from the paper clamping position to the paper released position (512)(FIG. 27(g)). Then the timer is set to intermittently supply electricity to the paper position detecting sensor 70 for 1 minute and the discharging of the seat paper P along with the flushing operation becomes possible (513)(514). In the above operations, when the movable plate 50 is at the paper clamping released position, the paper delivery opening 8a is being opened so that the foul or contaminated water may enter the casing 15. For preventing such an entering of the contaminated water it is necessary to shut or close the paper feeding opening 8a with the contaminated water preventing barrier BP when the apparatus is not used. When the seat paper P is discharged with the flushing water while the electricity is intermittently supplied to the paper position detecting sensor 70 for a minute (515Y), the supply of the electricity to the paper position detecting sensor 70 is stopped and the movable plate 50 returns to the original position. Subsequently, the feeding motor M1 is actuated to feed the seat paper P by a predetermined distance, for example, 20mm, to prevent the clogging or jamming of the seat paper P in the apparatus (518). The intermittent supply of electricity to the paper position detecting sensor 70 means to supply electricity to the sensor 70 at predetermined intervals. When 1 minute set by the timer is over (516Y), the supply of electricity to the paper position detecting sensor 70 is stopped and the movable plate 50 is forced to return to the original position (517)(FIG. 27(h)). The above operation describes the normal operation cycle in which after feeding of the seat paper P the user sits on and stands up from the toilet seat and the paper is removed from the toilet seat for preparing for the next feeding of the seat paper P. To control the above operation cycle, the memory p of the microcomputer 104is provided with a following program. Namely, the program is made such that after releasing of the clamping of the seat paper P the electricity is intermittently supplied at an interval of 5 seconds for 1 minute to judge the presence of the seat paper P as shown in FIG. 28.	An apparatus (A) for automatically feeding seat covering paper for a toilet seat comprising: a) an electrically driven sat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) for feeding seat covering paper (P) from a seat covering paper roll (R) stored in a seat covering paper roll storage portion (E) onto a toilet seat body (11) through a seat covering paper feed path (8); said seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) including a seat covering paper feeding motor (M1); b) an electrically driven seat covering paper cutting mechanism (D) for cutting the seat covering paper (P) fed to the surface of the toilet seat body (11) at a rear edge portion of the seat covering paper (P); c) timer means for measuring the operating time of said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1); d) revolution detecting means for detecting a total number of revolutions of said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1) within a predetermined time; e) seat covering paper position detecting means (70) detecting a through hole formed at a paper feeding completion position of said seat covering paper (P) thus accurately detecting the completion of the feeding of said seat covering paper (P) onto said toilet sat body (11), f) a control unit (F) for operating said seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) and said seat covering paper cutting mechanism (D) by predetermined control signals sequentially output therefrom to thereby control feeding of said seat covering paper (P) to be fed on said toilet seat body (11) and cutting of said seat covering paper (P); characterized in that said control unit (F) has a mechanism which comprises; means for stopping said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1), responsive to a completion of a first predetermined total number of revolutions of said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1) within said predetermined time, and when said seat covering paper position detecting means (70) detects said through hole formed in said seat covering paper (P); means, responsive to a completion of a second predetermined total number of revolutions of said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1) at a completion of said predetermined time, for permitting continued operation of said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1) for an additional period of time following said predetermined time; said second predetermined total number of revolutions being less than said first prepdetermined number of revolutions; means, responsive to a completion of less than said second predetermined number of revolutions within said predetermined time, for terminating operation of said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1); and g) battery means for supplying electricity to said seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C), said seat covering paper cutting mechanism (D), said control unit (F), said timer means, said revolution detecting means and said paper position detecting means (70). An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein said control unit (F) comprises a supply voltage detection means which detects supply voltage to said control unit (F) or said mechanisms (C)(D), and changes the control signals to be supplied to said plurality of mechanisms (C)(D) in accordance with results of detection by said supply voltage detection means. An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein said control unit (F) comprises supply voltage detection means which detects supply voltage to said control unit (F) or said mechanisms (C)(D) and voltage indication means for indicating said detected supply voltage. An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein said seat covering paper position detecting means (70) is capable of detecting the on-time position of said seat covering paper (P) being fed to said toilet sat body (11) and said control unit (F) makes said battery means supply electricity to said seat covering paper position detecting means (70) only when said control unit (F) receives a preset detecting signal from said revolution detecting means. An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus is further provided with seating detection means (72) and electricity is intermittently applied, at predetermined intervals, to said seating detection means (72) provided for detecting sitting on and standing of a user from the toilet seat body (11). An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toiled seat according to claim 1, wherein electricity is intermittently applied to said seat covering paper position detection means (70) at predetermined intervals. An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein said revolution detecting means is a rotary encoder (113a). An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein said seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) is provided with a feeding roller (33) to which said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1) is operably connected and a power transmission mechanism (K) formed of a worm gear (K1) and a worm wheel (K2) is operably interposed between said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1) and said feeding roller (33). An apparatus for automatically feeding seat cover paper for toilet seat according to claim 8, wherein said control unit (F) controls said seat covering paper feeding mechanism (C) such that when said seat covering paper feeding motor (M1) is to be stopped, a braking force is generated in said feeding motor (M1) by terminals of said feeding motor (M1). An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein said battery means comprises a battery case (15a) and a cartridge (15d) replaceably inserted into said battery case (15a) and said cartridge (15b) is loaded with at last one battery (15c). An apparatus for automatically feeding seat covering paper for toilet seat according to claim 10, wherein said battery (15c) can be connected with a contact formed on the side of said cartridge (15d) only when said battery (15c) is inserted into said cartridge (15d) in a predetermined direction, and said cartridge (15d) can be incorporated into said battery case (15a) only when the same is turned in a predetermined direction, and a pair of contacts which are mounted on said cartridge (15d) and said battery case (15a) in a face-face relationship are caused to slide on each other by the movement of said cartridge (15d) produced when the same is incorporated into said battery case (15a).	AICHI ELECTRIC CO LTD; TOTO LTD; AICHI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.; TOTO LTD.	ADACHI TAKAYOSHI; HIGUSHI MITSUHIRO C O TOTO LTD; MIZOGUCHI SHIGERU C O TOTO LTD; YAMASHITA NAOJI; ADACHI, TAKAYOSHI; HIGUSHI, MITSUHIRO, C/O TOTO LTD.; MIZOGUCHI, SHIGERU, C/O TOTO LTD.
EP-0488883-B1	488,883	EP	B1	EN	19,980,318	1,992	20,100,220	new	G05D13	G05B13, G06F7	G05B13, B01D46, F24F7, A47L9, G06F9, G06N7	A47L 9/28B4, G06N 7/04, G05B 13/02C2	Control apparatus of an electrical appliance	A control apparatus of an electrical appliance comprising a sensor for detecting a physical amount; and a fuzzy inferring device for determining the drive condition of a load by fuzzy inference based on a signal outputted from the sensor, and wherein the sensor has at least one normalized membership function to be used by fuzzy inference and achieves a plurality of membership functions which can be expressed by congruent curves by performing a predetermined subtraction or an addition on the signal outputted from the sensor.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION(a) Field of the InventionThe present invention relates to an electrical vacuum cleaner having a fuzzy inferring device for performing fuzzy inference.(b) Description of the Related ArtsRecently, in the control apparatus of a vacuum cleaner, a sensor detects a physical quantity to be controlled and the operation of a load is controlled by fuzzy inference according to the output of the sensor.Referring to Figs. 12 and 13, a conventional control apparatus of an air cleaner, having a sensor, for controlling the number of rotations of a motor is described below as an example of the control apparatus of an electrical appliance of this kind.A gas sensor 25 detects the concentration of gas in air, thus converting the concentration into an electric signal such as a voltage. The gas sensor 25 outputs an electric signal to a fuzzy inferring device 26. The fuzzy inferring device 26 performs a calculation based on the output of the gas sensor 25 and determines the number of rotations and drive period of time of a fan motor 23, thus outputting the result obtained by the calculation to a control means 24. The control means 24 controls the rotation of the fan motor 23 according to the number of rotations determined by the fuzzy inferring device 26.The fuzzy inferring device 26 performs a calculation based on fuzzy inference so as to determine the number of rotations of the fan motor 23. Supposing that the output of the gas sensor 25 is at a point (G) shown in Fig. 13, of variation concentration membership functions, the weight of ordinary membership function is approximately 2/3 and that of many membership is approximately 1/3. The fuzzy inferring device 26 determines the number of rotations of the fan motor 23 in combination of membership functions based on a rule (not shown) of inferring the number of rotations and calculates the center of gravity. In response to the information outputted from the inferring device 26, the control means 24 controls the rotation of the fan motor 23.According to the above-described control apparatus of the conventional electrical equipment, if the number of membership functions is high, a great amount of storage capacity for memorizing them is required.Similarly to an air cleaner, vacuum cleaners in which the number of rotations of a motor can be varied are increasingly manufactured with the variety of objects to be cleaned. In using fuzzy inference to control the number of rotations of the motor, the fuzzy inferring device is required to have a large storage capacity to store a large number of membership functions.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, an essential object of the present invention is to provide the control apparatus of an electrical vacuum cleaner in which membership functions to be used by fuzzy inference can be achieved with a small storage capacity.In accomplishing these and other objects, according to a first embodiment of the invention, there is provided an electric vacuum cleaner with air passage, including a fan motor for generating suction force to draw dust particles through said air passage, dust detecting means for counting pulse signals per unit time, generated by dust sensor in accordance with dust particles passing through said air passage, the electric vacuum cleaner further comprises comparison/counting means for counting, in a predetermined period of time, how many times the amount of dust per unit time has exceeded a predetermined amount per unit time and for generating a further signal based upon said count, said fuzzy inferring means for processing the output signal of said dust detecting means and said further signal comprises at least one normalized membership function and means to provide from said normalized membership function a plurality of membership functions, which can be expressed by congruent curves by performing a predetermined subtraction or an addition to the signals output from said dust detecting means and said comparison/counting means and said fuzzy inferring means further includes means for determining the motor drive condition based upon said plurality of membership functions.According to a second embodiment of the invention, there is provided an electric vacuum cleaner with air passage, including a fan motor for generating suction force to draw dust particles through said air passage, dust detecting means, and a power control means for controlling the fan motor in accordance with a motor drive condition determined by fuzzy inferring means, characterized in that said dust detecting means is arranged for counting, per unit time, pulse signals generated by dust sensor in accordance with dust particles passing through said air passage, the electric vacuum cleaner further comprises comparison/counting means for counting, in a predetermined period of time, how many times the amount of dust per unit time has exceeded a predetermined amount per unit time and for generating a further signal based upon said count, said fuzzy inferring means for processing the output signal of said dust detecting means and said further signal comprises at least one normalized membership function and means to provide from said normalized membership function a plurality of membership functions, each of which having a different rate of change respectively by performing a predetermined multiplication to the output signals from said dust detecting means and/or said comparison/counting means and said fuzzy inferring means further includes means for determining the motor drive condition based upon said plurality of membership functions.According to the above-described contructions, when fuzzy inference is performed based on a signal outputted from the sensor, a predetermined calculation is performed on the signal outputted from the sensor by using one membership function and a plurality of membership functions can be obtained with a small storage capacity. Since many membership functions can be easily obtained, a high-degree fuzzy inference can be accomplished.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other objects and features of the present invention will become clear from the following description taken in conjunction with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a control apparatus of an electric appliance;Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a fuzzy inferring device of the control apparatus;Fig. 3 is a view showing an example of a membership function to be stored by the inferring device;Figs. 4A through 4D are views showing membership functions to be used by an inferring device in performing fuzzy inference;Fig. 5 is a flowchart for obtaining a membership function to be used by the inferring device in performing fuzzy inference;Fig. 6 is a view showing an example of a membership function to be stored by a fuzzy inferring device; Fig. 7 is a view showing a membership function to be used by the inferring device in performing fuzzy inference;Fig. 8 is a flowchart for obtaining a membership function to be used by the inferring device in performing fuzzy inference;Fig. 9 is a view showing another example of a membership function to be stored by a fuzzy inferring device;Fig. 10 is a flowchart for obtaining a membership function to be used by the inferring device in performing fuzzy inference;Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a vacuum cleaner having a dust sensor according to the present invention;Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing the control apparatus of a conventional electric appliance; andFig. 13 is a view showing a membership function to be stored by the fuzzy inferring device of the control apparatus.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONBefore the description of the present invention proceeds, it is to be noted that like parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the accompanying drawings. A first control apparus will be described below with reference to Figs. 1 through 3. A gas sensor converts a detected gas amount into an electric signal. A variation detecting means 2 for detecting the variation of the gas amount detects the variation of the amount of gas detected by the gas sensor 1. A peak detecting means 3 for detecting the peak of the gas amount detects the peak of the gas amount detected by the gas sensor 1. A peak counting means 4 counts the peak of the gas amount detected by the peak detecting means 3. A fuzzy inferring device 5 infers the number of rotations of a fan motor 6 based on the output of the peak counting means 4 and the output of the detecting means 2 in a peak time. A control means 7 calculates a voltage for driving the fan motor 6 based on the number of rotations inferred by the fuzzy inferring device 5, thus controlling the rotation of the fan motor 6.The fuzzy inferring device 5 comprises means shown in Fig. 2. A gas amount adaptation calculating means 8 finds the adaptation of the input thereto from a variation detecting means 2 and the adaptation of a membership function stored in a variation membership function storing means 9 by taking the maximum of both adaptations. Similarly, a peak time adaptation calculating means 10 finds the adaptation of the input thereto from the peak counting means 4 and the adaptation of a membership function stored in a peak time membership function storing means 11. The variation membership function storing means 9 and the peak time membership function storing means 11 store at least one normalized membership function shown in Fig. 3. The gas amount adaptation calculating means 8 and the peak time adaptation calculating means 10 perform a predetermined subtraction, respectively. Thus, a plurality of membership functions which can be expressed in congruent curves is obtained. An antecedent section minimum calculating means 12 takes the minimum of the above-described two adaptations, thereby setting the minimum value thus obtained as the adaptation of the antecedent section. According to a rule stored in a means 14 for storing the number of rotations/drive time inference rule, a consequent section minimum calculating means 13 takes the minimum of the adaptation of the antecedent section and the number of the rotations/drive time membership function of the consequent section stored in a means 15 for storing the number of rotations/drive time membership function according to a rule stored in the means 14 for storing the number of rotations/drive time inference rule, thus setting the minimum value as the conclusion of the rule. A center of gravity calculating means 16 finds the conclusion of each rule and then, takes the maximum of each conclusion and calculates the center of gravity of the maximums, thus finding the number of rotations and the drive time of the fan motor 6. A microcomputer is capable of serving as the fuzzy inferring device 5. The control means 7 calculates a voltage for driving the fan motor 6 based on the determined number of rotations and drive time, thus controlling the rotation of the fan motor 6.The operation of the air cleaner of the above-described construction is described below. The absolute magnitude of a gas amount detected by the gas sensor 1 depends on the foulness degree of air. The period of time counted by the peak detecting means 3 and the peak counting means 4 depends on the duration of air foulness and the flow speed of air. Accordingly, the foulness degree of air can be discriminated by the output of the gas sensor 1, and the situation of gas generation and air flow in the surrounding atmosphere can be discriminated by the output of the peak counting means 4. The characteristic of the present foulness condition of air and the situation of the gas generation as well as the air flow in the surrounding atmosphere can be estimated by the variation of the gas amount and the period of time required to reach a peak calculated by the variation detecting means 2 and the peak counting means 4. The most appropriate number of rotations of the fan motor 6 in cleaning air is determined by a gas amount which can be inferred by the fuzzy inferring device 5.The process of inferring the number of rotations and drive time of the fan motor 6 is described below. The fuzzy rule of the embodiment is carried out based on judgements of when gas is contained in air in a great amount and the period of time required for a peak to be attained is long, i.e., if gas is generated continuously, the number of rotations of the fan motor 6 is high and the drive time thereof is long. and when gas is contained in air in a small amount and the period of time required for a peak to be attained is short, i.e., if gas is generated temporarily, the number of rotations of the fan motor 6 is low and the drive time thereof is short. The qualitative concepts of the gas amount is great , the time required for a peak to be attained is short or the number of rotations of the fan motor 6 is high are quantitatively expressed by a membership function.A plurality of membership functions which can be expressed by congruent curves are obtained by performing a predetermined subtraction from one normalized membership function. That is, the gas amount adaptation calculating means 8 performs a predetermined subtraction from a membership function 1, shown in Fig. 3, stored in the variation membership function storing means 9 so as to obtain a plurality of membership functions 2, 3, and 4 which can be expressed by congruent curves having reference points at (d), (e), (f), and (a). First, it is retrieved which of membership functions 2, 3, and 4 corresponds to the variation of a gas amount. For example, when the variation of the gas amount shown by (A) of Fig. 4 is detected, (A) is greater than (d) and (e) and smaller than (f). Therefore, the variation (A) of the gas amount corresponds to the membership functions 2 and 3. Then, a value corresponding to the point (a) of the corresponding membership function is subtracted from the variation (A). Since the point (A) corresponds to the membership functions 2 and 3, subtractions of A - d and A - e are performed. The values of the subtractions are applied to the membership function 1. Therefore, supposing that the variation of a gas amount is expressed by (A), the grade of the membership function 2 corresponding to the value of A - d is 1/4 in the membership function 1 and the grade of the membership function 3 corresponding to the value of A - e is 3/4 in the membership function 1. Similarly, when a gas concentration corresponds to the membership function 4, a value obtained by subtracting the value of (f) from the variation of a gas amount is applied to the membership function 1. Thus, the grade of the membership function 4 can be found. Fig. 5 is a flow-chart for carrying out the inferring process. Although three membership functions are shown in Fig. 4A, many membership functions can be obtained if they are congruent with the membership function 1.In this embodiment, since the left end point (a) (gas amount, grade) thereof is set at (0, 0) in the above-described normalized membership function 1 in order to find the grades of the membership functions 2 and 3, subtractions are performed between the variations of gas amounts. Needless to say, it is necessary to perform an addition when a different point is set as the reference point of the normalized membership function 1.Similarly, based on one normalized membership function, shown in Fig. 3, stored in the peak time membership function storing means 11, the peak time adaptation calculating means 10 performs a predetermined subtraction so that a plurality of membership functions shown in Fig. 4B can be obtained. Figs. 4C and 4D show membership functions stored in the means 15 for storing the number of rotations/drive time membership function. It is possible to obtain a plurality of membership functions from one membership function similarly to the above.In the fuzzy inferring device 5, the gas amount adaptation calculating means 8 finds the adaptation of the input thereto from a variation detecting means 2 and the adaptation of a membership function stored in the variation membership function storing means 9 and obtained by a predetermined subtraction by taking the maximum of both adaptations. Similarly, the peak time adaptation calculating means 10 finds the adaptation of the input thereto from the peak counting means 4 and the adaptation of a membership function stored in the peak time membership function storing means 11 and obtained by a predetermined subtraction. The antecedent section minimum calculating means 12 takes the minimum of the above-described two adaptations, thereby setting the minimum value thus obtained as the adaptation of the antecedent section. According to a rule stored in the means 14 for storing the number of rotations/drive time inference rule, a consequent section minimum calculating means 13 takes the minimum of the adaptation of the antecedent section and the number of the rotations/drive time membership function of the consequent section stored in the means 15 for storing the number of rotations/drive time membership function according to a rule stored in the means 14 for storing the number of the rotations/drive time inference rule, thus setting the minimum value as the conclusion of the rule. A center of gravity calculating means 16 finds the conclusion of each rule and then, takes the maximum of each conclusion and calculates the center of gravity of the maximums, thus finding the number of rotations and the drive time of the fan motor 6. The control means 7 calculates a voltage for driving the fan motor 6 based on the determined number of rotations and drive time, thus controlling the rotation of the fan motor 6.A second control apparatus is described below with reference to Figs. 6 and 7.A membership function 5 shown in Fig. 6 is stored in the variation membership function storing means 9. A membership function 6 shown in Fig. 7 is a membership function to be obtained by the present invention. The membership function 6 is identical to the membership function 5 in the region less than a value shown by (k) and symmetrical with respect to (k). Referring to Fig. 6, when the variation of a gas amount is less than (k), the grade of the membership function 6 can be easily found based on the membership function 5. When the variation shown by (D) is detected, a calculation of D' = k x 2 - D is performed and the value of (D') is applied to the membership function 5 so as to determine the grade of the membership function 6. Similarly, the peak time adaptation calculating means 10 performs a predetermined calculation based on a membership function, shown in Fig. 6, stored by the peak time membership function storing means 11. Thus, a membership function shown in Fig. 7 can be obtained. Fig. 8 is a flowchart for carrying out the inferring process. A third control apparatus is described below with reference to Figs. 9 and 10.Fig. 9 shows the principle of the control apparatus. A predetermined calculation is performed on the variation of a gas amount so as to obtain a membership function 8. For example, supposing that the variation membership function storing means 9 stores a membership function 7, the grade of a membership function 9 can be easily determined when the variation shown by (E) of Fig. 10 is detected. In order to find the grade of a membership function 10, (E') is obtained by subtracting (p) from the variation (E) so as to obtain the membership function 8. Then, (E ) is obtained by the product of (E') and the ratio of the membership function 7 to the membership function 8 (q/r). Thus, the grade of the membership function 7 is obtained at this value.The control apparatus of an electrical appliance comprises: a sensor for detecting a physical amount; and a fuzzy inferring device for determining the drive condition of a load by fuzzy inference based on a signal outputted from the sensor. The sensor has at least one normalized membership function to be used by fuzzy inference and achieves a plurality of membership functions which can be expressed by congruent curves by performing a predetermined subtraction or an addition on the signal outputted from the sensor. Therefore, membership functions can be stored with a greatly reduced storage capacity by obtaining a plurality of membership functions from one membership function. Since many membership functions can be easily obtained, a high-degree fuzzy inference can be accomplished.The present invention is now described with reference to Fig. 11 showing the block diagram of the control apparatus of a vacuum cleaner. The description of the same construction and operation of the invention as those of the above-described apparatuses are omitted.A dust sensor 17 comprising a light emitting section (not shown) and a light receiving section (not shown) opposed to each other is provided on an air passage. Dust sucked by the vacuum cleaner passes between the light emitting section and the light receiving section. The dust sensor 17 outputs pulse signals to a dust detecting means 18 which counts the number of pulse signals per unit time. In response to pulse signals from the dust detecting means 18, a comparison/counting means 19 counts, in a predetermined period of time, how many times the amount of dust has exceeded a predetermined amount within unit time. A fuzzy inferring device 20 infers the number of rotations of a fan motor based on the output of pulse signals outputted from the dust detecting means 18 and signals outputted from the comparison/counting means 19. A control means 21 calculates a voltage for driving the fan motor based on the number of rotations of the fan motor inferred by the fuzzy inferring device 20, thus controlling the rotation of the fan motor.Needless to say, the absolute magnitude of a dust amount detected by the dust detecting means 18 depends on the amount of dust on a floor. The value counted by the comparison/counting means 19 is great when dust successively passes through the dust sensor 17 and small when dust passes through the dust sensor 17 temporarily. Accordingly, the foulness degree of the floor can be decided by the output of the dust detecting means 18 and the kind of the floor can be decided by the output of the comparison/counting means 19.Depending on the foulness degree and condition of the floor, the fuzzy inferring device 20 infers the number of rotations of the fan motor according to the output of the dust detecting means 18 and the comparison/counting means 19.The fuzzy inferring device 20 to be used in the invention is the same as those used in the above described control apparatuses. Membership functions can be obtained by fuzzy inference with a small storage capacity.In the invention a plurality of membership functions can be obtained by performing a subtraction or a multiplication on one normalized membership function. However, if the number of membership functions to be obtained is high, a plurality of membership functions may be obtained based on a plurality of normalized membership functions by performing subtractions or multiplications. Although a great number of membership functions to be obtained is high, the same operation and effect as those of the first through the fourth embodiment can be obtained by reducing the storage capacity.Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom.	An electric vacuum cleaner with air passage, including a fan motor (22) for generating suction force to draw dust particles through said air passage, dust detecting means (18), and a power control means (21) for controlling the fan motor (22) in accordance with a motor drive condition determined by fuzzy inferring means (20), characterized in that said dust detecting means (18) is arranged for counting, per unit time, pulse signals generated by dust sensor (17) in accordance with dust particles passing through said air passage, the electric vacuum cleaner further comprises comparison/counting means (19) for counting, in a predetermined period of time, how many times the amount of dust per unit time has exceeded a predetermined amount per unit time and for generating a further signal based upon said count, said fuzzy inferring means (20) for processing the output signal of said dust detecting means (18) and said further signal comprises at least one normalized membership function and means to provide from each of said normalized membership functions a plurality of membership functions, which can be expressed by congruent curves by performing a predetermined subtraction or an addition to the signals output from said dust detecting means (18) and said comparison/counting means (19) and said fuzzy inferring means (20) further includes means for determining the motor drive condition based upon said plurality of membership functions.The electric vacuum cleaner according to claim 1, wherein said fuzzy inferring means has at least one normalized membership function stored and achieves said plurality of membership functions each of which consisting of a curve symmetrical with respect to a given value by performing a predetermined subtraction or an addition to the output signals from said dust detecting means (18) and said comparison/counting means (19).An electric vacuum cleaner with air passage, including a fan motor (22) for generating suction force to draw dust particles through said air passage, dust detecting means (18), and a power control means (21) for controlling the fan motor (22) in accordance with a motor drive condition determined by fuzzy inferring means (20), characterized in that said dust detecting means (18) is arranged for counting, per unit time, pulse signals generated by dust sensor (17) in accordance with dust particles passing through said air passage, the electric vacuum cleaner further comprises comparison/counting means (19) for counting, in a predetermined period of time, how many times the amount of dust per unit time has exceeded a predetermined amount per unit time and for generating a further signal based upon said count, said fuzzy inferring means (20) for processing the output signal of said dust detecting means (18) and said further signal comprises at least one normalized membership function and means to provide from each of said normalized membership functions a plurality of membership functions, each of which having a different rate of change respectively by performing a predetermined multiplication to the output signals from said dust detecting means (18) and/or said comparison/counting means (19) and said fuzzy inferring means (20) further includes means for determining the motor drive condition based upon said plurality of membership functions.	MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO LTD; MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.	ABE SHUJI; IMAI HIDETOSHI; MATSUYO TADASHI; MORO MASARU; YAMAGUCHI SEIJI; ABE, SHUJI; IMAI, HIDETOSHI; MATSUYO, TADASHI; MORO, MASARU; YAMAGUCHI, SEIJI
EP-0488884-B1	488,884	EP	B1	EN	19,950,809	1,992	20,100,220	new	A47L9	null	A47L9	A47L 9/28B2B	Vacuum cleaner	A vacuum cleaner comprising a fuzzy inferring device for determining a motor speed in response to the amount of dust, and means for holding the motor speed determined by the fuzzy inferring device for a predetermined period of time, whereby, after the motor speed is held for the predetermined period time, the motor is driven for a certain period of time at the speed subsequently determined by the fuzzy inferring device.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION(a) Field of the InventionThe present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner comprising a fuzzy inferring device for reducing the sudden change of the number of rotations of a motor accommodated in the vacuum cleaner. (b) Description of the Related ArtsIn recent years, with the variety of objects such as a carpet to be cleaned, vacuum cleaners in which the number of rotations of a motor can be varied are increasingly manufactured. As the main current of the production of vacuum cleaners, a dust sensor is provided to control the number of rotations of the motor according to the amount of dust. Such vacuum cleaner is described in EP-A-O 397 205. Conventionally, a vacuum cleaner of this kind has a construction as shown in Fig. 7. The construction of the vacuum cleaner is described below. As shown in Fig. 7, a dust sensor 1 outputs pulse signals to a dust amount detecting means 2 when dust passes therethrough. The dust amount detecting means 2 counts pulse signals per unit time. A means 3 for setting the number of rotations sets the number of rotations of a motor 4. In response to the output of the motor 4, a control means 5 controls the rotation of the motor 4. As shown in Fig. 8, the sensor 1 comprises a light emitting element 6 and a light receiving element 7. When light emitted by the light emitting element 6 is intercepted by dust which is passing between the light emitting element 6 and the receiving element 7, the intensity of light received by the receiving element 7 changes. The light receiving element 7 converts the change of the intensity of the light, thus outputting pulse signals. Referring to Figs. 9A and 9B, the operation of the means 3 for setting the number of rotations of the motor 4 is described below. As shown in Fig. 9A, when the sensor 1 detects dust 8, the number of rotations of the motor 4 is set in correspondence with the amount of dust 8 as shown in Fig. 9B. When no dust is detected, the number of rotations of the motor 4 is set to n₁. When the amount of dust 8 is greater than d₁, the number of rotations of the motor 4 is set to n₃. When the amount of dust 8 is smaller than d₁, the number of rotations of the motor 4 is set to n₂. According to the above-described vacuum cleaner, since the number of rotations of the motor 4 is successively varied according to the amount of dust 8 within unit time, it frequently occurs that the number of rotations of the motor 4 suddenly changes when the dust 8 is being intermittently detected. Consequently, the volume of sounds generated by the vacuum cleaner change suddenly. Thus, the conventional vacuum cleaner has problems in operation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, an essential object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum cleaner capable of preventing the number of rotations of a motor from changing suddenly irrespective of the change in the amount of dust so as to improve the operativeness of the vacuum cleaner. In accomplishing these and other objects, there is provided a vacuum cleaner comprising : dust amount detecting means for detecting the amount of dust in response to a signal outputted thereto from a sensor provided in an air flow passage, and means for determining the speed of a motor in response to the output of said dust amount detecting means, characterized in that it further comprises: a comparing and counting means which compares with a certain frequency the result of the dust amount detecting means to a reference number within a given period of time and counts the number of events in which said result exceeds the reference number during said given period of time, and said means for determining the speed of the motor comprise, a fuzzy inferring device for determining the speed of the motor in response to the output of said dust amount detecting means and said comparing and counting means; and means for holding said motor speed determined by said fuzzy inferring device for a predetermined period of time, wherein after said motor speed is held for said predetermined period of time, said motor is driven for a certain period of time at the speed subsequently determined by said fuzzy inferring device. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vacuum cleaner comprising: number of rotations comparing means, in response to the output of the fuzzy inferring device and the means for holding the number of rotations, for changing the number of rotations of the motor stepwise toward the number of rotations determined by the fuzzy inferring device after a predetermined period of time elapses. According to the above-described construction, after a current number of rotations of the motor is kept for a predetermined period of time, the current number of rotations of the motor is changed according to the decision made by fuzzy inference. Accordingly, the number of rotations of the motor does not change suddenly. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other objects and features of the present invention will become clear from the following description taken in conjunction with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a principal section of the vacuum cleaner; Figs. 3A through 3C are views showing membership functions stored in a fuzzy inferring device for controlling the number of rotations of a motor provided in the vacuum cleaner; Figs. 4A and 4B are time charts showing the operation of the vacuum cleaner; Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing a vacuum cleaner according to another embodiment of the present invention; Figs. 6A through 6C are time charts showing the operation of the vacuum cleaner; Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing a conventional vacuum cleaner; Fig. 8 is a sectional view showing a dust sensor of the conventional vacuum cleaner; and Figs. 9A and 9B are time charts showing the operation of the conventional vacuum cleaner. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONBefore the description of the present invention proceeds, it is to be noted that like parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the accompanying drawings. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. A comparing/counting means 9 counts, within unit time, how many times the amount of dust detected by a dust amount detecting means 2 has exceeded a predetermined amount for every predetermined period of time, thus outputting signals to a fuzzy inferring device 10. The fuzzy inferring device 10 performs fuzzy inference in response to signals outputted from the dust amount detecting means 2 and the comparing/counting means 9, thus determining the number of rotations of a motor 4, i.e., the motor speed. A means 11 for holding the number of rotations holds the number of rotations of the motor 4 determined by the fuzzy inferring device 10 for a certain period of time determined by a timer 12. The output of the means 11 for holding the number of rotations and the fuzzy inferring device 10 is sent to a control means 13. The control means 13 drives the motor 4 for a certain period of time according to the number of rotations determined by the fuzzy inferring device 10, and then, drives the motor 4 for a predetermined period of time according to the number of rotations which the fuzzy inferring device 10 has determined in response to a signal outputted subsequently from the dust amount detecting means 2. The control means 13 compares the number of rotations determined by fuzzy inference and the number of rotations held by the means 11 for holding the number of rotations with each other while the means 11 for holding the number of rotations is holding the number of rotations for a certain period of time. In the fuzzy inferring device 10 comprising means shown in Fig. 2, a means 19 for calculating the number of rotations compares a content stored in a means 18 for storing inference rule of the number of rotations with a signal outputted from a means 16 for calculating dust amount adaptation in response to a signal inputted thereto from a means 14 for storing dust amount membership function and a signal outputted from a means 17 for calculating comparing/counting adaptation in response to a signal inputted thereto from a means 15 for storing comparing/counting membership function with. Based on the result thus obtained, the most appropriate number of rotations is determined by selecting one membership function from a plurality of the number of rotations membership functions stored in a means 20 for storing the number of rotations membership function. The means 14 for storing dust amount membership function, the means 15 for storing comparing/counting membership function, and the means 20 for storing the number of rotations membership function store membership functions shown in Fig. 3A, membership functions shown in Fig. 3B, and membership functions shown in Fig. 3c, respectively. The means 18 storing inference rule of the number of rotations stores the inference rule of the number of rotations shown in Table 1. dust amount comparison/counting small medium large smallslowrather slowmedium mediumrather slowmediumrather fast largemediumrather fastfast Although not shown, the means 19 for calculating the number of rotations comprises an antecedent section minimum calculating means, a consequent section maximum calculating means, and a center of gravity calculating means. The antecedent section minimum calculating means receives the output of the means 16 for calculating dust amount adaptation, the output of the means 17 for calculating comparing/counting adaptation, and the content stored in the means 18 for storing inference rule of the number of rotations. The consequent section maximum calculating means receives the output of the antecedent section minimum calculating means, the content stored in the means 18 for storing inference rule of the number of rotations, and the content stored in the means 20 for storing the number of rotations membership function. The center of gravity calculating means receives the output of the consequent section maximum calculating means. Referring to Figs. 4A and 4B, the operation of the control apparatus of the vacuum cleaner is described below. When an amount D₁ of dust is detected, the fuzzy inferring device 10 performs fuzzy inference in response to signals outputted from the dust amount detecting means 2 and the comparing/counting means 9, thus setting the number of rotations of the motor 4 to n₁ as shown in Fig. 4B. Then, the means 11 for holding the number of rotations holds the number of rotations of the motor 4 at n₁ for a predetermined period of time t₁. The number of rotations thereof determined by fuzzy inference varies according to the change of the amount of dust is shown by a broken line of Fig. 4B, but the actual number of rotations thereof is set to n₁ as shown by a solid line. After a predetermined period of time elapses, the motor 4 rotates at the number of rotations n₂ determined by fuzzy inference. Similarly, when the detected amount of dust is D₂ as shown in Fig. 4A, the number of rotations thereof is set to n₃ as shown in Fig. 4B. After the number of rotations thereof is held at n₃ for the predetermined period of time t₁, the motor 4 rotates at the number of rotations n₂, shown by a broken line, determined by fuzzy inference. According to the vacuum cleaner of the embodiment, after the number of rotations of the motor 4 is held at the number of rotations determined by the fuzzy inferring device 10 for the predetermined period of time, it is driven at the number of rotations which the fuzzy inferring device 10 has determined in response to a signal outputted from the dust amount detecting means 2. Therefore, a sudden change in the number of rotations of the motor 4 is reduced irrespective of the change in the amount of dust and the volume of sound generated can be prevented from changing greatly. Thus, the vacuum cleaner has a favorable operativeness. Another embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to Fig. 5. In response to the output of the fuzzy inferring device 10 and the means 11 for holding the number of rotations, a means 21 for comparing the number of rotations changes the number of rotations of the motor 4 stepwise toward the number of rotations determined by the fuzzy inferring device 10 after a predetermined period of time elapses, thus outputting a signal to a control means 22. The operation of the vacuum cleaner of this embodiment is described below with reference to Figs. 6A through 6C. When the amount of dust detected by the comparing/counting means 9 is as shown in Fig. 6A, the fuzzy inferring device 10 determines the number of rotations of the motor 4 at the number of rotations N₁ as shown by a solid line of Fig. 6B. An increased number of rotations is kept for the predetermined period of time t₁. Then, the number of rotations decreases by no. Thereafter, the number of rotations decreases by no again after a period of time t₂ elapses. While the means 11 is holding the number of rotations, the means 21 for comparing the number of rotations compares the number of rotations determined by fuzzy inference and the number of rotations kept by the means 11 with each other, thus determining the number of rotations by selecting the higher number of rotations. Then, the means 21 for comparing the number of rotations outputs a signal to the control means 22. Therefore, when the amount of dust is as shown in Fig. 6A, the motor 4 is driven at the number of rotations as shown by a solid line of Fig. 6C. The variation of the number of rotations of the motor 4 is reduced in the same amount of no during the period of times t₁ and t₂ in the above description, but may be differentiated. Similarly, the period of times t₁ and t₂ in which number of rotations of the motor 4 is kept to be constant may be same or different. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom.	A vacuum cleaner comprising: dust amount detecting means (2) for detecting the amount of dust in response to a signal outputted thereto from a sensor (1) provided in an air flow passage, and means for determining the speed of a motor (4) in response to the output of said dust amount detecting means, characterized in that it further comprises: a comparing and counting means (9) which compares with a certain frequency the result of the dust amount detecting means (2) to a reference number within a given period of time and counts the number of events in which said result exceeds the reference number during said given period of time, and said means for determining the speed of the motor comprise a fuzzy inferring device (10) for determining the speed of the motor (4) in response to the output of said dust amount detecting means (2) and said comparing and counting means (9); and means (11) for holding said motor speed determined by said fuzzy inferring device (10) for a predetermined period of time, wherein after said motor speed is held for said predetermined period of time, said motor (4) is driven for a certain period of time at the speed subsequently determined by said fuzzy inferring device (10). A vacuum cleaner as defined in claim 1, further comprising: speed comparing means (21), in response to the output of said fuzzy inferring device (10) and said means (11) for holding the speed, for changing said motor speed stepwise toward the speed determined by said fuzzy inferring device (10) after a predetermined period of time elapses.	MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO LTD; MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.	MATSUYO TADASHI; MORO MASARU; YAMAGUCHI SEIJI; MATSUYO, TADASHI; MORO, MASARU; YAMAGUCHI, SEIJI
EP-0488891-B1	488,891	EP	B1	EN	19,961,016	1,992	20,100,220	new	G09G3	G09G3	H04N5, G09G3	G09G 3/288C2R, G09G 3/288C6, G09G 3/20G6F2, G09G 3/288C6N, G09G 3/20G6F, G09G 3/288S, S09G3:20T, G09G 3/288C4E, G09G 3/288P, G09G 3/28T	A method and a circuit for gradationally driving a flat display device	Each cell of the display is formed at cross points of a plurality of X-electrodes and a plurality of Y-electrodes orthogonal to the X-electrodes, and has an intrinsic memory. The display's frame period (FM1) is divided into a plurality of sequential subframes (SF1-SF8). Each of the subframes comprises: an addressing period (CYa1-CYa8) during which cells to be lit later in a display period are selected from all the cells by being written by having a wall charge therein. The address periods are each followed by a display period (CYi1-CYi8) subsequent to the address period for lighting the selected cells by applying sustain pulses to all the cells. A number of the sustain pulses included in each display period is predetermined differently for each subframe according to a weight given to each subframe. Gradation of visual brightness of each cell is determined by the accumulated number of the sustain pulses included in the subframes that are selectively operated during a single frame according to a required brightness level for each cell. Thus, an adequate time length can be allocated to the required number of subframes to achieve a quality brightness-gradation for each cell.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the inventionThis invention relates to a method for driving a flat display panel having a memory function, such as an AC-type PDP (plasma display panel), etc., to allow gradation, i.e. a gray scale, of its visual brightness for each cell. Description of the Related ArtsFlat display apparatus, allowing a thin depth as well as a large picture display size, have been popularly employed, resulting in a rapid increase in its application area. Accordingly, there has been required further improvements of the picture quality, such as a gradation as high as 256 grades, so as to achieve the high-definition television, etc. There have been proposed some methods for providing a gradation of the display brightness, such as in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Sho51-32051 or Hei2-291597, where a single frame period of a picture to be displayed is divided with time into plural subframes each of which has a specific time length for lighting a cell so that the visual brightness of the cell is weighted. A typical prior art method to provide the gradation of visual brightness is schematically illustrated in Fig. 1, where after cells on a single horizontal line (simply referred to hereinafter as a line) Y1 are selectively written, i.e. addressed, cells on the next line Y2 are then written. The structure of each subframe on each scanned line, employed in an opposed-discharge type PDP panel, is shown in Fig. 2, where are drawn voltage waveforms applied across the cells on horizontal lines Y1, Y2 ... Yn, respectively. Each subframe is provided with a write period CYw during which a write pulse Pw, an erase pulse Pf and sustain pulses Ps are sequentially applied to the cells on each Y-electrode, and a sustain period CYm during which only sustain pulses are applied. The write pulse generates a wall charge in the cells on each line; and the erase pulse Pf erases the wall charge. However, for a cell to be lit a cancel pulse Pc is selectively applied to the cell's X-electrode Xi concurrently to the erase pulse application so as to cancel the erase pulse Pf. Accordingly, the wall charge remains only in the cell applied with the cancel pulse Pc, that is, where the cell is written. Sustain pulses Ps are concurrently applied to all the cells; however, only the cells having the wall charge are lit. Gradation of visual brightness, i.e. a gray scale, is proportional to the number of sustain pulses that light the cells during a frame. Therefore, different time lengths of sustain periods CYm are allocated to the subframes in a single frame, so that the gradation is determined by an accumulation of sustain pulses in the selectively operated subframes each having different number of sustain pulses. A problem in the prior art methods is in that the second subframe must wait the completion of the first subframe for all the lines. Therefore, if the number of the lines m = 400 and 60 frames per second to achieve 16 grades (n = 4), the time length TSF allowed to a single subframe period becomes as short as about 10 µs as an average. ( because TSF x 60 x 400 x 4 = 1 sec.) For executing the write period and the sustain period in such a short period, the driving pulses must be of a very high frequency. For example, in the case where the numbers of sustain pulses are 1, 2, 4 and 8 pairs in the respective subframes to achieve 16 grades, the driving pulses must be as high as 360 kHz as derived from: freq. = (1+2+4+8) x 60 x400 = 360 x 103 Hz. The higher frequency drive circuit consumes the higher power, and allows less margin in its operational voltage due to the storage time of the wall charge, particularly in an AC type PDP. Moreover, the high frequency operation, such as 360 kHz, may cause a durability problem of the cell. Therefore, the operation frequency cannot be easily increased, resulting in a difficulty in achieving the gradation. Furthermore, in the above prior art method, a write period CYw of a line must be executed concurrently to a sustain period CYm of another line. This fact causes another problem in that the brightness control, for example, the gradation control to meet gamma characteristics of human eye, cannot be desirably achieved. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is a general object of the invention to provide a method which allows a high degree of gradation of visual brightness of a flat display panel by requiring less time for addressing cells to be lit. The present invention provides a method of driving a matrix display panel comprising a plurality of pixels each having a memory function, said plurality of pixels being arranged in a plurality of lines, the method comprising the steps of : dividing a frame time period into a plurality of subframes, each subframe comprising : an address period in which selected pixels are addressed by activating the memory function thereof; and a display period in which said addressed pixels are lit up by application of sustain pulses concurrently to all the pixels, said display period being subsequent to said address period, each subframe being allocated a predetermined number of said sustain pulses, said allocated number being different for each subframe within a frame so that the gradation of visual brightness of each lit pixel making up an image displayed during said frame period is determined by activating said pixel in a respective selection of subframe(s) in said frame period; characterized in that the address period of each subframe is common to the plurality of lines in the display. The above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention, together with other objects and advantages, which will become apparent, will be more fully described hereinafter, with references being made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 schematically illustrates a prior art structure of a frame to drive each line of a matrix display panel; Fig. 2 schematically illustrates waveforms in the prior art frames; Fig. 3 illustrates a structure of a frame of the present invention; Fig. 4 illustrates waveforms of cell voltages applied across a cell on each line in a subframe; Fig. 5 illustrates voltage waveforms applied to Y-electrodes and X-electrodes of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 6 schematically illustrates the structure of a flat display panel of an opposed-discharge type employed in the first preferred embodiment; Fig. 7 illustrates voltage waveforms applied to Y-electrodes and X-electrodes, of a second preferred embodiment; Fig. 8 schematically illustrates the structure of a flat display panel of a surface discharge type employed in the second preferred embodiment; and Fig. 9 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a driving circuit configuration which can put into practice the method of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTFig. 3 schematically illustrates a frame structure of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. A frame FM to drive a single picture on a flat display panel, such as a PDP or an electroluminescent panel, is formed of a plurality of, for example, eight subframes SF1 to SF8. Each subframe is formed of an address period CYa and one of display periods CYi1 ... CYi8 subsequent to each address period CYa1 ... CYa8. In each address period CYa the cells to be lit are addressed by being written selectively from all the cells of the panel. Practical operation in the address period CYa, according to the present invention, will be described later in detail. Each display period CYi1 to CYi8 has different time length essentially having a ratio 1:2:4:8:16:32:64:128 so that different numbers of sustain pulses of same frequency are included in approximately proportional to this ratio in the display periods of the respective subframes. Visual brightness, i.e. the gradation of the brightness, of a lit cell is determined by the number of the sustain pulses accumulated for the single frame period. Thus, the gradation of 256 grades that is composed of the 8 bits can be determined for each cell by selectively operating one or a plurality of the eight subframes. Fig. 4 shows voltage waveforms applied across the cells of an opposed-discharge type PDP, where a discharge takes place between matrix electrodes coated with insulating layers on respective two glass panels facing each other. Layout of the matrix electrodes are schematically shown in Fig. 6, where for the present explanation of the invention the X-electrodes Xi, Xi+1, Xi+2 ... are data electrodes and the Y-electrodes Yj, Yj+1, Yj+2 ... are scan electrodes. Cells C are formed at crossed pints of the X-electrodes and the Y-electrodes. Operation of the address period CYa is hereinafter described in detail. Voltage waveforms applied to each of X-electrodes and the Y-electrodes to compose the cell voltages of Fig. 4 are shown in Fig. 5. A sustain pulse Ps1 is applied to all the Y-electrodes in the same polarity as the subsequent write pulse, in other words, the prior sequence of sustain pulses ends at a sustain pulse having the polarity of the write pulse. Sustain pulses are typically 95 volt high and 5 µs long. Next, approximately 2 µs later a write pulse Pw is applied to all the cells by applying a pulse Pw concurrently to all the Y-electrodes while the X-electrodes are kept at 0 volt, where the write pulse Pw is typically 150 volt high and 5µs long adequate for igniting a discharge as well a forming a wall charge, as a memory medium, in all the cells. Immediately subsequent to the write pulse Pw, a second sustain pulse Ps2 having the polarity opposite to that of the write pulse Pw is applied to all the cells by applying the sustain pulse voltage Psx to all the X-electrodes while the Y-electrodes are kept at 0 volt, in order to invert the wall charge by which the subsequent erase pulse Pf can be effective. Next, an erase pulse Pf of typically 95 volt and 0.7 to 1 µs is applied sequentially to each of the Y-electrodes, which, in other words, are now scanned. Concurrently to the erase pulse application, a cancel pulse Pc having substantially the same level and the same width as the erase pulse Pf is selectively applied to an X-electrode connected to a cell to be lit, in order to cancel the function of the erase pulse Pf. Though a cell to which no cancel pulse is applied is lit once by the front edge of the erase pulse Pf; the pulse width is not so long as to accumulate an adequate wall charge to provide the memory function. That is, the wall charge is erased so that the cell is addressed not to be lit later. Now the writing operation, which has addressed the cells to be lit by canceling the function of the erase pulse, is completed throughout the panel. Thus, the address period is approximately 621 µs long for a 400-line picture. It sustain pulse Ps1 is not applied, in other words, it the display period ends at the sustain pulse having the polarity to the write pulse, the change in the cell voltage on application of the write pulse is as large as the sum of the voltage levels of the sustain pulse and the write pulse. This large change in the cell voltage may cause a deterioration of insulation layers of the cell. Thus, the sustain pulse Ps1 is preferably introduced into the address period, although this is not absolutely necessary. In address cycles, all the cell are lit three times by the sustain pulse Psy, the write pulse Pw and the erase pulse Pf; however, these lightings are negligible compared with larger number of the lightings in the display cycles. A first display period CYi1 provided subsequently to the first address period CYa1 is approximately 46 µs long. The sustain pulses are typically 5 µs wide having typically a 2 µs interval therebetween; therefore, three pairs of the sustain pulses of frequency 71.4 kHz are included in the first display period CYi1. The sustain pulses are applied to all the cells by applying the sustain pulse voltage Psy to all the Y-electrodes, and on the next phase by applying the sustain pulse voltage Psx to all the X-electrodes. Then, the cells having been addressed, i.e. having the wall charged, in the first address period CYa1 are lit at the by the sustain pulses in the subsequent subframe CYi1. The first subframe SF1 is now completed. In the second address period CYa2 of the second subframe SF2 subsequent to the first display period CYi1, the cells to be lit during the second display period CYi2 are addressed in the same way as the first address period. The second display period CYi2 subsequent to the second address period CYa2 is approximately 91 µs long to contain 6 pairs of sustain pulses. In the further subsequent subframes SF3 ... SF8, the operations are the same as those of the first and second subframes SF1 and SF2; however, the time length and the number of the sustain pulses contained therein are varied as calculated below: a frame period of 60 trames per second: 16.666 ms; address period as described above: 621 µs; total time length occupied by address periods of 8 subframes: 621 x 8 = 4,968 µs; time length allowed for 8 display periods: 16,666 - 4,968 = 11,698 µs; time length to be allocated to a minimum unit of 256 grades (represented by 8 bits): 11,698 / 256 = 45.67 µs; time length TL of each display period of other subframes: TL = 45.67 x 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 µs, respectively; accordingly, display period time length: number of sustain pulse pairs: 1 st SFapprox. 45 µsapprox. 3 2 nd SF91 6 3 rd SF18213 4 th SF 365 26 5 th SF73052 6 th SF1,461104 7 th SF2,924209 8 th SF5,845418 total 831 frequency of sustain pulses having a 14 µs period: 1 / 14 µs = 71.4 kHz Accordingly, total number of sustain pulse pairs in a second is 831 x 60 = 49,860, which is sufficient to provide the brightness of the maximum gradation. Though in the above preferred embodiment the periods of the display periods are different to provide different numbers of sustain pulses; the display period may be allocated constantly to each subframe, for example, 11,698 µs / 8 = 1,462 µs during which different numbers of the sustain pulses are contained, respectively. For varying the sustain pulse numbers, the frequency may be varied for each subframe, such as 0.75, 1.5, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96 kHz, where the number of sustain pulse pairs are 1, 2, 4, 8, 17, n35, 70 and 140, respectively. In the constant time length 1,462 µs of the display periods, sustain pulses may be of a constant frequency, such as 96 kHz where unnecessary pulses are killed so as to leave necessary number of sustain pulses in each display periods. A second preferred embodiment of the present invention, applied to a surface discharge type PDP, is hereinafter described. The surface discharge type PDP is widely known , for example from Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Tokukai Sho57-78751 and 61-39341, or schematically illustrated in Fig. 8. A plurality of X-electrodes X, each of which is parallel to and close to each of a plurality of Y-electrodes Yj, Yj+1, Yj+2, and address electrodes An, An+1, An+2 ... orthogonal to the X and Y electrodes are arranged on a surface of a panel. Electrodes crossing each other are insulated with an insulating layer. An address cell Ca is formed at each of the crossed points of the Y-electrodes Yj, Yj+1, Yj+2 and the address electrodes An, An+1, An+2 ... . Display cells Cd are formed between the Y-electrode and the adjacent X-electrode, close to the corresponding address cells Ca, respectively. Voltage waveforms applied to X-electrodes X, Y-electrodes Yj, Yj+1, Yj+2 and address electrode An are shown in Fig. 7. An address period CYa is performed concurrently on all the Y-electrodes. In address periods, a write pulse Pw typically 5 µs long and 90 volt high is applied to all the X-electrodes while a first sustain pulse Psy1 that is opposite to the write pulse Pw, typically 5 µs long and 150 volt high, is applied to all the Y-electrodes, and the address electrodes are kept at 0 volt. Accordingly, all the display cells Cd are discharged by the summed cell voltage 240 V = 90 v + 150 V. Next, immediately subsequent to the write pulse a second sustain pulse Psx typically 5 µs long and 150 volt opposite to the write pulse Pw is applied to all the X-electrodes, so that a wall charge is generated in each display cell Cd and a part of the associated address cell Ca. Next, an erase pulse Pf typically 150 volt high and 3 µs long is applied sequentially to each of the Y-electrodes in the same manner as the first preferred embodiment. Concurrently to the erase pulse application, an address pulse Pa typically 90 volt high and 3 µs long is selectively applied to an address-electrode of a display cell Cd not to be lit later in the subsequent display period CYi1 in the same way as that of the first preferred embodiment, whereby the wall charge is erased. At a cell to which no address pulse is applied, the wall charge is maintained. Thus, the cells to be lit later are addressed throughout the panel by maintaining the wall charge in the selected cells. In a first display period CYi1 subsequent to the first address period CYa1 sustain pulses typically 150 volts high and 5 µs long are applied to all the cells by applying sustain pulses Psy to all the Y-electrodes and sustain pulses Psx alternately to all the X-electrodes. The cells having been addressed to have the wall charge are lit by the sustain pulses. In the subsequent subframes the same operations are repeated as those of the first subframe except the time lengths of the display periods are different in each subframe, as the same way as that of the first preferred embodiment. The time length allocated to each subframe is identical to that of the first preferred embodiment. Accordingly, the same advantageous effects can be accomplished in the second embodiment, as well. Though in the above preferred embodiments the time length allocation is such a manner that the first subframe has the shortest display period and the last subframe has the longest display period, it is apparent that the order of the time length allocation is arbitrarily chosen. Fig. 9 shows a block diagram of a driving circuit which can put into practice the method of the present invention for providing gradation of the visual brightness of a flat matrix panel. An analog input signal S1 of a picture data to be displayed is converted by an A/D converter 11 to a digital signal D2. A frame memory 12 stores the digital signal D2 of a single frame FM output from A/D converter 11. A subframe generator 13 divides a single frame of picture data D2 stored in the frame memory 12 into plural subframes SF1, SF2 ... according to the required gradation level, so as to output respective subframe data D3. A scanning circuit 14 scans a Y-electrode driver 31 and an X-electrode driver 32 of the display panel 4. The scanning circuit 14 comprises a cancel pulse generator 21 to generate the cancel pulses Pc of the first preferred embodiment as well as the address pulses Pa of the second preferred embodiment; a write pulse generator 22 to generate the write pulses Pw; a sustain pulse generator 23 to generate the sustain pulses Ps; and a composer circuit 24 to compose these signals. A timing controller 15 outputs several kinds of timing signals for, such as process timing of subframe generator 13, output timing of cancel pulse generator, and termination timing of display period in each subframe. Operation of the gradation drive circuit is hereinafter described. The waveforms applied to the panel are the same as those already described above. In the case where the picture data each of whose pixels has n bit picture data is stored in frame memory 12 so that the picture is to be displayed by a 2n gradation, subframe processor 13 sequentially outputs an n kinds of binary data D3, i.e. a pixel position data, of a picture to be exclusively formed of the respective bit of the gradation in the order of the least significant to the most significant. Depending on this picture data D3 the cancel pulse generator 21 outputs cancel pulses Pc, at the moment when a line is selected, to X-electrodes connected to the cells to be addressed to light on this selected Y-electrode. Timing controller 15 outputs a timing control signal so that the time length of each display period of subframes become a predetermined length in accordance with picture data D3 for the pixel position data output from subframe processor 13. Composer circuit 24 outputs the scan voltages shown in Fig. 5 by combining the pulse signals output from each pulse generator 21, 22 and 23 so that the address period CYa and the display period CYi can be executed in each subframe SF. The second means 14 specified in the claim is formed with cancel pulse generator 21, write pulse generator 22, sustain pulse generator 23 and composer circuit 24. In the first and second preferred embodiments, the erase/cancel pulses as short as 1 µs require only 600 µs for addressing the cells to be lit on the 400 lines after the concurrent application of the write pulse to all the cells. Thus, the time length required for the addressing operation is drastically decreased compared with the Fig. 1 prior art method where the write pulses Pw that is as long as 5 µs occupy about 2.2 ms for individually addressing the 400 lines. As a result, the time length allowed to the display periods may be as large as 11.7 ms, which is enough to provide a 256-grade gradation. Accordingly, the driving frequency can be lowered in accomplishing the same gradation level. The lower driving frequency lowers the power consumption in the driving circuit, in addition to allowing longer pulse width which provides more margin in the operation reliability. Moreover, the method of the present invention solves the prior art problem where the driving circuit configuration was complicated because the write period CYw of a line had to be executed concurrently to the sustain period CYm of the other lines, whereby, the pulses had to be of very high frequency. Furthermore, in the present invention the number of sustain pulses in each subframe can be easily chosen because the display period CYi is completely independent from the address period CYa, where the cycle of the sustain pulses does not need to synchronize with the cycle of the address cycle. Owing to the above-described advantages, in the method of the present invention, the gradation can be easily controlled; the ratio of the time lengths of the display periods in the subframes can be arbitrarily and easily chosen so that the gradation can meet the gamma characteristics of the human eye; accordingly, the present invention is advantageous in the freedom in designing the driving circuit, the production cost, and the product reliability, as well. Though in the address period of the above preferred embodiments the addressing operation is carried out by canceling the once-written cells, it is apparent that the addressing method may be of other conventional methods where the writing operation is carried out only on the cells to be lit, without writing-all and erasing-some-of-them . Even in this case, the same advantageous effect can be achieved as those of the above preferred embodiments. Though only a single example of the circuit configuration is disclosed above as a preferred embodiment, it is apparent that any other circuit configuration may be employed. Though only two examples of the driving waveforms are disclosed above in the preferred embodiments, it is apparent that other waveforms may be employed. Though only two examples of the electrode configuration of the display panel are disclosed above in the preferred embodiments, it is apparent that other electrode configurations may be employed. Though in the above preferred embodiments an AC-type PDP is referred to where the memory medium is formed of a wall charge, it is apparent that the present invention may be embodied in other flat panels such as: those where the memory medium is formed of a space charge (e.g. a DC-type PDP); an EL (electroluminescent) display device; or a liquid crystal device.	A method of driving a matrix display panel (4, 4a) comprising a plurality of pixels (C) each having a memory function, said plurality of pixels being arranged in a plurality of lines, the method comprising the steps of : dividing a frame time period (FM) into a plurality of subframes (SF), each subframe comprising : an address period (CYa) in which selected pixels are addressed by activating the memory function thereof; and a display period (CYi) in which said addressed pixels are lit up by application of sustain pulses (Ps) concurrently to all the pixels. said display period (CYi) being subsequent to said address period (CYa), each subframe being allocated a predetermined number of said sustain pulses, said allocated number being different for each subframe within a frame such that the graduation of visual brightness of each lit pixel making up an image displayed during said frame period is determined by activating said pixel in a respective selection of subframe(s) in said frame period; characterized in that the address period (CYa) of each subframe is common to the plurality of lines in the display. A method as recited in claim 1, in which activation of the memory function of selected pixels (C) of different lines is performed sequentially within said common address period. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein during said address period (CYa) the following steps are performed: applying a write pulse (PW) to all of said plurality of pixels (C) so as to activate the memory function of said pixels; and selectively cancelling the activated memory function of particular pixels. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein during said address period (CYa) the following steps are performed: applying a write pulse (PW) concurrently to all of said plurality of pixels (C) so as to activate the memory function of said pixels; and selectively cancelling the activated memory function of particular pixels in sequentially-selected lines. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the number of sustain pulses in a respective subframe is determined by a time length of the corresponding display period, sustain pulses occuring at constant frequency within said display period and said time length being different for each subframe of a frame. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the number of sustain pulses in a respective subframe are determined by the frequency of sustain pulses within the corresponding display period, the sustain pulses occuring at different frequencies for each subframe of a frame. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the memory function of a pixel is activated by forming a wall charge in said pixel. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein said display panel is an AC-type display panel. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein said display panel comprises an AC-type plasma display panel. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein said AC-type plasma display panel is a surface-discharge type plasma display panel. A method as recited in any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the display panel is a surface-discharge type plasma display panel comprising: a plurality of address electrodes (An); and a plurality of pairs of parallel and adjacent first (Y) and second (X) display electrodes; wherein said first and second display electrodes (Y,X) are orthogonal to said address electrodes (An), address cells are formed at points where the first display electrodes (Y) cross said address electrodes (An), display cells are formed between each pair of first and second display electrodes (Xn,Yn) in the vicinity of respective associated address cells, and a display cell together with the associated address cell in its vicinity constitute a pixel of the matrix display; and a selected pixel is addressed during the address period (CYa) by forming a wall charge at said selected pixel and the selected pixel is lit up during the display period (CYi) by application of sustain pulses to said selected pixel via the corresponding pair of first and second display electrodes (X,Y). A method as recited in claim 8, wherein said display panel comprises an electroluminescent panel. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said display panel comprises a liquid crystal panel. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the memory function of a pixel is activated by forming a space charge in said pixel. A method as recited in claim 14, wherein said display panel is a DC-type display panel.	FUJITSU LTD; FUJITSU LIMITED	SHINODA TSUTAE; SHINODA, TSUTAE; Shinoda, Tsutae, c/o Fujitsu Limited
EP-0488892-B1	488,892	EP	B1	EN	19,980,128	1,992	20,100,220	new	G11B5	H03F3, G11B20	H03F3, G11B5, G11B33	G11B 5/02, G11B 5/09, G11B 33/12B1, G11B 5/008T4R, H03F 3/19	Recording signal amplifier apparatus	In a recording amplifier apparatus (10) comprising first and second differential amplification means (11A, 11B) connected to each other with wires, the second differential amplification means (11B) is disposed close to a rotary drum (4) by extending the wires (13). It is thus possible to restrain the generation of a distributed capacity by the wires (13) so as to go down to the irreducible minimum.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a recording signal linear amplifier apparatus and is suitable for an application to the recording amplifier circuit of, e.g., a data recording device for recording, particularly, information data on a magnetic tape with a rotary head.There has hitherto existed a data recording device for recording the information data with a high density by use of a digital video tape recorder based on a helical scan method.More specifically, as illustrated in Fig. 1, in such a data recording device 1, the information data is coded by, e.g., a 8-9 modulation method. A record signal S0 obtained as a consequence of this is equalized by an equivalent circuit and at the same time amplified by a recording amplifier circuit 2. The information data is then supplied to a rotary head 4 mounted on a drum.The drum is wound with a magnetic tape 5 to permit its running in an oblique direction. The rotary head 4 thereby scans the magnetic tape 5 by the helical scan method.Note that the symbol LS of a rotary transformer 3 designates a loss caused by the rotary transformer 3, while LH of the rotary head 4 represents a total inductance of the rotary transformer 3 and the rotary head 4.A capacity CH herein indicates a distributed capacity generated by the wires and the rotary transformer 3 in addition to an output capacity of the recording amplifier circuit 2 itself.Resultantly in the data recording device 1, a resonance circuit is formed of the capacity CH and the inductance LH of the head 4. In consequence of this, as illustrated in Fig. 2, there is produced a rise in terms of an amplitude characteristic in the vicinity of a maximum frequency f1 of a frequency characteristic T0.For this reason, in the data recording device 1, a dumping resistance RH one terminal of which is grounded is connected to an output terminal of the recording amplifier circuit 2. The frequency characteristic T1 is thereby obtained, wherein the rise in the amplitude characteristic vicinal to the maximum frequency f1 is compensated as much as possible. According to this data recording device 1, in this manner, the information data is recorded typically at a data rate of 88 Mbps (consisting of record maximum frequency 44 MHz). Formed on a recording track of the magnetic tape 5 is a magnetizing pattern which is reversed at the shortest interval of 0.9 µm.In this type of the data recording device 1, a rotating speed of the rotary head 4 and a running speed of the magnetic tape 5 are controlled. A relative speed between the rotary head 4 and the magnetic tape 5 in the direction of the recording track is thereby variable-controlled at a speed of 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/24 times respectively. Recorded are the information data having data rates 88, 44, 22, 11, 5.50, 3.67 Mbps, i.e., the record signals S0 having record maximum frequencies 44, 22, 11, 5.50, 2.50, 1.84 MHz.Namely, with respect to the information data recorded by the record signal having the record maximum frequency 44 MHz and the data rate 88 Mbps, the relative speed between the magnetic tape 5 and the rotary head 4 in the recording track direction is variable-controlled at the speed of 1/2 times. This information data is readable as a piece of information data having the data rate 44 Mbps, i.e., the record maximum frequency 22 MHz. A low speed reproduction at a 1/2-fold speed is thereby attainable.Reversely, with respect to the information data recorded by the record signal S0 having the data rate 22 Mbps and the recording maximum frequency 11 MHz, the relative speed is variable-controlled at the speed of 1/1 times. The information data is readable as a piece of information data having the data rate 88 Mbps, viz., the record maximum frequency 44 MHz. As a result, a high speed reproduction is thereby attainable at a 4-times speed.As a matter of fact, in the case of the data recording device 1, variable-speed recording is, as described above, effected at a speed of 1/1 through 1/24 times. Therefore, with respect to, e.g., observation data which varies slowly as in the case of astronomical observation, the data is recorded at a data rate as slow as 3.67 Mbps and reproduced at a data rate as high as 88 Mbps. The data is thereby efficiently analyzed in a short time by using a computer system.In contrast with this, with respect to measurement data or observation data which varies quickly, the data is recorded at the data rate as high as 88 Mbps and reproduced at the data rate as slow as 3.67 Mbps. The data can be surely analyzed at a low speed. With this arrangement, the data recording device 1 is usable as a buffer for a frequency conversion of the information data containing a large amount of information.In the thus constructed data recording device 1, however, the waveform-equalized record signal is amplified, or alternatively the recording signal itself contains low frequency components. Hence, a so-called linear amplifier circuit exhibiting a linear amplification characteristic is employed as the recording amplifier circuit 2. As explained above, the recording amplifier circuit 2 composed of the linear amplifier circuit includes typically large-scale circuit. It is therefore difficult to place the circuit in close proximity to a drum on which a magnetic tape running system such as a capstan and a guide roller exists. In the data recording device 1, wires on the output side of the recording amplifier circuit 2 are extended.If the wires on the output side of the recording amplifier circuit 2 are extended, a value of the distributed capacity CH increases correspondingly. In addition to the rise in the frequency characteristic T0 due to the resonance, there arises a problem in which, as expressed in the following formula, the pass frequency characteristic fH can not be extended. f H = 12 π (L S + L H) • C HSuch a problem becomes more conspicuous especially in the data recording device for performing multichannel recording. In this case a number of recording amplifier circuits corresponding to the number of channels is needed, and the length of the wires has to be extended in a corresponding way.EP-A-0 345 037 describes a digital signal recording apparatus in which a rotating head is used to record digital data on a tape wound around a drum. A recording amplifier comprising first and second differential amplifiers is provided within the rotary drum which bears the recording head.DE-A-3 831 527 describes apparatus for recording a wideband signal on magnetic tape using a rotating recording head. The recording apparatus includes a recording amplifier comprising first and second differential amplifiers. The first differential amplifier is connected to the stationary-side winding of the rotary transformer which feeds signals to the rotating head. The second differential amplifier is housed within the rotary drum which bears the recording head.DE-A-3 642 316 too describes apparatus for recording a wideband signal on magnetic tape using a rotating recording head. A recording amplifier is provided outside the rotary drum which bears the recording head. In order to overcome problems related to the length of wire extending between the recording amplifier and the recording head, the recording amplifier is connected to a dummy head (the equivalent circuit of the recording head), a voltage drop is produced through this equivalent circuit and current is fed to the recording head in accordance with this voltage drop.EP-A-0 390 554 describes a magnetic reproducing head amplifier used in magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, a recording amplifier is also mentioned in this document. The recording amplifier is located outside a rotary drum which bears the recording head. Problems due to stray capacitance between the reproducing amplifier and ground are overcome by providing positive and negative feedback circuits around the reproducing head amplifier. It is also mentioned in EP-A-0 390 554 that these problems can be overcome by using an equaliser or by locating the reproducing head amplifier within the rotary drum.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a signal recording amplifier circuit capable of restraining the generation of a distributed capacity by wires down to the irreducible minimum by obviating the prior art problems en bloc.The foregoing object and other objects of the present invention have been achieved by the provision of a recording signal linear amplifier apparatus wherein a recording signal is amplified and supplied to a rotary head mounted on a rotary drum, the linear amplifier apparatus comprising: first differential amplification means consisting of first and second transistors having bases to which said recording signal and its inverted signal are respectively inputted, emitters supplied with constant current from a constant current source and collectors in which amplification outputs are obtained; second differential amplification means consisting of third and fourth transistors, which have emitters connected to said collectors of said first and second transistors and bases held at a constant potential, an output transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding, a midpoint of the primary winding being connected to a power source, both ends of the primary winding of said output transformer being connected to collectors of said third and fourth transistors, and said collector outputs of said third and fourth transistors being supplied to said rotary head through a rotary transformer, the linear amplifier apparatus being connected on the fixed side of said rotary transformer; and wires connecting the respective collectors of said first and second transistors to the respective emitters of said third and fourth transistors and said second differential amplifier means being disposed in closer proximity to said rotary transformer than said first differential amplifier means; characterised in that said second differential amplification means is provided on one circuit substrate and said first differential amplification means is provided on a second circuit substrate separate from said first circuit substrate, and the secondary winding of the output transformer is connected to the fixed-side winding of the rotary transformer whereby the collector outputs of the third and fourth transistors are supplied to the rotary head via the output transformer and the rotary transformer.The nature, principle and utility of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts are designated by like reference numerals or characters.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a connection diagram illustrating a conventional data recording device;Fig. 2 is a characteristic curve diagram of assistance in explaining a frequency characteristic thereof; andFig. 3 is a connection diagram showing one embodiment of a data recording device according to this invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONPreferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings:Referring to Fig. 3 wherein the elements corresponding to those in Fig. 1 are marked with the same symbols, the numeral 10 generally represents a data recording device using a recording amplifier circuit 11 according to this invention. A recording signal S10 and its inversion signal S11 are inputted to bases of first and second PNP transistors Q1 and Q2 in which an input buffer is configured by a differential transistor coupling via connection midpoints of resistances R1, R2, R3 and R4 each connected between a positive power source +V and a negative power source -V.Emitters of the first and second transistors Q1 and Q2 are connected in common and further connected via the resistance R5 to the positive power source +V. Collectors thereof are connected via resistors R6 and R7 to the negative power source -V.With this arrangement, collector voltages are outputted to collectors of the first and second transistors Q1 and Q2, these voltages corresponding to the recording signal S10 and the inversion signal S11 to be inputted thereto. The collector voltages are inputted to bases of third and fourth NPN transistors Q3 and Q4 in which a linear amplifier circuit is configured by a differential transistor coupling.Emitters of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 are connected in common and further to a collector of an NPN transistor Q5 constituting a constant current source. Note that the emitter of the transistor Q5 is connected via a resistor R8 to the negative power source -V, while a base thereof is connected via a resistor R9 to the negative power source -V and at the same time grounded via a resistor R10.Outputted resultantly from collectors of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 are collector currents obtained by amplifying the collector voltages of the first and second transistors Q1 and Q2, i.e., the recording signal S10 and the inversion signal S11 thereof at a predetermined amplification factor.The collector currents of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 are inputted to emitters of sixth and seventh NPN transistors Q6 and Q7 consisting of a differential transistor coupling and cascade-connected to the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4, respectively.As a matter of fact, the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 are thus connected to the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7, thereby constituting a cascade type differential amplifier circuit.The sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7 are base-grounded, whereby an output buffer is configured. Collector currents outputted from the respective collectors are supplied to both ends of a primary winding of an output transformer 12 the midpoint of which is supplied with the positive power source +V.A secondary winding of this output transformer 12 is connected to a primary winding of a rotary transformer 3. In this manner, the recording signal S10 is amplified at the predetermined amplification factor in the record amplifier circuit 11. The recording signal S10 is then fed to a rotary head 4 via the rotary transformer 3, thereby recording the recording signal S10 on a magnetic tape 5.Extended in the case of this embodiment are wires 13 between the collectors of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 which constitute the cascade type differential amplifier circuit and the emitters of the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7. The recording amplifier circuit 11 is divided into an amplifier circuit unit 11A and an output buffer unit 11B.Of these units, the amplifier circuit unit 11A based on large-sized circuitry inclusive of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 is formed on the same substrate as the circuit substrate of other recording system. In contrast with this, the output buffer unit 11B inclusive of the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7 is formed on a small-sized substrate disposed in close proximity to a drum (i.e., rotary transformer 3).In effect, as in the manner given above, when extending the wires 13 between the collectors of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 and the emitters of the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7, there is generated a distributed capacity of approximately 10 pF per 10 cm.In the case of this embodiment, however, the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7 are base-grounded. Hence, impedances between the collectors of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 and the emitters of the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7 become almost 0. As a result, the distributed capacity generated by the wires 13 is ignorable. The wires 13 are thereby freely extendible. The output buffer unit 11B of the recording amplifier circuit 11 is disposed in close proximity to the drum (viz., rotary transformer 3). It is therefore possible to restrain the generation of a distributed capacity by the wires down to the minimum irreducible. It is thus possible to make a recording amplifier circuit 11 capable of restraining a rise in frequency characteristic due to the resonance and extending a pass frequency characteristic fH.Based on the construction discussed above the wires 13 are extended between the collectors of the third and fourth transistors Q3 and Q4 and the emitters of the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7. The output buffer unit 11B including the sixth and seventh transistors Q6 and Q7 is placed close to the drum, thereby actualizing the recording amplifier circuit 11 capable of restraining the generation of the distributed capacity by the wires down to the minimum irreducible.Consequently, it is feasible to obtain a recording amplifier circuit optimal to the recording of a digital signal by helical-scanning the magnetic tape 5 with the rotary head 4.In the embodiment discussed above, the present invention is applied to the data recording device. This invention is not, however, limited to this device but is suitable for an application widely to the record amplifier circuits of recording/reproducing devices such as, e.g., digital video tape recorders, digital audio tape recorders and the like.As explained above, according to the present invention, the wires are extended between the collectors of the first differential amplification means and the emitters of the second differential amplification means, the foregoing first means having their bases to which the record signals are inputted and their emitters supplied with the constant currents, and the foregoing second means having their bases held at a constant potential. The second differential amplification means is disposed in close proximity to the drum. It is therefore possible to attain a recording amplifier circuit capable of restraining the generation of the distributed capacity by the wires down to the minimum irreducible.	A recording signal linear amplifier apparatus wherein a recording signal is amplified and supplied to a rotary head mounted on a rotary drum, the linear amplifier apparatus comprising: first differential amplification means (11A) consisting of first and second transistors (Q3, Q4) having bases to which said recording signal (S10) and its inverted signal (S11) are respectively inputted, emitters supplied with constant current from a constant current source and collectors in which amplification outputs are obtained;second differential amplification means (11B) consisting of third and fourth transistors (Q6, Q7), which have emitters connected to said collectors of said first and second transistors (Q3, Q4) and bases held at a constant potential, an output transformer (12) having a primary winding and a secondary winding, a midpoint of the primary winding being connected to a power source (+V), both ends of the primary winding of said output transformer (12) being connected to collectors of said third and fourth transistors (Q6, Q7), and said collector outputs of said third and fourth transistors (Q6, Q7) being supplied to said rotary head (4) through a rotary transformer (3), the linear amplifier apparatus being connected on the fixed side of said rotary transformer (3); andwires (13) connecting the respective collectors of said first and second transistors (Q3,Q4) to the respective emitters of said third and fourth transistors (Q6,Q7) and said second differential amplifier means (11B) being disposed in closer proximity to said rotary transformer (3) than said first differential amplifier means (11A); characterised in that said second differential amplification means (11B) is provided on one circuit substrate and said first differential amplification means (11A) is provided on a second circuit substrate separate from said first circuit substrate, and the secondary winding of the output transformer (12) is connected to the fixed-side winding of the rotary transformer whereby the collector outputs of the third and fourth transistors (Q6,Q7) are supplied to the rotary head via the output transformer (12) and the rotary transformer (3).The recording signal linear amplifier apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first and second differential amplification means are connected by a cable comprising said wires.The recording signal linear amplifier apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein third differential amplification means which consist of fifth and sixth transistors (Q1,Q2) is provided in a front stage of said first differential amplification means (11A), the bases of said fifth and sixth transistors (Q1,Q2) receiving said recording signal (S10) and its inverted signal (S11), and the collectors of said fifth and sixth transistors (Q1,Q2) being connected to the bases of said first and second transistors (Q3,Q4).The recording signal linear amplifier apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said recording signal is a digitized data signal.	SONY CORP; SONY CORPORATION	KANETSUKA KEIKO; YOSHIDA TERUYUKI; KANETSUKA, KEIKO; YOSHIDA, TERUYUKI
EP-0488903-B1	488,903	EP	B1	EN	19,960,508	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04N9	null	H04N9, G02B26, H01S3, G09G3	H04N 9/31L	Laser beam color image display apparatus	A laser beam color image display apparatus includes a single laser beam source (21) for emitting a laser beam from which a plurality of blue, green, and red laser beams (Lb, Lg, Lr) are separated, or a plurality of laser beam sources for emitting respective blue, green, and red laser beams. The red laser beam is generated by adding a laser beam having a wavelength of 568.2 nm and a laser beam having a wavelength of 647.1 nm by way of active mixture. The laser beams are modulated in intensity with color signal components, and then deflected by a light scanner, composed of a polygon mirror (3) and a galvanometer mirror (4) to scan a display screen (5) for thereby displaying a color image thereon. The laser beam having the wavelength of 568.2 nm and the laser beam having the wavelength of 647.1 nm are added at an output power ratio of 1 : 20, with the resultant red laser beam having a wavelength of 612 nm. The single laser beam source (21) may comprise an argonkrypton mixed gas laser, or the laser beam source for emitting the red laser beam may comprise a krypton gas laser.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the Invention:The present invention relates to a laser beam color image display apparatus for controlling laser beams to display a color image on a display screen, and more particularly to a laser beam color image display apparatus for controlling laser beams to display a television color image or the like on a display screen. Description of the Prior Art:Recently, efforts have been directed to the research and development of laser beam color image display apparatus for horizontally and vertically scanning a display screen with intensity-modulated laser beams to display a television color image or the like on the display screen. Some conventional laser beam color image display apparatus are shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying drawings. Their basic design and theory of operation are described extensively in an article entitled Basic design of a 1125-scanning line laser color TV display by T. Taneda et al., published in NHK Technical Report 27(3), 115 (1975). The laser beam color image display apparatus, generally designated by A, shown in FIG. 1, has three laser beam sources, i.e., an argon gas laser beam source 1G for emitting a green laser beam Lg, a krypton gas laser beam source 1R for emitting a red laser beam Lr, and an argon gas laser beam source 1B for emitting a blue laser beam Lb. The laser beam color image display apparatus also includes intensity modulators 2G, 2R, 2B, such for example as acoustooptic intensity modulators, for modulating the intensities of the laser beams from the laser beam sources 1G, 1R, 1B independently of each other, a polygonal mirror 3 for deflecting the laser beams horizontally, a galvanometric mirror 4 for deflecting the laser beams vertically, and a projection display screen 5 onto which the laser beams are projected to display a color image thereon. Lens systems 6, 7 are positioned on both sides of the intensity modulators 2G, 2R, 2B, and lens systems 8, 9 are disposed between the polygonal mirror 3 and the galvanometric mirror 4. A reflecting mirror M is positioned to reflect the laser beam that comes from the intensity modulator 2G through the associated lens system 7. Blue- and red-reflecting dichroic mirrors DMB, DMR are positioned to reflect the laser beams that come from the intensity modulators 2B, 2R, respectively, through the associated lens systems 7. The green laser beam Lg, which has a wavelength of 514.5 nm, emitted from the argon gas laser beam source 1G is supplied to the intensity modulator 2G, and modulated in intensity with a green signal component Sg of a video signal that is applied to the intensity modulator 2G. The red laser beam Lr, which has a wavelength of 647.1 nm, emitted from the krypton gas laser beam source 1R is supplied to the intensity modulator 2R, and modulated in intensity with a red signal component Sr of the video signal that is applied to the intensity modulator 2R. The blue laser beam Lb, which has a wavelength of 476.5 nm, emitted from the argon gas laser beam source 1B is supplied to the intensity modulator 2B, and modulated in intensity with a blue signal component Sb of the video signal that is applied to the intensity modulator 2R. Actually, the green, red, and blue laser beams Lg, Lr, Lb to be applied to the intensity modulators 2G, 2R, 2B are separated from the laser beams emitted from the laser beam sources 1G, 1R, 1B by respective color separation dichroic mirrors (not shown). The intensity-modulated laser beams Lg, Lr, Lb are then reflected respectively by the reflecting mirror.M, the red-reflecting dichroic mirror DMR, and the blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB toward the polygonal mirror 3. The polygonal mirror 3 comprises a polygonal mirror 13 that is rotated by an actuator 12. The laser beams are horizontally deflected by the rotating polygonal mirror 13, and applied through the lens systems 8, 9 to the galvanometric mirror 4. The galvanometric mirror 4, which is angularly moved reciprocally by an actuator 14, then deflects the laser beams vertically while projecting them onto the display screen 5. Since the laser beams are deflected horizontally by the polygonal mirror 3 and vertically by the galvanometric mirror 4, the laser beams applied to the display screen 5 scan the display screen 5 in a raster mode, displaying a color image on the display screen 5 based on the video signal. For example, the red laser beam Lr of the wavelength of 647.1 nm is produced with an output power of 2 W, the green laser beam Lg of the wavelength of 514.5 nm is produced with an output power of 0.73 W, and the blue laser beam Lb of the wavelength of 476.5 nm is produced with an output power of 0.87 W. As a result, the raster on the display screen 5 provides the standard illuminant C (white light) of 540 lumens. FIG. 2 shows another conventional laser beam color image display apparatus, generally designated by B. The laser beam color image display apparatus B has an argon gas laser beam source 16 for emitting green and blue laser beams and a dye laser beam source 17 that is excited by the remaining laser beam produced by the argon laser beam source 16 to emit a red laser beam. The laser beam emitted from the argon gas laser beam source 16 is applied to a blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB1 which separates blue laser beams Lb having respective wavelengths of 457.9 nm and 476.5 nm. These separated blue laser beams Lb are supplied to an intensity modulator 2B through a lens system 6. The laser beam that has passed through the blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB1 is then applied to a green-reflecting dichroic mirror DMG1 which separates a green laser beam Lg having a wavelength of 514.5 nm. The separated green laser beam is supplied to an intensity modulator 2G through a lens system 6. The remaining laser beam that has passed through the green-reflecting dichroic mirror DMG1 is applied to excite the dye laser beam source 17, which then emits a red laser beam Lr having a wavelength of 612 nm that is reflected by a reflecting mirror M₁ to an intensity modulator 2R through a lens system 6. The blue, green, and red laser beams Lb, Lg, Lr supplied to the intensity modulators 2B, 2G, 2R are modulated in intensity by blue, green, and red signal components Sb, Sg, Sr of a video signal that are applied respectively to the intensity modulators 2B, 2G, 2R. The intensity-modulated laser beams Lb, Lg, Lr are thereafter applied through respective lens systems 7 to a reflecting mirror M₂ and dichroic mirrors DMG2, DMB2, by which they are reflected to a light deflector that comprises a polygonal mirror, lens systems, a galvanometric mirror identical to those shown in FIG. 1. The laser beams are horizontally and vertically deflected by the light deflector to scan a display screen to display a color image thereon. FIG. 3 shows still another conventional laser beam color image display apparatus, generally designated by C. The laser beam color image display apparatus C has a single argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source 19 for emitting a laser beam from which blue, green, and red laser beams Lb, Lg, Lr are separated. Those parts shown in FIG. 3 which correspond to those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by corresponding reference characters. In the laser beam color image display apparatus C, the laser beam emitted from the argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source 19 is applied to a blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB1 which separates argon blue laser beams Lb having respective wavelengths of 457.9 nm and 476.5 nm. The laser beam that has passed through the blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB1 is then applied to a green-reflecting dichroic mirror DMG1 which separates an argon green laser beam Lg having a wavelength of 514.5 nm. The remaining laser beam, i.e., a krypton red laser beam Lr having a wavelength of 647.1 nm, that has passed through the green-reflecting dichroic mirror DMG1 is reflected by a reflecting mirror M₁. The blue, green, and red laser beams Lb, Lg, Lr are then supplied to respective intensity modulators 2B, 2G, 2R by which they are modulated in intensity by blue, green, and red signal components Sb, Sg, Sr of a video signal that are applied respectively to the intensity modulators 2B, 2G, 2R. The intensity-modulated laser beams Lb, Lg, Lr are thereafter applied through respective lens systems 7 to the dichroic mirrors DMG2, DMB2 and the reflecting mirror M₂ by which they are reflected to the polygonal mirror 3. The laser beams Lb, Lg, Lr are deflected horizontally by the polygon mirror 3, pass through lens systems 8, 9, and then deflected vertically by the galvanometric mirror 4 to scan the display screen 5 to display a color image thereon. In the laser beam color image display apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the krypton gas laser beam source 1R cannot produce a red laser beam with a high output power, and the red laser beam Lr of the wavelength of 647.1 nm has a low specific luminosity of 0.12 (see FIG. 4). Therefore, the luminance of the image displayed on the display screen is relatively low and cannot be increased because it is limited by the output power of the red laser beam Lr. In the laser beam color image display apparatus shown in FIG. 2, since the red laser beam Lr is produced by the dye laser beam source 17 excited by the argon gas laser beam, the image displayed on the display screen is brighter than the image displayed by the laser beam color image display apparatus shown in FIG. 1. More specifically, when the dye laser beam source 17 employs a rhodamine dye as a laser material and is excited by an argon gas laser beam with an output power of 6 W, the dye laser beam source 17 emits a red laser beam having a wavelength of 612 nm with an output power of about 2 W. The red laser beam of the wavelength of 612 nm has a higher specific luminosity of 0.478 (see FIG. 4), which is about four times the specific luminosity of the red laser beam of the wavelength of 647.1 nm. The image displayed on the display screen has a luminance of 650 lumens as a whole. The monochromatic light of the red laser beam of the wavelength of 612 nm is sufficient to cover the red range in the NTSC television system. However, the handling and maintenance of the dye laser beam source 17 is not easy since the laser material is a liquid and has to be circulated as a laminar jet flow within the resonator. Moreover, difficulty has been experienced with dye layers in producing a laser beam in good TEM₀₀ mode compared with argon and krypton gas lasers. Laser beams in poor mode conditions give rise to energy loss in intensity modulators. The dye laser beam source 17 requires the exciting laser beam source to have an output power capability of 6 W. Therefore, the laser beam color image display apparatus B shown in FIG. 2 cannot easily be reduced in size. Another problem is that the dye in the dye laser beam source 17 must be cooled in the circulation system for increased service life. The laser beam color image display apparatus C shown in FIG. 3 also poses limitations on the illuminance of the displayed image because the red laser beam is produced by a krypton gas laser and has a wavelength of 647.1 nm. OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the aforesaid problems of the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a laser beam color image display apparatus which is capable of displaying color images with a relatively high luminance, has a relatively low electric power requirement, and is relatively small in size. According to the present invention, there is provided a laser beam color image display apparatus as defined in claim 1. The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of illustrative embodiments thereof to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent the same or similar objects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional laser beam color image display apparatus; FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of another conventional laser beam color image display apparatus; FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of still . another conventional laser beam color image display apparatus; FIG. 4 is a diagram of luminous efficiencies and specific luminosities plotted against wavelengths; FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a laser beam color image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a laser beam color image display apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of a laser beam color image display apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of a laser beam color image display apparatus according to yet another embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 9 is a chromaticity diagram showing color ranges of the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention and the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSFIG.5 shows a laser beam color image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The laser beam color image display apparatus, generally designated by 22 in FIG.5, comprises an argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source 21 for emitting a laser beam, intensity modulators 2B, 2G, 2Y, 2R such for example as acoustooptic intensity modulators for independently modulating the intensities of blue, green, yellow, and red laser beams separated from the laser beam produced by the argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source 21, a polygonal mirror 3 for horizontally deflecting the intensity-modulated laser beams, the polygon mirror 3 being composed of a polygonal mirror 13 and an actuator 12 for rotating the polygonal mirror 13, a galvanometer mirror 4 for vertically deflecting the laser beams that have been horizontally deflected, and a display screen 5. The laser beam color image display apparatus 22 also includes blue-reflecting dichroic mirrors DMB1, DMB2, green-reflecting dichroic mirrors DMG1, DMG2, yellow-reflecting dichroic mirrors DMY1, DMY2, reflecting mirrors M₁, M₂, lens systems 6, 7 disposed one on each side of the intensity modulators 2B, 2G, 2Y, 2R, and lens systems 8, 9 disposed between the polygon mirror 3 and the galvanometric mirror 4. The laser beam emitted from the argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source 21 is applied to the blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB1 which separates argon blue laser beams Lb having respective wavelengths of 457.9 nm and 476.5 nm. These separated blue laser beams Lb are supplied to the intensity modulator 2B through the lens system 6, and modulated in intensity with a blue signal component Sb of a video signal that is supplied to the intensity modulator 2B. The laser beam that has passed through the blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB1 is then applied to the green-reflecting dichroic mirror DMG1 which separates an argon green laser beam Lg having a wavelength of 514.5 nm (which may also separate a krypton laser beam having a wavelength of 520.8 nm and an argon laser beam having a wavelength of 528.7 nm). The separated green laser beam Lg is supplied to the intensity modulator 2G through the lens system 6, and modulated in intensity with a green signal component Sg of the video signal that is supplied to the intensity modulator 2G. The laser beam that has passed through the green-reflecting dichroic mirror DMG1 is then applied to the yellow-reflecting dichroic mirror DMY1 which separates a krypton yellow laser beam Ly having a wavelength of 568.2 nm. The separated yellow laser beam Ly is supplied to the intensity modulator 2Y through the lens system 6, and modulated in intensity with a red signal component Sr of the video signal that is supplied to the intensity modulator 2Y. The remaining laser beam, i.e., a krypton red laser beam Lr having a wavelength of 647.1 nm, that has passed through the yellow-reflecting dichroic mirror DMY1 is reflected by the reflecting mirror M₁ and supplied to the intensity modulator 2R through the lens system 6. The red laser beam Lr is modulated in intensity with a red signal component Sr of the video signal that is supplied to the intensity modulator 2R. The intensity-modulated laser beams Lb, Lg, Ly, Lr are thereafter applied through the respective lens systems 7 to the dichroic mirrors DMB2, DMG2, DMY2 and the reflecting mirror M2 by which they are reflected to the polygonal mirror 3. The laser beams Lb, Lg, Ly, Lr are horizontally deflected by the rotating polygonal mirror 13, and applied through the lens systems 8, 9 to the galvanometric mirror 4. The galvanometric mirror 4, which is angularly moved reciprocally by the actuator 14, then deflects the laser beams vertically while projecting them onto the display screen 5. Since the laser beams are deflected horizontally by the polygon mirror 3 and vertically by the galvanometric mirror 4, the laser beams applied to the display screen 5 scan the display screen 5 in a raster mode, displaying a color image on the display screen 5 based on the video signal. In the laser beam color image display apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the yellow laser beam Ly of the wavelength of 568.2 nm and the red laser beam Lr of the wavelength of 647.1 nm are added by way of active mixture by the dichroic mirror DMY2, providing the red light of the displayed image. More specifically, the yellow laser beam Ly of the wavelength of 568.2 nm and the red laser beam Lr of the wavelength of 647.1 nm are added at an output power ratio of 1 : 20, producing red light which is equivalent to monochromatic light having a wavelength of about 612 nm. The red light thus produced by active mixture has chromaticity coordinates of x = 0.675 and y = 0.3245. The blue laser beams Lb of the wavelengths of 457.9 nm and 476.5 nm are also added at an output power ratio of 1 : 2, producing blue light which is equivalent to monochromatic light having a wavelength of about 470 nm. The blue light thus produced has chromaticity coordinates of x = 0.124 and y = 0.066. The green light produced by the green laser beam Lg has chromaticity coordinates of x = 0.0364 and y = 0.8058. The color range that can be expressed by the laser beam color image display apparatus 22 is shown in the chromaticity diagram of FIG. 9. The solid-line curve I indicates the color range of the laser beam color image display apparatus 22 shown in FIG. 5. The broken-line curve II indicates the color range of the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus C shown in FIG. 3. The dot-and-dash-line curve III shows the color range according to the NTSC standard three primary colors. The two-dot-and-dash-line curve IV shows the color range according to the HDTV (high-definition television) standard primary colors. As can be seen from the chromaticity diagram of FIG. 9, the laser beam color image display apparatus 22 shown in FIG. 5 can cover the color range according to the NTSC standard three primary colors substantially in its entirety, and can cover the color range according to the HDTV standard primary colors (which can substantially be reproduced by the present cathode-ray- tube television system). Tables 1, 2, and 3, given below, show laser beam output powers at respective wavelengths required to provide the standard illuminant C (white color) of 700 lumens. Table 1 shows laser beam output powers in the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus B shown in FIG. 2 which employs an argon laser beam source and a dye laser beam source. Table 2 shows laser beam output powers in the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus C shown in FIG. 3 which employs an argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source. Table 3 shows laser beam output powers in the laser beam color image display apparatus 22 shown in FIG. 5 which employs an argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source. In Table 3, the output power ratio of the argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source can be optimized by the mixture ratio of argon and krypton gases, the curvature of the mirrors of the resonator, and the reflective coatings. As is apparent from Tables 2 and 3, the red light produced by the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention has a luminous flux (luminance per unit area) that is about 30 % greater than that of the red light of the wavelength of 647.1 nm (emitted with the output power of 2.6 W in Table 2). If the same argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source is employed in Tables 2 and 3, then since the laser beam of the wavelength of 647.1 nm is produced with the output power of 2.3 W, the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus shown in FIG. 3 produces red light having a luminance of 210 lm × (2.3 W/2.64 W) = 183 lm. In the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention, the luminous flux (luminance) of the produced red light increases by (275 lm - 183 lm)/183 lm x 100 = 50 %. It can be seen from Tables 1, 2, and 3 that the total laser output power required to obtain the same luminance of 700 lm is smaller with the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention than with the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus. Accordingly, the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention has a lower electric power requirement. As described above, the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention expresses the red light of the displayed image by adding the krypton laser beam of the wavelength of 568.2 nm and the krypton laser beam of the wavelength of 647.1 nm by way of active mixture. The luminance of the resulting red light is greater by the luminance of the added laser beam of the wavelength of 568.2 nm. In the case where the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention is used as a practical laser beam color image display apparatus for television, it can display color images with greater luminance and has a lower electric power requirement than the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus. The laser beam color image display apparatus according to the present invention requires less maintenance, is smaller in size, and less expensive than the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus which employs dye laser. FIGS. 6 through 8 show laser beam color image display apparatus according to other embodiments of the present invention. Those parts shown in FIGS. 6 through 8 which correspond to those shown in FIG. 5 are denoted by corresponding reference characters. The laser beam color image display apparatus, generally designated by 34 in FIG. 6, has three laser beam sources, i.e., an argon gas laser beam source 31, a krypton gas laser beam source 32, and an argon gas laser beam source 33. The argon gas laser beam source 31 emits blue laser beams Lb having respective wavelengths of 476.5 nm and 457.9 nm. The argon gas laser beam source 33 emits a green laser beam Lg having a wavelength of 514.5 nm. The blue and green laser beams Lb, Lg thus emitted are supplied to respective intensity modulators 2B, 2G, and modulated in intensity with blue and green signal components Sb, Sg, respectively, of a video signal that are supplied to the intensity modulators 2B, 2G. The krypton gas laser beam source 32 emits a laser beam which is supplied to a yellow-reflecting dichroic mirror DMY1. The yellow-reflecting dichroic mirror DMY1 separates the laser beam into a red laser beam Lr having a wavelength of 647.1 nm and a yellow laser beam Ly having a wavelength of 568.2 nm. The separated red and yellow laser beams Lr, Ly are supplied through the dichroic mirror DMY1 and a reflecting mirror M₁, respectively, to respective intensity modulators 2R, 2Y, and modulated in intensity with a red signal component Sr of the video signal that is supplied to the intensity modulators 2R, 2Y. The intensity-modulated laser beams Lr, Ly are added by way of active mixture, providing the red light of a displayed image. The intensity modulated laser beams are then reflected by a reflecting mirror M₂ and dichroic mirrors DMR2, DMY2, DMB2 to a light deflector. The light deflector, which is composed of a polygonal mirror and a galvanometric mirror, and a display screen (not shown in FIG. 6) are identical to those shown in FIG. 5. The laser beam color image display apparatus, generally designated by 37 in FIG. 7, has two laser beam sources, i.e., an argon gas laser beam source 35 and a krypton gas laser beam source 36. The laser beam emitted from the argon gas laser beam source 35 is applied to a blue-reflecting dichroic mirror DMB1 which separates the laser beam into blue laser beams Lb having respective wavelengths of 457.9 nm and 476.5 nm and a green laser beam Lg having a wavelength of 514.5 nm. The blue and green laser beams Lb, Lg thus emitted are supplied through the dichroic mirror DMB1 and a reflecting mirror M₃, respectively, to respective intensity modulators 2B, 2G, and modulated in intensity with blue and green signal components Sb, Sg, respectively, of a video signal that are supplied to the intensity modulators 2B, 2G. The laser beam emitted from the krypton gas laser beam source 36 is supplied to a yellow-reflecting dichroic mirror DMY1. The yellow-reflecting dichroic mirror DMY1 separates the laser beam into a red laser beam Lr having a wavelength of 647.1 nm and a yellow laser beam Ly having a wavelength of 568.2 nm. The separated red and yellow laser beams Lr, Ly are supplied through the dichroic mirror DMY1 and a reflecting mirror M₁, respectively, to respective intensity modulators 2R, 2Y, and modulated in intensity with a red signal component Sr of the video signal that is supplied to the intensity modulators 2R, 2Y. The intensity-modulated laser beams Lr, Ly are added by way of active mixture, providing red light of a displayed image. The intensity modulated laser beams are then reflected by a reflecting mirror M₂ and dichroic mirrors DMY2, DMG2, DMB2 to a light deflector. The light deflector, which is composed of a polygonal mirror and a galvanometric mirror, and a display screen (not shown in FIG. 7) are identical to those shown in FIG. 5. The laser beam color image display apparatus, generally designated by 40 in FIG. 8, has two laser beam sources, i.e., an argon gas laser beam source 35 and a krypton gas laser beam source 36. The argon gas laser beam source 35 supplies blue laser beams Lb having respective wavelengths of 457.9 nm and 476.5 nm to an intensity modulator 2B, and modulated in intensity with a blue signal component Sb of a video signal that is supplied to the intensity modulator 2B. The laser beam emitted from the krypton gas laser beam source 36 is supplied to a red-passing dichroic mirror DMR3. The red-passing dichroic mirror DMR3 separates a red laser beam Lr having a wavelength of 647.1 nm from the supplied laser beam. The red laser beam Lr is then supplied to an intensity modulator 2R. The laser beam reflected by the red-passing dichroic mirror DMR3 is applied to a yellow-reflecting dichroic mirror DMY1 which separates the laser beam into a yellow laser beam Ly having a wavelength of 568.2 nm and a green laser beam Lg having a wavelength of 520.8 nm. The separated yellow and green laser beams Ly, Lg are supplied through the dichroic mirror DMY1 and a reflecting mirror M₁, respectively, to respective intensity modulators 2Y, 2G. The laser beams Lb, Lr, Ly, Lg are then modulated in intensity by the respective intensity modulators 2B, 2R, 2Y, 2G with blue, red, and green signal components Sb, Sr, Sg of a video signal that are supplied to the intensity modulators 2B, 2R, 2Y, 2G. The intensity-modulated laser beams Lr, Ly are added by way of active mixture, providing red light of a displayed image. The intensity modulated laser beams are then reflected by a reflecting mirror M₂ and dichroic mirrors DMY2, DMG2, DMB2 to a light deflector. The light deflector, which is composed of a polygonal mirror and a galvanometric mirror, and a display screen (not shown in FIG. 8) are identical to those shown in FIG. 5. The laser beam color image display apparatus shown in FIGS. 6 through 8 also express the red light of the displayed image by adding the krypton laser beam of the wavelength of 568.2 nm and the krypton laser beam of the wavelength of 647.1 nm by way of active mixture. The luminance of the resulting red light is therefore increased. The laser beam color image display apparatus can display color images with greater luminance, have a lower electric power requirement, require less maintenance, are smaller in size, and less expensive than the conventional laser beam color image display apparatus. As a consequence, the laser beam color image display apparatus according to the embodiments of the present invention offer various practical advantages which make themselves useful in actual applications.	A laser beam color image display apparatus driven by blue, green and red modulation signal components (Sb, Sg, Sr), comprising : first laser beam generating means (31; 35, M3) controlled by the blue modulation signal component (Sb) for generating an intensity modulated blue laser beam (Lb); second laser beam generating means (33; 35, DMB1, 36, M1) controlled by the green modulation signal component (Sg) for generating an intensity modulated green laser beam (Lg); third laser beam generating means (32, DMY1, M1; 36, DMY1, M1) controlled by the red modulation signal component (Sr) for generating an intensity modulated red laser beam sub-component (Lr) having a wavelength of 647.1 nm, comprising first modulating means (2R) for modulating the intensity of the laser beam (Lr) having the wavelength of 647.1 nm with said red modulation signal component (Sr), scanning means (3, 4) for scanning a display screen (5) with said blue laser beam (Lb), said green laser beam (Lg), and said red laser beam (Lr) to display a color image on the display screen (5), characterized in that said third laser beam generating means (32) further comprises means for generating a yellow laser beam sub-component (Ly) having a wavelength of 568.2 nm, second modulating means (2Y) for modulating the intensity of the yellow laser beam (Ly) having the wavelength of 568.2 nm with said red modulation signal component (Sr), and mixing means for adding said red laser beam sub-component (Lr) and said yellow laser beam sub-component (Ly) modulated by the red modulation signal component by way of active mixture, to generate the red laser beam component from said red and yellow laser beam subcomponents. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mixing means comprises means for adding the laser beam having the wavelength of 568.2 nm and the laser beam having the wavelength of 647.1 nm in an output power ratio of 1 : 20. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said red laser beam generated by said third laser beam generating means (32) produces red light which is equivalent to monochromatic light having a wavelength of 612 nm. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said third laser beam generating means (32) comprises an argon-krypton mixed gas laser beam source. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said third laser beam generating means (32) comprises a krypton gas laser beam source. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first, second, and third laser beam generating means comprise a common laser beam source (21) for emitting a laser beam, and respective dichroic mirrors (DMB1, DMG1, DMY1) for separating the last-mentioned laser beam into said blue laser beam (Lb), said green laser beam (Lg), and said laser beam (Ly) having the wavelength of 568.2 nm and said laser beam (Lr) having the wavelength of 647.1 nm. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first and second laser beam generating means comprise respective laser beam sources (31, 33) for emitting said blue laser beam and said green laser beam, respectively, and wherein said third laser beam generating means comprises a laser beam source (32) for emitting a laser beam and a dichroic mirror (DMY1) for separating the last-mentioned laser beam into said laser beam (Ly) having the wavelength of 568.2 nm and said laser beam (Lr) having the wavelength of 647.1 nm. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first and second laser beam generating means comprise a common laser beam source (35) for emitting a laser beam and a dichroic mirror (DMB1) for separating the last-mentioned laser beam into said blue laser beam (Lb) and said green laser beam (Lg), respectively, and wherein said third laser beam generating means comprises a laser beam source (36) for emitting a laser beam and a dichroic mirror (DMY1) for separating the last-mentioned laser beam into said laser beam (Ly) having the wavelength of 568.2 nm and said laser beam (Lr) having the wavelength of 647.1 nm. A laser beam color image display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first laser beam generating means comprise a laser beam source (35) for emitting said blue laser beam (Lb), and wherein said second and third laser beam generating means comprise a common laser beam source (36) for emitting a laser beam and first dichroic mirrors (DMR3, DMY1) for separating the last-mentioned laser beam into said green laser beam (Lg), said laser beam (Ly) having the wavelength of 568.2 nm and said laser beam (Lr) having wavelength of 647.1 nm.	SONY CORP; SONY CORPORATION	TAMADA SAKUYA; TAMADA, SAKUYA
EP-0488912-B1	488,912	EP	B1	EN	19,950,503	1,992	20,100,220	new	E21B17	F16L15	F16L15, E21B17	E21B 17/042, F16L 15/00, P21B17:042	Frustoconical screwthread for tubes	The assembly arrangement according to the invention concerns the tubes which are used primarily in oil industry installations. It permits the sealing assembly of a male end to a female end, each provided with frustoconical screwthreads. The end region of the male component comprises a convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) for providing a metal-metal sealing connection with a surface (20) of the female component, the internal edge (19) of which is connected to the concave frustoconical abutment region (15) and the external edge (21) of which is connected to the external surface of the end region, having a portion (24) parallel to the generatrix (11) which is tangential to the bottom of the threads of the male screwthread. The diameter of the external edge (21) is such that the prolongation (22) of the generatrix (11) which is tangential to the thread bottoms of the male screwthread passes beyond said external edge (21). Use for the assembly of tubes with male ends by means of female sleeves.	The assembly arrangement using frustoconical screwthreads which is the subject-matter of the present invention concerns the assembly of metal tubes for producing strings or lines of tubes and in particular those which are referred to as a casing or tubing , which are used in oil industry installations. The use of arrangements for the assembly of tubes comprising frustoconical screwthreads for producing such strings or lines of tubes has long been known. Thus French patent No 1 489 013, which represents the prior art as referred to in the pre-characterising portion of claim 1, describes a joint which permits the sealing assembly of metal tubes by means of frustoconical screwthreads which are provided on the ends of the tubes. Sealing integrity for that joint is achieved by a concave frustoconical surface 3 (see Figure 3 of that patent) which forms the end of the male component of the joint coming to bear at the end of the screwing operation against a shoulder configuration 7 of corresponding convex frustoconical shape which is provided on the female component, the male end thus being urged outwardly to permit a metal-to-metal seal to be produced. In a complementary fashion, the convex frustoconical shoulder configuration on the female component is prolonged over its external periphery by a concave frustoconical surface 8 against which the external edge of concave frustoconical surface of the male element comes to bear. That external edge 4a may comprise a slight convex frustoconical chamfer which comes to bear against the same concave frustoconical surface 8 of the female component. It is known moreover that the contour of the screwthreads of the male and female components of such a joint, after screwing and tightening thereof, comprises surfaces which are very firmly applied against each other and other surfaces involving a clearance between them so that there is a helical leakage path extending over the entire length of the screwthread. Experience has shown that, in the course of assembly of strings or lines of tubes involving assembly arrangements using frustoconical screwthreads of the type which has just been described above, it is very often difficult to avoid localised frictional phenomema and/or impacts between the front ends of the male components of those arrangements and the side walls of the female components within which they are engaged. The above-mentioned localised frictional phenomena and/or impacts are frequently the cause of local defects which then give rise to minor localised leakages. In many cases, when strings of tubes of substantial length, which are produced in that way, are subjected to a tensile loading, that results in the occurrence of leaks which will only partially close up when the tensile stress is removed. Successive tension-compression cycles will have particularly adverse consequences on sealing integrity and will cause the development of the leaks which are created in that way. Research has been carried on into the possibility of providing an assembly arrangement using frustoconical screwthreads, permitting the production of strings of tubes enjoying excellent sealing integrity. Research has also been carried on into the possibility of avoiding the creation of grease pressure when assembling/tightening the assembly arrangement in question. Thus, the attempt has been made to provide for discharge of the excess of lubricating mixture such as for example the compound grease mixture which is in conformity with the API specifications, in order thus to make it possible to provide a sufficient tightening effect and a sufficient contact pressure for the screwed arrangement. Also the attempt has been made to provide an assembly arrangement for tubes, the seating integrity of which is not altered by the use in the assembling/tightening operation of an amount of grease which is surplus to requirements (overdoping). More particularly research has been carried on into the possibility of providing an assembly arrangement using frustoconical screwthreads, in which there is no risk of its sealing integrity being compromised by localised frictional phenomena or impacts which occur in the course of the operation of introducing the male component into the female component. The attempt has also been made to provide an assembly arrangement for tubes in which the sealing integrity thereof is not affected by the metal particles contained in the compound grease , those metal particles having a tendency to create between the contact surfaces which provide the sealing integrity, leakage paths which are not closed up by the other components or said grease. The attempt has also been made to provide an assembly arrangement in which sealing integrity thereof would not run the risk of being compromised by one or more compression-tension cycles applied to long strings or lines of tubes provided with such assembly arrangements. The attempt has also been made to provide an assembly arrangement using frustoconical screwthreads for such strings or lines of tubes, permitting a plurality of disassembly and re-assembly operations without losing sealing integrity. Finally the attempt has been made to provide an assembly arrangement using frustoconical screwthreads, for assembling either two relatively long tubes, that length being in most cases several metres, one of the tubes comprising an end provided with a male screwthread and the other end provided with a corresponding female screwthread, or two relatively long tubes each comprising at each end a male screwthread with the interposition between the two of a short tube forming a connecting sleeve and provided at its two ends with female screwthreads corresponding to the male screwthreads. When using a connecting sleeve or a similar device, the assembly arrangement, in an alternative configuration, may comprise two relatively long tubes each comprising at each end a female screwthread with the interposition between the two of a relatively short tube forming a connecting sleeve and provided at its two ends with male screwthreads corresponding to the female screwthreads. The assembly arrangement using frustoconical screwthreads, which is the subject-matter of the present invention as defined by claim 1, makes it possible to attain the results being sought. The assembly arrangement comprises a male component comprising an external male frustoconical screwthread provided in an end region of a tubular element and a female component comprising a corresponding internal female frustoconical screwthread provided in an end region of another tubular element which is to be assembled to the first tubular element. Each of the two tubular elements may be a tube of greater or lesser length or a tube of short length which can perform the function of a connecting sleeve. Generally, when using a sleeve, it comprises female screwthreads at its two ends. The front end of the male component comprises a concave frustoconical abutment surface capable of coming to bear against a convex frustoconical bearing surface formed on a shoulder configuration of the wall of the female component. The external edge of the concave frustoconical abutment surface is connected to a convex frustoconical sealing surface of the same mate component, which is capable of coming to bear against a corresponding concave frustoconical surface of the female component which is connected to the convex frustoconical bearing surface of said component. In accordance with the invention, the external edge of the convex frustoconical sealing surface of the male component which is connected to a convex frustoconical guide surface described below is spaced from the axis of the male component by a distance such that the prolongation of the generatrix of the truncated cone which is tangential to the thread bottoms of the male screwthread passes beyond the circle corresponding to said external edge and preferably at a distance which is at least equal to 0.1 mm from said external edge, said distance advantageously being between 0.1 and 0.5 mm, the half-angle at the apex of the frustoconical sealing surface of the male end being in all cases greater than the angle between the axis of the tube and the straight line joining the end of the male screwthread at the point of small diameter to the external edge of the frustoconical sealing surface. Moreover the portion of the generatrix of the external surface of the end region of the male component, which is betwen the external edge of the frustoconical sealing surface and the small-diameter end of the screwthread, forms an angle with the generatrix of the sealing surface but does not intersect the prolongation of the generatrix of the truncated cone which is tangential to the thread bottoms of the screwthread of the male component and comprises a portion which is parallel or substantially parallel to the prolongation of the generatrix of the truncated cone which is tangential to the male thread bottoms constituting a frustoconical guide surface. That configuration thus eliminates any risk of damaging the convex frustoconical sealing surface of the male component when said male component is engaged into the female component as a result of localised frictional phenomena and/or impacts between said frustoconical surface and the screwthreaded wall of the female component. The relative positions of the corresponding abutment and bearing surfaces and those of the corresponding sealing surfaces of the male and female components are so determined that, in the course of tightening the screwed screwthreads of the two components, the pressure exerted between them by the abutment and bearing surfaces gives rise to increased clamping of the sealing surfaces against each other by virtue of the radial component of the tightening force which results from the inclination of those frustoconical surfaces. Thus the metal to metal contact of the sealing surfaces against each other provides the sealing integrity of the assembly arrangement. Preferably, after the screwed assembly has been made up, with the abutment surface and the bearing surface being brought into contact with each other and tightened together, the length of the generatrix of the contact surface between the convex and concave frustoconical sealing surfaces is at least equal to 2 mm. Preferably the half-angle at the apex of the convex and concave frustoconical sealing surfaces is between 2.862° and 30°. Preferably also the half-angle at the apex of the concave and convex frustoconical abutment and bearing surfaces is between 70 and 85°. Advantageously the distance between the external edge of the abutment surface of the male component and the small-diameter end of its screwthread, as measured parallel to the axis of said component, is at least equal to 8 mm for tubes with an outside diameter of from 120 to 250 mm. Advantageously the generatrix of the portion forming the convex frustoconical guide surface is connected to the generatrix of the convex frustoconical seating surface at the location of its external edge by a rounded portion with a radius which is preferably at least equal to 3 mm. Moreover the male and female screwthreads are preferably dimensioned so that an interference takes place between the threaded portions providing a contact pressure between the male screwthread and the female screwthread and this preferably before the male sealing surface comes into contact with the female corresponding sealing surface. The generatrix of the external surface of the end region of the male component may comprise, beyond the portion corresponding to the frustoconical guide surface, a substantially cylindrical surface portion whose generatrix which is parallel to the axis of the male component is connected by way of a connecting surface to the small-diameter end of the screwthread. The length of the generatrix of the concave frustoconical abutment surface of the male component is so dimensioned that the metal does not undergo plastic deformation in that region in the screwing operation. The end of the male component is of a radial dimension such as to impart to that end region a sufficient capability for resilient compression against the abutment means and also for resilient deformation in the flexural mode in the radial direction, in particular to accompany the corresponding resilient deformation phenomena in respect of the female component. Advantageously the section of the wall of the end region of the male tube is between 40 and 65 % of the section of the tube in a running portion. Advantageously also, in order in particular to reduce the turbulence phenomena in the fluid flowing within the assembly arrangement, the diameters of the internal edge of the concave frustoconical abutment surface of the male component and of the internal edge of the convex frustoconical bearing surface of the female component are so dimensioned that, in the screwed-together and tightened state, the two diameters in question are substantially equal. Advantageously, the screwthreads of the male and female components of the assembly arrangement according to the invention are produced in such a way that, after the male component has been screwed and tightened into the housing afforded by the female component, the thread tops of the female screwthread come into contact with a sufficient contact pressure with the thread bottoms of the male screwthread, at least over the major part of the screwthread length. In an alternative configuration, the screwthreads of the male and female components can be produced in such a way that, after the male component has been screwed and tightened into the housing afforded by the female component, the thread tops of the male screwthread come into contact with a sufficient contact pressure with the thread bottoms of the female screwthread, at least over the major part of the screwthread length. The following example and the accompanying drawings describe particular embodiments of the assembly arrangement according to the invention without limiting the latter. Figure 1 is a diagrammatic overall view in section in a plane containing the axis of the tubes, of the assembly by means of the arrangement according to the invention of metal tubes by means of sleeve; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic detail view in section in a plane containing the axis of the tube, of the end region of the male component of the arrangement according to the invention before the abutment surface is brought to bear against the bearing surface of the female component. Figure 1 is a diagrammatic overall view in section in a half-plane containing the axis X1-X1 of a string of assembled tubes, of which only the ends of two thereof can be seen in the Figure. Disposed between the two tubes 1 and 2 is a short tube 3 which plays the part of a coupling sleeve. This Figure shows two identical and symmetrically disposed assembly arrangements 4 and 5 according to the invention, the first arrangement 4 involving the assembly of the male component 6 of the tube 1 and the female component 8 of the tube 3 and the second arrangement 5 involving the assembly of the male component 7 of the tube 2 with the female component 9 of the tube 3. Figure 2 is a view in section of half the end region of the male component 6 with an axis X1-X1. The male component illustrated comprises a frustoconical screwthread diagrammatically indicated at 10, the straight lines 11 and 12 respectively indicating the lines through the bottom and the top of the thread. Those straight lines are the generatrices of frustoconical surfaces which have the same half-angle at the apex. The small-diameter end of the male screwthread is to be seen at 13 on a circumference centered at 14 on the axis X1-X1. The front end of that male component comprises a concave frustoconical abutment surface, with a generatrix, as indicated at 15, which is centered on the axis X1-X1. At the end of a screwing operation the surface 15 is capable of bearing against a corresponding convex frustoconical bearing surface 16 formed on a shoulder configuration 17 of the internal wall of the female component 8. The convex frustoconical sealing surface 18 is connected to the abutment surface 15 at the front external edge 19. The convex frustoconical sealing surface 18 is capable of coming to bear sealingly by virtue of a metal-to-metal junction against a corresponding concave frustoconical sealing surface 20 of the female component 8. In accordance with the invention the external edge 21 of the convex frustoconical sealing surface 18 is of a diameter such that the prolongation 22 of the generatrix 11 of the truncated cone which is tangential to the thread bottoms of the screwthread 10 of the male component 6 passes beyond the circle delimited by said external edge 21. In order to control the guidance action in respect of the male component 6 during the introduction thereof into the housing afforded by the female component 8, to prevent any possibility of jamming at the location of the seating surface 18, the sealing surface 18 is prolonged in the direction of the end 13 of the screwthread 10 by a convex frustoconical guide surface 24. The generatrix of that surface 24 is parallel or substantially parallel to the prolongation 22 of the generatrix 11 which is tangential to the thread bottoms of the screwthread 10, the prolongation 22 of the generatrix 11 therefore being beyond said guide surface 24 with respect to the axis X1-X1. In the present embodiment the length of the portion of the generatrix of the guide surface 24 is at least equal to one-third of the total length of the generatrix of the external surface of the end region between the external edge 21 of the sealing surface 18 and the end 13 of the screwthread. The half-angle at the apex of the seating surface 18 is larger than the angle formed relative to the axis X1-X1 of the tube by the straight line 28 joining the end of the male screwthread at the point of smallest diameter 13 to the external edge 21 of the sealing surface 18. That particular structure of the convex frustoconical seating surface 18 of the male component and the guide surface 24 makes it possible virtually to eliminate the risk of damaging that surface by engagement with the screwthread of the female component 8, when the male component 6 is fitted into position in the housing afforded by the female component 8. It will be seen in fact that the straight line 28 which symbolically represents the possible male thread/female thread contact cannot come into contact with the seating surface 18. Preferably the radial distance d1 between the external edge 21 of the convex frustoconical sealing surface 18 and the prolongation 22 of the generatrix 11 is at least equal to 0.10 mm. Advantageously the distance d1 is between 0.10 and 0.50 mm. The half-angle at the apex of the convex frustoconical sealing surface 18 is advantageously between 2.862° and 30°. The external edge 21 which is on the junction line between the sealing surface 18 and the guide surface 24 comprises a rounded configuration with a radius for example of 4 mm, which is also intended to eliminate the risks of the components becoming caught up together. Beyond the end 23 of the guide surface 24 the generatrix 25 of the external surface is substantially parallel to the axis X1-X1 and is then connected to the end 13 of the screwthread 10 by a junction radius 26. In order further to improve the sealing integrity characteristics of the sealing effect produced by metal-metal contact, the annular end region 30 of the male component 6 between the front external edge 19 and the small-diameter end 13 of the screwthread 10 is of a length L1 and a section S1 which are so determined as to impart thereto a sufficient capacity for resilient deformation in respect of tension and compression in parallel relationship with the axis X1-X1 and also in a flexural mode radially with respect to that axis. For that purpose, the end region 30 is of a length L1 which is at least equal to 8mm for tubes with an outside diameter of from 120 to 250 mm. The mean section S1 of that region is generally between 40 and 65 % of the section of the tube 1 in a running portion and is advantageously greater than 45 % of said section. Preferably the diameter of the internal wall of the end region 30 of the male component 6 is a little greater than the internal diameter of the tube in a running portion thereof and is so dimensioned that, in the screwed-in and tightened condition, the abutment surface 15 and the bearing surface 16 as well as the surfaces 18 and 20 being firmly applied against each other, the regions 27 and 29 are on diameters which are as close together as possible. That therefore limits at the maximum the turbulence phenomena due to the difference in level at 27-29 in the flowing fluid. It should be noted that, prior to the screwing operation, as shown in Figure 2, the diameter D2 in line with the shoulder configuration 17 is smaller than D1 as well as the diameter at the front external edge 19 of the male abutment surface 15 is larger than the diameter of the junction region 31 between the female bearing surface 16 and the surface 20. Prior to the screwing operation, the internal diameter D1 is generally larger than the internal diameter D of the tube 1 in a running portion thereof, as will be clear from the foregoing description. It will be seen that the shape of the end of the male compoment makes it possible to reproducibly effect resilient compression of the end region 30 of the male component 6 at the end of a tightening operation, in particular at the location of the sealing contact between the seating surfaces 18 and 20 by providing for the removal of the excess of lubricant in the course of the tightening operation, at the end of the screwing phase. In particular it is avoided to obstruct the solid particles contained in the lubricant of the compound grease type which is most frequently used. Generally the tightening effect produced causes the active flanks of the male and female threads to bear resiliently against each other. The presence of a rounded configuration at 21 makes it possible to achieve, between the sealing surfaces 18 and 20, in the screwed-up and tightened condition, the optimum distribution of stress with a region of application from 21 which is clearly defined, which would not be the case if there were not a rounded configuration at 21. In addition the rounded configuration even more securely protects the surface 18 from any damage upon assembly of the arrangement by virtue of the position of the straight line 28. It will be clearly seen that the design configuration of the assembly arrangement and in particular the shape of the end 30 of the male component, in accordance with the invention, makes it permanently possible upon assembly and tightening of the arrangement to avoid the creation of grease pressure in the screwing/tightening operation or to eliminate those pressures if they have developed, a flow path always existing for the grease, in particular in the region between 24 and 22. The assembly arrangement described above is suitable primarily for all uses involving lines or strings of tubes. It is applied in particular to the strings of tubes used under very severe conditions in respect of mechanical stress, internal or external pressure, temperature and finally contact with corrosive fluids such as certain gases or mixtures of gases.	An assembly arrangement for tubes using frustoconical screwthreads comprising at one end of a tube (1) a male component (6) provided with an external male frustoconical screwthread (10) and at one end of another tube (3) a female component (8) provided with a corresponding internal female screwthread, the front end of said male component (6) having an abutment surface (15) of concave frustoconical shape, which is rotationally symmetrical with respect to its axis (X1-X1), capable of coming to bear at the end of a screwing operation against a corresponding convex frustoconical bearing surface (16) formed on a shoulder configuration (17) of the internal wall of the female component (8), the external edge (19) of said concave frustoconical abutment surface (15) being connected to a convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) capable of coming to bear against a corresponding concave frustoconical sealing surface (20) of the female component (8) which is connected to the convex frustoconical bearing surface (16) of said female component characterized in that the external edge (21) of the convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) which is connected to a convex frustoconical guide surface (24) of the male component (6), is spaced from the axis (X1-X1) of said component (6) by a distance such that the prolongation (22) of the generatrix (11) of the truncated cone which is tangential to the thread bottoms of the screwthread (10) of said male component (6) passes beyond the circle corresponding to said external edge (21), the half-angle at the apex of the convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) of said male component (6) being in all cases greater than the angle formed with the axis (X1-X1) of the tube by the straight line (28) joining the end of the male screwthread (10) at the point of small diameter (13) to said external edge (21) of said convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) and in that the external surface of the end region (30) of said male component (6), which connects said external edge (21) to said point of small diameter (13) does not intersect the prolongation (22) of said generatrix (11) of the truncated cone tangential to the thread bottoms of the male component (6), said external surface of the end region (30) comprising a convex guide surface (24) prolonging said convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) beyond its external edge (21), the generatrix of said convex guide surface (24) being substantially parallel to the prolongation (22) of the generatrix (11) of the truncated cone tangential to the thread bottoms. An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the portion of the generatrix of the convex guide surface (24) is connected to the external edge (21) of the convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) by a rounded configuration. An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the generatrix of the external surface of the end region (30) of the male component (6) comprises beyond the end (23) of the portion corresponding to the convex guide surface (24) a substantially cylindrical surface portion (25) the generatrix of which is parallel to the axis of the male component (6) and is connected by a junction surface to the small diameter end (13) of the male screwthead (10). An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the male component (6) is fixed with respect to a relatively long tube and the female component (8) is fixed with respect to a short tube forming a coupling sleeve and provided at its second end with a female component. An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the radial distance (d1) between the external edge (21) of the convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) of the male component (6) and the prolongation (22) of the generatrix (11) of the truncated cone which is tangential to the thread bottoms of said component is at least equal to 0,10 mm. An assembly arrangement according to claim 5 characterized in that the radial distance (d1) between the external edge (21) of the convex frustoconical sealing surface (18) of the male component (6) and the prolongation (22) of the generatrix (11) of the truncated cone which is tangential to the thread bottoms is between 0,10 and 0,50 mm. An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the length of the generatrix of the contact surface between the convex and concave frustoconical sealing surfaces (18, 20) which is obtained after making up the screwed assembly of the male and female components (6, 8) with the abutment surface (15) bearing against the bearing surface (16) is at least equal to 2 mm. An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the half-angle at the apex of the frustoconical sealing surfaces (18, 20) is between 2,862 and 30° and that the half-angle at the apex of the frustoconical abutment and bearing surfaces (15, 16) is between 70 and 85°. An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the section of the wall of the end region (30) of the male component (6) is between 40 and 65 % of the section of the tube (1, 2) in a running portion thereof. An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that, prior to the screwing operation, the diameter at the front external edge (19) of the male abutment surface (15) is larger than the diameter of the junction region (31) between the female bearing surface (16) and the female sealing surface (20). An assembly arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that, prior to the screwing operation, the diameter (D1) of the internal wall of the end region (30) is larger than the diameter (D2) of the internal wall of the shoulder configuration (17).	SUMITOMO METAL IND; VALLOUREC OIL & GAS; SUMITOMO METAL INDUSTRIES, LTD.	NAGASAKU SHIGEO; NOEL THIERRY; NAGASAKU, SHIGEO; NOEL, THIERRY
EP-0488920-B1	488,920	EP	B1	EN	19,950,927	1,992	20,100,220	new	C11D9	C11D13, C11D9	C11D13, C11D17, C11D9	C11D 9/18, C11D 13/18	Soap bars with the appearance of finished wood grain	A soap bar having the appearance of a polished wood grain is prepared by mixing the soap formulation with an iron oxide coated micaceous pearlescent pigment and extruding the combination such that the iron oxide coated micaceous pearlescent pigment is oriented generally unidirectionally.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONSoap bars exhibiting a wood grain like appearance are known. They have been prepared by mixing conventional pigments with the soap formulation which is then processed into a bar in the conventional fashion. Such soap bars, however, have a dull appearance and the wood grain pattern is flat so that the bars do not resemble the appearance of a genuine wood finish. More particularly, such soap bars resemble some of the veneers commonly used in furniture finishing in which the wood pattern of the veneer is obtained by a printing process. It is both dull and flat and does not have the appearance of wood. Wood for structural, furniture and other finishing processes is obtained from the trunks and heavy branches of trees, specifically the xylem portion, which is the interior of the tree. The wood consists largely and usually of highly oriented fibers, primarily cellulose, along with other natural products, frequently with variations in color. It is this highly oriented cellulose fiber structure which imparts the characteristic appearance to the wood. If a sample of finished wood with a flat surface is examined, it can be seen that the pattern of light and dark areas show some depth, and as the angle of observation is changed with respect to the light, some shifts in the pattern, albeit slight, can be seen. Some types of wood, for example American walnut, show this depth pattern to a greater extent than others. Further, wood samples with flat surfaces that have been given a finish with an appropriate lacquer have high gloss while unfinished wood may appear dull because of light scattering by the surface. Japanese patent publication 54 26807 describes soaps having a pearly gloss and a wood grain pattern which are prepared by extruding a soap formulation containing pearly substances through nets or porous sheets and then molding. The wood grain pattern is obtained using conventional pigments and the pearly lustre achieved using titanium dioxide coated mica, bismuth oxychloride and fish scales. It will be appreciated that natural wood grain is not pearly in appearance and an article made to appear pearly does not show a natural finished wood grain effect. Thus the appearance of a polished wood article and an object made of mother-of-pearl are entirely different. It will therefore be appreciated that the prior art has not been able to produce soap bars which bear a strong resemblance to polished or finished wood. Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide a process for producing a soap bar bearing a strong resemblance to polished or finished wood and to provide the resulting extruded soap bars. This and other objects of the invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in this art from the following detailed description. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to soap bars with the appearance of a finished wood grain and the method by which soap bars are produced. More particularly, extruded soap bars with the appearance of a finished wood grain are obtained by combining a soap formulation with iron oxide coated micaceous nacreous pigment and then extruding the combination such that the iron oxide coated micaceous pigment is oriented generally unidirectionally. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONExtruded soap bars are conventionally prepared by processing a soap formulation containing the soap forming components through an amalgamator, refiner, plodder, cutter and press. The amalgamator and refiner primarily mix the components and make the soap formulation homogeneous. The plodder is essentially an extruder from which an extruded soap is obtained in continuous form. The continuous extruded soap is then cut into appropriate lengths to approximate the desired bar size by the cutter, and the press is used to shape the soap into its final configuration. The present invention utilizes the foregoing conventional process steps with two modifications. First, a wood grain appearance amount of an iron oxide coated micaceous nacreous pigment is included in the soap formulation components and secondly, the formulation is extruded in such a way that the iron oxide coated micaceous nacreous pigment in the extrudate is oriented generally in a uniaxial direction. The usual soap forming mixtures currently used to produce a translucent or opaque soap bar can be used in the present invention. It is preferred to use a translucent soap base formulation in the present invention because the resulting wood grain appearance will be brighter and sharper. Opaque bases can be used, however, if free of pigmentary titanium dioxide. To this conventional soap formulation is added an iron oxide coated micaceous nacreous pigment in an amount appropriate to produce the desired finished wood grain appearance. In general this amount is in the range of about 0.3 to 5 % and preferably about 0.4 to 1 %. The iron oxide coated micaceous nacreous pigments are well known and many are commercially available. Typical examples are those products of the Mearl Coporation sold under the trademarks Cloisonne Gold Bronze, Cloisonne Copper, Cloisonne Rouge Flambe, Cloisonne Super Bronze, Cloisonne Super Copper and Cloisonne Super Rouge. When appropriate for the wood that is being simulated, the pigment can be a combination metal oxide coated micaceous pigment in which the metal oxides are iron oxide and titanium dioxide. Examples of such pearlescent pigments include Cloisonne Gold and Cloisonne Orange which are available from the Mearl Corporation. Some woods have black or dark striations and to stimulate this appearance, it is advantageous to include a black pigment or a pearlescent pigment which has a black pigment adhering to its surfaces in the soap formulation. Suitable black pigments are carbon black and black iron oxide which can be used alone or adhering to an iron oxide coated micaceous pigment. An example of an iron oxide coated mica nacreous pigment containing black iron oxide is Cloisonne Nu-Antique Copper. Pearlescent pigments which have some blackness or darkness in appearance due to the structure of the pearlescent pigment can also be used. They include adsorbed organic dyes having a dark color, reduced forms of TiO₂, MnO₂, Fe₂O₃ and the like. It will be appreciated that the term pearlescent as used in this specification means a pearl-like or nacreous luster as distinct from a pearl appearance. To further adjust the soap base formulation for the particular color effects desired, supplemental addition of small amounts of conventional soap colorants may be employed. If desired, a suitable fragrance can be employed and when used is generally present in an amount of about 0.5 to 5 %. The soap base formulation, iron oxide nacreous pigment and optional fragrance component are amalgamated and homogenized in the conventional soap making fashion. If this mixture was then extruded in the conventional fashion, the desired wood grain appearance would not be achieved. The mixture would not yield a good orientation since soap formulations intended for extrusion are largely liquid crystals in structure and do not provide viscosity conditions which lead to good orientation of the iron oxide coated mica platety particles. The particles must be oriented in a generally unidirectional manner. Thus, in a conventional xyz plot, with x as the abscissa, z as the ordinate, and y axis perpendicular to the plane of the paper, the direction of extrusion is the positive x-axis. The pearlescent platelets will be oriented in the positive x-axis direction. However, the platelets themselves will have different orientations around the x-axis, bearing in mind that the long axis of the extruded soap bar is the x-axis. As a result, when the surface of the soap bar in the xy plane is illuminated in the xz plane, very little change in reflectivity will be seen with changing angles of illumination or viewing. When the same surface is illuminated in the yz plane, some specular reflection will be seen at a variety of angles of illumination and viewing. As a result, the desired appearance will be achieved. In order to achieve the necessary orientation, the soap formulation is extruded through a perforated plate. The open area of the plate occupies about 20 to 40%, preferably about 25% to 35%, of the total surface area of the plate. The openings in the plate have a size of about 0.3 to 2.0 mm and are preferably about 0.5 to 1.5 mm. It is possible to obtain some orientation with perforated plates having larger open areas or proportions of open areas and even without a perforated plate, but the wood grain patterns realized are poor and do not have the attractive appearance of good wood. Limiting the open area of this perforated plate can increase the back pressure for extrusion, but this is necessary in order to achieve the desired appearance. If desired, further variations in the pattern being obtained can be realized by the use of an additional plate or plates beyond the perforated plate where the added plate(s) have a totally different pattern such as large slotted disks. This makes it possible to achieve an extruded soap bar pattern with orientation variations similar to natural wood. The extrusion is carried out at a generally elevated temperature, as is conventional, of about 40-50°C in the case of a translucent base soap formulation and 55-75°C in the case of an opaque soap base formulation. A lower temperature is used in the former case because of the lower softening point of the composition due to the presence of additional polyhydroxy compounds. After exiting the extruder, the soap is cut into appropriate sizes and each of the bars is shaped using a mold in a press, as is conventional. In order to further illustrate the present invention, various examples are given below. In these examples, as well as in the rest of this specification and claims, all parts and percentages are by weight and all temperatures and degrees centigrade unless otherwise indicated. EXAMPLE 1Soap with mohagany wood grain appearance.Chips of an opaque soap base containing 85% anhydrous fatty acid sodium soap, 1% glycerine and 13% water were employed. The anhydrous soap portion of the chips contained 15% coconut fatty acid sodium soap and 85% hydrogenated tallow fatty acid sodium soap. The chips (990 gm) were combined with 5 grams of sandlewood fragrance and 5 grams of an iron oxide coated mica pigment which consisted of mica platelets with an average particle size of 20 microns having a coating of Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂ on its surfaces. The approximate composition of the pigment was 53% mica, 43% Fe₂O₃ and 4% TiO₂. The mixture was first amalgamated using the amalgamator part of a 3 inch (ca. 7.62 cm) Simplex Mazzoni Soap Extruder. The mixture was then refined by being passed twice through a Mazzoni Laboratory Plodder, which is essentially an extruder having a 3 inch inside diameter. The plodder was then fitted in sequence at the end of the extrusion screw with a perforated plate which contained 75 one millimeter diameter openings per square inch, a compression nozzle and a 3/4″ x 1 3/8″ (ca. 1.9 x 3.5 cm) rectangular die. The compression nozzle was heated to about 75°C. The refined soap strands were collected and returned to feed hopper of the plodder and a soap log having a rectangular cross section was extruded. The log was divided into billets of about 10-12 cm in length and then subjected to pressing in a soap press to form soap bars. The resulting soap bars had the characteristic wood grain appearance of finished mahogany. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1AExample 1 was repeated using 984.6 grams of the opaque soap base chips, 3.7 grams of a titanium dioxide coated mica pigment, 0.2 grams of a pigmentary iron oxide (Cosmetic Iron Oxide Brown B-3279 from H Kohnstamm), 1.5 grams of a second pigmentary iron oxide (Cosmetic Iron Oxide Burnt Sienna T-2817R from H Kohnstamm), and 10 grams of fragrance. The final soap bars had weak wood patterns and resembled a print of a wood pattern rather than displaying the depth of real wood. EXAMPLE 2Soap with appearance of American walnut wood grainA translucent soap formulation in the form of chips containing 83% anhydrous soap, 4% glycerine and 13% moisture were used in an amount of 952 grams. They were combined with 44.5 grams of fragrance; 2.3 grams of a first nacreous pigment and 1.2 grams of a second nacreous pigment. The first nacreous pigment consisted of 20 micron mica platelets coated with Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂ such that the approximate composition of the pigment was 65% mica, 32% Fe₂O₃ and 3% TiO₂. A second nacreous pigment was the nacreous pigment used in Example 1 which additionally contained 15% by weight of black iron oxide. The formulation was amalgamated and the mixture refined three times through the Mazzoni Plodder using the perforated plate described in Example 1. The refined soap strands were returned to the plodder, leaving the perforated plate in place and inserting a slotted disk with the slots oriented vertically. The slotted disk had nine slots of 6 millimeters in width and lengths varying from 7 cm at the center of the disk to 1.7 cm near the edge. The disk caused some dark areas in the extruded soap, due to disorientation of the platy particles of the pigment which contains some black iron oxide. The compression nozzle was clamped in place and fitted with a plate having a 3/4 inch (ca. 1.9 cm) diameter hold to facilitate packing of the compression cone. The compression nozzle was heated to about 50°C and when the extruded soap rod was cohesive, the plate used for packing was replaced by a die-disk having a 3/4″ x 1 3/8″ rectangular opening. The extruded rectangular soap log was cut into billets of appropriate size which were then pressed into soap bars having the characteristic wood grain appearance of finished American walnut. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2AThe procedure of Example 2 was followed except that the pigments were replaced with 1.18 grams of a first pigmentary iron oxide (Cosmetic Iron Oxide Umber A-8534 from H. Kohnstamm), 0.18 grams of a second pigmentary iron oxide (Cosmetic Iron Oxide Black A-8214 from H. Kohnstamm) and 2.14 grams of a titanium dioxide coated mica nacreous pigment. The resulting soap bars had a flat appearance giving no impression of the wood. In contrast, the bars of Example 2 had a rich, three dimensional polished wood appearance. EXAMPLE 3Maple Wood grain appearance soap barA translucent soap base (968.5 grams) was combined with 20 grams of fragrance, 10 grams of a titanium dioxide coated mica nacreous pigment containing 77% mica and 23% TiO₂ and 1.5 grams of an iron oxide coated nacreous pigment containing 61% mica, 35% TiO₂ and 4% Fe₂O₃. The procedure of Example 2 was followed employing two passes using the perforated disk followed by one pass using the stainless steel screen with 0.5 mm openings. During extrusion, the screen support and perforated disk were used. The resulting soap bars had the characteristic wood grain appearance of finished and polished maple. EXAMPLE 4Oak appearing soap barCombined were 978.4 grams of a translucent soap base, 15 grams fragrance, 4 grams of a nacreous pigment containing 61% mica, 35% TiO₂ and 4% Fe₂O₃, 2 grams of a nacreous pigment having about 46% mica, 47% TiO₂ and 7% Cr₂O₃ and 0.6% of a nacreous pigment of about 65% mica, 32% Fe₂O₃ and 3% TiO₂. The procedure of Example 2 was followed to produce soap bars having the characteristic wood grain appearance of finished oak. EXAMPLE 5French walnut appearing soapCombined were 975.5 grams of a translucent soap base, 20 grams fragrance, 2.5 grams of an iron oxide coated mica nacreous pigment having about 53% mica, 43% Fe₂O₃ and 4% TiO₂ combined with 15% by weight of black iron oxide, and 2% of a nacreous pigment of about 55% mica, 41% TiO₂ and 4% Fe₂O₃. The procedure of Example 3 was followed to achieve the appearance of a French walnut. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 5AThe procedure of Example 5 was followed except that the pigments were replaced by 3.18 grams of a titanium dioxide coated mica, 0.38 grams of a first pigmentary iron oxide (Cosmetic Iron Oxide Black A-8214) 0.91 grams of a second pigmentary iron oxide (Cosmetic Iron Oxide Umber A-8534) and 0.08 grams of a third pigmentary iron oxide (Cosmetic Iron Oxide Yellow T-3506 from H. Kohnstamm). The soap bars produced had a flat and muddy brown appearance in contrast to the bars of Example 5 which displayed a rich, deep brown and lustrous appearance of finished French walnut. Various changes and modifications can be made to the process and products of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope hereof. The various embodiments disclosed herein were for the purpose of further illustrating the invention but were not intended to limit it.	A soap bar having the appearance of a polished wood grain containing a generally unidirectionally oriented iron oxide coated micaceous nacreous pigment. The soap bar of claim 1 containing about 0.3 - 5% of said pigment. The soap bar of claim 2 comprising an opaque soap formulation free of pigmentary titanium dioxide and containing 0.4 - 1% of said iron oxide coated mica nacreous pigment. The soap bar of claim 1 comprising an opaque soap formulation free of pigmentary titanium dioxide and containing said nacreous pigment. The soap bar of claim 1 comprising a translucent soap formulation and said nacreous pigment. A method of preparing soap having a wood grain appearance which comprises combining a soap formulation with iron oxide coated mica nacreous pigment and extruding the combination such that the iron oxide coated mica nacreous pigment is oriented generally unidirectionally in the extruded soap. The method of claim 6 in which the mixture is extruded through a perforated plate in which the perforations have a size of about 0.5 to 2 mm and occupy about 20 to 40% of the surface area of the plate. The method of claim 7 in which the perforations have a size of about 0.3 to 2.0 mm and occupy about 20 - 40% of the surface area. The method of claim 6 in which the combination contains about 0.3 - 5% of said pigment. The method of claim 9 in which the combination contains an opaque soap formulation free of pigmentary titanium dioxide and containing 0.4 - 1% of said iron oxide coated mica nacreous pigment. The method of claim 6 in which the combination contains an opaque soap formulation free of pigmentary titanium dioxide and containing said nacreous pigment. The method of claim 6 in which the combination contains a translucent soap formulation and said nacreous pigment.	MEARL CORP; THE MEARL CORPORATION	BAUMGARTNER ERIKA M; GREENBERG PHILIP; MILLER HAROLD A; BAUMGARTNER, ERIKA M.; GREENBERG, PHILIP; MILLER, HAROLD A.
EP-0488928-B1	488,928	EP	B1	EN	19,990,825	1,992	20,100,220	new	A61K35	A61K31	A61P3, A61P15, A61P13, A61K31, C07C31	A61K 31/045	Pharmaceutical formulations containing a mixture of higher primary aliphatic alcohols in the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia and hyperlypoproteinaemia type II and stimulation of sexual behavior in animals and humans	The present invention relates to the pharmaceutical industry and, in particular, to formulations presenting hypercholesterolaernic activity and reduction of LDL levels (Low Density Lipoproteins), as well as important properties for the enhancement of sexual capacity in animals. The main objective of this invention is to elaborate different pharmaceutical formulations for its oral and parenteral administration, aimed at lowering blood cholesterol, triglycerides and low density lipoproteins. As an active compound, these formulations contain a mixture of saturated primary alcohols having a straight chain ranging from 24 to 34 carbon atoms in specific relation to each other.	The present invention is mainly related to the pharmaceutical industry and, in particular, to the effective formulation of hypercholesterolaemia and reduction of LDL levels. It has also proven to be an important stimulator of sexual behaviour. For the preparation of these formulations a mixture of saturated primary alcohols having a straight chain ranging from 24 to 34 carbon atoms in specific relation to each other is used.The first objective of this invention is to use a mixture of higher primary aliphatic alcohols obtained from sugar cane wax as an active compound.The second objective is the formulation of pharmaceutical components which use as active compound is the mixture of higher primary aliphatic alcohols with important pharmacological properties to be administered both orally and parenterally.Drugs with specific pharmacological properties based on the use of a mixture of higher primary fatty alcohols as an active compound are not known.Formulations used as a nutritional suplementation based on mixtures of higher primary fatty alcohols have been obtained in recent years, especially in an attempt to find the ergogenic properties reported first in the case of wheat gem oil and later in octacosanol.In 1985, Sanyu Shoji (JP-A-60049775) reported the components of a dietary supplementation containig Eleutherococus senticosus extract, pangamic acid and octacosanol, the latter accounting for 30 to 60% of the dietary supplementation which increases the general activity of internal organs such as the heart, the liver and the kidneys. The Japanese patent JP 85-119514 (Pub. No. 62-089637) is associated with the obtention of higher primary aliphatic alcohols from sugar cane wax. It also reports that octacosanol has two main effects, namely, to increase physical strength and to restore the damaged nervous cells as well as to lower blood pressure and improve muscular functions including the myocardium.In the Japanese patent JP-A-61 207 321 a hair tonic is described which contains as active agent a mixture of higher aliphatic alcohols having 22 to 34 carbon atoms.Patent JP-A-62224258 includes the formulation of a nutritional food based on the addition of different types of lipids such as palmitic acid, docohexanoic acid, eicosapentanoic acid, linolenic acid, lecithins, vitamin E and octacosanol as dietary supplementation. This dietary supplementation was administered to rats which were previously fed with high cholesterol diet. The accumulation of blood cholesterol was eliminated after two weeks treatment. The hypocholesterolaemic properties of thid product derive mainly from the presence of fatty acids and lecithins.Nogushi et al, patent JP-A-63116645, report the formulation of a candy containing octacosanol used as an ergogenic supplementation at a 1:89 ratio in diets of rats subject to physical activity. This physical activity lasted two weeks and, afterwards, it was found that glycogen levels in muscles and liver had decreased in relation to normal-diet animals.According to patent JP-A-5410539, another property reported in the case of octacosanol is that of increasing the presence of sex hormones. Similarly, it states that octacosanol regulates hormonal functions. Many comercial products with ergogenic properties based on mixtures of higher primary alcohols are also known, as for example the so-called Endurol which contains 33% octacosanol. 35% triacontanol, 20% tetracosanol and 12% hexacosanol. The Viobin company has marketed an ergogenic tonic based on the same higher primary alcohols, though in different amounts. It has been reported that this tonic contains 33% octacosanol, 41.6% triacontanol, 16.6% tetracosanol and 8.3% hexacosanol.In Japanese patents JP-A-60049775 and JP-A-62224258 reference is made to 26-30 carbon atoms saturated alcohols generally presenting the same physiological properties. However, previous studies have shown that this is not so. For example, Jones R.L. et al, Plant Physiol.(1995) 79, 357-64 in experiments carried out with Chalydomonas, proved that TRIA stimulates growth and assimilation of CO2 by photosynthesis while octacosanol inhibits TRIA effects during the CO2 assimilation process. In similar studies, Ries S.K. et al, Planta (1987) 172, 79-87, found that octacosanol inhibits triacontanol plant growth promotion properties. Subsequent in vitro experiments by Lesniak A.P. et al, Physiol.Plant. (1989) 75, 75-80, indicate that triacontanol increansingly stimulates ATPase activity in Barley vesicle membrane (Hordeum vulgare) while octacosanol did not.There is also another study (Borg D. et al, J. Neurology (1987) 33, 475-79) regarding the effect of long chain alcohols in neural growth which reveals that hexacosanol is powerful neural growth stimulator. Alcohols of 16, 20, 22, 24, 28 and 30 carbon atoms had no significant effects.Shoh H. et al, J. Nutr.Sci. Vitaminol (1984) 30, 553-9, studied the effects of Okinawa sugar cane wax on serum and liver lipid levels in rats subjected to diets containing 0.5% of this sugar cane wax and found a significant reduction of cholesterol levels in these rats' serum and liver. No significant variations in cholesterol levels were found when using fatty alcohols from this wax in these diet-fed rats. Shumira S. et al, Nutritional Report Int. (1987) 36, 1029-38 studied the octacosanol effects in mice subject to physical activity and fed with octacosanol enriched diets. These assays showed that octacosanol increases physical strength. At the same time, they found a significant decrease of neutral lipids and cholesterol levels in the liver without modifications in the phospholipids content. Nevertheless, reduction of serum cholesterol and lipoprotein levels were not observed. There are different commercial drugs used in the treatment of hypercholesterolaemic patients which lower cholesterol levels by 30% but they all provoke a number af negative effects. For example, Lopid used in the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia, reduces LDL-cholesterol by 5.4 and 6.9% but it decreases sexual capacity in some patients, causes skin rash, headaches and blurred vision. Likewise, it should not be administered to patients with renal failure. Probucol, which causes a 10% mean decrease of cholesterol level and from 10 to 15% LDL-cholesterol, produces gastrointestinal disturbances, nauseas, abdominal pain, diarrheas and flatulence in 10% of the population, as well as a considerable variation in the electrocardiogram.Another product used in the treatment of hypercholersterolaemic patients is Cholestyramine. This drug is highly efficient as hypercholesterolaemic since it lowers serum cholesterol levels by 39% and LDL by 30%. However, this product has some disadvantages since the dosage required is relatively high (16-20 g daily), causing constipation and interacting with other drugs like Digitoxin.Mevacor has been broadly used in recent years due to its rapid and lowering effects in cholesterol levels, namely 32% reduction of cholesterol and 39% of LDL. The disadvantage of this product is that it provokes a number of adverse effects including gastrointestinal disturbances, headaches, subcutaneous rash, pruritus, and severe muscular lesions in sensitive patients resulting in myolisis, and testicular atrophy. It increases creatinekinase and transaminase since hepatic tumors in laboratory animal have been reported. Zocor is a Mevacor by-product causing mild adverse effects. Reportedly, constipation, flatulence, nausea, headache, fatigue, subcutaneous rash and myopathies affecting creatinekinase are some of the disadvantages of this product. One of the objectives of this invention is to use the mixture of saturated primary fatty alcohols with 24 to 32 carbon atoms as a component of the pharmaceutical formulation. The mixture formulation has been determined by using gas chromatography in a capillary column, the formulation of the mixture is derivatized when these alcohols are dissolved in pyridine and are silonized using N-methyl-N-TMS-trifluoracetamide (MSTFA). Table I shows the qualitative and quantitative results of the mixture. Qualitative and quantitative formulation of the mixture of primary fatty alcohols usedComponentProportion in the mixture (%)tetracosanol0.5- 5.0hexacosanol5.0-15.0heptacosanol0.5- 5.0octacosanol55.0-80.0nonacosanol0.5- 3.0triacontanol6.0-20.0dotriacontanol1.0-10.0tetratriacontanol0.0- 2.5The aim of this invention is that the mixture of saturated primary alcohols, which is used as an active compound in pharmaceutical formulations, is made up by saturated primary alcohols having a long chain ranging from 24-34 carbon atoms. This alcohol mixture is obtained from sugar cane wax, a semi-crystalline, off-white color solid with a 78.0 - 82.5°C fusion temperature. This mixture is obtained from different types of waxes through a homogeneous stage saponification process and its subsequent extraction with organic solvents.In the United States Patent US-A-4 714 791 a method for recovering primary normal aliphatic higher alcohols having 20 to 36 carbon atoms from sugarcanes or sugarcane products is disclosed, using as extractant a fluid in a subcritical or supercritical state. In a preferred embodyment in the US patent the use of CO2 for the extraction is described.The remarkable aspect of this finding is that the mixture of alcohols causes a marked reduction of cholesterol and other low density serum lipoproteins (LDL) which is of great importance in the control of risk factors. The mean reduction of cholesterol and LDL in this experiment is 12 and 13% respectively. Furthermore, in comparative studies on the effects of octacosanol and the mixture of alcohols in bloos lipid levels, we have found that the alcohol mixture -used as an active compound- lowers serum cholesterol levels, changes plasmatic lipoproteins patterns, increases high density lipoproteins (HDL) and lowers LDL thus causing an increase in the HDL/LDL ratio while with the use of octacosanol this effect was not observed.The aforementioned findings are amazing if we take into account that Sho H. et al, J. Nutr. Sci. Vitaminol, (1984) 30, 553-9 were not able to obtain significant results on serum lipid levels with the use of fatty alcohols from the Okinawa sugar cane.The content of the mixture of alcohols in the daily dosage suitable for hypercholesterolaemia treatment is from 1 to 50 mg. The most adequate administration way is orally through coated tablets of granules although this drug can be administered parenterally. The pharmaceutical formulation single dose to be orally administered contains, mostly as an active substance, from 0.5 to 5 wt% of the alcohol mixture. This dosage is obtained by mixing the active substance with different excipients in the pharmaceutical formulation either as agglutinants, disintegrators, lubricants, sliders or just fillers.The drug proposed by this invention is relatively innocuous according to the results obtained in acute, subacute, subchronic and chronic toxicity assays carried out in rodents as well as in chronic studies in monkeys. They do not reveal any teratogenic activity in rats or rabbits, nor do they have a mutagenic potential.No side-effects have been detected in patients treated with the drug resulting from this invention. However, when administered, there is an increase of sexual activity of laboratory animals, whose mechanism of action is only based on the increase of libido, this effect having no relation with the level of sexual hormone mainly involved in the control of such behaviour. There is a number of patients who have also referred to this effect.The objetive of this invention will be further on detailed and will refer to the examples which will not be restricted to the scope of said invention.Example 11 kg of raw sugar cane wax is taken to which a homogeneous phase saponification process is applied followed by the extraction of primary fatty alcohols using the adequate organic solvents. 105 g of said alcohols mixture were obtained. The fusion temperature of the alcohol mixture ranges from 78.0 to 82.0°C and the purity of the mixture is 92.98%.Example 2Out of 2.5 kg of refined sugar cane wax, following the method used in the aforementioned example, 438.6 g of alcohol mixture were obtained in this case accounting for a 95.91 % purity and the fusion temperature ranged from 79.5 to 82°C.For analysis of alcohols through gas chromatography in a capillary column of fused silica, these alcohols are derivatized by using N methyl-N-TMS-trifluoroacetamide (MSTFA) dissolved in pyridine. Table II shows the results of qualitative and quantitative analysis in both examples. Qualitative and quantitative composition of the mixture of higher aliphatic alcohols obtainedIdentified componentPercentage of alcoholsIn example 1In example 2tetracosanol2.082.81hexacosanol9.687.57heptacosanol3.162.81octacosanol68.3073.99nonacosanol0.440.85triacontanol8.176.41dotriacontanol1.051.35tetratriacontanol0.100.12Total92.9895.91Example 3From the mixture of higher alcohols obtained in Example 2, 5mg tablets were made from the alcohol mixture containing the components listed in Table III. Pharmaceutical formulation of the 5 mg tabletsComponent% in tabletMixture of higher aliphatic alcohols4.5Lactose75.0Corn starch15.0Gelatin1.5Sodium croscarmelose1.0Talc2.0Magnesium estearate1.0Example 4The tablet formulation, prepared using 5 mg of the reported mixture of alcohols, is administered to a group of 16 patients affected with hyperlypoproteinaemia type II (according to Frederickson's classification, Frederickson D.S. et al, N. England J. Med. (1967) 276, 34, 94, 148, 215, 273). Before these patients were included in the assay, they were subjected to a 4 weeks diet and only those who still had a high LDL were treated. The diet element was continued throughout the study and the research carried out on the main lipid-lowering drugs available. Treatment was continued for 8 weeks, whereby each patient was administered a daily tablet with the formulation described in the previous example. Laboratory assays were conducted after 4 and 8 weeks, and parameters in Tables IV and V were evaluated. Effects of the formulation on serum-triglycerides and cholesterol levelsCholesterol (mmol/L)Triglycerides (mmol/L)(weeks)Patient04804817.47.06.481.891.251.4727.76.965.673.162.280.7439.287.73-2.881.40-410.8811.3110.032.292.442.0256.184.695.413.493.422.40612.1310.6210.412.601.731.90710.58-9.272.40-2.6786.456.845.852.083.391.8397.207.13-2.362.01-108.057.266.602.611.473.73117.669.037.162.573.272.63128.086.337.106.223.313.79137.988.997.200.761.640.91148.436.408.161.782.353.98158.276.526.975.345.18-167.988.597.391.300.780.95X8.387.697.422.732.332.32Table 4 shows that after 8 weeks there is a reduction of serum cholesterol and triglycerides in patients treated with this formulation. In the case of cholesterol, the reduction was statistically meaningful (p < 0.05 Wilcoxon), whereas no significant level was reached in triglycerides. Mean reduction in serum cholesterol levels was 12.2%.The analysis of the results revealed that treatment resulted in a significant decrease of cholesterol and low density lipoproteins. Treatment was 100% effective since total cholesterol level in all patients was lower than at the beginning and the same applies for LDL when initial measurements were made. The percentage of LDL reduction was 13%. Effect of the formulation on low density lipoproteins (LDL) and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) in plasmaLipoproteins analyzed (mmol/L)LDLVLDLPatient048048(weeks)15.255.024.750.860.570.6724.914.92-1.441.040.3336.776.20-1.310.64-48.459.018.111.041.110.9253.48-3.011.591.101.5569.958.858.661.180.790.8677.70-6.311.09-1.2184.424.27-0.951.440.8394.725.24-1.070.91-106.184.644.141.190.671.64115.476.344.941.171.491.20124.043.663.952.831.501.72135.256.044.720.350.750.41146.314.335.070.811.071.81154.783.25-2.612.35-165.516.165.280.590.35-X5.825.565.331.261.061.05Example 5A group of patients with hypercholesterolaemia were treated with 15 mg tablets of the formulation for 3 months. Results are shown in Table VI. In this example, there is also a cholesterol and triglycerides reduction in all treated patients. Total cholesterol reduction amounted to 17.32% and serum triglycerides to 16.3% after and before treatment.Example 6Formulations containing between 0.5 and 5 mg of the alcohol mixture per kilogram of bodyweight were orally administrated to a group of New Zealand male rabbits during a month. The vehicle was administered to a control group included in the study. Blood samples were taken every 15 days to determine the parameters of lipidic metabolism. Results are shown in tables VII and VIII. Effect of the formulation on cholesterol and serum triglycerides levels in a group of patientsCholesterolTriglycerides(mmol/L)Patient03060900306090(days)17.56.86.55.91.781.651.371.4227.197.06.846.633.152.662.342.05310.39.58.88.62.151.881.631.5846.36.26.05.53.513.022.732.2257.06.55.55.32.782.702.352.0068.68.37.67.71.801.651.531.5479.28.57.67.02.201.991.761.7188.68.88.06.83.423.152.702.52910.59.99.39.02.873.012.572.421011.411.39.9 9.22.562.682.492.35 X 8.668.287.67.162.622.432.112.09Effect of the formulation on cholesterol and triglycerides levels in rabbitsAnimalDosage (mg/kg)CholesterolTriglycerides(mmol/L)0153001530(days)10.03.252.604.401.231.092.1222.863.545.740.831.010.8431.542.723.241.731.401.4342.251.771.521.591.191.5351.902.942.470.961.341.0161.812.481.820.661.110.8472.003.092.262.113.291.27X2.172.552.741.451.401.1180.53.864.425.561.411.531.4291.962.692.001.261.010.59102.742.012.030.640.970.49112.382.612.471.321.420.48121.141.071.230.931.621.22131.382.132.541.031.010.71142.832.021.462.261.611.16X2.322.422.471.261.310.86155.01.481.671.760.930.980.69162.421.931.940.570.890.62171.861.891.830.791.300.69182.042.102.242.041.080.95191.961.671.530.880.680.63203.073.613.851.781.140.98215.533.022.043.281.380.64X2.622.272.171.461.060.74A significant difference was found in the content of serum cholesterol an tryglycerides of rabbits treated with the formulation in a concentration of 5 mg of the mixture of aliphatic alcohols per kg of bodyweight by comparing its variation in time with that of the control group.As can be observed in the Table, there is a significant reduction in VLDL with the formulation in a concentration of 5.0 mg of the alcohol mixture per kg when compared to the control group after 30 days. Other parameters are not significantly affected and a tendency is towards a reduced LDL, which is compatible with the results obtained for humans. Effect of the formulation on the lipoproteins in rabbit serumAnimalDoses (mg/kg)HDLLDLVLDL015300153001530(days)100.511.280.992.280.832.450.560.460.9621.171.491.331.311.604.030.380.450.3830.561.000.700.191.091.890.790.630.6540.650.770.620.510.460.211.090.540.6950.561.231.010.901.101.010.440.610.4560.941.320.950.570.660.490.300.500.3870.770.880.900.340.720.790.961.490.57X0.741.090.890.830.781.300.700.630.5180.50.811.070.822.412.664.100.640.690.6490.691.241.030.700.990.710.570.460.26101.251.020.791.180.551.020.310.440.22110.771.000.861.010.971.400.600.640.21120.560.430.490.160.100.190.420.730.35130.570.900.830.990.400.451.040.740.52140.820.880.490.330.771.390.480.460.32X0.780.930.750.960.901.320.570.590.38155.00.920.900.730.140.330.720.420.440.31160.831.110.731.330.421.390.260.400.28170.780.860.850.550.661.110.360.590.31180.560.950.700.720.440.670.930.490.43190.800.940.750.720.480.500.400.310.28200.561.321.192.411.772.220.810.520.44210.631.710.923.410.690.831.490.620.29X0.721.110.841.330.671.060.660.480.33Example 730 New Zealand rabbits having similar mean cholesterol values were distributed in three equal groups. One of them was taken as a control group, while the other two were given formulations in a concentration of 5 mg/kg of bodyweight of octacosanol and the alcohol mixture respectively. Blood samples were taken when treatment began, and 15 and 30 days later. Results are shown in Table IX. The study shows that 5 mg/kg of bodyweight treatment for a month tended to increase HDL while the HDL/LDL ratio decreased in relation to both the control group and the octacosanol group. Example 8Daily administration of the formula resulting from this invention causes an increase of sexual activity in male rats which is expressed in an significant increase in the quantified number of erections and mounts during the observation of copulations with estrogenized females. These results are shown in Table X. Effect of oral administration of the formulation on the sexual behavior of male ratsTreatment (mg/kg)MountsErectionsAnimals mountingAnimals with erection(%)(X ± DE)Control8 ± 148 ± 1350660.521 ± 2122 ± 2175755.024 ± 1937 ± 4483925023 ± 1123 ± 10100100Note: Columns showing the number of mounts and erections were analyzed according to Mann Whitney U Tests and those showing percents were analyzed according to Fischer's Multiple Proportions TestExperiments aimed at determining the effect of suspending the treatment for certain periods of time corroborate the above contention, since there is no significant difference as to sexual activity between formulation administered rats and controls. An increase in sexual activity has been observed in rats of up to 44 weeks of age when compared to controls.Example 9The effects of the mixture of primary fatty alcohols on the sexual behaviour of male monkeys (Macaca arctoides) were studied after a daily dosage of the formulation (2.5 mg and 25 mg of active compound per kg of animal weight). The results are shown in Table XI. Effects of oral administration of 2.5 and 25 mg/kg dosages on the sexual behavior of Macaca arctoides monkeys and the serum testosterone levelsTreatment (mg/kg)AnimalErectionsMasturbationsTestosterone levels (nmol/L)Control13215222133222840026,353311,860021,42.512120222221933222420153925116519,627514332214181511,7The results showed a significant increase in the number of penile erections and masturbations among treated animals when compared to controls. Evidently, there was no difference in the serum testosterone level between treated animals and controls, nor was there a correlation between these values and the number of erections and masturbations.This experiment suggests that the administration of this formulation increases libido in treated animals, and that this effect is not related to the level of masculine hormones found in the group of monkeys.Masculine sexual behaviour in mammals includes libido, penile erection, ejaculation and orgasm. This behaviour is determined by the release of testicular hormones acting on peripheral effector organs and provoking feedback effects in specific brain areas mainly located in the mediobasal hypothalamic region.According to Buffum J. et al, Handbook of Sexology, Vol. 6 The Pharmacology and Endocrinology of sex and function 462 (1988), libido (or sex desire) is mainly controlled by the limbic system through the dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways. Minimal levels of testosterone are necessary to maintain libido but, according to what the author himself stated in 1982, additional increases of testosterone do not lead to a more intense urge. Logically enough, penile erection is affected as such by libido, but this is also a process regulated by the autonomic nervous system.Consequently, the effects caused by the administration of mixture of fatty alcohols may be a result of various mechanisms and are not directly deduced from the change in the hormone pattern. Yet, in an effort to determine how this mixture of primary fatty alcohols affects the sexual behaviour of male rats, there were experiments which included the quantifying of copulations in castrated rats with and without mixture and in the presence of an exogenic supply of testosterone, as well as in castrated rats with an without that alcohol mixture, but in the absence of an exogenic administration of testosterone. The following example is taken from the latter series.Example 10Thirty castrated rats were taken and divided into three identical groups. One group was taken as a control and the other two were given 1 and 5 mg/kg of fatty alcohol The of the pharmaceutical formulation. The results of these experiments are shown in Table XII. Effects of the mixture of primary fatty alcohols on the sexual behavior of castrated ratsVolumes of alcohol mixtureBefore castrationAfter castration (under treatment)MountErectionMountErection(X ± DS)Control55 ± 4655 ± 4517 ± 2315 ± 25156 ± 4456 ± 4440 ± 5040 ± 50555 ± 4555 ± 4455 ± 4751 ± 47This experiment showed that, in the absence of the main source of an exogenic supply of testosterone, there are still very significant differences between rats which were administered the fatty alcohol mixture and the controls, which might be attributed in principle to an effect on the testosterone threshold value required in the central nervous system for maintaining libido.	Mixture of higher primary aliphatic alcohols, obtainable from sugar cane wax, ranging from 24 to 34 carbon atoms, characterized in that its composition is as follows: tetracosanol0.5 - 5.0 %hexacosanol5.0 - 15.0 %heptacosanol0.5 - 5.0 %octacosanol50.0 - 80.0 %nonacosanol0.5 - 3.0 %triacontanol6.0 - 20.0 %dotriacontanol1.0 - 10.0 %tetratriacontanol0.0 - 2.5 %Pharmaceutical formulation characterized by containing as an active compound the mixture of aliphatic alcohols ranging from 24 to 34 carbon atoms as decribed in claim 1, and agglutinants, fillers, disintegrators, lubricants and other pharmaceutically acceptable excipients used for tablets, capsules or granules.Pharmaceutical formulation according to claim 2, characterized by its content of the mixture of alcohols as an active compound in a 0.5 - 5.0 % proportion in respect to the total weight.Use of a mixture according to claim 1 for the preparation of a pharmaceutical formulation to be used as a hypocholesterolaemic.Use of a mixture according to claim 1 for the preparation of a pharmaceutical formulation for the treatment of hyperlypoproteinaemia type II.Use of a mixture according to claim 1 for the preparation of a pharmaceutical formulation for improving sexual activity.	CENT NAC INVESTIG SCIENT; CENTRO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS	ARRUZAZABALA MARIA DE LOURDES; CARVAJAL FERNANDEZ DAYSI; LAGUNA GRANJA ABILIO; LORENZO OTERO MARGARITA JUANA; MAGRANER HERNANDEZ JUAN; MARTINEZ ROJAS JOSE MANUEL; MAS FERREIRO ROSA; MONTEJO LORET DE MOLA LILIANA; PERDOMO NARANJO URBANO GREGORI; RAMOS LEZCANO RUBEN PABLO; URRIBARI HERNANDEZ EVANGELINA; ARRUZAZABALA, MARIA DE LOURDES; CARVAJAL FERNANDEZ, DAYSI; LAGUNA GRANJA, ABILIO; LORENZO OTERO, MARGARITA JUANA; MAGRANER HERNANDEZ, JUAN; MARTINEZ ROJAS, JOSE MANUEL; MAS FERREIRO, ROSA; MONTEJO LORET DE MOLA, LILIANA MAGDALENA; PERDOMO NARANJO, URBANO GREGORIO; RAMOS LEZCANO, RUBEN PABLO; URRIBARI HERNANDEZ, EVANGELINA; Carvajal Fernández, Daysi; Martinez Rojas, José Manuel; Ramos Lezcano, Rubén Pablo
EP-0488949-B1	488,949	EP	B1	EN	19,950,726	1,992	20,100,220	new	C09J163	C08G59	C08G59, C08L63, C09J163	C08G 59/60, C09J 163/00+B4N4B, C08G 59/32, C08G 59/50	High performance epoxy adhesive	The present invention relates to a two component epoxy adhesive system comprising an epoxy component comprising (1) at least one aromatic multifunctional epoxy resin; and a hardener component comprising (1) a polyamide of a dimer fatty acid, (2) at least one aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine and (3) at least one aromatic amine; and wherein CR a polyglycidyl ether of sorbitol, having more than 2 oxirane groups per molecule, as an accelerator is present in the epoxy component and/or a tertiary amine accelerator is present in the hardener component.	The present invention relates to a two component epoxy adhesive system comprising an epoxy resin component and a hardener component. The use of epoxide resins in adhesives has been commercial practice for several decades. Many hardeners for epoxy resins are reactive at room temperature and so need to be mixed with the epoxide just prior to use. Others are stable in admixture with the epoxide resin at room temperature, and harden only when heated to elevated temperatures. These hardeners, the so-called latent hardeners or latent curing agents are available commercially and include dicyandiamide and polycarboxylic acid hydrazides. Compositions containing an epoxide resin and such a latent hardener generally take about 15 minutes to 1 hour to cure at temperatures of about 180°C. Cure times can be shortened by incorporation of accelerators. An accelerator which is often used when compositions having good impact resistance and heat resistance are required, for example in certain adhesive pastes for the automotive industry, is benzimidazole. However, compositions containing benzimidazole as the accelerator have undesirably limited storage stabilities at ambient temperature. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an epoxy adhesive system which exhibit good impact resistance, good heat resistance and prolonged storage stability at ambient temperature and can cure rapidly at both ambient and elevated temperatures. A further object of the present invention is to provide a flexible, yet thermally resistant adhesive with high peel strength and ability to bond to a variety of substrates. Various other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description thereof. The present invention provides a two component epoxy adhesive system comprising (A) an epoxy component comprising: (1) from 5 to 60 wt%, based upon the total weight of the epoxy component, of at least one aromatic multifunctional epoxy resin containing on average at least two 1,2-epoxy groups per molecule; and (B) a hardener component comprising: (1) from 5 to 55 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of a polyamide of a dimer fatty acid, (2) from 5 to 90 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of at least one aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine and (3) from 5 to 70 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of at least one aromatic amine; wherein from 5 to 50 wt%, based upon the total weight of the epoxy component, of a polyglycidyl ether of sorbitol, having more than 2 oxirane groups per molecule, as an accelerator is present in the epoxy component, from 0.5 to 7 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of a tertiary amine accelerator is present in the hardener component or both a polyglycidyl ether of sorbitol is present in the epoxy component and a tertiary amine accelerator is present in the hardener component, and wherein the mix ratio of the epoxy resin component to the hardener component is 1 to 0.15 by weight. The Epoxy Resin ComponentSuitable aromatic multifunctional epoxy resins for use in the epoxy resin component are virtually all aromatic epoxy resins containing on average at least two 1,2-epoxy groups per molecule. Illustrative examples of such aromatic multifunctional epoxy resins are: Polyglycidyl and poly(β-methylglycidyl) ethers which may be obtained by reacting a compound containing at least two phenolic hydroxyl groups in the molecule with epichlorohydrin, glycerol dichlorohydrin or with β-methyl epichlorohydrin under alkaline conditions or in the presence of an acid catalyst, and subsequent treatment with an alkali. Illustrative of compounds containing at least two phenolic hydroxyl groups in the molecule are alcohols containing aromatic groups such as N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)aniline or p,p'-bis(2-hydroxyethylamino)diphenylmethane; or mono- or polynuclear polyphenols such as resorcinol, hydroquinone, bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)methane, 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane, brominated 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane, bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) ether, bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)sulfone, 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-hydroxyphenyl) ethane or novolaks which are obtainable by condensation of aldehydes such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, chloral or furfuraldehyde with phenols or alkyl- or halogen-substituted phenols such as phenol, the above described bisphenols, 2- or 4-methylphenol, 4-tert-butylphenol, p-nonylphenol or 4-chlorophenol. Poly(N-glycidyl) compounds which may be obtained by dehydrochlorinating the reaction products of epichlorohydrin with amines which contain at least two amino hydrogen atoms. Amines from which these epoxy resins are derived are, typically, aromatic amines such as aniline, p-toluidine, bis(4-aminophenyl) methane, bis(4-aminophenyl) ether, bis(4-aminophenyl)sulfone, 4,4'-diaminobiphenyl or 3,3'-diaminobiphenyl; or araliphatic amines such as m-xylylenediamine. Poly(S-glycidyl) derivatives, for example bis(S-glycidyl) derivatives which are derived from bis(4-mercaptomethylphenyl) ether. It is also possible, however, to use epoxy resins in which the 1,2-epoxy groups are attached to different hetero atoms or functional groups. These compounds, comprise, for example, the N,N,O-triglycidyl derivative of 4-aminophenol, the N,N,O-triglycidyl derivative of 3-aminophenol or the glycidyl ether/glycidyl ester of salicylic acid. Preferred aromatic multifunctional epoxy resins include N,N,O-triglycidyl-4-aminophenol, N,N,N',N'-tetraglycidyl derivative of methylene dianiline, epoxidized novolaks, epoxidized bisphenol A resins, epoxidized resorcinol and epoxidized bisphenol F. Most preferably, N,N,O-triglycidyl-4-aminophenol is used. The aromatic multifunctional epoxy resin is present in a range of preferably 7 to 30 wt%, most preferably 10 to 20 wt% based upon the total weight of the epoxy component. Additionally, the epoxy resin component may further contain an aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resin. Suitable aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resins for use in the epoxy resin component are virtually all aliphatic epoxy resins containing on average at least two 1,2-epoxy groups per molecule. Illustrative examples of such aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resins are: Polyglycidyl and poly(β-methylglycidyl) esters which may be obtained by reacting a compound containing at least two carboxyl groups in the molecule with epichlorohydrin, glycerol dichlorohydrin or with β-methylepichlorohydrin in the presence of a base. Illustrative of compounds containing at least two carboxyl groups in the molecule are saturated aliphatic dicarboxylic acids such as adipic acid or sebacic acid; or unsaturated aliphatic dicarboxylic acids such as maleic acid; or aromatic dicarboxylic acids such as phthalic acid, isophthalic acid or terephthalic acid; or copolymers of (meth)acrylic acid with copolymerisable vinyl monomers such as the 1:1 copolymers of methacrylic acid with styrene or with methylmethacrylate. Polyglycidyl and Poly(β-methylglycidyl) ethers which may be obtained by reacting a compound containing at least two alcoholic hydroxyl groups in the molecule with epichlorohydrin, glycerol dichlorohydrin or with β-methyl epichlorohydrin under alkaline conditions or in the presence of an acid catalyst, and subsequent treatment with an alkali. Illustrative of compounds containing at least two alcoholic hydroxyl groups in the molecule are aliphatic alcohols such as ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol and higher poly(oxyethylene) glycols, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol or poly(oxypropylene) glycols, 1,4-butanediol or poly(oxybutylene)glycols, 1,5-pentanediol, neopentyl glycol (2,2-dimethylpropanediol), 1,6-hexanediol, 1,8-octanediol, 1,10-decanediol or 1,12-dodecanediol; 2,4,6-hexanemol, glycerol, 1,1,1-trimethylolethane, 1,1,1-trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol, sorbitol or polyepichlorohydrins; or cycloaliphatic alcohols such as 1,3-or 1,4-hydroxy-cyclohexane, 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, bis(4-hydroxycyclohexyl)methane, 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxycyclohexyl)propane or 1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)cyclohex-3-ene; Poly(N-glycidyl) compounds which may be obtained by dehydrochlorinating the reaction products of epichlorohydrin with amines which contain at least two amino hydrogen atoms. Amines from which these epoxy resins are derived are, typically, aliphatic amines such as hexamethylenediamine or n-butylamine. Included among the poly(N-glycidyl) compounds are also triglycidyl isocyanurate, N,N'-diglycidyl derivatives of cycloalkyleneureas, for example of ethyleneurea or of 1,3-propyleneurea, and N,N'-diglycidyl derivatives of hydantoins, for example of 5,5-dimethylhydantoin. Poly(S-glycidyl) derivatives, for example bis(S-glycidyl) derivatives which are derived from dithiols such as 1,2-ethanedithiol. Cycloaliphatic epoxy resins or epoxidation products of dienes or polyenes, such as cycloaliphatic epoxy resins which may be prepared by epoxidation of ethylenically unsaturated cycloaliphatic compounds. Illustrative of such compounds are 1,2-bis(2,3-epoxycyclopentyloxy)ethane, 2,3-epoxycyclopentyl glycidyl ether, diglycidyl esters of cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid, 3,4-epoxycyclohexyl glycidyl ether, bis(2,3-epoxycyclopentyl)ether, bis(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ether, 5(6)-glydiyl-2-(1,2-epoxyethyl)bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane, dicyclopentadiene dioxide, cyclohexa-1,3-diene dioxide, 3,4-epoxy-6-methylcyclohexylmethyl-3',4'-epoxy-6'-methylcyclohexanecarboxylate or 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl-3',4'-epoxycyclohexanecarboxylate. It is also possible, however, to use epoxy resins in which the 1,2-epoxy groups are attached to different hetero atoms or functional groups. These compounds comprise, for example, N-glycidyl-N'-(2-glycidyloxypropyl)-5,5-dimethylhydantoin or 2-glycidyloxy-1,3-bis-(5,5-dimethyl-1-glycidylhydantoin-3-yl)propane. Preferred aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resins include diglycidylesters of cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid, trimethylol ethane triglycidyl ether and trimethylol propane triglycidyl ether. Most preferably trimethylol propane triglycidyl ether is used. The aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resin may be present in a range of from 10 to 75 wt%, preferably 10 to 50 wt%, most preferably 12 to 20 wt% based upon the total weight of the epoxy component. The preparation of the polyglycidyl ether of sorbitol, having more than 2 oxirane groups per molecule, is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,914,164, which is hereby incorporated by reference. If the polyglycidyl ether of sorbitol, having more than 2 oxirane groups per molecule, is used it is present in a range of preferably 10 to 30 wt%, most preferably 12 to 20 wt% based upon the total weight of the epoxy component. The epoxy resin component may also contain other conventional modifiers such as extenders, fillers and reinforcing agents, pigments, dyestuffs, organic solvents, plasticizers, tackifiers, rubbers, diluents, adhesion promoters, such as epoxy silane, and the like. As extenders, reinforcing agents, fillers and pigments which can be employed in the epoxy resin component according to the invention there may be mentioned, for example: glass fibers, glass balloons, boron fibers, carbon fibers, cellulose, polyethylene powder, polypropylene powder, mica, quartz powder, gypsum, antimony trioxide, bentones, talc, silica aerogel ( Aerosil ), fumed silica, wollastonite, silane treated wollastonite, lithopone, barite, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, carbon black, graphite, iron oxide, or metal powders such as aluminum powder or iron powder. The preferred fillers are fumed silica, wollastonite and silane treated wollastonite. It is also possible to add other usual additives, for example, agents for conferring thixotropy, flow control agents such as silicones, cellulose acetate butyrate, polyvinyl butyral, stearates and the like. Preferably, the epoxy resin component includes one or more fillers selected from the group consisting of aluminum powder, Wollastonite, silane treated Wollastonite and fumed silica in an amount ranging from 1 to 50 wt%, preferably 1.5 to 40 wt%, most preferably 2.00 to 38 wt% based upon the total weight of the epoxy component. More preferably, the epoxy component further comprises an epoxy silane as an adhesion promoter which provides the cured adhesive with resistance to moisture and is present in an amount of from 0.25 to 6.0 wt%, preferably 0.4 to 1.5 wt%, most preferably 0.5 to 1.0 wt% based upon the total weight of the epoxy component. The Hardener ComponentSuitable polyamides of a dimer fatty acid include a hydrogenated polyaminoamide (VERSAMID® 140, Henkel), a conventional polyamide (UNI-REZ® 2188, Union Camp), VERSAMID® 125 (Henkel), VERSAMID® 115 (Henkel) and HY 840® (CIBA-GEIGY). Preferably, VERSAMID® 140 (Henkel) is used. Polyamidoamines are prepared by dimerizing tall oil fatty acids and then reacting the dimerized acid with aliphatic amines such as diethylenetriamine. These hardeners are described by V. Brytus, Modern Paint and Coatings, Vol. 74, No. 10, p. 172 (1984). The polyamide of a dimer fatty acid is present preferably in a range of 7 to 43 wt%, most preferably 20 to 35 wt% based upon the total weight of the hardener component. Suitable aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amines for use in the hardener component include monoethanolamine, N-aminoethyl ethanol amine, ethylenediamine, hexamethylenediamine, trimethylhexamethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine, tetraethylenepentamine, N,N-dimethylpropylenediamine-1,3, N,N-diethylpropylenediamine-1,3, bis(4-amino-3-methylcyclohexyl)methane, bis(p-aminocyclohexyl)methane, 2,2-bis(4-aminocyclohexyl)propane, N-aminoethyl-piperazine, 1,3-diaminocyclohexane, 1,4-diaminocyclohexane, 1,3-bis(aminomethyl)cyclohexane, isophorone diamine and 3,5,5-trimethyl-s-(aminomethyl)-cyclohexylamine. Preferred aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amines include bis(p-aminocyclohexyl)methane, N,N-dimethylpropylene diamine-1,3, isophorone diamine and diethylenetriamine. Most preferably, N,N-dimethylpropylene diamine-1,3 or bis(p-aminocyclohexyl)methane is used. The aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine is present in a range of preferably 6.0 to 20 wt%, most preferably 7 to 15 wt% based upon the total weight of the hardener component. Suitable aromatic amines include m-phenylene-diamine, p-phenylenediamine, bis(p-aminophenyl)methane, bis(p-aminophenyl)sulfone, m-xylylenediamine, toluene diamine, 4,4'-methylene-dianiline, a diaminodiphenylether, benzidine, 4,4-thiodianiline, 4-methoxy-6-m-phenyldiamine, 2,6-diaminopyridine, dianisidine and 1-methyl-imidazole. Preferred aromatic amines include M-xylylenediamine, 4,4'-methylene dianiline and bis(p-aminophenyl)sulfone. Most preferably, methylene dianiline or m-xylylenediamine is used. The aromatic amine is present in a range of preferably 5 to 50 wt%, most preferably 7 to 20 wt% based upon the total weight of the hardener component. Suitable tertiary amine accelerators include triethylamine, tris(dimethylaminoethyl)phenol, boron trifluoride-amine complex, benzyl dimethylamine and 2-(dimethylaminomethyl)phenol. Preferably, tris(dimethylaminoethyl)phenol is used. If the tertiary amine accelerator is used it is present in a range of preferably 1 to 5 wt%, most preferably 1.5 to 3.5 wt% based upon the total weight of the hardener component. The hardener component may also contain other conventional modifiers such as extenders, fillers and reinforcing agents, pigments, dyestuffs, organic solvents, plasticizers, tackifiers, rubbers, diluents, adhesion promoters, such as epoxy silane, toughening agents, such as an amino terminated acrylonitrile/butadiene copolymer, coupling agents, such as amino silane and the like. As extenders, reinforcing agents, fillers and pigments which can be employed in the epoxy resin component according to the invention there may be mentioned, for example: glass fibers, glass balloons, boron fibers, carbon fibers, cellulose, polyethylene powder, polypropylene powder, mica, quartz powder, gypsum, antimony trioxide, bentones, talc, silica aerogel ( Aerosil ), fumed silica, wollastonite, silane treated wollastonite, lithopone, barite, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, carbon black, graphite, iron oxide, or metal powders such as aluminum powder or iron powder. The preferred fillers are fumed silica, wollastonite and aluminum powder. It is also possible to add other usual additives, for example, agents for conferring thixotropy, flow control agents such as silicones, cellulose acetate butyrate, polyvinyl butyral, stearates and the like. Additionally, a surfactant can be used such as a fluoropolymer surfactant, titanates and zirconates. Preferably, the hardener component contains a fluoropolymer surfactant in an amount ranging from 0.10 to 3.0 wt%, preferably 0.25 to 1.0 wt%, most preferably 0.25 to 0.50 wt% based upon the total weight of the hardener component. Preferably, the hardener component includes one or more fillers selected from the group consisting of aluminum powder, Wollastonite and fumed silica in an amount ranging from 0.5 to 40 wt%, preferably 1 to 30 wt%, most preferably 1.5 to 15.0 wt% based upon the total weight of the epoxy component. The mix ratio of the epoxy resin component to the hardener component is preferably 1 to 0.5 by weight, most preferably 1 to 0.7 by weight. A vertical type high-speed agitator, kneading machine, roll machine, ball mill or any other suitable mixing and agitating machine may be used for dispersion of the components of the composition of the present invention. The invention also provides a method of bonding or sealing two surfaces together which comprises applying a composition of the invention to one or both surfaces, placing the two surfaces together with the composition positioned therebetween and, permitting the adhesive to cure at from about room temperature to about 121°C. Preferably, a room temperature cure is employed. This method may be used with surfaces of metal, such as steel or aluminum, plastic materials, glass, friction materials, such as brake linings, and ceramic materials. The following examples serve to give specific illustrations of the practice of this invention but they are not intended in any way to limit the scope of this invention. EXAMPLE 1This example illustrates the preparation, physical properties, mechanical properties and durability testing of a typical composition of the present invention. The ingredients are listed in Table 1 and the physical and mechanical properties are listed in Tables 2 to 4, respectively. Physical Properties Mix Ratio100:100 (pbv) 100:70 (pbw) Viscosity (Brookfield RVF, 75°F; 1 mPa·s = 1 cps) Resin, Spindle #6 at RPM91,250 mPa·s (cps) Hardener, Spindle #6 at 4 RPM102,000 mPa·s Mixed, Spindle #6 at 4 RPM53,750 mPa·s Gel Time (dry wire method)55 minutes Tensile Stength (ASTM D638)31.95 MPa (= 4634 psi) Elongation at Break (ASTM D638)11.0% Tensile Modulus (ASTM D638)1462 MPa (= 212,000 psi) Glass Transition Temperature (Rheometrics)77°C and 110°C Cure7 Days/25°C (77°F) Mix ratio of epoxy resin component and hardener component is 1:1 by volume. Either bare or clad (0.160 cm) aluminum 2024-T3 alloy (available from Copper and Brass Sales) was used as the substrate for mechanical tests, other than T-peels. All aluminum was etched as per ASTM D2651, method A (chromic acid). All samples were cured at 25°C for 7 days prior to testing, and lap shear specimens were tested according to ASTM D1002. Bondline thickness was maintained at 0.010-0.013 cm. In the exposure tests, Federal Specification MMM-A-132A procedures were followed. Testing temperatures for lap shears were also done in accordance with the above specification. Durability Testing Fatigue (ASTM D3166)5.17 MPa (750 psi) at 1x10⁶ cycles, 3600 cpm Pass Fluid Immersion Lap Shear Strength JP-4 (7 Days/24°C (75°F))34.1 MPa (4946 psi) Humidity Exposure 30 Days 48.9°C (120°F) at 97% RH18,1 MPa (2630 psi) Thermal Aging 7 Days/82.2°C (180°F)32.8 MPa (4750 psi) 7 Days/121°C (250°F)28.4 MPa (4110 psi) Bare 2024-T3 aluminum alloy, etched as per ASTM D2651, Method A. Testing at 24°C (75°F). EXAMPLE 2This example further illustrates the preparation and mechanical properties of a typical composition of the present invention. The ingredients are listed in Table 5 and the physical properties are listed in Tables 6. EXAMPLE 3This example further illustrates the preparation and mechanical properties of a typical composition of the present invention. The ingredients are listed in Table 7 and the physical properties are listed in Tables 8. Lap Shear Strength -55°C (-67°F) 24°C (75°F) 82.2°C (180°F) 148.9°C (300°F) 204.4°C (400°F) 13.6 MPa19.2 MPa16.7 MPa8.7 MPa3.5 MPa (1974 psi)(2788 psi)(2346 psi)(1267 psi)(508 psi) ASTM D1002, 7 day/25°C (77°F) cure EXAMPLE 4This example further illustrates the preparation and mechanical properties of a typical composition of the present invention. The ingredients are listed in Table 9 and the physical properties are listed in Tables 10. Lap Shear Strength -55°C (-67°F) 24°C (75°F) 82.2°C (180°F) 148.9°C (300°F) 204.4°C (400°F) 13.6 MPa19.2 MPa16.7 MPa12.0 MPa3.1 MPa (1860 psi)(3006 psi)(2247 psi)(1746 psi)(455 psi) ASTM D1002, 7 day/25°C (77°F) cure	A two component epoxy adhesive system comprising (A) an epoxy component comprising: (1) from 5 to 60 wt%, based upon the total weight of the epoxy component, of at least one aromatic multifunctional epoxy resin containing on average at least two 1,2-epoxy groups per molecule; and (B) a hardener component comprising: (1) from 5 to 55 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of a polyamide of a dimer fatty acid, (2) from 5 to 90 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of at least one aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine and (3) from 5 to 70 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of at least one aromatic amine; wherein from 5 to 50 wt%, based upon the total weight of the epoxy component, of a polyglycidyl ether of sorbitol, having more than 2 oxirane groups per molecule, as an accelerator is present in the epoxy component, from 0.5 to 7 wt%, based upon the total weight of the hardener component, of a tertiary amine accelerator is present in the hardener component or both a polyglycidyl ether of sorbitol is present in the epoxy component and a tertiary amine accelerator is present in the hardener component, and wherein the mix ratio of the epoxy resin component to the hardener component is 1 to 0.15 by weight. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aromatic multifunctional epoxy resin is selected from the group consisting of N,N,N',N'-tetraglycidyl derivative of methylene dianiline, epoxidized novolaks, epoxidized Bisphenol A resins, epoxidized resorcinol epoxidized Bisphenol F and N,N,O-triglycidyl-4-aminophenol. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aromatic multifunctional epoxy resin is N,N,O-triglycidyl-4-aminophenol. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said epoxy component further comprises an aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resin containing on average at least two 1,2-epoxy groups per molecule. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 4 wherein said aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resin is selected from the group consisting of diglycidylesters of cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid, trimethylolethane triglycidyl ether and trimethylol propane triglycidyl ether. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 4 wherein said aliphatic multifunctional epoxy resin is trimethylol propane triglycidyl ether. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said polyamide of a dimer fatty acid is a hydrogenated polyaminoamide. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine is selected from the group consisting of monoethanolamine, N-aminoethyl ethanolamine, ethylenediamine, hexamethylenediamine, trimethylhexamethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine, tetraethylenepentamine, N,N-dimethylpropylenediamine-1,3, N,N-diethylpropylenediamine-1,3, bis(4-amino-3-methylcyclohexyl)methane, bis(p-aminocyclohexyl)methane, 2,2-bis(4-aminocyclohexyl)propane, N-aminoethyl-piperazine, 1,2-diaminocyclohexane, 1,4-diaminocyclohexane, 1,3-bis(aminomethyl)cyclohexane, isophorone diamine, and 3,5,5-trimethyl-s-(aminomethyl)-cyclohexylamine. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine is selected from the group consisting of bis(p-aminocyclohexyl)methane, N,N-dimethylpropylene diamine-1,3, isophorone diamine and diethylenetriamine. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine is selected from the group consisting of N,N-dimethylpropylene diamine-1,3 and bis(p-aminocyclohexyl)methane. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aromatic amine is selected from the group consisting of m-phenylene-diamine, p-phenylenediamine, bis(p-aminophenyl)methane, bis(p-aminophenyl)-sulfone, m-xylylenediamine, toluene diamine, 4,4'-methylene-dianiline, a diaminodiphenylether, benzidine, 4,4-thiodianiline, 4-methyoxy-6-m-phenyldiamine, 2,6-diaminopyridine, dianisidine and 1-methyl-imidazole. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aromatic amine is selected from the group consisting of m-xylylenediamine, 4,4'-methylene-dianiline and bis(p-aminophenyl)-sulfone. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said aromatic amine is selected from the group consisting of m-xylylenediamine and 4,4'-methylene-dianiline. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said epoxy component further comprises one or more fillers. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said epoxy component further comprises an epoxy silane as a adhesion promoter. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said tertiary amine accelerator is selected from the group consisting of triethylamine, tris(dimethylaminoethyl)phenol, boron trifluoride-amine complex, benzyl dimethylamine, and 2-dimethylaminomethyl)phenol. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said tertiary amine accelerator is tris(dimethylaminoethyl)phenol. A two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 wherein said hardener component further comprises a surfactant and one or more fillers. A method of bonding or sealing two surfaces together comprising application of a two component epoxy adhesive system according to claim 1 to one or both surfaces to be bonded; placing the surfaces together with said adhesive system positioned therebetween and permitting the adhesive to cure at from about room temperature to about 121°C.	CIBA GEIGY AG; CIBA-GEIGY AG	BEHM DEAN TALLACK; LABELLE THOMAS LOREN ARTHUR; WONGKAMOLSESH KACHORN; BEHM, DEAN TALLACK; LABELLE, THOMAS LOREN ARTHUR; WONGKAMOLSESH, KACHORN
EP-0488954-B1	488,954	EP	B1	EN	19,961,002	1,992	20,100,220	new	D03D47	null	D03D47	D03D 47/34	Weft yarn handling apparatus in a jet loom	The weft yarn handling apparatus for a jet looms includes means (8a) for unwinding the weft from a weft supply cheese (3). The length of the unwound weft yarn (Y) is measured and the yarn is stored on a drum (8b) of the measuring and storing device (8) The weft (Y) thus measured and reserved is then transferred to the main nozzle (13) of an air jet loom and then inserted through the shed by fluid injected from the main picking nozzle (13). On the downtream side of the weft measuring and storage device (8) there is a nozzle block arrangement (15; 12, 8a, 15a, 15b, 16) for transferring weft yarn from the measuring and storage device (8) to the main nozzle 13 and in addition means (40) for retaining weft yarn in the case of a weft yarn break. The nozzle block further includes means (22) for cutting the weft (Y) at a predetermined position while said part of the weft (Y) is being retained by said retaining means (40). One cut end of weft yarn (Y) is blown or sucked to a trash box (19) and the other end is guided to the region of suction adjacent to the inlet of weft injection main nozzle (13). The arrangement is operated automatically by a control C, that starts operating when a weft yarn break is detected that required threading of the main nozzle (13). The arrangment provides for a non complicated, fast threading of the main nozzle (13) and low failure rate.	The present invention relates to a weft handling apparatus in a jet loom for threading a main weft picking nozzle of the loom with a new weft end subsequently to changing of a weft cheese or to a failure in weft feeding due to a weft break between the weft cheese and main weft picking nozzle. Conventional weft handling apparatuses of the above type are disclosed by Publications of Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 60-2749, 62-62955 (1987), 1-92452 (1989) and 1-201551 (1989). The apparatus of the Publication No. 60-2749 includes a guide nozzle provided between weft measuring and storage device of winding type and main weft picking nozzle and a guide suction tube located on a lateral side of the winding surface of the weft winding and storage device, wherein residual windings of weft on the winding surface are introduced by suction into the guide suction tube and then inserted into the guide nozzle. In the apparatus according to the Publication No. 62-62955, residual windings of weft on the winding surface of weft measuring and storage device are drawn into a suction pipe disposed on a lateral side of the winding surface and retained by suction in the pipe. The weft thus retained is then carried to the inlet of main weft picking nozzle by a weft holding member which is driven to move reciprocally by an air cylinder. EP 0.388.680 is directed to an apparatus that includes a nozzle device for threading the weft yarn into the weft length measuring and storing apparatus. A suction pipe and a cutter for removing and cutting weft yarns are arranged between a weft length measuring and storing apparatus and the main picking nozzle of a air jet loom. The apparatus disclosed by the Publication No. 1-92452 includes a weft feeding nozzle located between weft measuring and storage device of winding type and main weft picking nozzle and a guide pipe provided between the weft measuring and storage device and the weft feeding nozzle. The guide pipe is movable between its guiding and retracted positions and the leading end of a weft is blown from the weft winding tube of the weft measuring and storage device into the guide pipe which is then located in the guiding position. If the weft winding surface of the weft measuring and storage device has thereon residual windings of weft, the weft is pulled back from the weft measuring and storage device by a weft removing means provided upstream of the measuring and storage device while rotating the weft winding tube in reverse direction. The weft thus pulled back is cut at a predetermined position and then blown again into the weft winding tube, from where the leading end of the weft is blown into the guide pipe then located in its guiding position. In the apparatus of the Publication No. 1-201551, there is provided a weft guide between the weft measuring and storage device and the main weft picking nozzle. The weft guide is switchably movable between the weft guiding position for normal weaving operation of the loom and the weft threading position, and the leading end of a new weft passed through the weft guide is blown into the main weft picking nozzle by air jet of the weft guide. In apparatus of the Publication No. 60-2749, wherein the suction guide tube must be moved close to the weft winding surface for removing residual windings of weft on the winding surface, it is difficult for the suction of the guide tube to ensure successful removal of the residual weft on the winding surface. Furthermore, because the residual windings of weft are inserted as they are into the guide nozzle, there is a fear that weft injected from the guide nozzle is directed toward the main weft picking nozzle in an entangled state, thereby inviting a failure in threading the main picking nozzle with the weft. The same difficulty in removing the residual weft holds true for the apparatus of the Publication No. 62-62955. Additionally, provision of the weft holding member which is moved linearly between a position adjacent to the weft measuring and storage device and the inlet of the main weft picking nozzle makes the threading mechanism large in size. In the apparatus of the Publication No. 1-92452, wherein residual windings of weft must be pulled back if the leading of the weft is put into the weft feeding nozzle in the even of a failure in weft threading, the weft handling is time consuming The threading method in this apparatus by which a weft unwound from the weft measuring and storage device is again fed thereto tends to invite a failure in weft handling. Furthermore, provision of the weft removing means on upstream side of the measuring and storage device makes the apparatus complicated in structure. In the apparatus of the Publication No. 1-201551, there is a fear that the leading end of weft inserted into the weft guide may be entangled, so that the weft is fed out from the weft guide in a folded state. It is difficult for such a folded weft, particularly a weft with a thick count or a hard and hence less flexible weft, to be inserted successfully into the inlet of the main weft picking nozzle. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a weft handling apparatus which can avoid complication of the apparatus, prolonged time for weft handling and failure in weft threading. To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a weft handling apparatus in a jet loom which comprises nozzle means disposed downstream of said weft measuring and storage device and upstream of said main picking nozzle, in a passage definded by the weft for guiding the weft therethrough and inserting the same weft through said jet; means disposed adjacent to the inlet of said nozzle means for pneumatically retaining part of the weft, said retaining means having a weft inlet port opended toward said weft measuring and storage device and a weft discarding passage ; means disposed adjacent to said weft measuring and storage device for transferring the weft from said weft measuring and storage device to said weft inlet port of said retaining means by the action of an air flow; means for cutting the weft at a predetermined position in said weft discarding passage of said weft retaining means, while said part of the weft is being retained by said retaining means; and weft end transferring means incorporated in disposed between said retaining means for guiding and presenting the weft end cut by said cutting means in said weft discarding passage to the region of suction adjacent to the inlet of said nozzle means. In the event that a weft break occurs between the weft measuring and storage device and the main weft picking nozzle, the weft retaining means and the weft transferring means are operated to transfer the residual windings of weft on weft winding surface of the weft measuring and storage device to the weft retaining means which then retains the weft. The weft thus being retained is cut by the weft cutting means at a predetermirled position to have a weft of a given length. The cut end of the weft is brought to a position adjacent to the inlet of a weft injection nozzle by transferring movement of the weft end transferring means and then introduced into the weft injection nozzle by suction developed at the inlet by air injection from the injection nozzle. Figs. 1 through 15 show an embodiment of weft handling apparatus in a jet loom according to the present invention and details thereof. Fig. 1is a side view partially in section showing normal condition of weft feeding through the apparatus during weaving operation of the loom; Fig. 2is a plan view partially in section showing the same condition as illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3is a cross-section taken along line A-A of Fig. 2; Fig. 4is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which a weft is retained after the occurrence of a weft break between time main weft piclcing nozzle and the guide nozzle; Fig. 5is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which a weft is retained after the occurrence of a weft break between the weft measuring and storage device and the guide nozzle; Fig. 6is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which a residual weft is introduced into the discarding pipe; Fig. 7is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which the rotor is being rotated; Fig. 88 is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which the rotor has been rotated to the position for presenting a cut weft end to the guide nozzle; Fig. 9is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which tne rotor has been returned to its original position; Fig. 10is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which the cut weft end has moved past the paired rollers; Fig. 11 is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which a weft is retained after the occurrence of a weft break between the weft cheese and the weft measuring and storage device; Fig. 12 is a side view partially in section showing a condition in which a residual weft has been discarded into the trash box; Fig. 13is a plan view partially in section showing a condition in which the leading end of a weft has been removed from the cheese; Fig. 14is an electrical block diagram showing the computer control and its associated charts; Figs. 15 (a)through (c) are flow charts showing the control program for handling a weft according to the invention; Figs. 16 and 17are side views partially in section showing modified embodiments of the present invention, respectively; Fig. 18is a cross-section taken along line B-B of Fig. 17; Figs. 19 and 20are side views partially in section showing a further modified embodiment of the present invention. Weft measuring and storage device 8; Weft transferring means including weft winding tube 8a and blow nozzle 12; Weft retaining means including nozzle block 15 and blow nozzles 20A, 20B, 21A; Weft end transferring means including rotor 17; Weft cutting means including cutter 22. The following will describe an embodiment of the weft handling apparatus according to the present invention with reference to accompanying drawings including Figs. 1 through 15. There is provided a rotatably bracket 1 (Fig. 1, Fig. 2), which carries at one end thereof a weft cheese 3 and has at the opposite end a weft unwinding motor 2 operatively connected to the bracket 1 through gears for driving the weft cheese 3 to rotate in its unwinding or weft releasing direction. A motor 4 is disposed adjacent to the periphery of the weft cheese 3 on its large-diameter side. The motor 4 is operatively connected to a support arm 5 which supports thereon a weft releasing blow nozzle 6 and a sensor 7 of photoelectric transmission type for detecting the current wound diameter of the weft cheese 3. Supply of air under pressure to the blow nozzle 6 is controlled by a solenoid-operated two-way valve V1, and an air jet injected from the blow nozzle 6 sweeps the cheese peripheral surface from its large-diameter side toward the opposite small-diameter side. A weft measuring and storage device 8 of a known wind ing type is arranged downstream of the weft cheese 3 in respect of the direction in which the weft is fed in the apparatus. The weft measuring and storage device 8 has a weft winding tube 8a driven to rotate by a motor M (indicated in Fig. 14) for winding a predetermined length of reserve weft on weft winding surface 8a of the measuring and storage device 8. The motor M is operable independently of a main loom drive motor (not shown). The windings of reserve weft stored on the weft winding surface 8b can be released when a stop pin 9a, whose reciprocating motion is controlled by an electromagnetic solenoid 9, is moved out of engagement with the weft winding surface 8b. The weft measuring and storage device 8 has further a weft inlet 8c which is in communication with the weft winding tube 8a, and a weft introducing duct 10 is mounted to the device 9 so as to enclose the weft inlet 8c. A weft-break sensor 11 of photoelectric transmission type is provided within the weft introducing duct 10 adjacently to its inlet. A blow nozzle 12 is connected to the weft introducing duct 10 so as to direct an air jet therefrom toward the weft inlet 8c. Supply of air under pressure to the blow nozzle 12 is controlled by a solenoid-operated two-way valve V2. Air jet from the blow nozzle 12 passes through the weft inlet 8c and weft winding tube 8a and directed toward a main weft picking nozzle 13 which is fixedly mounted on a slay (not shown) of the loom. A cone-shaped convergent guide conduit 14 is disposed between the weft cheese 3 and the weft measuring and storage device 8. Substantially all air flow from the weft releasing blow nozzle 6 collected by this guide conduit 14 can be introduced into the duct 10. On the downstream side of the weft measuring and storage device 8 are disposed a nozzle block 15 and a weft guide nozzle 16 connected rigidly to the block. The nozzle block 15 and weft guide nozzle 16 are located so as to receive a weft yarn Y which has been released from the weft winding surface 8b and also to guide the same weft therethrough toward the inlet of the main weft picking nozzle 13. The weft guide nozzle 16 is directed toward the inlet of the main weft picking nozzle 13 moved to its most retracted position as indicated by phantom line in Fig. 2. The nozzle block 15 is formed therein with a weft inlet port 15a, a weft exit passage 15b and a weft discarding passage 15c, and has incorporated therein a weft transferring rotor 17 rotatable to open and close the weft inlet port 15a, exit passage 15b and discarding passage 15c. The rotor 17 is rotatable about an axis extending to intersect perpendicularly with an imaginary line extending through the axial centers of the weft inlet port 15a and weft exit passage 15b in the rotor. The rotor 17 further has forrned therein a passage 17a through which the weft inlet port 15a, weft exit passage 15b and weft discarding passage 15c are normally made to communicate each other. The weft transferring rotor 17 is formed on its periphery with weft receiving recesses or grooves 17b, 17c in communication with the passage 17a. An injection passage 17d is formed in the rotor 17 between the groove 17b and the passage 17a. The rotor 17 is normally positioned as shown in Fig. 1 wherein the weft inlet port 15a, weft exit passage 15b and weft discarding passage 15c are made in communication with each other via the passage 17a in the rotor. The nozzle block 15 has at its top a blow nozzle 20A connected thereto for directing air jet toward the weft discarding passage 15c through the injection passage 17d in the rotor 17 and at a position immediately below the weft inlet port 15a another blow nozzle 20B for directing air jet toward weft discarding port 15c1 at the downstream end of the weft discarding passage 15c. Supply of air under pressure to these blow nozzles 20A, 20B is controlled by a solenoid-operated two-way valve V3. A weft discarding pipe 18 is connected to the weft discarding port 15c1 and extends to a trash box 19. The weft discarding pipe 18 has a bent portion to which a blow nozzle 21A is connected so as to direct its air jet toward the trash box 19. The weft inlet port 15a of the nozzle block 15 is tapered toward the passage 17a of the rotor 17, and the end of the weft winding tube 8a of the weft measuring and storage device 8 is bent to direct air flow from the tube 8a toward the weft inlet port 15a. The weft guide nozzle 16 is connected to the downstream end of the nozzle block 15 with a small space formed therebetween. The space is convergent toward the guide nozzle 16 and communicates with the weft exit passage 15b and the guide nozzle 16. A blow nozzle 21B is connected to the space for communication therewith. Supply of air under pressure to the blow nozzles 21A and 21B is controlled by a solenoid-operated two-way valve V4. As shown most clearly in Fig. 3, an air-operated cylinder 23 is located below the nozzle block 15. The air cylinder 23 has a toothed rack 38 attached to the end of a piston rod extending from the cylinder and the rotor 17 has a pinion 39 engaged with the rack 38 so that extension and retraction of the air cylinder 23 causes the rotor 17 to rotate in alternate directions in the nozzle block 15. Supply of air under pressure to the air cylinder 23 is controlled by a solenoid-operated three-way valve V6. The piston rod of the air cylinder 23 carries a weft clamp 40. The extension of the air cylinder 23 causes the weft clamp 40 to move into the weft discarding passage 15c to be pressed against the interior wall of the passage 15c. A spring 40a is provided to press the weft clamp 40 resiliently against the wall. A weft cutter 22 is fixed at the bent portion of the weft discarding passage 15c between the rotor 17 and the weft clamp 40. The main weft picking nozzle 13 has a weft-break sensor 24 (Fig. 2) of photoelectric transmission type in the inlet thereof and a stationary cutter 13a on top of the opposite exit end thereof. A blow nozzle 25 and a weft introducing duct 26 are disposed immediately above and below the region of air jet from the main weft picking nozzle 13, respectively, in facing relation to each other. An air guide 27 is located adjacently to the exit of the air duct 26 and a weft sensor 28 of photoelectric transmission type is provided within this air guide. A suction pipe 29 having a bent portion, as shown by phantom line in Fig. 2, is provided adjacently to the exit of the air guide 27 and a blow nozzle 30 is connected to the bent portion of the suction pipe 29 for producing air jet toward a trash box (not shown). The main weft picking nozzle 13, blow nozzle 25, weft introducing duct 26, air guide 27 and suction pipe 29 are all mounted on a slay of the weaving loom for movement therewith. Behind the swinging area of these parts 13, 25, 26, 27, 29 are provided a motor 31 and an air cylinder 33. A drive roller 32 is operatively connected to the motor 31 to be driven thereby while a follower roller 34 is mounted to the air cylinder 30 so that extending motion of the cylinder causes the follower roller 34 to be brought into contact engagement with its associated drive roller 32 in the region between the weft introducing duct 26 and the air guide 27. Supply of air under pressure to the main weft picking nozzle 13 and blow nozzle 25, 30 is controlled by solenoid-operated two-way valves V7, V8 and V9, respectively. Supply of air under pressure to the air cylinder 33 is controlled by a solenoid-operated three-way valve V10. As indicated in Fig. 14, operation of the solenoid-operated valves V1 - V4, V6 - V10, motors 2, 4, 31, M, and solenoid 9 are all controlled by a computer control C which is provided independently of a main control apparatus for the weaving loom. The control C is adapted to control the operation of the solenoids and motors from signals which are transmitted from the weft-break sensors 11, 24, weft sensor 28, and cheese wound diameter sensor 7. Diagrams (a) through (c) of Fig. 15 show flow charts of control program for handling a weft in the event of occurrence of a weft break at any position between the weft supply cheese 3 and the main weft picking nozzle 13. The following will describe the operation of the above-described apparatus with reference to the flow charts, as well as to the drawings. Figs. 1 and 2 show a state wherein a weft yarn Y is being fed along its normal path of movement during weaving operation of the loom. If a break has occurred in the weft Y at any position on the weft path between the cheese 3 and the main weft picking nozzle 13, this break is detected by the weft-break sensor 11 or 24, which then transmits to the computer control C a signal representative of a failure in weft feeding. In response to this signal, the control C commands a loom stop to the loom's control unit, which then causes the loom to stop its weaving operation with the main picking nozzle 13 on the slay positioned adjacent to the cloth fell of woven fabric. After the loom has been stopped, it is then rotated reverse for a predetermined amount thereby to swing the weft picking nozzle 13 to its most retracted position (or threading position) as indicated by phantom line in Fig. 2. After such a reverse rotation of the loom, the control C causes the solenoid for valve V3 and also the solenoid 9 to be energized (or turned on) thereby to open the blow nozzles 20A, 20B and to move the stop pin 9a away from the weft winding surface 8b. If the above break has occurred in the weft Y between the weft measuring and storage device 8 and the main weft picking nozzle 13, as indicated by phantom line in Fig. 4 or Fig. 5, the control C responding to a signal from the weftbreak sensor 11, or a signal representative of presence of weft in the weft introducing duct 10, energizes the solenoid for valve V2 for a predetermined period of time to open the blow nozzle 12 for the same predetermined time period. In the event that the weft break has occurred specifically between the weft guide nozzle 16 and the main weft picking nozzle 13, as indicated in Fig. 4, the leading end portion of the weft Y is blown into the weft discarding passage 15c and further into the weft discarding pipe 18, as shown by solid line, by air jet from the blow nozzles 20A, 20B. With the stop pin 9a positioned away from engagement with the weft winding surface 8b and the blow nozzle 12 opened for the above predetermined time period, windings of weft Y1 on the winding surface 8b are released therefrom and blown into the nozzle block 15 by air jet frorn the blow nozzle 12. Thus, the weft Y1 on the weft winding surface 8b is transferred to the region of the weft discarding pipe 18. In the event that the weft break has occurred between the weft measuring and storage device 8 and the weft guide nozzle 16, as indicated by phantom line in Fig. 5, the windings of weft Y1 on the weft winding surface 8b are released therefrom by air jet from the blow nozzle 12 and then transferred to the region of the weft discarding pipe 18 by air jets from the blow nozzles 20A, 20B. In either case of the above weft breaks in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, part of the weft Y1 is discharged into the trash box 19 through the weft discarding pipe 18, while other part the weft Y1 then extending from the weft winding tube 8a is retained in the weft discarding pipe 18 under the influence of air jets from the blow nozzles 20A, 20B. When the blow nozzle 12 completes air injection for the above predetermined time period, the control C deenergizes (or turns off) the solenoid 9, thereby moving the stop pin 9a into engagement with the weft winding surface 8b. The control C then causes the motor M to be rotated for a predetermined amount, rotating the weft winding tube 8a for a predetermined number of turns thereby to form a reserve weft Y3 with a predetermined number of windings round the weft winding surface 8b, as shown in Fig. 6. After such reserve weft winding, the control C deener-gizes the solenoid for valve V3 and simultaneously energizes the solenoid for valve V4, thereby shutting off the air jets from the blow nozzles 20A, 20B and opening the blow nozzles 21A, 21B. Thus, retaining of the weft Y1 in the pipe 18 by air jet is transferred from the blow nozzles 20A, 20B to the blow nozzle 21A, and a suction is produced in the weft exit passage 15b of the nozzle block 15 by air jet from the blow nozzle 21B. After injection of air jets from the blow nozzles 21A, 21B, the solenoid for valve V6 is energized for a predetermined period of time to actuate the weft clamp 40 for holding the weft Y1 in the weft discarding passage 15c and also to rotate the rotor 17 for a predetermined amount in counterclockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 6. Incidentally, Fig. 7 shows the rotor 17 on its way of rotation. Portion of the weft Y1 passed through the rotor 17 is pulled by rotation of the rotor 17 toward the weft exit passage 15b. The weft Y1, which is moved into the weft receiving grooves 17b, 17c during the rotation of the rotor 17, will not be nipped by and between the rotor 17 and the nozzle block 15. The portion of the weft Y1 in the weft discarding passage 15c between the weft clamp 40 and the rotor 17 is tensioned while the latter is rotated, so that the weft Y1 is placed in pressing contact with the cutter 22, as shown in Fig. 7, which then cuts the weft. The weft end Y21 cut off from the weft Y1 is brought adjacent to the weft exit passage 15b in a bent state by the rotor 17, as shown in Fig. 8, where the cut end Y21 is introduced into the weft exit passage 15b by suction. It is noted that weft exit passage 15b is smaller in diameter than the weft guide nozzle 16 and, therefore, it is difficult for a weft end in a bent state to be inserted into such weft exit passage 15b unless the weft end is positioned in the region of suction adjacent to the passage. Apparently it becomes more difficult to insert the end when handling a weft which is larger in diameter or less flexible in quality. For threading such a passage with a weft successfully, it is necessary for the weft end to be brought very close to the inlet of the passage where the weft end is subjected to suction which pulls the end into the passage. In this embodiment of the invention, this is accomplished by cutting the weft Y1 at a predetermined position defined by the cutter 22 so that the weft end Y21 is presented to the inlet opening of the weft exit passage 15b where suction is produced by air flow through the passage. Thus, the cut end Y21 of weft can be inserted into the weft exit passage 15b as shown in Fig. 8. The solenoid for valve V6, after being energized for the predetermined time period, is deenergized to retract the weft clamp 40 from the weft discarding passage 15c and the rotor 17 to rotate reverse in clockwise direction to its original position. Thus, the weft portion Y1 cut off from the weft Y2 is released from the weft clamp 40 and discharged into the trash box 19. On the other hand, the weft Y2 having its cut end Y21 introduced into the weft exit passage 15b of the nozzle block 15 is pulled into the guide nozzle 16 by suction while the rotor 17 is rotated reverse. Thus, threading the guide nozzle 16 with weft Y2, or insertion of the weft through the guide nozzle, is completed as shown in Fig. 9. After the rotor 17 has returned to its original position, the solenoid 9 is energized, moving the stop pin 9a away from the weft winding surface 8b. Then, the solenoids for valves V7, V8, V9 are energized to activate the main weft picking nozzle 13 and the blow nozzles 25, 30, respectively, so that air flow is produced which is directed from the blow nozzle 25 toward the inlet 26a of the weft introducing duct 26, moving across an air jet then issued from the main weft picking nozzle 13. Simultaneously, air flow is generated in the suction pipe 29, developing vacuum in the same pipe. The weft Y2 in the guide nozzle 16 is blown into the main picking nozzle 13 while pulling the reserve windings of weft Y3 from the weft winding surface 8b with the aid of air jet from the guide nozzle 16. The weft Y2 blown into the weft picking nozzle 13 is flown out therefrom. The air jet from the picking nozzle 13 meets with the air jet from the blow nozzle 25 and is diverted into the weft introducing duct 26, so the leading end of the weft Y2 coming out from the picking nozzle 13 is deflected to enter into the duct 26 without being picked into a shed. The leading end of the weft Y2 subjected to the air jet from the blow nozzle 25 is moved past the region between the paired rollers 32, 34 and reaches the weft sensor 28. If the control C fails to receive a weft-detected signal from the sensor 28 in a predetermined period of time, the control deenergizes the solenoids for valves V4, V7, V8, V9 and the solenoid 9, shutting off the air jets from the blow nozzles 21A, 21B, weft picking nozzle 13, blow nozzles 25, 30 and also moving the stop pin 9a into engagement with the weft winding surface 8b, with simultaneous alarming by an alarm device 35 (Fig. 14). When the control C receives a weft-detected signal from the sensor 28 in the predetermined period of time, the control responding to that signal deenergizes the solenoids for valves V4, V7, V8 and also the solenoid 9, thereby stopping air injection from the guide nozzle 16, main weft picking nozzle 13 and blow nozzle 25 and moving the stop pin 9a into engagement with the weft winding surface 8b. In turn, the control C energizes the solenoid for valve V10 to actuate the cylinder 33 in extending direction, which causes the follower roller 34 to be brought into contact engagement with its associated drive roller 32 thereby nipping the weft Y2 there between as shown in Fig. 10. Subsequently, the control C activates the motor M to rotate the weft winding tube 8a for a predetermined number of turns for forming reserve windings of weft on the weft winding surface 8b. After this reserve weft winding, the control C activates the motor 31 to rotate the roller 32. The weft Y2 is pulled by the paired rollers 32, 34. The weft tensioned by such pulling is cut by the stationary cutter 13 on the main weft nicking nozzle 13. The end portion cut off the weft Y2 is pulled by the rollers 32, 34 and discarded by the blow nozzle 30 into a trash box (not shown). When the entire cut weft end weft has noved past the air guide 27, a signal is generated by the sensor 28 which is representative of no weft being detected. In response to this signal, the control C causes the motor 31 to be stopped and the solenoids for valves V10, V9 to be deenergized, so the air cylinder 33 is operated in its retracting direction to move the roller 34 away from its associated roller 32 and the blow nozzle 30 is closed. Thereafter, the loom is resumed to its starting position ready for its weaving operation. If a weft break has occurred between the weft cheese 3 and the measuring and storage device 8, as shown in Fig. 11, the control C responds to a no-weft-detected signal from the weft-break sensor 11 and, in response thereto, commands a loom stop to the loom's control unit which in response thereto causes the loom to stop its operation and then to rotate reverse for a predetermined amount. Upon such reverse rotation of the loom, the control C turns on the solenoids for valves V3 and the solenoid 9, and energizes the solenoid for valve V2 for a predetermined period of time, in the same manner as in the above-described previous cases. By so doing, the weft including the windings of weft on the weft winding surface 8b is discharged into the trash box 19, as shown in Fig. 12. Thereafter, the control C executes a control program different from that executed for the previous cases. After the solenoid for valve V2 has been energized for the above time period, the control C responds to information on the current wound diameter of the cheese 3 which is detected by the sensor 7 and operates the motor 4 accordingly so as to move the weft releasing nozzle 6 to a position spaced from the periphery of the cheese 3 at a distance suitable for weft releasing from the cheese 3. Then, the control C energizes the solenoids for valves V1, V2 to open the blow nozzles 6, 12, respectively. Subsequently, the control C activates the motor 2. Thus, the weft cheese 3 is rotated in weft releasing direction while being subjected to air jet from the blow nozzle 6, so that the leading end Y4 of weft on the cheese 3 is removed from its periphery and blown into the convergent guide conduit 14 by air jet issued from the blow nozzle 6. Air jet from the blow nozzle 6 is directed toward the inlet of the introducing duct 10 by the air collecting action of the air guide conduit 14, so that the weft leading end Y4 is guided and introduced into the duct 10, as shown in Fig. 13. The weft end Y4 is blown out of the weft winding tube 8a by air jet from the blow nozzle 12 and then transferred to the weft discarding pipe 18 and retained there by air jets from the blow nozzles 20A, 20B. If the control C fails to receive a weft-detected signal from the weft-break sensor 11 in a predetermined period of time after the weft leading end Y4 has been removed from the weft cheese 3, the control C causes the solenoid 9 to be deenergized the motor 2 to be stopped and the solenoids for valves V1, V2, V3, to be deenergized. Simultaneuosly the alarm device 35 is actuated for alarming. When the control C receives the weft-detected signal from the sensor 11 in the above time period, the control C causes the solenoid 9 to be deenergized to move the stop pin 9a into engagement with the weft winding surface 8b, the motor 2 to be stopped, and the solenoids for valves V1, V2 to be deenergized to close the blow nozzles 6, 12. Then, the motor M is driven to rotate for a predetermined amount to form reserve windings of weft on the weft winding surface 8b. Thereafter, the same steps as those described with reference to the previous cases are performed for the operations subsequent to formation of reserve windings of weft. As it is apparent from the foregoing, it is essential that the weft should be inserted into the guide nozzle 16 for successfully threading the main weft picking nozzle 13. It is practically impossible, however, to insert the leading end of the weft directly into the guide nozzle 16 only by the aid of air jet from the weft winding tube 8a. For successful threading, it is necessary to present the leading end of the weft to the inlet of the guide nozzle 16. This can be made possible by cutting the weft beforehand at a predetermined position upstream of the guide nozzle. In the above-described embodiment, the weft is cut at a predetermined position by rotation of the rotor 17 thereby to form a cut end and this weft end is brought to the region of suction of the guide nozzle 16. Thus, the apparatus of this embodiment, in which the weft is passed through the guide nozzle 16 with its cut end inserted thereinto first, can handle successfully even a thick or less flexible weft. According to the above embodiment of the invention, no matter where a weft break takes place, the resulting residual windings of weft on the weft winding surface 8b can be discarded through the weft discarding passage 15c and pipe 18. That is, discarding of residual windings of weft can be accomplished by a series of the same operations which include air blowing by the blow nozzles 20A, 20B, 21A, releasing the stop pin 9a from the weft winding surface 8b, and air blowing by the blow nozzle 12 for a predetermined period of time to transfer the weft to the region of air blowing by the nozzles 20A, 20B for retaining the weft in that region. Thus, the control program to be executed for disposing of the residual windings of weft in the event of a weft break can be simplified in comparison with such programs that are designed to handle the weft in a different way for each different condition of weft break and, therefore, weft sensors which are required for different conditions of weft break become unnecessary. It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but it may be practiced in other various ways, as exemplified below. Referring to a modified embodiment shown in Fig. 16, there is provided a rotor 36 rotatable in alternate directions in the nozzle block 15 by reciprocal movement of the toothed rack 38. This rotor 36 has a pair of pins 36a imnlanted in the periphery thereof. Weft receiving grooves 17e are formed in the inner periphery of the nozzle block 15 along the inoving path of the paired pins 36a of tl-1e rotor 36. In this embodiment, the cut end of a weft can be presented properly to the inlet of the weft exit passage 15b by rotation of the rotor 36. Referring to Figs. 17 and 18 showing another embodiment of the invention, the nozzle block 15 is disposed adjacently to the main weft picking nozzle 13 in its fully retracted position so that a weft is inserted from the nozzle block 15 directly into the main picking nozzle 13. The nozzle block 15 in this embodiment is formed on its lateral side with a slit opening 15d for receiving thereinto a weft swinging between the main picking nozzle 13 and the nozzle block 15. Thus feeding of a weft from the nozzle block 15 to the main picking nozzle 13 for both threading and picking can be performed. Figs. 19 and 20 show still another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the cut end of weft is presented to the suction at the inlet of the weft exit passage 15b by means of a linearly movable rod 37. The rod 37 is moved together with the weft clamp 40 to their operative positions shown in Fig. 20 by the cylinder 23, and the rod is formed with a weft receiving groove 37a. Fig. 19 shows a state where the weft Y1 extends through the nozzle block 15 into the weft discarding pipe 18 and retained in the pipe by air jet. As the air cylinder 23 is actuated to extend, moving the rod 37 and the weft clamp 40 to their operative positions, the weft Y1 is clamped by the weft clamp 40 and pulled by the rod 37. Thus, the weft Y1 is cut at a predetermined position by the cutter 22 and the cut end of the weft is presented precisely to the inlet of the weft exit passage 15b. The weft yarn handling apparatus for a jet looms includes means 8a for unwinding the weft from a weft supply cheese 3. The length of the unwound weft yarn Y is measured and the yarn is stored on a drum 8b of the measuring and storing device 8 The weft Y thus measured and reserved is then transferred to the main nozzle 13 of an air jet loom and then inserted through the shed by fluid injected from the main picking nozzle 13. On the downtream side of the weft measuring and storage device 8 there is a nozzle block arrangement 15; 12, 8a, 15a, 15b, 16 for transferring weft yarn from the measuring and storage device 8 to the main nozzle 13 and in addition means 40 for retaining weft yarn in the case of a weft yarn break. The nozzle block further includes means 22 for cutting the weft Y at a predetermined position while said part of the weft Y is being retained by said retaining means 40. One cut end of weft yarn Y is blown or sucked to a trash box 19 and the other end is guided to the region of suction adjacent to the inlet of weft injection main nozzle 13. The arrangement is operated automatically by a control C, that starts operating when a weft yarn break is detected that required threading of the main nozzle 13. The arrangment provides for a non complicated, fast threading of the main nozzle 13 and low failure rate. In the weft handling apparatus of the invention wherein a weft is cut at a predetermined position and the cut end of the weft is brought and presented to the region of suction adjacent to the inlet of a weft injection nozzle by weft end transferring means such as the rotor, insertion of a weft into the injection nozzle can be performed with a higher degree of success without making the apparatus large in size.	A weft yarn handling apparatus in a jet loom wherein a length of weft unwound from a weft supply cheese (3) is measured and reserved by a weft measuring and storage device (8) of winding type and the weft (Y) thus measured and reserved is then inserted through a shed by fluid injected from a main picking nozzle (13), said weft handling apparatus characterized by: nozzle means (16) disposed downstream of said weft measuring and storage device (8) and upstream of said main picking nozzle (13), in a passage definded by the weft (Y) for guiding the weft therethrough and inserting the same weft through said jet; means (15, 20A, 20B) disposed adjacent to the inlet of said nozzle means (16) for pneumatically retaining part of the weft (Y), said retaining means having a weft inlet port (15a) opended toward said weft measuring and storage device (8) and a weft discarding passage (15c); means (12, 8a) disposed adjacent to said weft measuring and storage device (8) for transferring the weft (Y) from said weft measuring and storage device (8) to said weft inlet port (15a) of said retaining means (15, 20A, 20B) by the action of an air flow; means (22) for cutting the weft (Y) at a predetermined position in said weft discarding passage (15c) of said weft retaining means (15, 20A, 20B), while said part of the weft is being retained by said retaining means ; and weft end transferring means (17) incorporated in said retaining means (15, 20A, 20B) for guiding and presenting the weft end cut by said cutting means (22) in said weft discarding passage (15c) to the region of suction adjacent to the inlet of said nozzle means (16). A weft handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1 with futher means (13a) for cutting the weft yarn (Y) and being disposed downstream the main picking nozzle (13). A weft handling apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, furth comprising means (25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 27, 29, 30) for removing weft yarn (Y) from the weft yarn path and being disposed downstream the main picking nozzle (13). A weft handling apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, said weft end transferring means (17) including rotable guiding means for changing the path of weft yarn (Y). A weft handling apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 further including means (6, 14, 10, 12) for transferring the weft yarn (Y) end from a weft supply cheese (3) to said weft storing and mesuring device (8). A weft handling apparatus as claimed in claim 5, said means for transferring the weft yarn to the weft storing and measuring device further including means (4, 5, 7) for controlling the position of a blow nozzle (6) in relation to the wound diameter of the weft supply cheese (3). An air jet loom comprising a weft handling apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6.	TOYODA AUTOMATIC LOOM WORKS; KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYODA JIDOSHOKKI SEISAKUSHO	MURATA MASAHIKO; MURATA, MASAHIKO; MURATA, MASAHIKO, C/O KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYODA
EP-0488958-B1	488,958	EP	B1	EN	19,960,417	1,992	20,100,220	new	D01H9	D01H13	D01H9, B65H49, D01H13	D01H 13/04, D01H 9/00B	An improved creel of a ring spinning frame	In a ring spinning frame provided with two parallel alignments of bobbin hangers 8, a plurality of roving guides 30 is arranged in an alignment at an intermediate position between the two alignments of bobbin hangers 8, wherein a first group of roving guides 30 is formed by roving guides 30 alternately positioned in the roving guide arrangement and a second group of roving guides 30 is formed by the remained roving guides 30 thereof, an improved creel mechanism 40 for relatively displacing the first group of roving guides 30 and the second group of roving guides 30 whereby a first intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 and a second intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 are alternately formed along the alignment of the roving guides 30, wherein the first intervening space ensures a free passage of a full packaged roving bobbin FB but the second intervening space does not permit a free passage of the full packaged roving bobbin FB, the above-mentioned formation of two intervening spaces being created alternately, at each intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30, by the reciprocal motion of the displacing mechanism 40.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the InventionThe present invention relates to a creel mechanism of a ring spinning frame provided with conventional mechanism except the creel mechanism, more particularly an improvement of the creel mechanism of the conventional ring spinning frame. 2. Description of the Related ArtJapanese Unexamined Patent Publication Sho 64 (1989)-52828 discloses a unique creel mechanism applied to a conventional ring spinning frame provided with a plurality of draft parts arranged at each side thereof, wherein two alignments of bobbin hangers are arranged along the longitudinal direction of said ring spinning frame, a plurality of roving guides, each provided with two hook-shaped guide elements, are arranged in an alignment at an intermediate position between said two alignments of said bobbin hangers, in parallel thereto, so that rovings from roving bobbins supported by corresponding pair of said bobbin hangers, one of which is a bobbin hanger of a backside alignment of said two alignments of bobbin hangers and the other is a corresponding bobbin hanger of a front side alignment of said two alignments of bobbin hangers, facing the above-mentioned front bobbin hanger, and each roving guide member is connected to a solid portion of the creel mechanism by way of a flexible element such as a spring. Accordingly, each roving guide member can be displaced from the standby position coinciding to the above-mentioned intermediate position by coming into contact with a full packaged bobbin, which is being displaced to the corresponding back bobbin hanger, without applying a positive bending force, and of returning from the displaced position to the standby position after the above-mentioned insertion of the full packaged roving bobbin. Japanese Examined Patent Publication Hei 2 (1990)-38500 discloses another type of creel mechanism of the conventional ring spinning frame wherein two alignments of bobbin hangers arranged in the same condition as the first mentioned prior art and a plurality of flat roving guide members, each provided with a pair of hooked shaped guide elements, arranged at an intermediate position between the above-mentioned two alignments of bobbin hangers, and said two roving guide elements of each roving guide member are arranged along a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the ring spinning frame. In the first mentioned prior art, however, since the two roving guide elements of each roving guide member are parallel to the alignments of the bobbin hangers, at the time of each unit operation of the roving bobbin exchange operation, wherein two almost exhausted roving bobbins supported by two adjacent bobbin hangers of the backside alignment of the bobbin hangers are simultaneously exchanged with full packaged roving bobbins, respectively, when the full packaged roving bobbins are to be simultaneously exchanged with the corresponding almost exhausted roving bobbins supported by the two adjacent bobbin hangers of the backside alignment, each of the full packaged roving bobbins must pass through a space between two adjacent roving guides. This space, however, is not sufficient to allow a free passage therethrough of a full packaged roving bobbin, and thus the outside surface of the full packaged roving bobbin is forced into contact with the roving guide members and pushes the roving guides against the resilient force of the spring element of the roving guide, and accordingly, the possibility of an abrasion of the outside roving layer of the full packaged roving bobbin by the roving guide members is created, and the outside roving layer of the full packaged roving bobbin may be damaged. In addition to the above-mentioned problem, it is also necessary to cover the spring elements with a cover piece, to prevent a possible deposition of free fibers on the spring elements. The second mentioned prior art has the following problem, i.e., since the intervening distance between two adjacent roving guide members is double the spindle pitch, the diameter of the full packaged roving bobbin is slightly smaller than the above-mentioned intervened space, e.g., 7 mm in a normal condition of the spinning operation. Therefore, to ensure a free passage of the full packaged roving bobbin through the above-mentioned space when carrying out the roving bobbin exchange operation, it is necessary to use a flat shaped roving guide member having a precise thickness and the roving guide members must be carefully arranged to maintain a uniform intervening space, to thereby guarantee the free passage of the full packaged roving bobbins between the respective two adjacent roving guide members. In our experience, however, it is evident that the preparation of such roving guide members having a precise uniform thickness, and the above-mentioned precise arrangement of the roving guide members, are very difficult, and therefore, it is apparent that the second mentioned prior art is not practical. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONTherefore, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved creel mechanism by which the above-mentioned problems can be solved according to Claim 1. With the claimed improved creel mechanism , when a full packaged roving bobbin is required to pass through an intervening space between two adjacent roving guides towards a corresponding bobbin hanger of the back alignment thereof, any possible interference by the above-mentioned roving guides is eliminated. That is, in a ring spinning frame provided with a plurality of draft parts arranged at each side thereof, a front alignment of bobbin hangers for supporting the respective roving bobbins and a back alignment of bobbin hangers for supporting respective roving bobbins arranged at each side thereof in parallel along the lengthwise direction of the spinning frame, a plurality of roving guides arranged at an intermediate position between the above-mentioned two alignments of bobbin hangers, wherein the known system of arranging roving bobbins characterized by a two-step tapered arrangement of roving bobbins is applied, and a mechanism for relatively changing the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides is adopted. Therefore, before the roving bobbin exchange operation is carried out for each pair of almost exhausted roving bobbins held by the respective bobbin hangers, one of which is the bobbin hanger of the back alignment, while the other one is the bobbin hanger of the front alignment and faces the above-mentioned back bobbin hanger, before the full packaged roving bobbin is displaced to the above-mentioned back bobbin hanger, the intervening space between two adjacent roving guide corresponding to the bobbin hangers is enlarged by relatively displacing the above-mentioned two roving guides by the action of the displacing mechanism mentioned above. Accordingly, each full packaged roving bobbin can be freely displaced through the above-mentioned intervening space between the corresponding two adjacent roving guides, and thus any possible damage to the full packaged roving bobbin due to a possible contact with the roving guides can be satisfactorily prevented. BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the creel mechanism of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the creel mechanism shown in Fig. 1, in a condition that the mechanism is actuated; Fig. 3 is a side view of a creel portion of a ring spinning frame shown in Fig. 4, wherein a supplemental rail is omitted; Fig. 4 is a partly omitted cross sectional side view of a ring spinning frame; Fig. 5 is a front view of the creel mechanism shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is a plan view of another embodiment of the creel mechanism according to the present invention, indicating a standby condition thereof; Figs. 7 and 8 are plan views of the creel mechanism shown in Fig. 6, indicating the actuated condition thereof; Fig. 9A is a plan view of further modified embodiment of the creel mechanism according to the present invention; Fig. 9B is an enlarged plan view of a unit link motion mechanism shown in Fig. 9A; Fig. 10 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of the creel mechanism shown in Fig. 9A; and Fig. 11 is partly omitted cross sectional side view of a ring spinning frame utilizing the creel mechanism shown in Fig. 9A. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSThe mechanism and function of the improved creel mechanism applied to a ring spinning frame provided with two alignments of bobbin hangers, i.e., the two-step tapered arrangement of roving bobbins, according to the present invention is hereinafter explained with reference to the attached drawings. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, a plurality of vertical pillars 3 are rigidly mounted on a machine frame 2 of a ring spinning frame 1 in an alignment along the lengthwise direction thereof. A horizontal supporting bracket 4 is secured at an intermediate position of each vertical pillar 3 and a horizontal creel bar bracket 5 secured to the supporting bracket 4 is extended outwards from the bracket 4 at each side of the spinning frame 1. A pair of creel bars 6 and 7, each having a respective length extended for the entire length of the creel portion, are rigidly supported by the creel bar brackets 5 at respective positions therebelow in parallel and along the lengthwise direction of the spinning frame 1. A plurality of bobbin hangers 8, which number is 1/2 of the total number of spindles SP at each side of the spinning frame 1, are rigidly supported by each one of the creel bars 6 and 7, such that an identical intervened pitch P is provided between two adjacent bobbin hangers 8 of each creel bar in a condition such that a vertical imaginary plane, involving an axis of a bobbin hanger 8 of the creel bar 6 and an axis of a bobbin hanger 8 of the creel bar 7 facing the above-mentioned bobbin hanger 8 of the creel bar 6, is perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of the spinning frame. The above-mentioned pitch P is double that of the spindle pitch. To simplify the following explanation, the bobbin hangers 8 of the creel bar 6 and the bobbin hangers 8 of the creel bar 7 are hereinafter referred to as the front bobbin hanger 8 and the back bobbin hangers 8 respectively, and the back bobbin hanger 8 facing the above-mentioned front bobbin hanger 8 are hereinafter referred to as a pair of facing bobbin hangers PB . A horizontal rail bracket 11 extended to both sides of the ring spinning frame 1 is rigidly secured to the top of each vertical pillar 3, and a supplemental rail 12 is rigidly secured to the free end portion of the horizontal brackets 11 at each side of the spinning frame in parallel to the lengthwise direction of the spinning frame 1. The supplemental rail 11 has a function of temporarily receiving a bobbin carriage 13 provided with a plurality of bobbin hangers for supporting full packaged roving bobbins, displaced from a roving room, and for discharging the bobbin carriage 13 having almost exhausted roving bobbins, by way of the above-mentioned bobbin hangers, therefrom. The bobbin carriage 13 is provided with plurality of bobbin hangers 13a in a condition such that a pitch between two adjacent bobbin hangers 13a is identical to the pitch between two adjacent pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB . In practice, full packaged roving bobbins FB are carried to the supplemental rail 12 before carrying out the roving bobbin exchange operation, by displacing the bobbin carriage 13 to the supplemental rail 12, so as to use for carry out the roving bobbin exchange operation with respect to either one of the front alignment 9 of the roving bobbins and the back alignment 10 of the roving bobbins. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, a metal bracket 21 is secured to a bottom surface of each creel bar bracket 5. The metal bracket 21 is provided with a rectangular recessed portion 22 opened upwards, and slide bar supporting metals 23 are disposed in the rectangular recessed portion 22. A pair of slide bars 24 and 25 are slidably disposed in the respective spaces between two adjacent slide bar supporting metals 23 in a condition such that these slide bars 24 and 25 extend in parallel to the lengthwise direction of the spinning frame 1. Each one of the slide bars 24 and 25 occupies the space covering the front alignment 9 of the roving bobbins and the back alignment 10 of the roving bobbins, and each one of slide bars 24 and 25 is provided with a plurality of roving guides 30, to a number identical to one half of the total number of spindles arranged at each side of the spinning frame, rigidly mounted thereon with a pitch between two adjacent roving guides 30 of each alignment thereof which is double the pitch P between two adjacent pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB . Each roving guide 30 is provided with a guide head 32 secured to a tip portion of a L-shaped supporting rod 31, the top end of which is secured to either one of the slide bars 24 and 25. As shown in Fig. 1, in the alignment of the roving guides 30, the roving guides 30 are alternately secured to the side bars 24 and 25. As shown in Fig. 4, the position of the head 32 of each roving guide 30 is designed to occupy an intermediate position between a front alignment 9 of the roving bobbins and a back alignment 10 of the roving bobbins in a condition such that each roving guide 30 is positioned in a space between two adjacent pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB . The guide head 32 of each roving guide 30 is provided with a cutout portion having a semi-circular shape, and a pair of projected engaging portions 34 are engaged with the center of the above-mentioned cutout portion, formed at both terminals of the cutout portion, one of the projected engaging portions 34 of each guide head 32 functioning to guide a roving supplied from the roving bobbin supported by a front bobbin hanger 8 of a pair of facing bobbin hangers PB to a trumpet 15 of a corresponding draft part, and the other of the projected engaging portions 34 functioning to guide a roving supplied from the roving bobbin supported by a back bobbin hanger 8 of an adjacent pair of facing bobbin hangers PB , to a trumpet 15 of a corresponding draft part of the spinning frame 1. The shape of the projected engaging portion 34 can be modified and can be made in a shape of a hook. A mechanism 40 for relatively displacing the slide bars 24 and 25 along the alignment of the roving guides 30 is disposed at an end portion of the spinning frame 1, and the ends of the slide bars 24 and 25 are connected to the displacing mechanism 40. That is, in the displacing mechanism 40, a motor bracket 41 is rigidly mounted on a supporting bracket 4 of the creel bracket 5 rigidly supported by the creel pillar 3 disposed at an end portion of the spinning frame 1, for example, an end portion in the proximity of a gear end frame of the spinning frame 1. A motor 42 is provided with a speed reduction mechanism (not shown), and can be reciprocally rotated in the normal and reverse directions by a predetermined number of rotations. A disc 43 is rigidly mounted on an output shaft 42a of the motor 42, the output shaft 42a being directed downward. A pair of pins 44 are mounted on the disc 43 at respective positions biased from the center of the disc 43. A lever 45a, turnably mounted on one of the pins 44, is turnably connected to an end portion of the slide bar 24 with a pin 27a, while another lever 45b, turnably mounted on another one of pins 44, is turnably connected to an end portion of the slide bar 24 with a pin 27b. In relation to the above-mentioned displacing mechanism 40, the relative arrangement of the roving guides 30 is designed to satisfy the following condition, i.e., an imaginary plane involves the axial centers of the front and back bobbin hangers 8 forming the above-mentioned pair of facing bobbin hangers PB are positioned to pass through a center of the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 of the alignment thereof. The intervening space between the above-mentioned two adjacent roving guides 30 is changed by the displacing mechanism 40 such that the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 a corresponding pair of facing bobbin hangers PB , to which the roving bobbin exchange operation must be applied, is enlarged to a space L1 sufficient to guarantee a free passage of a full packaged roving bobbin FB therethrough, and the intervening space adjacent to the first-mentioned space, corresponding to the adjacent pair of facing bobbin hangers PB is narrowed to L2, which is smaller than the diameter of the full packaged roving bobbin FB but larger than the diameter of the almost exhausted roving bobbin SB. It must be noted that the above-mentioned two adjacent intervening spaces L1 and L2 are defined by each of three roving guides 30 successively aligned along the alignment of the roving guides 30. As explained hereinbefore, the above-mentioned creel mechanism is utilized for carrying out the roving bobbin exchange operation at each side of the ring spinning frame 1, wherein the two-step tapered arrangement of the roving bobbins is applied. Therefore, before starting the spinning operation, full packaged roving bobbins FB are suspended by a plurality of pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB , alternately along the lengthwise direction of the spinning frame 1, and the almost half exhausted roving bobbins HB are suspended by the remaining plurality of pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB . Until the above-mentioned half exhausted roving bobbins HB reach an almost exhausted condition, the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30, which involves an imaginary plane passing the axial centers of the front and back bobbin hangers 8 of the second mentioned pair of the facing bobbin hangers PB , is enlarged to the above-mentioned space L1, and conversely, the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30, which is adjacent to the above-mentioned enlarged intervening space, is narrowed to L2 by relatively displacing the slide bars 24 and 25, which relative displacing motion of the slide bars 24 and 25 is created by the action of the displacing mechanism 40. When the above-mentioned almost half exhausted roving bobbins HB become almost exhausted condition, after the completion of the roving piecing operation and the threading operation of the respective rovings to the corresponding roving heads 32, the above-mentioned almost exhausted roving bobbins SB are taken from the respective bobbin hangers 8 and mounted on the corresponding bobbin hangers of a supplemental rail 12 of the spinning frame 1, and thereafter a pair of full packaged roving bobbins HB taken from the supplemental rail 12 are displaced to the creel portion of the spinning frame 1 from a direction perpendicular to the alignments of the bobbin hangers 8, thereby transfer the full packaged roving bobbins FB to the respective pairs of the facing bobbin hangers PB from which the almost exhausted roving bobbins have been taken. As explained hereinbefore, the intervening space involves the imaginary plane passing the axial centers of the bobbin hangers 8 of the above-mentioned pair of the facing bobbin hangers PB , from which the almost exhausted roving bobbins 8 have been taken, is enlarged to L1, and therefore, the full packaged roving bobbin FB can be freely displaced through the above-mentioned enlarged intervening space and suspended by the corresponding back bobbin hanger 8, without damage to the outer surface thereof. After completing the above-mentioned roving bobbin exchange operation, successively applied to all pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB from which the almost exhausted roving bobbins have been taken, and until a condition such that the half exhausted roving bobbins suspended by the remaining pairs of facing roving bobbins PB become almost exhausted condition, the intervening space involves the imaginary plane passing the axial centers of the front and back bobbin hangers 8 of the second mentioned pair of facing bobbin hangers PB is enlarged from the space L2 to L1, by a motion of the displacing mechanism 40 reverse to the previous motion mentioned above. When the roving bobbins suspended by the bobbin hangers 8 of the second mentioned pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB become almost exhausted condition, the roving bobbin exchange operation is carried out for the front and back bobbin hangers of the second mentioned pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB under a condition identical to the conditions for the above-mentioned operation applied to the first mentioned pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB . In the above-mentioned creel mechanism, the drive of the motor 42 of the displacing mechanism 40 is controlled by a control device (not shown) mounted on the spinning frame 1. That is, when the motor 42 receives a first electric signal, to be driven in the clockwise direction, the motor 42 drives the disc 45 in the clockwise direction, via the speed reduction mechanism 43, until the input of the first electric signal is stopped. On the other hand, when the motor 42 receives a second electric signal, to be driven in the counter-clockwise direction, the motor 42 drives the disc 45 in the counter-clockwise direction, via the speed reduction mechanism 43, until the input of the second electric signal is stopped. As already explained, the disc 45 is provided with a pair of pins 44a and 44b, and a pair of sensors 51 and 52 are mounted on the creel mechanism at the respective positions where at the sensor 51 detects the pin 44a when the disc 43 is turned in the clockwise direction in Fig. 1, while the sensor 52 detects the pin 44b when the disc 43 is turned in the counter-clockwise direction in Fig. 1. The above-mentioned inputs of the first and second electric signals are issued through the above-mentioned control device at the respective desired times, for example, at each completion of the roving bobbin exchange operation, to create the desired intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 and carry out the next roving bobbin exchange operation. The above-mentioned input of the first electric signal is stopped by the control device when the sensor 51 detects the pin 44a, and the above-mentioned input of the second electric signal is stopped by the control device when the sensor 52 detects the pin 44b. Since the electric circuit having the above-mentioned function of the control device can be designed without any particular knowledge in the normal skilled person in the art, a detailed explanation of the control device is omitted. In the above-mentioned embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, each roving guide 30 is always positioned at a position biased from the intermediate position between two adjacent imaginary planes defined by two pairs of facing bobbin hangers 30, and when the intermediate space between two adjacent roving guides 30 is to be changed from the distance L2 to the distance L1, and vice versa, these sliding bars 24 and 25 are simultaneously displaced in the respective opposite directions each other, by turning the disc 43 as already explained. In a modification of the first embodiment, however, each roving guide 30 is always positioned at an intermediate position between two adjacent imaginary planes defined by two adjacent pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB , and when the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 is to be changed from the distance Lo , not shown, which is identical to the pitch p defined hereinbefore, to the distance L1 or vice versa, the pair of roving guides, defined by a pair of facing roving bobbins PB for which the roving bobbin exchanging operation is to be carried out, are displaced to the respective directions to expand the intervening space therebetween to L1. Therefore, it must be recognized that the above-mentioned position of each roving guide 30 before the displacement motion thereof is a standby position which is maintained during the normal spinning operation. When the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 defined by a pair of facing roving guides PB for which the roving bobbin exchange operation is required, is to be enlarged the slide bars 24 and 25 are displaced towards the respective directions from the respective standby positions, so that the intervening space therebetween can be changed from p to L1, and under the condition that the adjacent intervening space between two roving guides 30, one of which is one of two roving guides 30 of the first mentioned pair of facing roving bobbins PB , is narrowed to L2. To displace the sliding bars 24 and 25 and create the above-mentioned relative displacement thereof, the disc 43 should be turned in such a way that, to enlarge the first mentioned intervening space, the disc 43 is turned from the standby condition in one direction, for example, the counter-clockwise direction, and stopped when the sensor 52 detects the pin 53a, and after completion of the roving bobbin exchange operation, the disc 43 is turned in the clockwise direction and returned to the standby condition. On the other hand, if the second mentioned space is to be enlarged, the disc 43 is turned from the standby condition in a direction reverse to the turning motion thereof mentioned above, for example, in the clockwise direction, and when the sensor 52b detects the pin 53b, the turning motion of the disc 43 is stopped so that the second mentioned intervening space is enlarged from the distance p to L1, and after completion of the roving bobbin exchange operation, the disc 43 is turned in the counterwise direction to be returned to the standby position. The second embodiment of the creel mechanism of the ring spinning frame, wherein the above-mentioned two-step taper arrangements of the roving bobbins is applied under conditions identical to those of the first embodiment of the present invention, is hereinafter explained in detail with reference to Figs. 6, 7 and 8. As it can be easily understood from these drawings, the relative positions of two adjacent roving guides 30 and a mechanism for displacing the slide bars 24 and 25 to create the respective space allowing the free passage of a full packaged roving bobbin FB to the back bobbin hanger 8 to which the roving bobbin exchange operation is to be applied, are different from the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 6, the roving guides 30 are alternately connected to the slide bars 24 and 25 such that, during the time between the successive roving bobbin exchange operations, each roving guides 30 is at a standby position such that the center thereof is on an imaginary plane defined by the axial centers of the front bobbin hanger and the back bobbin hanger of a pair of facing bobbin hangers PB . Therefore, the pitch of the arrangement of the roving guides 30 in the standby condition is identical to the pitch between two adjacent imaginary planes defined by the respective pairs of front and back bobbin hangers 8 which form two adjacent pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB respectively. The slide bar 24 is connected at one end thereof to a pneumatic cylinder 70a, by way of a piston 71a thereof, and the slide bar 25 is connected at one end to another pneumatic cylinder 70b, by way of a piston 71b. These pneumatic cylinders 70a and 70b form the displacing mechanism 40, and the ends of the slide bars 24 and 25 connected to the displacing mechanism 40 are positioned at both sides of the spinning frame 1. The pneumatic cylinders 70a and 70b displace the respective slide bars 24 and 25 in the following condition. Namely, before the roving bobbins suspended by the respective front and back bobbin hangers 8 of the first group pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB become almost exhausted condition, each roving guide 30 connected to the slide bar 24 is displaced to a corresponding adjacent roving guide 30 connected to the slide bar 25, which is at the standby position, by displacing the slide bar 24 for a predetermined distance L3, as shown in Fig. 7, sufficient to create a space to allow the free passage of a full packaged roving bobbin FB towards the corresponding back bobbin hangers 8 for which the roving bobbin exchange operation is required, and before the roving bobbins supported by the front and back bobbin hangers 8 of the second group pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB become almost exhausted condition, each roving guide 30 connected to the slide bar 25 is displaced to a corresponding adjacent roving guide 30 connected to the slide bar 24, which is at the standby position, by displacing the slide bar 25 for the above-mentioned distance L3 in a direction opposite to the direction of the first-mentioned displacement of the slide bar 24, and after completion of the respective roving bobbin exchange operations, the slide bars 24 and 25 are displaced to the standby positions, respectively, by the action of the displacing mechanism 40. Accordingly, the stroke of the piston rod 71a of the pneumatic cylinder 70a and that of the piston rod 71b of the pneumatic cylinder 70b are defined to satisfy the above-mentioned conditions. To ensure a smooth operation of the displacing mechanism 40, a known pneumatic cylinder provided with a speed controller, and a known pneumatic cylinder provided with a hydro-check unit, can be used for the displacing mechanism 40. It must be noted that such smooth operation of the displacement mechanism creates smooth and slow displacement of roving guides 30 so that any possible breakage of rovings can be prevented. As explained hereinbefore, the displacement motions of the slide bars 24 and 25 are carried out alternately in relation to the roving bobbin exchange operation applied to the first group pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB and that operation applied to second group pairs of facing bobbin hangers PB of the ring spinning frame 1. The third embodiment of the present invention is hereinafter explained in detail with reference to the drawings of Figs. 9A, 9B, 10 and 11. The creel mechanism is provided with a slide bar 26a, extended along the lengthwise center line of the spinning frame 1, slidably supported by the slide bar supporting brackets 23a having a similar construction and function to the slide bar supporting bracket 23 of the first embodiment of the present invention, and a stationary bar 26b extended along the slide bar 26a and stationarily supported by the slide bar supporting brackets 23a, and a displacing mechanism 40 having a mechanism identical to that of the first embodiment of the present invention, except for the disc 43. Therefore, the delaited explanation regarding the component element applied to the third element which is identical to that of the first embodiment, is omitted. The disc 43 is provided with a single pin 44c and a connecting bar 45c is turnably connected at one end thereof to the disc 43 by the pin 44c, and the other end of the connecting bar 45c is turnably connected to one end of the slide bar 26a by a pin 27c. Therefore, the slide motion of the slide bar 26a is created by the turning motion of the disc, in a condition identical to that of the first embodiment of the present invention. In this creel mechanism, the roving guide alignment is formed by a plurality of pairs of two adjacent roving guides 30 successively arranged along the slide bar 26a. Each pair of the roving guides 30 is mounted on a link mechanism 80 actuated by the relative displacement of the slide bar 26a to the slide bar 26b which is stationarily supported by a supporting bracket (not shown) secured to the bracket 5 (Fig. 5), whereby the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 of each pair thereof can be changed by the motion of the link mechanism 80. As shown in Figs. 9A, 9B, the link mechanism 80 is formed by a first link bar 81, a second link bar 82, and the third link bar 83 turnably connected to the first link bar 81 and second link bar 82 by a pair of pins 85a, 85b such one free end thereof is turnably connected to an intermediate portion of the first link bar 81 and another end portion thereof is turnably connected to a free end portion of the second link bar 82. The first link bar 81 is provided with a slit 81a formed at a free end portion thereof, and is further turnably connected to the slide bar 26a by a pin 84a rigidly mounted on the slide bar 26a, in a condition such that the pin 84a is slidably inserted to the slit 81a. The first link bar 81 is further provided with a downwardly extended vertical rod 81b secured thereto at an intermediate portion between the slit 81a and the pin 85a, and one of the roving guides 30 is secured to a bottom end of the vertical rod 81b in parallel to the first link bar 81. On the other hand, the free end separated from the other end of the second link bar 82, to which the third link bar 83 is pivotally connected by the connecting pin 85b, while the intermediate portion of the second link bar 82 is rigidly mounted on a downwardly extended vertical rod 82a which is turnably mounted on the stationary bar 26b, and the other of the roving guides 30 is secured to a bottom end of the vertical rod 82a in parallel to the second link bar 82. The positions of these two roving guide 30 are, of course, fixed at an identical level. In the above-mentioned link motion mechanism, the setting of the position of the pin 84a can be changed. Since, in the creel mechanism according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the displacing mechanism 40 is constructed to cooperate with the above-mentioned slide bar 26a, the stationary bar 26b, and the link motion mechanism 80 mentioned above, the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 of each pair of the roving guides can be changed by the displacement of the slide bar 26a between the distance L1 and L2 explained in the explanation of the first embodiment of the present invention, which is carried out by the turning of the disc 43 under the same condition as in the first embodiment of the present invention. On the other hand, to vary the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30, one of which is one of a pair of roving guides 30 and the other is one of an adjacent pair of roving guides, to make it identical to the above-mentioned change of the intervening space between two roving guides 30 of each pair of roving guide, the size of the link bars 81, 82 and 83, the position at which the first link bar 81 is connected to the third link bar 83, the position at which the first link bar 81 is connected to the slide bar 26a, the position at which the second link bar 82 is connected to the stationary bar 26b, are predetermined. In the above-mentioned third embodiment the motion of the displacing mechanism 80 is controlled like that of the first embodiment, so accordingly, a detailed explanation thereof is omitted. In the above-mentioned three embodiments of the creel mechanism according to the present invention, the following modifications can be made. That is, in the first and second embodiments, the slide bars 24 and 25 are slidably mounted on the creel bar brackets 5 and the roving guides 30 are alternately suspended by the slide bars 24 and 25, respectively, but if these slide bars 24 and 25 will not disturb the roving exchange operation, these slide bars 24, 25 can be arranged at respective other positions in the creel portion where the above-mentioned conditions can be satisfied, for example, at a position in the proximity of the creel pillars 3, and each vertical supporting rod 31 rigidly mounted on the respective slide bars 24, 25 in an upright condition. In the second embodiment of the present invention, the pneumatic cylinders 70a, 79b are arranged at both ends of the spinning frame 1, but these pneumatic cylinders 70a and 70b can be arranged at the same end of the spinning frame 1. Any type of displacing mechanism having the function of reciprocally displacing the slide bars 24, 25 can be utilized. In the above-mentioned creel mechanism, the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides 30 alternately connected to the side bars 24 and 25 is simultaneously changed, but if the roving bobbin exchange operation is carried out by stepwise operations successively applied to groups of spindles from one end side to the other end side of the spinning frame 1, the changing of the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides is also carried out in a condition such that a group of the above-mentioned intervening spaces defined by roving guides, from which the respective rovings are supplied to the respective draft parts corresponding to each one of the above-mentioned groups of spindles, are simultaneously changed, before carrying out the roving bobbin exchange operation for the corresponding group of spindles, and such a group operation of changing the intervening spaces is successively carried out in relation to the above-mentioned stepwise roving bobbin exchange operation. The motion of the roving guides 30 belonging to each group is controlled by an exclusive displacing mechanism having a construction and function identical to those of the first or second embodiment of the present invention. In the third embodiment of the present invention, if each pair of roving guides 30 is utilized to guide the respective roving from the respective roving bobbins supported by the front and back bobbin hangers 30, as in the first embodiment, the above-mentioned unit link motion mechanism is applied only to the draft parts of each side of the spinning frame, except for draft parts positioned in the proximity of the gear end and outer end of the spinning frame, and therefore, two stationary roving guides are mounted on the creel mechanism at the respective positions corresponding to these draft parts. As explained hereinbefore, since the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides is enlarged to allow a free passage of a full packaged roving bobbin, until the roving bobbin exchange operation is required, when this bobbin is introduced to the corresponding bobbin hanger of the back alignment thereof when carrying out the roving bobbin exchange operation, any possible damage created by contact with the roving guide or guides can be effectively prevented. Moreover, the delicate arrangement of the roving guides in the creel portion of the spinning frame and the limitation of the size of the full packaged roving bobbin, as required in the conventional ring spinning frame, can be ignored. Also, an advantage of the present invention is that the operation of changing the intervening space between two adjacent roving guides need not be carried out in a very restricted time, because this operation is allowed to be completed before starting the corresponding roving bobbin exchange operation.	An improved creel mechanism applied to a ring spinning frame (1) provided with a plurality of draft parts arranged at each side thereof, a plurality of front and back bobbin hangers (8) arranged in respective front and back alignments thereof with an identical pitch and in parallel to the longitudinal direction of said spinning frame (1), a plurality of roving guides (30) arranged in an alignment along said alignments of front and back bobbin hangers (8), each of said roving guides (30) being provided with a pair of guide elements (34) for guiding respective rovings (35) fed from corresponding roving bobbin hangers (8) arranged as a pair of said front and back bobbin hangers (8) mounted to corresponding draft parts, wherein an imaginary plane defined by an axial center of a front bobbin hanger (8) and a back bobbin hanger (8) facing said front bobbin hanger (8) is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of said spinning frame (1), said alignment of said roving guides (30) taking an intermediate position between said two alignments of said front and back bobbin hangers (8), wherein a two step tapered arrangement of full packaged roving bobbins (FB) and half exhausted roving bobbins (MB) is created, which is characterized by supporting said full packaged roving bobbins (FB) by alternate pairs of said front bobbin hangers (8) and said back bobbin hangers (8) facing said front bobbin hangers (8), along an alignment of said pairs of front and back bobbin hangers (8), while supporting said half exhausted roving bobbins (MB) by other alternate pairs of said front and back bobbin hangers (8), so that a roving bobbin exchanging operation between almost exhausted roving bobbins (SB) and fresh full packaged roving bobbins (FB) is alternately applied to two group pairs of front and back bobbin hangers (8), by displacing at least one of said slide bars (24,25;26a,26b) along a lengthwise direction characterized in that; a pair of supporting members (21) arranged in said creel portion of said spinning frame (1), a first slide bar (24;26a) supported by said supporting members (21) and extended along said alignment of said roving guides (30), a second slide bar (25,26b) supported by said supporting members (21) in parallel to an entire length of said first slide bar (24;26a), said roving guides (30) are separated into two groups, one of which is formed by a plurality of roving guides (30) alternately arranged along said alignment of roving guides (30), and the other one of which is formed by the other plural roving guides (30) of said alignment of roving guides (30) so that a combination of two groups of roving guides (30) is created, a mechanism (40) for displacing at least one of said groups of roving guides (30) in relation to said slide bars (24,25;26a,26b), along a lengthwise direction of said ring spinning frame (1) at a time before carrying out said roving bobbin exchanging operation, said mechanism (40) being designed to create a condition in which a larger intervening space is formed between each adjacent pair of roving guides (30) facing a corresponding pair of said pair of front and back bobbin hangers (8) supporting said almost exhausted roving bobbins (SB), which larger space allows free passage of said fresh full packaged roving bobbin (FB) when said roving bobbin exchanging operation is carried out, while a smaller intervening space is formed at each position between each of said adjacent roving guides (30) facing a corresponding pair of said front and back bobbin hangers (8) to which a next roving bobbin exchanging operation is applied, means (51,52) for controlling action of said displacing mechanism (40), whereby said larger intervening spaces are changed into smaller intervening spaces and said smaller intervening spaces are changed into said larger intervening spaces, each time said mechanism is actuated. An improved creel mechanism applied to a ring spinning frame according to claim 1, characterized in that said smaller intervening space formed between adjacent roving guides (30) which is created by the action of said displacing mechanism (40) is a space allowing free passage of at least said almost exhausted roving bobbin (SB). An improved creel mechanism applied to a ring spinning frame according to claim 2, characterized in that said first group of said roving guides (30) is supported by said first slide bar (24), while said second group of said roving guides (30) is supported by said second slide bar (25), said slide bars (24, 25) are slidably supported respective supporting members (21), said mechanism (40) for displacing said first and second groups of roving guides (30) is formed by, a motor (42) being provided with speed reduction means and being able to be reciprocally turned in a normal direction and in a direction opposite to said normal direction, a disc (43) driven by said motor (42) and coaxially secured to a motor shaft of said motot (42); a pair of connecting pins (44a,44b) mounted on said disc (43) at a predetermined angular distance; a first connecting rod (45) turnably mounted at one end thereof on one of said pins (44a,44b) and a second connecting rod (45) turnably mounted at one end thereof on another one of said pins (44a,44b), whereby said first slide bar (24) is pivotally connected at one free end thereof to the other end of said first connecting rod (45), and said second slide bar (25) is pivotally connected to the other end of said second connecting rod (45); a pair of sensing pins (51,52) rigidly mounted on said disc (43), with a predetermined angular distance therebetween; and a pair of sensors (53) disposed respectively at positions for detecting a corresponding one of said sensing pins (51,52); whereby said sensing pins (51,52) and said sensors (53) function as elements of said control means for controlling the action of said displacing mechanism (40) so that when either one of said sensors (53) detects a corresponding one of said sensing pins (51,52), driving of said motor (42) is started or stopped, wherein relative positions of said sensing pins (51,52) in relation to the respective positions of said connecting pins (44a,44b) mounted on said disc (43) are designed to satisfy the condition of creating said larger intervening space between adjacent roving guides (30) and said smaller intervening space between adjacent roving guides (30), when said motor (42) is driven in either of said rotating directions. An improved creel mechanism applied to a ring spinning frame according to claim 2, characterized in that, said first group of roving guides (30) are rigidly supported by said first slide bar (24), while said second group of roving guides (30) are rigidly supported by said second slide bar (25), said arrangement of said roving guide (30) is designed such that a pitch between adjacent roving guides (30) is maintained at a size which is identical to that of a pitch between adjacent pairs of front bobbin hanger (8) and a back bobbin hanger (8) facing said front bobbin hanger (8) during spinning operation of said spinning frame (1), while substantially regulating a central position of each roving guide (30) on said imaginary plane defined by an axial center of said front and back bobbin hangers (8) of each pair thereof, before and during said roving bobbin exchanging operation, said displacing mechanism (40) is provided with a pair of pneumatic cylinders (70), each provided with a piston rod (71) having a predetermined stroke, one free end of said first slide bar (24) is connected to one of said pneumatic cylinders (70) via said piston rod (71), while one free end of said slide bar (25) is connected to the other one of said pneumatic cylinders (70) via said piston rod (71), control means for actuating said pneumatic cylinders (70) related to either one of said slide bars (24,25) supporting one of said groups of roving guides (30), which correspond to respective pairs of front and back bobbin hangers (8) supporting almost exhausted roving bobbins (SB) when said half pairs of front and back bobbin hangers (8) become said almost exhausted roving bobbins (SB) so that said roving bobbin exchanging operation is required to be carried out, said displacing mechanism (40) is designed to satisfy a condition that said predetermined stroke of said piston rod (71) of each pneumatic cylinder (70) is matched to alternately create said larger intervening space between adjacent roving guides (30) and said smaller intervening space between said adjacent roving guides (30) along said alignment of said roving guides (30), when either one of said pneumatic cylinders (70) is actuated, while the other one of said pneumatic cylinders (70) is maintained in a stationary condition. An improved creel mechanism applied to a ring spinning frame according to claim 2, characterized in that said second slide bar (26b) is connected to a stationary supporting member (23a) so that said second slide bar (26b) is always maintained in a stationary condition, said displacing mechanism (40) is provided with a motor (42) able to be reciprocally turned in a normal direction and in a direction reverse to said normal direction, a disc (43) driven by said motor (42), a connecting pin (44c) rigidly mounted on said disc (43) at a predetermined position, a connecting rod (45) provided at one end thereof pivoted on said connecting pin (44c), the other end thereof pivoted to one end of said first slide bar (26a), said sensing pin (51) mounted on said disc (43), said sensor (53) for sensing said sensing pin (51), an electric control means for controlling rotational motion of said disc (43) by a signal issued from said sensor (53), and a plurality of intermediate link bar mechanisms (80), each of said intermediate link mechanisms (80) is formed by a first link bar (81) to which said roving guides (30) are rigidly mounted, a second link bar (82) to which said roving guide (30) is rigidly mounted on one free end thereof and a third link bar (83) wherein two free end portions thereof are pivotally connected to said first and second link bars (81,82) in cooperation with said first and second slide bars (26a,26b), dimensions of said first, second and third link bars (81,82, and 83) and relative conditions thereof for connecting to each other, in relation to said first and second slide bars (26a,26b) are designed to satisfy the condition that said larger intervening space between adjacent roving guides (30) and said smaller intervening space between adjacent roving guides (30) are alternately created in said alignment of said roving guides (30) when said motor (42) rotates in one of rotational directions thereof, each of said intermediate link bar mechanisms (80) is designed such that a vertical pin (84a) rigidly mounted on said first link bar (26a) is slidably inserted into a slot (81a) formed at a free end portion of said first link bar (81) so that said first link bar (81) is able to turn about said vertical pin (84a), an intermediate portion of said second link bar (82) is rigidly mounted on a vertical rod (82a) which is turnably mounted on said second slide bar (26b), and one end portion of said third link bar (83) is pivotally connected to a portion of said first link bar (81) at a position in proximity to said roving guides (30) connected thereto by way of a pivot pin (85a), while the other end portion of said third link bar (83) is pivotally connected to a free end portion of said second link bar (82) via a pivot pin (85b).	HOWA MACHINERY LTD; HOWA MACHINERY LIMITED	SASAKI KENJI; YAMADA KOICHI; SASAKI, KENJI; YAMADA, KOICHI
EP-0488960-B1	488,960	EP	B1	EN	19,960,131	1,992	20,100,220	new	F16D43	null	F16D43	F16D 43/206	A drive coupling able to limit transmissible torque and maintain synchronous rotation between driving and driven members	The drive coupling is of the type that comprises two coaxial hubs (1, 2) associated with rotating shafts to be connected mechanically, of which the opposed transverse faces (11, 21) afford a set rolling elements (3) and a corresponding set of notches (4), respectively; to advantage, the face (11, 21) of each hub (1, 2) exhibits a relative projection (5, 6) directed toward the other hub (2, 1), of axial depth less than the distance by which the rolling elements (3) protrude from the relative face (11, 21), and at least one socket (7, 8) in which the projection (6, 5) of the opposite hub (2, 1) remains fully inserted when the two hubs rotate as one.	The present invention relates to a drive coupling with the capacity to limit transmissible torque and maintain synchronous rotation, particularly between shafts or mechanical drives having a transmission ratio other than unity. The use of drive couplings able to limit torque is of considerable importance in effecting connections between the power shafts of equipment or machines installed in tandem or in series, to the end of ensuring that the driving shafts, or at all events the shafts installed upline in the kinematic chain of the coupled machine, are able to rotate idle whenever the driven shaft decelerates sharply or stops due to a sudden breakdown occurring along the driveline, for example, or to operator error, thus avoiding dangerous overloads that could damage the machine and give rise to situations hazardous for personnel. With this aim in view, drive couplings of the type incorporating a torque limiter consist essentially in two coaxial hubs of which the transverse faces offered one to another and destined to enter into mutual contact are embodied with rolling elements accommodated in relative seatings, and respective notches in which the rolling elements are received when the transverse faces of the hubs are brought together. The two hubs are maintained in mechanical contact one with the other by spring means; in the event that the resisting force of the driven shaft should exceed the corresponding force component determined by the spring means in holding the hubs together, the spring means are compressed and the rolling elements unseated from the notches, with the result that the driving shaft is able to rotate freely in relation to the driven shaft. Such a drive coupling is known from US-A-3 722 644. To prevent the driving shaft from spinning idle for any excessive period of time, sensing means are associated with the coupling of which the purpose is to pick up any deceleration of the driven shaft, or preferably to detect any distancing movement between the hubs, and thereupon to inhibit further rotation of the driving shaft. Further problems occur at the moment when the hubs re-engage, that is to say, on reinstatement of the kinematic chain comprising the hubs and the driving and driven shafts. In certain applications there may be no need for synchronous rotation between the driving and driven shafts, and any given mechanical connection of the two hubs is acceptable, even one allowing relative rotation of the hubs to a greater or lesser degree. Conversely, the shafts must often be timed one with another, in which case the transmission ratio also comes into play. With a transmission ratio of 1, i.e. where one full revolution of both the driving shaft and the driven shaft corresponds to one work cycle of the machine, synchronization is ensured by spacing the rolling elements and the notches apart circumferentially through a distance such that the elements and the respective notches coincide when, and only when, the one hub is rotated through a precise angle in relation to the other. By contrast, when the transmission ratio between the two shafts is other than unity, reactivation of the driving shaft must occur with the two shafts positioned one in relation to the other exactly in the same manner as prior to detection of the error, otherwise the correct timing will be lost. This is achieved currently by keying one of the two hubs, for example the driving hub embodied with the notches, to an intermediate splined hub affording travel limiters by which the keyed hub is engaged. The distance between the limiters is such as will allow the movable hub an axial travel of length less than the amount by which the rolling elements protrude from the respective seatings. This signifies that the two hubs remain permanently engaged even when an excessive reaction through the driven shaft causes their mutual separation. Again, sensing means are provided by which any malfunction is detected and converted into a control signal to shut off the driving shaft. Detection of the error and subsequent deactivation of the driving shaft do not occur instantaneously however, and the coupled shafts may continue to rotate under the force of inertia at least for part of one revolution before coming ultimately to a standstill, thus aggravating the condition which gave rise to the malfunction initially. Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a drive coupling with the capacity to limit transmissible torque and maintain synchronous rotation between driving and driven shafts, which allows the driving shaft to rotate in relation to the driven shaft before coming to a standstill. The stated object is achieved in a drive coupling as characterized in the appended claims, of a type able to limit transmissible torque and maintain synchronous rotation in particular between shafts of which the transmission ratio is other than unity, comprising two hubs coaxial with and secured to the members to be mechanically connected, of which the opposed transverse faces afford, the one, a plurality of identical rolling elements stably accommodated in relative seatings and able to revolve freely at least about respective radial axes in relation to the hubs, and the other, a corresponding plurality of notches to receive the rolling elements. According to the invention, each of the opposed transverse faces aforesaid exhibits a respective projection of depth, departing from the transverse face and measured parallel to the common axis of the hubs, less than the distance by which the rolling elements protrude from the relative face, and at least one socket positioned to receive the projection of the opposite hub. The projections and the sockets are located respectively at a distance from the centre of the relative hub dissimilar to the radius of the circumference around which the rolling elements and the corresponding notches are distributed, in such a way that the projection associated with the driving hub enters into contact exclusively with the projection of the driven hub, and only after rotating almost through one complete revolution in relation to the driven hub. The invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which: fig 1 is an exploded view of the two hubs making up a drive coupling according to the invention, detached one from the other; fig 2 shows a frontal elevation of one of the hubs of a coupling as in fig 1, and superimposed thereon in phantom line, the characterizing elements of the other hub, in the normal operating condition. With reference to the accompanying drawings, a drive coupling according to the invention consists in a pair of coaxial hubs 1 and 2 of which the opposed faces 11 and 21 afford rolling elements 3 and corresponding notches 4, respectively. The rolling elements 3, which might be spherical, cylindrical as illustrated in fig 1, or of other suitable shape, are accommodated in respective seatings formed in the relative hub 1 and able to rotate freely in the seatings about axes disposed radially in relation to the hub, projecting from the seatings in part only, similar to a roller catch. Needless to say, the rolling elements 3 and the corresponding notches 4 are distributed around circumferences concentric with the hubs 1 and 2. The coupling further comprises spring means (not illustrated) by which the hubs 1 and 2 are urged together and thus caused to engage positively one with another by insertion of the rolling elements 3 in the respective notches 4. According to the invention, the faces 11 and 21 of the hubs 1 and 2 affording the rolling elements 3 and the notches 4, respectively, also exhibit a projection 5 and 6 and socket 7 and 8. As may be appreciated readily, the socket 7 afforded by the face 11 of the one hub 1 serves to receive the projection 6 presented by the other hub 2, and the socket 8 afforded by the face 21 of the latter to receive the projection 5 presented by the former. In short, each hub 1 and 2 exhibits a projection 5, 6 insertable in a corresponding socket 8, 7 of the remaining hub 2, 1. The axial depth of each projection 5 and 6 is less than the distance by which the rolling elements 3 protrude from the relative face 11. Furthermore, the projections 5, 6 and the sockets 8, 7 are set at a distance from the axis of the corresponding hub 1, 2 that is dissimilar to the radius of the circumference occupied by the rolling elements 3 and the notches 4. Thus, when the hubs 1 and 2 rotate in relation to one another, the projections 5, 6 become unseated from the respective sockets 8, 7 and, entering into contact with no other element of the opposite hub whatever, are brought into mutual contact after the driving hub 2 has turned through almost one full revolution in relation to the driven hub 1. In the greater number of cases, considering the entity of the masses typically in motion, the driving shaft tends to draw to a standstill before completing a full revolution; at all events, in cases where the driving shaft may not come to a full stop before one full revolution is completed, for example where there is no suitable brake, a distance just short of 360° is sufficient for the angular velocity of the hub 2 to reduce significantly, such that when the relative projection 6 enters ultimately into contact with the projection 5 of the other hub, the rotational speed of the hub 2 will be much less and any impact thus slight. Before restoring normal operation, it suffices to rotate the driving shaft in the opposite direction by hand in such a way as to resynchronize the hubs 1 and 2, i.e. to restore the condition in which neither one can rotate in relation to the other. More exactly, the driving hub 2 is rotated manually in the direction opposite to that of normal operation, to the point where the one projection 6 strikes against the other 5, and thereafter in the normal driving direction in such a way that the rolling elements 3 locate in the respective notches 4. A firmer guarantee of correct timing between the shafts can be obtained by distancing the rolling elements 3 and the notches 4 circumferentially one from another in such a way that their positions correspond at a certain precise angle of relative rotation between the two hubs 1 and 2. Thus, it suffices simply to rotate the driving hub 2 in the reverse direction to locate the rolling elements 3 in the respective notches 4. Given, moreover, that the direction of rotation of different shafts to which the drive coupling can be fitted may not always be the same, the projection 5 associated with the driven hub 1 might be secured removably, for example by means of a screw in one of two positions on either side of the socket 7 offered to the projection 6 of the driving hub 2, the latter hub 2 exhibiting two sockets 8 disposed one on either side of the relative projection 6. Thus, the fixed projection 5 is secured on the left or right hand side of the socket 7 to determine the direction of rotation allowed to the driving hub 2 whenever the reaction of the driven shaft exceeds the force of the spring means uniting the hubs 1 and 2. As shown in fig 1, the driven hub 1 affords two seatings 9, one on each side of the relative socket 7, in which to secure the fixed projection 5 as appropriate (see fig 2 in particular). In addition to realizing the object stated at the outset, the present invention affords the advantage of achieving a simpler overall structure of the coupling: the intermediate hub of the conventional coupling can be dispensed with, likewise therefore the machining operations needed normally to effect a keyed fit between the driving and intermediate hubs, resulting in much reduced costs and a more streamlined structure.	A drive coupling able to limit transmissible torque and maintain synchronous rotation in particular between shafts of which the transmission ratio is other than unity, of the type comprising two hubs (1, 2) coaxial with and secured to the members to be mechanically connected, of which the opposed transverse faces (11, 21) respectively afford a plurality of identical rolling elements (3) stably accommodated in relative seatings, able to revolve freely at least about respective radial axes in relation to the hubs (1, 2), and a corresponding plurality of notches (4) to receive the rolling elements (3), characterized in that each of the opposed transverse faces (11, 21) of the two hubs (1, 2) exhibits a respective projection (5, 6) of depth, departing from the transverse face and measured parallel to the common axis of the hubs, less than the distance by which the rolling elements (3) protrude from the relative face, and at least one socket (7, 8) positioned to receive the projection (5, 6) of the opposite hub in its entirety; and in that the projections (5, 6) and the sockets (8, 7) are positioned respectively at a distance from the centre of the relative hub (1, 2) dissimilar to the radius of the circumference around which the rolling elements (3) and the corresponding notches (4) are distributed, such that the projection (5) associated with the hub (2) carried by the driving shaft enters into contact exclusively with the projection (6) of the hub (1) carried by the driven shaft, and only after rotating almost through one complete revolution in relation to the driven hub. A drive coupling according to claim 1, characterized by the rolling elements (3) and the notches (4) being spaced apart circumferentially one from the next at distances such that all the rolling elements locate in the respective notches only when the hubs (1, 2) are in one circumferentially matched position. A coupling as in claim 1, characterized in that the projection (5, 6) associated with at least one hub (1, 2) is removable, in such a way that it can be secured in one of two different positions located on either side of the socket (7 or 8) destined to receive the remaining projection (6 or 5), and the opposite hub (2 or 1) affords two sockets (8 or 7) for receipt of the removably secured projection (5 or 6).	CAVALLI DANTE & WALTER OMC; O.M.C. S.N.C. DI DANTE CAVALLI & C.	CAVALLI DANTE; CAVALLI, DANTE
EP-0488961-B1	488,961	EP	B1	EN	19,940,525	1,992	20,100,220	new	F04D25	F04D25, H02K9	F04D25, H02K9	H02K 9/06, F04D 25/08B, F04D 25/06B2	A fan, particularly for motor vehicles	The fan includes a bladed, centrifugal fan wheel (1-3) and an electric motor (5) with an external rotor (7, 13) which is fixed torsionally to the fan wheel (3). The motor (5) includes a casing (6) constituted by a stationary part (6) with holes (16) for taking in air from outside for ventilating the interior of the motor (5) and a rotary part (7, 3) with holes (18-22) which act as outlet ducts for the internal ventilation air. The cross-sections of the ducts decrease in the direction of the air-flow and open into the outside atmosphere in regions (21) over which the air-flow induced by the fan wheel (1-3) passes in operation.	The present invention relates to a fan particularly for use in motor vehicles. More specifically, the invention relates to a fan comprising: a bladed, centrifugal fan wheel, and an electric drive motor with an external rotor which is fixed torsionally to the fan wheel, the motor including a casing comprising a stationary part with at least one hole for taking in air from the outside atmosphere for ventilating the interior of the motor and a rotary part with at least one hole which acts as an outlet for the internal ventilation air. A fan of the described type is known from the document DE-A-3917040. The fan according to the invention is characterised in that the at least one hole in the rotary part of the casing of the motor is constituted by a duct whose cross-section decreases in the direction in which the internal ventilation air flows out, and in that the duct is formed so as to open into the outside atmosphere in a region over which the air-flow induced by the fan wheel passes in operation. This characteristic improves the extraction of the air from the interior of the electric drive motor and hence improves the internal ventilation of the motor. Further characteristics and advantages of the fan according to the invention will become clear from the detailed description which follows with reference to the appended drawings, provided purely by way of non-limiting example, in which: Figure 1 is an axial section of a fan according to the invention, Figure 2 is a front view of the fan taken on the arrow II of Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a cross-section of the driven fan taken on the line III-III of Figure 1. With reference to the drawings, a fan according to the invention includes a bladed, centrifugal fan wheel 1 with a circular array of frontal blades 2 fixed integrally to a cup-shaped hub 3 (Figure 1). The fan wheel 1 may conveniently be moulded from plastics material. The fan wheel is keyed to the shaft 4 of an electric drive motor generally indicated 5. In the embodiment shown by way of example, the motor is a brushless motor with an external rotor. The motor includes a casing constituted by a stationary part 6, for example, also moulded from plastics material, and a metal shell 7, for example, of iron. The shell, which is also substantially cup-shaped, is fixed torsionally to the hub 3 of the bladed fan wheel 1. In the embodiment shown, this is achieved by the upsetting of the ends of integral internal projections 3a of the hub 3 which extend through holes provided for the purpose in the shell 7 (Figure 1). The unit constituted by the shell 7 and the bladed fan wheel 1 is keyed to one end of the shaft 4 of the electric motor, the shaft being rotatable in bearings 8 mounted in a central tubular portion 9a of a shaped support member 9, for example, of aluminium, fixed to the stationary cover 6 by screws 10. The stator structure of the electric motor, comprising a pack of plates 10 carrying the stator windings 11, is fixed around the tubular portion 9a of the support member 9. A support plate 12 is mounted between a flange portion 9b of the support member 9 and the stationary outer cover 6 (Figure 1) and carries the components of an electronic circuit for controlling the motor. The flange portion 9b of the support member 9 has a plurality of cooling fins, indicated 9c. The shell 7 houses angularly-spaced permanent magnets, indicated 13 in Figures 1 and 3. As can be seen in particular in Figure 3, the permanent magnets are spaced equiangularly and a space or gap, indicated 14, is defined between each pair of magnets. The permanent magnets 13 are disposed around the stator structure of the electric motor, as can be seen particularly in Figure 1. A hole (indicated 16 in Figure 1) is defined in the stationary part 6 of the casing of the electric motor 5 for taking in air from the outside atmosphere (in the direction of the arrow F in Figure 1) for ventilating the interior of the electric motor 5. In the embodiment shown by way of example, the shell 7 of the motor has a plurality of equiangularly-spaced holes 18 (Figures 1 and 2). These holes face corresponding radial channels 19 (Figure 1) defined in the concave face of the hub 3 of the fan wheel between an annular projection 20 of the hub and a radially outermost part 21 of the hub facing the blades. The channels 19 open to the outside through holes 22 in the hub. As can be seen in Figure 2, the holes 18 in the shell 7 of the motor, the channels 19 and the holes 22 in the hub of the fan wheel together define a series of outlet ducts for the air which ventilates the interior of the motor. Conveniently, as can be seen in particular in Figure 1, these outlet ducts are formed so that their cross-sections decrease in the direction in which the internal ventilation air flows out so as to achieve a kind of Venturi effect. As can be seen particularly in Figure 1, the holes 22 through which the internal ventilation air can flow are formed in a region of the hub 3 of the fan wheel over which the centrifugal air-flow induced by the fan wheel flows in operation. Within the electric motor 5, the air drawn in through the intake hole 16 in operation flows over the components of the control circuit carried by the plate 12 and the flange portion 9a of the support structure 9 and then reaches the pack of stator plates 10, the windings 11, and the permanent magnets 13, passing through holes 23 in the flange portion 9a of the support structure 9. Some of the air for ventilating the interior of the motor flows through the spaces 14 between adjacent pairs of permanent magnets 13. Conveniently, the holes 18 in the half-shell 7 and the channels 19 in the hub 3 of the fan wheel are formed in angular positions corresponding to those of the spaces 14 between the magnets. In operation, the ventilation of the interior of the electric motor 5 is particularly effective because of the extraction effect induced both by the shapes of the air-outlet ducts 18-22 and by the suction effect induced by the air-flow generated by the fan 2, which produces fast-flowing streams of fluid over the outlet holes 22. Naturally, the principle of the invention remaining the same, the forms of embodiment and details of construction may be varied widely with respect to those described and illustrated purely by way of non-limiting example, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention. The shapes and arrangement of the outlet ducts for the internal ventilation air give very good results not only in a brushless motor, as in the embodiment described above, but also in general in the direct-current motors with commutators conventionally used in motor vehicle fans.	A fan, particularly for motor vehicles, comprising: a bladed, centrifugal fan wheel (1-3), and an electric drive motor (5) with an external rotor (7, 13) which is fixed torsionally to the fan wheel (3), the motor including a casing (6, 7) comprising a stationary part (6) with at least one hole (16) for taking in air from the outside atmosphere for ventilating the interior of the motor (5) and a rotary part (7, 3) with at least one hole (18-22) which acts as an outlet duct for the internal ventilation air, characterised in that the at least one hole (18-22) in the rotary part (3, 7) of the casing of the motor (5) is constituted by a duct whose cross-section decreases in the direction in which the internal ventilation air flows out, and in that the duct (18-22) is formed so as to open into the outside atmosphere in a region (21) over which the air-flow induced by the fan wheel (1-3) passes in operation. A fan according to Claim 1, in which the electric motor (5) is of the brushless type and has angularly spaced permanent magnets (13) within the rotary part (7, 3) of the casing (3, 6, 7) of the motor (5), characterised in that the permanent magnets (13) are separated by spaces or gaps (14) through which at least some of the air-flow for the internal ventilation of the motor (5) can pass. A fan according to Claim 2, characterised in that the rotary portion (3, 7) of the casing of the motor (5) has a plurality of outlet holes (22) for the internal ventilation air in relative positions corresponding to the relative angular positions of the spaces (14) between the permanent magnets (13). A fan according to Claim 2 or Claim 3, characterised in that the stationary part (6) of the motor (5) includes a plate (12) for supporting the components of a control circuit for the motor (5), the plate extending transverse the axis of rotation of the motor (5) between the at least one intake hole (16) and the at least one outlet hole (22) for the internal ventilation air. A fan according to Claim 4, characterised in that the stationary part of the electric motor (5) includes a metal support member (9) with a series of cooling fins ( 9c).	MAGNETI MARELLI SPA; INDUSTRIE MAGNETI MARELLI S.P.A.	DE FILIPPIS PIETRO C O INDUSTR; DE FILIPPIS, PIETRO, C/O INDUSTRIE MAGNETI
EP-0488963-B1	488,963	EP	B1	EN	19,940,302	1,992	20,100,220	new	F16D43	null	F16D43	F16D 43/206	A freewheel drive coupling	A freewheel coupling comprises two hubs (1, 2), the one with rolling elements (3) distributed around a circumference coaxial with the axis of rotation, the other with corresponding notches (4), and at least one ring (5) occupying a seating (7) formed coaxially in one hub (2) and establishing a coaxial annular race (10) with radial slots (12) through which to insert bolts (11) projecting radially from the ring, the ring (5) itself incorporating frontal teeth (13) insertable in corresponding sockets (14) afforded by the face of the opposite hub (1); the axial dimension of the teeth (13) is such that when the rolling elements (3) and the teeth (13) are unseated from the notches (4) and the sockets (14), and the ring (5) is locked in a given position by a detent and plunger mechanism (52, 9), the teeth can re-engage the sockets (14) and draw the ring (5) back into synchronous rotation only if the driving hub (2) is rotated in the direction opposite to that of normal operation.	The present invention relates to a drive coupling with the capacity to limit transmissible torque and operate as a freewheel device. The use of such couplings is envisaged especially in applications where it is required that, before stopping as the result of a maximum permissible torque limit being exceeded, a driving shaft should rotate idle in relation to a driven shaft without any possibility of re-engaging automatically. Conventional torque limiter couplings consist in a pair of coaxial hubs rigidly associated with the driving and driven shafts, of which the respective opposed or mating faces afford rolling elements and corresponding notches. Mutual engagement of the two hubs is ensured through the agency of spring means by which the rolling elements are kept seated in the respective notches. In one type of freewheel coupling (illustrated in fig 1), the hubs 1 and 2 are mounted over a further hub 30 having one flanged end 301. The outer hub 1 nearest to the flanged end 301 is rotatable and axially floatable on the inner hub 30, whilst the remaining hub 2 is mounted floatably though not rotatably on the hub 30; the latter hub 2 is keyed to the inner hub 30 and affords a coaxial recess 21 comprising two cylindrical stretches 211 and 212 of dissimilar diameter connected by a frustoconical stretch 213, the cylindrical stretch 211 of smaller diameter being nearer to the back of the recess. The recess 21 combines with the inner hub 30 to create an annular seating for the accomodation of a pair of coaxial rings 31 and 32 with mutually opposed frustoconical surfaces 311 and 321 of which the bevels are convergent when viewed in profile. The ring 31 nearer to the back of the recess 21 is smaller in diameter and keyed to the inner hub 30, whereas the remaining ring 32 is mounted floatably and rotatably thereon. The free ring 32 is urged permanently toward the smaller ring 31 by spring means 33 anchored to the end of the inner hub 30 without the flange 301. The space between the two rings 31 and 32 is occupied by a set of balls 34 subject to an outwardly directed radial force that is in part centrifugal and in part generated by the profile of the frustoconical surfaces 311 and 321 of the two rings 31 and 32, urged together by the spring means 33. The overall diameter of the ring denoted 32 is slightly less than that of the larger diameter cylindrical stretch 212 of the recess 21. In normal operating conditions, the balls 34 remain seated between the frustoconical surface 213 of the recess 21 and the frustoconical surface 321 of the ring 32, such that the force generated through the ring 32 by the spring means 33 is transmitted to the hub 2. The angles of the frustonical surfaces 213 and 321 afforded respectively by the recess 21 and by the ring 32 are such, that when the reaction of the driven shaft exceeds a given maximum permissible torque and the rolling elements 3 are unseated from the notches 4, thereby distancing the hubs 1 and 2 one from another, the balls 34 are squeezed by the ring 32 and the frustoconical surface 213 of the recess 21 and forced to lodge between the rings 31 and 32 and in contact with the smaller diameter cylindrical stretch 211 of the recess 21. In this configuration, the force generated by the spring means 33 is directed through the balls 34 onto the smaller ring 31 and the cylindrical surface 211 of the recess 21. The direction of the force transmitted from the spring means 33 through the balls 34 to the hub 2 is dependent upon the angle of the frustoconical surfaces 311 and 321 of the rings 31 and 32: thus, with identical angles, the resulting force will be exclusively radial; even if the force includes an axial component, this is not sufficient to displace the hub 2 since axial movement of the balls 34 is prevented by the smaller ring 31, and any movement over the surface 311 of this ring is prevented by the smaller diameter cylindrical stretch 211 of the hub 2. The two outer hubs 1 and 2 are thus free to rotate idle with no possibility of mutual re-engagement under the force of the spring means. Re-engagement of the hubs 1 and 2 can only occur in effect by operating external means to shift the one hub 2 axially toward the other; the hub 2 affords a circumferential groove for this same purpose. In short, disengagement of the hubs is automatic and total, whereas re-engagement has to be effected by hand and is somewhat laborious, given that the operator must defeat the frictional force generated on the hub 2 by the spring means 33; considering the typical torque values transmitted through such drive couplings, moreover, it will not be difficult to imagine the order of the frictional forces in question In addition to the physical difficulty experienced, manual re-engagement can also be hazardous when the coupling happens to be positioned in a location denying ease of access, in which case the physical effort is increased still further. Another type of freewheel drive coupling disclosed in German patent application n° 1 174 116 (shown in fig 2), comprises two coaxial discs, denoted 1 and 2 and comparable to the driving and driven hubs of the embodiment described above, and between the two discs, an intermediate third disc 36 functioning as carrier for a plurality of balls 3 protruding from the faces of the disc 36 itself. The driven disc 1 affords holes 41 partly accommodating the balls 3, whilst the driving disc 2 affords a plurality of transversely disposed inset cylindrical teeth or rollers 37. The driven disc 1 is freely rotatable about a shaft denoted 30, whilst the driving disc 2 is keyed to and axially floatable on the shaft 30. Also keyed to the shaft 30 are spring means 33 by which the driving disc 2 and the rollers 37 are urged against the driven disc 1. In this configuration, with the spring means 33 totally or almost totally expanded, rotation of the driving disc 2 causes the rollers 37 to engage the balls 3 and set the driven disc 1 in rotation at an angular velocity identical to that of the driving disc 2. The driving disc 2 also exhibits a fixed tooth 34 accommodated internally of a corresponding slot 35 shaped as a sector to a circle, afforded by the intermediate disc 36, and a plurality of sector shaped seatings 38 between one roller 37 and the next. In the event that the driven disc 1 should be prevented from turning as the result of an overload whilst the driving disc 2 continues to rotate, the rollers 37 are forced over the balls 3, distancing the discs from one another and causing the spring means 33 to compress and expand by turns. Thereafter the balls 3 locate in the seatings 38 of the driving disc 2, and the tooth 341, registering against the relative end of the slot 35, causes the intermediate disc or carrier 36 to rotate and thus unseat the balls 3 from the holes 4. The depth of the seatings 38 is such that the balls 3 are able to rotate freely between the driving and driven discs 2 and 1 with the spring means 33 expanded completely or almost completely. In this condition, the driving and driven discs 2 and 1 rotate freely one in relation to the other. Re-engagement can occur only if the driving disc 2 is rotated in the direction opposite to that of normal operation, such that the balls 3 reoccupy their holes 4 and the intermediate disc or carrier 36 is locked in position. The tooth 34 regains the slot 35, and the rollers 37 engage and ride over the balls 3, such that the driving disc 2 is distanced from and then returned toward the driven disc 1 by compression and successive expansion of the spring means 33. Whilst this type of solution may be more practical and less physically demanding than the first, there is the considerable disadvantage that the spring means 33 are not normally compressed in operation, and a swift and precise response cannot therefore be obtained. Another further type of freewheel torque limiting coupling disclosed in US-A-3 722 644 patent (not shown), comprises a driving member urged into contact with a driven member by springs. The coupling utilizes a plurality of balls positioned stably in relative seatings, and a corresponding plurality of pockets to receive the balls, one cage for the balls positioned between the two members prevents from re-engaging the coupling when is released by excessive torque. The cage can be detented in one of two position in relation with one member and comprises three keys afforded by the surface of the cage directed towards the other member and accomodated in corresponding openings, offered by the latter member. The length of the key is less than the distance between the two members, when the balls are unseated from the pockets. The coupling is reset when relative direction of rotation is reversed to that of normal operation. With this type of coupling is not possible the re-engagent hy hand, because the cage is completely housed by the members of the coupling. Acccordingly, the object of the invention is to set forth a freewheel coupling in which re-engagement of the driving and driven members depends neither on access to the coupling nor on full expansion of the spring means and that also permits a manual re-engagement without any rotation of the transmission line. The stated object is realized in a freewheel drive coupling as characterized in the appended claims, comprising two coaxial hubs associated with the members or shafts to be connected mechanically and urged into mutual contact by spring means, of which the transverse mating faces afford, respectively, a plurality of identical rolling elements positioned stably in relative seatings and freely rotatable at least about respective axes disposed radially in relation to the hubs, and a corresponding plurality of frontal notches to receive the rolling elements, distributed about respective circumferences of identical diameter concentric with the common axis of the hubs; and at least one ring associated with one of the hubs, by which the rolling elements are prevented from re-engaging the notches if unseated as the result of an excessive reaction through the hub associated with the driven shaft. In a coupling according to the invention, the ring occupies an annular seating formed coaxially in the transverse mating face of the respective hub, the diameter of which is dissimilar to that of the circumference around which the rolling elements and the notches are distributed, and the presence instrumental in establishing an annular race that protrudes beyond the mating face of the hub. The ring also affords a plurality of radial projections capable of movement tangentially though not axially in relation to the relative hub, internally of radial slots formed in the annular race and serving to limit the angle of rotation allowed to the ring in relation to the hub. The coupling further comprises disengagable locking means between the ring and the respective hub by which the ring can be detented in one of at least two angular positions in relation to the hub, and a plurality of frontal teeth, afforded by the face of the ring directed toward the remaining hub, and accommodated in corresponding sockets afforded by the latter hub whenever the rolling elements are seated in the notches. The axial depth of the teeth is no greater than the distancing movement between the two hubs as measured along their common axis of rotation, occasioned when the rolling elements are unseated from the notches, and the minimum angle of relative rotation allowed by the locking means between the ring and the associated hub no greater than the angle through which the hubs rotate in relation to one another when the rolling elements are unseated from the notches; thus, the teeth and the rolling elements begin to enter and engage the sockets and the notches only when the driving hub is rotated in the direction opposite to that of normal operation. The ring is disposed internally of the annular race and rigidly associated by way of the relative projections with a second ring occupying a further seating disposed coaxially with an externally of the annular race. The invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which: figs 1 and 2 are longitudinal sections through torque limiting and freewheel drive couplings of conventional embodiment; fig 3 is the exploded view of a drive coupling according to the invention; fig 4 shows a detail of the coupling in fig 3, seen in perspective and from a direction different to that of fig 3; fig 5 shows the coupling of fig 3, assembled, in a frontal view with certain parts omitted better to reveal others; fig 6 provides a schematic illustration of the operation of a coupling as in figs 3 to 5. With reference to figs 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings, a torque limiting and freewheel drive coupling according to the invention comprises two hubs 1 and 2 keyed in conventional manner to two shafts (not illustrated). The hubs 1 and 2 present a plurality of rolling elements 3 and a corresponding plurality of notches 4, respectively. The rolling elements 3, illustrated by way of example in figs 3 and 5 as cylindrical rollers, are accommodated in respective seatings (not illustrated) with freedom to rotate about individual axes disposed radially in relation to the relative hub 1. The coupling also comprises spring means (conventional in embodiment, therefore not shown in the interests of simplicity), by which the two hubs are urged into mutual contact. By way of example, figs 3 to 5 illustrate a drive coupling of which the rolling elements 3 and the respective notches 4 are spaced apart circumferentially at distances whereby mutual engagement can occur only when the two hubs 1 and 2 are rotated through a precise angle one in relation to the other. The drive coupling according to the invention also comprises a ring 5 associated permanently with one of the hubs, that denoted 2 in fig 3, and occupying a relative seating 7 afforded by the face affording the notches 4. More exactly, the seating 7 is formed in the hub 2 in such a way as to establish an annular race 10 of which the frontal surface affords the notches. The ring 5 affords a plurality of radial projections 11 insertable through respective radial slots 12 in the annular race 10. Such projections 11 appear in fig 3 as screws inserted into corresponding radial holes 51 afforded by the ring 5. The slots 12 are of precise angular length in relation to the axis of the hub 2, thus limiting the angular movement allowed to the projections 11. The ring 5 also exhibits a plurality of frontal teeth 13 positioned so as to engage in respective sockets 14 afforded by the mating face of the hub 1 that carries the rolling elements 3. The depth, or height of the teeth 13, denoted 'h' in fig 6 and measured parallel to the common axis of the hubs 1 and 2, is equal to the distance that separates the position in which the two hubs 1 and 2 are fully engaged from the position in which one is able to rotate freely in relation to the other, as will be described in due course. 9 denotes disengagable locking means installed between the ring 5 and the associated hub 2, by which the ring 5 can be detented in one of at least two angular positions in relation to the hub 2. Such means 9 are shown in fig 3 as a spring 91 and a ball 92 accommodated internally of a respective socket 15 formed in the hub 2 at the back of the seating 7. The face of the ring 5 offered slidably to the seating 7 affords three detent sockets 52 capable of accommodating the ball 92 in part. The central socket 52 of the three occupies a position such that when engaged by the ball 92, the teeth 13 and the rolling elements 3 are able to align with the sockets 14 and with the notches 4, respectively (bold line, figs 5 and 6). By contrast, when either of the remaining sockets 52 detains the ball 92, alignment is possible only between the teeth 13 and the sockets 14 or between the rolling elements 3 and the notches 4 (phantom line in fig 6). Operation of the coupling will now be described, departing from a normal condition with the rolling elements 3 engaged in the respective notches 4, the teeth 13 in the sockets 14, and the ball 92 of the locking means in the central socket 52 (bold line, fig 5). In the event that the reaction of the driven shaft should exceed the prescribed maximum transmissible torque value, the driving hub 2 begins to rotate in relation to the driven hub 1. In this situation, the rolling elements 3 begin to ride on the angled surfaces of the notches 4 (the inclination of which is conventional and indeed necessary, otherwise the rolling elements 3 would not be able to unseat), moving obliquely in relation to the planes occupied by the hubs 1 and 2. Thus, the rolling elements 3 are displaced both in a direction parallel with the axis of the hubs 1 and 2 (arrow FA in fig 6) and tangentially thereto (arrow FT in fig 6). Clearly, the same movement is described by the driving hub 2 carrying the ring 5 with the frontal teeth 13; the teeth are able to describe only an axial movement within their sockets 14, however, and consequently are distanced from the driven hub 1, forcing the ring 5 at the same time to rotate in relation to the driving hub 2, or in fact to remain motionless together with the driven hub 1, as this in reality is the member which draws to a halt or rotates at the lower angular velocity. The moment the rolling elements 3 completely vacate the notches 4 and move onto the race 10, the driving hub 2 having shifted axially and tangentially through distances denoted y3 and x3 respectively, in fig 6, the teeth 13 will be entirely clear of the respective sockets 14 with the ball 92 unseated from the central socket 52 and reseated in one of the two lateral sockets 52. The height 'h' of the teeth 13, it will be recalled, is no greater than the axial shift y3 allowed to the driving hub 2. With the driving hub 2 continuing to rotate in the direction FT of normal operation, each revolution brings the rolling elements 3 into alignment with the relative notches 4; at the same time, however, the teeth 13 remain out of alignment with the relative sockets 14. Following a further movement of the driving hub 2 through an angular distance equal to x3, the teeth 13 and sockets 14 will realign, though with the rolling elements 3 once again riding up onto the annular race 10, the teeth 13 cannot engage. Conversely, when the hub 2 is rotated in the reverse direction, i.e. opposite to the direction of normal operation FT (in the selfsame configuration with the teeth 13 and the sockets 14 aligned) the rolling elements 3 leave the race 10 and realign with the notches 4, and a minimal axial movement is therefore sufficient for them to reseat in the latter. Albeit minimal, this same shift is also sufficient to return the teeth 13 to their sockets 14. Any further shift in this direction ensures that the rolling elements 3 move further along the angled surfaces of the notches 4 until fully reseated, and that the teeth 13 at the same time push deeper into the sockets 14, thus drawing the ring 5 fully into synchronous rotation with the hub 2. The moment the rolling elements 3 are inserted completely into their notches 4, the two hubs 1 and 2 resume full engagement one with another. Clearly, it is a characterizing feature of the coupling according to the invention that the axial dimension 'h' of the teeth 13 must be no greater than the axial shift denoted y3, and in like manner the distance x5 between adjacent sockets 52 of the locking means, or rather the angle through which the ring 5 rotates between successive positions of the ball 92, must be no greater than the tangential shift denoted x3, that is, the angle through which the hubs 1 and 2 rotate in relation to one another when the rolling elements 3 are unseated. It is of fundamental importance that these dimensions be maintained in order to ensure that, whenever the maximum permissible torque is exceeded, the ring 5 is locked in the configuration whereby the rolling elements 3 are on the point of unseating completely from the notches 4 and passing onto the annular race 10, that is to say, the configuration denoted by phantom lines in fig 6. Similarly, if faultless operation of the coupling is to be ensured, the slots 12 must be proportioned in such a way as to allow no axial movement whatever to the screws 11, hence to the ring 5. Figs 3 and 5 illustrate a second ring, denoted 6, located in a respective seating 8 afforded by the driving hub 2 and combining with the seating 7 of the first ring 5 to encompass the annular race 10. This second ring 6 is greater in diameter than the first ring 5, and affords holes through which the screws 11 are freely inserted. The inclusion of the ring 6 is particularly advantageous when effecting re-engagement of the coupling by hand, given that the outer ring 6, hence the connected inner ring 5, need only be rotated in the direction opposite to that of normal operation in order to realign the teeth 13 with the respective sockets 14. Alternative embodiments of the coupling might comprise a plurality of balls 92 spaced apart at identical angular distance around the axis of rotation of the hubs 1 and 2, and the sockets 52 might be just two per ball in number (three are required for a coupling capable of operating in either direction of rotation), or two or three in all, one for each position and for each ball 92.	A freewheel drive coupling, comprising: two coaxial hubs (1, 2), associated with two members or shafts to be connected mechanically and urged into mutual contact by spring means, of which the transverse mating faces afford a plurality of identical rolling elements (3) positioned stably in relative seatings and freely rotatable at least about respective axes disposed radially in relation to the hubs (1, 2), and a corresponding plurality of notches (4) to receive the rolling elements (3), respectively, distributed about circumferences of identical diameter concentric with the common axis of the hubs; at least one ring (5) associated with one of the two hubs (1, 2), by which the rolling elements (3) are prevented from re-engaging the notches (4) if unseated as the result of an excessive reaction through the hub (1) associated with the driven shaft, said ring (5) occupies an annular seating (7) formed coaxially in the transverse mating face of the respective hub (2 or 1), the diameter of which is dissimilar to that of the circumference around which the rolling elements (3) and the notches (4) are distributed, and the presence of which is instrumental in establishing an annular race (10) that protrudes beyond the mating face of the hub (2 or 1), it further affords a plurality of radial projections (11) capable of movement tangentially though not axially in relation to the respective hub, internally of radial slots (12) formed in the annular race (10) and serving to limit the angle of rotation allowed to the ring (5) in relation to the hub (2 or 1); disengagable locking means (9) located between the ring (5) and the respective hub (2 or 1) by which the ring can be detented in one of at least two angular positions in relation to the hub, and a plurality of frontal teeth (13) afforded by the face of the ring (5) directed toward the remaining hub (1 or 2) and accommodated in corresponding sockets (14), offered by the latter hub (1 or 2), whenever the rolling elements (3) are seated in the notches (4); the axial dimension (h) of said teeth (13) is no greater than the distancing movement (y3) between the two hubs (1 or 2) as measured along their common axis of rotation, occasioned when the rolling elements (3) are unseated from the notches (4), and the minimum angle of relative rotation allowed by the locking means (9) between the ring (5) and the associated hub (2) is no greater than the angle through which the hubs (1, 2) rotate in relation to one another when the rolling elements (3) are unseated from the notches (4), in such a way that the teeth (13) and the rolling elements (3) begin to enter and engage the sockets (14) and the notches (4) only when the driving hub (2) is rotated in the direction opposite to that of normal operation, characterised in that the ring (5) is disposed internally of the annular race (10) and rigidly associated by way of the relative projections (11) with a second ring (6) occupying a further seating (8) disposed coaxial with and externally of the annular race (10). A freewheel drive coupling as in claim 1, characterised in that the locking means (9) serve to establish three relative angular positions between the ring (5) and the hub (2 or 1), including a central position of normal operation, in which the teeth (13) and the rolling elements (3) are in alignment with the sockets (14) and notches (4), and two lateral positions in which either the rolling elements (3) only are aligned with the notches (4) or the teeth (13) only are aligned with the sockets (14). A freewheel drive coupling as in claim 1, characterised in that the locking means (9) are provided in at least two locations spaced apart through identical angular distances about the common axis of the hubs (1, 2).	CAVALLI DANTE & WALTER OMC; O.M.C. S.N.C. DI DANTE CAVALLI & C.	CAVALLI DANTE; CAVALLI, DANTE
EP-0488964-B1	488,964	EP	B1	EN	19,970,903	1,992	20,100,220	new	B32B17	C03C27	B29C37, B32B17	B32B 17/10L22, B32B 17/10L16K, B32B 17/10G28	Process and apparatus for the cutting to shape of sheets of plastic material	In a process and apparatus for cutting to shape sheets of plastic material, the cutting to shape of the plastic material and the handling of the cut shaped sheet takes place by means of a mobile support, such as a pallet (18) on which the centering operations requested for the cutting of the material and the taking-up thereof in an area of assembly of laminate glass are carried out, the pallet (18) passing along a closed circuit, preferably in the presence of a plurality of additional similar pallets (18) (figure 1).	The present invention relates to a process of cutting a continuous plastic material into cut-to-shape sheets. A further object of the present invention is an apparatus suitable for carrying out said process. More in particular, object of the invention is a process and an apparatus suitable for the automatic cutting to shape of sheets of plastic material as they arrive from lines of supply, and for presenting the material thus cut to shape in the area where it is to be finally used. The present invention finds particular application in plants for the production of laminated glass for vehicles or other means of transport, as well as for the production of safety glass in general. From the state of the art are known problems regarding the cutting to shape of plastic materials, for instance of the kind known as PVB (polyvinylbutiral), used in the manufacture of laminated glass, to which specific reference will be made in the course of the description. This glass, as it is known, is made up of two or more sheets of glass glued to each other, said glueing being performed by interposing between the sheets a film of plastic material, which will be indicated in the following as PVB. PVB is a transparent material resistant to tensile stress and it renders the glass shatter-proof as, in the case of breakage, the splinters of glass remain attached to the adhesive film. Multi-layer glass is substantially elastic and is used as a protection against implosion, for example in vehicles. From the state of the art are known systems suitable for the automatic manufacture of laminated glass. These known systems cooperate with suitable supply magazines from which the male and female sheets of glass are taken one at a time, as well as the shaped PVB film to be placed between the sheets of glass. A system of this kind is described for example in IT-A-83555. The sheets of PVB film are ready-cut to measure at special work stations separate from the glass assembly line, and are then transferred into the supply magazines. Furthermore, from EP-A-0319251 a process and an apparatus are known for automatically manufacturing laminated glass. According to EP-A-0319251 sheet blanks are peeled off and lifted from a stack of PVB sheet blanks, the individual sheet blanks so obtained being placed and positioned on the table of a positioning station, from which they are transferred to a cutting station. The cutting station is suitable for automatically cutting a sheet blank to shape while keeping it fixed on a cutting table, a cutting head being movable along X-, Y-, and Z-axes and being rotatable about the Z-axis. After cutting, the cut-to-shape sheet is lifted from the cutting table and transferred to a film placing station to be inserted between a pair of sheets of glass to be joined together. The invention has the aim of providing a process and an apparatus of the type indicated above, suitable to be perfectly integrated with in-line apparatuses for the assembly of glass laminates. This object is achieved by providing for a process according to claim 1 respectively an apparatus according to claim 9. According to the invention, the cutting to shape of the material, as well as the handling of the material thus cut, takes place by means of a moving support on which said material is positioned. The moving support is a pallet-type element, and this term will be used to indicate it in the following description. The pallet travels in cycle along the working line, passing from a first phase for loading and cutting of the PVB to a final phase in which the cut PVB is delivered to the apparatus for assembly of the glass laminates. Accurate centering of the pallet in the areas in which the PVB is cut and picked up for coupling with the sheets of glass, gives the whole process the desired and necessary precision. The film of cut PVB also retains the desired centering conditions on the pallet during the movements of the pallet itself, so that it is in a predetermined and certain position in the area of cooperation with the apparatus for assembly of the glass laminates. The invention provides for transit of the pallet in a cutting area formed by two cutting stations, operating alternately one to the other. A first station is equipped to perform the cutting of curved or, as it is known, stretched material and, with this object, it cooperates with a group for feeding and adjustment of the stretched PVB wound on conical rolls. A second station is equipped for the cutting of so-called flat material and, with this object, it cooperates with apparatus for the feeding and adjustment of flat PVB wound on cylindrical rolls, and also with an apparatus known as a slacking apparatus, which has the object of unwinding the material, causing a slack in the latter. Cutting of the sheet of PVB takes place by means of a laser beam in a polar axes apparatus, that is to say with means that move according to polar coordinates with reference to the fixed material to be cut. The cutting stations are suitably equipped to cope with various sizes of shaped PVB, both straight and curved, and can be provided with means for the suction of any fumes that may be released during the cutting operations. Downstream of the cutting stations is provided a pallet rotation station, the function of which is to perform a 180° angular rotation of the pallet. This is required in the case of straight shape, for example those with a trapezoidal shape, which are cut in sequence and next to each other on the film of PVB, but each one placed specularly with respect to the next. The shaped sheets preferably face in the same direction when arriving in the area of cooperation with the glass assembly apparatus situated downstream. From said pallet rotation station, the pallet passes on to one or more waiting and transit stations situated upstream of the PVB take-up station, which is in its turn suitably situated in correspondence with the glass and PVB assembly area. In said PVB take-up station, the pallet with the material to be taken up undergoes a centering operation, and is then taken up. The empty pallet is re-cycled and returned once again to the PVB cutting area. These and other aspects particular to the invention will be better understood from the following description. With reference to the enclosed drawings, provided as a non-limiting example: figure 1 illustrates a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the invention; figure 2 illustrates in a side view and in enlarged scale, according to arrow A, part of the embodiment of figure 1; figure 3 illustrates in a side view and in enlarged scale, according to arrow B, another part of the embodiment of figure 1; figure 4 is an enlarged plan view of a part of the first cutting station of the embodiment of figure 1; figure 5 illustrates details of the station according to figure 4; and figures 6a to to 6e illustrate a preferred embodiment of a pallet used in the embodiment of figure 1. With reference to figure 1 and to figures 2 and 3, which are side views in vertical section according to arrows A and B of figure 1, respectively, the cutting apparatus 10 is made up in this embodiment of a plurality of stations arranged on two working groups which extend at right-angles one to the other. In the first working group are a pallet lifting station 11, a cutting station for stretched PVB 12, a cutting station for flat PVB 13 and a pallet rotation station 14. In the second working group, which, as stated above, is arranged at right-angles to the first, is a pallet transfer station 15, a station 16 for assembly of the sheets of glass with the PVB and a pallet lowering station 17. As a support for the cutting of the PVB and for its transfer into the glass assembly area, a pallet 18 is used, of the type illustrated in figures 6 and described in detail in the following description. The pallet 18 passes successively from the lifting station 11 to the lowering station 17, held in a horizontal position and travelling along said route at a high vertical level, as can be seen more clearly in figures 2 and 3. In the lowering station 17 the pallet 18 is returned to the cycle, being brought back to a lower level of travel (not shown in the drawings), corresponding to a route returning it towards the lifting station 11. Said return route is situated inside the basic structure 19 and is parallel to the outward route. Advantageosly, on the outward and return routes between stations 11 and 17, a plurality of pallets 18 is to be found. When the re-cycled pallet 18 arrives at the lifting station 11, it is picked up by the lifting means 20 and, by means of its motor member 21, is lifted onto the posts 22 of the station 11 until reaching the raised position for travelling through the cutting apparatus 10 (see figure 2). From said raised position in station 11 the pallet 18 is tranferred into the successive stretched PVB cutting station 12, for example by means of a blade pusher 23, moving on guides 24 through the action of a jack 25, similar to that which can be seen in the pallet lowering station 17 in figure 1. In the station 12 the pallet 18 is positioned on guide rollers 26, integral with the bearing structure 27 of the cutting station 12, and activated by their own motor means 28. In the station 12 is also present a bell-shaped element 29, which is substantially a box, supported at 30, vertically mobile with the object of bringing the pallet 18 into cooperation with the PVB sheet to be cut, while at the same time performing a centering of the pallet 18 itself. With this object, the bell-shaped element 29 has on its top suitable reference means, for example balls, which are brought into abutment with coordinated reference means situated on the pallet 18 itself, as will be more clearlyy described below. The bell-shaped element 29 is also advantageously under low pressure with the aim of sucking up the fumes given off during the cutting operations. The flat PVB cutting station 12 cooperates with a feeding group 31 for flat PVB, whose function, along with the continuous feeding of the film of PVB, is also that of regulating in real time the position of the film on a horizontal plane when entering cutting station 12. With this object the feeding group 31 has a platform 32 which moves on slide guides 33 by means of a motor means 34, said motor means 34 being servoed to means for the continuous control of the unrolling of the roll of PVB, for intance photocells. The PVB is wound onto a conical roll 35 placed on a vertical axis, said roll 35 cooperating with a tumbling device 36 powered by 37. The tumbling device 36 allows the operations of loading and unloading the roll 35, as well as any angular inclination of the axix of the same with the object of vertically orientating the generatrix of the cone at its unrolling point. With the same object, the conical roll 35 cooperates with tipping means 38, likewise powered by 39, so as to allow a double inclination of the axis of the roll 35 in the orthogonal planes X-Z and Y-Z, Z being the vertical axis of the conical roll 35. The film of PVB unwound from the roll 35 and supported by feeding guide rollers 40, is taken up in the cutting station 12 by pinching means carried by a pair of chain groups, indicated with a dotted line in 41 in figure 1. The chain groups 41, in a closed ring, are suitably powered at 42 and are carried by a pair of carriages 43 which move transversally to the direction of feeding of the film of PVB into the cutting station 12. Said carriages 43 can run in synchronism one towards the other along the bearing structure 27 due to screw means 44 activated by a motor means 45. The relative movement of the carriages 43 is necessary in order to adapt the apparatus to the various heights of the PVB film being worked. At the cutting station 12 are provided means for the adjustment of the curvature of the stretched PVB. With this object, on the carriages 43, curvature adjustment groups 46 are provided, as can be more clearly seen in figure 4. Said groups 46 are formed by a plurality of adjustment blocks 47 having windows 48, by means of which their position on the horizontal plane can be modified to form the desired curved cutting profile. Said adjustment blocks 47 form the guide means for the cain groups 41 in their action of feeding the film of PVB into the cutting station 12. In figure 5 can be more clearly seen the constructive details of the adjustment group 46, in which each block 47 has at the end thereof a C-shaped bar 49 to which are fixed the guide blocks 50 on which the chain 41 runs. To said chain 41 are fixed the pincers 51 driving the film of PVB, said pincers being kept during driving in a closed position, as illustrated in the example of figure 5, in abutment against a plate 52 integral with the block 47. When the plate 52 and pincer 51 are out of abutment, the latter opens, for example through an elastic means, abbandoning its hold on the film of PVB and therefore also ceasing to pull it. The guide plugs 50 are fixed to the C-shaped bar in a position opposite, with regard to chain 41, to that illustrated in figure 5, when it is required to make on the second carriage 43 a curvature complementary to that on the first carriage 43, as can be seen in figure 1. In the case of feeding of flat PVB which can take place at the successive station 13, on the C-shaped bar 49 the guide plugs 50 are fixed on both sides with respect to the chain 41. In figure 4 is shown, also in an enlarged vertical section, an eccentric group 53 for aligning the end of chain 41 with the first adjustment block 47 according to the various possible cutting curves. This alignment is made by moving a lever 54 which causes the rotation of an eccentric pin 55 which is integral with the pinion 56 of the chain 41. On reaching the desired position, it is fixed by means of suitable blocking wedges 57. Cutting of the PVB takes place by means of a laser beam cutting unit, preferably of the polar type or the like accomplishing the cutting by variation of its polar coordinates and x. With this object the laser beam generator is mounted on a rotating platform 59, on the arm 60 of which can be moved in a linear direction the optical group for 90° reflection and focusing of the beam 58 in order to obtain the desired coordinate x. The cutting apparatus is mounted on a carriage 61 which is movable above the structure of the stations 11 and 12 so as to perform alternately cutting of the stretched PVB at 12 or the cutting of the flat PVB at 13. The moving carriage 61, activated by the motor means 62, positions itself in the desired cutting area by means of suitable stops 63. Said carriage 61 also carries the console for the laser generator 64, as well as a service console 65 for control and adjustment of the operating functions connected to the performance of cutting. By means of said console 65, for example, the working parameters relating to the optic group 58, to the axes of the four chains 41 in the working stations 12 and 13, and to the power of the laser beam are controlled and coordinated. To each cutting station 12 or 13 can be associated a bin for collection of the waste produced during cutting. The station for cutting of flat PVB 13 has a conformation substantially similar to the station for cutting of stretched PVB 12, with the adjustments required. It cooperates with a group for feeding the flat PVB 66, having the function of feeding the film of PVB and of regulating in real time the transversal position of the film on entering the cutting station 13, so as to keep it aligned with the chain groups 41 of the station 13. The transversal regulation can take place by means of an axis governed by optical means which read for istance the position of one of the two edges of the film. For said transversal regulation the group 66 is provided with two pairs of motor feeder rollers 67 mounted on a support structure 68 moving on a platform 69 by means of a suitable motor meand, the latter being for example governed by photocell means. The PVB forms a loop between the pairs of rollers 67 so as to form a slack in the material to avoid stretching. The flat PVB feeding group 66 cooperates upstream with a slacking apparatus 70 for slacking off the material. In the pallet rotation station 14 the pallet 18 can be rotated, according to requirements, by 180° before being sent on to the following stations by means of a pusher 23, as previously illustrated for station 17. Station 14 is formed by a structure for the housing and running of the pallet 18, similar to the previous ones, and cooperates with a shelf structure 71, bearing the activating means of an orientation chuck 72. Said chuck 72 is provided at its end with moving pincers 73 for picking up the pallet 18, in order to lift it and rotate it. The pallet transfer station 15 is built in a similar manner to the previous one, and is a waiting and transit station. In figures 1 and 3 are illustrated in said station 15 and in the following station 16 a means for stopping the pallet 18 in position, for example by means of a lever 74 activated by a jack 75. In the assembly station 16 the cut to shape PVB is picked up from its respective pallet 18 to be inserted between the sheets of glass 76 in the respective glass assembly station 77. In said station 16 the pallet 18 is temporarily lifted into a known and predetermined position for picking up of the PVB, centering of the pallet 18 itself being performed during said lifting. Said operation is performed in effect by means of four centering groups 78, substantially placed in correspondence with the corners of the pallet 18 and formed for example by piston groups with a contact sphere at their ends. The pallet 18 is illustrated in figures 6, in which 6a illustrated a plan view, 6b a side view and figures 6c, 6d and 6e the enlarged partial sections according to arrows C, D and E, respectively. Pallet 18 is formed by a frame 79, preferably metal, containing grill-shaped bearing planes 80 for the sheet of PVB. It has transversal grooves 81 suitable to house outer fork carrier means, indicated with a dotted line in 82 in figure 1, for removal of the shaped PVB from the pallet 18. For lifting and complete centering of the pallet 18 by means of the sphere means mentioned above, the frame 79 has in this case at its corners a cone reference 83 (figure 6c), two flat references 84 (figurs 6d) and a V-shaped reference 85 (figure 6e). The empty pallet 18 passes successively to the descent station 17, in which, by means of a suitable descender 86 activated by motor means 87, it is brought down to the lower transit level descending along the uprights 88. In said lowered position it is pushed, as stated, by the pusher 23 onto the means for returning it to station 11, said means being a roller, or belt, or chain conveyor or any other means suited to this purpose. While a description has been given of a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is evident that for those skilled in the art a number of variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.	Process of cutting a continuous plastic material into cut-to-shape sheets, in particular of the PVB type used in the manufacture of laminated glass, said plastic material being either flat or stretched into a curved shape, said cut-to-shape sheets being picked up one at a time in correspondence with a production line for laminated glass in order to be inserted between a pair of sheets of glass to be joined together, in which said cutting to shape of the continuous plastic material as well as the movement of the cut-to-shape sheets takes place using a pallet (18), upon which are carried out the required operations of centering for the cutting of the plastic material into sheets and for the transfer thereof in the assembly area for laminated glass, said pallet (18) being made to move, preferably in the presence of a plurality of other pallets (18) of the same kind, along a closed circuit route, and in which the following working phases are carried out automatically and in succession: positioning of the pallet (18) in correspondence with the start of cutting cycle; transferring the pallet (18) into a cutting area formed by a cutting station for the plastic material stretched into a curved shape and a cutting station for the flat plastic material; spatial centering of the pallet (18) substantially contemporarily with the feeding of the plastic material into one of the cutting stations to set said material down on said pallet (18); cutting the continuous plastic material into cut-to-shape sheets using a laser beam cutting system operating along polar coordinates, and keeping the material to be cut fixed and moving the cutting system, said laser beam cutting system alternatively serving the cutting station for the plastic material stretched into a curved shape and the cutting station for the flat plastic material; transferring of the pallet (18) with the cut-to-shape sheet, its rotation by 180° if necessary, and its positioning in a transit area upstream of said assembly area for laminated glass; transferring the pallet (18) with the cut-to-shape sheet into the area of cooperation with the apparatus for the assembly of the laminated glass; spatial centering the pallet (18); picking-up the cut-to-shape sheet from the pallet (18); transferring the empty pallet (18) into an area for recirculation of empty pallets (18); transferring the empty pallet (18) to reposition it in correspondence with the start of a new cutting cycle. Process according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the closed circuit route of the pallet (18) takes place on two parallel transit lines arranged on horizontal planes having different vertical levels. Process according to claim 1 or 2 , characterized by the fact that the cutting stations of the stretched into a curved shape and flat plastic material cooperate with a system for the feeding, control and automatic adjustment of the position of the plastic material being fed in. Process according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the curvature of the curved plastic material to be cut can be adjusted. Process according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the cutting station of the flat plastic material cooperates with a system (70) placed upstream for slacking off the material. Process according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it provides for the cutting of plastic material of various widths, as desired. Process according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the spatial centering of the pallet (18) is performed by the engagement of reference means (83, 84, 85) in the pallet (18) with respectives centering means placed in the cutting and assembling stations. Process according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the area for pickup of the cut to shape sheets from the pallet (18) forms an integral part of the production line for laminated glass. Apparatus for the cutting of a continuous plastic material into cut-to-shape sheets, in particular of the PVB type used in the manufacture of laminated glass, said plastic material being either flat or stretched into a curved shape, said cut-to-shape sheets being picked up one at a time in correspondence with a production line for laminated glass in order to be inserted between a pair of sheets of glass to be joined together, said apparatus being suitable for carrying out the process as claimed in claim 1, the apparatus comprising a structure having an upper line (26) for outward transit of the pallets (18) and a lower line (19) for return transit of said pallets (18), said transit lines (26, 19) forming part of the following main working groups placed one after the other: pallet raising station (11); cutting station (12) for PVB plastic material stretched into a curved shape; flat PVB plastic material cutting station (13); pallet rotation station (14); pallet transfer station (15); assembly station (16); pallet descent station (17), said cutting stations (12, 13) being provided with a laser beam cutting group (58-65) operating along polar coordinates and alternatively serving the cutting station for the PVB plastic material stretched into a curved shape and the cutting station for the flat PVB plastic material ; and with a group for feeding in stretched PVB plastic material (31) and a group for feeding in flat PVB plastic material (66), respectively. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterized by the fact that said cutting group is formed by a moving carriage (61) bearing a rotating platform (59), an arm (60) and an optical group (58) running on said arm (60), along with a laser generator console (64) and a service console (65). Apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, characterized by the fact that the pallet raising station (11) has lifting means (20, 21, 22) for the pallet (18) to be recirculated. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 11, characterized by the fact that each cutting station (12, 13) is provided with pincer pulling means (41, 42, 51) for pulling the plastic material. Apparatus according to claim 12, characterized by the fact that said pincer pulling means (41, 42, 51) are mounted on moving carriages (43) arranged symmetrically. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 13, characterized by the fact that each cutting station (12, 13) is provided with a bell-shaped element (29) for raising the pallet (18). Apparatus according to claim 14, characterized by the fact that said bell-shaped element (29) is under vacuum. Apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, characterized by the fact that said bell-shaped element (29) has means for raising and centering the pallet, preferably of a spherical kind. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 16, characterized by the fact that the pallet (18) has reference and centering means (83, 84, 85). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 17, characterized by the fact that the cutting station for the stretched material (12) has means for the adjustment of the curve of the material (46). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 18, characterized by the fact that said stretched PVB feeding group (31) is made up of a moving platform (32) carrying loading and unloading means (36) for the package (35) of plastic material with a vertical axis. Apparatus according to claim 19, characterized by the fact that said package (35) of plastic material has means for the adjustment of its inclination. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 20, characterized by the fact that said stretched PVB feeding group (31) has means for the control of the posision of the material being unwound. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 21, characterized by the fact that said flat PVB feeding group (66) is formed by a structure (68), moving on a platform (69), carrying rollers (67) feeding in the plastic material. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 22, characterized by the fact that said flat PVB feeding group (66) has means for control of the position of the material being fed in. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 23, characterized by the fact that said pallet rotation station (14) has a structure (71) bearing pincer gripping means (73) and chuck rotation means (72) for the pallet (18). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 24, characterized by the fact that said assembly station (16) has centering groups (78) of the pallets (18). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 25, characterized by the fact that pallet descent station (17) has lowering means (86, 87, 88) for the pallet (18) to be recirculated. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 26, characterized by the fact that the upper transit line is formed by rollers (26) which are motorized (28). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 27, characterized by the fact that said pallet raising (11), pallet rotation (14) and pallet lowering (17) stations have means for the expulsion of the pallet (23, 24, 25). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 28, characterized by the fact that said working stations (11-17) are arranged in a right-angled route. Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 29, characterized by the fact that the assembly station (16) is an integral part of the assembly line (77). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 30, characterized by the fact that said flat PVB feeding group (66) is arranged immediately downstream of a slacking apparatus (79). Apparatus according to anyone of claims 9 to 31, characterized by the fact that said cutting stations (12, 13) are provided with means for collecting waste.	SIV SOC ITALIANA VETRO; SOCIETA' ITALIANA VETRO- SIV-SPA	DE LEONIBUS VITTORE; GILLI LUIGI; DE LEONIBUS, VITTORE; GILLI, LUIGI
EP-0488965-B1	488,965	EP	B1	EN	19,950,906	1,992	20,100,220	new	C07D307	C07D493, A61K31	C07D307, C07D493	C07D 307/88, M07D307:88, M07D493:04, M07D493:04+319A+307A, M07D493:04+321A+307A, M07D493:04+317A+307A, C07D 493/04	Phthalidilidene derivatives of carnitine and alkanoylcarnitines and pharmaceutical compositions containing them	(3-phtalidylidene) alkyl esters of carnitine and alkanoyl carnitines of general formula (I) wherein Y is a C₁-C₅ alkylene group, unsubstituted or substituted with one or more lower C₁-C₄ alkyl groups; R is hydrogen or C₂-C₆ alkanoyl; R₁, R₂,R₃, and R₄, identical or different, are hydrogen, halogen C₁-C₈ alkoxy, C₁-C₄ lower alkyl, halogen-substituted lower alkyl, amino, alkyl-substituted amino wherein the alkyl group has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, nitro, cyano, C₁-C₄ alkanoylamino, or R₁ and R₂ taken together, R₂ and R₃ taken together or R₃ and R₄ taken together form a C₁-C₄ alkylenedioxy group, and X⁻ is the anion of a pharmacologically acceptable salt are potent PAF (plateletactivating factor) and acetyl-cholinesterase antagonists. Pharmaceutical compositions containing the compounds of formula (I) are useful for the therapeutical treatment of inflammatory and allergic conditions, particularly asthma, anaphylactic shock, as contraceptives and for the treatment of pre-senile and senile dementias (typically, Alzheimer's disease).	The present invention relates to (3-phthalidylidene) alkyl esters of carnitine and alkanoyl carnitines of general formula (I) wherein Yis a C₁-C₅ alkylene group, unsubstituted or substituted with one or more lower C₁-C₄ alkyl groups; Ris hydrogen or C₂-C₆ alkanoyl; R₁, R₂,R₃ and R₄,identical or different, are hydrogen, halogen, C₁-C₈ alkoxy, lower C₁-C₄ alkyl, halogen-substituted lower alkyl, amino, alkyl-substituted amino wherein the alkyl group has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, nitro, cyano, C₁-C₄ alkanoylamino, or R₁ and R₂ taken together, R₂ and R₃ taken together or R3 and R4 taken together form a C₁-C₄ alkylenedioxy group, and X⁻is the anion of a pharmacologically acceptable salt. The esters of general formula (I) are potent PAF (plateletactivating factor) and acetylcholinesterase antagonists. PAF is an endogenous phospholipid discovered in the early sixties, and was thus termed after its remarkable ability to aggregate platelets. PAF does not play exclusively a role in stimulating the platelets to aggregate, but also plays an important role in various pathological conditions, such as inflammatory and allergic conditions. The esters (I) can be used as active ingredients in pharmaceutical compositions for treating those pathological conditions wherein PAF is the etiological agent or one of the etiological agents. Moreover, because of their acetylcholinesterase antagonism, they are effective for the treatment of pre-senile and senile dementias (typically, Alzheimer's disease). In particular, in formula (I) the various substituents can have the following meanings: Yis C₁-C₂ alkylene; Ris selected from hydrogen, acetyl, propionyl, butyryl, isobutyryl, valeryl and isovaleryl; R₁, R₂, R₃ and R₄,identical or different, are selected from hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, methoxy, ethoxy, methyl, trifluoromethyl, trichloromethyl, amino, nitro, cyano and acetylamino; X⁻is the anion of a pharmacologically acceptable acid selected from chloride; bromide; iodide; aspartate; particularly acid aspartate; citrate, particularly acid citrate; phosphate, particularly acid phosphate; fumarate; particularly acid fumarate; glycerophosphate; glucosephosphate; lactate; maleate; particularly acid maleate; orotate; oxalate; particularly acid oxalate, sulphate, particularly acid sulphate; trichloroacetate, trifluoroacetate and metansulphonate. PAF (1-0-alkyl-2-acetylglycero-3-phosphorylcholine) has formula PAF actually represents a family of phospholipids, because the alkyl group at position 1 can vary in lenght from C₁₆ to C₁₈. PAF is biosynthesized following a stimulus by platelets, neutrophils, monocytes, mast cells, eosinophils, renal mesangial cells, renal medullary cells and vascular endothelial cells. A recent thorough review of PAF biochemistry, pharmacology, pathobiology, receptors and antagonists has been published by P. Braquet et al. in Pharmacological reviews, vol. 39, n. 2, 97-145 (1987). It has been definetly ascertained that PAF is involved with a variety of physiophatological conditions, including artherial thrombosis, acute inflammation, endotoxic shock, acute allergic diseases and asthma. It is a potent bronchoconstrictor and promotes the accumulation of eosinophils in the lung, it causes tracheal and bronchial edema and it stimulates the secretion of mucus. All this has prompted remarkable interest in the development of PAF-antagonists. The compounds of the present invention are prepared by condensing carnitine or the appropriate alkanoylcarnitine with the suitable 3-(ω-bromo-alkylidene) phtalide, optionally substituted at positions 4,5,6 and 7 with R₄, R₃, R₂, R₁, respectively, the meanings of which have been previously defined. 3-(ω-bromoalkylidene) phthalides and their preparation are described in the prior art. For instance, in the Japanese patent application 85814/1978/publication 13221/1980) to Kanebo and in Chem. Pharm. Bull. 31 (8), 2698-2707 (1983), Fumio Sakamoto et al disclose the synthesis of (Z)- and (E)-3-(2-bromoethylidene) phthalides which these Authors use as intermediates for preparing penicillin (3-phtalidylidene) ethyl esters. These latter compounds are prodrugs of orally administrable penicillins, which are advantageously endowed with better bioavailability with respect to the antibiotics as such. (See also in this regard the Japanese patent application 106650/1978, publication n. 33444/1980 to Kanebo). The synthesis described by the foregoing Authors comprises (see the following reaction scheme) the bromination of known phthalides (I) (German Auslegeschrift 1.266.310; S.N. Chakravati and W.N. Perkin, J. Chem. Soc. 1927, 196) with N-bromo-succinimide (NBS) in carbontetrachloride to give the bromides (2) which with triphenylphosphine in benzene give the phosphonium bromides (3). These latter compounds, reacted with acetaldehyde in the presence of triethylamine, give the ethylidenephtalides (4) and (5), i.e. both (Z) and (E) isomers. By bromination of (4) and (5) with NBS, 3-(2-bromo-ethylidene) phthalides (6) in the (Z) isomer form only are obtained. The following non-limiting examples illustrate the preparation of some of the compounds of the present invention. Example 1(Z)-(3-phthalidylidene)ethyl ester of L-carnitine bromide (ST 736). To a suspension of 3.98 g(0.0247 moles) L-carnitine (M.W. 161.2) in 30 mL dimethylformamide a solution of 5.9 g (0.0247 moles) (Z)-3-(2-bromoethylidene)phthalide (M.W. 239.07) (Chem. Pharm. Bull. 31 (8), 2698-2707, 1983) in 30 mL dimethylformamide was added, while keeping the temperature of the reaction mixture at +25°C. The reaction was monitored via TLC (eluant CHCl₃: MeOH:H₂O:iso-PrOH:AcOH 60:40:15:10:15). After stirring for 3 hours at 25°C, the very thin suspension was filtered and the solution slowly added dropwise to 800 mL ethyl ether. The suspension that formed was stirred for 2 hours and then allowed to stand at +5°C overnight. The precipitate was filtered and crystallized from isopropanol. 7.44 g (3-phthalidylidene)ethyl ester of L-carnitine bromide were obtained. Yield 75.2%. M.P. = 154-156°C (da isoPrOH) [α] 25 / D = -10.7°(c=1 in H₂O) TLC: single spot (eluant CHCl₃:MeOH:H₂O:isoPrOH:AcOH 60:40:15:10:15) silica gel plates 0.25 mm - 60 F₂₅₄ (E. Merck) Detectors: UV 0.254 nm and iodine vapors HPLC: Waters 990 Column: µBondapack C₁₈, inner diameter = 3.9 mm, length 300 mm; mobile phase: KH₂PO₄0.05 M/CH₃CN 70:30; t=25°C; flow rate: 1 ml/min; detector: UV λ = 205 nm; capacity factor (K′) calculated on the peak of Br⁻ anion: K′=1.36. ¹H-NMR: Varian 300 MHz(D₂0) δ (p.p.m.):2.95-2.70(2H,m,CH₂COOR), 3.385(9H,s,+N(CH₃)₃), 3.55(2H,d,CH₂N),4.90-4.80(1H,m,CHOH), 4.953(2H,d,JAX=7.2Hz,CH₂CH=), 5.806(1H,t,JAX=7.2Hz,CH₂CH=),7.40-7.70(4H,m,Arom) Attribution of configuration to the C=C double boundThe (Z) configuration of the compound to the C=C double bound was attributed on the grounds of the accumulated (CD₃CN) ¹H-NMR N.O.E. spectra (Nuclear Overhauser Effect) and the proton-coupled carbon spectra. The experiment ¹H-NMR N.O.E. (Nuclear Overhauser Effect) was conducted by irradiating the triplet at δ 6.0 p.p.m.; a doublet at δ 7.932 and 7.907 p.p.m. (J=8.3 Hz) corresponding to C-H, was observed. Examples 2-31The compounds of the examples 2-31 were prepared by following the procedures outlined in Example 1 and effecting the required substitutions which, however, are apparent to anyone having ordinary skill in organic syntheses. The formula of these compounds is obtained by substituting in the general formula (I) the meanings of R and R₂ given in the following table (R₁=R₃=R₄=H, unless otherwise indicated). In the same table, the main physico-chemical characterists of the obtained compounds are shown. In synthesizing the compounds of the invention, the selection of solvents and operating conditions can be broadened with respect to those set forth in Example 1, as hereinbelow disclosed. As reaction solvents, aprotic dipolar solvents are used such as e.g. dimethylformamide, acetonitrile, diethyleneglycol dimethyl ether, dimethyl sulfoxide, sulfolane, preferably dimethylformamide. The reaction temperature is comprised between +5°C and +80°C, preferably between +25°C and +35°C. The dropping time is comprised between 10 and 120 minutes and preferebly is 60 minutes. The reaction time is comprised between 1 and 48 hours, preferably 2-3 hours. When the reaction is completed, the stirring temperature is comprised between -20°C and +25°C, preferably +5°C, for times ranging from 2 to 48 hours, preferably 14 hours. The solvents for precipitating and isolating the final compounds are selected from symmetrical or asimmetrical, straight or branched lower alkyl ethers, such as diethyl ether, di -n-propyl ether, diisopropyl ether, di-n-butyl ether, preferably diethyl ether. Alternatively, the reaction mixture can be concentrated under vacuum at low temperature, and the residue recrystallized from suitable solvent(s). Some of the pharmacological tests conducted in order to assess the activity of the compounds of the present invention are reported hereinbelow. BINDING TO PAF RECEPTORSThe binding of the compounds under examination to rabbit platelet receptors was studied following the procedure disclosed by D. Nunez et al, Eur J. Pharmacol. 123, 197 (1986). Blood was drawn via intracardiac puncture from male rabbits (HY/CR strain-Charles River, Italy) weighing 2.5-3.0 Kg. Blood was diluted (1:9) in a ACD (0.8% citric acid, 2.2% trisodium citrate, 2.45% glucose, weight percentages) solution and centrifuged at 100 x g for 15 minutes. The precipitate was suspended in the incubation buffer at 2⁻⁴ x 10⁸ platelet/ml concentration, immediately before binding. The platelet number and possible erythrocyte contamination was controlled with a platelet counter DELCON CA480. Platelets were incubated in polyethylene tubes with ³H-PAF (0.5 nM) for 30 minutes at 25°C. The test compounds were added to a volume of 200 µl. The final volume was equal to 500 µl. Incubation was stopped by rapid filtration under vacuum through GF/C filters (WHATMAN) washed with (3x3 ml) cold incubation buffer using a Brondel Cell Harvester filtration system. The filters were counted in 8 mL OptiFluor (Packard) using a TRI-CARB 1900 CA-Packard liquid scintillation spectrometer (about 50% counting efficiency). RESULTS EVALUATIONThe percentage of inhibition of the specific binding receptor-radioligand was calculated for each concentration (mean of incubations in triplicate). The competition curve, the slope of the curve, and the IC₅₀ value (concentration which inhibits 50% of the specific radioligand-receptor binding) were calculated with the All fit program (A. De Lean et al., Am. J. Physiol. 235, E97, 1978) runned in a 55-SX IBM computer. The results are shown in Table 2. PLATELET AGGREGATION ANTAGONISM INDUCED BY PAF (Platelet activating factor) and ADP (Adenosinediphosphate)PAF-INDUCED AGGREGATIONBlood was collected from male rabbits (HY/Charles River, Italy) by heart puncture using a plastic syringe and transferred immediately into plastic tubes containing 3.8% (by weight) solution of sodium citrate (0.1 ml/ml blood). PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) was obtained by plasma centrifugation at 145 x g for 5 minutes at 22°C. Platelet number was determined with a CA 580A (Delcon) platelet counter . The platelet number was adjusted to the fixed value of 350,000 platelet/ml by adding PPP (Platelet Poor Plasma). PPP was obtained by centrifuging blood at 1600 x g for 10 minutes at 22°C. Platelet aggregation was determined photometrically (G.V.R. Born, Nature 194, 927; 1962) with an ELVI 840 aggregometer in plastic tubes under continuous stirring at 1000 rpm. Maximal light transmission (100%) was recorded by reading PPP, while 0% transmission was recorded by reading PRP. The PRP aggregation degree induced by the aggregation factor (PAF) was calculated as percentage of maximal light transmittance obtained with PPP using 250 µL samples of PRP. For each test, the concentration of aggregating agent needed to obtain 50-60% aggregation was determined and was shown to range between 10⁻⁷ and 9 x 10⁻⁸ M. The compounds were dissolved in bidistilled water at the concentration of 10⁻⁵ M and tested after 2 minutes of incubation. Aggregation inhibition was calculated as percentage of the value obtained in the presence of the aggregating agent only. ADP-INDUCED AGGREGATIONBlood was drawn from the abdominal aorta of male rats (Crl:(WI)BR, Charles River, Italy) under barbiturate anaesthesia and quickly transferred into plastic tubes containing 0.1 mL/mL blood of 3.8% (by weight) solution of sodium citrate. PRP was obtained by plasma centrifugation at 115 x g for 5 minutes at 22°C and PPP by centrifugation at 1600 x g for 10 minutes. The final PRP platelet number was adjusted to the fixed value of 350,000/mL of PRP by adding PPP. Platelet count was made with a CA580 A(Delcan) platelet counter. The same procedure outlined in the paragraph PAF aggregation was followed for the ADP-induced aggregation. The concentration of the aggregating factor (ADP) ranged from 5 x 10⁻⁶ to 1 x 10⁻⁵ M. The results are shown in Table 4. OBSERVATION OF THE BEHAVIOUR AND DEATH RATE IN MICEThe observation of normal behaviour in mice was conducted following the method by S. Irwin, Psychopharmacologia 13, 222 ( 1968). This method allows alterations of some behavioural, neurophysiological and neurovegetative parameters directly detectable by the experimenter to be visualized. The test was conducted in male mice [Crl;(CD-I)(ICR)BR, Charles River - Italy] weighing 22-25 g, following oral administration of the compounds suspended in carboxymethylcellulosa (0.5% by weight in H₂O) to groups of 4 animals/dose. The animals were kept under continuous observation for five hours following treatment and twice a day for the subsequent five days. Death rate was also observed during the whole test period. The initial administered dose was 1,000 mg/kg per os; lower doses were administered following death of some animals or after marked effects at the initial dose were dected. The results are shown in Table 3. CONCLUSIONThe compounds were shown to be active in antagonizing PAF binding to its receptors at pharmacologically meaningful concentrations. The most active ones among the compounds were subsequently tested in the PAF-induced platelet aggregation test in order to assess whether the compounds behave as agonists or antagonists towards PAF receptors. The results obtained showed that the compounds are antagonists. Moreover, it was shown that their activity is specific because the same compounds were inactive in antagonizing the aggregation triggered by an aggregating agent (such as ADP) endowed with a different mode of action. Observation of behaviour and death rate in mice COMPOUND DOSE mg/kg per os SYMPTOMS DEATH RATE ST 736600n.e.0/4 1000convulsion, salivation3/4 ST 739600n.e.0/4 1000jerks2/4 ST 768 600n.e.0/4 1000 convulsion, salivation diarrhea, lacrimation 1/4 ST 7751000n.e.0/4 ST 776600n.e.0/4 1000convulsion, salivation2/4 ST 8011000salivation0/4 ST 804600salivation0/4 1000salivation1/4 ST 805600salivation0/4 1000salivation1/4 ST 806600salivation0/4 1000salivation1/4 ST 8031000diarrhea0/4 n.e. = no effect Inhibition to PAF- and ADP-induced platelet aggregation COMPOUND CONCENTRATION % INHIBITION PAF ADP ST 77610⁻⁵M100%5% ST 801 97%7% ST 804 96%13% ST 805 40%10% ST 806 95%18% ST 803 72%8%	Claims for the following Contracting States : AT, BE, CH, LI, DE, DK, FR, GB, IT, LU, NL, SE(3-phthalidylidene) alkyl esters of carnitine and alkanoyl carnitines of general formula (I) wherein: Yis a C₁-C₅ alkylene group, unsubstituted or substituted with one or more C₁-C₄ lower alkyl groups; Ris hydrogen or C₂-C₆ alkanoyl; R₁, R₂, R₃ and R₄,identical or different, are hydrogen, halogen, C₁-C₈ alkoxy, lower C₁-C₄ alkyl, halogen-substituted lower alkyl amino, alkyl-substituted amino wherein the alkyl group has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, nitro, cyano, C₁-C₄ alkanoylamino, or R₁ and R₂ taken together, R₂ and R₃ taken together or R₃ and R₄ taken together form a C₁-C₄ alkylenedioxy group, and X⁻is the anion of a pharmacologically acceptable salt. The esters of claim 1, wherein Y is methylene or ethylene. The esters of claim 1 or 2, wherein R is selected from acetyl, propionyl, butyryl, isobutyryl, valeryl and isovaleryl. The esters of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the halogen is selected from fluorine and chlorine. The esters of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the alkoxy group is selected from methoxy and ethoxy. The esters of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the halogen-substituted lower alkyl is selected from trifluoromethyl and trichloromethyl. The esters of anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the alkanoylamino is acetylamino. The esters of claim 1, wherein Y is methylene, R₁ = R₂= R₃= R₄= hydrogen and R is selected from hydrogen, acetyl, propionyl, butyryl, isobutyryl, valeryl and isovaleryl. The esters of claim 1, wherein Y is methylene, any three groups from R₁, R₂, R₃ and R₄ are hydrogen and the remaining group is fluorine or chlorine, and R is selected from hydrogen, acetyl, propionyl, butyryl, isobutyryl, valeryl and isovaleryl. The esters of claim 9, wherein R₁=R₃=R₄= hydrogen and R₂ is fluorine or bromine. A pharmaceutical composition comprising as active ingredient a compound according to anyone of the preceding claims, and a pharmacologically acceptable excipient therefor. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 11 for the treatment of diseases whereof PAF is the etiological agent or is one of the etiological agents. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 12 for the treatment of inflammatory and allergic conditions. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 13 for the treatment of asthma. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 12 for the treatment of shock. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 15 for the treatment of anaphylactic shock. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 11 as contraceptive. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 11 for the treatment of pre-senile and senile dementias. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 18 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Claim for the following Contracting States : ES, GRA process for producing (3-phthalidylidene) alkyl esters of carnitine and alkanoyl carnitines of general formula (I) wherein: Yis a C₁-C₅ alkylene group, unsubstituted or substituted with one or more lower C₁-C₄ alkyl groups; Ris hydrogen or C₂-C₆ alkanoyl; R₁, R₂,R₃ and R₄,identical or different, are hydrogen, halogen, C₁-C₈ alkoxy, C₁-C₄ lower alkyl, halogen-substituted lower alkyl, amino, alkyl-substituted amino wherein the alkyl group has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, nitro, cyano, C₁-C₄ alkanoylamino, or R₁ and R₂ taken together, R₂ and R₃ taken together or R₃ and R₄ taken together form a C₁-C₄ alkylenedioxy group, and X⁻ is the anion of a pharmacologically acceptable salt, which comprises condensing carnitine or an alkanoylcarnitine wherein the alkanoyl group has 2 to 6 carbon atoms with 3-(ω-bromoalkylidene) phtalide which is optionally substituted at 4,5,6 and 7 positions thereof with, respectively, the previously defined R₄,R₃,R₂ and R₁ groups, in the presence of aprotic, dipolar solvents, at a temperature from +5 to +80°C, for reaction times from 1 to 48 hours.	SIGMA TAU IND FARMACEUTI; SIGMA-TAU INDUSTRIE FARMACEUTICHE RIUNITE S.P.A.	PICCIOLA GIAMPAOLO; PICCIOLA, GIAMPAOLO
EP-0488966-B1	488,966	EP	B1	EN	19,951,011	1,992	20,100,220	new	F16L55	null	F16L55	F16L 55/124	Stopper device for gas tubes	A device for temporarily blocking medium-pressure gas pipes includes a cup-shaped body (12) for mounting on a sleeve (M) which is welded to the pipe (T) at right angles, and a rod (18) which is slidable sealingly relative to the cup-shaped body (12) and has an angled end with an annular seal (28) which can be expanded against the internal wall of the pipe (T).	The present invention relates to a device for temporarily blocking gas pipes. In medium-pressure gas pipes there is often a need to operate on portions of the pipe without having to cut off the gas supply to the pipe. In low-pressure pipes, obturator balloons are introduced in the deflated configuration, under gas-tight conditions, through sleeves which are welded to the pipe at right angles. This solution is not reliable for medium and high-pressure pipes. US-A-4 202 377 discloses a device for temporarily blocking high or medium pressure gas pipes, having the features indicated in the pre-characterising portion of appended claim 1. The object of the present invention is to provide a blocking device which can cut off the gas supply to a portion of a medium-pressure pipe without the need to cut off the supply to the entire pipe. According to the invention, this object is achieved by virtue of the features stated in claim 1. By virtue of these characteristics, after two sleeves have been welded to the pipe at the ends of the portion in question and after the wall of the pipe has been drilled under gas-tight conditions by means of a suitable pipe-drilling machine, the cup-shaped bodies of the blocking devices, containing the angled obturating ends, are mounted on the sleeves with the interposition of flat valves with disc obturators. After the flat valves have been opened, each rod is then slid so that its angled obturating end is positioned in the pipe. The seal is then expanded radially by the operating means so as to lock the angled end of each rod within the pipe and form a perfect seal between the seal and the pipe so that work can be carried out safely on the isolated portion of the pipe without any danger of gas leaks. Preferably, the circular seal is annular and has an isosceles trapezoidal cross-section. Further advantages and characteristics of the device according to the invention will become clear from the detailed description which follows purely by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the appended drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view showing schematically a first embodiment of the device according to the invention, in use, Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the device of Figure 1 mounted on the pipe, Figure 3 is a section taken on the line 111-111 of Figure 1, Figure 4 is an exploded, perspective view of the device of Figures 1-3, and Figure 5 is a variant of Figure 3 corresponding to a second embodiment of the invention. With reference to the drawings, a device, generally indicated 10, for temporarily blocking medium-pressure gas pipes T is used to cut off the supply of gas to an intermediate portion T₁ of pipe. The device 10 includes a cup-shaped body 12 with an end wall 12a having a central hole 14 in which a hollow rod 18, the function of which will be explained in the following description, is sealingly slidable and can be inclined with the interposition of an annular seal 16 of the O- ring type. The cup-shaped body 12 has a threaded mouth 12b which can be screwed onto a connector R of a gate valve V of the type with a disc obturator P. The mouth 12b of the cup-shaped body 12 may alternatively have a flange 2 for coupling to the valve V. The gate valve V in turn is mounted on a connecting sleeve M which is welded at right angles to the pipe T at S and in correspondence with which a through-hole F has been formed by a suitable pipe-drilling machine. The hollow rod 18 has a first end 18a to which a circular flange 20 with guide holes 20a is fixed in an angled position. The flange 20 has a conical front surface 22 facing a corresponding conical surface 24 of a compression disc 26 having guide pins 26a which are slidable in the guide holes 20a in the flange 20. A sealing ring 28 of elastomeric material with a trapezoidal cross-section is interposed between the flange 20 and the compression disc 26 and is adapted to be acted upon axially by the flange 20 and by the compression disc 26. The sealing ring 28 has an outside diameter substantially corresponding to the inside diameter of the pipe T. The rod 18 has a second end 18b with an external thread onto which is screwed a corresponding threaded sleeve 30 which can be operated manually by a hand wheel 32. The sleeve 30 has an internal annular shoulder 30a against which a traction bush 36 bears with the interposition of a thrust ball bearing 34, a first end 38a of a metal cable 38 being fixed to the bush 36 and its second end 38b being connected to the compression disc 26. A tubular locating element 40 slidable outside the rod 18 has two screws 42 for fixing it to the rod 18, as well as a control and locating rod 44, and an inclined end surface 46 which is intended to abut the outer surface 48 of the end wall 12a of the cup-shaped body 12. In order to prevent gas leaks, in addition to the sealing ring 16, there are O-ring-type sealing rings 43, 45 and 47 between the operating portion 32 and the threaded sleeve 30, between the threaded sleeve 30 and the rod 18, and between the cup-shaped body 12 and the gate valve V, respectively. The cup-shaped body 12 also has a valve 50 for letting off the gas trapped in the cup-shaped body 12 upon completion of the operation on the portion of pipe T₁. Figure 2 shows the mounting of the device 10 on the gate valve V which is in the closed configuration. At this stage, the end 18a of the rod 18 is housed completely within the cup-shaped body 12. After the body 12 has been mounted on the gate valve V, the gate obturator P is opened so that the rod 12 can slide and simultaneously rotate so as to be positioned as shown in Figure 3. The tubular element 40, which is fixed in a predetermined position on the rod 18 beforehand, enables the rod 18 to be positioned at an optimal inclination, preferably about 7° to the axis X-X of the cup-shaped body 12, and the flange 20 to be arranged perpendicular to the axis of the pipe T, by lining up the control rod 44 of the tubular element 40 with the pipe T (the control rod 44 should be within the plane in which the pipe T lies). The operator then deforms the sealing ring 28 by means of the hand wheel 32 so as to pull the cable 38 which passes around a transverse pin 52 at the end 18a of the rod 18 (Figure 3). For lubrication of the sliding pin, the side of the rod 18 has a grease hole 54 (Fig. 4) which can be closed, in the configuration of use, by a slidable sleeve 56 which is locked in position by the resilient ring 58. In order to remove the device 10, it suffices to carry out the steps indicated above in reverse. A closure plug (not shown) may be screwed, and perhaps subsequently welded, into an internal thread A in the sleeve M which is welded to the pipe T so that the gate valve V can then be removed. The sealing ring 28 may be resiliently deformed by a mechanical male-and-female screw system instead of by the cable 38. This control system is used in the embodiment shown in Figure 5. In this drawing, parts the same as those in Figure 3 are indicated by the same reference numerals. In the embodiment of Figure 5, the pressure disc 26 has an axial threaded shank 70 which is engaged in a female threaded member 71. The female threaded member 71 is mounted so as to be freely rotatable in the structure of the end portion 18a by means of a rolling bearing 72 and is integral with a bevel pinion 73 which meshes with a bevel pinion 74. The bevel pinion 74 is fixed to one end of a shaft 75 which is rotatable in the rod 18. The opposite end of the shaft 75 can be rotated by a lever 32a (shown in broken outline), preferably with the interposition of a ratchet mechanism of any known type (not shown in detail) so that the shaft 75 can be rotated continuously by successively pivoting the lever 32a to and fro. The tubular element 40 is not used and the correct angular positioning of the device is achieved solely with reference to a hand grip 44a. Moreover, the cup 18 has a valve 76 of known type for diverting the gas to a by-pass pipe. In order to urge the disc 26 against the sealing ring 28, it suffices to rotate the shaft 75 by means of the lever 32a in the manner described above. The shaft 75 transmits a corresponding rotation to the female threaded member 71 by means of the pair of bevel pinions 73, 74. The axial shank 70 is forced to move axially within the female threaded member 71 since the disc 26 is prevented from rotating by the friction between the contacting surfaces of the disc 26 and of the sealing ring 28. The disc 26 is thus compressed against the seal 28 so as to expand it radially against the internal surface of the pipe T.	A device for temporarily blocking gas pipes, including: a cup-shaped body (12) for mounting on a sleeve (M) which is welded to the pipe (T) at right angle in correspondence of a through-hole (F) provided in the pipe (T), a rod (18) which is slidably sealingly and centrally in a hole (14) in an end wall (12a) of the cup-shaped body (12) and has an angled obturating end (18a) including a flange (20, 26) arranged in a plane and associated with a circular seal (28) of elastomeric material which has an outside diameter substantially corresponding to the inside diameter of the pipe (T), the rod (18) being able to assume a first position, in which its angled end (18a) is housed in the cup-shaped body (12), and a second position, in which the rod (18) is arranged with its axis and the axis of the pipe (T) being in a common plane and its angled obturating end (18a) is inserted in the pipe (T) like a plug, and operating means (32, 30, 38, 20, 22) for expanding the seal (28) radially against the wall of the pipe (T) when the angled end (18a) of the rod (18) is in its second position, characterised in that the obturating end (18a) is fixed to the rod (18) so that the axis of the rod (18) forms a predetermined acute angle with respect to the plane of the flange (20, 26) of the obturating end (18a), and in that the cup-shaped body (12) is so shaped that, when the rod (18) is in its second position, the rod (18) abuts simultaneously at opposite locations with respect to its axis, in correspondence of the hole (14) in the end wall (12a) of the cup-shaped body (12) and against an edge of the through-hole (F) provided in the pipe (T), so that the axis of the rod (18) forms with the axis of the pipe (T) a substantially complemental angle with respect to said acute angle, whereby the flange (20, 26) of the obturating end (18a) positions by itself at right angle with respect to the axis of the pipe (T). A device according to Claim 1, characterised in that the operating means comprise: a pull cable (38) which is slidable within the rod (18) and has a first end (38b) fixed to a compression disc (26) which is in frontal contact with the seal (28) and a second end (38a) fixed to a traction bush (36), and a threaded sleeve (30) which is screwed onto the rod (18) and is adapted to move the traction bush (36), with the interposition of a thrust bearing (34), so as to squash the seal (28). A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a tubular abutment member (40), which is slidable coaxially on the rod (18) and can be clamped in a predetermined position, has an end with an inclined flat frontal surface (46) so that it can abut the end wall (12a) of the cup-shaped body (12) in a configuration in which it is inclined to the axis (X-X) of the cup-shaped body (12), the predetermined inclination enabling the angled obturating end (18a) of the rod (18) to be positioned in an optimal position within the pipe (T). A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the circular seal (28) is annular and has a trapezoidal cross-section. A device according to Claim 1, characterised in that the operating means comprise a male-and-female screw system (70, 71). A device according to Claim 5, characterised in that the male-and-female screw system includes a threaded axial shank (70) carried by a compression disc (26) which is in frontal contact with the seal (28) and a female threaded member (71) into which the shank (70) is screwed and which can be rotated by means of an operating lever (32a). A device according to claim 6, characterised in that the operating lever (32a) is connected to the female threaded member (71) by a transmission including a shaft (75) which is rotatable in the rod (18) and a pair of bevel pinions (73, 74) connecting the shaft (18) to the female threaded member (73). A device according to Claim 7, characterised in that the operating lever (32a) is connected to the shaft (75) with the interposition of a ratchet device.	RAVETTI ROBERTO; RAVETTI, ROBERTO	RAVETTI ROBERTO; RAVETTI, ROBERTO
EP-0488972-B1	488,972	EP	B1	EN	19,950,301	1,992	20,100,220	new	H01J3	H01J37	H01J21, H01J37, H01J3	H01J 3/02G, T01J237:043B, H01J 37/24F, H01J 37/04B	Device for generating an on-off modulated electron beam	A device comprising an electron gun and a high tension switch permits the achievement of high-power electron beams which are ON-OFF modulated by DC up to frequencies exceeding kHz. The electron gun comprises a cathode, at least two accelerating electrodes, a cathode heater, and a possible focussing system. The or each accelerating voltage, generated by any source, which may in the case of space applications also be a tether, is applied between accelerating electrodes and cathode, with the exception of an appropriate accelerating electrode to which there is applied, by means of the switch, alternately its accelerating voltage or the same voltage as that of the cathode, obtaining an ON-OFF modulation of the electron beam emitted by the gun.	The invention refers to an electron gun device for generating an off-on modulated electron beam including a first accelerating electrode, a tension switch connecting said first accelerating electrode to an accelerating voltage, and controlling means for said switch. An electron gun of the above mentioned type is disclosed in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 29, No. 6, Nov. 1986, pages 2543-2544. This known device is provided with a cathode, a pulsed Wehnelt grid and a further anode. A first pulsed voltage is applied to the grid and a second pulsed voltage at higher frequency is applied to the further anode. The anode is responsible for modulating the electron beam, and it is never connected to the voltage of the cathode. The ON-OFF modulation of the power electron beam (in the order of 1 kW or tens of kW) emitted by an electron gun has hitherto been obtained in various ways. One of these is the use of a control electrode (grid) to which there is alternately applied a negative potential in the order of tens/hundreds of volts with respect to that of the cathode, in such a manner as to obtain beam prohibition (OFF), and a potential close to that of the cathode or even positive, to permit beam emission (ON). Such a solution involves the generation of a dedicated voltage, modulated between two levels, and its application to an appropriate electrode (grid) (Fig. 1). Another problem with regard to grids is their resistance to mechanical and thermal stresses and thus their reliability, which is important especially in the space and occupational field. Further solutions, which do not take into account the use of a dedicated electrode (grid), act on the accelerating voltage applied to the electron gun and to be modulated at the desired frequency or act on the cathode emission, the latter however being band-limited to a few Hz by the thermal time constant of the cathode. Systems already used in the space field are: the interposition of a solid state interruptor in series with the cathode bias (Fig. 2), which has permitted the achievement of the ON-OFF modulation of a beam using 1 keV, 100 mA [P. Banks et al., VCAP EXPERIMENTS ON STS-3], ie. a beam of limited power; this is because such a solution implies the interruption, at high tension, of the cathode emission current; the use of a high-tension power generator, itself having a modulated output, as generator of the accelerating voltage. In this case, it is necessary to provide: ON-OFF modulation of the full output power; optimization of the design of the generator having regard to the load (characteristics of the gun). According to the invention the electron gun device is provided with a double interruptor switch, which alternately connects the accelerating electrode to the accelerating voltage or to the voltage of the cathode. Further advantageous features of the electron gun of the present invention are set forth in the dependent claims. The invention and the relevant advantages thereof will be better understood by the following description in connection to the drawings, wherein: Figs 1 and 2 show known solutions, which have already been illustrated hereinabove; Figs 3 and 4 show a solution according to the invention, in the ON condition and in the OFF condition respectively. The object of the present invention is to obtain an ON-OFF modulated power electron beam, using an appropriate accelerating electrode of the electron gun, its own accelerating voltage and a high tension switch. The object of the present invention further comprises the possibility of regulating the beam current emitted in the ON condition by means of a closed-loop control, which regulates the heating power and thus the temperature of the cathode in such a manner as to bring into coincidence the emitted beam current intensity and the required intensity by means of a digital command. More specifically, by means of the switch M diagrammatically represented in Fig. 3 (with a double interruptor) operating as modulator, the accelerating voltage VE is applied to the accelerating electrode E only during the time intervals in which beam emission is desired (ON); in order to prohibit the beam (OFF, Fig.4), on the other hand, there is applied to the electrode E the same voltage as is present on the cathode K. In the OFF condition there may be a beam current, which is indeed a function of the design of the electron gun, this being negligible as compared with that in the ON condition, due to the presence of the other accelerating electrodes E1 which are continuously biased. The closed-loop regulation of the emitted beam current is possible in the ON condition (Fig. 3), and is undertaken by comparing the required value (by means of the user interface) with the value measured by the sensor S. Such comparison is undertaken by the electronic system C, which provides for the consequent regulation of the heating power applied to the cathode by means of a command to the feeder R, and finally bringing said cathode to the temperature which assures the required emission. The system described is advantageous inasmuch as: it uses one E of said electrodes E, EO etc., and a respective accelerating voltage generator GE, which are necessary for continuous operation; to achieve the ON-OFF modulation it is necessary to interrupt only the anode leakage current (which may be minimized when designing the gun by increasing the efficiency thereof, which is understood as being the ratio between the beam current downstream of the accelerating electrodes and the cathode emission) and not the entire cathode emission current, reducing the problems associated with the construction thereof; it is independent of the output of the gun employed and of the technology with which the gun is made, as a result of which it is possible for high currents to be interrupted; it is independent of the procedures of application of the accelerating voltage (anodes positive and cathode grounded, or anodes grounded and cathode negative) as the switch has equivalent branches for isolation and resistance to the high tension, and is connected in parallel with the gun. In particular, the object of the invention is also to obtain an ON-OFF modulated beam, using a switch of the solid state type obtained by conecting two solid state high tension interruptors as in Figs 3 and 4, each one of which can be realized as in Italian pat.appl.No. 9533 A/90,filed Nov.28,1990 laid open for public action Oct.10,1991. The accelerating voltage which the switch is able to manage is dependent upon the stages employed on each interruptor, and can therefore be adapted to the particular requirement. The switch forming the subject of the invention permits the modulation of beams of power in the order of tens of kW by DC up to frequencies exceeding kHz. In summary, Fig. 1 shows a known electron gun having a cathode K1, and an accelerator electrode E1 fed with accelerating voltage VE1 and equipped with an appropriate modulating electrode GM1 included between K1 and E1, with relative bias with respect to the cathode K, in the form of voltage VG1. The anode is indicated by A. Fig. 2 shows a known electron gun K2, E2; the modulation is obtained by interrupting the cathode emission current originating from the generator G2, with an interruptor I2. Figs 3 and 4 show an exemplification of the gun-switch device forming the subject of the present invention. The exemplification set forth concerns a gun with two accelerating electrodes EO and E, of which one (EO) is fed by the voltage VE, and the other (electrode E) is conditioned by the modulator M in such a manner as to obtain the ON-OFF modulation of the beam, with the switching of the two interruptors of said modulator M, as shown in Figs 3 and 4. The switch M is conected to the pertinent electronic control system and interface C. The switch M itself provides galvanic separation resistant to high voltages between the operational parts in association with the gun and the electronic system C. The value of the modulated current may be selected by means of a digital command to be passed to the electronic control system and interface C. This value is utilized by the electronic system C as set point for a closed-loop control of the beam current from the cathode.	An electron gun device for generating an off-on modulated electron beam including:a cathode (K), a first accelerating electrode (E); a tension switch (M) connecting said first accelerating electrode (E) to an accelerating voltage (VE); and controlling means (C) for said switch, characterized in that said switch (M) is provided with a double interruptor, to alternately switch said first accelerating electrode (E) to the accelerating voltage (VE) or to the voltage of the cathode (K). The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the high tension switch (M) is provided with a solid state double interruptor. The device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, including a second accelerating electrode (EO), said first accelerating electrode (E) being arranged between said cathode (K) and said second accelerating electrode (EO). The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said second accelerating electrode (EO) is connected at the accelerating voltage and said double interruptor switch (M) alternately switches said first accelerating electrode (E) to the voltage of said second accelerating electrode (EO) or to the voltage of the cathode. The device as claimed in one or more of the preceding claims, including a loop control which regulates the heating power fed to the cathode in order to regulate the beam current emitted by the device.	PROEL TECNOLOGIE SPA; PROEL TECNOLOGIE S.P.A.	CIRRI GIANFRANCO; CIRRI, GIANFRANCO
EP-0488973-B1	488,973	EP	B1	EN	19,950,927	1,992	20,100,220	new	H05F3	B64G1	H05F3, B64G1	H05F 3/00, B64G 1/66	Electron gun device for controlling the potential of a body in space	The cathode of an electron gun is connected to the body of a space vehicle, performing an automatic limitation (or neutralization) of the negative potential (measured with respect to the physical entity toward which the electron beam is directed, i.e. the anode (A) of the gun, whether this be the environment in which the gun is immersed or a particular object such as a second space vehicle) which the body may assume in the absence of the connection referred to. The aforementioned negative potential is limited or neutralized by means of the extraction of negative charges emitted from the gun (K-E) in the form of an electron beam under appropriate conditions of vacuum. The gun comprises a cathode (K) to be connected to the body (C), at least one accelerating electrode (E), an accelerating voltage generator (G) and a generator (R) for heating the cathode.	Electron guns provide an effective means for expelling from a body, for example from an orbiting space vehicle, the accumulations of negative charge which may come to be formed on said body either as a result of physical phenomena which have already been studied and verified in practice [Henry Berry Garret, THE CHARGING OF SPACECRAFT SURFACES, Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics, Vol. 19 No 4, pages 577-616, November 1981], or as a result of experiments and operations carried out by man [NASA, TETHERS IN SPACE HANDBOOK - Second Edition May 1989]. This function is made necessary as the acquisition (on the part of an orbiting vehicle) of a negative potential with respect to the surrounding environment (in this case understood as being at zero potential) is in many cases an undesirable circumstance, as it implies either the possibility of electrical discharges between vehicle and environment or between vehicles in the docking phase and thus damage and/or disturbances to the structures and/or equipment, with particular reference to the electronic equipment, or the impairment of the pre-existing environmental conditions (body at zero potential) reducing the meaningfulness of particular scientific experiments. From Journal of Scientific Instruments , ser.2, vol.1, n.9, September 1968, pages 893-901, a device for controlling the potential of a body in space is known, which comprises: an electron gun with a cathode and an accelerating grid. An accelerating voltage generator is provided for accelerating the electrons emitted from the cathode. A heat generator is also provided which heats the cathode. The way in which cathode, electrode, voltage generator and vehicle are mutually connected is not disclosed in this prior art reference. Other devices (plasma contactor) in current use in the space field for the limitation of the potential of a vehicle with respect to the surrounding environment (plasma), emit during their operation a plasma formed of ions, electrons and neutral particles of gas (for example Xe, Ar), and their use is accordingly not practicable in cases in which it is desired to minimize the impairment of the pre-existing environmental conditions. In these cases, it is advantageous to use an electron gun, which emits only electrons and is moreover adjustable (by means of the accelerating voltage). By means of this device, it is in fact possible to expel in a controlled and controllable manner from a space vehicle (or more generally, from a body) negative charges and thus to determine the potential thereof. The negative charges are extracted from the vehicle and injected into the surrounding plasma by means of the emission of an electron beam from the gun, which is electrically connected to the vehicle in an expedient manner. The electron beam emission must take place when the gun is under appropriate vacuum conditions, and may thus advantageously be used in the space field. The invention relates to a particular manner of using an electron gun to determine the potential of a body, with reference henceforth, on a non-limiting basis, to a space vehicle. The systems employed up to now (Fig. 1) provide the interposition of a feeder (G) between the cathode (K) of the gun and the vehicle (C) (as exemplified in Fig. 1), for the purpose of bringing the cathode (K) to and maintaining it at a negative potential with respect to the vehicle (C). The accelerating electrode or electrodes (E) are connected to the potential of the vehicle (C). In such a configuration, the feeder (G) employed to stabilize between accelerating electrodes (E) and cathode (K) a potential difference accelerating the electrons, must supply all the electron current emitted by the cathode (K). Moreover, the gun-feeder system must be managed by an external intelligence which controls the times of operation thereof and the modes of application thereof, in order to avoid an uncontrolled expulsion of negative charges, which might even for example even bring the vehicle to positive potentials with respect to the surrounding environment (A), of a level equal to the accelerating potential difference imposed between vehicle and cathode. Such an event, which has already been experienced in practice, again implies the above cited disadvantages (risk of electrical discharges, impairments of physical parameters of the vehicle-environment system). The invention relates to a different configuration of the vehicle-gun system, which permits the automatic expulsion from the body towards the anode (which may be the environment) of the surpluses of negative charges, eliminating the need for management of the system by a dedicated intelligence and moreover drastically reducing the power of the feeder which stabilizes the accelerating voltage between the accelerating or each accelerating electrode and the cathode. These objects are obtained by the combination of features of claim 1. Further advantageous features are set forth in the dependent claims 2 to 4. Claim 5 relates to the use of the device as claimed in claim 1. In the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 shows a conventional configuration; Fig. 2 shows a basic configuration of the device according to the invention; Fig. 3 shows a configuration with an anode in the form of a further body; Fig. 4 shows the use of the invention in a tethered system; Fig. 5 shows a solution with a switch. The configuration (Fig. 2) provides a direct electrical connection between cathode (K) and body (C) to be controlled (we refer hereinbelow to a space vehicle still), and an accelerating voltage generator (G) directly connected between accelerating electrode or electrodes (E) and cathode (K). Thus, the cathode (K) is at vehicle (C) potential and the accelerating electrode (or electrodes) (E) is at positive potential (the accelerating voltage) with respect to the vehicle (C). In more general terms, there may be a plurality of accelerating electrodes, each one at its own positive potential with respect to the cathode. The potential jump which at the end affects the electrons emitted by the cathode is nevertheless the potential difference between the cathode (K) and the final destination of said electrons, whether this be the surrounding environment (A) or some other physical entity. The effective attainment, on the part of the electron beam, of the final destination (i.e. expulsion without return to the vehicle) is thus linked to the vehicle (C) being at a negative potential with respect to that of the surrounding environment (A). Upon the attenuation or upon the cessation of the negative potential difference (vehicle negative with respect to the environment), the expulsion of electrons (negative charges) is attenuated or interrupted; accordingly, the system described is self-regulating. The configuration to which the present invention relates thus permits a prevention of the phenomena of negative charging on the part of a space vehicle, and a limitation of such phenomena during transients in which charges collected by the vehicle exceed the emissive capacity of the gun. Such functions are performed automatically, it being sufficient to maintain in their activated condition the various services of the gun (comprising accelerating voltage generator, heating of the cathode, possible focusing). In the configuration described, the accelerating voltage generator supplies only the current tapped off by the accelerating electrodes (leakage) rather than the entire current emitted by the cathode, permitting the use of a power of, for example, 10% of that required in the conventional configuration, when considering a gun having an efficiency of 90% (the efficiency being understood to be the ratio between the beam current downstream of the accelerating electrodes and the current emitted by the cathode). In conclusion, the use of a device configured as in the present invention is advantageous as it permits, in particular, a saving of energy and an overall saving of hardware and software resources, which is very significant in the case of space applications on account of the consequent saving in terms of energy budget and of mass, and on account of the reduction in the complexity and the consequent increased reliability. The invention is applicable, in general, in systems comprising a body and an electron gun (together with its services), provided that the electron gun is located under appropriate conditions of vacuum and thus, in particular, in space systems. The electrical connection between body and cathode of the gun may be of any length and constructed using any technology. The gun may be installed directly on the body or may be physically remote therefrom and connected to the latter via cables. In this second case, the system will tend to neutralize any possible negative potentials of the body with respect to the potential of the environment surrounding the gun or of whatever physical entity is acting as the final destination (anode) of the electron beam. The control of the potential of a body may thus be performed using an electron gun placed at a distance, forming an electrical connection between the two. In the case of a space vehicle divided into a plurality of metal parts with interposition between these of insulating materials, it will be necessary to connect to the cathode of the gun the metal part which it is desired to control. The anode may be the surrounding environment or another portion of said vehicle. In more general terms, the anode may be a second space vehicle. The invention is applicable to systems comprising electron guns constructed using any technology. The cathode may be fitted on the body itself; in this case, there may be no need for an electrical connection. The gun may be equipped with one or more accelerating electrodes which are maintained at the same accelerating potential or at differing potentials. The selection of the accelerating potential or potentials to be applied to the pertinent electrode or electrodes determines the maximum beam current which the device is capable of emitting. There may or may not be a system for focusing the electron beam, depending upon the requirements and the particular demands imposed. The activation of the function of control of the potential of a body in the various cases described takes place as soon as the cathode is operative and the services of the gun have been activated. It is possible to prohibit and to resume the function referred to while avoiding the deactivation and reactivation of the services of the gun on each occasion, by means of a switch (CO) connected as in Fig. 5, for switching the appropriate accelerating electrode (EX) to the voltage of the generator (GX) or to the voltage of the body (CX), so as to permit an on-off modulation of the beam. The use of the configuration described in Fig. 5 thus permits the activation (beam ON) and the deactivation (beam OFF) of the function of control of the potential of a body, or the performance of such a function by means of an ON-OFF pulsed beam. Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows the configuration employed up to the present time. The heater R delivers the power required to bring the cathode K to operating temperature. The feeder G delivers to the accelerating electrode or electrodes E the accelerating voltage VE - VK. The abscissa p1 plots the variation of the potential, while the potential of the body C is such that VK < VA. The abscissa p2 plots the equilibrium situation (VK = VA): it is seen that the system tends to bring the body C to potential VC > VA. Fig. 2 shows the configuration to which the present invention relates. It is seen that at the equilibrium VK = VA, VC = VA also applies. The exemplification which has been made is relative to a final situation of equilibrium (abscissa p2) attained from a disturbed situation (abscissa p1). The function of control of the potential of the body is, in fact, performed in real time in such a manner as to prevent or at least to limit the departure of the body from the situation of equilibrium in those time intervals in which said body acquires negative charges to be discharged. Fig. 3 shows the case in which the anode A is the surface of a body C2 facing the gun (connected to the body C1). In this case, the condition to which the system tends, in the case where VC1 < VC2 is satisfied, is VC1 = VC2. Fig. 4 shows a tethered system STE, consisting of a satellite ST, a vehicle C3 and a tether TE. The gun CA re-emits into the plasma the current IT which flows in the tether TE except for the part IL1 which is tapped off by its accelerating electrodes. The latter part tends to charge the vehicle C3 negatively, creating a need for the use of a neutralizing device which may be the gun CB connected and conditioned as in the present invention with an assembly G3.	A device for the automatic prevention and/or limitation of negative potentials (with respect to the surrounding environment), of a body, for example a space vehicle, (C;CX,C1;C3) or part of the same, said device being installed on said body and suitable to be expediently oriented, said device comprising an electron gun with a cathode (K) and at least one accelerating electrode (E;EX), a generator of accelerating positive continuous or pulsed voltage (G;GX), and a heat generator (R) to heat the cathode, wherein a direct electrical connection is provided which connects said cathode (K) to said body (C;CX;C1,C3) or part of the same by means of which the cathode (K) is kept at the same potential of said body (C;CX;C1,C3), and wherein the voltage generator (G;GX) is directly connected between the cathode and said electrode (E;EX), said voltage generator (G) keeping said electrode at a positive potential with respect to said cathode (K). The device as claimed in claim 1, which device is connected to a vehicle (C3) forming part of a tethered system (STE) surrounded by a plasma, with the function of re-emitting from the vehicle (C3) towards the plasma negative charges due to either natural collection of the vehicle or experiments carried out on the tethered system by injection of negative charges on said vehicle (C3). The device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the electron gun is provided with a cable for the distant connection to the body. The device as claimed in one or more preceding claims, including a switch (CO) connecting said accelerating electrode (EX) to the generator (GX) in a first position of said switch, a second position of said switch for connecting said accelerating electrode (EX) to the body (CX). Use of the device as claimed in claim 1, for the automatic prevention and/or limitation of negative potentials of a body or of a portion thereof with respect to the surrounding environment or another body.	PROEL TECNOLOGIE SPA; PROEL TECNOLOGIE S.P.A.	CIRRI GIANFRANCO; CIRRI, GIANFRANCO
EP-0488975-B1	488,975	EP	B1	EN	19,950,315	1,992	20,100,220	new	B01D35	B01D29	B01D29, B01D36	B01D 29/11D+/86+/88R+/90D, B01D 36/00D	Apparatus for filtering of liquid	An apparatus for filtering of liquid, preferably water, comprises a housing (10) having a filter (12), a liquid inlet (11), a filtrate outlet (15), a narrow passage (22) through which the liquid flows at high velocity across the filter, and a return conduit (16) by which unfiltered liquid is recirculated to the inlet. According to the invention, the apparatus is provided with an air inlet (18) for supplying air to the return conduit (16), and an air outlet (19) provided at the top portion of the housing for disharging air and foam from the apparatus.	The present invention relates to an apparatus for filtering of liquid, especially water, comprising a housing, a filter enclosed in said housing and extending vertically between horizontal end walls, a liquid inlet provided at the lower end of said housing, a filtrate outlet provided from the inside of said filter, a narrow passage provided between said filter and the inner vertical wall of said housing in which the liquid flows along said filter at high velocity, and a return conduit through which unfiltered liquid is returned to said inlet, said return conduit having an air inlet through which air is entered into the liquid and mixed therewith to form a pollution absorbing foam. This type of apparatus is used for e.g. ultra filtration and reverse osmosis. Due to the high flow velocity across the filter rapid clogging of the filter is avoided and the intervals between filter cleaning backflush operations can consequently be prolonged. Another result of the high velocity is that only a minor portion of the liquid flow passes through the filter, and the remaining portion is preferably returned to the inlet. The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus in which the cleaning of the filter has been improved in order to reduce the clogging to a further extent. This has been achieved by an apparatus of the kind mentioned in the introduction which according to the invention is characterized by a float controlled valve provided at the top of said housing and through which foam and pollutions are discharged from the apparatus through an outlet conduit connected to said float controlled valve. The invention will be described in more detail in the following with reference to the accompanying drawing which illustrates a diagrammatical longitudinal section of a preferred embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention. As shown in the drawing, the filtering apparatus comprises a housing 10 which at its lower end has an inlet 11 for liquid to be filtered. The housing 10 encloses a filter 12 extending vertically between horisontal end walls 13, 14. The filter 12 is preferably circular cylindrical, as is the housing 10. The upper end wall 13 of the filter is provided with a filtrate outlet 15. A return liquid conduit 16 is connected at one end to the housing 10 above the filter 12 and with its other end to the inlet 11. The return conduit 16 is provided with a pump 17 and an air inlet 18. The housing 10 is provided at its upper end with a gas outlet 19 and a valve 20 which is controlled by a float 21 provided in the housing. The liquid entering through inlet 11 is caused to flow through a narrow passage 22 between the filter 12 and the surrounding vertical wall of the housing 10. A small portion of this liquid flow passes through the filter and is discharged through the filtrate outlet 15. The remainder of the liquid flow is recirculated via return conduit 16 to the inlet 11. A high flow velocity is thereby maintained in the passage 22 which counteracts clogging of the filter 12. Air supplied via inlet 18 is mixed with the liquid to form bubbles and foam accompanying the recirculating liquid to inlet 11 and further through passage 22. The air bubbles ascend in the housing to be collected in the top portion thereof and are discharged from the apparatus via outlet 19. This outlet is controlled by the valve 20 actuated by a float 21 in order to maintain the liquid level in the housing generally constant. Pollutions in the form of fine particles suspended in the liquid tend to be attracted to and attach to the air bubbles. As bubbles and foam are collected in the top portion of the housing and discharged through outlet 19 such pollutions will be entrained and removed from the apparatus. The addition of air also provides for cleaning of the liquid from gases dissolved therein, such as chlorine, methane, hydrogen sulphide, etc. Due to the fact that the liquid is recirculated a plurality of times while fresh air is continuously supplied through inlet 18, this cleaning process is made very effective. The air bubbles are of a size such as to be readily separated by the filter in order to flow along the same, and clogging of the filter is counteracted by simultaneous catching and entraining pollutions. The supply of air to the return conduit also results in precipitation of e.g. iron which is absorbed by the air bubbles and discharged through outlet 19.	Apparatus for filtering of liquid, especially water, comprising a housing (10), a filter (12) enclosed in said housing and extending vertically between horizontal end walls (13, 14), a liquid inlet (11) provided at the lower end of said housing, a filtrate outlet (15) provided from the inside of said filter, a narrow passage (22) provided between said filter and the inner vertical wall of said housing in which the liquid flows along said filter at high velocity, and a return conduit (16) through which unfiltered liquid is returned to said inlet, said return conduit having an air inlet (18) through which air is entered into the liquid and mixed therewith to form a pollution absorbing foam, characterized by a float controlled valve (20, 21) provided at the top of said housing and through which foam and pollutions are discharged from the apparatus through an outlet conduit (19) connected to said float controlled valve.	ELECTROLUX AB; AKTIEBOLAGET ELECTROLUX	LARSSON KARL HAKAN; LARSSON, KARL HAKAN
EP-0488976-B1	488,976	EP	B1	EN	19,970,924	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04B7	H04Q7	H04W74, H04W72	T04W74:08C, H04Q 7/38C4, H04W 72/08, T04Q7:38C2U	Multiple access handling in a cellular communication system	A method and apparatus for use in a cellular mobile radio telephone system for determining which of one of several mobile generated transmissions received in a mobile switching center, sent from the same mobile station via more than one base station, should be accepted. A determination is made based on the relative signal strengths of the signals received by the base stations and by the relative time of occurence of the mobile generated transmissions.	FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to cellular mobile radio systems. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for processing access requests, paging responses, or registration accesses from mobile stations to base stations in such a way as to eliminate erroneous processing which may occur under certain conditions. Such conditions include the situation that arises when base stations not intended to handle a particular access or paging response overhear the particular access or paging response and report it to the mobile switching center. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONA typical cellular mobile radio telephone system consists of at least one mobile switching center (also known as a mobile telephone switching office), at least one base station, and at least one mobile station. The mobile switching center constitutes an interface between the radio system and the public switching telephone network. The base station transmits information between the mobile stations and the mobile switching center. Calls to and from mobile subscribers are switched by the mobile switching center. The mobile switching center also provides all signalling functions needed to establish the calls. In order to obtain radio coverage of a geographical area, a number of base stations are normally required. This number may range from, in the exceptional case, one base station, and up to one hundred or more base stations in normal systems. The area is divided into cells, where each cell may either be serviced by a base station or may share a base station with a number of the other cells. Each cell has an associated control channel over which control (non-voice) information is communicated between the mobile units in that cell and the base station. Generally speaking, the control channel includes a dedicated channel at a known frequency over which certain information is communicated from the base station to mobile stations, a paging channel for unidirectional transmissions of information from the base station to the mobile stations, and an access channel for bidirectional communications between the mobile stations and the base station. These various channels may share the same frequency, or they may operate at different respective frequencies. Each mobile station is assigned to one mobile switching center or home location register. The home location register is a database which contains information about all its assigned subscribers and where they are in the network. The home location register can be a stand-alone intelligent processor connected to one or more mobile switching centers or it can be part of a mobile switching center, possibly connected to one or more other mobile switching centers. When a mobile station enters a second mobile switching center service area to which it is not assigned, the new exchange is regarded as a visited exchange, and the subscriber as a visiting subscriber. Calls are now routed to and switched in this second mobile switching center. Three types of transmissions normally take place on the control channels between the mobile stations and the base station, although other types are possible, such as an audit request and response, or order confirmation. First, when a mobile station is originating a call, it sends an access request to the base station the control channel of which has the strongest or second strongest signal. This access request serves to inform the base station that the requesting mobile needs to be assigned a voice channel over which the call can be connected. Second, when a mobile station is paged by a base station, indicating that the base station has a call to be completed to the mobile subscriber, the paged mobile station sends back a paging response on the access channel. Finally, when a mobile station travels from one cell to another, or for other reasons, the mobile station may send a registration access to identify itself and its presence to the telephone exchange associated with the cell. An originating call access or a paging response is performed as follows. The mobile station scans the control channels of surrounding base stations and selects the one with the strongest or second strongest signal over which to make the access. The mobile station then performs the access by sending a transmission on the reverse control channel to the associated base station. The associated base station then passes the access or paging response to its mobile switching center. A registration access is performed in cellular systems as follows. A registration access is an access requested by a mobile station to identify itself to a base station as being active in the system at the time the message is sent to the base station. The registration access may be requested for a number of reasons, for example: the mobile is switched on; the mobile determines that the time elapsed since the last registration has passed a specified limit; or the mobile detects a different system or area identification (SID or AID). The mobile then scans the control channels of surrounding base stations, and selects the one with the strongest or second strongest signal on which to complete the registration access, as explained above regarding call origination. The associated base station then passes the registration access to its mobile switching center. For simplicity in the following discussion, an access request, paging response, and registration access of the type described above may be referred to as a mobile generated transmission when the discussion pertains to all three types. Due to unfavorable (low) attenuation between remote base stations and mobile stations, it is possible that two or more base stations will receive a mobile generated transmission while only one base station is actually the intended recipient. In other words, it is possible that a mobile generated transmission which is intended for a given base station may be overheard by another base station operating on the same, or an adjacent, frequency. The risk of this increases as the number of cells, or base stations, in a given region increases to handle the increasing number of mobile stations. Normally, protection codes are used which prevent the second base station from inadvertently overhearing the mobile generated transmission. However, there is only a small number of unique codes. Therefore, there is a good chance that various base stations may overhear mobile generated transmissions which are intended for other base stations. Conventional base stations are not capable of reliably determining whether such transmissions are actually intended for themselves or for other base stations. In such cases, each of the base stations will try to act on the transmission received from the mobile station and will therefore notify the mobile switching center of a mobile generated transmission. Because two or more such transmissions are thus sent to the mobile switching center, the mobile switching center cannot accurately determine which of the mobile generated transmissions to accept and further process. Processing the mobile generated transmission received first in time is not necessarily correct because the transmission from the base station which was not intended to receive the mobile generated transmission may reach the mobile switching center first. In one known system described in U.S. Patent No. 4,481,670 to Freeburg, where more than one channel communication modules CCM receives an access request from a mobile, a general communications controller GCC is called upon to determine which CCM to use as the primary station. In this system described in this patent, the area is divided into seven zones, where each zone is covered by one or more transmitter/receiver pair. Each time a mobile transmits, signal strength readings are taken by each receiver hearing the transmission. These readings are used to compute an adjusted signal strength for each zone by multiplying the measured signal strengths for each zone by preselected factors associated with the particular zone. The GCC then selects the zone which has the largest adjusted signal strength for a particular transmission from the mobile as being the zone in which the mobile is most likely located. The selected zone is then stored for later reference when it becomes necessary to locate the mobile. Whenever a message signal together with an average signal strength measurement is received by the GCC from a CCM, a message timer is set to provide a time interval during which the same message signal is received by other CCM's and sent together with an average signal strength measurement to the GCC. All signals from other CCM's received within the set time period are used to determine where the mobile is located. Thus, the location of each mobile is updated each time a message signal is received by the CCMS. Then, when it is desired to transmit a message signal for the GCC to a selected mobile, the most recently determined location is used as a first try for successful connection. According to this patented method, the system described in the patent appears to be one in which adjacent CCM's operate on the same frequencies, thus permitting adjacent CCM's to hear the same message from a mobile. Further, only the largest adjusted signal strength is used, with no provision for the possibility that two signal strengths may be so close as to preclude an accurate determination. Finally, by multiplying the signal strength measurements by predetermined factors, inaccurate determinations of locations are possible. Other systems are known for handling mobile generated transmissions received at more than one base station. U.S. Patent No. 4,144,412 to Ito et al. describes a mobile communication system in which a mobile generated transmission is received at base stations. A signal representing the intensity of the received signal is added to the received signal, and the sum is sent to a radio control unit for processing. This information is stored in a memory in the control unit. The base station that has received the wave maximum intensity is determined, and a search is made to determine whether there is an idle speech channel in that base station. If not, another base station that has received a signal having the intensity next to the maximum is determined, and a search is made to determine whether that station has an idle channel. When an idle speech channel is available a processing operation proceeds. European Patent Application No. 0283683 to Yamauchi et al. describes a mobile communication system in which signal strengths of call initiations received at different base stations are compared. From this comparison, it is determined which base station should respond to a call. Both of these systems suffer from the problems discussed above, namely that there is no provision for handling a situation where two signal strengths may be so close as to preclude an accurate determination of which base station should handle the call. In some conventional systems, the mobile switching center automatically starts processing of the first mobile generated transmission. However, in certain circumstances, this may not be appropriate and may result in lost calls. For example, consider the case when a mobile station makes an access in a network where adjacent base stations operate on different frequencies. Because the receivers in the control channels are not normally receiving any informative signals, distant control channel picks up a weak whisper of this access from far away. The base station with which this distant control channel is associated then sends this weak access to the mobile switching center. The weak access, because it occurs first in time is processed. Thereafter, if the intended base station forwards the access request it has received, the call is lost because the mobile switching center has reacted to the first received request and therefore ignores the second. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn order to overcome the disadvantages noted with conventional systems, the present invention is directed to a method of operating a cellular radio telephone system for determining which transmission, received by a mobile switching center from at least two base stations receiving a single mobile initiated transmission should be accepted by the mobile switching center, the method including the steps of, measuring the signal strength of the received mobile generated transmission, sending the mobile generated transmission and the measured signal strength of the mobile generated transmission to a processing means from the at least two base stations, storing in a memory the respective mobile generated transmissions and measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations within a predetermined time period, and determining which of the mobile generated transmissions to accept based on time of receipt by the processing means and the stored signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions. The step of determining comprises the steps of comparing the signal strengths to yield a difference value, if the difference value exceeds a predetermined threshold, accepting the mobile generated transmission having the strongest relative signal strength, and if the difference value is below the predetermined threshold, accepting one of the received mobile generated transmissions according to a predetermined priority order. The step of determining further comprises the step of adding a stored compensation value to each of the measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations to determine compensated signal strengths, the compensation value being stored relative to each pair of base stations of the at least two base stations, wherein the step of comparing comprises comparing the compensated signal values to yield a difference value. According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method of operating a cellular system is provided, wherein a mobile station transmits a mobile generated transmission which is received by at least two base stations. The method comprises the steps of processing the mobile generated transmission received first from one of the base stations, storing the identification of the base station from which the processed mobile generated transmission originated and the signal strength of the processed mobile generated transmission, comparing the signal strength of a subsequent mobile generated transmission received from another base station to the signal strength of the processed mobile generated transmission to yield a difference value, obtaining a compensated difference value by adding a compensation value stored relative to the base stations from which the processed mobile generated transmission and the subsequent mobile generated transmission are received, when the compensated difference value is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold amount, terminating the processed mobile generated transmission, processing. the subsequent mobile generated transmission having the greater signal strength, and storing the identification of the base station from which the subsequent processed mobile generated transmission originated and the signal strength of the subsequent processed mobile generated transmission, and repeating the comparing, terminating and subsequent processing and storing steps for further mobile generated transmissions received during a set time period. According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided of operating a cellular system, wherein a mobile station transmits a mobile generated transmission which is received by at least two base stations. The method comprises the steps of: (a) in the mobile station: (1) scanning a plurality of control channels over which messages are broadcast by a plurality of base stations to determine relative signal strengths of the messages, (2) sending a mobile generated transmission over a selected one of said plurality of control channels, the mobile generated transmission being received by the at least two base stations, (b) in the at least two base stations performing the steps of: (1) measuring the signal strength of the received mobile generated transmission, (2) sending the mobile generated transmission and the measured signal strength of the received mobile generated transmission to the processing means, (c) in the processing means performing the steps of; (1) storing in a memory the respective mobile generated transmissions and measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations within a predetermined period - of time, and (2) determining which of the received mobile generated transmissions to accept based on the time of receipt in the processing means and the relative signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions. The step of determining comprises the steps of adding a stored compensation value to each of the measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations to determine compensated signal strengths, the compensation value being stored relative to each pair of base stations of the at least two base stations, comparing the compensated signal strengths to yield a difference value, if the difference value exceeds a predetermined threshold, accepting the mobile generated transmission having the strongest relative signal strength, and if the difference value is below the predetermined threshold, accepting one of the received mobile generated transmissions according to a predetermined priority order. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system is provided for processing multiple mobile generated transmissions in a cellular system, the cellular system having at least one mobile unit, at least two base stations and at least one processing means. The system comprises means provided in the mobile unit for scanning signals transmitted by such base stations on at least one base to mobile control channel and selecting one of the base stations for access, means provided in the mobile unit for transmitting the mobile generated transmissions over a control channel of the selected base station, means provided in the at least two base stations for receiving the transmitted mobile generated transmissions and for sending the received mobile generated transmissions to the processing means, and means provided in the processing means for selecting one of the several mobile generated transmissions received from the at least two base stations for processing based on the time of receipt of the mobile generated transmission and the relative signal strength of the mobile to base signal associated with the mobile generated transmissions, the means for selecting comprising memory means for storing the mobile generated transmissions which occur within a predetermined time period, identities of the mobile stations sending the mobile generated transmissions, signal strength of the mobile generated transmissions measured at the time of receipt of the mobile generated transmission by the respective base stations, means for measuring the signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions, and comparing means for comparing the stored signal strengths of the transmissions to yield a difference value and comparing the difference value to a predetermined threshold, wherein said means for selecting is responsive to said comparing means to select a mobile generated transmission having the strongest relative signal strength when the difference value is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold and accept another one of the received mobile generated transmissions according to a predetermined priority order when the difference value is below a predetermined threshold. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the device, given only by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example cellular mobile radio system illustrating the relationship of the system's cells, a mobile switching center, base stations, and mobile stations; Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a number of clusters of 21 cells each, many cells being connected to the same mobile switching center; Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a number of clusters of 21 cells each, a number of the cells being connected to one mobile switching center and another number of the cells being connected to a second mobile switching center, these two mobile switching centers being connected to a home mobile switching center; Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile station in a cellular mobile radio system according to Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a base station in a cellular mobile radio system according to Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile switching center in a cellular mobile radio system according to Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a pre-processing stage of the present invention; Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a third embodiment of the present invention. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSThe present invention is applicable to the following situations. During initial setup of a communication between a mobile station and another mobile station or a telephone network, i.e., the mobile subscriber wants to place a call, the mobile station sends out an access request over a control channel of the closest base station. Additionally, when a mobile unit is being paged, i.e., the mobile unit is being sought when an incoming call is received by the base station, the mobile unit generates a paging response. Further, a mobile station may send a registration access when a predetermined time period has elapsed since the last registration access, or may send a registration access when the mobile station moves into a new cell. As stated above, the access request, paging response and registration access will be termed mobile generated transmissions for purposes of the following discussion. In certain cases, it is possible that these mobile generated transmission could be overheard by not only the intended base station, but by another base station or stations operating on the same or an adjacent channel or frequency. Each of the base stations receiving the mobile generated transmission will automatically process the mobile generated transmission by transmitting it to the mobile switching center. Additionally, it is possible that more than one mobile switching center will hear the transmissions from the base stations. In the former situation, the mobile switching center must make a choice as to which mobile generated transmission from the different base stations should be accepted. In the latter situation, a home location register must make the choice. The present invention is directed to methods for determining which of the received mobile generated transmissions is the proper one. When a mobile generated transmission appears in more than one base station, these transmissions will be detected all within a few milliseconds of one another in the various base stations. Both, or all, base stations will try to act on the transmission received from the mobile station by immediately notifying the mobile switching center. In order to make a comparison between mobile generated transmissions in the different base stations, all the mobile generated transmissions received within a given relatively short period of time are stored to allow for other base stations to report their mobile generated transmissions. The relative signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions are compared to determine which of them is to be accepted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating ten cells, C1 to C10, in a cellular mobile radio system. Normally the method according to the present invention would be implemented in a cellular mobile radio system comprising many more cells than ten. For purposes of this discussion, the system depicted herein is considered to be an isolated piece of a larger system which has been fragmented. For each cell C1 to C10, there is a respective base station B1 to B10. Fig. 1 illustrates base stations situated in the vicinity of cell center and having omni-directional antennas. The base stations of adjacent cells may however be collocated in the vicinity of cell borders and have directional antennas. Fig. 1 also illustrates ten mobile stations, M1 to M10, which are movable within a cell and from one cell to another cell. The method according to the present invention may be implemented in a cellular mobile radio system comprising many more mobile stations than ten. In particular, there are normally many more mobile stations than there are base stations. Also illustrated in Fig. 1 is a mobile switching center. The mobile switching center MSC illustrated in Fig. 1 is connected to all ten illustrated base stations by cables. The mobile switching center is connected by cables also to a fixed public switching telephone network or similar fixed network with ISDN facilities. All cables from the mobile switching center to base stations and cables to the fixed network are not illustrated. Further, other means may be used instead of cables for base to mobile switching center communications, e.g., fixed radio links. The cellular mobile radio system illustrated in Fig. 1 includes a plurality of radio channels for communication. The system is designed both for analog information, e.g., speech, digitized analog information, e.g., digitized speech, and pure digital information, e.g., pure digital data. In the context of the present invention, the term connection is used for a communication channel between two telephones or terminals where at least one of the telephones or terminals may be using a radio/ cellular system. Thus a connection may be a call where two people talk to each other, but may also be a data communication channel where computers exchange data. Each cellular system is assigned a particular frequency band on which it can operate. A set of communication channels is allocated to each cell. For example, between 10 and 30 different voice channels and 1 control channel may be allocated to any given cell. Different sets of communication channels must always be allocated to neighboring cells, since in order to maintain full radio coverage, cells overlap each other. Using the same channels would cause co-channel interference in these overlapping areas. A group of neighboring cells using all the unique channels available in the system frequency band is called a cluster of cells. In other words, there is no frequency reuse in a cluster. Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a cluster pattern which is commonly used in mobile cellular telephone systems. For example, in the pattern of Fig. 2, a cluster of 21 cells is shown in thick lines. For illustration purposes, the letters used in the cell identification identify cells assigned to a common base station, while the numbers identify the cell number in the cluster and the frequencies assigned to the cell. Thus, cells in different clusters with the same numbers and letters transmit over the same frequencies. In the example shown in Fig. 2, the base stations 10 each serve three cells and are provided with directional antennas. It is also possible that each cell includes its own base station formed by an omni-directional antenna. It is not necessary that complete clusters be associated with the same mobile switching center. Fig. 3 shows an example of several clusters of 21 cells each. Base stations 10' are connected to mobile switching center MSC V1, and base stations 10 are connected to a second mobile switching center MSC V2. These two mobile switching centers are in turn connected to a home location register/mobile switching center MSC HOME. The home location register/mobile switching center MSC HOME stores the record of the location of the mobile stations. Each mobile station is identified by a unique mobile station number. This mobile station number is sent by the mobile station to the base station and then to the mobile switching center. This number is also used by the mobile switching center during the paging of a mobile station. Each base station can also be identified by a digital color code. The digital color code is transmitted by the mobile station on a radio channel used for digital radio channels and serves to identify to the base station which base station transmitter the mobile station is receiving. Referring now to Fig. 4, an embodiment of a mobile station that can be utilized in a cellular telephone system that operates in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. This particular example pertains to a mobile station that can be used in a digital communications system, i.e., one in which digitized voice information is transmitted between base and mobile stations. Furthermore, the operation of the system is explained in the context of full-rate transmissions, in which each packet of digital information is interleaved over two spaced time slots in a frame of data. It will be readily appreciated, however, that the invention is equally applicable to other types of cellular radio systems, such as those in which information is transmitted in an analog format or transmitted digitally at a half rate. In the mobile station depicted in Fig. 4, a speech coder 101 converts the analog signal generated by microphone into a binary data stream. The data stream is then divided into data packets, according to the TDMA principle. A fast associated control channel (FACCH) generator 102 generates control and supervision signalling messages that are transmitted from the mobile station to the land-based system. The FACCH message replaces a user frame (speech/data) whenever it is to be transmitted. A slow associated control channel (SACCH) generator 103 provides signalling messages that are transmitted over a continuous channel for the exchange of information between the base station and the mobile station and vice-versa. A fixed number of bits, e.g. twelve, is allocated to the SACCH for each time slot of a message train. Channel coders 104 are respectively connected to the speech coder 101, FACCH generator 102, and SACCH generator 103 for manipulating the incoming data in order to carry out error detection and correction. The techniques used by the channel coders 104 are preferably convolutional encoding, which protects important data bits in the speech code, and cyclic redundancy check (CRC), wherein the perceptually significant bits in the speech coder frame, e.g. twelve bits, are used for computing a seven-bit check. A two-burst interleaver 106 is connected to the channel coder 104 associated with the speech coder 101 and the FACCH generator 102, respectively. The two-burst interleaver 106 is controlled by a microprocessor controller 130 so that, at appropriate times, user information over a particular speech channel is replaced with system supervision messages over the FACCH. Data to be transmitted by the mobile station is interleaved over two distinct time slots. A packet of 260 data bits, which constitute one transmitting word, are divided into two equal parts and are interleaved over two different time slots. The effects of RAYLEIGH fading is reduced in this manner. The output of the two-burst interleaver 106 is provided to the input of a modulo-two adder 107 so that the transmitted data is ciphered bit-by-bit by logical modulo-two-addition of a pseudo-random bit stream. The output of the channel coder 104 associated with the SACCH generator 103 is connected to a 22-burst interleaver 108. The 22-burst interleaver 108 interleaves data transmitted over the SACCH over 22 time slots each consisting of 12 bits of information. The mobile station further includes a Sync Word/DVCC generator 109 for providing the appropriate synchronization word (Sync Word) and DVCC (digital verification color code) which are to be associated with a particular connection. The Sync Word is a 28-bit word used for time slot synchronization and identification. The DVCC is an 8-bit code which is sent by the base station to the mobile station and vice-versa, for assuring that the proper channel is being decoded. A burst generator 110 generates message bursts for transmission by the mobile station. The burst generator 110 is connected to the outputs of the modulo-two-adder 107, the 22-burst interleaver 108, the Sync Word/DVCC generator 109, an equalizer 114, and a control channel message generator 132, to integrate the various pieces of information from these respective units into a single message burst. For example, according to the published U.S. standard EIA/TIA 15-54, a message burst comprises data (260 bits), SACCH (12 bits), Sync Word (28 bits), coded DVCC (12 bits), and 12 delimiter bits, combined for a total of 324 bits. Under the control of the microprocessor 130, two different types of message bursts are generated by the burst generator 110: control channel message bursts from the control channel message generator 132 and voice/traffic message bursts. The control channel message replaced the SACCH as well as the speech data normally generated in a voice/traffic burst. The transmission of a burst, which is equivalent to one time slot, is synchronized with the transmission of other time slots, which together make up a frame of information. For example, under the U.S. standard, a frame comprises three full-rate time slots. The transmission of each burst is adjusted according to timing control provided by the equalizer 114. Due to time dispersion, an adaptive equalization method such as that described in detail in U.S. Patent Application No. 315,561, filed February 27, 1989, and assigned to the same assignee, is provided in order to improve signal quality. Briefly, the base station functions as the master and the mobile station is the slave with respect to frame timing. The equalizer 114 detects the timing of an incoming bit stream from the base station and synchronizes the burst generator 110. The equalizer 114 is also operable for checking the Sync Word and DVCC for identification purposes. A frame counter 111 is coupled to the burst generator 110 and the equalizer 114. The frame counter 111 updates a ciphering code utilized by the mobile station for each transmitted frame, e.g., once every 20 ms. A ciphering unit 112 is provided for generating the ciphering code utilized by the mobile station. A pseudo random algorithm is preferably utilized. The ciphering unit 112 is controlled by a key 113 which is unique for each subscriber. The ciphering unit 112 consists of a sequencer which updates the ciphering code. The burst produced by the burst generator 110, which is to be transmitted, is forwarded to an RF modulator 122. The RF modulator 122 is operable for modulating a carrier frequency according to the π/4- DQPSK method (π/4 shifted, Differentially encoded Quadrature Phase Shift Keying). The use of this technique implies that the information is differentially encoded, i.e., 2-bit symbols are transmitted as four possible changes in phase: ±π/4 and ±3π/4. The transmitter carrier frequency supplied to the RF modulator 122 is generated by a transmitting frequency synthesizer 124 in accordance with the selected transmitting channel. Before the modulated carrier is transmitted by an antenna, the carrier is amplified by a power amplifier 123. The RF power emission level of the amplifier is selected on command by a microprocessor controller 130. The amplified signal is passed through a time switch 134 before it reaches the antenna. The timing is synchronized to the transmitting sequence by the microprocessor controller 130. A receiver carrier frequency signal is generated in accordance with the selected receiving channel by a receiving frequency synthesizer 125. Incoming radio frequency signals are received by a receiver 126, after passing through the time switch 134. The timing is synchronized to the receiving sequence by the microprocessor controller 130. The strength of the received signals are measured by a signal level meter 129. The received signal strength value is then sent to the microprocessor controller 130. An RF demodulator 127, which receives the receiver carrier frequency signal from the receiving frequency synthesizer 125 and the radio frequency signal from the receiver 126, demodulates the radio frequency carrier signal, thus generating an intermediate frequency. The intermediate frequency signal is then demodulated by an IF demodulator 128 which restores the original π/4-DQPSK - modulated digital information. The restored digital information provided by the IF demodulator 128 is supplied to the equalizer 114. A symbol detector 115 converts the received two-bit symbol format of the digital data from the equalizer 114 to a single-bit data stream. The symbol detector 115 in turn produces three distinct output signals. Control channel messages are sent to a control message detector 133 which supplies detected control channel information to the microprocessor controller 130. Any speech data/FACCH data is supplied to a modulo-two adder 107 and a two-burst deinterleaver 116. The speech data/FACCH data is reconstructed by these components by assembling and rearranging information from two time slots of the received data. The symbol detector 115 supplies SACCH data to a 22-burst deinterleaver 117. The 22-burst deinterleaver 117 reassembles and rearranges the SACCH data, which is spread over 22 consecutive frames. The two-burst deinterleaver 116 provides the speech data/FACCH data to two channel decoders 118. The convolutionally encoded data is decoded using the reverse of the above-mentioned coding principle. The received cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits are checked to determine if any error has occurred. The FACCH channel coder furthermore detects the distinction between the speech channel and any FACCH information, and directs the decoders accordingly. A speech decoder 119 processes the received speech data from the channel decoder 118 in accordance with a speech coder algorithm (e.g., VSELP), and generates the received speech signal. The analog signal is finally enhanced by a filtering technique. Messages on the fast associated control channel are detected by a FACCH detector 120, and the information is transferred to the microprocessor controller 130. The output of the 22-burst deinterleaver 117 is provided to a separate channel decoder 118. Messages on the slow associated control channel are detected by a SACCH detector 121, and that information is transferred to the microprocessor controller 130. The microprocessor controller 130 controls the mobile station activity and the base station communication, and also handles the terminal keyboard input and display output 131. Decisions by the microprocessor controller 130 are made in accordance with received messages and measurements that are made. The keyboard and display unit 131 enable information to be exchanged between the user and the base station. Fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a base station that can be utilized in a cellular telephone system that operates in accordance with the present invention. The base station incorporates numerous component parts which are substantially identical in construction and function to component parts of the mobile station illustrated in Fig. 4 and described in conjunction therewith. Such identical component parts are designated in Fig. 5 with the same reference numerals utilized hereinabove in the description of the mobile station, but are differentiated therefrom by means of a prime (') designation. There are, however, some distinctions between the mobile and base stations. For instance, the base station has two receiving antennas. Associated with each of these receiving antennas are a receiver 126', an RF demodulator 127', and an IF demodulator 128'. Furthermore, the base station does not include a user keyboard and display unit 131 as utilized in the mobile station. Finally, there can be a plurality of channels, represented in Fig. 5 by the boxes labeled 1, 2 and 3, with corresponding inputs IN1, IN2, and IN3, and outputs OUT1, OUT2 and OUT3. Although the system is shown here with three channels, the number used would be dependent upon system requirements as determined by the system designers. When power is applied to the mobile station, the microprocessor controller 130 executes an initialization procedure. Initially, the serving system parameters are retrieved, meaning that the preferred system, e.g., A or B (wireline or non-wireline), is selected. Depending on the choice made, scanning is carried out over the dedicated control channels belonging to the preferred system. In order to tune the best control channel, the mobile station must search through the existing control channels. This is called scanning of control channels. Scanning can be started because the mobile station logic unit automatically inserts the first control channel number into the frequency generator in a known manner. The control channel with the strongest signal strength is chosen by the mobile to receive the call or other transmission. Fig. 6 is a block diagram of an example of a mobile switching center which can be used to implement the method according to the present invention. The mobile switching center shown in Fig. 6 is a simplified block diagram of some of the functional units in a mobile switching center. Fig. 6 shows but one example of a mobile switching center. Other systems may also be used. The mobile switching center 70 is a highly modular system which includes a central processor 72 and a mobile telephone subsystem 74 for the cellular system which is integrated with the other subsystems. A group switching subsystem 76, a common channel signalling subsystem 78, and a trunk and signalling subsystem 80 are connected to the central processor 72. The mobile telephone subsystem 74 includes a regional processor 82, a mobile telephone base station line terminal 84 and a signalling terminal 86. The remaining subsystems also each include a regional processor 82. The mobile telephone subsystem 74 handles all specific mobile subscriber functions, cellular network functions, as well as the signalling with the mobile stations. Subsystem 74 also provides the common channel signalling subsystem 78 with the necessary data from the mobile switching center signalling. The operation and maintenance functions specific for the cellular system are also implemented in the mobile telephone subsystem 74. The mobile telephone subsystem 74 includes the mobile telephone base station line terminals 84 which connect the mobile telephone subsystem 74 to the various base stations within the system and to the public switching telephone network. The signalling terminal 86 provided in the mobile telephone subsystem 74 handles data communication between the mobile switching center and the base stations. The regional processor 82 provided in each of the subsystems stores and executes the regional software for the switching system, handling simple, routine and high capacity tasks. The group switching subsystem 76 is controlled by a traffic control subsystem (not shown). The group switching subsystem 76 sets up, supervises and clears connections through the group switch (not shown). The common channel signalling subsystem 78 contains functions for signalling, routing, supervision and correction of messages sent in accordance with a predetermined standard. The trunk and signalling subsystem 80 supervises the state of the trunk lines to the public switching telephone network and to the other mobile switching centers. The central processor 72 stores and executes the central processor software for the switching system, handling the more complex functions. These functions include, but are not limited to, job administration, store handling, loading and changing of programs, etc. Further, to the extent that the methods according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention are implemented by software routines operating in the mobile switching center, they are implemented in the central processor 72. One of the primary tasks performed in the system access mode of the mobile station is the generation of an access message in the mobile station and preparation of a suitable traffic channel for information exchange. The access channels available to the mobile, which were updated during an idle mode, are examined in a manner similar to the measuring of the dedicated control channels as previously described. A ranking of the signal strength of each is made, and the channel associated with the strongest signal is chosen. The transmitting frequency synthesizer 124 and the receiving frequency synthesizer 125 are tuned accordingly, and a service request message is sent over the selected channel in order to inform the base station about the type of access wanted, e.g., call origination, page response, or registration access. After completion of this message, the amplifier 123 of the mobile station is turned off and the mobile station may wait for further control messages. Depending on the access type, the mobile station may then receive a reply message from the base station. According to a first embodiment of the present invention, a wait and compare method is used. This method is most applicable to the setting up of calls, both mobile originated calls and calls directed to mobile stations, although it can be used to process other types of mobile generated transmissions such as registrations. For the purposes of explanation of this embodiment, the following discussion, referring to Fig. 2, relates to an example wherein a mobile station 12 travels from cell C8 to the nearby cell F16. In this example, the intended near base station 10a (at the borders of nearby cells F16, F17 and F18) and the overhearing relatively faraway base station 10c (at the borders of remote cells F16, F17, and F18) are connected to the same mobile switching center. The wait and compare method of the present invention involves waiting until the time has elapsed for all possible mobile generated transmissions originating from one mobile station (in this example 2 requests) to have come to the mobile switching center (i.e., using a time period which is approximated to be the worst-case time required for signalling), and to make a decision then as to which transmission to serve, rejecting all others. This decision is based on the signal strength if the difference therebetween is significant. If this difference is not significant, the determination as to which transmission to use as made based on some other predefined priority order, such as the first transmission to be received. One possible threshold value for the difference could be about 10dB, but this threshold could be differently specified for each system or each cell or even each cell-cell combination. According to a preferred embodiment, the threshold is between ±10dB. According to a preferred embodiment, before the comparison is made, a compensation value is added to each of the received signal strengths (compensation values being an individual cell parameter) to make it possible to change the odds for some cells to win the comparison competition. The value of the compensation parameter could be initially set to 0. It can later be changed if experience, simulations, etc. show that some cells fail in comparisons when they should win. This situation could occur, for example if the faraway base station has very good receiving conditions, e.g., is situated in a high tower on a mountain. The compensation values are determined based on each particular cell-cell combination and can be altered as experience dictates. Of course, instead of adding the compensation value to the individual signal strengths, the compensation could be accomplished after the difference is determined by adding a value to the difference between the signal strengths. The wait and compare method will now be described with reference to Figs. 7 and 8. According to a preferred embodiment, as shown in Fig. 7, the mobile station scans the control channels from nearby base stations and selects the strongest signal strength, at step 200. The mobile station then waits for some control signal over the selected control channel (step 202). If nothing intended for the mobile station is heard, when it is again time to rescan the control channels to determine which is the strongest (step 204), the mobile station returns to step 200. A number of possible functions are available to the mobile station, some of which are shown in Fig. 7. For example, the mobile may determine: it is time to register (step 206); it wants to make a call (step 208); it has received a page and wants to respond (step 210); or it received an audit message and wants to answer (step 212). Other functions are possible, as is known to technical people working in cellular technology, but are not described herein because they are not relevant to the present invention. For each action that will be taken in steps 206-212, the mobile performs a system access by scanning and selecting the strongest control channel at step 214. At step 216, the mobile sends the mobile generated transmission to the selected control channel. As represented by the dashed line, both the intended base station and any other base stations operating on the same or adjacent frequencies which overhear the mobile generated transmission (called transmission in the drawings for simplicity) measure the signal strength of the received mobile generated transmission at step 218. That transmission is then transmitted along with the measured signal strength, to the mobile switching center at step 220. At this point, control is passed to step 300, shown in Fig. 8. All mobile generated transmissions reported to the mobile switching center with the same mobile station number and/or serial number within the given time period are stored in the mobile switching center at step 300. The identity of the appropriate mobile station and base station or an area associated with the base station, the signal strength of the received signal, and the time of receipt of the mobile generated transmission by the mobile switching center are also stored. At step 302, it is determined whether a compensation value has been stored for the particular cell-cell combination in question. If it has, at step 304, the stored compensation value is added to the stored signal strengths and the sums are stored as the compensated signal strengths. At step 306, the compensated signal strengths stored for the stored transmissions are compared to one another. At step 308, it is determined whether the difference between the stored signal strengths is below the predetermined threshold or whether only one mobile generated transmission has been received. If the difference is not below the threshold, the mobile generated transmission with the strongest signal strength is taken as the mobile generated transmission received by the intended base station, and is processed by the mobile switching center, at step 312. Mobile generated transmissions which are rejected are processed for statistical purposes and are acknowledged with a negative response being sent to the appropriate base station at step 314. At very small differences in signal strength between two mobile generated transmissions, i.e., the differences between the signal strength is below the threshold at step 308, and more than one mobile generated transmission is received (step 309) instead of merely selecting the highest signal strength, the mobile generated transmission to be chosen as the correct transmission is determined according to a second priority order, at step 310. In a preferred embodiment, the first mobile generated transmission to be received is processed. Step 311 is executed if only one mobile generated transmission is received (yes, at step 309) so that the only received transmission is processed. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the decision concerning which mobile generated transmission to process is made in the mobile switching center. However, it is also possible that the two (or more) base stations which overhear the mobile generated transmission are connected to different mobile switching centers. In this case, both mobile switching centers may attempt to send the mobile generated transmission to a home location register or home mobile switching center. The home location register or home mobile switching center then makes the decision at to which based station is the intended recipient of the message. In this case, the software routines illustrated in Fig. 8 would be executed in a processor connected to the home location register, either a stand-alone processor or one which also serves as a mobile switching center processor. The time period of Fig. 8 is measured by a clock. This clock may be for example, an internal clock (not shown) in the mobile switching center or home location register. The time period begins upon the occurrence of the first event, i.e., when the first transmission from a given mobile unit is received, through the base station, by the mobile switching center. The time period during which the transmissions are stored may be in the range of 100 ms or less, depending on, among other things, the signalling used (protocol, transmission speed, load, etc) between the base station and the mobile switching center. If several mobile switching centers are involved, the time period may be in the range of up to about 2 seconds or less, depending on, among other things, the signalling used (protocol, transmission speed, load, etc.) between the mobile switching centers. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a store and compare method is used. This method is most applicable to the registering of a mobile unit in a new cell, although it can be used for processing other mobile generated transmissions, such as access requests or paging responses. Referring to Fig. 2, the following discussion relates to an example where the mobile unit travels from cell C8 to the nearby cell F16. Also, though this is not necessary, the location (or area) border passes between these two cells. The mobile unit recognizes the need to register when reading the SID (the digital system identification associated with a cellular system; each system being assigned a unique number) or the REGID (the registration identification) in the overhead message train (in cellular systems), and makes an access for registration. The access is reported to the respective mobile switching center by the nearby F16 base station 10a and by the faraway F16 base station 10c, connected to the same mobile switching center. It is assumed that all mobile generated transmissions received by the mobile switching center within a predetermined time after the first received transmission relate to the same request, overheard by more than one base station. The store and compare method will now be described with reference to Figs. 7 and 9. The processing carried out by the mobile station engaged in registration and by the receiving base stations is the same as shown in Fig. 7 and described above with respect to the wait and compare method. However, once control passes to the mobile switching center, the mobile switching center records the first incoming mobile generated transmission together with the signal strength measured by the nearby base station 10a during the access at step 400 of Fig. 9. When the next mobile generated transmission arrives, it is first determined whether the next transmission arrived within a specified time limit at step 402. The time used for the specified time limit is typically less than 2 seconds, as discussed above with respect to the wait and compare method. With other possible system configurations, the time limit may range up to about 10 seconds or more. If the transmission is within the time limit, the signal strength measured by the faraway F16 base station 10c is compared to the previously recorded signal strength to calculate a difference therebetween (step 404). At step 406, it is determined whether a compensation value has been stored for the particular cell-cell combination involved. If so, the compensation value is added to the difference at step 408, where the compensation value is a function of the respective locations of the two cells which have received the transmissions. Of course, compensation values may be added to the signal strengths themselves, before the difference is calculated, as described above with respect to Fig. 8. It is determined at step 410 whether the difference between the two signal strengths is above a specified limit. If the difference is above the limit, that is, the difference is significant, the previously received mobile generated transmission is replaced by the new transmission at step 412. Further, if the next transmission is not within the specified time limit at step 402, the new transmission is processed at step 412. In either case, the base station is then informed of the outcome of the mobile generated transmission processing (step 414). When the signal strengths of two reports of the same mobile generated transmission regarding a registration do not differ significantly, for example, less than 10dB, and one report is from the base station with the old registration, no new registration is made and a negative acknowledgement is sent (step 416). In an application of this second embodiment to call set-up, the mobile switching center acts on the first access that it receives, and stores the identification of the mobile and base stations, the signal strength of the access request and the time it was received. If another access from the same mobile station number and/or serial number is received within a short time from the first access, a comparison is made between the accesses after the aforementioned compensation value has been added to the received signal strength. If the second access is lower in signal strength, it is rejected. Otherwise, it is acted upon, replacing the first access. The processing of the first base station's access in the case of a second higher signal strength will be terminated. A negative acknowledgement may also be sent to the mobile station via the base station in question. Successive mobile station accesses withing a short time frame from the first access will be likewise compared relative to their signal strength. Upon rejection of an access, a negative acknowledgement signal may be sent back to the mobile station via the base station in question and may be counted for statistical purposes. As discussed above with respect to the wait and compare method, the overhearing base stations may be assigned to different mobile switching centers. In this case, the processing of Fig. 9 can occur in a home location register or a home mobile switching center to which both mobile switching centers are connected. It is understood that mobile station access refers to any type of system access a mobile station may make when contacting a base station. Although the invention has been described with reference to a system including a mobile switching center, this is not intended to be limited to such applications. If no mobile switching center is present, the process described above for determining which of several accesses is correct would be carried out in the base stations. Likewise, the process could be modified to accommodate more than one mobile switching center as may occur in systems such as that shown in Fig. 3 and discussed above. It is possible that a Home Location Register database (HLR) can be used to determine to which base station various mobiles are assigned. In this case, the inventive store and compare method for treating registrations, i.e., non-call related accesses, may also be performed using the HLR. It is understood that the methods of the present invention can be used in a cellular mobile radio system which transmits analog signals, digital signals, or a combination of both. The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the invention as described in the claims that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology of terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.	A method of operating a cellular system, wherein a mobile station transmits a mobile generated transmission which is received by at least two base stations, said method comprising the steps of measuring (218) the signal strength of the received mobile generated transmission, sending (220) the mobile generated transmission and the measured signal strength of the mobile generated transmission to a processing means from the at least two base stations, storing (300) in a memory the respective mobile generated transmissions and measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations within a predetermined time period, and determining (302-309) which of the mobile generated transmissions to accept based on time of receipt by the processing means and the stored signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions, said method characterized in that said step of determinina comprises the steps of: comparing (306) the signal strengths to yield a difference value; if the difference value exceeds a predetermined threshold, accepting (308) the mobile generated transmission having the strongest relative signal strength; and if the difference value is below the predetermined threshold, accepting (309) one of the received mobile generated transmissions according to a predetermined priority order. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining (302-309) further comprises the step of: adding (304) a stored compensation value to each of the measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations to determine compensated signal strengths, the compensation value being stored relative to each pair of base stations of the at least two base stations; wherein the step of comparing (306) comprises comparing the compensated signal strengths to yield a difference value. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: (a) in the mobile station: (1) scanning (200) a plurality of control channels over which messages are broadcast by a plurality of base stations to determine relative signal strengths of the messages; (2) sending (216) a mobile generated transmission over a selected one of said plurality of control channels, the mobile generated transmission being received by the at least two base stations; (b) in the at least two base stations performing the steps of: (1) measuring (218) the signal strength of the received mobile generated transmission; (2) sending (220) the mobile generated transmission and the measured signal strength of the received mobile generated transmission to the processing means; (c) in the processing means performing the steps of: (1) storing (300) in a memory the respective mobile generated transmissions and measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations within a predetermined period of time; and (2) determining (302-309) which of the received mobile generated transmissions to accept based on the time of receipt in the processing means and the relative signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of determining (302-309) comprises the steps of: adding (304) a stored compensation value to each of the measured signal strengths received from the at least two base stations to determine the compensated signal strengths, the compensation value being stored relative to each pair of base stations of the at least two base stations; wherein the step of comparing (306) comprises comparing the compensated signal strengths to yield the difference value. The method of claims 1, 2, 3 or 4, further comprising after the step of determining (302-309), a step of processing (310-312) the accepted mobile generated transmission. The method of claim 3, wherein the mobile generated transmission is of a type selected from one of the following: an access request for originating a call, a registration request, a paging response and an audit response. A method of operating a cellular system, wherein a mobile station transmits a mobile generated transmission which is received by at least two base stations, said method comprising the steps of processing (400) the mobile generated transmission received first from one of the base stations. storing in a memory the identification of the base station from which the processed mobile generated transmission originated and the signal strength of the processed mobile generated transmission, said method characterized by further comprising: comparing (404) the signal strength of a subsequent mobile generated transmission received from another base station to the signal strength of the processed mobile generated transmission to yield a difference value; obtaining a compensated difference value by adding (408) a compensation value stored relative to the base stations from which the processed mobile generated transmission and the subsequent mobile generated transmissions are received; when the compensated difference value is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold amount, terminating (412) the processed mobile generated transmission, processing the subsequent mobile generated transmission having the greater signal strength, and storing the identification of the base station from which the subsequent processed mobile generated transmission originated and the signal strength of the subsequent processed mobile generated transmission; repeating the comparing (404), terminating (412), and subsequent processing (400) and storing steps for further mobile generated transmission received during a set time period; and if the difference value is below the predetermined threshold, accepting (410) one of the received mobile generated transmissions according to a predetermined priority order. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of terminating (412) the processed mobile generated transmission comprises the step of sending (414) a negative acknowledgement to the base station from which the terminated processed mobile generated transmission was received. The method of claim 7, further comprising, after the step of terminating (412), the step of sending (414) a negative acknowledgement to the base station from which the terminated transmission was received. A system for processing multiple mobile generated transmissions in a cellular system, said cellular system having at least one mobile unit (M1-M10), at least two base stations (B1-B10) and at least one processing means (72), said system comprising means (125-130) provided in said mobile unit (M1-M10) for scanning signals transmitted by such base stations on at least one base to mobile control channel and selecting one of said base stations for access, means (122-124) provided in said mobile unit (M1-M10) for transmitting said mobile generated transmissions over a control channel of the selected base station, means (126) provided in said at least two base stations (B1-B10) for receiving said transmitted mobile generated transmission and for sending said received mobile generated transmissions to said processing means, means provided in said processing means (72) for selecting one of several mobile generated transmissions received from at least two base stations for processing based on the time of receipt of the mobile generated transmission and the relative signal strength of the mobile to base signal associated with the mobile generated transmissions, said means comprising memory means for storing the mobile generated transmissions which occur within a predetermined time period, identities of the mobile stations sending the mobile generated transmissions, signal strength of the mobile generated transmissions measured at the time of receipt of the mobile generated transmission by the respective base stations, and means for measuring the signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions, characterized in that said system further comprises: comparing means for comparing the stored signal strengths of the transmissions to yield a difference value and comparing the difference value to a predetermined threshold, wherein said means for selecting is responsive to said comparing means to select a mobile generated transmission having the strongest relative signal strength when the difference value is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold and accept another one of the received mobile generated transmissions according to a predetermined priority order when the difference value is below the predetermined threshold. The system of claim 10, wherein said means provided in said processing means (72) further comprises: means for storing a compensation value relating to at least one pair of base stations in said cellular system; and means for adding a stored compensation value corresponding to the base stations sending the mobile generated transmissions to the processing means to the stored signal strengths of the mobile generated transmissions.	ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M; TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L M ERICSSON	BODIN ROLAND; KALLIN HARALD; BODIN, ROLAND; KALLIN, HARALD
EP-0488977-B1	488,977	EP	B1	EN	19,950,322	1,992	20,100,220	new	F24F13	F24F13	F24F13, F24D3	F24F 13/30, F24F 13/068, F24D 3/16B	A heat-exchange arrangement	A ceiling-installed heat-exchange arrangement for attemperating room air, comprising a heat-exchange unit (10) which includes a heat-exchanger (20, 21) comprising horizontal cooling-water conducting pipes (20) having mutually parallel and vertical cooling flanges (30), and vertical screen plates (40) which are disposed on each side of the elongated heat-exchanger (20, 21) and which extend downwardly therefrom to define a convention height for the air cooled in the unit (10). The screen plates (40) are constructed from side screens (41) which are connected to two opposing sides of the heat-exchanger (20, 21) such as to screen the sides laterally, and leg walls (51) which belong to a bottom screen element (50) of generally U-shaped configuration and which are detachably connected to the bottom edge part of the side screens (41), which U-shaped screen element (50) is constructed, at least at its lower part, to allow air to pass therethrough.	The present invention relates to a ceiling-installed heat-exchange arrangement intended for attemperating room air and being of the kind defined in the preamble of the following Claim 1. Such heat-exchange arrangements comprise a heat-exchange unit which includes an elongated heat-exchanger constructed from horizontal cooling-water conducting pipes provided with surface enlarging fins, and vertical screen plates which are disposed on each long side of the elongated heat-exchanger and which extend downwardly from said heat-exchanger such as to define an effective convection height for the air cooled in said unit, and a lower fixedly connected screen unit which distributes the cooled air. Conventional installations of the aforesaid kind are manufactured from prefabricated standard units which have a substantially constant cross-section with a given heat-exchange effect per unit of length, and a length dimension which is adapted to the room climate desired at that time. The heat-exchangers are therewith made available in given standard lengths. The present standpoint of techniques is represented bythe disclosures made, for instance, in SE-A-431 240 and SE-A-460 923 (or EP-A-0 287 546). The heat-exchange arrangement is normally installed at an early stage in the construction of a building. It has been found difficult to subsequently increase the heat-exchanging capacity of the arrangement, and it has also been found difficult to maintain a fresh, attractive appearance of the visible parts of the heat-exchanger up to the time of completion of the building construction work, i.e. up to the time when the building is finally inspected. Furthermore, it has been found difficult to arrange heat-exchangers uniformly in a given room. The heat-exchangers normally have a standard design with a given heat-exchange effect per unit of length, wherewith, for instance, the cooling requirements of a room may mean that the requisite total heat-exchanger length will be considerably shorter than the corresponding room dimensions, and that connecting pipes leading to the heat-exchange arrangement shall be connected from the upper part of one of the walls in the room. The heat-exchange arrangement is then preferably placed in an excentric position, in the vicinity of the pipe connecting location, and this excentric position of the heat-exchange arrangement may result in drawbacks with regard to the pattern of air flow adjacent the heat-exchange arrangement, or with respect to the temperature distribution in the room. Furthermore, such excentric positioning of the heat-exchange arrangement may cause difficulties in placing said arrangement together with ceiling-mounted lamp fittings and the like in an aesthetically attractive fashion. Furthermore, the screen elements of the known arrangements are intended to provide a given through-flow (per unit of time) and air velocity (within certain limits) for all applications. An object of the present invention is to provide a ceiling-mounted heat-exchange arrangement which will enable the subsequent installation of air-distributing screen elements which can be chosen freely, with respect to the desired air through-flow (velocity and rate of flow) from among several different screen elements, in new installations or in the case of reconstructions in which the requirements have been changed. Another object of the invention is to enable the main parts of the arrangement to be installed at any desired stage of construction, and to enable the screen elements to be fitted in a late stage of construction, wherein the screen may also be allowed to accommodate piping and/or additional heat-exchanger units in the space defined by the primary heat-exchanger and the screen walls. A further object of the invention is to enable the screen element to be displaced in the longitudinal direction of the arrangement. Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description. The objects of the invention are achieved with the arrangement defined in the following Claim 1. Further embodiments of the invention are defined in the following dependent Claims. One important technical effect or advantage afforded by the present invention is that the arrangement can be readily adapted to the requirements applicable to a given room with one and the same principle basic construction, by appropriate selection of a screen element, due to the fact that such elements can be readily fitted and dismantled. For example, it is possible to select a screen element whose construction with respect to area, size and the configuration of the perforating openings is such that the air will flow into the room beneath the arrangement at the rate desired or required, for instance in accordance with a calculated value. This presumes that a plurality of mutually different types of screen are available or can be produced at short notice. Similarly, the invention affords the simple possibility of modifying the arrangement at low cost if the room-temperature requirements change, for example if heating of a room is excessive, by exchanging the original screen plates for other screen plates that are provided with a different perforation pattern which will provide the desired flow rate and flow velocity necessary to satisfy the new conditions (for example, an increased cooling requirement in the room), while retaining the major parts of the original installation. The invention thus enables the arrangement to be adapted to prevailing requirements, essentially solely by appropriate selection of the design of the screen element and installation/replacement of said element, and also enable additional heat-exchangers to be installed in an existing installation, if so required. The bottom parts of the screen plates form legs of a generally U-shaped screen element whose downwardly facing web, and also said legs, may be constructed to visually screen the heat-exchanger and also extend substantially between the room walls. This construction provides advantages, particularly in those intances when the heat-exchanger is not integrated in a substantially fully-covering ceiling, i.e. in those instances when the whole of the arrangement is exposed. The screen element affords essential visual screening of the central parts of the heat-exchanger and can be readily fitted in a late stage of the building construction. This greatly reduces the risk of damage to the screen element. Furthermore, it provides the advantage of enabling the screen element to be manufactured separately and packaged safely against damage, and also to be transported under favourable conditions to the building site, where it can be fitted in a late stage of said construction work. Because the screen element is separate component and is suspended from a simple, detachable joint, there is afforded the additional advantage that the element can be move longitudinally in relation to the heat-exchanger and the heat-exchange unit. Thus, the screen element can be positioned so as to cover and bridge fluid conducting pipes, for instance from a wall to the actual heat-exchanger itself. Naturally, the screen element can be readily given any desired length, such as to extend over the full dimensions of the room, for instance for aesthetic reasons, wherewith the screen can be easily be joined to another screen element, if so desired. Thus, the screen can be produced in length units which are joined together and cut into other lengths, if so desired. Naturally, the aforedescribed technique enables a screen to be replaced readily if so required, for example if a screen becomes damaged, or for some other reason. The readily fitted/dismantled joint between the legs or side members of the screen element and the side screens may involve providing the side screens at their lower edge with an edge flange which is angled outwardly through slightly more than 90° and which engages a corresponding outwardly angled edge flange via the upper edge of the screen element walls. It will be understood from this that the screen element can be readily displaced longitudinally in relation to the heat-exchanger. Favourable conditions for storage and transportation of the screen elements while retaining satisfactory protection in transportation can be achieved by constructing the screen elements in a manner which will enable them to be stacked one within the other. This will, of course, also provide important advantages from the aspect of transportation costs. If required by the prevailing cooling requirements of the space in question, a further heat-exchange unit can be installed immediately beneath the heat-exchanger of said heat-exchange unit and suspended from said heat-exchanger in said space with the aid of appropriate fittings. In this case, the spacing between the flanges of the bottom heat-exchanger will be much greater than the flange spacing of the top heat-exchanger. The heat-exchange arrangement may, of course, also include a heating arrangement, for instance in the form of hot water pipes, which are arranged to deliver heat to the surroundings, by radiation and/or convection, through the medium of surface enlarging elements. When the heat-exchange arrangement is not fully incorporated in the ceiling, i.e. does not form part of the actual ceiling structure, the heating arrangement may be carried by the beams which support the heat-exchange unit and the upper screen parts, which may be supported on either side of the heat-exchange unit. When the heat-exchange arrangement is integrated in a ceiling, the web of the U-shaped screen element may have the form of separate bands or struts which need not have any visual screening function, but merely need to connect the legs and optionally also to serve as carrier means for a baffle plate which limits the outflow area of cold air, wherein said plate may carry a heating arrangement. In this latter, general embodiment, the walls of the screen element may be imperforate, such as to conduct the cooled air flow down to the area beneath the surface of the ceiling. In the case of the described arrangement, there can be selected a heat-exchanger length which is mainly dependent on the cooling/heating effect required and on the available heat-exchange units. The heat-exchange unit or units belonging to one row can be hidden behind a screen element of desired length, wherein the screen element also completes the heat-exchange units to an effective convention height. In addition, an air supply pipe may be positioned in the screen element so as to be hidden from view, and the exhaust air location can be readily placed in any desired position along the screen element/heat-exchange units. The air supply pipe is supported separate from the heat-exchange units. Furthermore, there can be selected a screen element which will provide a given rate of air flow beneath the arrangement and a given flow of air through said arrangement. This screen element can be readily replaced by another screen element having a different configuration of perforations when wishing to change the rate of air flow or/and the flow of air through said arrangement. The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to exemplifying embodiments thereof and also with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic, vertical section view of an installed arrangement. Figure 2 is a schematic cross-section view of the arrangement shown in Figure 1, taken on the line I-I in Figure 1. Figure 3 illustrates joining of a screen element and associated joining piece and end-wall. Figure 4 illustrates schematically the connecting region between two heat-exchange units and an associated joining piece. Figure 5 illustrates in perspective a screen element for the type of arrangement illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 6 is a schematic cross-section view of the arrangement installed in a ceiling. Figure 7 is a sectional view of an arrangement provided with double heat-exchange units. Shown in Figure 1 are two mutually opposing walls 2, 3 and the ceiling 1 of a room, and shows a heat-exchange arrangement suspended from the ceiling 1 by means of fittings 6. Referring to Figure 2, it will be seen that the heat-exchange arrangement includes two heat-exchange units 10 which are mutually connected together and each of which includes a heat-exchanger 20, 21 which is constructed from horizontal, cooling-water conducting pipes 20 which have mutually parallel, vertical flanges of rectangular shape. The unit also includes vertical screen plates, generally referenced 40, which are disposed on each long side of the elongated heat-exchanger 20, 21 and extend downwardly therefrom such as to define a convection height for the air cooled in the heat-exchange unit 10. By convection height is meant that the heat-exchange arrangement forms a vertical shaft in which the cooled air sinks to a lower level and establishes a requisite flow of air down through the heat-exchange unit, for cooling purposes. The screen plates, generally referenced 40, include side screens 41 which are connected to two opposing side surfaces of the heat-exchanger 20, 21 such as to screen said side surfaces laterally, and also includes leg walls 51 which are detachably connected to the side screens 41 and which form part of a bottom screen element 50 of general U-shaped configuration. The leg walls 51 are connected to the bottom edge or rim of the side screens and extend downwardly from said screens. The bottom edge or rim of the side screens 41 has an upwardly bent flange 42 and the walls 51 of the screen elements 50 have a downwardly and inwardly bent flange 52 at the upper edge or rim of said walls, such as to engage the flange 42 and therewith support the screen element 50. The height extension of the walls 51 is greater than the diameter of an air supply duct 60 which is accommodated in the screen element 50 beneath the heat-exchange unit 10 and which is supported from the screen flanges 42 of the unit 10 by means of a stirrup-shaped bracket 61 whose ends are inwardly bent to form hooks which grip around the screen flanges 42. The heat-exchange unit 10 also preferably includes transverse support rails 70 which are connected to the side screens 41. The bottom ends of the fittings 6 are connected to the rails 70 and the ends of said rails may be collared away from the heat-exchange unit 10, for instance to enable said rails to carry heat-radiating elements (not shown) of known design. The person installing the arrangement is aware of the prevailing cooling requirements, and accordingly installs one or more rows of heat-exchange arrangements in the room whose air is to be attemperated. Each row then comprises one or more heat-exchange units of standard type, said units together satisfying the cooling requirement of that row. The heat-exchange units of one row of such units have mutually similar cross-sectional shapes and the heat-exchange units chosen have standard lengths, such that the row of units will achieve the desired cooling effect. In a simple case, this may mean that the arrangement will include two series-connected units 10, as illustrated in Figure 1, which are connected to cooling water pipes accessible at the wall 2. Also accessible at the wall 2 is a supply air connection, to which the duct 60 is connected. The units 10 are suspended by means of the fittings 6 and are directed towards one another and arranged in mutual positions which will provide the best conditions with regard to the flow of cooling air into the room. It may be desirable, in the case of the illustrated room, for the supply air location 62 to be positioned at the wall 3, and hence the duct 60 must extend generally transversely across the full width of the room. The screen elements 50, which may have one or several standard lengths, may be mounted on the units 10 and displaced laterally thereon and mutually joined so that, together, they form a screen of desired length and desired lateral positioning in the room, so that the screen will provide an aesthetically attractive arrangement and cover the air supply pipe 60 and the units 10. The screen elements 50 may, of course, be cut to desired lengths. The screen elements are laterally displaceable and the flanges of the side screens and the joins between adjacent screen elements 50 can be covered with U-shaped joining plates 53, and the ends of the screen element 50 can be covered with an end-wall plate 57, as illustrated in Figure 3. The joins 55 between respective screen elements 50 are preferably placed between the ends of a heat-exchange unit 10, so that the joining plate 53 is afforded full support an the flange 42. A generally U-shaped screen plate 71 is preferably fitted over the gap between mutually adjacent units 10, such as to guide the air flow to be cooled onto the flanged parts of the heat-exchange units. The screen element 50 is provided with openings 58 over its bottom surface 54, so as to enable the cooled air to pass downwardly, and in the type of arrangement illustrated in Figure 1, the side walls 51 of the element are also perforated with openings 59. The walls 51 have the ability to provide the desired convection height, despite being perforated. In the case of embodiments in which the inventive arrangement is built into a ceiling 80, the screen walls 51, on the other hand, should be imperforate and impervious, so as not to conduct cooled air onto the upper surface of the ceiling 80. In the Figure 6 illustration, the ceiling 80 lies flush with the web 54 of the U-shaped screen element 50. In this case, the web is perforated with openings of an effective size and, naturally, the openings may be disposed in an aesthetically attractive pattern. However, the web 54 may function generally to form a spacer means for the walls 51 of the element 50, wherein said spacer means can be used to support a baffle plate 81 which functions to deflect the passing flow of cooled air out over the bottom surface of the ceiling. The baffle plate 81 may also form a conventional heat-radiating element when additional heat is required. As illustrated in Figure 7, the inventive arrangement may include mutually stackable units 10 which are connected together by means of connectors not shown. It will be seen in particular that the side screens 41 illustrated in Figure 2 have lower edge portions 44 which project down beyond the flanges 21 and thereby form, together with the flanges 21, a recess or channel which receives the upper part of a unit 10. The bottom edge parts 44 of the side screens 41 are preferably angled outwards slightly to this end, or may be deformed in a manner to make the stacking arrangement shown in Figure 7 possible. The present invention enables the heat-exhange units and the air duct to be hidden with the aid of screen element which can be fitted in any desired position along the units 10 and connected to adjacent screen elements 50 to form a screen of desired length. This provides complete freedom with respect to the position of the supply air device axially on the pipe or conduit 60. The flanges 21 may be formed from thin aluminium plate which is in heat-exchange contact with the pipes 20 via studs, and the plate flanges 21 may have a rectangular configuration and extend parallel to one another. In the case of the Figure 7 embodiment, the spacing between the flanges on the bottom unit 10 is greater than the spacing between the flanges on the upper unit. For instance, the spacing between the flanges on the bottom unit may be essentially twice that of the spacing between the flanges of the top unit. It will be seen that several different types of screen elements with mutually different degrees of perforation, perforation configurations, perforation sizes, perforation distribution and total perforation area per unit of length can be obtained at relatively low costs, so that by selecting and fitting an appropriate type of screen element from among all available types, the flow rate of the air beneath the arrangement can be caused to correspond to a precalculated suitable value. It will also be seen that it is possible to change the convection height of a standardized heat-exchanger by using in the heat-exchange arrangement screen elements which have leg walls of mutually different height dimensions. The invention also enables the air flow rate and/or the air flow pattern beneath the arrangement to be readily changed, by exchanging screen elements if, for instance subsequent to installing the arrangement, it is found that the calculated, desired air flow rate or air flow pattern is not obtained with the installed, precalculated and dimensioned arrangement with associated screen elements.	A ceiling installed heat-exchange arrangement for attemperating room air, comprising a heat-exchange unit (10) which includes a heat-exchanger (20, 21) comprising horizontal cooling-water conducting pipes (20) having mutually parallel and vertical cooling flanges, and vertical screen plates (40) which are disposed on each side of the elongated heat-exchanger (20, 21) and which extend downwardly therefrom to define a convection height for the air cooled in the unit (10), characterized in that the screen plates (40) are constructed from side screens (41) which are connected to two opposing sides of the heat-exchanger (20, 21) such as to screen said sides laterally, and leg walls (51) which belong to a bottom generally U-shaped screen element (50) and which are detachably connected to the bottom edge part of the side screens (41). An arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the bottom edges of the side screens (41) have an edge lip (42) which is angled outwardly by more than 90°; and in that the free edge of the leg walls (51) of the screen element have a correspondingly inwardly angled edge lip (52) which engages around the edge lips (42) of respective side screens. An arrangement according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the screen element (50) has a height dimension such as to enable a supply air duct (60) to be accommodated in the space between the screen element (50) and the heat-exchange unit (10); and in that the arrangement also includes stirrup-shaped duct support devices (61) whose end parts are curved such as to grip around the edge lips of respective side screens. An arrangement according to any one of Claims 1-3, characterized in that the side screens (41) at their respective lower edge portions (44) project downwardly beyond the lower defining surface of the heat-exchanger (20, 21) such as to form a lower guide channel in which the upper part of a heat-exchange unit can be accomodated when mutually stacking heat-exchange units. An arrangement according to any one of Claims 1-3, characterized in that the screen element (50) is provided, at least in its bottom part, with openings through which air cooled in said unit can pass. An arrangement according to any one of Claims 1-5, characterized in that the connection (42, 51) by means of which the screen element (50) is detachable connected to the side screens (41) is intended to enable the screen element to be positioned selectively in the longitudinal direction relative to the side screens (41).	SOFT CONSTR AB; SOFT CONSTRUCTION AKTIEBOLAG	SELLOE BENGT; SELLOE, BENGT; Sellö, Bengt
EP-0488979-B1	488,979	EP	B1	EN	19,960,710	1,992	20,100,220	new	C07K5	C07K7	C07K5, C07K14, C07K7, A61K38, A61P43	C07K 14/78, C07K 5/10C1, K61K38:00	Novel inhibitory peptides	Novel short peptides of up to about 20 amino acid residues are disclosed which have inhibitory activity against the α₂β₁-mediated Mg⁺⁺-dependent adhesion of platelets and which contain the minimal sequence Asp Gly Glu Ala [SEQ ID NO:3].	Background of the InventionThe present invention relates to novel inhibitory peptides and, more particularly, to short peptides which inhibit α2β1-mediated Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets. The α2β1 integrin is electrophoretically and immunochemically identical to the platelet membrane glycoprotein Ia-IIa complex, the very late activation antigen 2 (VLA-2) on T cells, and the class II extracellular matrix receptor (ECMRII) on fibroblastic cells (1-6). The heterodimeric receptor which is composed of 160 kDa and 130 kDa polypeptides was initially characterized as a mediator of Mg++-dependent cell adhesion to collagen (2,3,5,7-9). Recent findings indicate that whereas on platelets and fibroblasts the α2β1 integrin serves as a collagen-specific receptor, on other cells, such as endothelial cells or melanoma cell lines, the α2β1 integrin may exhibit a broader specificity and function as both a collagen and laminin receptor (10-13). Several integrins, including the platelet IIb-IIIa complex (αIIbβ3), the vitronectin receptor (αvβ3) and the fibronectin receptor (α5β1), recognize an arg-gly-asp (RGD) sequence within their adhesive protein ligands (14,15). The α4β1 integrin serves as a fibronectin receptor on lymphoid cells, but recognizes a relatively short linear sequence of amino acids which does not contain the RGD sequence (16-18). Although RGD sequences are present in collagen molecules, two lines of evidence suggest that RGD does not serve as a recognition sequence on collagen for the α2β1 integrin. First, Mg++-dependent platelet adhesion to collagen mediated by the α2β1 integrin is not inhibited by peptides containing RGD sequences (7). Second, it was recently demonstrated that the α2β1 integrin binds to the α1(I)-CB3 fragment of collagen which does not contain an RGD sequence (19). Other cell-adhesion promoting sites in collagen involving small peptides have been reported for example in the case of human keratinocytes (J. Invest. Dermatol. 95, 264 (1990), or melanoma Cell. (J. Cell. Biol. 111, 262-270 (1990). Brief Description of the InventionIn accordance with the present invention, novel synthetic peptides are provided which inhibit α2β1-mediated Mg++-dependent adhesion to platelets. These novel peptides are short peptides selected from the group consisting of GPAGKDGEAGAQG [SEQ ID NO:Z] and fragments thereof containing the minimal tetrapeptide sequence Asp Gly Glu Ala (DGEA) [SEQ ID NO: 3]. This tetrapeptide sequence corresponds to residues 435-438 of the α1(I) chain of typo I collagen sequence. The tetrapeptide sequence DGEA per se has been reported for example in European Patent 362,526 which discloses the heptapeptide sequence I-I-T-D-G-E-A as part of a leukocyte adhesion receptor LFA-1 alpha subunit molecule. It was found that the novel peptides according to the invention effectively inhibited α2β1-mediated Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets, which use the α2β1 integrin as a collagen specific receptor, but had no effect on α5β1-mediated platelet adhesion to fibronectin or α6β1-mediated platelet adhesion to laminin. In contrast, with T47D breast adenocarcinoma cells, which use α2β1 as a collagen/laminin receptor, adhesion to both collagen and laminin was inhibited by DGEA-containing peptides. Criticality of the minimal DGEA sequence [SEQ ID NO:3] for inhibitory activity is evident from the observation that deletion of the alanine residue or subtitution of alanine for either the glutamic or aspartic acid residues in DGEA-containing peptides resulted in marked loss of inhibitory activity. The adhesion of platelets to collagen plays a major role in thrombosis and hemostasis. When a blood vessel wall is damaged, platelets rapidly adhere to the exposed subendothelial components, of which fibrillar collagen is the most thrombogenic macromolecule. Adherence of the platelets to fibrillar collagen results in a series of events which leads to platelet aggregation and the formation of a hemostatic plug. Accordingly, novel inhibitory peptides of the present invention are indicated as useful to medical science as it is concerned with platelet adhesion, platelet aggregation and other aspects of thrombosis and hemostasis. The one-letter amino acid sequence of 671 residues of the α1(I) chain of type I rat collagen is available from the GenBank data bank under accession nos. AO2854 and AO2855. Its full reported sequence, minus the first 16 residues and converted to the three-letter abbreviations, is designated herein and in the accompanying Diskette as SEQ ID NO:1, and numbered from 1 to 655 in accordance with 37 CFR 1.821-825. Detailed Description of the InventionWhile the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as forming the present invention, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from the following preferred embodiments of the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 shows the identificaton of a synthetic peptide derived from the rat α1(I)-CB3 collagen peptide which inhibits the Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets to collagen. A) Top line represents the rat α1(I) CB3 fragment. The second and third lines indicate the relative positions of synthetic peptides employed herein within the CB3 fragment and give the number of the amino acid residues corresponding to their positions in the α1(I) collagen chain. The bottom line shows the single-letter code for the amino acid sequence of the peptide containing amino acids 4-30 to 442 of the rat α1(I) collagen chain. The arrow indicates the point within the 430-442 peptide that corresponds to the junction between the 403-436 and 437-466 peptides. B) The Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets to collagen is inhibited in a concentration dependent fashion by peptide 430-442 (O) while neither synthetic peptide 461-472 (Δ) nor 490-502 (◊) affects platelet adhesion. Data represent means of triplicate assays. FIG. 2 is a graphical representation which shows the effects of KDGEA [SEQ ID NO:4] and structurally related peptides on the MG++-dependent adhesion of platelets to collagen. A) Both KDGEA (O) and DGEA (▪) [SEQ ID NO:3] inhibit platelet adhesion to collagen while KDGE () [SEQ ID NO:7] does not. Control adhesion to bovine serum albumin (BSA) substrates or to collagen substrates in the presence of 2 mM EDTA was less than 0.15% in this test. B) Peptides in which either the aspartate (KAGEA, ▴) [SEQ ID NO:5] or the glu (KDGAA, Δ) [SEQ ID NO:6] of the sequence KDGEA (O) has been replaced with an ala do not inhibit Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets to collagen. Data represent means of triplicate assays. FIG. 3 is a bar chart which shows that the synthetic peptide KDGEA [SEQ ID NO:4] inhibits the Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets to collagen but not to fibronectin or laminin. Adhesion assays were carried out in the presence of 2 mM Mg++ (open bars), 2 mM Mg++ and 4 mM KDGEA (striped bars) or 2 mM EDTA (solid bars). Data represent means of triplicate assays and the error bars indicate one standard deviation above the mean. FIG. 4 is a graphical representation which shows the divalent cation-dependent adhesion of T47D carcinoma cells to collagen and laminin. Adhesion to substrates composed of either collagen (A) or laminin (B) was inhibited in a concentration dependent manner by the peptide, KDGEA (O) [SEQ ID NO:4]. The peptides KDGE () [SEQ ID NO:7], KDGAA () [SEQ ID NO:6] and GGGGG (▪) [SEQ ID NO:8] did not significantly reduce adhesion. Adhesion assays on collagen were conducted in the presence of 2 mM Mg++. Adhesion assays on laminin substrates were carried out in the presence of 2 mM Mg++. 1 mM Mn++ and 1 mM Ca++. Control adhesion assays done in the presence of 2 mM EDTA resulted in less that 1% adhesion to collagen and less than 0.5% adhesion to laminin. The novel inhibitory peptides of this invention can be prepared by known solution and solid phase peptide synthesis methods. In conventional solution phase peptide synthesis, the peptide chain can be prepared by a series of coupling reactions in which the constituent amino acids are added to the growing peptide chain in the desired sequence. The use of various N-protecting groups, e.g., the carbobenzyloxy group or the t-butyloxycarbonyl group (BOC), various coupling reagents, e.g., dicyclohexylcarbodiimide or carbonyldimidazole, various active esters, e.g., esters of N-hydroxyphthalimide or N-hydroxy-succinimide, and the various cleavage reagents, e.g., trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), HCl in dioxane, boron tris-(trifluoracetate) and cyanogen bromide, and reaction in solution with isolation and purification of intermediates is well-know classical peptide methodology. The preferred peptide synthesis method follows conventional Merrifield solid-phase procedures. See Merrifield, J. Amer. Chem. Soc.85, 2149-54 (1963) and Science150, 178-85 (1965). This procedure, though using many of the same chemical reactions and blocking groups of classical peptide synthesis, provides a growing peptide chain anchored by its carboxy terminus to a solid support, usually cross-linked polystyrene, styrenedivinylbenzene copolymer or, preferably, p-methylbenzhydrylamine polymer for synthesizing peptide amides. This method conveniently simplifies the number of procedural manipulations since removal of the excess reagents at each step is effected simply by washing the polymer. Further background information on the established solid phase synthesis procedure can be had by reference to the treatise by Stewart and Young, Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis, W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, 1969, and the review chapter by Merrifield in Advances in Enzymology 32, pp. 221-296, F. F. Nold, Ed., Interscience Publishers, New York, 1969; and Erickson and Merifield, The Proteins, Vol. 2, p. 255 et seq. (ed. Neurath and Hill), Academic Press, New York, 1976. In order to illustrate the invention in further detail, the following specific laboratory examples were carried out. Although specific examples are thus illustrated herein, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to these specific examples. EXAMPLESMATERIALS AND METHODSAdhesive Proteins - Type I collagen was purified from the skin of lathrytic rats as described by Bornstein and Piez (20). Human fibronectin was isolated from plasma by affinity chromatography on gelatin-Sepharose according to the method of Engvall and Ruoslahti (21). Laminin was obtained commercially from Bethesda Research Laboratories (Gaithersburg, M.D.) andbovine type I collagen was from Sigma Chemical (St. Louis, MO). Peptide Syntheses - Collagen peptides were made with an Applied Biosystems 430A peptide synthesizer on p-methylbenzhydrylamine resin using double coupling cycles to ensure complete coupling at each step. Coupling was effected with preformed symmetrical anhydrides of Boc-amino acids (Applied Biosystems) and peptides were cleaved form the solid support by a hydrogen flouride procedure. Briefly, cleavage was carried out in HF and p-cresol was used at a 9/1 ration (v/v) at 0°C for 60 min. Peptides of 13 residues or longer were purified by successive reverse-phase chromatography on a 45x300 mm Vydac C18 column, and on a 5 µm particle, 19x150 mm microBondpak C18 column, using a gradient of 5-35% acetonitrile in 0.5% trifluroacetic acid. For shorter peptides, a 0 to 10% acetonitrile linear gradient in 0.05% trifluroacetic acid was applied to these same columns. The structures and purity of the synthetic peptides were verified by fast atom bombardment/mass spectroscopy and amino acid analysis. Platelet Adhesion - Platelets were washed and labeled with 51CrO4 as described in detail by Haverstick et al (22). Platelet adhesion to substrates composed of 0.5% BSA or 20 µg/ml of either type I collagen, laminin or fibronectin in polystyrene dishes was determined as previously described in detail (7). Alternately, adhesion assays were carried out in 96 well microtiter dishes (Immulon II, Dynatech). In this case substrate coating- and adhesion assay volumes were adjusted to 100 µl and wash volumes were adjusted to 140 µl per well. Platelets were permitted to adhere for 60 min at a concentration of 1.3- to 1.8 x 108 platelets/ml, then washed five times in adhesion assay buffer before being lysed with two 100 ml aliquots of 2% SDS which were subsequently pooled and counted. Cell Culture- T47D, human ductal breast adenocarcinoma cells were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection, Rockville, MD (ATCC HTB 133) and grown in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 0.2 IU insulin/ml. For use cell adhesion assays, T47D cells were labeled over night with 50 µCi/mk 51CrO4, washed three times with Ca++- Mg++-free Hank's balanced salt solution (BSS) and removed from their flasks by brief treatment with 0.02% versene solution (Gibco) at 37°C. The cells were then washed with BSS, pelleted at 600 x g and resuspended at 1.0 x 105 cells/ml in BSS containing 0.5% BSA (BSS-BSA). Aliquots were then supplemented either with 2 mM Mg++, 1 mM Mn++ and 1 mM Ca++ or with 2 mM EDTA and used in adhesion assays as described above for plateletes. Peptide Inhibition - After labeling and washing, cells were resuspended at 2.6- to 3.6 x105/ml for platelets or 2 x 105/ml for T47D cells. Aliquots were added to equal volumes of buffer containing appropriate concentrations of the peptides and divalent cations and preincubated for 15 min before being added to the adhesive substrates. Adhesion was quantitated as described above. Antibody Inhibition - The P1H5 and P1D6 monoclonal antibodies directed against the α2β1 and α5β1 integrins respectively were generously provided by William G. Carter, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. Cells were incubated with 10 µg/ml of antibody at room temperature for 15 min prior to use in cell adhesion assays. RESULTSAs previously reported (19), platelets adhere to the CB3 fragment of the α1 chain of rat type I collagen. In order to identify the specific amino acid sequence within the CB3 fragment which is recognized by the α2β1 receptor complex, a series of five peptides were initially synthesized, each approximately 33 amino acids residues long, which together spanned the entire 148 amino acid sequence of the rat α1(I)-CB3 collagen fragment (Figure 1a). These peptides were tested, both for ability to serve as solid phase adhesive substrates for the Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets and as fluid phase inhibitors of Mg++-dependent platelet adhesion to intact type I collagen. None of the peptides supported the platelet adhesion nor did any peptide specifically inhibit the adhesion of platelets to collagen substrates. While peptides spanning amino acid residues 496-526 and 521-550 of the α1(I) collagen sequence shared an overlapping, common sequence of six amino acids, the junctions between the other four peptides overlapped by at most a single residue. Therefore, a second set of peptides were synthesized, 12- to 13- amino acid residues in length, which overlapped the junctions of the initial set of synthetic peptides and contained amino acid sequences corresponding to residues 430 to 442 (peptide 430), 461 to 472 (peptide 461) and 490 to 502 (peptide 490) of the rat α1(I) collagen chain (Figure 1a). These peptides were then tested for ability to inhibit Mg++-dependent platelet adhesion to collagen. As shown in Figure 1b, only peptide 430, namely GPAGKDGEAGAQG [SEQ ID NO:2] was capable of inhibiting platelet adhesion to collagen in a concentration-dependent manner. Half-maximal inhibition was achieved at 2.8 mM; inhibition was virtually complete at 5.4 mM. These concentrations are only slightly greater than concentrations of RGD peptides required to inhibit α5β1-mediated cell adhesion to fibronectin. Neither peptide 461 nor 490 had any detectable inhibitory activity on platelet adhesion to collagen at comparable concentrations. The sequence of peptide 430 is shown in the bottom line of Figure 1A with an arrow indicating the junction between the longer peptides 403-436 and 437-466. Two striking features of this sequence are the relative lack of proline or hydroxyproline residues which contribute to the stability of the triple helical structure of collagen and the presence of the very hydrophilic sequence KDGE [SEQ ID NO:7] which was divided between the G and E residues in the 33-mer peptides. The lack of proline and hydroxyproline residues which constitute approximately 23 percent of the amino acids within type I collagen would tend to destabilize the triple helix. Puckering of the helix at this site would facilitate recognition of a linear sequence of amino acids by the α2β1 integrin. The active sequence contained a mixture , of amino- and carboxy- side chains reminiscent of those present in the RGD sequence which is known to mediate the binding of some of the other integrin receptors to their substrates (13, 14). To further refine the α2β1 recognition sequence, tetrapeptides with sequences of KDGE [SEQ ID NO:7] and DGEA [SEQ ID NO:3], as well as the pentapeptide KDGEA [SEQ ID NO:4] were synthesized. Both KDGEA and DGEA inhibited platelet adhesion to collagen at concentrations comparable to the parent peptide 430. DGEA was consistently slightly more effective than KDGEA (Figure 2a). The peptide KDGE, which lacked the carboxy terminal alanine residue, on the other hand, was devoid of inhibitory activity and at higher concentrations tended to enhance platelet adhesion to collagen. These results indicate that while the alanine residue is needed for recognition by the α2β1 integrin complex, the lysine residue is not. To assess the importance of the aspartate and glutamate residues in the DGEA [SEQ ID NO:3] recognition sequence, peptides with the sequences KAGEA [SEQ ID NO:5] and KDGAA [SEQ ID NO:6] were synthesized and tested for ability to inhibit Mg++-dependent adhesion of platelets to collagen substrates. As shown in Figure 2b, replacement of either of the acidic residues with alanine resulted in peptides lacking the ability to inhibit specifically α2β1-mediated platelet adhesion to collagen. Thus, the DGEA sequence appears to represent the minimal recognition sequence for the α2β1 integrin on collagen. It is unlikely that the DGEA [SEQ ID NO:3] sequence inhibits platelet-collagen adhesion by chelating Mg++ ions. The inhibitory activity of KDGEA [SEQ ID NO:4] when tested in 1 mM Mg++ was 80 percent of the activity observed in 6 mM Mg++. To further examine the inhibitory specificity of the KDGEA [SEQ ID NO:4] peptide, the peptide was tested for ability to inhibit platelet adhesion not only to collagen, but also to fibronectin, and laminin substrates. As shown in Figure 3, 4 mM KDGEA inhibited Mg++-dependent platelet adhesion to collagen by 80 percent. In contrast, the adhesion of platelets to fibronectin, mediated by the α5β1 integrin (23), and the adhesion to laminin, mediated by the α6β1 integrin (24), were not diminished in the presence of identical concentrations of KDGEA. It has been shown that the α2β1 integrin complex on platelets, fibroblasts, and HT-1080 cells mediates adhesion to collagen but not to laminin (2,3,5,7-9). Recent evidence indicates that on other cell types, such as endothelial cells, keratinocytes, melanoma cell lines and other epithelial cell lines, the α2β1 integrin exhibits a broader ligand specificity and serves as both a collagen and a laminin receptor (10-12). Monoclonal antibodies, such as P1H5 directed against the α2β1 integrin inhibit not only adhesion to collagen, but also adhesion to laminin of these latter cell types (5,9,12). The human breast adenocarcinoma cell line T47D, expresses high levels of the α2β1 integrin as revealed by flow cytometric analysis. As judged by the ability of the P1H5 antibody to markedly inhibit the adhesion of T47D cells to both collagen and laminin substrates (Table 1), the α2β1 integrin on T47D cells functions as a collagen/laminin receptor. The P1D6 monoclonal antibody directed against the α5β1 integrin had no inhibitory effect on T47D adhesion to collagen or laminin (Table I). T47D cells were then used to examine the effects of KDGEA [SEQ ID NO:4] on cells which used α2β1 as a collagen/laminin receptor. As shown in Figure 4, KDGEA inhibited adhesion of T47D cells to both collagen and laminin substrates in a concentration dependent manner. Half-maximal inhibition on both substrates was observed at 2- 2.5 mM KDGEA. The structurally related peptides KDGE [SEQ ID NO:7] and KDGAA [SEQ ID NO:6], as well as the control peptide pentaglycine showed no inhibitory activity at comparable concentrations. The specificity of the modest inhibition observed in the presence of high concentrations of these peptides could not be ascertained. The minimal DGEA [SEQ ID NO:3] recognition sequence derived from the α1(I) - CB3 fragment and corresponding to residues 435-438 of the α1(I) chain of rat collagen is conserved in the α1(I) chains of other species, as well as in some, but not all, collagen chains of other types. Acceptable amino acid substitutions which might represent alternative recognition sequences in other collagenous and noncollagenous proteins remain to be elucidated. Interestingly, the DGEA [SEQ ID NO:3] sequence is also present at residues 54-57 of the α1(I) chain and at a conserved position in other chains. This location would place the second DGEA sequence within the α(I) - CB4 fragment of type I collagen which did not support platelet adhesion in an earlier study (19). Several reasons for this apparent discrepancy may exist. The larger CB3 fragment may have bound more efficiently to the plastic surfaces than the smaller CB4 fragment. The CB3 fragment was applied to the dishes as a pure peptide, whereas the CB4 peptide was in a fraction which also contained the CB5 and CB6 fragments which could compete for binding to the plastic surface. Finally, the DGEA sequence at residues 54-57 is preceded by another aspartate residue in contrast to the DGEA sequence at residues 435-438 which is preceded by a lysine. The role of flanking sequences in ligand recognition by the α2β1 integrin is not known. The aforesaid data clearly indicate that DGEA-containing peptides can inhibit cell adhesion to laminin mediated by the α2β1 integrin but not adhesion mediated by the α6β1 integrin. Thus, the ligand recognition sites for these to laminin binding integrins are likely to differ. The DGEA sequence had not yet been identified within any laminin chains sequenced to date. The α2β1 integrin may recognize an alternative structurally related sequence within laminin or may recognize a distinct unrelated sequence. The latter possibility is not without precedent. The platelet IIb-IIIa complex can bind both RGD peptides and an unrelated sequence from the carboxyterminus of the fibrinogen γ chain (25,26). The peptides compete for binding to the integrin receptor and the γ chain peptide also inhibits binding of adhesive proteins containing only the RGD recognition sequence to the receptor (27,28). Additional studies reveal that BSA derivatized with DGEA-containing peptides support Mg++-dependent cell adhesion which is partially inhibitable by the P1H5 monoclonal antibody directed against the α2β1 integrin. This finding supports the role of DGEA [SEQ ID NO:3] as an α2β1 recognition sequence. T47D Cells use the α2β1 Integrin as a Collagen/Laminin Receptor. Cells were preincubated with antibody (10µg/ml) for 15 min prior to the determination of adhesion to collagen or laminin substrates. Substrate Antibody Integrin Adhesion Specificity % of Cells % of Control CollagenNone----19.3±1.2100 P1H5α2β16.3±1.532 P1D6α5β122.2±5.3115 LamininNone----21.7±3.3100 P1H5α2β16.3±3.729 P1D6α5β125.8±2.1118 Amino acids are shown herein either by standard one letter or three letter abbreviations as follows: Abbreviated Designation Amino Acid AAlaAlanine CCysCysteine DAspAspartic acid EGluGlutamic acid FPhePhenylalanine GGlyGlycine HHisHistidine IIleIsoleucine KLysLysine LLeuLeucine MMetMethionine NAsnAsparagine P Pro Proline QGlnGlutamine RArgArginine SSerSerine TThrThreonine VValValine WTrpTryptophan YTyrTyrosine Various other examples will be apparent to the person skilled in the art after reading the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all such other examples be included within the scope of the appended claims. REFERENCES1. Pischel, K.D., Bluestein, H.G., and Woods, V.L., Jr. (1988) J. Clin. Invest. 81, 505-513 2. Santoro, S.A., Rajpara, S.M., Staatz, W.D., and Woods, V.L., Jr. (1988) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 153, 217-223 3. Kunicki, T.J., Nugent, D.J., Staats, S.J., Orchelowski, R.P., Wayner, E.A., and Carter, W.G. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 4516-4519 4. Takada, Y., Wayner, E.A., Carter, W.G., and Hemler, M.D. (1988) J. Cell Biochem. 37, 385-393 5. Staatz, W.D., Rajpara, S.M., Wayner, E.A., Carter, W.G., and Santoro, S.A. (1989) J. CellBiol. 108, 1917-1924 6. Hynes, R.O. (1987) Cell48, 549-554 7. Santoro, S.A. (1986) Cell46, 913-920 8. Coller, B.S., Beer, J.H., Scudder, L.E., and Steinberg, M.G. (1989) Blood 74, 182-192 9. Wayner, E.A., and Carter, W.G. (1987) J. CellBiol. 105, 1873-1884 10. Elices, M.J., and Helmer, M.E. (1989) Proc. Nat. ACAD. Sci. (U.S.A.) 89, 9906-9910 11. Languino, L.R., Gehlsen, K.R., Wayner, E.A., Carter, W.G., Engvall, E., and Ruoslahti, E. (1989) 109, 2455-2462 12. Carter, W.G., Wayner, E.A., Bouchard, T.S., and Kaur, P. (1990) J. Cell Biol. 110, 1287-1404 13. Kirchofer, D., Languino, L.R., Ruolahti, E., and Pierschbacher, M.D. (1990) J.Biol. Chem. 265, 615-618 14. Pytela, R. Pierschbacher, M.D., Ginsberg, M.G., Plow, E.F., and Ruoslahti, E. (1986) Science 231, 1559-1562 15. Ruoslahti, E., and Pierschbacher, M.D. (1987) Science238, 491-497 16. Mould, A.P., Wheldon, L.A., Komoriya, A., Wayner, E.A., Yamada, K.M., and Humphries, M.J. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 4020-4024 17. Wayner, E.A., Garcia-Pardo, A., Humphries, M.J., McDonald, J.A., and Carter, W.G. (1989) J. CellBiol. 109, 1321-1220 18. Guan, J.-L., and Hynes, R.O. (1990) Cell60, 53-61 19. Staatz, W.D., Walsh, J.J., Pexton, T. and, Santoro, S.A. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 4778-4781 20. Bornstein, P., and Ptez, K.A. (1966) Biochemistry5, 3460-3473 21. Engvall, E., and Ruoslahti, E. (1977) Int. J. Cancer20, 1-15 22. Haverstick, D.M., Cowan, J.F., Yamada, K.M., and Santoro, S.A. (1985) Blood66, 946-952 23. Wayner, E.A., Carter, W.G., Piotrowicz, R.S., and Kunicki, T.J. (1988) J. CellBiol107, 1881-1891 24. Sonnenberg, A., Modderman, P.W., and Hogervorst, F. (1988) Nature336, 487-489 25. Pytela, R., Pierschbacher, M.D., Ginsberg, M.H., Plow, E.F., and Ruoslahti, E. (1986) Science231, 1559-1562 26. Kloczewiak, M., Timmons, S., Lukas, T.J., and Hawiger, J. (1984) Biochemistry23, 1767-1774 27. Santoro, S.A., and Lawing, W.J. (1987) Cell48, 867-873 28. Plow, E.F., Srouji, A.H., Meyer, D., Morguerie, G., and Ginsberg, M.H. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 5388-5391 SEQUENCE LISTING(1) GENERAL INFORMATION:(i) APPLICANT: Santoro, Samuel A. (ii) TITLE OF INVENTION: Novel Inhibitory Peptides (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 8 (iv) CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: (A) ADDRESSEE: Scott J. Meyer (B) STREET: 800 North Lindbergh Blvd. (C) CITY: St. Louis (D) STATE: MO (E) COUNTRY: USA (F) ZIP: 63167 (v) COMPUTER READABLE FORM: (A) MEDIUM TYPE: Floppy disk (B) COMPUTER: IBM PC compatible (C) OPERATING SYSTEM: PC-DOS/MS-DOS (D) SOFTWARE: PatentIn Release #1.24 (vi) CURRENT APPLICATION DATA: (A) APPLICATION NUMBER: (B) FILING DATE: (C) CLASSIFICATION: (viii) ATTORNEY/AGENT INFORMATION: (A) NAME: Meyer, Scott J. (B) REGISTRATION NUMBER: 25,275 (C) REFERENCE/DOCKET NUMBER: 07-24(723)A (ix) TELECOMMUNICATION INFORMATION: (A) TELEPHONE: 314-694-3117 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 655 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 403..550 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 430..442 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 461..472 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 490..502 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 403..436 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 437..466 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 467..496 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 496..526 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Peptide (B) LOCATION: 521..550 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1: (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 13 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:2: (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 4 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3: (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4: (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5: (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6: (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 4 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7: (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:(i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:	A novel peptide selected from the group consisting of GPAGKDGEAGAQG and fragments thereof containing the minimal sequence Asp Gly Glu Ala [SEQ ID NO:3]. The peptide of Claim 1 having the tetrapeptide sequence Asp Gly Glu Ala [SEQ ID NO:3]. The peptide of Claim 1 having the pentapeptide sequence KDGEA [SEQ ID NO:4]. The peptide of Claim 1 having the sequence GPAGKDGEAGAQG [SEQ ID NO:2].	UNIV WASHINGTON; WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY	SANTORO SAMUEL ANDREW; SANTORO, SAMUEL ANDREW; SANTORO, SAMUEL ANDREW, DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY
EP-0488980-B1	488,980	EP	B1	EN	20,010,718	1,992	20,100,220	new	C09D5	C09D7	C09D5, C09D7	C09D 5/02K	Use of acid-base indicators for improving the wet hiding power of emulsion paints	A wet hiding power developing system which does not alter the dry hiding power is introduced into the paint composition. The process is particularly useful for high-pigment emulsion paints which have a dry hiding power higher than the wet hiding power. The preferred system consists of an acid-base indicator of pKa = 6-10 and having a colourless acidic form, with sufficient basic material to develop the coloured basic form.	The present invention relates to the use of a wet hiding power developing system for obtaining emulsion paints having substantially equal wet and dry hiding powers.It is known from Japanese Patent Application nr. 60-170764 (1985, S. Aoyanagi et al. to K.K. Toshiba) that the addition of a basic substance and a color-developing indicator to a varnish allows to improve the application workability, by easily distinguishing the coated portions and the uncoated portions during application, whilst leaving a transparent varnish film after drying. However, both wet (coloured) and dry (transparent) varnish films according to this disclosure show no hiding power.CH-A-464415 discloses the addition of a coloured component to adhesives or paints, which colour disappears or loses its intensity upon drying, to facilitate application when the adhesive or paint has the same colour as the substrate or is transparent.Many emulsion paints, especially high-pigmented ones, inherently have a lower hiding power when wet than when dry. As a consequence, it is necessary to add an excess of titanium dioxide in order to obtain a sufficient wet hiding power. Titanium dioxide being more expensive than water, there is thus a need in the art for a process for improving the wet hiding power of emulsion paints, more particularly for obtaining substantially equal wet and dry hiding powers. The object of the invention is to improve the wet hiding power of emulsion paints by introducing a wet hiding power developing system which does not alter the dry hiding power.Emulsion paint compositions essentially consist of a dispersion in water of one or more binders, one or more pigments, one or more fillers, optionally one or more dyes, and generally one or more additives.As optical properties are related to the volume of the pigment, one of the concepts used in this art is the pigment volume concentration (hereinafter pvc) : the pvc is the volume of pigments and fillers relative to the total volume of the dry paint film. As the pvc increases, a value is reached at which there is insufficient medium to completely surround the particles of pigments and fillers. That concentration is known as the critical pigment volume concentration (cpvc). Low pvc emulsion paints, as used herein, are paints formulated below the cpvc, while high pvc emulsion paints are formulated above the cpvc.The hiding power of a white paint depends on the scattering of the incident light, which itself depends on the refractive index of the various components involved. The dominant position of TiO2 (more particularly of the rutile form thereof) as white pigment is explained by its high refraction index of 2.7, to be compared with typical values of about 1.5 for paint binders. Extenders or fillers are defined as having a refractive index similar to typical paint binders, and thus do not contribute to the hiding power in a dry emulsion paint. In high pvc emulsion paints, water (refractive index = 1.3) present in the wet paint is replaced by air voids (refractive index = 1.0) in the dry film, thereby in most cases causing an increase in hiding power. Thus, those emulsion paints having a wet hiding power below their dry hiding power had before this invention to be formulated with an excess of titanium dioxide over the amount that is required to obtain the desired dry hiding power. The use of this invention is however not restricted to high pvc paints, nor to emulsion paints having a wet hiding power below their dry hiding power.It has now been found that the wet hiding power of an emulsion paint composition can be increased by introducing therein a developing system which does not alter the dry hiding power.In a preferred mode for carrying out the invention, there is added to the emulsion paint of which the wet hiding power is to be increased, a small amount of an acid-base indicator, said indicator being colourless when under acid form and having a pKa value comprised between 6 and 10, preferably between 7 and 9, and sufficient basic material to develop the coloured basic form. The pKa value is defined as pKa = - log (H+) (A-)/(HA) wherein HA and A- represent the acid and basic forms respectively and wherein brackets are used instead of the usual square brackets to indicate concentrations.As suitable acid-base indicators, there may be cited (ranked by incrasing pKa values) 6,8-dinitro-2,4-(1H)quinazolinedione (yellow when under basic form), m-nitrophenol (yellow), o-cresolphthalein (red), phenolphthalein (pink), ethyl-bis(2,4-dimethylphenyl)acetate (blue), thymolphthalein (blue), and mixtures thereof. The acid-base indicator concentration and the pH value required in the emulsion paint are easily determined : the intensity of the colour developed depends (i) on the inherent intensity of the colour of the basic form of the acid-base indicator and (ii) on the actual concentration of said basic form, which itself depends on the pH of the paint according to the known equation (A-) = 10-pKa/(10-pKa + 10-pH) = Ka/(Ka + (H+)). Typical values of indicator concentration range from 0.001 to 4 wt % (based on the emulsion paint), preferably from 0.01 to 0.3 wt %.Any basic substance may be used to reach the desired pH value; discolouration of the acid-base indicator will be caused by the reaction of the basic substance with the atmospheric carbon dioxide (and by evaporation of any volatile basic substance present). As examples of basic substances, there may be cited sodium hydroxide, ammonia, 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, 2-dimethylamino-2-methyl-1-propanol, and mixtures thereof. In addition to increasing the wet hiding power, the invention also provides emulsion paints which have a colour when wet that is different from their colour when dry (a distinct advantage when the substrate has the same colour as the dry paint). Both advantages require that the intensity of the colour developed in the wet emulsion paint should last sufficiently, else the hiding power of the still wet coating would wrongly appear insufficient while the still wet coating might no longer be distinguished from a substrate of the same colour as the dry paint. Controlling how long the colour intensity (and hence the increased wet hiding power) remains substantially constant is most easily achieved by adjusting the buffer capacity of the basic emulsion paint.This invention is neither limited to any type of binder dispersion, nor to any type of pigment or filler. It will be further described by way of the following examples which are not intended to restrict the scope of the invention. Example 1 and comparative example ATwo emulsion paints were prepared with the following composition (all figures in wt %) : titanium dioxide powder (rutile form, average diameter 0.0003mm) 5.00 aluminium silicate powder 4.00 chlorite powder 10.00 calcium carbonate powder 24.00 opacity polymer 5.00acrylic polymer (Repolem TM 2126) as 60% dispersion in water (i.e. 4.80 wt % of acrylic polymer) 8.002-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol 2.00sodium hydroxide 0.08water and additives 41.82phenolphthalein (example 1) or additional water (comparative example A) 0.10The pH of the paints was of 10.77 (example 1) or 10.80 (comparative example A).The wet hiding power was determined using the international standard ISO-2814-1973, with the following particulars : Erichsen block applicator model 288/120wet layer thickness : 0.15mmopacity chart form 2A from the Leneta Companywet paint films immediately covered with a clear transparent filmMacbeth MM 2200 spectrophotometer.The hiding power measurements gave the following results : Example 1Comp. example Awet film98.1%93.7%dry film98.3%98.3%Example 2 and comparative example BTwo emulsion paints were prepared with the following composition (all figures in wt %) : titanium dioxide powder (rutile form, average diameter 0.0003mm) 5.00aluminium silicate powder 4.00chlorite powder 10.00calcium carbonate powder 24.00opacity polymer 5.00acrylic polymer (Repolem TM 2126) as 60% dispersion in water (i.e. 4.80 wt % of acrylic polymer) 8.00sodium hydroxide 0.30water and additives 43.65phenolphthalein (example 2) or additional water (comparative example B) 0.05The pH of the paints was of 11.27 (example 2) or 11.31 (comparative example B).The wet hiding power was determined according to the procedure described in example 1.The hiding power measurements gave the following results : Example 2Comp. example Bwet film98.0%93.8%dry film98.1%98.2%	Use of a wet hiding power developing system to improve the wet hiding power of emulsion paints, said system providing emulsion paints which have a colour when wet that is different from their colour when dry, wherein the system consists of an acid-base indicator, and sufficient basic material to develop the coloured basic form.Use according to claim 1, wherein the indicator is colourless when under acidic form and has a pKa value comprised between 6 and 10.Use according to claim 2, wherein the indicator has a pKa value comprised between 7 and 9.Use according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the indicator is used in an amount of from 0.001 to 4 wt%, based on the emulsion paint.Use according to claim 4, wherein the indicator is used in an amount of from 0.01 to 0.3 wt%, based on the emulsion paint.Use according to claim 2, wherein the indicator is selected from the group consisting of 6,8-dinitro-2,4-(1H)quinazoiinedione, m-nitrophenol, o-cresolphthalein, phenolphthalein, ethyl- bis(2,4-dimethylphenyl)acetate, thymolphthalein, and mixtures thereof.Use according to any one of claim 1 to 6 wherein the basic emulsion paint is buffered. Emulsion paint compositions characterised in that they contain a wet hiding power developing system to improve the wet hiding power of emulsion paints, said system providing emulsion paints which have a colour when wet that is different from their colour when dry, wherein the system consists of an acid-base indicator, and sufficient basic material to develop the coloured basic form.Emulsion paint compositions according to claim 9, wherein the indicator is colourless when under acidic form and has a pKa value comprised between 6 and 10.Emulsion paint compositions according to claim 9, wherein the indicator has a pKa value comprised between 7 and 9.Emulsion paint compositions according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the indicator is used in an amount of from 0.001 to 4 wt%, based on the emulsion paint.Emulsion paint compositions according to claim 11, wherein the indicator is used in an amount of from 0.01 to 0.3 wt%, based on the emulsion paint.Emulsion paint compositions according to claim 9, wherein the indicator is selected from the group consisting of 6,8-dinitro-2,4-(1H)quinazolinedione, m-nitrophenol, o-cresolphtalein, phenolphthalein, ethyl- bis(2,4-dimethylphenyl)acetate, thymolphthalein, and mixtures thereof.Emulsion paint compositions according to any one of claim 8 to 13 wherein the basic emulsion paint is buffered.	FINA RESEARCH; FINA RESEARCH S.A.	JONGERIUS MARCELLUS GERARDUS; SPIERDIJK RONALD JOHANNES; JONGERIUS, MARCELLUS GERARDUS; SPIERDIJK, RONALD JOHANNES
EP-0488984-B1	488,984	EP	B1	EN	19,980,909	1,992	20,100,220	new	C08F2	C08F12, B01F3	B01J8, C08F2, C08K5, C08L57, B01F5	L01J208:00F2, C08F 2/44, L01J208:00C6, B01J 8/00F, B01F 5/10	Apparatus for injecting solid insoluble additives into polymerization streams	Process and apparatus are disclosed for improved additive systems for polymerization processes, which improved systems comprise a slurry additive system having a high shear mixer for mixing a carrier fluid and solid and liquid additives and maintaining them in a suspension slurry prior to injecting them into the polymerization system.	FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to the field of polymerizing monovinyl aromatic compounds and more particularly discloses methods and apparatus for adding thermally-sensitive and oxidation-sensitive additives and anti-oxidants to the reactants in a monovinylaromatic polymerization system prior to or during the polymerization process.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONOf all the thermoplastics manufactured today, probably the most versatile and most widely used class of materials is polymerized monovinyl aromatic compounds such as polystyrene, polymerized alpha-methyl styrene, and polymers of ring-substituted styrenes.Virgin polystyrene manufactured by the polymerization of styrene monomer often requires the inclusion therein of additives such as pigments, stabilizers, anti-foaming agents, mold-release agents, plasticizers, and anti-oxidants. Plasticizers such as mineral oil and mold-release and stabilizer agents such as zinc stearate are necessary in the polymer to allow it to be formed in processing equipment into the final consumer products. Anti-oxidants such as Irganox 1076, a hindered phenol manufactured by Ciba-Geigy Corporation of Greensboro, North Carolina, are necessary to prevent the polymer from degrading with age and from exposure to ultra violet light from sources such as sunlight and artificial lighting.As already mentioned, one of the most desirable, if not the most desirable, lubricant and mold-release agents added to polystyrene and other polymerized monovinyl aromatic compounds is zinc stearate. In conventional polymerization systems, zinc stearate is added to the process by first melting it in a closed heated vessel at 120° to 130°C and then pumping it into the polymerization system at the desired location. The problems with this approach are many.First, the molten zinc stearates as well as other additives, oxidize easily at temperatures above their melting points, and must be completely shut off from any traces of air to prevent oxidation of the material, which causes yellow discoloration of the finished polymer. This is normally achieved by maintaining the headspace in the melting vessel filled with nitrogen.Second, feeding problems often occur when trying to transport molten zinc stearate to the polymerization system. If any traces of air were allowed to leak in through the lines or fittings to the melt, the afore-mentioned oxidation will occur. Also, if the stearate supply piping were not maintained above the melt temperature of the stearate, the material would begin to solidify and precipitate out, clogging the lines or allowing solid chunks of the material into the polymerization process, adulterating the finished polymer. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention discloses methods and apparatus for adding additives such as plasticizers, stabilizers, mold-release agents and anti-oxidants into polymerization processes, and more particularly discloses methods and apparatus for adding mineral oil, zinc stearate and hindered phenol compounds to polymerization systems by forming a slurry of the additives in an agitated vessel and injecting the slurry into the process at the desired location, or locations, at easily-controlled temperatures.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFigure 1 is a schematic diagram of a typical monovinyl aromatic polymerization process illustrating the present invention in place therein.Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of the slurry additive system for use in a polymerization process.DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSReferring to the illustration of Figure 1, this is a schematic diagram of a typical high impact polystyrene (HIPS) manufacturing process. such a process is more particularly described in-US Patent No. 4,857,587 in the name of Sosa et al, entitled Continuous Process Including Recycle Stream Treatment for the Production of High Impact Polystyrene . In a typical high impact polystyrene process, such as that illustrated in Figure 1, refined styrene monomer feed is fed through flow line F1 into a stirred tank reactor (CSTR1) which is a continuous stirred tank reactor. Styrene, polybutadiene, a free-radical initiator, and additional components such as solvents, anti-oxidants, dyes, and other additives are fed into the reactor through feed line F1. As used herein, the term styrene includes a variety of substituted styrenes, such as alpha-methyl styrene, ring-substituted styrenes, such as p-methylstyrene and p-chlorostyrene, as well as unsubstituted styrene. Typically, the mixture in polymerization reactor CSTR1 will comprise about 75 to 99% by weight refined styrene, about 1 to 15% by weight polybutadiene, and the remainder being free-radical initiator and additional components.The feed components fed through line F1 are stirred in CSTR1 and reaction between the components is initiated therein. The components are then fed through flow line F2 into a second continuous stirred tank reactor CSTR2 for additional reaction and agitation by stirring. From there the HIPS components are transferred through flow line F3 into an initial polymerization reactor R1. A pair of reactors R1, and R2, each comprising horizontal polymerization reactors may be used for the total polymerization process of the HIPS material. The polymerized styrene/butadiene mixture then exits reactor R2 and passes through flowline F5 to an optional static mixer SM and from there through flow line F6 into a preheater PH. From the preheater the polymerized product flows through line F7 into a devolatilizer DV where volatile components are transferred through line F8 to the recycle treatment vessel RTV. The finished HIPS material then exits DV through line F9 to the product finishing line where it may be pelletized or put into other transportable forms. The volatile elements removed in the devolatilizer DV are then passed through vessel RTV which usually comprises a filter bed such as clay to remove the acid components from the recycle stream. The refined recycle stream then moves through line F12 and may be recycled into the CSTR1 or CSTR2. The description given above is that of a typical high impact polystyrene manufacturing system described from a schematic or flow diagram viewpoint. The present invention involves the use of a slurry additive system for adding components such as anti-oxidants, stabilizers, mold-release agents, and other desirable compounds. The slurry additive system is more particularly described in Figure 2 and is designated schematically at SAS with a feed input line F13 and a slurry supply line F14. Line F13, by means of manipulation of valves V6, V7, and V8, is arranged to provide recycled monomer from the RTV into the slurry additive system as a carrier for the additive to be injected into the polymerization reactor system R1-R2.The recycle stream entering the SAS vessel through F13 is slurried with the desirable additive, such as the previously mentioned zinc stearate and hindered phenol additives, to be injected into the polymerization system by manipulating valves V1 through V3. Injection of the additive slurry may be directed at any point in the polymerization process: by closing all valves except V1 the additive slurry may be injected prior to the polymerization reactor R1. Likewise, by opening valves V2, and V3, and closing all the other valves, the injection points may be moved to the various locations shown in the drawings. The opening of valve V3 and closing of valves V1 and V2 introduces the additive slurry into the system after the final reactor vessel R2.In this case, the optional static mixer SM must be utilized to thoroughly compound the additive slurry into the polymer stream. As previously mentioned, the static mixer SM is an optional element and is intended for the particular embodiment wherein the additive slurry is injected between the reactor system R1-R2 and the preheater PH. It is contemplated that if the injection point is at any other point in the system prior to reactor R2 then the static mixer SM will not be necessary and the output of R2 can be routed around the static mixer SM and into the preheater PH.Alternatively, if it is undesirable to utilize the recycle stream for a carrier material in the 8AS, an alternate carrier fluid may be introduced into the slurry system through feed line F15 from an independent carrier material source (not shown). In one particular embodiment such a carrier material could be mineral oil which is often used as a plasticizer in polystyrene materials. In such a case, it would only be necessary to close valve V6 and open valves V7 and V8 as well as valve V9. Referring now to Figure 2, there is illustrated a detailed schematic drawing of the slurry additive system SAS of Figure 1. The SAS comprises a high shear mixer HSM located in a mixing vessel MV and having the feed inlet line F13 flowing thereinto. A zinc stearate supply ZS, which is added as a solid is indicated in the dashed line next to flow line P13. Zinc stearate may be added to the vessel by any conventional means such as a vessel hatch or gear pump or other means for adding solid material into a closed vessel. The carrier fluid entering line F13, which as previously mentioned can be either mineral oil or the recycle stream from the devolatilizer DV, which primarily consists of about 80 to 90% styrene monomer, 5 to 10% ethylbenzene, and 5 to 10% xylenes, toluenes, and propyl-benzene, is added to the agitator MV along with zinc stearate from a ZS supply and subjected to high shear through the action of the high shear mixer. This forms a finely divided slurry of zinc stearate in the carrier fluid which is then pumped through volumetric slurry pump SP and out flow line F16. A mass controller MC is located in flow line F16 and a recycle loop RL is branched off of line F16 upstream mass control of MC and feeds back into vessel MV. This type of system is commonly known as a pump-around system. Thus the action of mass control MC, which may be a conventionally known valving system, allows a constant control of the feed amounts through line F14 to the polymerization system. Any slurry that is not transported through line F14 is directed through return line RL back into the agitation of the high shear mixer HSM in vessel MV. This maintains a constant and consistent slurry of the zinc stearate in the carrier fluid and prevents settling out of the solids in the suspension. By controlling the amount of zinc stearate added to the mixing vessel MV and/or controlling the amount of recycle fluid, or alternate carrier fluid such as mineral oil, being added through lines F13 and F15, the amount of additive slurry entering the polymerization system through flow line F14 can be very precisely controlled. Conventional ratios of the slurry additive material are known to those skilled in the art and can be adjusted precisely through the use of mass controller MC and slurry pump SP. Temperature of the slurry is maintained at a desirable constant value by the utilization of heat exchanger HEX located in return line RL. In one preferred embodiment the temperature was maintained at about 21,11 C (70°F). In addition to the placement of zinc stearate ZS into vessel MV, other additives can clearly be placed in the vessel to be slurried with the carrier fluid and the zinc stearate ZS. Such materials include those previously mentioned such as hindered phenols, anti-oxidants, solvents, initiators, and other such additives. The addition of other additives to the mixing vessel MV is indicated by a second dashed line designated at AA in Figure 2. As another alternative, the carrier fluid for the slurry may be made up of virgin styrene monomer diverted from feedline F1, or can be a mixture of virgin monomer and recycle stream fluid, as well as other solvents compatible with the process, such as ethylbenzene. In addition, the high shear mixer may be utilized to disperse insoluble liquids in the chosen carrier fluid in place of or in addition to insoluble solids. OPERATION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In typical operation, the slurry additive system SAS as illustrated more precisely in Figure 2, is supplied with a carrier fluid such as a virgin styrene monomer, recycle styrene stream, or optionally, a mineral oil plasticizer, and one or more solid additives such as zinc stearate and anti-oxidants are placed in solid form into the closed vessel. There they are subjected to high shear and converted into a very finely divided suspension or slurry which is maintained by the constant action of a high shear mixer and a pump-around system. As the additives are needed, the slurry is pumped through a mass-controller into the polymerization system at any point prior to, in the middle of, or at the downstream end of the polystyrene polymerization reactor system. By utilizing the present invention, the need for heated zinc stearate vessels with nitrogen atmospheres are eleminated as well as the need for heated flow lines to prevent solidification of additives such as zinc stearate. The present invention provides a simple yet efficient means for injecting solid additives in a finely divided state into the styrene polymerization/copolymerization system as illustrated in Figure 1. By controlling the amounts of solids added into the high shear mixer, slurries of known composition can be precisely obtained and injected into the polymerization system, very closely controlling the amount of additives and obtaining a fine, even distribution in the polymerizing sytrene.It should also be noted that the optional heat exchanger HEX on line RL keeps the slurry at the desired temperature or within a desirable temperature range. There is no need for a nitrogen atmosphere in the mixing vessel since it is a closed vessel and the head-space is completely filled with the vapors generated from the recycle stream carrier fluid, but a nitrogen atmosphere can be utilized if desirable.One particular additive utilized in styrene polymerization and added by the slurry additive system is solid zinc stearate. The agitation vessel MV was designed to maintain the particle size of the zinc stearate to less than 200 microns. The slurry was delivered to the polymerization process utilizing a volumetric pump SP to precislely control the concentration of the additive. The concentration of additives was adjusted to maintain proper viscosity, for example, approximately ten weight percent zinc stearate and ten weight percent Irganox 1076 were dispersed and added to the slurry system. If the soluble anti-oxidant Irganox were not to be utilized, then higher levels of zinc stearate could be used to maintain the viscosity. Irganox 1076 is soluble in styrene and thereby increases the viscosity of the solution. It was also found that by adding the anti-oxidant and other additives late in the process, i.e. for example, at the static mixer location, improved properties in the finished product could be obtained.In summary, the slurry addition system is utilized to add heat-sensitive additives and additives that can possibly interfere in the early stages of the process into a monovinyl aromatic polymerization system.Instead of using the present system to slurry solid insoluble additives in a carrier fluid, the system could be utilized to add commercially available preformed emulsions or dispersions, such as a silicon oil/water and zinc stearate/mineral oil, by insuring that settling-out does not occur in these formulations. According to the present invention there is provided a process for polymerizing organic compounds in which liquid and solid soluble and insoluble additives comprising plasticizers, stabilizers, lubricants, and anti-oxidants are added to the compounds prior to, during, or after polymerization; the improvement consisting in the process of adding said additives, said process comprising the steps of: a) supplying at least one insoluble additive to a high-shear mixer;b) supplying a carrier fluid to said high-shear mixer;c) subjecting said carrier fluid and said additive to high shear mixing thereby forming a finely divided substantially homogeneous slurry of additive particles in said carrier fluid;d) injecting said slurry into said compounds in desirable amounts;e) continuously subjecting said carrier fluid and said additive to high shear mixing; and,f) pumping any excess slurry from said mixer through a pump-around loop, back into said mixer.The additive (step a) preferably comprises zinc stearate and the carrier fluid (step b) preferably comprises mineral oil.A substantial majority of said additive paricles are preferably sheared to a size of less than about 200 microns.Said additives may further comprise an anti-oxidant which preferably consists essentially of a hindered pherol.The above-identified process may further comprise the step of flowing said homogeneous slurry through a heat exchanger in said pump-around loop and thereby maintaining the temperature of said slurry within a predetermined desirable range.The above-identified process may further comprise the step of adding virgin unreacted organic monomer from said polymerizing process into said high-shear mixer.In the above-identified process, the additive (step a) and the carrier fluid (step b) may comprise a previously prepared liquid/solid dispersion or emulsion. According to the present invention, there is also provided an apparatus for for adding additives to a polymerization process, said apparatus comprising : a mixing vessel adapted to divide an additive into evenly-sized, finely-divided particles;an inlet flow line arranged to provide carrier fluid into said mixing vessel;an entry port in said vessel for receiving additive materials;an exit port connected to a flow line, adapted to transmit a slurry from said vessel; and,a flow control and measurement system connected to said exit port flow line arranged to precisely measure and control the amount of said slurry flowing thereoutof.The vessel preferably comprises a high shear mixer arranged to divide additives into particles, a substantial percentage of which are below about 200 microns in size, and further adapted to mix said particles with said carrier fluid and form and maintain a slurry thereof.The flow control and measurement system preferably comprises a volumetric pump and a mass controller, connected in series and may further comprise a pump-around loop leading back into said mixing vessel from a point between said pump and said controller.According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for adding additives to a polymerization process further comprises a heat exchanger arranged to maintain the slurry in said mixing vessel at a desirable temperature within a predetermined desirable range; said heat exchanger is preferably located in said pump-around loop.	In a process for polymerizing organic compounds in which liquid and solid soluble and insoluble additives comprising plasticizers, stabilizers, lubricants, and anti-oxidants are added to the compounds prior to, during, or after polymerization; the improvement consisting in the process of adding said additives, said process comprising the steps of: a) supplying at least one insoluble additive to a high-shear mixer;b) supplying a carrier fluid to said high-shear mixer;c) subjecting said carrier fluid and said additive to high shear mixing thereby forming a finely divided substantially homogeneous slurry of additive particles in said carrier fluid;d) injecting said slurry into said compounds in desirable amounts;e) continuously subjecting said carrier fluid and said additive to high shear mixing; and,f) pumping any excess slurry from said mixer through a pump-around loop, back into said mixer.The process of claim 1 wherein said additive comprises zinc stearate.The process of claim 2 wherein said carrier fluid comprises mineral oil.The process of claim 3 wherein a substantial majority of said additive paricles are sheared to a size of less than about 200 microns.The process of claim 4 wherein said additives further comprise an anti-oxidant.The process of claim 5 wherein said anti-oxidant consists essentially of a hindered phenol.The process of claim 1 further comprising the step of flowing said homogeneous slurry through a heat exchanger in said pump-around loop and thereby maintaining the temperature of said slurry within a predetermined desirable range. The process of claim 1 further comprising the step of adding virgin unreacted organic monomer from said polymerizing process into said high-shear mixer.The process of claim 1 wherein said additive and said carrier fluid comprise a previously-prepared liquid/solid dispersion.The process of claim 1 wherein said additive and said carrier fluid comprise a previously-prepared liquid/liquid emulsion.Apparatus for adding additives to a polymerization process, said apparatus comprising : a mixing vessel adapted to divide an additive into evenly-sized, finely-divided particles;an inlet flow line arranged to provide carrier fluid into said mixing vessel;an entry port in said vessel for receiving additive materials;an exit port connected to a flow line, adapted to transmit a slurry from said vessel; and,a flow control and measurement system connected to said exit port flow line arranged to precisely measure and control the amount of said slurry flowing thereoutof.The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said vessel comprises a high shear mixer arranged to divide additives into particles, a substantial percentage of which are below about 200 microns in size, and further adapted to mix said particles with said carrier fluid and form and maintain a slurry thereof.The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said flow control and measurement system comprises a volumetric pump and a mass controller, connected in series.The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said flow control and measurement system further comprises a pump-around loop leading back into said mixing vessel from a point between said pump and said controller. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising a heat exchanger arranged to maintain the slurry in said mixing vessel at a desirable temperature within a predetermined desirable range.The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said heat exchanger is located in said pump-around loop.	FINA TECHNOLOGY; FINA TECHNOLOGY, INC.	BEISERT STAN; SOSA JOSE M; BEISERT, STAN; SOSA, JOSE M.; Sosa, José M.
EP-0488986-B1	488,986	EP	B1	EN	19,950,329	1,992	20,100,220	new	B65B51	B31B27	B31B27, B65B35, B65B51	B31B 27/00H6, B65B 35/20B, B65B 51/30	Method and apparatus for continuously forming sealing and filling low density polyethylene bags at high speed	A high speed method of manufacture of filled polyethylene pouches from polyethylene film comprising the steps of folding the film and causing it to move in folded flat form transversely sealing the film at longitudinally spaced intervals forming a continuous length of open edged unfilled polyethylene pouches, perforating the strip or web forming transversely extending longitudinally spaced lines of perforations between the pouches, exerting a vacuum upon the strip or web holding down sides of the unfilled pouches to stabilize the held sides thereof, blowing air at the open edged unfilled polyethylene pouches separating unheld sides of the pouches away from the vacuum held sides of the pouches, thus consecutively opening the pouches preparatory for filling the pouches, filling the pouches by moving articles to be packaged into the opened unfilled ends of the pouches, sealing the open ends of the filled pouches, and severing the pouches from the continuous strip for cartoning.	The present invention concerns a new and improved method and apparatus for continuously forming sealed, filled low density polyethylene bags at high speeds. The film used is preferably an unsupported or paper free low density type of heat fusible synthetic film such as polyethylene. According to our invention, a drum is utilized for receiving a continuous web of folded film which most desirably is of a low cost polyethylene type. In the past, we have not known of any way to form heat seals in certain types of low cost low density polyethylene film where a continuous web is to remain intact during forming, filling and closing operations whereupon sealed filled pouches can be consecutively severed from a forward most end of the web in a continuous high speed operation. It has been found that 1.5 mil (37 µm) low density polyethylene film works very satisfactory and it is believed that the thickness range is between .5 mil (12.7 µm) and 4 mil (101 µm). According to our invention we have developed a new and improved sealer for sealing polyethylene at high speeds. The drum has a series of circumferentially spaced axially extending sealing bars which are radially movable into and out of contact with the continuous web of polyethylene while being maintained at a temperature of about 400°F (205°C). Mounted on the drum at circumferentially spaced intervals adjacent to each of the heated bars is a sheet of stainless steel which is about two thousandths of an inch (50 thousands of a mm) thick. This stainless steel sheet is covered with teflon material that is adhered to a radially outer surface of the stainless steel sheet. A low density unsupported or paper free type of polyethylene film is laid on the drum over drum slots with the stainless steel sheets being in radial alignment with the drum slots. A rubber pad is supported on a chain which is pressed against the polyethylene web which web is held against the the stainless steel sheet. To make a seal, the heated knife is pushed radially outwardly against the stainless steel for about three tenths of a second, which heats the stainless steel and the polyethylene very quickly to about 250°F (121°C). After the fraction of a second expires, the bar is withdrawn. When the bar is withdrawn the stainless steel and polyethylene immediately begin to cool to about 200°F (66°C) about the serrations on the knife so that perforations are formed about the serrations during the cooling period. Once the film is cooled, the film is removed from the stainless steel to provide a perforated heat seal. In order to seal polyethylene, it must actually be melted or fused by elevating the polyethylene almost to its melting point such as at 250°F (121°C) to obtain a seal, while the film is clamped between the stainless steel and the rubber pad. It will thus be understood that while the film is clamped against the Teflon coated film shield over the associated slot in the drum, and when the film is then heated it is caused to melt to permit the perforations to be formed around the serrations on the blade while the film is in a relatively liquid state so that the film is not really cut by the serrated blade but rather the serrations sink into the soft melted film to form the perforations. As an added feature a serrated knife blade is secured on the chain and is pressed radially inwardly against the almost liquified heated polyethylene web and then the film is allowed to cook to form perforations about the serrations. The blade is located at the center of the rubber pad, and is pressed against polyethylene while it is being sealed or heated. The knife blade indents or perforates the polyethylene and creates a weakened section in the polyethylene so that it may be broken at the weakened section when it is pulled at a later time when the filled pouch is to be detached from the web. During a cut-off operation after the formed pouches are filled and sealed, the end most or most forward polyethylene pouch is pulled causing it to break at the weakened section of the film by severing the line of perforations created by the knife blade. One important advantage of our new method of an apparatus for sealing is that we can obtain what would look like an impulse seal which is a good consistent seal, and the sealing can be done on a drum at a high speed. The actual time for sealing is somewhere in the range of three tenths of a second for heating, and three tenths of a second for cooling, so that a complete seal be made in six tenths of a second, which is much faster than previously known techniques for making impulse seals. We have found that this heating cycle works satisfactorialy on 1 1/2 mil (37 µm) unsupported-type polyethylene film at certain speeds of production. If the production speeds were very slow then sealing times would be varied. Our method and apparatus has now been adapted to a drum which allows seals to be made on polyethylene film at high speeds. We have found that with package length of 6 1/4″ (15.9 cm) to be made, a drum 30″ (0.76 m) in diameter could seal in excess of 400 packages a minute, which would be very fast for polyethylene material. If the packages are shorter in length, then the number of packages per minute can be increased. Other features of our invention concerns a rotary drum sealing apparatus for sealing low density polyethylene film for packaging articles comprising a hollow rotary drum for sealing film at its outer perimeter, film heating mechanisms reciprocally mounted interiorly of the drum, circumferentially spaced drum slots extended through the perimeter of the drum for receiving outer ends of the film heating mechanisms, hugh temperature, heat resistant, non-sticky type synthetic plastic coated stainless steel slot shields closing the drum slots for shielding the film from the outer ends of the film heating mechanism to prevent direct contact of the film with the heating mechanisms and with the film heating mechanisms in periodic contact with the shields for heating the shields and sealing the film, means securing the slot shields to the drum enabling the film to be maintained at all times free of contact from the film heating mechanisms, and timed means for retracting the film heating mechanisms after package seals have been sequentially formed in the film. Yet further features of our invention concern the use of an endless rotary chain is mounted tangentially of the drum for periodic cooperative co-action therewith during formation of heat seals in the film, the chain having knife block assemblies carried along the length thereof each with a knife, the knife block assemblies being positioned for periodic operative engagement with outer surfaces of the slot shields over the drum slots, and means timed for actuating the knives to cut the film while film seals are being formed by the film heating mechanisms. According to other important features of our invention, we have provided a rotary drum sealing apparatus for sealing low density polyethylene film for packaging articles comprising a hollow rotary drum for sealing film at its outer diameter, radially extending film heating mechanisms positioned in the hollow drum radially outwardly of a central axis of the drum, circumferentially spaced drum slots through the drum for receiving outer ends of the film heating mechanisms, high temperature, heat resistant, non-sticky type synthetic plastic coated metallic slot shields closing the drum slots for shielding the film from the outer ends of the film heating mechanism to prevent direct contact of the film with the heating mechanisms, means securing the slot shields to the drum enabling the film to be maintained at all times free of contact from the film heating mechanisms, and means for moving the film heating mechanisms in the hollow drum into contact with the shields for heating the film, and timed means for retracting the film heating, mechanisms after the package seals have been sequentially formed. Our invention also involves other methods of manufacture and to this end we have provided a method of packaging continuously formed pouches from low density polyethylene layered film which may be in the form of a single strip or in the form of a pair of strips as elected by the manufacturer. The method comprises the steps of training the layered film onto a drum over slots in its outer periphery, consecutively heating Teflon coated metallic shields over the slots while the low density polyethylene layered film is engaged with the shield causing the state of the layered film to change to a high temperature liquified state, moving a serrated knife into the liquified film while in the high temperature liquified state with the serrations being immersed in the liquified film, cooling the shields causing the liquified film to solidify and to become fused thereby forming serrated seals which seals are located at spaced intervals along the length of the layered film. The prior art consists of either what is called a hot wire cut-off that is essentially a hot knife blade that is pressed against two (2) layers of polyethylene to fuse them together, and while the fusing takes place, the hot knife blade also melts the film completely to provide a cut-off. Therefore, the main cut-off seal is used in the industry so that a hot wire or a hot knife provides a cut off seal. This seal is a melted seal that can be very good, but all temperatures, pressures and tensions must be adjusted very carefully to give a consistent good seal. The technique of making seals in this manner using polyethylene films is a rather slow production procedure as compared to our invention as herein disclosed. Another method that has been used for years is what is called an impulse seal, which involves the use of a nichrome ribbon that is approximately a 1/16″ (1.6 mm) wide and this ribbon is mounted on top of an insulating pad. Usually this nichrome ribbon is covered with a sheet of teflon fiber glass cloth. The two layers of polyethylene are laid on top of the fiber glass cloth and a rubber pad is pressed against the polyethylene. The nichrome wire is then energized or electric current is passed through the wire for a fraction of a second, and this heats the wire to 300° or 400°F (165-205°C). The wire and the polyethylene are allowed to cool, and then the pressure pad is removed from the polyethylene and the film removed from the sealer, and what you end up is what is called an impulse seal of polyethylene which is actually a melting of the polyethylene. The various features of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pouch forming apparatus embodying important features of our invention; Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a film dispensing drum, a tensioning roller, an aligning shaft and a folding plow; Figure 3 is an enlarged side view of the folding plow and film positioning rollers; Figure 4 is an enlarged front view of a drum assembly and its various associated power train components; Figure 5 is an enlarged side view illustrating internal members of the drum assembly when portions of a ring sprocket, a face plate and a mounting plate are partially broken away; Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken essentially along line 6-6 of Figure 5 showing the positioning of various operations parts in several vertical planes and with certain components shown in elevation; Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary as viewed on line 7-7 of Figure 6 illustrating a heating element actuating cam profile and related cam components; Figure 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a typical heating element plunger assembly in cooperation with a peripheral drum wall, a driving chain, and a perforating knife block; Figure 9 schematically illustrates an enlarged section of a timed contact of a heating element with a slotted opening in the drum wall which aligns with a concurrent positioning of a typical block bearing a perforating knife; Figure 10 is a view taken on line 10-10 of Figure 9 portraying a side elevation of a typical knife block and is partially broken away to show the knife edge more fully; Figure 11 is a sectional view as seen along line 11-11 of Figure 10 showing spring-loaded perforating knives in their respective carrier blocks; Figure 12 is a sectional view as seen along the line 12-12 of Figure 10 showing how two knife carrier block halves are joined; Figure 13 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating unfilled film pouches after being heat sealed and perforated to form pouches; Figure 14 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view illustrating how a drum wall looks at the point where slotted, and with a piece of stainless steel being taped across the slot; Figure 15 is a sectional view through a film tensioning device which is located between the drum assembly exit rollers and a pouch conveyor system; Figure 16 is a perspective view of the tensioning device illustrated in Figure 15; Figure 17 is a perspective view showing the chain driven indexing drum and gear driven conveyor drum in association with pertinent air and vacuum delivery components, in addition to the conveyor itself; Figure 18 is a sectional view of the conveyor apparatus from its back side to show the initial travel of the unfilled film pouch at which point the pouch is opened by a jet of air between its two layers prepartory for filling; Figure 19 is a fragmentary perspective showing a portion of the conveyor vacuum chamber, pouch retention means, and air delivery system by which the pouches are opened for filling; Figure 20 is a sectional view along line 20-20 of Figure 19 to show the pouch forming action and envelope or pouch wall retention more clearly; Figure 21 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating a filling appartus for inserting articles into the formed pouches; Figure 22 is a top plan view of the filling apparatus shown in Figure 21, with a break in its length so that the initial and final actions can be portrayed; Figure 23 is an upper perspective view of a terminal end of the pouch-filling conveyor with a foldover wheel, retaining wheel, glue deposition tube, and cushioned sealing roll all shown for sealing the filled pouches in accordance with our invention; Figures 24A-24F are a series of diagramatic views illustrating how the pouches are filled in a step-by-step manner; Figure 25 is a diagramatic view showing a pouch separation apparatus for separating the individual filled pouches from a continuous strip of the connected pouches at the performations; and Figure 26 is a perspective view of a typical pouch after it has been formed, filled, sealed and separated on our apparatus in the practice of our new method of manufacture. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn Figure 1, there is shown a perspective view of an apparatus or packaging machine 10 for converting an unsupported or paper free type of plastic film preferably of a low density polyethylene type into formed pouches for the insertion of a variety of different manufactured products such as tampons as part of a total packaging process. A tubular framework or frame structure 12, including controls housed in conjunction with control panel 14, supports the primary system of components in a relationship which permits a station-by-station process to occur. This process includes the functions of dispensing the film from a continuous film roll 16 into a folding or plowing station 18 from which it is delivered for partitioning into individual formed pouch segments to ultimately become filled sealed pouches. The partitioning action is produced around the drum assembly 20 and involves sealing and perforating at measured intervals to achieve a continuous flow of connected plastic film pouches. These pouches are of several different types and are described in greater detail hereafter in connection with our description of the method of their manufacture. One type is as illustrated at 282 in Figures 24 A-F and Figure 25. This segmented strip of folded plastic film 22 is then rolled onto an endless conveyor belt 38 carried on conveyor 24 via a tucker roller 26 and an indexing belt roller 28. These two rollers 26 and 28 cooperate in such a way that the film envelopes or pouches have their sealed seams and perforated connections coinciding with a series of ribs 30 on the conveyor belt 38. According to certain features of my invention, vacuum is applied by a vacuum motor and pump 32 through a delivery hose 34 to a pleneum 36 (Fig. 17) which is operatively connected to an enclosed vacuum chamber 37 that extends beneath the perforated conveyor belt surface 38. The film is thereby constrained between the conveyor ribs 30 into rib spaces along the length of the conveyor belt 38 while on the conveyor belt. The film or pouches each further has its lower or belt side envelope or pouch panel or pouch side pulled tightly against the belt surface by the force of the vacuum when exerted through the vacuum chamber 36. An air jet 40 at the exit from the tucker roll 26 provides an inital stream of high-pressure air directed at an open edge of the film envelope or pouch to lift an upper film panel or pouch which is free to separate from the lower vacuum-constrained panel. Thus individual, opened pouches are formed in the segmented film layers between the separating ribs 30 of the conveyor 38. This condition is maintained by an air manifold 42 which delivers air toward the now opened pouches as they continue along the conveyor. At this point, insertion devices can be utilized to put manufactured objects to be packaged into the open pouches of different types. According to other features of my invention, a device or means for filling the unfilled open sided pouches is illustrated in Figures 21 through 24F. While our invention has been specifically illustrated in connection with the formation of pouches from a single web of material, it will be appreciated that it is within the scope of our invention for the pouches to be formed from a pair of webs rather than a single web. If a pair of webs is used, then an additional seal must be formed between the webs at the bottom to close the side of the web where the pouch bottoms are to be located. Machines having sealers for accomplishing the sealing of the bottoms of pouches formed from a pair of webs are well known in the art and in the previously issued U. S. patents to Charles E. Cloud. Still further, it will be appreciated if that our machine could also be modified in such a way as to rotate the sealed web or webs 90° so that the pouches formed could be filled by dropping articles into the open sides or ends of the pouches rather than as herein disclosed without departing from the scope of our invention. In Figure 2, upon a machine surface 44 of the frame, the dispensing film roll 16 is installed on shaft 46 carrying a single thickness plastic film 48 which is drawn from the dispenser by the driven drum 20 shown in Figure 1. A tension sensing roller 50, laterally movable on mounting lever 52, maintains proper film tension between the dispenser and immediately following operating stations of our apparatus or machine. A vertically adjustable alignment shaft 54, mounted on the machine surface 44 and supported by vertical rear plate 56, positions the film for entry to a folding plow 58. The plow consists of a V-shaped blade 60 over which the film is drawn into a horizontal folded configuration from its vertical plane. Approximately one half of the film width is pulled over the upper leg of the V-shape while the other half of the film is drawn past the lower leg of the V-shape. This action occurs due to the film being drawn through a singular slot 62, located between a pair of vertically spaced metal blocks 64 and 65 (Figure 3) to which replaceable blades 66 and 67 (Figure 3) are attached. These blades are replaceable since they become worn over time with the passage of the folded film. Rollers 68 and 70 position the folded film at a level for entering onto the drum. The drum assembly 20 including a drum 21, and its associated drive systems, are shown in Figure 4. A motor 72 drives a chain 74 in a counterclockwise rotation over the shaft upon which sprocket 76 is mounted. A motor is driving the sprocket upon the shaft upon which sprocket 76 is mounted to impart clockwise drum rotation by means of dual chain 78 and similar rotation of the tucker roll 26. The tucker roll is driven by chain 79 which is tensioned by a gear idler sprocket 85. A series of gear sprockets at 80, 82 and 84 provide the geometry for the main chain 78 which is tensioned by a spring-loaded sprocket 86. Upon exit from the drum 21, around roller 88, the film is drawn past a tensioning device 89 into tucker roll notches 90 which are indexed to and converge with ribs 30 on the belt 38 in accordance with yet other features of our invention. The drum 21 is normally covered by an inspection plate 94 which can be removed for access to the interior mechanisms. In Figure 5, the drum 21 is shown without the cover and with parts of the ring sprocket and backing plate broken away. Sprocket 96, with only a portion of chain 78 shown, has a portion of its face broken away to illustrate the backing plate 98, both members being joined by bolts 100. In turn, the backing plate 98 is partly broken away to display a heating element assembly 102. The drum wall 104 is slotted at peripheral intervals, as at 106, coinciding with the positions of heating elements like 108. A further broken away portion illustrates a commutator assembly 110 which has carbon brushes 112 cooperating with energized brass rings 114 to supply electrical power to the junction block 116. Conductors from this block 116 lead to the individual heating elements 108 involving other features of our invention. Figure 6 is a vertical section through the drum 21 and the drum assembly 20 as viewed on the line 6-6 of Figure 5 as shown. It shows the sprocket 96 bolted to the backing plate 98 by the bolts 100. The sprocket 96 is rotated by the driving chain 78 on a ball bearing assembly 118 pressed onto the stationary main shaft 120 which passes through a back wall 121 of the drum assembly 20. A mounting plate 122 also rotates on the stationary shaft 120 by means of ball bearings at 124 and is connected to the sprocket 96 by the same bolts 100 which continue through the four rotating members which include the sprocket 96 and 121 and the plates 98 and 122. The commutator assembly 110 is attached to the rear face of the mounting plate 122 and is energized through rotating carbon brushes 112 in contact with fixed brass rings 114 secured to stationary main shaft 120. A fixed cam assembly 126 is keyed to the stationary main shaft 120 and cam followers 128 are spring-loaded against splined bearing blocks 130 which are attached to the mounting plate 122. As the mounting plate 122 rotates, the fixed cam assembly 126 causes the cam followers 128 to move radially, pushing the heating element assemblies 102 radially outwardly into a film heating relationship with the slotted peripheral wall 106 of the drum 21 (Figure 7) involving features of our invention. When the cam follower 128 comes off a high portion of the cam profile to effect the heater element retraction mode, the spring 131 urges the cam follower 128 toward its return position on the lower portion of the cam face profile. In Figure 7, the heating element assembly 102 is shown with the cam follower 128 in contact with the cam face 132. The cam assembly 126 has a secondary cam face 134 pivotally mounted and held to the desired profile by a piston assembly 136 actuating a link 138. As the mounting plate 122 rotates, the cam follower moves the heating element assembly 102 radially outward as it climbs to a highest point 140 on the cam profile. There is a dwell angle of 30 degrees to horizontal and another 10 degrees to the end of the heating period (Figure 7), at which point 141 the heating element assembly is retracted. If the apparatus is shut down during the heat sealing interval, the piston link 138 pulls the secondary cam inward. This prevents overheating the film by moving the heating element away from the drum periphery, thus preserving the integrity of the film and its heat seal area. Figure 8 shows the heating element assembly 102 in perspective, as related to the drum periphery, film, and corresponding knife block 154. The cam follower 128 with a cam wheel 142 has a connected shaft 144 which reciprocates through the stationary bearing block 130. The bearing blocks 130 are screw fastened to the mounting plate and contain splined passages through which a splined portion 146 of the shaft 144 can travel. This splined relationship prevents the shaft 144 from rotating, thus keeping the heating element 108 from rotating out of alignment with the slot 106 in the drum's peripheral wall 104. In Figure 9, the heat sealing and film perforating processes are clearly shown in section and partial profile involving important features of our invention. The heating element 108 moves radially into the drum slot 106 upon reaction to the cam profile which is timed to the drum chain travel. While in the illustrated form we prefer to use a cam profile for activating the heating element 108, other devices could be employed without departing from the broad concepts of our invention. There are stainless steel shims or drum slot covers or film shields 148 which preferably are Teflon (a trademark of DuPont) coated which extend across the exteriors of the drum slots 106 and these are held to drum periphery or surface 150 by heat resistant tape bands 152 and 153 (See Figure 14). This prevents direct contact between the heating element 108 and the plastic film 22 which is an important feature in the formation of side seals on the pouches being formed. The coating is preferably a high temperature, heat resistant, non-sticking type of synthetic plastic. While the shims or shields 148 are illustrated as being formed from stainless steel as a preferred material, it will be appreciated that other equivalent materials could be used such as copper, brass or aluminum. Stainless is preferred because of its durability. Excellent results can be attained with the shield having a stainless steel thickness of .002″ (0.051 mm) and with a Teflon coating of .0005 (0.013 mm). The dual drum chain 78 carries a plurality of precisely spaced backup sealing heads here illustrated as knife block assemblies 154 which are attached at each end of the chain links with each having a knife blade 156. The knife can be eliminated should it be desired to use a cut-off knife assembly to sever the fill packages from the film strip as an alternative packaging procedure. Such cut-off knife assemblies are well known in the art. The moving drum chain brings knife blocks 158 and 160 into simultaneous cooperative relationship with the heating elements as they are cam-actuated. The knife blade 156 is contained between the two block halves, 158 and 160, of the block assembly 154 and is spring loaded. Springs 162 are housed in half-bores 164 in the parallel block halves 158 and 160 joined by screws 166. The springs 162 are constrained by metal plates 168 secured to the block halves by bolts 170 and 172. On the inner block face, rubber pads 174 and 176 are fastened. As the knife block assembly 154 moves into position, the rubber pads 174 and 176 grip and compress the film against the heated shim or cover or slot shield 148 and the rubber tends to fill in adjacent to the knife blade 156 to provide backing for a heat seal on either side of the knife. The knife penetrates the film with its serrated edge 178, providing perforations in the center of the heat seal. In Figure 10, a knife block, partially broken away, shows the serrated edge 178 of the blade 156. The springs 162 and transverse retaining plates 168 are again shown. The screws 166 are also depicted. The two block halves 158 and 160 are shown in section in Figure 11. The spring bore 164 is also clearly portrayed. Figure 12 illustrates the joining of the block halves by screws 166 which pass through slots 180 in the knife blade 156. A portion of the sealed and perforated unfilled film envelope or pouch 182 is shown in Figure 13. The heat seal 184 straddles the perforation 186 across the folded width of the film, so as to compartmentalize the open ended envelopes or pouches on either side of the sealed and perforated areas 184, 186. Figure 14 is an amplified perspective of the drum wall or the exterior peripheral surface 150 (peripheral exterior) illustrating the Teflon coated stainless steel shim or shield 148 held to its surface by tape bands 152 and 153. The film tensioning device 89 is shown in Figures 15 and 16. The film 22 passes from the drum 21 downward under a bar 188 and across a span to another bar 190. It then passes onward to the tucker roll 26. The angle of the tensioner is adjusted with the arm 192 by means of slot 194 and bolt 196. Fine tuning of this angle is accomplished by the screws 198 and 199 which thread through plate 200 to bear against frame 202. As the film 22 develops slack, the frame 202 which is spring loaded by coil 204 swings against the film 22, thus taking out the slack. Figure 17 shows the tucker roll 26, as driven by chain 79 with its driven gear 205 in mesh with the gear of the indexing conveyor drive roller 28. The ribs 92 on the conveyor belt surface 38 are aligned with the notches 90 in the tucker roll 26. The conveyor belt travels in a loop on a conveyor bed 24 which is actually a closed vacuum chamber 37 subjected to internal vacuum. A vacuum hose 34 is connected from a pump to this chamber 36 through the plenum 36. The chamber 37 extends along the length of the conveyor belt while the plenum is positioned to one side of the chamber immediately adjacent heavy shaft 208 (Fig. 17). The tucker and indexing rollers are respectively rotated on heavy shafts 208 and 210, mounted appropriately in bearings as indicated at 211, 211. The conveyor belt is driven by pegs 212 on the indexing roller 28 which protrude to intercept spaced holes 214 along the conveyor belt edges 38. As the doubled or folded film 22 leaves the tucker roll 26 (Figure 18), the air jet 40 parts the film into a pouch configuration with its bottom side held to the conveyor surface by vacuum and its upper pouch side flexed upward by the air flow. Figure 19 shows how a constant air flow 41 from the air manifold 42 keeps the pouches open. This is shown sectionally by Figure 20 which clearly illustrates how vacuum pulls through perforations 215 within chamber 37 to restrain the lower pouch panel or side wall 216 while the air flow through the slit 43 in the air manifold 42 lifts the upper pouch panel or side wall. The film envelope or pouch 22 has been represented in the drawings up to this point as being formed by or provided with two film panels of equal width folded together as shown initially in Figure 2. This kind of fold would provide for an ultimate pouch having sides of equal dimension which could be filled in a variety of ways and allow the enclosure of a wide range of items. However, some products may require an envelope or pouch configuration 282 with a narrow flap 283 that could be sealed by adhesive after the pouch is folded over upon itself. Figures 21 through 26 are directed toward the filling of a pouch 282 of this modified type. A means for filling the open pouches of the types previously described is provided by two parallel conveyor-like systems aligned beside existing conveyor belt 38 on its opened-pouch side. Conveyor 218, which is closest to existing conveyor belt 38, consists of a plurality of trays 220 mounted on laterally moving arms 222 (Figure 21), carried by the chain 223. The tray mounting arms are provided with track-following means 224 which ride in a groove or track 226 formed in a top deck 227 of the conveyor frame, just below the tray mounting arms 222. From its initial position 228, the track 226 is formed so that it deviates slightly toward the pouch conveyor line as in the changed course designated at 230 (Figure 22). It then parallels the existing pouch line to a terminal point 232 where it returns laterally to the same plane as its beginning point. As the tray arms 222 move longitudinally along the track course, they are carried from a position outside the pouches to new positions with the tray edges 234 just barely inside the pouch lip 236. The product 238, which is to be enclosed in the pouch, is carried upon the tray 220 to the filling position. The second conveyor-like system 240 is constructed in a manner similar to conveyor 218 except that the track 242, formed in its top deck 244, takes a more radical, sharply angled deviation from the initial and final planes of movement shown by starting point 246 and final point 248 (Figure 22). As shown by the perspective view of Figure 21, there is a plurality of pusher arms 250 carried on guide bars 251 attached to the conveyor chain 252. The pusher arms 250 are mounted on blocks 254 which are guided by rollers 256 on either side of the guide bars 251. The pusher arm blocks 254, like the arms mounting the product trays 220, are provided with track followers 258 that ride in the track to effect lateral movement. As the pusher arm blocks follow the angled track 242, they roll laterally toward the product trays 220 and ultimately extend over them, pushing the product 238 into the open pouches 282. In Figure 23, the terminal end of the pouch conveyor line is shown with a fold over wheel 262 appropriately mounted on stand 264. This wheel initiates the action of rolling the pouch by lifting its folded edge from the conveyor surface 38 while a guide wheel 266, mounted a bit further on at stand 268, keeps the open side of the pouches compressed and aligned against the belt. This latter action is required since the perforations in the conveyor belt are now exposed and there is no longer sufficient vacuum to restrain or hold the pouches against the belt. As the lip 236 of the pouch leaves (Figure 22) the guide wheel, the flap area 283 is sprayed with adhesive 272 from a delivery tube 274 (Figure 23). A fence 276 concludes the pouch rollover process as its angled edge 278 bears upon the rolling pouch. The final sealing is accomplished by a resilient compression roller 280 that presses lapped surfaces of the closed pouch together as each closed pouch passes beneath the rollers. In the practice of our different methods, it will be appreciated that excellent results can be obtained where the low density polyethylene film is heated to a temperature of in the range of 250°F (121°C). Depending upon the type of material and different conditions, this temperature may vary but the intent and purpose that we are attempting to achieve is to cause the layered film to change its state to a high temperature liquified state so that the layers can be sealed together. During this operation, it has been found that the sealing step can be effectuated by causing the film to move over a drum having Teflon or heat resistant, non-sticky type synthetic plastic coated plastic shields. These shields are periodically heated to a temperature sufficient to heat the polyethylene to a state to cause it to be liquified for sealing the layers of polyethylene together. During the sealing step, and in accordance with certain features of our invention, it is desirable also to form perforations in the area being sealed so that after the pouches have been formed and filled, the pouches can be readily separated from one another. If desired, the perforation step can be eliminated to permit the pouches to be separated in a different manner by the use of a knife in a cut-off operation. In any event, during the sealing step, it is also desirable to utilize a sealing head or blocks 158 and 160 which in the illustrated embodiment constitutes the knife block assemblies in one form of my invention. These assemblies provide a backup so that the layered film can be engaged in opposite sides as the film moves with the drum on the shields to insure a good sealing action while the shields are being heated. After the layered film has been caused to become liquified, it is thereafter desired to cool the film and then to remove the serrated knives and the backup sealing head from contact. The pouch filling and sealing method or process is further illustrated somewhat schematically by Figures 24A through 24F. The pouch 282, held open by air stream 41 from air manifold 42, is shown secured to the conveyor 38 by the vacuum within the chamber 36. In the three steps portrayed by Figures 24A through 24C, the tray 220, which contains product 238, is moved just over the lip of the pouch. Then the pusher arm 250 is carried laterally by the track follower 258, enabling it to push the product from the tray into the opened pouch. All three conveyor lines are moving at the same speed so as to prevent interference in the filling actions. Figure 24D shows the functions of the foldover and guide wheels 262, 266 as they respectively serve to turn and retain the pouch. The deposition of glue on the pouch lip is demonstrated in Figure 24E which also illustrates how the fence 276 and its angled edge 278 accomplishes final pouch rollover. Figure 24F shows the pouch being pressed into a closure or a closed filled pouch by the compression roller. The pouches are finally separated from one another by a pair of pouch severing rollers 284 and 286. The pouch severing roller 286 is turning at a slightly higher speed than is roller 284. While a pouch 288 is clamped by slower-turning roller 284, the adjacent pouch 290 has been contacted by roller 286 and pulled away by separation along the perforated seam or the transverse line of perforations due to the more rapid rotation of the latter roller as it compresses the pouch. A finished filled pouch or closure is illustrated in Figure 26 at 292. With certain types of bag forming techniques involving the use of low density polyethylene type films it may be desired to eliminate the perforating knife and separate the pouches after the pouches have been filled and sealed, and such techniques can be practical without deviating from certain of the broad inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein. The use of our perforating knife mechanism in the formation of seals in low density polyethylene embodies certain method and apparatus features of our invention for use in certain preferred applications other than the preferred embodiment herein disclosed. As various possible embodiments may be made in the above invention for use for different purposes and as various changes might be made in the embodiments and method above set forth, it is understood that all of the above matters here set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.	A rotary drum sealing apparatus (10) for sealing low density polyethylene film (48) for packaging articles comprising a hollow rotary drum (21) for sealing film at its outer diameter, radially extending film heating mechanisms (102) positioned in the hollow drum radially outwardly of a central axis of the drum, circumferentially spaced drum slots (106) through the drum for receiving outer ends of the film heating mechanisms, high temperature, heat resistant, non-sticky type synthetic plastic coated metallic slot shields (148) closing the drum slots for shielding the film from the outer ends of the film heating mechanism to prevent direct contact of the film with the heating mechanisms, means (152, 153) securing the slot shields to the drum enabling the film to be maintained at all times free of contact from the film heating mechanisms, and actuating means (126) for moving the film heating mechanisms in the hollow drum into contact with the shields for heating the film, and retractor means (128, 131) for retracting the film heating mechanisms after the package seals have been sequentially formed. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein an endless rotary chain (74) is mounted tangentially of the drum (21) for cooperative co-action therewith, the chain having knife block assemblies (154) along the length thereof each with a serrated knife (156), the knife block assemblies being positioned for periodic operative engagement with an outer surface of the film shield (148) over the drum slots (106), and spring means (162) for urging the serrated knives (156) against the film to assist the film heating mechanisms in the formations of perforated film seals. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the drum is mounted on a driven shaft, cam means (126) on the drive shaft for actuating the movement of the film heating mechanisms which heat the slot shields to a temperature of about 250°F (121°C) to heat the film for joining lapped areas of the film to form heat seals after the film heating mechanisms have been retracted and the film temperature has dropped to 200°F (66°C) or less. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the chain is comprised of a series of links (78), means securing each of the knife block assemblies to opposite ends of pairs of the links in supported assembly therewith. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein each of the knife block assemblies (154) has a pair of pads (174, 176), the pads being on opposite sides of each knife (156) for engagement against the film extended across the shield to assist in forming heat seals on the film. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the film heating mechanisms are each provided with a heating element (108), and a camming means (131) for moving the heating element away from the film if the apparatus is shut down during a heat sealing interval. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein an endless rotary chain (78) is mounted tangentially of the drum for periodic cooperative co-action therewith during formation of heat seals in the film, the chain having knife block assemblies (154) carried along the length thereof each with a knife (156), the knife block assemblies being positioned for periodic operative engagement with outer surfaces of the slot shields over the drum slots, and spring means (162) urging the knives against the film while film seals are being formed by the film heating mechanisms. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein each of the knife block assemblies having pads (174, 176) comprised of anplastomeric material for holding the film against the shields while heat seals are being formed in the film. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the film heating mechanisms are each provided with a heating element (108), and a second retractor means (138) for moving the heating element away from the film only if the apparatus is shut down during a heat sealing interval. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the shields are each comprised of stainless steel having a thickness in the range of .002″ (0.051 mm) and are coated with an outer layer of Teflon having a thickness in the range of .0005″ (0.013mm) for contact with the film. A method of packaging continuously formed pouches from low density polyethylene layered film comprising the steps of training the layered film onto a drum over slots in its outer periphery, consecutively heating heat resistant, non-sticky type synthetic plastic coated metallic shields over the slots while the low density polyethylene layered film is engaged with the shield causing the state of the layered film to change to a high temperature liquified state, moving a sealing head against the liquified film while in the high temperature liquified state to assist in sealing the liquified layered film, cooling the shields causing the liquified film to solidify and to cause the film layers to become fused thereby forming seals which seals are located at spaced intervals along the length of the layered film. The method of packaging of claim 11 wherein the polyethylene film is heated to a temperature in the range of 250°F (121°C) to generate the high temperature liquified state. The method of claim 11 wherein the high temperature polyethylene liquified film is cooled from the range of 250°F (121°C) to a temperature in the range of 200°F (66°C) to cause the liquified film to solidify. The method of claim 11 wherein the polyethylene film is of an unsupported type having a thickness in the range of .5 mil (12.7 µm) to 4 mil (101 µm). The method of packaging of claim 11 wherein the sealing head utilizes serrated knives which knives are removed at points in time after the liquified film has solidified leaving lines of perforations extending transversely of the film at longitudinally spaced intervals.	CLOUD CORP; CLOUD CORPORATION	CLOUD CHARLES E; DWORAK ADAM JAN; CLOUD, CHARLES E.; DWORAK, ADAM JAN
EP-0488991-B1	488,991	EP	B1	EN	19,950,920	1,992	20,100,220	new	H05G1	G03B42, H05G1, G01N23	H05G1, A61B6	H05G 1/06, H05G 1/10, H05G 1/30, H05G 1/26, A61B 6/00B8	Method for production of fluoroscopic and radiographic X-ray images and hand held diagnostic apparatus incorporating the same	Method and apparatus for the production of fluoroscopic and radiographic x-ray images utilizing a portable hand-held and battery operated x-ray system. The system incorporates a unique high voltage power supply of diminutive size and weight which may be disposed totally within the hand-held system. By utilizing the system in conjunction with a currently available hand operated instant Polaroid film developer, the system provides total portability and field operability in both fluoroscopic and radiographic mode.	This invention relates to improved method and apparatus for the production of fluoroscopic or radiographic x-ray images for diagnostic purposes in a readily portable, hand-held and battery powered x-ray system. Many devices employing x-rays or other types of radiation have been used and/or proposed for use to produce fluoroscopic or transitory images and radiographic images for diagnostic purposes. The majority of such devices are of bulky and heavy character and are either fixed in location or rendered mobile by using special carts to permit limited movement thereof (see for instance US-A-4,185,198). Most of such units, by their nature, produce large dosage of x-rays and consume large amounts of power necessitating specialized electrical power sources and, for mobil units, heavy and bulky arrays of batteries. Illustrative of such mobile units are the General Electric Polarix® and Fisher Omni 325® systems which weigh in excess of 600 lbs. and require 220 volt power at up to 70 amperes or equivalent battery packs. Other manufacturers supply generally similar units. In recent years, various diagnostic systems have been advanced which offer increased mobility and, in at least one case, portability, with the latter being attended by sacrifice of performance capability and versatility. These latter systems include the Healthmate Fluoroscan®, the Lixiscope® and the Bowie® portable unit, the latter being specifically intended for veterinary application. The Healthmate Fluoroscan® and the Lixiscope®, which both employ microchannel plate image intensifiers, are purportedly licensed under US patent 4,142,101 and function only as fluoroscopes. The Healthmate, Bowie and Lixiscope weigh respectively 200 pounds, 21 pounds and 5 to 8 pounds with the first two being operable from standard 115 VAC line power. Both the Fluoroscan and Bowie unit utilize x-rays while the Lixiscope® utilizes gamma-rays from a radioactive isotope source. Such gamma ray usage requires special handling and the replacement of the source at three to six month intervals as the isotope decays. A matter of concern in any diagnostic process utilizing x-rays or gamma rays is the potential for biological damage to the patient and the hazards presented to the operator of the device. Most x-ray systems currently in use for both fluoroscopy and radiography utilize high intensity x-radiation, which high intensity is dictated in large part, by the relatively low gain or limited degree of light amplification provided by conventional image intensification techniques and also by the relatively long source to image distances employed in such systems. The high radiation intensities employed in these systems also require the use of x-ray tubes employing large area focal spots since otherwise the high beam currents would generate too much heat and lead to rapid deterioration of the tube anode. X-ray tubes employing large area focal spots necessitate operation at long source to image distances in order to maintain satisfactory image resolution or definition. This invention may be briefly described, in its broad aspects, as improved method and apparatus techniques for x-ray fluoroscopic and radiographic imaging. Improved apparatus constructed in accord with the principles of this invention broadly includes a small, portable, hand-held x-radiation generating and imaging means suitable for both fluoroscopic and/or radiograhic operation, at the option of the user, powered by a small battery and in which small focal spot x-ray tube areas are employed and the source to image receptor distance is markedly reduced. In a narrower aspect, such apparatus is desirably in the form of a C-shaped housing containing a small focal spot x-ray tube and shielding assembly with beam collimation and directing means situated at the end of one arm of the C shaped housing. A small sized high voltage DC power supply is located immediately adjacent the x-ray tube housing assembly. Low voltage power control circuitry and monitoring devices are located within the center portion of the C-arm assembly. The other arm of the C shaped housing disposed opposite that containing the x-ray head assembly may be used as a handle for the device and preferably contains switch mechanisms to control the production of x-rays. Mounted at the end of the second arm portion of the C shaped housing are interchangeable means for producing enhanced fluoroscopic or radiographic images of objects disposed between the two extremities of the C-arm assembly. In a still narrower aspect the invention includes effecting radiographic imaging of an interposed object by utilizing a cassette suitably retained in a tray mechanism rigidly attached to the second or handle end of the C-arm assembly. Such cassettes contain sensitive screens which emit visible light when exposed to x-radiation. Such visible light emissions are utilized to produce a photographic image on a conventional negative film or an instant Polaroid positive film. Fluoroscopic imaging is conveniently effected using a similar type of x-ray sensitive screen, and amplifying the brightness of the emitted visible image by suitable high gain light intensification means, preferably of microchannel plate configuration. Optical coupling means which may contain magnification or minification components may be interposed between the x-ray image receptor screen and the image intensifying means and between the output screen of the image intensifier and the viewing screen or lens. According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand portable diagnostic apparatus for the production of visible images of an object comprising:- a source of directed X-radiation in which the source electron beam current is selectable between the ranges 50 uA to 300 uA and 500uA to 3.0 mA; and means for mounting an image producing means relative to the source to define a space therebetween in which a said object may be disposed, said mounting means being adapted alternatively to receive an image producing means adapted to convert X-radiation traversing said object to a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter and to produce therefrom a transitory visible image, and an image producing means adapted to convert X-radiation traversing said object to a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter and to produce therefrom a permanent record visible image. In another aspect the invention provides a method of producing a transitory visible image of an object comprising: disposing in relative juxtaposition said object and a hand-portable diagnostic apparatus having a source of directed x-radiation and means for producing an image disposed a predetermined distance from said source; generating x-radiation by providing in said source an electron beam current in the range 50 to 300 microamperes; directing said x-radiation to traverse through the object; receiving the object-traversing x-radiation in the image producing means and converting it into a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter; and producing from said low light visible image a transitory visible image. In a further aspect the invention provides a method of producing a permanent record image of an object comprising: disposing in relative juxtaposition said object and a hand-portable diagnostic apparatus having a source of directed x-radiation and means for producing an image disposed a predetermined distance from said source; generating x-radiation by providing in said source an electron beam current in the range 500 microamperes to 3.0 milliamperes; directing said x-radiation to traverse through the object; receiving the object-traversing x-radiation in the image producing means and converting it into a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter; and producing from said low light visible image a permanent record visible image. The primary object of this invention is the provision of improved method and apparatus for x-radiation fluoroscopic and radiographic imaging employing markedly reduced radiation levels. Another object of this invention is the provision of small sized, light weight and readily portable fluoroscopic and/or radiographic x-ray imaging apparatus particularly adapted for use as a diagnostic tool for the viewing of non-torso extremities, such as hands, arms and legs. Another object of this invention is the provision of improved fluoroscopic and/or radiographic x-ray imaging techniques in which the source to image receptor distance is markedly reduced and small x-ray tube focal spots are employed. A further object of this invention is the provision of improved techniques for fluoroscopic and/or radiographic x-ray imaging, that markedly reduce the needed electrical power requirements for operation thereof. Referring to the drawing: Figure 1 is a schematic side elevational view of a preferred configuration of a low intensity x-ray system for operation in the fluoroscopic mode incorporating the principles of this invention. Figure 2 is a schematic side elevational view of the apparatus of Figure 1, as adapted for operation in the radiographic mode. Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the low intensity x-ray system shown in Figure 1 showing the positioning of major components therein. Figure 4 is a vertical section of a preferred fluoroscopic imaging receptor assembly incorporating the principles of this invention. Figure 5 is a plot of scatter radiation from a fluoroscopic low intensity imaging system embodying the principles of this invention. Figure 6 is a schematic circuit diagram of a suitable diminutively sized high voltage power supply employing high voltage transformer and long chain series multiplying means. Referring now to figures 1, 2 and 3 there are illustrated exemplary components of a low intensity hand portable embodiment of an x-ray imaging device capable of both fluoroscopic and radiographic imaging at the option of the user that incorporates the principles of this invention. As there shown, x- radiation is emitted through a collimating cone 1 located near the end of one of the arms of the C-arm assembly 2. A control panel 3 containing mode and level switches 4, 5, 6 and 7 permits x-radiation to be emitted at predetermined selected levels of voltage and intensity for either mode of operation upon actuation of one or both of the actuating buttons 8 and 9. The pre-set levels of voltage and x-ray beam current together with various information pertaining to exposure time are presented on a display panel 10 preferably of a liquid crystal character, which may be back illuminated for improved visibility. Preferably a microprocessor control system is included in the device and the display panel 10 may also be utilized to direct other information and error conditions, such as low battery power to the attention of the operator. In the fluoroscopic mode of operation as depicted in Figure 1, the the spread or divergence of the emitted x-ray beam 11 is further reduced by the addition of a beam limiter 12 to the collimator cone assembly 1. The spread of the x-ray beam is controlled and limited so that the fluoroscopic image receptor assembly 22 effectively intercepts all of the emitted x-ray beam 11 to thereby minimize, if not avoid, exposure of the operator to the emitted radiation. An additional shield 13, preferably of leaded plastic material, may also be mounted on the image receptor assembly 22 surrounding the aperture therein to further protect the operator from the fringe portions of the emitted radiation and leakage and scatter radiation. The shield 13 is selectively shaped to especially protect the eyes, thyroid and hand of the user. The device is constructed so that the fluoroscopic image receptor assembly 22 may be easily and readily removed by loosening a knurled screw 14 and replaced with a radiographic cassette holder tray 15 as shown in Figure 2, for operation in the radiographic mode to produce permanent film records at the option of the user. Suitable protective interlock mechanisms are incorporated to prevent operation in such manner as might be dangerous to patient or operator. For example, one interlock renders the unit inoperable if the beam limiter is not positioned in place when operating in the fluoroscopic mode, or if the image receptor head is not properly positioned under either mode of operation. Such protective interlocks are most readily and desireably accomplished by means of a microprocessor control system. Still another interlock or microprocessor control may operate to prevent system operation in the radiographic mode when the beam limiter 12 is in place since, under such condition, the resulting film record would show only the central portion of the image, necessitating a retake without the beam limiter 12 with consequent additional exposure of the patient to radiation. Referring now to figure 3, there is illustrated a preferred arrangement of the major system components within the C-arm housing 2. As shown, the x-ray tube housing assembly 16 is located within one extremity of the C-arm assembly 2. Positioned in fixed spatial relation thereto by locating pins or other appropriate means, not shown, is a collimating cone 1. The beam limiter 12 is complimentally shaped and sized to accomodate insertion thereof within the cone 1 in such manner that the axis of the narrowed conical beam passing therethrough is coaxial with the central axis of the generally rectangular collimating cone 1. As discussed above, when the beam limiter 12 is properly positioned within the cone 1, a detector mechanism, preferably in the nature of a small microswitch, or a magnetic position detecting means, is activated to provide a positive signal indicative of the beam limiters 12 presence to a microprocessor or other centralized control system. Disposed within the housing 16 is a small focal spot x-ray tube 40, suitably a Eureka® EXR-80-20D. The x-ray tube housing assembly 16 is oil filled and preferably employs other high dielectric strength solid insulating materials, such as Kapton® or Stycast 2850 FT®, for electrical insulation. purposes. Such tube housing assembly includes means to accurately position the focal spot on the x-ray tube target anode on the axis of the collimating cone 1. High voltage power is fed to the x-ray tube anode 42 which is preferably disposed at the lower end of the tube housing assembly 16, through a high voltage connector assembly 17. The tube housing assembly 16 and the adjacent portion of the high voltage connector assembly 17 are surrounded by a suitable thickness of lead shielding, typically about 1 millimeter in thickness in the vicinity of the anode of the x-ray tube and with a reduced thickness to as little as 0.15 mm around the connector assembly 17. An x-ray window of suitable size is provided in the lead shield. The material constituting the cylindrical x-ray tube housing assembly 16 is preferably aluminum, typically about 0.5 mm in thickness which, together with the oil and other solid insulating materials contained therein and the glass of the x-ray tube provides sufficient filtration of low voltage or low energy x-radiation to maintain good beam quality. Such low energy radiation emission within the primary beam not only has insufficient penetrating power for good diagnostic purposes, but also may cause harmful effects to the patient. The high voltage power supply 18 is desirably located immediately adjacent the high voltage connector assembly 17 in order to minimize high voltage leakage and transmission problems, and also to minimize possible interference caused by exposure of high voltages on nearby low voltage electronic components in the system. In order to minimize static build up and high voltage noise, all high voltage systems are encased within a grounded conducting shield which may suitably be a conducting paint similar to that used on the inside of computer cabinets and the like. The low voltage electronic power amplifying system 19 and associated control system 20 are conveniently located in the elongated central portion of the C-arm housing 2 as shown in Figure 3. The low voltage power amplifier system 19 is preferably disposed between the high voltage power system 18 and the microprocessor control system 20 since, especially when operated in radiographic mode, the high power level signals emanating from the power amplifier system 19 are transmitted directly to the adjacent high voltage power supply 18 and thereby minimize interference with the sensitive microprocessor system 20. The end portion 44 of the second arm of the C-arm housing 2 is conveniently utilized as a handle for operation in the fluoroscopic mode and for containing the manual actuation switches 8 and 9 and audible warning transducers if such are desired. Power from an external battery pack, not shown, is introduced via the multiwire cable assembly 21. Referring now to figure 4, there are illustrated exemplary components constituting a fluoroscopic imaging receptor assembly 22. As there shown, incident x-radiation after emission from the x-ray source and passage through an interposed examination subject, impinges upon and, passes through an optically opaque but x-ray transparent window 23 at the front of the receptor assembly 22. The window 23 may be fabricated from black plastic material such as Delrin® and the portion thereof in the path of incident x-radiation is of small thickness, typically less than 1 mm. Disposed immediately behind the window 23 is a high resolution x-ray sensitive screen 24 of Kodak Lanex® or similar material which converts the image defined by invisible incident x-radiation to an optically visible image, albeit of very low light intensity. The visible light producing screen 24 is disposed in immediate interfacial optical contact with the front face of a fiber optic cone assembly 25. Such interfacial optical contact may be enhanced by appropriate optical bonding materials or by depositing the active screen ingredients directly on the face of the cone 25. The fiber optic cone assembly 25 operates to efficiently transmit the low intensity visible image produced on the screen 24 to the input window of an image intensifier assembly 26. Desirably the output face of the fiber optic cone 25 is disposed in good optical contact with the image intensifier input window to minimize transmission losses therebetween. If desired, the visible image producing screen and the input window of the image intensifier may be coupled directly, or other optical transmission systems employing lenses may be interposed therebetween. The use of fiber optics or lenses permits controlled magnification or minification of the image thus permitting utilization of a larger or smaller field of view than the diameter of the image intensifier tube assembly. Care should be taken to maintain the entire screen 24 and the optical input assembly to the image intensifier light tight to prevent undesired degradation of the faint image produced by action of incident x-rays on the screen 24. The image intensifier assembly 26 is preferably of microchannel plate construction which provides high light amplification, small size and has low power requirements. The image intensifier assembly 26 produces a bright visible image, conforming to the incident x-ray image, on the output screen 27. The image on the output screen 27 may be viewed directly or through suitable magnifying optical means 28 or, alternatively, as the output side of a second fiber optic cone assembly. Lead shielding is disposed inside the image receptor housing 22 surrounding the optical image path to prevent unnecessary incident radiation from penetrating the image receptor assembly and to minimize operator exposure to radiation. As before noted, a shield 13, preferably transparent lead plastic, may be added to reduce to a minimum any radiation by-passing the image receptor and reaching the operator. Figure 5 shows typical low radiation level contours produced by scatter from the examination subject and leakage from various components of the system, when operated in the fluoroscopic mode. Operation of small-sized portable x-ray diagnostic devices of the type described above antithetically requires the maintainance of low levels of radiation, both in the primary beam and also in the area of leakage and scatter, together with the provision of images of sufficient clarity to permit utilization of the unit as a safe diagnostic tool. Within the latter area a critical performance requirement is the resolution or the ability of the system to distinguish detail. To be an acceptable and practcal diagnostic tool, the resolution of the system, in both fluoroscopic and radiographic modes, should be at least 3.5 line pairs per mm and preferably 5 line pairs per millimeter. Since the above described optical and fiber optical components have a resolving power considerably in excess of this level, it is necessary to ensure that the image defining detail of the emitted x-ray beam and the resolving capacity of the screen produce an initial visible image that is of high resolution and is above the threshold of intensity level that the image intensifier requires to maintain resolution to the required levels in the optically enhanced image. As stated previously, we have found it desirable to use a microchannel plate image intensification system, not only because of its high gain, small size and low power characteristics, but also because such image intensification is capable, when operated with suitable input light levels, of resolution in the order of 30 line pairs per millimeter which permits, for example, magnification and/or minification by a factor of three while still providing inherent resolution level of 10 line pairs per mm. Such resolution capabilities permits the use of a relatively small and inexpensive image intensifier suitably having a 25 mm screen and viewing area, adopted to be used with fiber optic cones or lenses to provide a 75 mm viewing field in fluoroscopic mode. Such a viewing field accomodates the non-torso extremities such as feet and hands., which is a primary area of intended usage for the above described device. A prime operating requirement is to ensure that the inherent resolution of the x-ray generation system is capable of an ultimate system resolution in excess of 5 line pairs per millimeter. As hereinbefore stated, this invention is directed to a hand-held portable x-ray generating system. As such, the attendant physical constraints in size and weight dictate that the x-ray source to image receptor distance is markedly less than that employed in conventional diagnostic x-ray apparatus and practically should not exceed about 50 centimeter. Such small x-radiation source to image distances in conjunction with an x-ray source focal spot of conventional size inherently leads to loss of image definition. Such small distance also inherently requires that the subject being examined is disposed undesirably close to the x-radiation source , where the radiation intensity is a maximum. To accomodate these divergent requirements the subject apparatus employs a minimum source to image receptor distance of 25 centimeters and preferably uses a source to image receptor spacing in the range 30 to 35 centimeters. Such reduced source to image receptor distances require selective utilization of a markedly reduced size of focal spot in the x-ray tube to maintain the desired degree of resolution. In order to realize the desired objectives we have determined that the focal spot should not desirably exceed 0.5 mm by 0.5 mm and certainly should be no larger than 1 mm by 1 mm. As will be now apparent from the foregoing, a paramount operating requirement for hand-held portable x-ray systems as described herein is the preservation and maintanence of high resolution for both the fluoroscopic and radiographic mode of operation. Such high resolution can only be maintained, by selective utilization of a high resolution screen, such as Kodak Lanex®, for the initial conversion of image defining x-radiation to visible light. Such type of high resolution screen requires a relatively high level of radiation to produce an image of acceptable brightness. In accord therewith a certain minimum level of transmitted x-radiation must be received at the screen to produce a visible image of acceptable resolution. For operation in fluoroscopic mode using a high resolution screen, such as Kodak Lanex®, we have determined that subject free minimum radiation levels of 0.15 Roentgen per min (R/min) at the screen surface are necessary to provide required image quality, and preferably a radiation level that is in excess of 0.4 R/min. No substantial advantage is observed by further increasing screen radiation levels and, to minimize the potential for biological damage, an operating level of 2.0 R/min at the screen, without attenuation by passage of the radiation through the subject being examined, should not be exceeded for operation of a device constructed according to the principles of this invention. In the radiographic mode of operation, the radiation levels at the film cassette, without attenuation by objects interposed between the source and screen, are desirably between 2.5 R/min and 15 R/min, with a preferred value of 5 R/minute. In this latter case of radiographic operation, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that such radiation levels depend substantially on exposure times and, accordingly, the above recommendations are based on maximum exposure times consistent with producing a distinct image of an extremity of a conscious human subject with said extremity supported by the film cassette. We have found that exposure times between 50 milliseconds and 3 seconds, but preferably in the order of from 50 millisecond to 1 second, generally provide acceptable images. The utilization of shorter exposure times and higher radiation levels, while not exposing the patient to more total radiation, has been found impractical for usage in a portable battery operated system of the type being described because of the size of the electronic power systems required. It is well known to those practiced in the diagnostic arts, that the examination of human extremities and other objects of similar density require utilization of x-radiation of a certain energy content or penetrating power. It is well understood in the field that x-rays produced by application of peak voltages of between 35 kilovolts and 80 kilovolts and preferably in the range of from 40 to 75 kilovolts are suitable for this purpose when using fluoroscopy and somewhat lower levels are necessary when using radiography, where compensation to some extent may be made by variation in exposure time of the film cassette. Emitted x-radiation intensities are dependent upon both the peak kilovolts applied to the anode of the x-ray tube and also upon the level of electron beam current flowing from the x-ray tube filament to the anode thereof. Based upon the herein specified operating radiation levels and the applied peak kilovolts necessary for the contemplated diagnositc examination of various extremites, we have determined that a necessary range of electron beam current in the x-ray tube of from 50 to 300 microamps in the fluoroscopic mode will provide, in a device of the type described herein, a practical range for optimum operation. A preferred range of operation for maximum performance and safety is with tube currents of between 100 and 200 microamps. When operating in the radiographic mode a minimum beam current of 500 microamps and maximum of 3 milliamps is required, though the preferred range for optimum operating characteristics consistent with the portable nature of the system is between 750 microamps and 1.5 milliamps. In order to minimize the level of radiation exposure to which the patient and operator may be exposed it is normally necessary to employ x-radiation impervious mechanical barrier means to prevent the close approach of body parts to the x-radiation source where said radiation intensities, due to the governing inverse square laws, become very high. In addition, the Federal Food and Drug Administration requires various forms of warnings, including audible alarms, when a fluoroscope is operated in any mode where possible skin exposure level exceeds 5 R/min. The provision of limiting barrier means of excessive length clearly intrudes on the physical space available to interpose bulkier body parts such as knees and shoulders. Means are included in the disclosed device to prevent source to skin distances of less than 6.5 cm and to normaly operate at a minimum source to skin distance of 10 cm in a fluoroscopic mode. Such level of source to skin distances typically results in limiting skin exposure to less than 20 R/min. under normal operating conditions as heretofor described. A primary practical concern in the efficient operation of portable battery operated x-ray imaging systems of the character herein described is the efficiency of conversion of source battery power to operating high voltage power. In typical fluoroscopic operation the required high voltage power levels are in the range of 10 to 30 watts and in the radiographic mode, required high voltage power levels are about five times higher, although in this latter case such high power levels are required for periods of very short duration. The efficiency of power conversion in such operation impacts not only upon battery life but also upon the amount of heat that is dissipated in the electronic components. At a 15 watt power level output an amplifier system operating at 20% efficiency must dissipate 60 watts as heat whereas an efficient system operating at 80% efficiency dissipates less than 4 watts in the form of heat. Inefficient modes of operation therefore generally require special and bulky heat dissipation adjuncts, as well as adversely affecting the basic reliability of the electronic systems. Conventional readily available electronic power amplifier systems operate at a theoretical maximum efficiency of about 75%. However under realistic operating conditions they generally operate at about 50% efficiency which, when coupled to inherent efficiencies of less than 60% in an associated high voltage power supply, result in overall efficiency levels of less than 30%. In order to overcome the foregoing, the practice of this invention preferrably utilizes a Class D switching power amplifier which has inherent efficiency in excess of 90% to provide an overall efficiency in excess of 50% when operating in the fluoroscopic mode and with substantially higher efficiencies when operating in the radiographic mode. As hereinbefore pointed out the hand portable x-ray system described described is characterized by the utilization of a high voltage power supply of diminutive size and unique design that is disposed within the hand-held device and preferably located immediately adjacent the x-ray tube housing assembly. As heretofor discussed relative to the low voltage power conversion and amplification equipment, the efficiency of electrical energy conversion is a prime concern in order to minimize heat generation and the problems attendant thereto, as well as to maximize the useful life of the battery power source. The high voltage power supply operates to convert the output of the low voltage power amplifier, typically 20 kiloherz AC at up to 30 volts RMS into a DC voltage of up to 80 kilovolts and typically delivering a current of 1 milliamp. The means to accomplish this broadly comprise a high voltage transformer adapted to convert the 20 KHz low voltage signal to a considerably higher voltage level and an associated long chain series multiplying means to multiply and rectify the transformer amplified high voltage AC signal to the desired high DC voltage. As recognized by those skilled in the high voltage art, the efficiency of long chain series multiplying means degrades rapidly as the number of stages in the multiplier increases and also as the DC current level increases, unless the value of the capacitors included in the chain increases accordingly. Referring now to Figure 6, there is provided a circuit diagram of a preferred high voltage multiplier circuit of dimunitive physical size. The input transformer 29 includes a low loss ferrite EE core, suitably of Magnetics Inc. P material, with a center leg cross-section of 0.90 square centimeters. The primary 30 of the transformer 29 contains 9 turns and the secondary thereof 31, contains 3200 turns in 5 isolated segments. Such a transformer, suitably impregnated and encapsulated, can produce a peak voltage in excess of 10 kilovolts. The high turns ratio employed therein results in a large capacitance reflected to the primary 30 of the transformer necessitating a substantial center leg gap to prevent drawing high quadrature currents from the primary source. We have found that a four stage multiplier, as shown, is optimum for this application, with each stage comprising a pair of high voltage diodes 32 and a pair of high voltage capacitors 33. Each capacitor and diode is subject to a voltage of twice the peak transformer voltage and accordingly in this application must be constucted to withstand 20 kilovolts. With presently available state of the art components, the utilization of peak to peak AC voltages in excess of 20 kilovolts in order to reduce the number of stages will result in a significant increase in the size of the capacitors and, accordingly, in the size and weight of the power supply. Conversely, reducing the voltage per stage requires an increase in the number of stages and concomittantly results in significant loss of efficiency and regulation unless the value of the capacitors is again increased substantially with an attendant increase in size. We have found it basically impractical to operate with more than six stages of voltage multiplication and highly desirable to utilize no more than four stages thereof. The output of the illustrated power supply is connected through a limiting resistor 34 of high value, suitably in the order of 2 to 10 megohms, which serves to protect the components therein from high surge currents in the event of external arc occurrence. In the operating enviroment, the entire power supply is suitably wrapped and encapsulated using materials of high dielectric strength to withstand voltage breakdown and is further coated with a suitable conducting paint to prevent outside static buildup and to shield other electronic components in the system from the high electric fields extent therein. Power supplies of the character described capable of producing 85 kilovolts at 1 milliamp have been constructed with a weight of 300 gms and a physical size of approximately 3 cm x 4 cm x 15 cm.	A hand portable diagnostic apparatus for the production of visible images of an object comprising, a source of directed X-radiation in which the source electron beam current is selectable between the ranges 50 µA to 300 µA and 500 µA to 3.0 mA; and means for mounting an image producing means relative to the source to define a space therebetween in which a said object may be disposed, said mounting means being adapted alternatively to receive an image producing means adapted to convert X-radiation traversing said object to a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter and to produce therefrom a transitory visible image, and an image producing means adapted to convert X-radiation traversing said object to a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter and to produce therefrom a permanent record visible image. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus comprising an X-ray source as claimed in claim 1 in combination with a said first image producing means. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus comprising an X-ray source as claimed in claim 1 in combination with a said second image producing means. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to Claim 3, comprising: manually manipulable frame means (2) for supporting the source of x-radiation (16) and the image producing means (15); low voltage amplification means (19) disposed within the frame means adapted to provide a high frequency low output voltage of up to 30 volts RMS; high voltage generation means (18) disposed within the frame means adapted to convert the high-frequency output of the low voltage amplification means into a DC voltage output of up to 85 kilovolts for application to the source of x-radiation; the image producing means (15) including an x-radiation responsive cassette containing an unexposed photographic film for converting x-radiation which passes through the object and then uninterruptedly impinges onto the cassette for forming a permanent, visible and radiation responsive photographic image thereof; and the image producing means (15) also including x-radiation to visible light conversion screen means for producing a viewable permanent photographic image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to Claim 3 or Claim 4, including means operative in response to the positioning of the photographic image producing means (15) in predetermined spatial relation with the x-radiation source (16) for limiting the source electron beam current to a value intermediate 500 microamperes and 3 milliamperes. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to Claim 3 or Claim 4, wherein the source (16) is adapted to expose the screen means, absent interposition of the object to be examined, to radiation exposure in excess of 2.5 R/min but not exceeding 15 R/min. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to Claim 2 comprising: manually manipulable frame means (2) for supporting the source of x-radiation (16) and the image producing means (22); low voltage amplification means (19) disposed within the frame means adapted to provide a high frequency low output voltage of up to 30 volts RMS; high voltage generation means (18) disposed within the frame means adapted to cover the high frequency output of the low voltage amplification means into a DC voltage output of up to 85 kilovolts for application to the source of x-radiation; the image producing means (22) including means for converting x-radiation passing through the object into a transitory fluoroscopic visible image thereof; and the image producing means (22) including independent x-radiation visible light conversion screen means (24) for producing a viewable transitory fluoroscopic image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to Claim 7, including: means (not illustrated) operative in response to the disposition of the fluoroscopic image producing means (22) in predetermined spatial relation with the x-radiation source (16) for limiting the source electron beam current to a value intermediate 50 microamperes and 300 microamperes. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to Claim 7 or Claim 8 wherein the source is adapted to expose screen means (24), absent interposition of an object to be examined, to radiation exposure in excess of 0.15 R/min but not exceeding 2.0 R/min. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to any of Claims 4 to 9, wherein the high voltage generation means (8) includes an input transformer (29) to elevate the magnitude of the low voltage high frequency input thereto and a long chain series multiplier (32,33, etc) to multiply and rectify the transformer amplified input voltage into a high DC voltage output. Hand portable diagnostic apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the predetermined distance is 50 cm or less. A method of producing a transitory visible image of an object comprising: disposing in relative juxtaposition said object and a hand-portable diagnostic apparatus having a source of directed x-radiation and means for producing an image disposed a predetermined distance from said source; generating x-radiation by providing in said source an electron beam current in the range 50 to 300 microamperes; directing said x-radiation to traverse through the object; receiving the object-traversing x-radiation in the image producing means and converting it into a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter; and producing from said low light visible image a transitory visible image. A method of producing a permanent record image of an object comprising: disposing in relative juxtaposition said object and a hand-portable diagnostic apparatus having a source of directed x-radiation and means for producing an image disposed a predetermined distance from said source; generating x-radiation by providing in said source an electron beam current in the range 500 microamperes to 3.0 milliamperes; directing said x-radiation to traverse through the object; receiving the object-traversing x-radiation in the image producing means and converting it into a low light intensity visible image at a resolution level of at least 3.5 line pairs per millimeter; and producing from said low light visible image a permanent record visible image.	XI TEC INC; XI TEC, INC.	MALCOLM DAVID H; WILENIUS GEORGE P T; MALCOLM, DAVID H.; WILENIUS, GEORGE P. T.
EP-0488992-B1	488,992	EP	B1	EN	19,950,823	1,992	20,100,220	new	B01D35	null	B01D35	B01D 35/10	Column filter using bundles of long fibers	A colunm filter using bundles of long fibers, said filter being provided with an upright cylindrical shell and the bundles of long fibers being arranged upright inside the shell with lower end portions thereof being fixed and upper end portions thereof being free-standing, characterized in that a plurality of holders for the respective bundles of long fibers, each of said holders being formed of an upper cap member and a lower hollow member communicating to each other, said upper cap member defining openings therethrough and said lower hollow member defining at least an axially-elongated opening through a side wall thereof and opening at both upper and lower ends thereof, are provided on a perforated plate arranged transversely in a lower interior part of the shell with the upper cap member being located above the perforated plate and the lower hollow member being positioned below the perforated plate; the holders cover all perforations of the perforated plate; and the lower end portion of each of the bundles of long fibers is fixed to a lower periphery of a side wall of the associated upper cap member.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONa) Field of the Invention:This invention relates to a column filter which uses bundles of long fibers as a filter medium to remove at a high rate suspended solids from raw liquids such as city water, industrial water, sewage, river water, lake or pond water, supernatant waters from coagulation and settling treatments, waters discharged intermediately during the practice of various processes, recovered waters such as those from pulp- and paper-making processes, various waste waters, processing waters or valuable-material-containing liquids from biological treatment apparatus, alcoholic beverages, oils and the like. In particular, this invention is concerned with a column filter of the above sort, in which an improvement has been applied to the structure holding lower end portions of the bundles of long fibers. b) Description of the Related Art: The application is a divisional application of EP 89 109 509.3. In the parent application of this application, which was patented as EP 0344633 and was published on April 27, 1994, a column filter according to Figs. 1-3 is claimed. This divisional application concerns an improvement to the structure holding lower end portions of the bundles of long fibers in the above claimed column filter. In the above column filter, the fixing of lower end portions of bundled long fibers was conducted as shown in FIG. 9. Each bundle of long fibers 3 was folded and bound at the folded part by a ring 31. The folded part was positioned to close up each perforation 24 of the perforated plate 2. Using a bolt 32 connected to the ring 31, the bundle of long fibers 3 was fixed with a stem-like holder 33 and a nut 34. The conventional fixing method was therefore accompanied by drawbacks to be described next. In such a structure, the long fibers bundled together at the ring 31 were arranged very densely and a raw water always had to pass through the densely-bundled part of the long fibers during the filtration. The densely-bundled part of the long fibers was therefore prone to clogging with suspended solids. Once the densely-bundled part was clogged, it was difficult to remove the thus-trapped solids even when backwashing was conducted. Because, when a fluid such as compressed air or backwash water is caused to pass upwardly through each perforation 24 in such a structure as depicted in FIG. 9, the fluid passes preferentially through the point of contact between the upper surface of the perforated plate 2 and the bundled long fibers 3 and hardly passes through the fiber part through which the fluid is supposed to pass, namely, the densely-bundled part of the long fibers. When the nut 34 is tightened firmly to increase the degree of contact between each bundle of long fibers 3 and the edge of its corresponding perforation 24, the fluid preferentially passes through the perforations 24 having bundles of long fibers 3 less clogged with trapped solids. The fluid therefore does not pass through the bundles of long fibers which require washing, namely, through the perforations 24 having bundles of long fibers 3 whose densely-bundled parts are clogged with trapped solids. When the filter is operated continuously under the above conditions, more solids gradually remain in the densely-bundled part of each bundled long fibers. This causes the initial pressure drop to increase gradually in the life of column filter, and in some instances gives serious problems to the filtration plant itself. As another drawback, even when the bundle of long fibers 3 is so fixed as to squeeze itself in the corresponding perforation 24, a small clearance still remains between the peripheral edge of the perforation 24 and the bundles of long fibers 3. An increased pressure drop causes suspended solids to leak through the clearance, so that the quality of the filtered water falls toward the end of filtration. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn object of this invention is to solve the above-described drawbacks of the column filter which uses bundles of long fibers and to provide a column filter capable of exhibiting the advantages of bundles of long fibers to a maximum extent, so that the bundles of long fibers can be washed thoroughly by backwashing and leakage of suspended solids into a filtered liquid can be minimized. To realize the above-described object, the present invention provides a column filter using bundles of long fibers, said filter being provided with an upright cylindrical shell, and the bundles of long fibers being arranged upright inside the shell with lower end portions thereof being fixed and upper end portions thereof being free-standing, characterized in that a plurality of holders for the respective bundles of long fibers, each of said holders being formed of an upper cap member and a lower hollow member communicating to each other, said upper cap member defining openings therethrough and said lower hollow member defining at least an axially-elongated opening through a side wall thereof and opening at both uper and lower ends thereof, are provided on a perforated plate arranged transversely in a lower interior part of the shell with the upper cap member being located above the perforated plate and the lower hollow member being positioned below the perforated plate; the holders cover all perforations of the perforated plate; and the lower end portion of each of the bundles of long fibers is fixed to a lower periphery of a side wall of the associated upper cap member. The length of the long fiber bundles may preferably be longer than 1,000 mm but shorter than 3,000 mm - especially longer than 2,000 mm but shorter than 3,000 mm. As the shape of each upper cap member, a cylindrical, polygonally-cylindrical, truncated conical, polygonally-conical truncated or hemispherical shape may be chosen suitably. Similarly, the lower hollow member may be formed into a cylindrical, polygonally-cylindrical, truncated conical, polygonally-conical truncated or hemispherical shape as desired. The fixing of the lower end portions of the bundles of long fibers can be effected, for example, by pinching the lower end portions, adhering the lower end portions, or fusion-bonding the lower end portions themselves. In the column filter according to this invention, the bundles of long fibers are not merely provided at the individual perforations of the perforated plate. The plurality of holders for the respective bundles of long fibers, each of said holders being formed of the upper cap member and the lower hollow member communicating to each other, said upper cap member defining the openings therethrough and said lower hollow member defining the axially-elongated opening through the side wall thereof and opening at both upper and lower ends thereof, are provided on the perforated plate arranged transversely in the lower part of the shell with the upper cap member being located above the perforated plate and the lower hollow member being positioned below the perforated plate. The holders cover all perforations of the perforated plate. The lower end portion of each of bundles of long fibers is fixed to the lower periphery of the side wall of the associated upper cap member. The openings of each upper cap member are therefore surrounded substantially by the associated bundles of long fibers. Suspended solids are hence hardly allowed to leak into a filtered liquid. Upon backwashing, a fluid such as compressed air or back-washing water is allowed to flow out evenly through the individual openings of each upper cap member, so that dense parts of the bundles of long fibers, said parts being located in the proximity of the perforated plate, can be effectively washed to ensure sufficient backwashing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 is a simplified vertical cross-section of the column filter according to the parent application in an initial stage of filtration; FIGS. 2 and 3 are simplified vertical cross-sections of the column filter according to the parent application in a final stage of filtration and under backwashing; FIG. 4 is a simplified vertical cross-section showing the overall construction of the column filter according to the present invention; FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical cross-section of each holder for bundles of long fibers, said holder being used in the column filter of FIG. 4; FIG. 6 is a partly cut-away perspective view of the holder of FIG. 5; FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 5 but shows a modified holder; and FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical cross-section illustrating the construction of a lower part of the column filter of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The column filter according to the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 4. The perforated plate 2 is arranged transversely in the lower part of the upright cylindrical shell 1 . Holders 2' for bundles of long fibers, which will be described subsequently, are attached to the perforated plate 2. The bundled long fibers 3 are fixed at lower end portions thereof by the holders 2' but are free-standing at upper end portions thereof. The bundled long fibers 3 are packed at a relatively high density within the shell 1, so that the bundled long fibers 3 extend upright in the shell 1. The raw water feed line 4 is provided in communication with the top part of the shell 1, and the backwash water discharge line 5 is communicated as a branch to the raw water feed line 4. A filtered water outlet line 6 is provided in communication with a bottom part of the shell 1. A backwash air feed line 8 is provided as a branch in communication with the water outlet line 6. A backwash water feed line 7 is also communicated as a branch to the outlet line 6. In this invention, the backwash air feed line 8 may be bifurcated to communicate with the shell 1 at antipodal points on the side wall of the shell 1. A single backwash air feed line may certainly be used without problems. Numerals 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 indicate valves, respectively. A description will next be made of the holders 2' which are used for the bundled long fibers in the column filter of this invention. The holders 2' constitute the most important feature in this invention. As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 by way of example, each of the holders 2' is formed basically of a cap 21 as an upper cap member, said cap defining many circular orifices 20 through its top wall and its side wall 42, and a tube 23 as a lower hollow member, said tube defining as axially-elongated openings slits 22 through a side wall 41 thereof and opening at both upper and lower ends thereof. Attachment of each holders 2' to its corresponding perforation 24 of the perforated plate 2 is performed in the following manner. First of all, a pair of holes (not shown) are bored in an antipodal relation through the side wall 41 of the tube 23 at points adjacent the upper end of the tube 23. The T-shaped head of a T-bolt 25 is inserted into the holes so that the tube 23 is suspended from the T-bolt 25. Incidentally, the outer diameter of the tube 23 is slightly smaller than the diameter of the perforation 24 of the perforated plate 2 so that an upper end portion of the tube 23 may be closely fitted in the the perforation 24. Thereafter, the stem of the T-bolt 25 is inserted upwardly through the perforation 24 until the upper end portion of the tube 23 is fitted in the perforation 24. A nut 27 with legs 26 is then applied on the T-bolt 25 to hold the T-bolt 25 in the perforation 24 by the legs 26. The cap 21 with the bundled long fibers 3 fixed at their low end portions on the entire peripheral side wall 42 by a band 28 is then placed over the perforation 24 with the stem of the T-bolt 25 extending through a hole 29 of the cap 21. A nut 30 is next applied on the T-bolt 25 so that the cap 21 is fixed over the perforation 24. In a manner as described above, the holders 2' for the bundled long fiber are attached to the respective perforations 24 of the perforated plate 2. Incidentally, the orifices 20 of the cap 21 permit the passage of fluids such as filtered water, compressed air and backwash water therethrough. It should however be noted that the formation of the orifices 20 in the top wall of the cap 21 is not essential. It is however necessary to form many orifices through the entire peripheral side wall 42 of the cap 21. The circular orifices 20 may be replaced by slits. The slit 22 of the tube 23 primarily serves to permits passage of compressed air therethrough. The slit 22 may be replaced by a plurality of small holes arranged vertically. The structure of the holders 2' for bundled long fibers and the manner of their attachment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are merely illustrative. Their detailed structures may be modified as desired, provided that described basically, the holders 2' for bundled long fibers, each of said holders 2' being composed of the cap 21 defining many orifices 20 or slits through the entire peripheral side wall 42 thereof and the tube 23 defining a slit 22 or vertically-arranged small holes through the side wall 41 thereof and opening at both upper and lower ends thereof, are attached to the respective perforations 24 of the perforated plate 2 arranged transversely within the shell 1 with the cap 21 being located above the perforated plate 2 and the tube 23 being positioned below the perforated plate 2; and the lower end portions of the bundled long fibers 3 are fixed to lower peripheries of the side walls 42 of the associated caps 21. Where the upright cylindrical shell 1 has a relatively large diameter, it is desirable, as shown in FIG. 6, to provide one or more upright partition walls 43 substantially in parallel with the bundled long fibers 3 within the shell 1 to divide the interior of the shell 1 into vertically-extending sections so that the bundled long fibers 3 may be prevented from being bent horizontally or obliquely during the feeding of the raw water. In a column filter operation of the present invention, as the filtration proceeds and more solids are trapped in the interstices among the long fibers 3 in the bundles, the pressure drop increases gradually. As the pressure drop increases, the vertically-extending long fibers in the bundles begin to be bent from the lower end portions thereof so that their vertical length decreases gradually. When the increase of the pressure drop has reached a predetermined value, backwashing is conducted in the following manner. Referring again FIGS. 4 to 6, the valves 9,13 are closed to stop the filtration and the valves 10,12 are then opened to feed compressed air through the backwash air feed line 8. Since the bottom part underneath the perforated plate 2 is filled with the filtered water, the inflow of the compressed air firstly causes the filtered water to flow out through the individual orifices 20 of each cap 21. However, a water level L is soon formed below the perforated plate 2 as depicted in FIG. 5. A layer A of the compressed air is therefore formed above the water level L. The compressed air therefore enters the tube 23 through a portion of the slit 22, said portion being located above the water level L, and then blows out through the individual orifices 20 of each cap 21. By the blow-out of the compressed air, the water inside the upright cylindrical shell 1 is agitated and the bundled long fibers 3 are shaken. The interstices which have been formed among the fibers 3 are hence broken up to disintegrate solids trapped and accumulated therein. In addition, solids deposited on the bundled long fibers 3 are also shaken off. In particular, the water which is contained underneath the perforated plate 2 at the beginning of feeding of the compressed air is lifted at once by the compressed air and jets out as high-velocity plug flows through the individual orifices 20 of each cap 21, followed by the flow-out of the compressed air. The densely-bundled part of the bundled long fibers 3 located around each cap 21 can therefore be washed effectively by the passage of the fluids therethrough. While continuing the above-described inflow of the compressed air or after closing the valve 12 to stop the feeding of the compressed air, the valve 11 is opened to feed backwash water through the backwash water feed line 7. The backwash water thus fed enters primarily through the lower opening of each tube 23 and flows out through the individual orifices 20 of each cap 21. Since the bundled long fibers 3 are fixed at the lower end portions thereof and are free-standing at the upper end portions thereof, the bundled long fibers 3 are caused to extend and are shaken like a streamer by the upflow of the backwash water. The solids released from the bundled long fibers 3 by the impact of the inflow of the compressed air are hence flushed by the backwash water, so that the backwash water containing a great deal of solids suspended therein is discharged through the backwash water discharge line 5. Different from the backwashing method described above, the backwashing can also be performed by feeding compressed air intermittently through the backwash air feed line 8 while feeding backwash water at a constant rate through the backwash water feed line 7. In this case, high-velocity plug flows are formed as described above whenever the compressed air is fed so that more effective backwashing is feasible. Another embodiment of the supports for bundles of long fibers, which are employed in this invention, is illustrated in FIG. 7. A conical diaphragm seat 37 defining many through-perforations 36 is provided in an upper interior part of each cap 21'. Provided inside the diaphragm seat 37 is a conical diaphragm 38 which can close up the through-perforations 36 when brought into close contact with the inner surface of the diaphragm seat 37. Slits 20' are formed through a top wall of the cap 21' and also through its side wall 42'. Through a side wall 41' of a tube 23', a plurality of small slit 22' are spacedly formed in an axial, namely, vertical row. The remaining structure is similar to the holder shown in FIG. 5. An upper end portion of the diaphragm 38 is secured on the inner surface of the top wall of the cap 21', while its lower end portion flares out in the form of a horn. It is made of a flexible material. The diaphragm seat 37 and diaphragm 38 function as follows. During the filtration, the filtered water passes downwardly through the slits 20' and the diaphragm 38 is pushed inwardly by the filtered water. Therefore, the diaphragm seat 37 and diaphragm 38 neither exhibit any function nor interfere with the filtration. However, they function in the following manner during backwashing. By an upflow of compressed air or backwash water fed through the tube 23', the diaphragm 38 is outwardly pushed and opened so that the diaphragm 38 is brought into close contact with the inner surface of the diaphragm seat 37. As a result, the compressed air or backwash water is allowed to pass only through the slits 20'A formed below the diaphragm seat 37. Accordingly, the compressed air or backwash water is allowed to flow out preferentially through the lower end portion of the fixed part of the bundled long fibers 3, so that the hardly-washable lower end portions of the bundled long fibers 3 can be washed effectively. The construction of FIG. 7 is particularly effective for ensuring the flushing of trapped solids from the bundled long fibers during backwashing. A description will next be made of the bundled long fibers 3 useful in the practice of this invention. The bundled long fibers 3 useful in this invention are somewhat bent or collapsed at lower parts thereof and are reduced in height at an initial stage even when a raw water of a relatively high flow velocity is fed as a downflow, and upon continuation of the feeding of the raw water, the lower parts of the bundled longer fibers 3 are progressively bent further and their height is reduced little by little. The bundled long fibers 3 are thus required to have stiffness and packing quantity or density sufficient to prevent their horizontal bending and to allow them to remain upright as a whole in the upright cylindrical shell 1 during the feeding of the raw water. Usable fibers include synthetic fibers such as acrylic fibers, polyester fibers and polyamide fibers as well as natural fibers such as cotton and wool. As these synthetic fibers or natural fibers, it is preferable to use units of non-twisted monofilaments having a diameter not greater than 80 µm, usually around 35 µm or so. However, units of twisted filaments may also be used so long as they take the form of bundled long fibers which are not bent horizontally and remain upright as a whole in the upright cylindrical shell 1 while the raw water is passed. As the packing density of the long fibers in the bundles employed in this invention becomes higher, finer suspended solids can be removed to provide filtered water of higher quality. However, the pressure drop increases. On the other hand, the quality of filtered water falls as the packing density of the long fibers becomes lower. In contrast, the pressure drop decreases. It is accordingly desirable to choose bundles of long fibers having a most suitable packing density depending on the nature or concentration of solids suspended in the raw water. When bundles of long fibers composed of units of non-twisted monofilaments 1,000-3,000 mm long are used by way of example, it is preferable to pack bundles to give a packing density of 25-110 kg in terms of their dry weight per bulk volume m³ of the bundles.	A column filter using bundles of long fibers, said filter being provided with an upright cylindrical shell (1), and the bundles of long fibers (3) being arranged upright inside the shell with lower end portions thereof being fixed and upper end portions thereof being free-standing, characterized in that a plurality of holders (2';2'') for the respective bundles of long fibers, each of said holders being formed of an upper cap member (21;21')and a lower hollow member (23;23') communicating to each other, said upper cap member (21;21') defining openings (20,20') therethrough and said lower hollow member (23;23') defining at least an axially-elongated opening (22;22') through a side wall (41;41') thereof and opening at both upper and lower ends thereof, are provided on a perforated plate (2) arranged transversely in a lower interior part of the shell (1) with the upper cap member (21;21') being located above the perforated plate (2) and the lower hollow member (23;23') being positioned below the perforated plate (2); the holders (2';2'') cover all perforations (24) of the perforated plate (2); and the lower end portion of each of the bundles of long fibers (3) is fixed to a lower periphery of a side wall (42;42') of the associated upper cap member (21;21'). The column filter as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the openings of the upper cap member (21) are holes (20). The column filter as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the openings of the upper cap member (21')are slits (20'). The column filter as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the axially-elongated opening of the lower hollow member (23) is a slit (22). The column filter as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the axially-elongated opening of the lower hollow member (23') comprises a plurality of small holes (22'). The column filter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the long fibers in the bundles are longer than 1,000 mm, but shorter than 3,000 mm. The column filter as claimed in any one of the preceding, wherein the packing density of the bundles of long fibers is 25 - 110 kg in terms of their dry weight per bulk volume m³ of the bundles. The column filter as claimed in any one of the preceding, wherein the upper cap member is cylindrical. The column filter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the openings (20:20') formed through the upper cap member (21;21') are distributed over the side wall (42;42') of the upper cap member. The column filter as claimed in Claim 8 or 9, wherein a conical diaphragm seat (37) defining through-perforations (36) therethrough is provided at an inner upper part of the upper cap member (21') and a conical diaphragm (38) is arranged inside the conical diaphragm seat (37) to close up the through-perforations (36) when brought into close contact with an inner surface of the conical diaphragm seat (37). The column filter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lower hollow member is tubular. The column filter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one upright partition wall (43) is additionally provided substantially in parallel with the bundles of long fibers (3) within the shell (1) whereby the interior of the shell (1) is divided into vertically-extending sections. The column filter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bundles of long fibers have each been obtained by bundling units of non-twisted monofilaments having a diameter not greater than 80 µm.	ORGANO KK; JAPAN ORGANO CO., LTD.	IWATSUKA TAKESHI C OJAPAN ORGA; KASAI TOSHIO JAPAN ORGANO CO L; IWATSUKA, TAKESHI C/OJAPAN ORGANO CO.,LTD.; KASAI, TOSHIO JAPAN ORGANO CO.,LTD.
EP-0488994-B1	488,994	EP	B1	EN	19,960,612	1,992	20,100,220	new	G01N21	G01N15, G02F1, G01N33, B01L3	G01N21, B29C45, B01F5, G01N33, B01F3, B01F13, G01N15, B01L3, B29C59, G01N35, B29C65, B01F1	L01L300:00G10, S01N21:03K, B01L 3/00C6M, G01N 21/82, S01N15:10C3, L01L400:06V, L29C255:02, L01F3:12G, L01L300:00G12, L29C45:00, L01L400:04F2, L29C59:16, B01F 5/06B3F, G01N 33/487C, S01N21:49, L01F1:00, B29C 65/08+B10, S01N35:00F3, B01F 13/00M, L01L300:00G4C, S01N21:47, G01N 33/483B, G01N 33/49B, B01F 5/06B3B8, S01N33:543K	Quality control device for use in an analytical instrument	Novel methods and devices are provided involving at least one chamber, at least one capillary (12), and at least one reagent (16) involved in a system providing for a detectable signal. As appropriate, the devices provide for measuring a sample, mixing the sample with reagents, defining a flow path, and reading the result. Of particular interest is the use of combinations of specific binding pair members which result in agglutination information, where the resulting agglutination particles may provide for changes in flow rate, light patterns of a flowing medium, or light absorption or scattering. A fabrication technique particularly suited for forming internal chambers in plastic devices is also described along with various control devices for use with the basic device.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the InventionThis invention is related to quality control devices for use in testing devices having internal chambers into which fluids are drawn. Background of the InventionIn the development of the diagnostics field, there has been explosive growth in the number of substances to be determined. For the most part, the medical field has looked to clinical laboratories for these determinations. The clinical laboratories have been dependent upon expensive sophisticated equipment and highly trained technical help to fulfill the manifold needs of the medical community. However, in a highly automated clinical laboratory, there is substantial need to perform one or a few assays on a stat basis with minimum equipment. There is also an expanding need for having analytical capabilities in doctors' offices and in the home. There is a continuing need to monitor the level of drug administered to people with chronic illnesses, such as diabetics, asthmatics, epileptics, and cardiac patients, as it appears in a physiological fluid, such as blood. Tests of interest include prothrombin time, potassium ion, and cholesterol. Determining red-blood-cell count is also a common test. In the case of diabetic patients, it is necessary to determine sugar level in urine or blood. Numerous approaches have been developed toward this end, depending to varying degrees on instrumental or visual observation of the result. Typical of these are the so called dip-stick methods. These methods generally employ a plastic strip with a reagent-containing matrix layered thereon. Sample is applied to the strip and the presence or absence of a analyte is indicated by a color-forming reaction. While such devices have proven useful for the qualitative determination of the presence of analytes in urine and can even be used for rough quantitative analysis, they are not particularly useful with whole blood because of the interferring effects of red blood cells, nor are they useful for making fine quantitative distinctions. Accordingly, there remains a need for the development of methods and devices capable of analyzing whole blood and other complex samples rapidly with a minimum of user manipulations. Brief Description of the Relevant LiteraturePowers etal., IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engr. (1983) BME-30-228, describes detecting a speckle pattern for determining platelet aggregation, as does Reynolds, Light Scattering Detection of Thromboemboli, Trans. 11th Annual Mtg. of the Soc. for Biomaterials, San Diego, CA, April 25-28, 1985. Reynolds and Simon, Transfusion (1980) 20:669-677, describes size distribution measurements of microaggregates in stored blood. Of interest in the same area are U.S. Patent Nos. 2,616,796; 3,810,010; 3,915,652; 4,040,742; 4,091,802; and 4,142,796. U.S. Patent No. 4,519,239 describes an apparatus for determining flow shear stress of suspensions in blood. Ab Leo sells the HemoCueTM device for measuring hemoglobin. Also, see U.S. Patent No. 4,088,448, which describes a cuvette for sampling with a cavity which is defined in such a manner as to draw into the cavity a sample in an amount which is exactly determined in relation to the volume of the cavity by capillary force. A device used to transport liquids by capillary flow is described in U.S. Patent 4, 233,029. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to quality control devices for use in an analytical instrument in which a defined chamber or channel is prepared within the internal space of a solid device. The instruments typically call for the use of capillary force to draw a sample into the internal chambers of a plastic device. Such capillary flow devices, particularly capillary flow devices designed for a constant flow rate, typically include at least one capillary acting as a pump, usually for controlling the volume of the sample and the time period for reaction, a chamber, an inlet port, a vent, and a reagent in proximity to at least one surface of the device. The capillary and chamber provide for capillary flow due to surface action and for mixing of the assay medium with the reagent. The reagent is part of a detection system, whereby a detectable result occurs in relation to the presence of an analyte. The device and the corresponding method can be used with a wide variety of fluids, particularly physiological fluids, for detection of drugs, pathogens, materials endogenous to a host. An optical measurement is being made, which requires the selection of a transparent material. Analytical instruments in which the present invention can be used are described in detail in the parent patent EP-B-212 314, incorporated herein by reference for the disclosure of these instruments. According to the invention a quality control device is provided for use in an analytical instrument which utilizes an analysis cartridge containing an internal chamber in which said analysis occurs, said analysis cartridge being insertable into a location in said instrument so that light generated in said instrument passes through said chamber and is detected by a light detector in said instrument, which comprises: a control cartridge, wherein said control cartridge is insertable in said location; a liquid crystal cell located in said control cartridge so as to interpose between said light source and a light detector in said analytical instrument; and a polarizing filter located between said light source and said light detector so as to allow passage or block passage of light between said light source and said light detector when voltage applied to said liquid crystal is modulated. The polarizing filter can be located in the control cartridge. Another possible location for this polarizing filter is the analytical instrument. The control cartridge can further comprise a power supply and a control circuit capable of modulating voltage supplied to said liquid crystal cell. The actual device containing the capillary channels and other chambers is typically a flat cartridge that is inserted into an instrument which makes the various electronic measurements. Reference is made to the parent patent EP-B-212 314 for a detailed description thereof. An useful control device according to the invention is some means for simulating blood flow through a capillary channel in order to determine whether the electronic apparatus into which the cartridge is being inserted is fully operational. Numerous means of accomplishing this result are available, but one useful technique not believed to be previously used in any similar manner is described below. As described in detail in the parent patent EP-B-212 314, one useful technique for measuring blood flow is to detect the presence of the speckled pattern that results from the interaction of particles and coherent light. Any technique that simulates blood flow when such a detection system is being used will need to simulate the speckled pattern of light. Since the detector and the coherent light source are typically located in a close spatial relationship directly opposite each other so that insertion of the capillary device will result in light from the coherent light source passing directly through a channel in the device to the detector, simulation of blood flow requires insertion of some device into the electronic apparatus that can modulate the light beam. While this could be accomplished using a second device that could, for example, produce modulated light, a useful technique is to include electronics and modulating devices directly in the capillary device so that each capillary cartridge can be used to determine the operating characteristics of the electronic apparatus containing the coherent light source and detector immediately prior to actual measurement being taken. However, this requires that the speckled pattern generator be such that it will not then interfere with the actual measurement. One means of accomplishing these results is to include a liquid crystal display-type apparatus at the location where measurement is being made. The liquid crystal material is selected so as to rotate polarized light that passes through it, the typical means by which liquid crystals operate. Polarizer filters will be present, either in the cartridge itself or in the electronic apparatus into which the cartridge is inserted that will result in the passage of light through the polarizing filters when the liquid crystal device is turned off. However, when the liquid crystal device is activated by application of a voltage, light passage will be blocked. Typically, when the liquid crystal device is activated, it rotates the polarization of the laser beam, thereby reducing the passage of a light and generating light amplitude fluctuations, which are detected as being equivalent to the moving speckled pattern generated by passing coherent light through the thin film of particle-containing fluid that would normally flow down the capillary channel. A low viscosity liquid crystal material having a high refractive index change (thereby enabling rapid fluctuations) is desirable. A typical design uses a crystal oscillator and a chain of binary counters from which the liquid crystal display driver signals are derived as well as the time base for the measurements to be taken. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFigure 1 is a block diagram of an electronic circuit suitable for use in an electronic capillary cartidge device to simulate the passage of blood through a capillary in a control cycle. Figure 1 shows electronic circuitry that can be utilized to simulate the passage of blood through a capillary flow device. The circuitry includes a crystal-controlled oscillator in which 220 represents the crystal and 222 represents the oscillator. The signal from the oscillator drives two frequency dividers (224 and 226) that will generate the output signals for a driver 228 of a liquid crystal display cell 230. Cell 230 is biased by an oscillating signal having a specific rate of oscillation, for example 128Hz. The cell will therefore rotate its polarization at the rate of 128Hz. Polarizer 231 in combination with cell 230 therefore operate to alternately block and pass light as a result of the rotating polarization. Two more dividers (232 and 234) drive a logical AND gate (236) whose output will go to a logic circuit low at defined intervals, for example, approximately every 20 seconds. When the output goes to a logical low, the output of a logical OR gate (238) will reset the dividers, thereby stopping the process. Accordingly, modulating signals for the liquid crystal display cell 230 are generated for the set time period, 20 seconds in the above example. The device is provided with a start switch 240. When switch 240 is closed, the reset signal is cleared, and the process is restarted. The oscillator, dividers, logic gates, and liquid crystal display driver can be implemented in CMOS technology using standard techniques of electronic fabrication. An CMOS device can be readily powered through more than 10,000 cycles when powered by a coin-type lithium battery. EXAMPLE : Electronic CartridgeAn electronic cartridge capable of simulating the flow of whole blood through a capillary was prepared using a 32768Hz crystal-controlled oscillator to drive two 1-16th frequency dividers that generated the input signals for a driver of a liquid crystal display cell prepared in accordance with the electronic diagram set forth in Figure 1. This cell was biased by a 2048Hz signal modulated at 128Hz intervals. The cell therefore rotated its polarization at the rate of 128Hz. Two more dividers drove a logical AND gate whose output was to a logic low every 20 seconds. At this point, the output of a logical OR gate reset the dividers, stopping the process. Accordingly, the LCD was powered and modulating for a 20-second interval. A start switch was provided to clear the reset signal and restart the process. The oscillators, dividers, logic gates, and LCD driver were implemented in CMOS technology and powered by a coin-type lithium battery. The electronic cartidge has a life of more than 10,000 cycles.	A quality control device for use in an analytical instrument which utilizes an analysis cartridge containing an internal chamber in which said analysis occurs, said analysis cartridge being insertable into a location in said instrument so that light generated in said instrument passes through said chamber and is detected by a light detector in said instrument, which comprises: a control cartridge, wherein said control cartridge is insertable in said location; a liquid crystal cell located in said control cartridge so as to interpose between said light source and a light detector in said analytical instrument; and a polarizing filter located between said light source and said light detector so as to allow passage or block passage of light between said light source and said light detector when voltage applied to said liquid crystal is modulated. The quality control device of claim 1, wherein said polarizing filter is located in said control cartridge. The quality control device of claim 1, wherein said polarizing filter is located in said instrument. The control device according to any of the claims 1-3, wherein said control cartridge further comprises a power supply and a control circuit capable of modulating voltage supplied to said liquid crystal cell.	BOEHRINGER MANNHEIM CORP; BOEHRINGER MANNHEIM CORPORATION	ALLEN JIMMY D; COBB MICHAEL E; GIBBONS IAN; HILLMAN ROBERT S; OSTOICH VLADIMIR E; WINFREY LARA J; ALLEN, JIMMY D.; COBB, MICHAEL E.; GIBBONS, IAN; HILLMAN, ROBERT S.; OSTOICH, VLADIMIR E.; WINFREY, LARA J.
EP-0488995-B1	488,995	EP	B1	EN	19,951,025	1,992	20,100,220	new	C23F13	null	C23F13	C23F 13/16, C23F 13/02, C23F 13/04	Corrosion protection	Corrosion protection systems which make use of a barrier (2) which is placed between a corrodible substrate (3) and a counter-electrode (2). The barrier can provide more uniform current distribution on the substrate, and/or enable the counter-electrode to be more easily maintained or replaced, and/or reduce the rate at which the current density on an elongate electrode changes with distance from the power source, and/or provide a controlled environment around the electrode to improve its efficiency.	This invention relates to the corrosion protection of pipes, vessels and other corrodible substrates. This application is a divisional application from European Patent Application No. 87306336.6 (publication no 0253671). The parent application relates to the use of distributed anode protection systems, and the present application relates to the use of discrete anode protection systems. It is well known to protect substrates from corrosion by establishing a corrosion-protecting potential difference between the substrate and the counter-electrode. Preferably a DC power source is used to establish the desired potential difference between the substrate as cathode and an anode which is composed of a material which is resistant to corrosion, e.g. platinum, graphite, or a conductive polymer. Reference may be made for example to US Patent Nos. 3,515,654 (Bordalen), 4,502,929 (Stewart et al), 4,473,450 (Nayak et al), 4,319,854 (Marzocchi), 4,255,241 (Kroon), 4,267,029 (Massarsky), 3,868,313 (Gay), 3,798,142 (Evans), 3,391,072 (Pearson), 3,354,063 (Shutt), 3,022,242 (Anderson), 3,053,314 (Brown) and 1,842,541 (Cumberland), UK Patent Nos. 1,394,292 and 2,046,789A, Japanese Patent Nos. 35293/1973 and 48948/1978, and European Patent Publication No. 01479777. The known corrosion systems suffer from serious disadvantages, in particular a failure to obtain sufficiently uniform current distribution on the substrate. This disadvantage can arise from the use of one or more discrete electrodes; or from the use of a distributed electrode, e.g. a platinum wire, whose radial resistance to the substrate is low, so that at high currents the current density on the anode decreases rapidly as the distance from the power source increases; and/or because the substrate is shielded (including those situations in which the substrate has a complex shape which results in one part of the substrate being shielded by another part of the substrate). The flexible elongate anodes disclosed in US Patents Nos. 4,502,929 and 4,473,450, which comprise a low resistance core surrounded by a conductive polymer coating, are very useful in mitigating this disadvantage, but they cannot be used at the high current densities which are required in certain situations, for example the protection of structures which have no protective coating thereon. Another disadvantage is the relatively short life of anodes (including the electrical connections thereto), especially when exposed to environments which are highly corrosive or which contain oily contaminants (and in the case of platinum anodes, when exposed to fresh potable water), and the difficulty and expense of repairing or replacing the anodes when this becomes necessary. GB 936470 describes a cathodic protection system in which a graphite or iron anode is placed in well or conduit having porous walls which is at least partially filled with water to such a level that the water will permanently or periodically seep away through the porous walls into the soil and cause a certain concentration of salt therein. The reference states that a particularly great effect may be obtained when care is taken that a slight excess of pressure prevails at least periodically in the well or conduit compared to the water pressure within the surrounding soil. US 3616354 similarly describes a cathodic protection system in which anodes are positioned in deep bore holes in the ground, in the presence of an aqueous liquid electrolyte. The borehole is lined, and the liner is perforated at the bottom of the bore hole, directly surrounding the position of the anodes, to permit ion flow therethrough. We have now devised a new cathodic protection system in which a plurality of tubes containing ion-permeable sections can transport electrolyte from a vessel remote from the substrate in which the anode is placed, to the vicinity of the substrate. The present invention provides a method of cathodically protecting an electrically conductive substrate from corrosion which method comprises establishing a potential difference between the substrate as cathode and a discrete anode which is located in an anode chamber which contains an electrolyte and which provides a barrier, having at least one ion-permeable section therein, between the anode and the substrate, the electrolyte being fed into the chamber, and being driven by pressure from the chamber through said at least one ion-permeable section of the barrier, characterised in that (i) the anode chamber comprises: (a) a separate vessel in which the discrete anode is placed, which vessel is positioned remote from the substrate to be protected, and (b) a plurality of tubes in communication with the vessel, which tubes constitute the barrier and contain ion permeable sections, and (ii) the pressure is provided by a hydrostatic pump which, in use, pumps the electrolyte from the remote vessel in which the anode is placed, via the barrier tubes, to the vicinity of the substrate. Advantageously, the invention may provide an improved current distribution on the substrate, enable the anode to be more easily maintained or replaced, and provide a controlled environment around the anode to improve its efficiency, e.g. by reducing contamination or by making it possible to surround the anode with an electrolyte which is different from the electrolyte which contacts the substrate. The barrier preferably comprises a plurality of ion-permeable sections. Preferably ion-permeable sections include simple apertures, for example a hole in the wall of a tube, or an opening at the end of a tube. Ion-permeable sections which are composed of an ion-permeable material, e.g. a glass frit, can also be used, especially when it is desired to have the anode contacted by an electrolyte which is different from that which contacts the substrate. The size and/or the spacing of the ion-permeable sections can be uniform or non-uniform, depending upon the desired current distribution on the substrate. The ion-permeable sections are preferably of fixed dimensions. The distance between adjacent ion-permeable sections is preferably less than 10 times, particularly less than 4 times, the distance between the ion-permeable sections and the substrate. An important factor in determining the size of the apertures can be the need to ensure that anodic reaction products, e.g. gaseous chlorine, do not block the apertures. Unless the conditions of operation are such that anodic reaction products remain dissolved in the electrolyte or can be easily vented, care must be taken to prevent harmful build-up of such reaction products between the anode and the barrier. In some case positive benefit can be derived from such reaction products, e.g. to lessen fouling of marine structures. To assist in the dispersion of such reaction products, the system is operated in such a way that hydrostatic pressure drives the electrolyte through the ion-permeable section(s) towards the substrate. Such hydrostatic pressure, which is provided by a pump, can have the alternative an/or additional advantages of (1) reducing the danger that the ion-permeable sections will be blocked by contaminants present in the electrolyte between the barrier and the substrate, for example oily contaminants in the water layer at the bottom of an oil storage tank, and/or (2) making it possible, when it is desired to surround the anode with and electrolyte which is different from the electrolyte which contacts the substrate (e.g. when protecting a potable water tank with a platinum anode), to prevent substantial contamination of the anode electrolyte by the substrate electrolyte with minimal contamination of the substrate electrolyte by the anode electrolyte. The barrier must not be electronically connected to the substrate or the anode, and is preferably composed of (including coated by) an electrically insulating material, e.g. a plastic. The tubular barrier may be of round or other cross section. In one embodiment, a plurality of tubes which are joined together to form a branched structure may be used. In such a branched structure, the branch tubes are preferably of smaller cross than the main tube, for example so that the total cross-sectional area of the branch tubes is no greater than the cross-sectional area of the main tube. The tube or tubes can be heated by an internal or external heater to reduce the viscosity of the electrolyte therein (including to prevent it from freezing) and/or to reduce its resistivity. The tube or tubes can be arranged as a continuous loop, so that electrolyte circulates through them, or can simply terminate in an open end (i.e.. an ion-permeable section) or a closed end. According to the invention, the discrete anode is placed in a vessel remote from the substrate, and electrolyte is pumped from the anode vessel to the vicinity of the substrate via the tubes which constitute the barrier and which contain (including terminate in) ion-permeable sections. In such a system, it is important that the resistance of the electrolyte in the tubes should not be too high. Therefore, the resistivity of the electrolyte is preferably less than 50 ohm.cm, particularly less than 20 ohm.cm, so that the tubes can be of a convenient size. In this embodiment, the main tube or tubes conveying electrolyte from the anode chamber to the vicinity of the substrate may for example have an equivalent inner diameter (i.e. of cross-section equal to a circle of that diameter) of 1 to 12 inches (2.5 to 30.5cm), and the branch tubes may for example have an equivalent diameter of 0.5 to 3 inches (1.25 to 7.5cm). Any appropriate DC power source can be used in the present invention. The voltage of the power source is preferably less than 100 volts, particularly less than 50 volts, with the system being designed with this preference in mind. When there is a net transfer of electrolyte through the ion-permeable section(s) of the barrier, electrolyte must be supplied to the anode, and this can be done by recycling electrolyte from the vicinity of the substrate and/or by supplying fresh electrolyte. When build-up of electrolyte in the vicinity of the substrate must be avoided, e.g. in the bottom of an oil storage tank, means must be provided for removing excess electrolyte; the excess electrolyte can be recycled to the anode, if desired or if necessary after filtering or otherwise treating it to remove harmful contaminants. Preferred uses for the present invention include the protection of city water tanks, ballast tanks in ships, oil rigs, cooling tanks for power stations, water tanks for secondary recovery in oil wells, soil storage tanks, heat exchangers, condensers, heater treaters, and buried pipes, in particular pipes buried below the permafrost line, for example oil pipes in frozen tundra. Referring now to the drawing, Figure 1 shows a DC power source 1 which is connected to an anode 2 and a corrodible substrate 3 which is a cathode. Anode 3 and substrate 3 are separated by a barrier 4 which comprises ion-permeable sections 45, and are connected by electrolyte 5 through sections 45. A positive hydrostatic pressure is maintained from the interior of the barrier 4 across the ion-permeable sections 45 by means of pump 6. Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view in which the substrate 3 is an oil storage tank in which the electrolyte 5 is a highly corrosive aqueous mixture covered by oil 8. The anode is a discrete anode which lies within an anode chamber 21. The barrier 4 comprises, in addition to the part of the anode chamber which lies between the anode and the tank 3, a tube 41 which lies between the anode and the tank 3, a tube 41 which leads from anode chamber 21 to the centre of tank 3 and branch-tubes 42 which communicate with tube 41, which are of relatively small diameter, and which contain perforations 45. Means not shown removes excess electrolyte from the tank 5. Pump 6 maintains a positive pressure across the perforations 45 and thus reduces the danger that they will become blocked by oily contaminants in the water layer. Figure 2 shows in diagrammatic side view a system for protecting a pipe 3 which is buried in the earth or immersed in the sea or other electrolyte. The anode 2 lies within an anode chamber 21 and is surrounded by electrolyte 30. Barrier 4 comprises a tube 41 which extends downwards from the anode chamber 21 and branch tubes 42 which communicate with and extend horizontally from the tube 41 under the pipe 3, and which comprise nozzles 45 covered by protective caps. Tube 41 contains a heater 9 which may be used to prevent the electrolyte from freezing or reduce its viscosity, for example when the tube 41 passes through a layer of earth which is frozen or liable to freezing, and/or to decrease its resistivity. A positive hydrostatic pressure is maintained across the nozzles 45, and the electrolyte lost in consequence is replaced from electrolyte storage tank 23. Figure 3 shows a tube with perforations therein through which ion-containing electrolyte can emerge; the perforations shown are uniformly spaced and of uniform size, but they could be of different sizes and separations in order to provide desired current distribution. Figure 4 shows a tube composed of an ion-conducting membrane through which ions can pass, but non-ionic material cannot. Figure 5 shows a perforated tube which is covered by an ion-conducting membrane. Figure 6 shows a part of a perforated tube in which each perforation is covered by an ion-conducting membrane. Figure 7 shows an open-ended tube through the open end of which ion-containing electrolyte can emerge. Figure 8 shows an open-ended tube whose open end is covered by a porous plug. Figure 9 shows a tube having a plurality of branch nozzles mounted thereon. Figure 10 shows the arrangement of the tube in Example 1, as described below. The invention is illustrated in the following Example. EXAMPLE 1In this Example, procedures (A) and (B) are comparative Examples, and procedure (C) is an example of the invention. (A) An 18 x 24 inch (45.7 x 61.0 cm) stainless steel mesh screen was placed on the bottom of a tank. One end of each of six flexible plastic tubes 0.375 inch (0.95 cm) inner diameter x 6 foot (182.9 cm) long was positioned about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the screen; the ends or the tubes were placed in a rectangular pattern centered over the screen as illustrated in Figure 12, with x being 4.5 inch (11.5 cm) and y being 4 inch (10.2 cm). The other end of each tube was placed in a second tank adjacent the first. The tubes and both tanks were filled with 3% NaCl solution having a resistivity of about 20 ohm.cm. A saturated calomel electrode (SCE) was placed in the first tank in a number of different positions so that the potential of different parts of the screen could be measured. The corrosion potential of the screen was measured to be 0.220V, and was uniform across the screen surface. (B) The apparatus described in (A) was modified by placing a single graphite anode 1 inch (2.5 cm) above in the center of the screen. The anode and the screen were connected to a DC power source of sufficient voltage to maintain a total current of 0.05A. The absolute potential of the screen (i.e. the potential measured by the SCE minus the corrosion potential) was found to be at a maximum of 0.560V. The absolute potential decreased in a radial pattern away from the anode, reaching 0.499V at the edge of the screen, a total difference of 0.061V. (c) The apparatus described in (A) was modified by placing a single graphite anode in the second tank. The anode and the screen were connected to a DC power source, and with the tubes acting as salt bridges between the tanks, sufficient voltage (about 45 VDC) was applied to maintain a total current of 0.05VA. The absolute potential of the screen was found to be at a maximum of 0.550-0.563V directly below each of the tube openings and at a minimum of 0.540V at the edges of the screen, i.e. a difference of at most 0.023V as compared to a difference of at most 0.061V in (B) above.	A method of cathodically protecting an electrically conductive substrate from corrosion which method comprises establishing a potential difference between the substrate as cathode and a discrete anode which is located in an anode chamber which contains an electrolyte and which provides a barrier, having at least one ion-permeable section therein, between the anode and the substrate, the electrolyte being fed into the chamber, and being driven by pressure from the chamber through said at least one ion-permeable section of the barrier, characterised in that (i) the anode chamber comprises: (a) a separate vessel in which the discrete anode is placed, which vessel is positioned remote from the substrate to be protected, and (b) a plurality of tubes in communication with the vessel, which tubes constitute the barrier and contain ion permeable sections, and (ii) the pressure is provided by a hydrostatic pump which, in use, pumps the electrolyte from the remote vessel in which the anode is placed, via the barrier tubes, to the vicinity of the substrate. A method according to Claim 1, wherein each tube has aperatures in its walls. A method according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the barrier comprises a first tube extending from the anode vessel and further tubes, which communicate with the said first tube, and which also have aperatures therein. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the substrate is buried in soil, the electrolyte is driven into the soil, and the anode is located in an anode chamber which is accessible from above ground, so that the anode can be easily maintained or replaced. A method according to Claim 4, wherein the substrate is buried below a permafrost line in the soil and the ion-permeable section is below the permafrost line. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the substrate is contacted by a mass of liquid electrolyte, for example the sea, and the anode is located in an anode chamber which is accessible separately from the mass of electrolyte so that the anode can be easily maintained or replaced. A method according to any preceding claim, also comprising removing excess electrolyte from the vincinity of the substrate, and optionally recycling it to the anode chamber.	RAYCHEM CORP; RAYCHEM CORPORATION	HIGHE ALBERT; MASIA MICHAEL; REED JAMES PATRICK; HIGHE, ALBERT; MASIA, MICHAEL; REED, JAMES PATRICK
EP-0488996-B1	488,996	EP	B1	EN	19,960,228	1,992	20,100,220	new	C22C32	C22C1	C22C32	C22C 32/00C8	Sintered magnesium-based composite material and process for preparing same	A magnesium-based composite material having an improved mechanical strength, particularly the modulus of elasticity thereof, with a relatively low density is provided by pressing and sintering a mixture of magnesium or magnesium-based alloy particle or a metal particle mixture of magnesium with other metal(s) with a reinforcement that may be of boron, or boron-coated BC₄, Si₃N₄, SiC, Al₂O₃ or MgO.	The present invention relates to a sintered magnesium-based composite material and a process for preparing the same. Magnesium alloys have attracted attention as a light-weight, high mechanical strength, metal. They are used in aircraft and space equipment and components and in electronics equipment and components. In the field of electronics equipment and components, mechanical parts for magnetic recording, particularly a head arm, often comprise a diecast article made of a magnesium alloy. The important characteristics of the material for a head arm include low density and high mechanical strength, particularly the Young's modulus of elasticity. Magnesium and magnesium-based alloys are good candidates for such a head arm due to their low density, but they have a low Young's modulus of elasticity. It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide a magnesium, or magnesium-based, alloy material that has increased modulus of elasticity without significant increase in density. If a head arm were made of such a material it would be possible to obtain an improvement in the performance of a magnetic recording as a result of an increase in the speed of movement of the head. A method of improving the modulus of elasticity of a magnesium alloy is known, in which a very small amount of zirconium or a rare earth metal is added to prevent a growth of the crystal grains of the magnesium, but this provides only a low modulus of elasticity of about 4500kgf/mm². In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 55-161495 published on December 16, 1980, H. Inoue et al., disclose a vibrating plate for a sonic converter, comprising a fused alloy of magnesium and boron. A fused or cast alloy of magnesium and boron, however, does not provide a uniform composition due to the difference of the densities of the magnesium and the boron, and therefore, does not provide the expected improved properties. Sintering magnesium powders in the form of a shape to obtain a sintered body of that shape is known, but do not provide a body having a sufficient Young's modulus of elasticity. A sintered material prepared according to the invention has a matrix of magnesium or a magnesium-based alloy and is characterised in that it includes reinforcement dispersed in the matrix. The amount of the reinforcement is selected in order that the sintered material has the desired properties, and in particular generally in order that the modulus of elasticity of the material is substantially greater than it would be in the absence of the reinforcement, although the density is not significantly increased. The reinforcement should be distributed substantially uniformly throughout the matrix. The reinforcement is normally magnesium oxide formed by oxidation within the matrix. As explained in more detail below, the matrix may be magnesium or a magnesium-based alloy that is formed mainly of magnesium, for instance being formed of at least 88% magnesium. Magnesium aluminium alloys are particularly suitable. The materials used in the invention are the materials that have a reinforcement comprising magnesium oxide. The properties of the materials are shown in Table 1, which also shows the properties of magnesium. Material Density (g/cc) Modulus of elasticity (kgf/mm²) Magnesium1.744.5 x 10³ Magnesium oxide3.652.5 x 10⁴ The matrix of magnesium or magnesium-based alloy is not particularly limited, in that a magnesium-aluminium system (particularly 3-12 wt% Al), a magnesium-aluminium-zinc system (particularly 3-9 wt% Al and 0.1-3.0 wt% zinc), and a magnesium-zirconium-zinc system may be used as this magnesium-based alloy. In the present invention, there is provided a process for preparing a sintered magnesium-based composite material according to claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in claims 2-4. In this process, the sintered magnesium-based body containing a magnesium oxide therein is subjected to a plastic deformation process to increase the relative density thereof, and as a result, the magnesium matrix and magnesium oxide are made into a composite without heating or a reaction therebetween, i.e., without mechanically weakening the composite. The starting magnesium-based particle may be a particle of magnesium, a magnesium alloy, or a mixture of magnesium and another metal or metals forming a magnesium alloy. The above particle typically has a size of 1 to 100µm. The pressing is carried out at a pressure of 0.5 to 4 tons/cm² to form a porous body having a relative density of 50% to 93%, and the sintering is carried out at a temperature of 500 to 600°C in an oxidising atmosphere, for example, an argon atmosphere containing 50 to 1,000 ppm of oxygen, for 10 minutes to 10 hours. The plastic deformation of the sintered body may be carried out by, for example, pressing, rolling swagging, etc.; for example, it may be pressed at a pressure of 1 to 8 tons/cm². A magnesium-based material produced by the claimed process has an improved mechanical strength, particularly the modulus of elasticity thereof, and no substantial loss of the small density thereof, as shown in the following Example. The sintered magnesium-based composite material has an additional advantage in that the thermal expansion coefficient of the magnesium-based material can be adjusted by an appropriate selection of the composition of the composite. This ability to adjust the thermal expansion coefficient prevents a mismatch of the thermal expansion coefficient of a head arm with a recording disc, so that a deviation of the head from the tracks formed on a disc of e.g., aluminum, can be prevented. Example 1A -200 mesh magnesium powder was pressed at 2 tons/cm² to form a porous magnesium shaped body having a relative density of 85%. The porous magnesium body was heat treated in a gas flow of argon containing 200 ppm of oxygen, at 500°C for 1 hour, and a sintered magnesium body containing a thickness of 0.1 to 2µm of magnesium oxide inside pores of the body, a relative density of the sintered body being 87%, was obtained. This sintered magnesium body containing magnesium oxide was pressed again at 4 tons/cm² to obtain a shaped body of Mg-MgO composite. This composite shaped body had a relative density of 96%, and the properties shown in Table 2. Reinforcing Material Density (g/cm³) Modulus of elasticity (kgf/mm²) Tensile strength (kgf/mm²) Mg-MgO composite1.76540011.5 Sintered Mg1.6938008.0	A process for preparing a sintered magnesium-based composite material, comprising the steps of: pressing magnesium-based particles to form a porous magnesium-based body; heating porous shaped body in an atmosphere of an inert gas, preferably argon, containing 50 to 1,000 ppm of oxygen to form a sintered magnesium-based body containing magnesium oxide therein; the magnesium oxide being present as a coating having a thickness of 0.1 to 2µm; and subjecting the sintered magnesium body to a plastic deformation process without heating, so as to increase the relative density of the sintered magnesium-based body due to reinforcement by the magnesium oxide. A process according to claim 1 in which the porous shaped body is heated in an atmosphere of an inert gas containing 50 to 1,000 ppm of oxygen at 500 to 600°C. A process according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the plastic deformation is conducted by pressing, rolling or swagging at a pressure of 1 to 8 tons/cm². A process according to any preceding claim in which the magnesium-based particles comprise magnesium-aluminium alloy.	FUJITSU LTD; FUJITSU LIMITED	HORIKOSHI EIJI; IIKAWA TSUTOMU; SATO TAKEHIKO; HORIKOSHI, EIJI; IIKAWA, TSUTOMU; SATO, TAKEHIKO
EP-0488999-B1	488,999	EP	B1	EN	19,970,709	1,992	20,100,220	new	C12P41	C12P7	C12P41, C07C51	C07C 51/09+61/40, C12P 41/00C4	A method for producing optically active cyclopropane carboxylic acid	The present invention relates to a process for preparing(+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid by asymmetrically hydrolyzing (±)-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid esters having the formula (II) wherein R is C₁₋₄ alkyl group or halogen-substituted C₁₋₄ alkyl group with microorganisms or esterase derived therefrom.	The present invention relates to a method for producing an optically active cyclopropane carboxylic acid. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for producing the (+)-trans optically active cyclopropane carboxylic acid or its salts represented by the following formula (I): by asymmetric hydrolysis of cyclopropane carboxylic acid esters represented by the following formula (II): wherein R is as defined below, with microorganisms or esterases produced by the microorganisms. The cyclopropane carboxylic acids represented by the above formula (I) constitutes the acid moiety of a low toxic and rapidly acting insecticidal ester generally termed pyrethroid such as allethrin, permethrin, decamethrin, teffuluthrin, etc. The cyclopropane carboxylic acids represented by the formula (I) contain two asymmetric carbon atoms at the 1-position and the 3-position and therefore have four diastereomers. Of these isomers, those having the absolute configurations of 1R, 3S and 1R and 3R are termed (+)-trans isomer and (+)-cis isomer (according to RS nomenclature),.respectively, because the optical rotation of these isomers is (+) in a specific solvent and substitution groups of them are in a trans-form and a cis-form, respectively. And, the other two isomers having the absolute configurations of 1S, 3S and 1S, 3R are termed (-)-trans isomer and (-)-cis isomer , respectively, because the optical rotation of these isomers is (-) in a specific solvent and substitution group of them are in a trans-form and a cis-form, respectively. Only the (+)-isomers have insecticidal activities as pyrethroid esters and the (-)-isomers have almost no insecticidal activities as pyrethroids. The relative effects of the cis and the trans isomers vary according to the kinds of harmful insects to be killed and the type of effect. It is possible to use the (+)-trans-pyrethroidal compound and (+)-cis- compound independently for different purposes. Accordingly, the production of (+)-cyclopropane carboxylic acids in effective manner is industrially important. The presently known major method for production of (+)-isomers is organosynthetic optical resolution, but development of more economical methods for optical resolution is now desired for production of (+)-isomers because the organosynthetic optical resolution requires a relatively expensive optically active reagent or a complicated step. There are known methods for producing optically active (+)-trans acid by resolving cyclopropane carboxylates by asymmetric hydrolysis with an pig liver esterase (e.g., Schneider et al., Angewande chemie International Edition in English 23. 64 (1984)) or with a microbial esterase (Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 244295/1985). However, the former method is industrially disadvantageous because of the expensiveness and only limited supply of the pig liver esterase. As for the latter method, it is reported that the trans-isomer of cyclopropane carboxylic acid ester is preferentially resolved by asymmetric hydrolysis but the method can not be industrially applied because the yield of (+)-trans-cyclopropane carboxylic acid is as low as 31mg/100ml culture medium, and the concentration of the substrate and the optical purity of the resulting (+)-trans cyclopropane carboxylic acid are low. Under these circumstances, the inventors of this invention continuously studied in order to develop an industrially advantageous method for producing (+)-cyclopropane carboxylic acid (I). It was found that (±)-cis,trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid esters represented by formula (II): wherein R represents alkyl group containing 1-4 carbon atom or alkyl group containing 1-4 carbon atom substituted by halogen atom, which does not indicate the configuration of the esters, are asymmetrically hydrolyzed effectively into (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-cyclopropane carboxylic acid and esters of its stereoisomers with the following microorganisms or esterase produced by the microorganisms: ArthrobacterglobiformisIFO-12958 ThermomyceslanuginosusIFO-9863 RhodotorularubraIFO-0918 RhodotorularubraIFO-1100 RhodotorularubraIFO-0889 RhodotorularubraIFO-0909 CandidahumicolaIFO-0760 CandidalipolyticaNRRL-Y-6795 AspergillusoryzaeATTC-14605 AspergillusflavusATTC-11492 and Bacillus sp. DC-1 (BP-FERM 1254) and that (+)-trans-2,2- dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid or its salts are prepared with high optical purity. In particular, it was confirmed that when Bacillus sp. DC-1, which is a microorganism isolated by the present inventors, is used, (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid or its salts are obtained with high optical purities in 10 times or more (when compared in yields per 100ml of culture medium) the yields of conventional methods. This invention provides a method for producing (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid or its salts which comprises allowing (±)-cis,trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid ester represented by the formula (II): wherein R represents C1-C4alkyl group or C1-C4 alkyl group having halogen atom substituent, which does not indicate the configuration, to react with Arthrobacterglobiformis IFO-12958; Thermomyceslanuginosus IFO-9863; Rhodotorularubra IFO-0918; IFO-1100, IFO-0889, IFO-0909; Candidahumicola IFO-0760; Candidalipolytica NRRL-Y-6795; Aspergillusoryzae ATCC-14605; Aspergillusflavus ATTC-11492; or Bacillus sp. DC-1 (BP-FERM 1254) or esterase produced by the above microorganisms until asymmetric hydrolysis is effected to produce (+)-trans-2, 2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid and esters of its stereoisomers and then recovering the resulting (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-cyclopropane carboxylic acid or its salts. The esters represented by the formula (II), which are starting materials in this invention, are easily obtained by well-known methods, for example, Pestic. Sci. Vol. 11, pp. 156-164 (1980). As the esters used as the starting meterials, methyl ester, ethyl ester, propyl ester, butyl ester, monochloroethyl ester, monochloropropyl ester, monobromoethyl ester, etc. are conveniently used. Especially, methyl ester, ethyl ester, and monochloroethyl ester are advantageous because of commercial availability and ease in handling. Example of salts of cyclopropane carboxylic acids represented by the formula (I) is alkali metal salt such as sodium salt. Cultivation of the microorganisms is carried out in the usual procedure. For example, microorganisms are cultured in a liquid medium, for instance, inoculating microorganisms in a sterilized liquid medium and then cultivating usually at 20-40°C, for 1-8 days with shaking. Alternatively, a solid medium may be used. Any composition of the culture medium may be used, as long as the medium is familiar to cultivation of microorganisms and is utilizable by the microorganism used in this invention. As carbon sources and nitrogen sources in the medium, for example, glucose, starch, dextrin, molasses, fats and fatty oils, soybean powder, defatted soybean powder, fatty bean cake and corn steep liquor are employed. Ammonium sulfate, dipotassium hydrogenphosphate, magnesium sulfate and urea etc. may be used as inorganic salts in the medium. The cyclopropane carboxylic acid esters represented by the formula (II) or a fatty acid ester may be added to the medium. In the method of this invention, asymmetric hydrolysis of cyclopropane carboxylic acid esters represented by the formula (II) is performed by mixing the esters (II) with a culture solution of the above microorganisms, a cell suspension, an esterase-containing aqueous solution such as a liquid esterase extract or its concentrated solution or their processed products, such as crude esterase, purified esterase etc., and then stirring or shaking the thus prepared mixture. It is advantageous to perform the reaction at 10-65°C. Since the stability of the esterase is likely to decrease at high temperature and the reaction rate is small at low temperatures, it is preferable that the reaction temperature be within the range of 20-50°C. It is desirable that the pH of the mixture during reaction be 3-11, preferably around 5-10. It is preferable that buffers, such as phosphate buffer, be used to keep suitable pH during reaction. Reaction time, which varies depending on the reaction conditions such as amount of esterase produced by the microorganisms, temperature during reaction, etc, is within the range of 2-3 to about 150 hours. It is advantageous that the concentration of cyclopropane carboxylic acid esters represented by the formula (II) as a substrate when asymmetric hydrolysis is effected be 0.1-50 wt%, preferably 1-25 wt% based on a reaction liquid. To the reaction mixture, 0.01-1 % of surface active agents such as Toriton X-100, Tween 80 or Brij 58 may be added, if necessary. Cells of the microorganisms or the esterases may be used in the immobilized form, which is prepared by immobilizing them in a usual manner on inorganic or organic carriers, for example, zeolite, alumina, polysaccharide, polyamide, polystyrene resin, polyacrylic resih, and polyurethane resin, etc. Cell suspension, suspension of ground cells or aqueous solution containing esterase, are prepared according to the usual method. Cell suspension is prepared by separating the cells harvested from culture medium by centrifugation or ultra filtration and suspending the cells in distilled water, ion-exchanged water, or buffer solution containing inorganic or organic salts, such as phosphate buffer solution. Suspension of ground cells is prepared by applying ultrasonic treatment, high pressure-breaking treatment by Manton-Gaulinhomogenizer or French Press or lytic enzyme treatment to the cell suspension. If necessary, the suspension may be changed to crude esterase solution by removing ground cell residue from the above suspension using centrifugation or ultrafiltration. Esterase is obtained from the suspension of ground cells by a conventional method, such as salting out with ammonium sulfate or sodium sulfate; or precipitation with organic solvents using hydrophylic organic solvents such as ethanol, propylalcohol, acetone, etc. Aqueous solution containing esterase is prepared by dissolving this obtained esterase in distilled water, ion-exchanged water, or buffer containing inorganic or organic salts, for example, phosphate buffer solution. After the asymmetric hydrolysis is over, the liberated optically active cyclopropane carboxylic acid derivative represented by the formula (I) is separated from the unaltered ester and recovered by extraction with a solvent, column chromatography and fractional distillation, etc. For example, the reaction mixture is subjected to extraction with an organic solvent such as methyl isobutyl ketone, chloroform, ether, benzene or toluene and then the extract is subjected to fractional distillation under reduced pressure to separate the liberated optically active cyclopropane carboxylic acid derivatives represented by the formula (I) from the unaltered esters. One of microorganisms utilized in this invention is Bacillus sp. DC-1, which is a novel microorganism, the characteristics of which are as follows. (a) Morphological characteristics 1) From and size of cell: Rod, (0.5 - 0.6) µm x (1.2 - 1.7) µm. Occuring singly or in short chains. 2) Polymorphism: None 3) Motility: Motile by peritrichous flagella. 4) Spore formation: Endospores formed. Spherical or slightly oval with 0.4 - 0.6 µm in diameter. Spores formed in a terminal position of the vegetative cell, having swell. 5) Gram staining: Negative 6) Acid fastness: Negative (b) Cultural characteristics on various mediums 1) Bouillon agar plate (35°C, 24 hours) Shape: Circular and projected form Margine: None Surface: Smooth and lustrous Color tone: Translucent and yellowish white 2) Bouillon agar slant (35°C, 24 hours) Growth degree: Moderate, growing like spread cloth or beads-like Surface: Smooth and lustrous Color tone: Translucent and yellowish white 3) Bouillon liquid (35°C, 24 hours) Growth degree: Moderate Coloring / discoloring: None Pellicle: Not formed Sediment: Formed 4) Bouillon gelatine stab (35°C, 14 days) No liquefaction. 5) Litmus milk (35°C, 14 days) Slightly alkaline. No coagulation nor peptonization. (c) Physiological characteristics: Cultured at 35°C for 1 - 5 days. Negative ones were observed up to 14 days. 1) Reduction of nitrate: Positive Nitrite produced from nitrate. 2) Denitrification: Negative 3) MR test: Negative 4) VP test: Negative 5) Production of indole: Negative 6) Production of hydrogen sulfide: Negative 7) Hydrolysis of starch: Negative 8) Utilization of citric acid: Koser medium: Negative Christensen medium: positive 9) Utilization of inorganic nitrogen sources: Stanier et al's medium modified by Yamazato et al: (Yamazato et al. J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. (1982) 28:195-213) Sodium succinate was used as the sole carbon source. Nitrate: Not utilized Ammonium salt: Utilized. 10) Pigmentation: Negative 11) Urease: Christensen urea medium: Positive 12) Oxidase: Positive 13) Catalase: Positive 14) Range of growth: Growth temperature: 10-45°C (optimum 30-35°C) Growth pH: 6.0-9.5 (optimum 8.5-9.0) 15) Anaerobic or aerobic growth: Aerobic 16) OF test: Negative 17) Production of acid or gas from saccharides: Acid Gas (1) L-arabinose - - (2)D-xylose-- (3)D-glucose-- (4)D-mannose-- (5)D-fructose-- (6)D-galactose-- (7)Maltose-- (8)Sucrose-- (9)Lactose-- (10)Trehalose-- (11)D-sorbitol-- (12)D-mannitol-- (13)Inositol-- (14)Glycerin-- (15)Starch-- Reference is made to Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, 8th Ed (1974). The strain is identified as that belonging to genus Bacillus, since it is able to grow under aerobic conditions and forms endospores. The present strain is close to but different from Bacillussphaericus and Bacillus pasteurii, as shown in the table below: the Present strain BacillussphaericusBacilluspasteuriiReduction of nitrate+-- Requirement of urea or ammonia--+ In view of the above facts, the present inventors have recognized the strain to be a novel one belonging to genus Bacillus and nominated it Bacillus sp. DC-1. The strain was deposited with Fermentation Research Institute, Industrial Technology Agency, Japan (Address: 1-3, Higashi 1-chome, Yatabe-cho, Tukuba-Gun, Ibaragi, JAPAN) under FERM BP-1254. The strain was first deposited as FERM P-8719 on March 31, 1986, then renumbered as FERM BP-1254 under Budapest Treaty on January 12, 1987. This invention will be explained more precisely according to the following examples. However, this invention is not restricted to these examples and usual modifications or improvements of these are within the scope of the present invention. Example 1After 30 g of soluble starch, 7 g of polypeptone, 5 g of yeast extract and 5 g of potassium dihydrogenphosphate were dissolved in 1 ℓ of distilled water, the pH of the solution was adjusted to 5.0 with 6N hydrochloric acid. After 10 ml of the above liquid medium was put in a test tube of 24 mm diameter, which was then plugged with cotton, it was sterilized at 120°C under high pressure for 15 minutes a loopful of cells of Arthrobacterglobiformis IFO-12958 was inoculated into the medium and was subjected to shaking culture at 30°C for 24 hours to prepare a seed culture. After 300 ml of a liquid medium which has the same composition as above was put in a Sakaguchi's flask of 2 ℓ capacity and sterilized in the same manner as above, 5 ml of the seed culture prepared as above was inoculated into the sterilized liquid medium and was subjected to shaking culture at 30°C for 30 hours. After that, the resulting cultured solution was centrifuged to obtain 5 g (wet weight) of cells which were then suspended in 20 ml of 0.3M NaOH-Na2CO3 buffer solution (pH 10). To the suspension was added 1.0 g of ethyl (±)-cis, trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate (cis/trans ratio = 45/55) and the mixture was allowed to react with stirring at 50°C for 48 hours. Two ml of 35% hydrochloric acid was added to the reaction solution and the resulting mixture was subjected to extraction with 50 ml of methyl isobutyl ketone. The extract was then analyzed by gas chromatography (column: Shinchrom F-51 (5%) + H3PO4 (1%), 2.6 m, 185°C) and the yield of 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid was calculated from the ratio of the peak area of this compound to that of ethyl 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate. All of the starting ethyl 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate were recovered as it was excluding that which had been converted to 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid. IN sodium hydroxide solution was added to the extract to transfer 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl) cyclopropane carboxylic acid as a sodium salt into an aqueous layer. The pH of the aqueous layer was adjusted to 2 or lower with hydrochloric acid to liberate 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid and this compound was extracted with methyl isobutyl ketone. The extract was concentrated and evaporated to dryness to obtain almost chemically pure 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid. After 5 mg of thus obtained 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid was dissolved in 1 ml of toluene, equal molar amount each of thionyl chloride, pyridine and 3,5-dichloroaniline were added and allowed to react to produce anilide. The relative concentrations of isomers of 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid were determined by analyzing the resulting anilide by high performance liquid chromatography (column: SUMIPAX OA 2100, moving phase: n-hexane/dichloroethane=17/3, flow rate:1.0 ml/minute). The results are shown in the following Table. The hydrolysis rate shown in the table represents the molar ratio of the resulting 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid to ethyl (±)-cis, trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate used as the starting material. Hydrolysis rate (%) Ratio of the isomers of the resulting 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid (+)-cis isomer/(-)-cis isomer/ (+)-trans isomer/(-)-trans isomer 22.80:0:100:0 Example 2A medium was prepared by dissolving 20 g of glucose, 50 g of corn steep liquor, 2 g of potassium dihydrogenphosphate, 1 g of magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, 5 g of calcium carbonate and 5 g of ethyl butyrate in 1 ℓ of distilled water, the pH of which was adjusted to 6.0 with 6N hydrochloric acid. After 10 ml of the above liquid medium was put in a test tube and sterilized in the same manner as Example 1, a loopful of cells of Thermomyceslanuginosus IFO-9863 was inoculated into the sterilized medium and was subjected to shaking culture at 45°C for 48 hours to give a seed culture. After 300 ml of a liquid medium which was the same composition as above was put in a Sakaguchi's flask of 2 ℓ capacity and sterilized in the same manneer as above, 8ml of the seed culture prepared as above was inoculated into the sterilized liquid medium and was subjected to shaking culture at 45°C for 48 hours. The resulting cultured solution was centrifuged to collect cells which were then washed with 50ml of distilled water. To the washed cells was added 50 ml of 0.1M phosphate buffer solution (pH 8.0) and they were ground by ultrasonic treatment. After the resulting liquid solution containing ground cells was centrifuged and the supernatant was collected, it was concentrated three times using an ultrafilter. To the concentrated supernatant was added 1.0 g of ethyl (±)-cis, trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate (cis/trans ratio = 45/55) and the mixture was allowed to react with stirring at 40°C for 72 hours. Following that, the same operation as used in Example 1 was performed and the following results were obtained. Hydrolysis ratio Ratio of the isomers of the resulting 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl) cyclopropane carboxylic acid (%) (+)-cis-isomer/(-)cis-isomer/ (+)-trans-isomer/(-)-trans-isomer 9.50 : 0 : 96.7 : 3.3 Example 3After 2 ℓ of a liquid medium having the same composition as the one used in Example 1 was put in a small fermentor and sterilized at 120°C under high pressure for 15 minutes, 100 ml of a seed culture of Arthrobacter globiformis IFO-12958 prepared in the same manner as Example 1 was inoculated into the sterilized liquid medium and was subjected to airation agitation culture at 30°C for 24 hours. Following that, the cultured solution was centrifuged to harvest 53 g (wet weight) of cells. After the harvested cells were suspended in 200 ml of 0.3 M NaOH-Na2CO3 buffer solution (pH 10), the cells were ground using a French press (product of the American Amico Company) and the ground cells were removed by centrifugation to obtain a crude enzyme solution. The crude enzyme solution was then subjected to ammonium sulfate fractionation to collect a 30-60% saturation fraction and this was lyophilized to obtain 1.3 g of a crude enzyme powder. After 0.5 g of the crude enzyme powder was dissolved in 20 ml of 0.1 M NaOH-Na2CO3 buffer solution (pH 10), 2.0 g of monochloroethyl (+)-cis,trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate (cis/trans ratio = 45/55) was added to the solution and the resulting mixture was allowed to react with stirring at 50°C for 17 hours. To the reaction mixture was added 2 ml of 35% hydrochloric acid and the mixture was subjected to extraction with 50 ml of methyl isobutyl ketone. After that, the same operation used in Example 1 was performed and the following results were obtained. Hydrolysis rate Ratio of the isomers of the resulting 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl) cyclopropane carboxylic acid (%) (+)-cis isomer/(-)-cis isomer/ (+)-trans isomer/(-)-trans isomer 18.011.1 : 0 : 88.9 : 0 Example 4A medium was prepared by dissolving 5 g of yeast extract, 5 g of polypeptone, 1 g of potassium dihydrogenphosphate and 0.2 g of magnesium sulfate (heptahydrate) in 1 ℓ of distilled water, the pH of which was adjusted to 9.0 with 10% sodium carbonate solution. After 10 ml of the above liquid medium put in a test tube of 24 mm diameter was sterilized with steam at 120°C under high pressure for 15 minutes, a loopful of cells of Bacillus sp. DC-1 was inoculated into the sterilized liquid medium and was subjected to shaking culture at 30°C for 24 hours to prepare a seed culture. After 100 ml of a liquid medium which has the same composition as above was put in an Erlenmeyer flask of 500 ml capacity and sterilized in the same manner as above, 1 ml of the seed culture prepared as above was inoculated with the sterilized liquid medium and was subjected to shaking culture at 30°C for 24 hours. To the cultured solution was added 1.5 g of ethyl (±)-cis,trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate (cis/trans ratio = 45/55) and the mixture was allowed to react with shaking at 30°C for 120 hours. To the resulting reaction solution was added 1 ml of 35% HCl solution and the resulting mixture was subjected to extraction with 50 ml of methyl isobutyl ketone. The extraction layer was analyzed by gas chromatography (column: 3% Thermon 3000, 1.1 m, 140°C) and the yield of 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid was calculated from the ratio of the peak area of this compound to that of ethyl 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate. All of the starting ethyl 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate were recovered excluding that which had been converted to 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclogropane carboxylic acid. To the extract was added IN sodium hydroxide solution to transfer 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-cyclopropane carboxylic acid as sodium salt into the aqueous layer. The pH of the aqueous layer was adjusted to 2 or lower with HCl solution to liberate 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid from the sodium salt and the liberated 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-cyclopropane carboxylic acid was extracted with methyl isobutyl ketone. The liquid extract was concentrated and evaporated to dryness, thereby 0.404 g of almost chemically pure 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxlic acid (permethric acid) was obtained. After 5 mg of the above 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid was dissolved in 1 ml of toluene, equal molar amount each of thionyl chloride, pyridine and 3,5-dichloroaniline were added and allowed to react to produce anilide which was analyzed to determine the relative concentrations of the isomers of 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid by high performance liquid chromatography (column: SUMIPAX OA-2100, moving phase: n-hexane/dichloroethane = 17/3(V/V), flow rate: 1.0 ml/min.). The results are shown in the following table, in which the yield represents the molar yield of (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid to ethyl (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate contained in the starting material. Yield, Ratio of the isomers of the resulting permethric acid (%) (+)-trans isomer/(-)-trans isomer/(+)-cis isomer/(-)-cis isomer 10090.1 : 9.9 : 0 : 0 Example 5Bacillus sp. DC-1 was cultivated in the same manner as in Example 4 and 0.5 g (wet weight) of cells was obtained from 100 ml of the cultured solution by centrifugation. After the harvested cells were suspended in 10 ml of 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (pH 8.0), 1.0 g of methyl (±)-cis, trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-cyclopropane carboxylate (cis/trans ratio = 45/55) was added to the suspension and the mixture was stirred at 30°C for 96 hours. Extraction and isolation from the resulting mixture was performed in the same manner as in Example 4 thereby 0.277 g of 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid was obtained. All of the starting methyl 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-cyclopropane carboxylate were recovered as it was excluding that which had been converted to 2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid. Analysis was effected in the same manner as in EXample 4 and the following results were obtained. In the table, the yield represents the molar yield of (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid to methyl (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate contained in the starting material. Yield Ratio of the isomers in permethric acid (%) (+)-trans isomer/ (-)-trans isomer/ (+)-cis-isomer/ (-)-cis isomer 10093.0 : 7.0 : 0 : 0 Examples 6 to 13After 100 ml of a liquid medium (pH 6.5, prepared by dissolving 5.0 g of peptone, 10.0 g of glucose, 3.0 g of malt extract and 3.0 g of yeast extract in 1 ℓ of water) was put in a 500 ml flask and sterilized, a loopful of cells of the microorganism each shown in the Table 1 was inoculated from slant culture into the sterilized liquid medium and was subjected to shaking culture at 30°C for 20 hours. To the cultured solution was added 1.0 g of ethyl (±)-cis, trans-2,2-dimethyl-3(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate (cis /trans ratio = 45/55) and the mixture was reciprocally shaked at 30°C for 72 hours. Extraction, isolation and analysis of the resulting culture were performed in the same manner as in Example 4 to obtain almost chemically pure 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-cyclopropane carboxylic acid (permethric acid). All of the ethyl 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate added were recovered as it was excluding that which had been converted to 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid. The analytical results of the reaction performed by each bacterial strain are shown in Table 1. In the table, the yield represents the molar yield of (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid to ethyl (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylate contained in the starting material.	A process for producing (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid or its salts, which comprises allowing (±)-cis,trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid ester represented by the formula (II): wherein R represents C1-C4 alkyl group or C1-C4 alkyl group substituted by halogen atom, which does not indicate the configuration of the ester, to react with ArthrobacterglobiformisIFO-12958 ThermomyceslanuginosusIFO-9863 RhodotorularubraIFO-0918 RhodotorularubraIFO-1100 RhodotorularubraIFO-0889 RhodotorularubraIFO-0909 CandidahumicolaIFO-0760 CandidalipolyticaNRRL-Y-6795 AspergillusoryzaeATTC-14605 AspergillusflavusATTC-11492 or Bacillus sp. DC-1 (BP-FERM 1254) or esterase produced by the above microorganisms, to asymmetrically hydrolyze the ester into (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid and the esters of its stereoisomers and then recovering the resulting (+)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)cyclopropane carboxylic acid or salts thereof. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Arthrobacterglobiformis IFO-12958 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Thermomyceslanuginosus IFO-9863 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Rhodotorula rubra IFO-0918 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Rhodotorularubra IFO-1100 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Rhodotorularubra IFO-0889 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Rhodotorularubra IFO-0909 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Candidahumicola IFO-0760 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Candidalipolytica NRRL-Y-6795 or esterase produced thereby. A process according to claim 1 wherein the ester of formula (II) is reacted with Bacillus sp. DC-1 (BP-FERM 1254) or esterase produced thereby.	SUMITOMO CHEMICAL CO; SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY LIMITED	KISHIMOTO FUMITAKA; KOMAKI RYOHEI; MITSUDA SATOSHI; NISHIZAWA KANJI; NISHIZAWA MASAKO; OGAMI YASUTAKA; SONODA KAZUMI; SUGIKI CHIAKI; KISHIMOTO, FUMITAKA; KOMAKI, RYOHEI; MITSUDA, SATOSHI; NISHIZAWA, KANJI; NISHIZAWA,MASAKO; OGAMI, YASUTAKA; SONODA, KAZUMI; SUGIKI, CHIAKI
EP-0489017-B1	489,017	EP	B1	EN	19,960,313	1,992	20,100,220	new	A61F5	null	A61F5	A61F 5/448	SEALED COUPLING DEVICE FOR OSTOMY	The device object of the present invention relates to a sealed coupling for ostomy, of the type applicable in closing systems and which includes a collecting bag provided with a central orifice which may be brought face to face to a stoma and surrounded by an annular coupling element joined to the wall of said bag, which coupling element has a double wall defining a channel with its opening oriented towards the stoma, and which cooperates with a second annular coupling element integral with a plate adhered to the skin of the user around the stoma, allowing a coupling/uncoupling as desired by the user. To this effect, there is provided an annular tubular neck adhered to the user's skin coupled in a conduit defined by an also annular double wall joined around the stoma-facing orifice of the collecting bag.	The present invention relates to a sealed coupling device for ostomy. AREA OF THE INVENTIONAs is known, in some gastrointestinal or urinary surgical operations the patients have artificial openings made to which bags for receiving the residues are connected. These artificial openings are known as colostomies, urostomies or ileostomies, commonly designated by the term ostomy. The device of this invention relates to a sealed coupling for ostomy, of the type applicable in assemblies for ostomy which comprise a collecting bag with a central orifice, juxtaposed to a stoma and surrounded by an annular coupling element connected to the wall of said bag, which element has a double wall defining a channel with its opening oriented toward the stoma, which cooperates with a second annular coupling element integral with a plate adhering to the user's skin around the stoma, permitting very simple and convenient coupling/uncoupling at the user's discretion. HISTORY OF THE INVENTION The collecting ostomy bags and the accessories attached to them are preferably made of plastic materials, in view of their flexible and impermeable characteristics, among others. The closure systems formed by obturation elements in the form of male and female ribs, both of plastic, capable of nesting one in the other offering an efficient closure and facilitating the opening of flexible bags generally of plastic material, are known and widely used in a variety of industrial sectors. These types of closure systems are fully described by KABUSHIKI KAISHA SEISAN NIPPON-SHA, contained in Spanish Patents No. 279,517 of 1962 and Certificate of Addition No. 332,468 of 1966, and by MINIGRIF EUROPE AKTIESELSKAB contained in Spanish Patent No. 330,627 of 1967. More concrete antecedents of the present invention in the sector where the latter applies are in the first place German patent No. 2,812,833 and in particular the embodiment thereof which is covered in Spanish Utility Model No. 238,930 and French patent FR-A-2548890 (embodiments of figures 1 to 8). Said patent concerns a device of the cited type which comprises two semirigid annular coupling elements, one joined to the plate which in turn adheres to the user's skin in the zone surrounding the stoma, and the second annular element fastened to a collecting bag, adopting a transverse section which defines a channel with its orifice oriented toward the stoma and with a projection on its outer wall which cooperates in interlock with a shoulder of a tubular neck which is integral with the first-mentioned annular element, so that as the two annular elements are being coupled, the neck of the first enters into the channel of the second the inner wall of said neck having an obturation lip and providing a hermetic closure. The device referred to has a first disadvantage relating to the cleaning of the annular element connected to the plate adhering to the user, since the mentioned shutting lip defines a cavity where residues may be retained , difficult to reach, and in any event involving manipulations which add to the user's discomfort. Also, the proposed coupling can make it necessary for the user or the therapist to exert traction or apply pressure whenever the collecting bag must be replaced, causing the patient discomfort or pain, which would be desirable to eliminate. As to the imperviousness of the device it may also be objected that the same in supported exclusively by a lip defined on the element integral with the plate or patch adhering to the user and which is not changed every time the collecting bag is replaced, for which reason said lip may in time lose its effectiveness, with the possible deposition of residues in the concavity that it defines, as emphasized above. A second antecedent of the invention can be found in USA patent 4,419,100, in which is discussed at length the problem of the necessary rigidity of the tubular neck combined with the flexible properties of the annular coupling elements necessary for simplifying and facilitating the tasks of replacement of the bag. In this solution the risk exists of possible depositions of residues inside the channel which receives the tubular neck, thereby complicating the task of replacing the bag. Also the cost of this second device is considerable in view of the manner of connecting the second coupling element to the plate adhering to the patient. Lastly, the walls of the channel of the annular coupling element which receives inserted the tubular neck of the other annular coupling element have an equal or equivalent width, so that the free passage of the opening toward the bag is reduced and the end of the inner wall forms a stepped connection which may favour the deposit of residues. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe coupling device according to the present invention eliminates the disadvantages pointed out, giving a remarkable imperviousness between the two closure elements of male and female configuration that form it. For this there has been provided an annular element in the form of a tubular neck of predetermined cross section, integral with the plate adhering to the user's skin, which tubular neck will be coupled on a channel defined by a double wall, also annular, integrally linked around the orifice juxtaposed to the stoma of the collecting bag. Said tubular neck possesses an inverted truncated cone-shaped inner surface, with no sealing or shutting lip defining a cavity where residues may be retained, its wall presenting a maximum width at the interlocking zone and its outer face defines a protuberant profile having its base outwardly extended by a first laminar flap of flexible condition, and inwardly prolonged by a second laminar flap. The annular element which forms said channel connected to the wall of the collecting bag, around the orifice thereof facing the stoma, has a rectangular trapezoidal cross-section, with a constriction in its mouth caused by an inward protuberance of the channel, at the edge of the outer wall, which is substantially rigid, with an annular recess in its outer face, while the second wall limiting the channel is thin and flexible so that it can easily adapt to the inverted truncated cone-shaped inner face of the tubular neck of the second coupling element, without formation of a step on the corresponding end edge. The coupling between the two annular elements occurs by means of the fitting of the tubular neck against the bottom of the annular channel, offering imperviousness in at least three differentiated annular zones of the inner surface of the annular channel - a first one at the end of the thin and flexible inner wall of the annular channel by slight deformation against the lower end of the first inclined section of the tubular neck; a second one by juxtaposition of the distal planar surface of the tubular neck, parallel to the base thereof, against the bottom of the annular channel; and a third one by coincidence of the protuberance of the outer wall of the tubular neck defined by the triangular profile against the protuberance of the end of the outer wall of the annular channel. The solution according to the present invention offers optimum results, mainly by its tightness, easy handling and cleaning, as compared with the solutions know until now. In fact, the coupling between the two annular elements occurs with slight pressure, thereby obtaining absolute tightness to the exterior, through the means which bring about said union, and ensuring rapid passage of the stools between the interior of the user's stoma and the interior of the bag. The inclination of the first section of the interior of the tubular neck in juxtaposition with the end of the inner wall of one of the two walls which form the annular channel makes it easy for the stools to get quickly into the interior of the bag. Also, the described structure does not permit the settling of the stools in this intermediate section. The materials which constitute the rings referred to, as well as the bag itself, ensure an elastic deformation necessary for the user's comfort, without thereby altering the stated characteristics. Besides the foregoing elements, the device comprises others which will be pointed out below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe annexed drawings, given only by way of example, will help to better understand the invention, the characteristics which it presents, and the advantages that it is able to offer. Figure 1 is a view in transverse section of a device according to the present invention, with the two annular elements coupled. Figure 2 is a plan view of the collecting bag provided with the annular channel. Figure 3 is a sectional view of the annular channel cooperating with the tubular neck during the phase of installation of the bag connected to the tubular neck. Figure 4 is a sectional view of the annular channel with the tubular neck uncoupled. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTIONIn figure 1 is shown a coupling device according to the present invention, formed by the collecting bag 1 and the plate 2, both provided with the orifices 3 and 4 juxtaposable to the patient's stoma. The collecting bag 1 is formed by two identical flexible sheets, perimetrically heat-sealable at 7, the inner sheet 6 comprising the orifice 3 which connects it with its interior. Plate 2 is formed by a first conventional ring 8, of a material known commercially in the sector as 'karaya' of therapeutic characteristics, extraneous to the present invention. This ring is covered by a second ring 9 of larger diameter of a cellulose material which on its inner face comprises an adhesive, protected by the ring 10 of paper or the like, for its adhesion on the surface of the patient's skin that surrounds the stoma thereof. The materials that constitute the bag 1 are of plastic nature and laminar condition, such as polyethylene, PVC, polyamide or the like, or a compound of the type formed by polyethylene/EVA/polyvinyl chloride or similar. The collecting bag 1 is coupled to plate 2 through the channel 26 of a first annular coupling element 11 and the tubular neck 12 pertaining to a second annular coupling element 27. Both said coupling elements 11 and 27 may be made of high or low density polyethylene or of ethylene and vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and obtained by molding. The orifice 3 provided in the collecting bag 1 is of a diameter equal to or greater than the orifice defined by the annular channel 26, as long as the contour of the orifice of sheet 6 can be joined with the basal surface 14 of the annular channel 26 integrally in conventional manner by heat. The tubular neck 12 presents in its basal zone and oriented inwardly a flexible flap 15 which in turn defines a central orifice 16 facing the orifice 4 provided in the annular plate 8. The union between the tubular neck 12 and plate 2 is obtained by heat between the end of the inner flap 15 of the tubular neck 12 and the inner perimeter of ring 9, being joined to the annular plate 8 by the previously mentioned means. From the base of the tubular neck 12 originates outwardly a laminar flap 17, the usefulness of which will be explained later. The tubular neck 12 itself has a continuous general cross section comprising the inclined profile of the inner flap 15 followed by a first inclined section 18, a second section 19 parallel to the base of the tubular neck 12, followed by a triangular profile 20, and ending in a section 21 substantially perpendicular to the base which extends outwardly through the laminar flap 17. The annular channel 26 connected by the surface 14 to the sheet 6 of the collecting bag 1 is turned toward the stoma of the patient, presenting in section, its substantially rigid outer wall 22 and with an annular recess in its outer face of rectangular section 23, and its much thinner inner wall 24, of triangular profile inverted from the surface 14, slightly protruding relative to the outer wall 22. Internally, the annular channel 26 comprises on the outer wall 22 a protuberance 25 at its lower end, the usefulness of which will be described later. Externally, the annular channel 26 is provided with a flap 30, as shown in figure 4, the usefulness of which will be described later. The coupling between the annular channel 26 and the tubular neck 12 is obtained by means of the insertion of the former against the latter, as shown in figure 3. The annular plate 8 will place itself around the patient's stoma and will stay connected therewith by means of the ring 9 adhering on the patient's skin, allowing the tubular neck 12 to be positioned reliably. As the tubular neck 12 is connected to the ring 9 by the end of the inner flap 15, and as the materials that constitute the parts are flexible, the user's thumb can be positioned between the outer laminar flap 17 of the tubular neck 12 and the adhesive ring 9, as shown in figure 3. By its free end, the tubular neck 12 is able to receive the bottom of the annular channel 26 and by slight pressure between both parts through the positioning referred to, with the index finger of the same hand on the outer face of the bag against the base surface 14 of the first coupling element 11, almost without exerting force on plate 8 and the peristomal zone. The coupling between the two annular elements receives an imperviousness in three differentiated annular zones: A first one between the end of the triangular thin and flexible inner wall 24 of delimiting the annular channel 26, superimposed by slight deformation on the first inclined section 18 of the tubular neck. A second zone by juxtaposition of the section 19 parallel to the base of the tubular neck 12 against the inner bottom of the annular channel 26, and A third and last zone through the protuberance 25 of the inner lower end of the outer wall of the annular channel 26, with the outer triangular projection 20 of the tubular neck 12. Figure 4 shows how to proceed for the uncoupling between the annular channel 26 and the tubular neck 12. Thus, by slight pressure outward with the fingers of one hand through flap 30 of annular channel 26, and pressing the fingers of the other hand on the surface of the outer laminar flap 17 of the tubular neck 12, it is feasible to release, by deformation, the protuberance 25 of the inner lower end of the outer wall of the annular channel 26 from the outer triangular projection 20 of the tubular neck 12. With the coupling of the two annular elements, the inclination of the inner triangular wall 24 delimiting the annular channel 26, adapted by slight deformation on the first inner inclined section 18 of inverted truncated cone shape of the tubular neck 12 cooperates definitively to ensure the tightness of the assembly, as it not only does not permit the deposit of the stools on the same distance existing between the end of that inclined section and the small angle defined by the first inclined inner section 18 and the inner flap 15 of the tubular neck 12, but it effectively helps due to its inclination the path of the stools toward the interior of the collecting bag 1.	Sealed coupling device for ostomy, of the type applicable in closure systems which comprise a collecting bag (1), with an orifice (3) facing a patient's stoma surrounded by a first annular coupling element (11) connected to a wall (6) of said bag, said element (11) having a double wall which provides a channel (26) with its entrance facing the stoma and an inwardly oriented projection (25) of its outer wall cooperating with a protuberance of a tubular neck (12) pertaining to a second annular coupling element (27) in order to interlock both coupling elements (11), (27), said second annular coupling element being fastened to a plate (2) adhering to the user's skin around a stoma, the coupling between the two annular elements (11), (27) being executed by introduction of said tubular neck (12) provided with a sealing or shutting flexible lip into said channel (26), characterized in that the inner wall of the tubular neck (12) has no sealing or shutting lip defining a cavity where residues may be retained, said tubular neck (12) possessing an inverted frustum-cone shaped inner surface (18), and its wall having a maximum width at the interlocking zone at which area a protuberant profile (20) extends its outer face, the base of said tubular neck being outwardly extended by a first laminar flap (17) of flexible condition and inwardly prolonged by a second laminar flap (15) whereby said second annular coupling element (27) is attached to the plate (2) and in that the inner wall (24) of said first annular coupling element (11) delimiting the channel (26) is thin and flexible so that it can, with slight deformation, easily adapt superimposed on the inverted frustum-conical shaped inner face (18) of the tubular neck (12) of the second coupling element (27) providing a first imperviousness area, while a second obturation zone is obtained by the juxtaposition of the distal surface (19) of said tubular neck (12) against the bottom of said channel (26) and a third hermetic closure is obtained by the protuberant profile (20) of the outer wall of said tubular neck (12) laying under the projection (25) of the end of the outer wall (22) of said channel (26) due to the groove-and-tongue coupling between the two annular coupling elements (11), (27). Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the wall of the tubular neck (12) of said second annular coupling element (27) offers in cross section a first inclined portion corresponding to the inverted frustum-conical shaped inner surface (18), continued by a second portion pertaining to a planar surface (19) parallel to the base (13) of the element, followed by a triangular profile whose vertex defines said protuberance (20) providing an interlock between coupling elements (11) and (27), and ending in a last portion (21) substantially perpendicular to the base (13) which connects with the inner edge of the flexible annular flap (17) extending outwardly. Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said first annular coupling element (11) connected to the wall (6) of the collecting bag (1) delimiting the orifice (3) thereof facing the stoma has a substantially rigid outer wall (22) and an annular groove (23) in its outer face of rectangular cross section. Device, according to claim 3, characterized in that said thin and flexible inner wall (24) of said first annular coupling element (11) has a triangular transversal cross section and a greater development in length than the outer wall (22). Device, according to claims 3, characterized in that the inner section of said channel (26) of said first annular coupling element (11) connected to the wall (6) of the collecting bag (1) has a rectangular trapezoidal cross profile. Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said first laminar flap (17) which extends outwardly from the base (13) of said second annular coupling element (27) evolves as a circular rim and it extends above the plate (2) in a zone next to the edges thereof. Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said second laminar flap (15) extending inwardly from the base (13) of said second annular coupling element (27) also evolves as a circular rim having a smaller thickness and width than said first laminar flap (17). Device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said inwardly extending second laminar flap (15) is nearer to the plate (2) than said outwardly extending first laminar flap (17).	PALEX IND SA; INDUSTRIAS PALEX, S.A.	PASCUAL VIDAL JOSE MARIA; PASCUAL VIDAL, JOSE, MARIA; PASCUAL VIDAL, José, Maria
EP-0489127-B1	489,127	EP	B1	EN	19,941,214	1,992	20,100,220	new	F16G11	null	F16C1, F16G11	F16G 11/02, F16C 1/12B, F16G 11/10, F16G 11/00	COUPLING DEVICE FOR METAL CABLES	This coupling device for metal cables is comprised of a coupling flange (B) and a connection terminal (T) which are joined at corresponding free ends (1a and 2a) of two different portions (1 and 2) of the metal cable. The coupling flange (B) is configured like a T whose arms (3a and 3a'') define a tubular housing intended to receive the connection terminal (T) and wherein is provided a groove (5) which traverses the wall of the tubular housing and is opened at one of its extremities (5a) and embodies the retention means for said connection terminal (T). The connection terminal (T) has a cylindrical shape and its dimensions closely match those of the adjusted tubular housing. Application to the car industry.	Technical field of the InventionThe present invention relates to a connector device for metal cables, particularly applicable to metal control cables which are used without a protective sheath in the motor industry. Background of the InventionThe use of metal cables, with or without a protective sheath, for the transmission of force from the control mechanism of motor vehicles is widespread. As a particular case, there is cited the metal cable connecting the actuating mechanism of the vehicle parking brake, also known as emergency brake and handbrake, with the brake mechanism as such which, unlike the footbrake, is actuated once the vehicle has come to a stop. This metal linking cable is generally formed by a single stretch of cable provided at both free ends thereof with the corresponding terminals, adapted to each particular application and which are connected to the said mechanisms. The current trends in vehicle manufacturing processes impose the need for said metal cable to be formed by two independent portions of cable which may be installed and connected together in different stages of the vehicle assembly process. Furthermore the fact that the metal linking cable is formed by a single portion requires the replacement of the whole cable in the case of breakage or wear, which involves a financial cost in any case higher than the cost of replacing a single portion of cable if the link between the said mechanisms were formed by two independent cable portions. Spanish patent P8803454 (& EP-A-0 369 411), Connector device for two control semicables discloses a device having a tubular retaining body housing the ends of two portions of metal cable provided with corresponding terminals which may be coupled together. Nevertheless, this solution is rather complicated in manufacturing and assembly, requires an additional mechanical security member and is relatively expensive. US-A- 4 678 360 dicloses a connector device for lines and/or metal cables formed by a connector member and by a coupling terminal which are firmly attached to corresponding free ends of different portions of metal cable, the connector member being formed by a main body of hollow structure provided with retaining means for the coupling terminal and by a clamping bushing, while the coupling terminal is formed by a solid connector body. This connector device is rather impractical for use with metal cables, because the metal cables have to be compressed to pass through a slot. Explanation of the InventionWith a view to providing a new solution to the problem of connecting two portions of metal cable which connect together the actuating mechanism of the vehicle parking brake, known as emergency brake, with the brake mechanism as such, there is disclosed a connector device for metal cables which because of its structure, functionality, features for avoiding untimly uncoupling, ease of assembly and low cost is essentially different from all prior art devices known to the inventor. The connector device for metal cables of the invention formed by a connector member and by a coupling terminal which are firmly attached to corresponding free ends of different portions of metal cable, the connector member being formed by a main body of hollow structure provided with retaining means for the coupling terminal and by a clamping bushing, while the coupling terminal is formed by a solid connector body, is characterised in that the main body forming the connector member comprises a tubular housing for receiving the coupling terminal, which tubular housing comprises the retaining means for said coupling terminal, which retaining means is formed by a slot passing through the wall of the tubular housing in an angular fashion and is open at one of the ends thereof, having a width slightly greater than the diameter of the metal cable portion to which the coupling terminal is attached, to slide snugly therealong until said terminal attains the final position of connection, while the extension of the main body which is perpendicular to said tubular housing defines in turn a longitudinal housing which locates one end of the cable portion thereof, said metal cable end portion being firmly attached to the main body by the action of a clamping bushing concentrically disposed around said main body extension. It is further feature of the connector device for metal cables of the invention that the main body forming the connector member is made in a single piece and is T-shaped, where the arms of said T define a tubular housing for receiving the coupling terminal. It is a further feature of the connector device for metal cables of the invention that the coupling terminal is formed by a cylindrical solid connector body, the dimensions of which correspond snugly with those of the tubular housing formed in the connector member main body, said solid connector body being firmly attached to one end of the metal cable portion thereof, so that the respective axes of the solid connector body and of the metal cable portion are mutually perpendicular. Brief Description of the DrawingsThe connector device for metal cables of the inventions is illustrated in the sheet of drawings annexed hereto in which: Figure 1 is a front view of the object of the invention, showing the component parts thereof separated from each other. Figure 2 is a side view of the object of the invention, partly in section, showing the component parts thereof connected together. Figures 3 and 4 are perspective views of the object of the invention, showing the component parts in different stages of connection. Figures 5 and 6 are side views, partly in section, showing different stages of assembly of the connector device of the invention. Detailed Description of the EmbodimentThe connector device for metal cables of the invention described here as an embodiment is formed by the connector member B and by the coupling terminal T, which are firmly attached to corresponding free ends 1a and 2a of different portions of metal cable 1 and 2, respectively. The connector member B is formed by the main body 3 and by the clamping bushing 4, both made from a material appropriate for the intended use and purpose, preferably of steel, as is perfectly reflected in Figure 1 of the attached sheet of drawings corresponding to this embodiment. In this embodiment, the main body 3 forming the connector member B is made from sheet steel which suitably formed by successive curving operations takes on the T shape shown in Figures 1, 3 and 4 of the attached sheet of drawings. In this T-shaped main body 3, the arms 3a and 3a' define a through housing of generally cylindrical section where, as shown in Figures 2 and 4 of the attached sheet of drawings the coupling terminal T may be snugly housed. Furthermore, the extension 3b of the T-shaped main body 3 forming the connector member B, is perpendicular to both arms 3a and 3a'and defines in turn a generally cylindrical through housing which may house the free end 1a of the metal cable portion 1 to an appropriate extent, which is shown in Figure 5 of the attached sheet of drawings. Figures 5 and 6 are detailed showings of the components forming the connector member B in two different stages of the process followed for assembly thereof in the embodiment described herein. Figure 5 shows the free end 1a of the metal cable portion 1 housed in the extension 3b of the main body 3 and the clamping bushing 4 which may be snugly concentrically slid over said extension 3b. Figure 6 shows the clamping bushing 4 in the final position thereof on the extension 3b of the main body 3 and how the ensemble formed by the free end 1a of the metal cable portion 1, the extension 3b of the main body 3 and the clamping bushing 4 is simultaneously subjected to compression forces, so that the result of said compression is an extraordinarily firm connection of the metal cable portion 1 to the connector member B. In the embodiment described herein of the device of the invention, the means for retaining the coupling terminal T once connected to the connector member B is formed by the angularly disposed slot 5 which is open at one of the ends thereof 5a and along which the metal cable portion 2 to which the coupling terminal T is attached may snugly slide. The coupling terminal T is formed by a generally cylindrical connector body 6 which, like the remaining component parts of the device of the invention is preferably made from steel and whose dimensions are such as to allow it to be inserted snugly in the through housing defined by the arms 3a and 3a' of the T-shaped main body 3, which connector body 6 is firmly attached to the free end 2a of the metal cable portion 2, as shown in detail in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the attached sheet of drawings corresponding to this embodiment. The use of the connector device for metal cables of the invention is extremely simple. Preferably, since this facilitates to a greater extent the coupling operations of the two independent metal cable portions 1 and 2 forming the link between the actuating mechanism of the vehicle parking or emergency brake with the brake mechanism as such, the metal cable portion 1 having the connector member B at the free end 1a thereof is mounted in the vehicle in the first place, in keeping with the vehicle assembly requirements since the mechanical connection effect is obviously independent of the metal cable portion considered, while the metal cable portion 2 having the coupling terminal T at the free end 2a thereof is mounted in the vehicle at a later stage of said assembly process. For connecting both portions of metal cable 1 and 2 together, one portion of the connector body 6 of the coupling terminal T is simply inserted in the housing formed in the main body 3, which housing is defined by the arms 3a and 3a', at the same time as the metal cable portion 2 is aligned with the free end 5a of the slot 5 and by sliding said metal cable portion 2 along the slot 5 while rotating it in 90° the coupling terminal T may reach the final coupled position in which the longitudinal axes of both metal cable portions 1 and 2 are aligned, as shown in Figures 3 and 4 of the attached sheet of drawings corresponding to this embodiment of the device of the invention. In this way, with this coupling position which corresponds to the operating position of both metal cable portions 1 and 2, untimely uncoupling of the coupling terminal T from the connector member B is made impossible, thereby ensuring the continuity of the said linking cable. The security is furthermore additionally increased by the fact that said link formed by the independent metal cable portions 1 and 2 is subjected under normal operating conditions to a pulling force making accidental disconnection of the component parts of the device of the invention even more impossible.	A connector device for metal cables formed by a connector member (B) and by a coupling terminal (T), which are firmly attached to corresponding free ends (1a and 2a) of different portions of metal cable (1 and 2), the connector member (B) being formed by a main body (3) of hollow structure provided with retaining means for the coupling terminal (T) and by a clamping bushing (4), while the coupling terminal (T) is formed by a solid connector body (6), characterised in that the main body (3) forming the connector member (B) comprises a tubular housing (3a and 3a') for receiving the coupling terminal (T), which tubular housing (3a and 3a') comprises the retaining means for said coupling terminal (T), which retaining means is formed by a slot (5) passing through the wall of the tubular housing in an angular fashion and is open at one of the ends (5a) thereof, having a width slightly greater than the diameter of the metal cable portion (2) to which the coupling terminal (T) is attached, to slide snugly therealong until said terminal attains the final position of connection, while the extension (3b) of the main body (3) which is perpendicular to said tubular housing (3a and 3a') defines in turn a longitudinal housing which locates one end (1a) of the portion of metal cable (1) thereof, said metal cable (1) end portion (1a) being firmly attached to the main body (3) by the action of the clamping bushing (4) concentrically disposed around said extension (3b) of the main body (3). The connector device for metal cables of claim 1, characterised in that the main body (3) forming the connector member (B) is made in a single piece and is T-shaped, where the arms (3a and 3a') of said T define a tubular housing for receiving the coupling terminal (T). The connector device for metal cables of claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the solid connector body (6) forming the coupling terminal (T) is generally cylindrical and the dimensions thereof correspond snugly with those of the tubular housing formed in the main body (3) of the connector member (B), said solid connector body (6) being firmly attached to one end (2a) of the portion (2) of metal cable thereof, so that the respective longitudinal axes of the solid connector body (6) and of the portion of metal cable (2) thereof are mutually perpendicular.	FICO CABLES SA; FICO-CABLES, S.A.	SOLANO SALLAN VICTORINO; TRILLA SEGURA ANTONIO; SOLANO SALLAN, VICTORINO; TRILLA SEGURA, ANTONIO
EP-0489157-B1	489,157	EP	B1	EN	19,970,604	1,992	20,100,220	new	B01D29	B01D39	B01D29, D04C1, F02M37, B01D39	B01D 39/08, F02M 37/22, B01D 29/11+/52, D04C 1/06	FLEXIBLE TUBULAR FILTER MEDIUM	A filter medium having a tubular, round braided texture obtained by intertwining a plurality of yarns helically in both leftward and rightward directions, or a filter medium produced by providing a fiber assembly layer on the circumferential surface of the above-mentioned filter medium. Particularly, a flexible tubular filter medium free from flex blocking caused by bending deformation, undergoing little textural change at the inner and outer circumferential portions of a bent part thereof, and having a high particle removing rate and a long lifetime, and a flexible filter element consisting of this filter medium held in a flexible casing. This invention is usefully applied to a liquid filter, especially, a fuel filter for automobiles.	Detailed Description of the Invention[ Field of the invention ]The present invention relates to a flexible tubular filtering material with long service life which is capable of removing particles present in fluids, especially those particles present in liquids such as water, oil and fuel, and which is free of bending obstruction, and a flexible filter element wherein said filtering material is housed in a flexible casing. [ Backgroud of the invention ]Gas filters and liquid filters are used to remove particles present in fluids in a wide variety of fields including the mother machine and automobile industries. With the recent trend to performance sophistication and space saving, there have been increasing demands for improvement in the service life of filter elements used in these filters. Presently, to remove particles present in fluids, especially contaminant particles present in liquids such as water, oil and fuel, so-called sheet filtering materials such as filter paper comprising pulp and nonwoven fabrics comprising synthetic fiber are used. Specifically, the rose filter element is available wherein these sheet filtering materials are formed into a pleat to increase filtering area per element. In the case of the rose filter element, limitation is posed on the improvement in filtering area per filter element, i.e., in the extension of the service life of the filter element, for example, because a ring cavity is needed at its center, and because increasing the number of ridges causes filtering material overlapping and thus makes the flow path extremely narrow. It is also impossible to form a filter element into any form other than a cylinder because of the structure of the sheet filtering material used in the filter element. US-A-3 828 934 discloses a tubular filter obtained by winding flocked yarns back and forth around a perforated core. The yarn is only laid on the yarns which have been wound previously. GB-A-2 125 313 (Derwent Abstract number 84-057869/10) discloses a tubing which is flexible and self-supporting and which may be made of stainless steel wire, optionally combined with a plastic filament. The tubing may be coiled around as spool to form an air filter element within a perforated cylindrical casing. Accordingly, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a flexible tubular filtering material for removal of particles present in fluids, especially those particles present in liquids, with long service life, which is free of bending obstruction and shows little textural change in the outer and inner peripheries of the curved portion even after the casing, which houses the filter element, is bent to any form. [ Disclosure of the invention ]Taking note of the braided cord, a flexible tube of small diameter permitting an increase in filtering area per filter element, the present inventors made investigations with the aim of obtaining a flexible filtering material which permits an increase in the service life of filter element and which is free of bending obstruction even after the casing which houses the filter element is bent into any form, and developed the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a flexible tubular filtering material comprising a braided cord structure characterized in that a number of yarns are spirally wound in the longitudinal direction and are braided into a cylindrical form with said yarns being spirally wound in both, the right direction for some yarns and left direction for other yarns with said yarns being intercrossed with each other, whereby said tubular filtering material does not comprise a support core and the inside diameter of the flexible tubular filtering material is 1 to 10 mm, and L/D, the ratio of length to inside diameter, is 10 to 500. In the present invention, one or more kinds of yarn constitute the flexible tubular filtering material. When using one kind of yarn, it is a short fiber assembly, e.g., a spun yarn or a multifilament or a 11.1 tex to 55.5 tex (100- to 500-denier) monofilament. When using two or more kinds, it is a combination of different yarns, e.g., a combination of spun yarn and filament yarn. Also, either yarn may be a 11.1 tex to 55.5 tex (100- to 500-denier) monofilament. In this case, the monofilament serves well to improve the dimensional stability of the flexible tubular filtering material against fluid pressure. If the monofilament is less than 11.1 tex (100 denier), some problems arise such as insufficient dimensional stability and a lack of pressure endurance. If it exceeds 55.5 tex (500 denier), gaps appear in the interface between different yarns, thus posing a problem of failure to capture particles. Examples of the starting material for the monofilament for the present invention include polyester, polyolefin, polyamide, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polyacrylonitrile, polysulfone, polyphenylene sulfide, polycarbonate and metals. In the present invention, the number of yarns constituting the flexible tubular filtering material, i.e., the stitch number, depends on the number of spindles of the braiding machine. When using two or more kinds of yarn, the ratio of spindle numbers of the yarns is set at a given level. When using a monofilament as one yarn, it is preferable that the number of spindles to which to attach a monofilament-wound bobbin be less than 70% of the total number of spindles. If all spindles are monofilament-wound bobbins or if more than 70% spindles are monofilament-wound bobbins, no service life increase could be accomplished according to the present invention. In the present invention, the yarn(s) constituting the flexible tubular filtering material may take the form of a short fiber assembly yarn except for monofilament or a long fiber assembly multifilament. Examples of the starting material fiber therefor include natural fibers such as cotton, wool and silk; semisynthetic fibers such as cellulose and viscose; synthetic fibers such as polyester, polyamide, polyolefin, acryl, polysulfone, polyamidoimide, polyimide, polyphenylene sulfide and polyvinylidene fluoride; and inorganic fibers such as glass, carbon and metals. These fibers may be used singly or in combination. The single fiber size of these fibers is preferably as small as possible to ensure efficient particle removal from fluid and uniform formation of filtering material pores. This size is normally below 3.33 tex (30 denier), preferably below 1.11 tex (10 denier), and more preferably below 0.33 tex (3 denier). Also, the size of short fiber assembly yarn or long fiber assembly multifilament yarn is normally below 33.3 tex (300 denier), preferably below 1.11 tex (100 denier), and more preferably below 5.55 tex (50 denier). When using the cylindrical tubular filtering material for a role as a support rather than for a filtering effect, a monofilament of 11.1 to 55.5 tex (100 to 500 denier) is recommended. In the present invention, the yarn used to extend the service life of the flexible tubular filtering material is preferably a spun yarn or textured yarn having fluff. The doubling size of the yarn(s) incorporated in the flexible tubular filtering material is normally 1.11 to 111.1 tex (10 to 1000 denier), preferably 2.22 to 33.3 tex (20 to 300 denier), and more preferably 3.33 to 11.1 tex (30 to 100 denier). The number of yarns doubled from the yarn(s) constituting the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention described above is 1 to 100. In a tubular filtering material prepared by doubling a number of yarns, the above-mentioned number of doubled yarns correlates to the wall thickness of the tubular filtering material, which decreases with the increase in the number of doubled yarns when compared at the same doubled yarn size, and this is effective in the prevention of particles from passing through the filter since the doubled yarns are arranged densely in the peripheral direction and the packing density is uniformized with respect to the two directions. It is more important that even when the flexible tubular filtering material is bent, texture pore shift is not likely to occur, i.e., what is called channelling is not likely to occur, because the packing density is uniform with respect to the two directions and a density gradient exists in the thickness direction. It is important that the inside diameter of the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention is 1 to 10 mm, and L/D, the ratio of length to inside diameter, is 10 to 500. If the inside diameter is below 1 mm, the resistance in the tube will increase. If it exceeds 10 mm, the filtering area per unit volume will decrease noticeably. In both cases, a problem of insufficient particle removing performance and service life arises. When the cross section of the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention is not circular, equivalent diameter is taken as inside diameter D. Here, the equivalent diameter is calculated from the inside cross sectional area A of the tube and the peripheral length U of the inside wall of the tube using the equation D = 4A/U. For example, if we assume an elliptical with a major axis length of a and a minor axis length of b, the equivalent diameter is obtained as D = 2ab/(a+b); if we assume a rectangle with a breadth of B and a height of H, then we obtain D = 2BH/(B+H). If L/D is 10 or below, the tubular filtering material, when 90 ° -bent, will show bending obstruction and its filter service life will decrease considerably. On the other hand, if L/D exceeds 500, the particle capturing capacity per unit surface area will decrease with shift from the inlet to outlet of the tubular filtering material, and the service life will no longer be increased even if the amount of filtering material used is increased. It is desirable that the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention have a low packing density on the upstream side and a high packing density on the downstream side. If the packing density on the upstream side is high, service life will be short as well as particle removal efficiency will be low because particles are captured on the upstreme side alone. The packing density ranges from 0.01 to 0.2 cc/cc on the upstream side and 0.1 to 0.4 cc/cc on the downstream side, and it is preferable that a continuous density gradient be present. Control of these packing densities can be accomplished by providing a packing density gradient by hot melt or thermal shrinkage in the presence of a radial temperature density on the flexible tubular filtering material. The packing density of a filtering material is expressed with the value (cc/cc) obtained by dividing the fabric weight (g/m2) of the filtering material by the thickness (mm) of the filtering material as measured under a compressive pressure of 10 g per cm2 and then dividing the obtained quotient by the true density (g/cc) x 103 of the starting material fiber. It is desirable that the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention have fluff or loops thereon or therein. In this case, each filtering material constituting yarn itself may have fluff or loops, or the filtering material itself may be subjected to abrasion or another raising treatment to produce fluff. From this viewpoint, the bulk yarn for the flexible tubular filtering material is preferably a spun yarn or textured yarn. Concerning the shape of fluff, it is 0.3 to 3 mm in the length from the surface of the yarn or filtering material and 5 to 100/cm2 in density. The presence of fluff or loops is conducive to retardation of filtering material clogging since fluff rises in the filtering area and captures particles in liquid stereoscopically in the direction of thickness of the filtering material, thus increasing the service life. The rising treatment of filtering material surface described above is also effective as a means of obtaining a low density on the upstream side and a high density on the downstream side. It is desirable to use a multiple layer yarn having a core-sheath structure or conjugate structure comprising a high density fiber packing layer and a low density fiber packing layer to constitute the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention. In other words, the high density fiber packing layer plays a role to improve the filtering performance, such as particle removal ratio and total particle inflow capacity, of the filtering material of the present invention as well as improve the strength of the filtering material itself and in turn improve the operatability of production of the filtering material, and packing density is an important index of these factors. In the present invention, the packing density of the high density fiber packing layer is normally above 0.6 cc/cc, preferably above 0.7 cc/cc. If the packing density is below 0.6 cc/cc, no satisfactory improvement is always obtained in the strength of the filtering material itself, which means failure to contribute well to improvement in the operatability of filtering material production, and no filtering material with the above-mentioned excellent filtering performance can be obtained. Examples of the material for the high density fiber packing layer include multifilament yarn, textured yarn and spun yarn. The low density fiber packing layer serves to efficiently remove particles present in fluid, retain them stereoscopically in the direction of thickness of the filtering material and extend the service life. This packing density is normally about 0.05 to 0.5 cc/cc, preferably about 0.1 to 0.3 cc/cc. If the packing density is below 0.05 cc/cc, efficient particle removal from fluid is impossible and the particles could not be retained stereoscopically in the direction of the thickness of the filtering material. Examples of the material for the low density fiber packing layer include spun yarn, crimped textured yarn and short fiber assembly, with preference given to a short fiber assembly. The textured yarn comprising the above-mentioned low and high density fiber packing layers can serve for the desired purpose as long as it has a core-sheath structure or conjugate structure in the longitudinal direction of the yarn in both layers. For example, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 and described in the following working examples, there are some modes of embodiment, including mode (1) in which a large number of low density fiber packing layers are arranged on the outer periphery of the high density fiber packing layer as they encircle the high density fiber packing layer (Figure 2), mode (2) in which both types of layers are arranged in contact with each other (Figure 3), and mode (3) in which the yarn of mode 1 or 2 is spirally twisted in the longitudinal direction of the yarn. Of these modes of embodiment, mode (1) is suitable as a textured yarn for assemblying the filtering material of the present invention. Furthermore, it is preferable to combine a textured yarn for the high density fiber packing layer and a short fiber assembly for the low density fiber packing layer. In the present invention, the fiber assembly layer formed on the periphery of the cylindrically arranged flexible tubular filtering material is configured with one or more of braid, fabric, knit, nonwoven fabric tape, yarn bundle, sliver and filament bundle. In this case, the major role of the flexible tubular filtering material is to improve the dimensional stability, pressure endurance and cleaning effect of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material, while said fiber assembly layer serves to significantly extend the service life of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention in comparison with that of the original flexible tubular filtering material. In the present invention, examples of the starting material fiber for the fiber assembly layer include natural fibers such as cotton, wool and silk; semisynthetic fibers such as cellulose and viscose; synthetic fibers such as polyester, polyamide, polyolefin, acryl, polysulfone, polyamidoimide, polyimide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyvinylidene fluoride and phenol resin; and inorganic fibers such as glass, carbon and metals. These fibers may be used singly or in combination. The single fiber size of these fibers preferably equal or exceed the size of the fiber which contributes to the filtering performance of the flexible tubular filtering material. This is because capturing particles in fluid delays the formation of a particle cake layer, which is the main factor of fluid passage resistance in the flexible tubular filtering material located on the downstream side of the fluid. This is important for the extension of the service life of multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material. In the present invention, the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material is formed by winding and fixing a fiber tape, yarn bundle, sliver or filament bundle to constitute the fiber assembly layer around the cylindrical periphery of the previously formed flexible tubular filtering material in the longitudinal direction of the flexible tubular filtering material. Specifically, this can be accomplished by, for example, the method in which a fiber tape is wound while layering in the longitudinal direction, the method in which a filament bundle is wound in the longitudinal direction so that the section of the filament bundle shows a compiled straw bag structure, or the method in which a braided cord is formed on the cylindrical outer periphery of the flexible tubular filtering material. In the present invention, for the purpose of improving the dimensional stability, pressure endurance and element shapability of the flexible tubular filtering material, one or more monofilaments of 11.1 to 55.5 tex (100 to 500 denier) may be mixed in the yarn to constitute the filtering material. This increases the rigidity of the filtering material, thus facilitating the winding fixation of the fiber assembly layer, but addition of the monofilament(s) does not reduce the filtering performance of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material. The flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention is used to remove particles present in fluid as stated above. It serves well for use as a filter element for a fuel filter for automobiles, for instance. For instance, as illustrated in Figure 1, when a silicon rubber casing 1 containing two flexible tubular filtering materials is bent with a curvature radius of R = 50 mm, the filtering material 2 easily follows the bending and does not show bending obstruction because it is flexible. The upstream side end of the filtering material 2 is fixed with, for example, epoxy resin 4 at the inlet 3 of the casing, and the downstream side end 6 is sealed with epoxy resin or another material at the outlet 5 of the casing. In the casing 1 with such structure, fuel enters into filtering material 2 via the inlet 3 and the particles in the fuel are removed while the fuel is passing through the tubular wall of the filtering material 2 and then discharged via the outlet 5. [ Best mode of embodiment of the invention ]The present invention is hereinafter described in more detail by means of the following working examples. Example 1A 6.22 tex (56-denier) spun yarn comprising 0.11 tex (1-denier) polyester staple fiber was braided into a double braid under the doubling conditions shown in Table 1 to yield tubular filtering materials A and B. A total of 32 cords of tubular filtering material prepared under the conditions shown in Table 1 were cut into 300-mm pieces, and one opening end was closed with epoxy resin and the other opening end bundled and fixed with adhesive to yield a filter element. From the opening of this filter element, a given concentration of particle suspension prepared by uniformly dispersing the JIS Class 8 test powder specified in JIS-Z-8901 was fed at a constant flow rate for filtering. Until the pressure loss in the filter element reaches the specified value, the amount of captured particles and the amount of particles which passed through the filter were measured gravimetrically. Based on the values thus obtained, the particle removal ratio and total particle capturing capacity were calculated. Filtering performance measuring conditions:Particle suspension concentration = 0.5 g/ℓ Flow rate = 2ℓ/min. Specified value of pressure loss = 0.3 kg/cm2Comparative Example 1For the purpose of comparison, a rose element of 65 mm in outside diameter, 35 mm in inside diameter and 30 mm in height was prepared by folding with a pleat width of 15 mm a filter paper made of pulp with an average fiber diameter of 20µm (fabric weight 72 g/m2, thickness 0.25 mm, packing density 0.3 cc/cc). This filter element underwent the same measuring conditions as in Example 1 to assess its filtering performance. The results obtained in Example 1 and those obtained in Comparative Example 1 are shown in Table 2. The filter elements obtained in Example 1, which comprised the tubular filtering material of the present invention, proved to surpass the conventional filter element of pulp filter paper obtained in Comparative Example 1 in both particle removal ratio and total particle capturing capacity. Comparative Example 2Filter paper (fabric weight 50 g/m2, thickness 0.20 mm, packing density 0.3 cc/cc) comprising pulp with a fiber diameter of 20µm was bent to a tube with an inside diameter of 2.6 mm and a length of 300 mm (L/D = 115). One opening end was closed with epoxy resin, and 32 cords were bundled to yield an element. The filtering performance was assessed under the same conditions as in Example 1. A particle removal ratio of 84% and a total particle capturing capacity of 4.4 g were obtained. The figures obtained in Comparative Example 2 were lower than those obtained in Example 1. Example 2 and Comparative Example 3Filter elements respectively comprising the filtering materials A and B described in Example 1 and the tubular bent filtering material described in Comparative Example 2 were each placed in a tubular casing with a curvature of 90° and assessed as to filtering performance under the same conditions as in Example 1. In Comparative Example 3, particle removal ratio and total particle capturing capacity decreased when the filter element was placed in the curved tubular casing, since partial bending occurred in the filter element and the tubular filter paper showed bending obstruction. On the other hand, in Example 2, all results agree with those obtained in Example 1; neither particle removal ratio nor total particle capturing capacity decreased. Example 3 and Comparative Example 4 and 5The spun yarn of Example 1 was braided into a braided cord under the doubling conditions shown in Table 4 to yield a tubular filtering material C. Example 3 Filtering material C Number of braided yarns3 Inside diameter (mm)1.6 Fabric weight (g/m2)150 Then, using this tubular filtering material C, 90° -bent filter elements were prepared with the L/D ratio changed to five different levels, and were assessed as to filtering performance under the same conditions as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 5. When the L/D ratio was 5, the total particle capturing capacity, corresponding to the service life, decreased and the particle removal ratio was low. This is because bending obstruction occurred in the tubular filtering material due to the small curvature radius produced by 90° -bending. The particle removal ratio reduction is attributable to an increase in the rate of passage through the filtering material wall and a pore shift due to significant curving deformation of the tubular filtering material. On the other hand, when L/D was 800, the total particle capturing capacity per unit length of the tubular filtering material decreased; this is because the filtering material area was not efficiently used. In the range of L/D from 10 to 500 as specified by the present invention, such problems do not occur, and excellent performance is obtained as to particle removal ratio and service life. Example 4A 6.66 tex (60-denier) spun yarn comprising 65% of a 0.055 tex (0.5-denier) polyester staple fiber and 35% of cotton fiber was subjected to the doubling conditions shown in Table 6 to yield braided cords. Then, these were passed through a stainless steel pipe of 3 mm in diameter and 100 mm in length heated to 200°C to heat treat the outer surface of the braided cords to yield flexible tubular filtering materials A, B and C. A total of 16 cords of each of the flexible tubular filtering materials prepared under the conditions shown in Table 6 were cut into 600-mm pieces. Both opening ends were bundled and fixed adhesive to yield a filter element. From the opening of this filter element, a given concentration of a particle suspension the prepared by uniformly dispersing the JIS Class 8 test powder specified in JIS-Z-8901 was fed at a constant flow rate for filtering. Until the pressure loss in the filter element reaches the specified value, the amount of captured particles and the amount of particles which passed through the filter were measured gravimetrically. Based on the values thus obtained, the particle removal ratio and total particle capturing capacity were calculated. The results are shown in Table 7. Filtering performance measuring conditions:Particle suspension concentration = 0.5 g/ℓ Flow rate = 2ℓ/min. Specified value of pressure loss = 0.3 kg/cm2 The filter elements obtained in Example 4, which comprised the tubular filtering material of the present invention, proved to surpass the conventional filter element of pulp filter paper obtained in Comparative Example 1 in both particle removal rate and total particle capturing capacity. Comparative Example 6Filter paper (fabric weight 50 g/m2, thickness 0.20 mm, packing density 0.3 cc/cc) comprising pulp with a fiber diameter of 15µm was bent to a tube with an inside diameter of 2.6 mm and a length of 300 mm (L/D = 115). The filtering performance was assessed under the same conditions as in Example 4. A particle removal ratio of 84% and a total particle capturing capacity of 4.4 g were obtained. The figures obtained in Comparative Example 6 were lower than those obtained in Example 4. Example 5Using a 6.66 tex (60-denier) textured yarn prepared by twisting a combination of 50% of a 0.077 tex (0.7-denier) polyester staple fiber and 50% of a 0.11 tex (1-denier) rayon fiber around a 1.67 tex (15-denier) polyester multifilament, a braided cord was prepared under the conditions shown in Table 8. Then, this braided cord was thermally treated with 240°C hot blow on the outer surface alone to yield flexible tubular filtering materials D, E and F. The heat treated flexible tubular filtering materials D, E and F all showed partial hot melt adhesion of outer surface fibers with each other, with one-third of the total thickness of the filtering material having a packing density of 0.3 cc/cc and the remaining two-thirds having a packing density of 0.15 cc/cc. The tubular bent filter elements described in Comparative Example 4 and the filtering materials D, E and F obtained in Example 5 were each placed in a tubular casing with a curvature of 90° and rated as to filtering performance under the same conditions as in Example 4. The results are shown in Table 9. In Comparative Example 6, particle removal ratio and total particle capturing capacity decreased, since the tubular filter paper showed bending obstruction due to partial bending in the filter element when the filter element was placed in the curved tubular casing. On the other hand, all the filtering materials obtained in Example 5 had a higher particle removal ratio and the total particle capturing capacity than in Comparative Example 6. Example 6A textured yarn having a surface fiber packing density of 0.2 cc/cc with a core-sheath structure (Figure 2, mode 1), wherein the high density fiber packing layer comprises polyester filament yarn (5.55 tex [50 denier]/25 yarns) and the low density fiber packing layer comprises cotton [4.33 tex (39 denier)], was braided into a cord under the conditions shown in Table 10 to yield a flexible tubular filtering material. Example 6 Number of braided yarns1 Inside diameter (mm)1.4 Thickness (mm)0.3 Fabric weight (g/m2)0.62 L/D214 A total of 50 cords of the flexible tubular filtering material prepared under the conditions shown in Table 10 were cut into 300-mm pieces, and the downstream side opening end of the tubular filtering material was closed with epoxy resin and the upstream side end bundled and fixed with epoxy resin to yield a filter element. This filter element was placed in a stainless steel casing of 30 mm in inside diameter. From the opening of this filter element, a given concentration of a particle suspension prepared by uniformly dispersing the JIS Class 8 test powder specified in JIS-Z-8901 was fed at a constant flow rate for filtering. Until the pressure loss in the filter element reaches the specified value, the amount of captured particles and the amount of particles which passed through the filter were measured gravimetrically. Based on the values thus obtained, the particle removal ratio and total particle capturing capacity, an index of the service life of filter element, were calculated. The results are shown in Table 12. Table 12 also gives data on the degree of flexibility of the tubular filtering material. Filtering performance measuring conditions:Particle suspension concentration = 0.5 g/ℓ Flow rate = 2ℓ/min. Specified value of pressure loss = 0.3 kg/cm2Example 7The flexible tubular filtering material described in Example 6 was heat treated while it was elongated with a load exerted thereon. Using the filtering material thus obtained, a flexible tubular filtering material was prepared under the conditions shown in Table 11. A total of 70 cords of the flexible tubular filtering material were cut into 300-mm pieces, and treated in the same manner as in Example 6 to yield a filter element. This filter element was placed in a casing, and its filtering performance was assessed. The results are shown in Table 12. Table 12 also gives data on the degree of flexibility of the tubular filtering material. Heat treatment conditions:Load = 0.5 kg Temperature = 130°C Time = 5 minutes Example 7 Number of braided yarns1 Inside diameter (mm)1.1 Thickness (mm)0.3 Fabric weight (g/m2)0.55 L/D272 Comparative Example 7Filter paper (fabric weight 50 g/m2, thickness 0.20 mm, packing density 1.3 cc/cc) comprising pulp with an average fiber diameter of 20µm was bent to a tube with an inside diameter of 1.2 mm and a length of 300 mm (L/D = 231). One opening end of the tubular filter paper was closed with epoxy resin, and 70 cords were bundled to yield a filter element. The filtering performance was assessed under the same conditions as in Example 6 described above. The results are shown in Table 12. Particle removal ratio (%) Total particle capturing capacity (g) Degree of flexibility (mm) (Note Example 6916.110 Example 7948.210 Comparative Example 7873.6not less than 200 (Note: Expressed by maximum possible curvature radius.) As is evident from the results shown in Table 12, the filter elements comprising the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention obtained in Examples 6 and 7 are superior to the conventional filter element comprising pulp filter paper obtained in Comparative Example 7 in particle removal ratio, total particle capturing capacity and flexibility. Particularly, when heat treatment was performed under the elongated state described in Example 7, the gaps between the yarns constituting the flexible tubular filtering material become small and the ratio of the fluid which flows in the minute gaps between fibers in the low density fiber packing layer of the textured yarn increased, and thus the filtering performance was enhanced. Example 8 and Comparative Example 8The filter elements prepared respectively using the flexible tubular filtering material described in Example 6 and the tubular bent filtering material described in Comparative Example 5 were each placed in a Teflon casing of 30 mm in inside diameter. Then, the casing was bent at an angle of 90° with a curvature radius of 50 mm as illustrated in Figure 3, and the filtering performance was assessed under the same conditions as in Example 6. The results are shown in Table 13. Example 8 Comparative Example 8 Particle removal Ratio (%)9179 Total particle capturing capacity (g)5.92.4 As seen in Table 13, in Comparative Example 8, the particle removal ratio and total particle capturing capacity decreased due to bending obstruction because the tubular filter paper could not follow the bending of the casing which incorporated the filter element. On the other hand, in Example 8, when the casing which incorporated the filtering material was bent, the flexible tubular filtering material well followed the bending and did not show bending obstruction; thus neither particle removal ratio nor total particle capturing capacity decreased in comparison with the results obtained in Example 6. Example 9Using a 48-stitch braiding machine, a cylindrical braided structure was prepared with 8 spindles of each of a 27.8 tex (250-denier) polyester monofilament and a crimped yarn comprising a polyester multifilament having a single yarn size of 0.3 denier (total 23.3 tex [denier 210]) clockwise arranged, 8 spindles of a 27.8 tex (250-denier) polyester monofilament counterclockwise arranged and 4 cotton yarns added as warps to prevent longitudinal stretching. The fabric weight of the crimped yarn was 40 g/m2. Then, around the circular surface of this cylindrical braided structure was evenly wound a crimped yarn comprising a polyester multifilament of 0.055 tex (0.5 denier) in single yarn size (total 155.5 tex [denier 1400]) at a winding tension of 1.5 g to yield a multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material of 4.0 mm in inside diameter wherein the fabric weight of the fiber assembly layer was 100 g/ m2. A total of 7 cords of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material thus obtained were cut into 300 mm pieces (L/D = 75). One opening end was closed with epoxy resin, and the other end bundled and fixed with epoxy resin adhesive to yield a filter, which was then inserted into a silicon rubber casing of 18 mm in a diameter to yield a filter element. Then, this filter element was subjected to a light oil filtering test in accordance with the testing method specified in JIS-D-1617 to determine the degree of cleanliness and service life. For the purpose of comparison, the filter element of Comparative Example 9 was subjected to a filtering test under the same conditions as in Example 7. The results obtained in Example 9 and Comparative Example 9 are shown in Table 14. Example 9 Comparative Example 9 Degree of cleanliness (mg/ℓ)78105 Service life (minutes)2721 The filter element obtained in Example 9, which comprised the tubular filtering material of the present invention, proved to be superior to the conventional filter element comprising pulp filter paper obtained in Comparative Example 9 in both the degree of the cleanliness and service life. The filter element of Example 9 was bent at 90° and subjected to the same filtering test as above. A degree of cleanliness of 75 mg/ℓ and a service life of 26 minutes were obtained, which are not significantly different from the results obtained in the filtering test before bending. This finding demonstrates that the filter element of Example 9 serves well as a flexible filter element. Example 10A polyester multifilament 0.11 tex (1 denier) in single yarn size was subjected to Taslan treatment to yield a 11.1 tex (100-denier) Taslan yarn. A total of 6 pieces of this yarn were combined. The resulting cord was wound on the outer periphery of the cylindrical braided structure prepared using a 48-stitch braiding machine in Example 9 to yield a fiber assembly layer. The fabric weight of the obtained fiber assembly layer was 210 g/m2 and the inside diameter of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material was 4.0 mm. Then, this multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material was formed into a filter element (L/D = 75) in the same manner as in Example 9 and subjected to a filtering test. A degree of cleanliness of 83 mg/ℓ and a service life of 23 minutes were obtained. Example 11Using a 64-stitch braiding machine, an eliptically cylindrical braided structure having a longitudinally spiral twist was prepared with 16 spindles of each of a 22.2 tex (200-denier) polypropylene-polyethylene composite monofilament and a crimped yarn comprising a polyester multifilament having a single yarn size of 0.055 tex (0.5 denier) (total 19.9 tex [denier 180]) clockwise arranged, 16 spindles of a 22.2 tex (200-denier) polypropylene-polyethylene composite monofilament counterclockwise arranged and 4 cotton yarns added as warps to prevent longitudinal stretching, while rotating a needle having an eliptic section located on the braiding point, followed by heat treatment at 135°C, equivalent to the melting point of polyethylene. Then, on the peripheral surface of this braided structure were evenly wound at a winding tension of 1 g a crimped yarn comprising a 0.055 tex (0.5-denier) polyester multifilament (total 77.7 tex [denier 700]) for the first layer and another crimped yarn comprising a 0.11 tex (1-denier) polyester multifilament (total 77.7 tex [denier 700]) for the second layer to yield two fiber assembly layers. The fabric weight of the fiber assembly layers was 50 g/m2 for the first layer and 65 g/m2 for the second layer, and the equivalent diameter of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material was 7 mm. This multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material was cut into 300 mm pieces. After one opening end was closed, two cords were inserted into a silicon rubber casing of 20 mm in inside diameter and the periphery of the opening was fixed with silicon resin adhesive to yield a filter element (L/D = 43), followed by the same filtering test as in Example 9 to determine the degree of cleanliness and service life. A degree of cleanliness of 81 mg/ℓ and a service life of 30 minutes were obtained. No filtering performance reduction occurred even in the filtering test conducted with the filter element bent at an angle of 120° . Example 12Using a 96-stitch braiding machine, a cylindrical braided structure was prepared with 48 spindles of a 11.1 tex (100-denier) polyester monofilament clockwise arranged and 48 spindles of the same polyester monofilament counterclockwise arranged. Then, around the circular surface of this cylindrical braided structure was evenly wound a crimped yarn comprising a polyester multifilament of 0.055 tex (0.5 denier) in single yarn size (total 155.5 tex [denier 1400]) at a winding tension of 1.5 g to yield a multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material of 3.8 mm in inside diameter wherein the fabric weight of the fiber assembly layer was 100 g/m2. A total of 7 cords of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material thus obtained were cut into 300 mm pieces (L/D = 79). One opening end was closed with epoxy resin, and the other end bundled and fixed with epoxy resin adhesive to yield a filter, which was then inserted into a silicon rubber casing of 18 mm in diameter to yield a filter element. Then, this filter element was subjected to a light oil filtering test in accordance with the testing method specified in JIS-D-1617 to determine the degree of cleanliness and service life. A degree of cleanliness of 84 mg/ℓ and service life of 27 minutes were obtained. Example 13Using a 48-stitch braiding machine, a cylindrical braided structure was prepared with 16 spindles of a 22.2 tex (200-denier) polyester monofilament clockwise arranged and 16 spindles of the same polyester monofilament counterclockwise arranged. Then, around the circular surface of this cylindrical braided structure was evenly wound a crimped yarn comprising a polyester multifilament of 0.11 tex (1.0 denier) in single yarn size (total 155.5 tex [denier 1400]) at a winding tension of 1.5 g to yield a multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material of 2.5 mm in inside diameter wherein the fabric weight of the fiber assembly layer was 300 g/m2.A total of 7 cords of the multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material thus obtained were cut into 300 mm pieces (L/D = 120). One opening end was closed with epoxy resin, and the other end bundled and fixed with epoxy resin adhesive to yield a filter, which was then inserted into a silicon rubber casing of 18 mm in diameter to yield a filter element. Then, this filter element was subjected to a light oil filtering test in accordance with the testing method specified in JIS-D-1617 to determine the degree of cleanliness and service life. A degree of cleanliness of 75 mg/ℓ and service life of 30 minutes were obtained. [Industrial applicability]The present invention provides a flexible tubular filtering material which is capable of efficiently removing particles present in liquids such as water, oil and fuel and which is free of bending obstruction, and a flexible filtering material wherein said filtering material is housed in a flexible casing, and is used as an ordinary liquid filter and particularly as an automobile fuel filter placed in a bent path. [Brief explanation of the drawings]Figure 1 shows the state of bending the flexible tubular filtering material of the present invention at a curvature radius of R = 50 mm in a flexible casing, in which: 1 is the flexible casing, 2 is the flexible tubular filtering material, 3 is the inlet for the subject fluid, 4 is the portion at which the filtering material is fixed onto the casing, 5 is the outlet for the subject liquid, and 6 is the filtering material end sealed portion. Figures 2 and 3 show textured yarns comprising a low density packing layer and a high density packing layer, in which: 1 is short fiber, 2 is the high density packing layer, and 3 is the low density packing layer.	A flexible tubular filtering material comprising a braided cord structure characterized in that a number of yarns are spirally wound in the longitudinal direction and are braided into a cylindrical form with said yarns being spirally wound in both, the right direction for some yarns and left direction for other yarns with said yarns being intercrossed with each other, whereby said tubular filtering material does not comprise a support core and the inside diameter of the flexible tubular filtering material is 1 to 10 mm, and L/D, the ratio of length to inside diameter, is 10 to 500. A flexible tubular filtering material as claimed in claim 1, wherein the yarn constituting the tubular filtering material is a 11.1 - 55.5 tex (100- to 500-denier) monofilament and a fiber assembly layer is installed around the cylindrical periphery of the tubular filtering material. A flexible tubular filtering material as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein more than 2 kinds of yarns constitute the tubular filtering material and one of the yarns is a 11.1 - 55.5 tex (100- to 500-denier) monofilament. A multiple layer flexible tubular filtering material as claimed in claim 2, wherein the fiber assembly layer is installed around the cylindrical periphery of the tubular filtering material. A flexible tubular filtering material as claimed in claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein the packing density of the tubular filtering material is low on the upstream side and high on the downstream side. A flexible tubular filtering material as claimed in claim 1, wherein a yarn has a core-sheath structure of a high density fiber packing layer and a low density fiber packing layer. A flexible tubular filtering material as claimed in claim 1, wherein the yarn is a spun yarn having fluff and/or doubled yarn of a plurality of textured yarns. A flexible tubular filtering material as claimed in claims 1-3, wherein the cross section of the tubular filtering material is not circular. A flexible filter element comprising the flexible tubular filtering material as defined in any one of claims 1 to 8 in a flexible casing.	TOYO BOSEKI; TOYO BOSEKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA	HAYASHI TOSHIAKI; TANI YATSUHIRO; HAYASHI, TOSHIAKI; TANI, YATSUHIRO; HAYASHI, Toshiaki, c/o Toyo Boseki K.K.; TANI, Yatsuhiro, c/o Toyo Boseki K.K.
EP-0489158-B1	489,158	EP	B1	EN	19,961,127	1,992	20,100,220	new	C05F3	null	B01F7, B01F15, C05F11, C05F3	B01F 7/04C, C05F 3/00+F3/06+F11/00, L01F15:00P6A	METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING ORGANIC FERTILIZER	A method and an apparatus for making organic fertilizer by treating a mixture of livestock excrement such as dung of domestic fowls and cattles with organic substances containing cellulose as grass, straw, rice hulls, or wood chips for composting in a short term, which comprises adjusting the water content of the mixture to 25 to 75 % by weight, cutting and kneading under pressure, rapidly heating to 40 to 90 °C by the pressurizing and friction due to kneading, abruptly releasing the applied pressure, and pulverizing in the atmosphere to be brought into contact with oxygen thoroughly and uniformly. Thus the fermentation of the mixture is markedly promoted by bacteria activated by physical and thermal stimulation, whereby the mixture is composted in a short period of time and a fertilizer of uniform and high quality is obtained. The fermentation is accelerated by adjusting the pH of the mixture to 6 to 9 during the fermentation process by addition of a pH modifier thereto. The above organic fertilizer can be efficiently produced by the use of an organic fertilizer manufacturing apparatus composed of a first cylindrical treating tank having a material feed port at its front and a rear interconnected to the front of a second cylindrical treating tank having a discharge port at its rear through a gate, wherein the first is provided with pressure-feeding screw means and cutting/kneading means in the hollow part thereof while the second tank with a revolving crushing cutter.	The present invention relates to a device for manufacturing organic fertilizers by artificial treatments of livestock excrements, such as chicken or cattle manures with cellulose-containing organic materials such as grasses, hulls, straws, wood chips, etc. into organic fertilizers within a short time. An enormous quantity of excrements exhausted from the large-scale livestock industry are left as such due to lack of appropriate treating methods, and environmental pollution caused by bad odor and discharge thereof without treatment have created a social problem. In general, it requires 5 - 6 months to compost excrements of chicken, cattle, swine, etc., and cellulose-containing coarse organic materials used as beds thereof, such as grasses, straws, hulls, wood chips, etc., by leaving them as such in the nature. This is very inefficient and generates bad odor during that period. It has also been difficult to obtain evenly-fermented compost of good quality because of unevenness in fermentation between the surface and interior parts. From WO-80/01803 there was known a process for the production of nutrient material wherein animal manure is mixed with paper shreds or cellulose fibres, followed by mincing and cutting the mixture, whereby it is heated by friction. Thereafter the mixture is comminuted. There is no teaching in this document that the moisture content of said mixture is of any importance and must be controlled. In EP-A-0286758 there is described a screw mill which is used, for example, for producing calcium carbonate powder as a bulking agent for paper. The mill is provided with a cylindrical member wherein a screw is rotating. The material filled into the cylinder is pressed and passed forward by the screw within the cylinder at the end of which said material is ground into a fine powder between multi-stage vanes. The document does not mention the use of a second cylinder which might be provided for a specific purpose. EP-A-0279076 discloses a device for mincing organic waste material, provided with at least two screws within one chamber. One of these screws has at least one mincing tool. The object of the present invention is to provide a device for manufacturing composts of good quality within a short time. The above object is met by a device for manufacturing organic fertilizers with a cylindrical treatment tank which is equipped with a hopper for feeding of raw materials on the rear end, with a screw conveying system and a kneading/cutting system inside, and with an opening, characterized in that said cylindrical treatment tank is provided as a primary treatment tank with a primary screw and a secondary screw, the latter being disposed close to an open/close gate of the primary treatment tank and rotating in a direction reverse to that of the primary screw, with the kneading/cutting system being provided between the primary screw and the secondary screw and consisting of multiple rotary blades provided on a rotary shaft and of multiple fixed blades projecting to the inside of the primary treatment tank and being close to or almost touching the corresponding rotary blades, with the open/close gate connected to said opening, and that there is further provided a secondary treatment tank which is equipped with an entrance connected to said open/close gate, with an opening for taking out products, with rotary blades for fine cutting inside. The projection length of the multiple fixed blades is preferably adjustable. A method for using the device of the present invention is in the European divisional application related with the present case. An accelerated fermentation and a better result are obtained by adjusting the pH value of the mixture with a pH-adjusting agent since the pH value during the fermentation process should be in a range of pH 6 - 9, as well as by adjusting the moisture content of the mixture of livestock excrements and cellulose-containing organic materials, such as grasses, straws, hulls, wood chips, etc., to 25 - 75 %. This pH-adjusted mixture is cut and kneaded under elevated pressure and the temperature thereof is increased to 40 - 90° C by compression and friction caused by kneading. Then the treated mixture is released from the compressed state and exposed to air. The moisture adjustment is successfully performed by the addition of a previously prepared dry fertilizer. The screw conveying system is composed of a main compressing screw which conveys raw materials toward the open/close gate, and with an auxiliary compressing screw for conveying the raw materials into the reverse direction. The cutting/kneading system is composed of rotary blades on a rotary shaft and of fixed blades projecting to the inside of the primary treatment tank correspnding to the rotary blades. The projection length of the fixed blades is preferably adjustable. In the method of using the device of the present invention, the temperature of raw materials is elevated to 40 - 90° C by means of mechanical compression and kneading. Accordingly, microorganisms are activated by physical and thermal stimulations, and the cellulose-containing organic materials are crushed into small fragments by the compression and kneading. Therefore, the livestock excrements, which are the main nutrients for microorganisms, are evenly distributed. Thus the microorganisms are activated under suitable conditions for their growth, such as temperature, moisture, etc. Therefore, all microorganisms start their activities simultaneously and ferment the raw materials within a short time. In such a case, thermophilic microorganisms propagate quickly in the primary treatment tank and the number of the psychrophilic microorganisms decreases relatively. In the secondary treatment tank the aerobic microorganisms propagate abruptly since the treated material has been released from the compressed state and pulverized. Accordingly, the number of the anaerobic microorganisms decrease relatively. Thus, the thermophilic microorganisms and the aerobic microorganisms, which are useful for fermentation, are activated and propagate quickly, and since the number of the psychrophilic microorganisms and of the anaerobic microorganisms which cause a bad odor decrease, composts of good quality and without a bad odor can be manufactured within a short time. With said device of the present invention, the temperature of the materials in the primary treatment tank goes up due to the compression caused by the screw conveyor and by the cutting and kneading. The materials are abruptly released from an elevated pressure to a decreased pressure in the secondary treatment tank, and then pulverized with aeration in said tank. Thus, the raw materials can be treated and taken out as a compost after a single treatment by a series of devices. Fig. 1 is a plane view of the device of the present invention for manufacturing organic fertilizer. Fig. 2 is a cross section along the line II - II of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross section along the line III - III of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a right-side elevation view of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a temperature-time graph of the materials under treatment. An example of the present invention is explained with the attached drawings below. As shown in Fig. 1, the device for manufacturing organic fertilizers consists of a cylindrical primary treatment tank, and a cylindrical secondary treatment tank 2, both connected through an open/close gate 3. The primary treatment tank 1 is equipped with a cylinder 1' and a hopper 4 for the impute of raw materials on the one end and with an opening 5 connected to an open/close gate 3 at the other end. Within the cylinder 1', a screw conveyor 7 driven by a motor or a similar system and a cutting/kneading system 8 are also provided. Although the screw conveyor 7 transports under compression the raw materials fed to the hopper 4 toward the open/close gate 3, it is equipped with a secondary screw 7b which rotates to the reverse direction compared with that of the primary screw 7a. A part of the primary screw 7a is located just below the hopper. This secondary screw is disposed close to the opening 5 of the primary treatment tank and faces the primary screw 7a, so that it further compresses the raw materials having been transported and compressed by the primary screw 7a. The cutting/kneading system 8 is disposed next to the primary screw 7a, in other words, between the primary screw 7a and the secondary screw 7b. The cutting/kneading system 8 consists of a number of blades 8a which are rotated by a driving system such as a motor, and of fixed blades 8b projecting into the primary treatment tank, corresponding to the rotary blades 8a. The fixed blades 8b promote the shearing of raw materials by grinding them with the rotary blades 8a and prevent the corotating of the raw materials with the rotary blades 8a, and also act as baffle boards for the compressed transportation of the raw materials. The fixed blades therefore are preferably equipped in the primary treatment tank with a screw-driving system or similar means so that the fixed blades 8b can be driven forward and backward, which allows to control the temperature, caused by compression and friction, by adjusting the height of the fixed blades 8b. The secondary treatment tank 2 consists of a cylindrical tank 2' which has an entrance 9, connected to the aforesaid open/close gate 3, on the one end, and an opening 10 for taking out products 16 on the other end. Within the cylinder 2' there are provided rotary pulverizing blades 11 which drive the treated materials toward the out-put opening 10 while pulverizing them. A ventilator 12 for taking air into the cylinder is provided on the side of the entrance 9. In the drawings showing an example, both the rotary pulverizing blades 11 and the blower 12 are on the same rotary shaft driven by a motor 13, and reference numeral 14 is an opening for air intake for the blower 12. The use of the device of the present invention to manufacture composts is described below, with reference to the drawings. First of all, livestock excrements, such as chicken feces, cattle/horse feces, etc. and cellulose-containing organic materials, such as grasses, straws, hulls and wood chips (preferably those having used as livestock beds) are taken as raw materials 15. The moisture content thereof is adjusted to 25% to 75%, and the moisture-adjusted raw materials 15 are fed to the primary treatment tank 1 through the hopper 4. The raw materials 15 are transported by the primary screw 7a of the compressing transportation system 7, and finely crushed by the cutting/kneading system 8 on the way, where the cutting/kneading system, particularly the fixed blades 8b thereof act as baffle boards. The raw materials transported by the primary screw 7a, are cut and kneaded while being compressed. Therefore the temperature is increased quickly due to the heat of compression and the heat of friction. Optionally, the intensity of the kneading friction, the quantity of raw materials to be transported etc., can be adjusted by adjusting the protection length of the fixed blades 8b. The temperature is further increased by elevating the internal pressure by using the secondary screw 7b. Thus, the temperature of the raw materials 15 in the primary treatment tank 1 is elevated by compression and kneading, and mechanical and thermal stimulations activate the microorganisms. Therefore the fermentation is performed homogeneously and accelerated. Thermophilic microorganisms propagate because of the elevated temperature, and the psychrophilic microorganisms decrease in their number. As a result, a bad odor is suppressed. The adjustment of the open/close gate 3 regulates the discharge of the treated materials whereby internal pressure and temperature are adjusted. Thus, the materials treated in the primary treatment tank by means of compression and kneading are heated to 40 - 90° C and then discharged through the open/close gate 3. The high temperature materials discharged through the open/close gate 3 are transported into the secondary treatment tank 2. The treated materials are pulverized by high-speed rotary blades in the secondary treatment tank 2 while being contacted with air and thus evenly exposed to oxygen. As a result, aerobic microorganisms are activated and grow rapidly and accelerate the fermentation, by which bad odor is further suppressed because of the decrease of the number of anaerobic microorganisms. Thus, the treated materials having been pulverized under aeration are discharged as an organic fertilizer 16 through the output opening 10. Fig. 5 shows a temperature-time graph of treated materials from the start to the end of fermentation when treated by the device of the present invention. By the device of the present invention, as stated above, the temperature of the raw materials is suddenly elevated by mechanical compression, cutting and kneading, then the materials are released suddenly into a low pressure atmosphere, and are evenly exposed to oxygen by the contact with air while being pulverized. Therefore, microorganisms in the treated materials are activated because of physical and thermal stimulations, by which the fermentation is highly enhanced. Because of these reasons, composting is accomplished within only several days, otherwise it takes 5 - 6 months by conventional methods, and homogeneous fertilizers of good quality are obtained. Because of the short treating time, no bad odor and waste water are generated since the number of mesophilic and anaerobic microorganisms is remarkably decreased, and because of the in-situ treatment of excrements the present invention contributes very much to the prevention of pollution and the improvement of the environment. Furthermore, the resultant composts gave better results against root eelworm. The growth of microorganisms in the soil was also observed to be better than that obtained by the applications of composts produced by conventional devices, which had been prepared spending several months of time. These facts show that the fertilizers prepared by the device of the present invention are less decomposed and contain more nutrients for soils, which enhance propagation of soil microorganisms. As a result thereof, parasitic microorganisms are suppressed and the number of harmful worms is decreased. The device of the present invention is very useful because the products obtained thereby accomplish the primary purpose of organic fertilizers.	Device for manufacturing organic fertilizers with a cylindrical treatment tank (1) which is equipped with a hopper (4) for feeding of raw materials on the rear end, with a screw conveying system (7) and a kneading/cutting system (8) inside, and with an opening (5), characterized in that said cylindrical treatment tank (1) is provided as a primary treatment tank (1,1') with a primary screw (7a) and a secondary screw (7b), the latter being disposed close to an open/close gate (3) of the primary treatment tank (1,1') and rotating in a direction reverse to that of the primary screw (7a), with the kneading/cutting system (8) being provided between the primary screw (7a) and the secondary screw (7b) and consisting of multiple rotary blades (8a) provided on a rotary shaft and of multiple fixed blades (8b) projecting to the inside of the primary treatment tank (1) and being close to or almost touching the corresponding rotary blades (8a), with the open/close gate (3) connected to said opening (5), and that there is further provided a secondary treatment tank (2,2') which is equipped with an entrance (9) connected to said open/close gate (3), with an opening (10) for taking out products, with rotary blades (11) for fine cutting inside. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the projection length of the multiple fixed blades (8b) is adjustable. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the rear and of the secondary treatment tank (2,2') is equipped with a ventilator (12) for taking air into the secondary treatment tank (2,2').	INOUE SATOSHI; INOUE, SATOSHI	INOUE SATOSHI; INOUE, SATOSHI
EP-0489159-B1	489,159	EP	B1	EN	19,980,107	1,992	20,100,220	new	C21D8	null	C21D8, C22C38, C21D9	C21D 8/06, M21D9:64	METHOD OF PRODUCING ULTRAFINE HIGH-STRENGTH, HIGH-DUCTILITY STEEL WIRE	A method of producing an ultrafine steel wire with a diameter of at most 0.4 mm and a tensile strength of at least 360 kgf/mm², which comprises hot rolling and drawing, after subjecting to diffusion treatment if necessary, steel containing 0.91 to 1.00 wt % of carbon, at most 0.4 wt % of silicon, at most 0.5 wt % of manganese, 0.10 to 0.30 wt % of chromium, and the balance of iron and unavoidable impurities, subjecting to final patenting to attain a wire strength of 140 to 160 kgf/mm², and further drawing the wire at a die angle of 8 to 12° with a true strain of at least 3.50.	TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates generally to steel wires each having a very small diameter, a high strength and excellent ductility preferably employable for producing a steel cord, a rope, a saw wire or the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of producing steel wires each having a very small diameter of 0.4 mm or less, a high tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2 or more and excellent ductility by way of a step of wire drawing.BACKGROUND ARTUsually, high carbon steel wires each having a very small diameter have been hitherto produced by way of the steps of allowing a steel material to be subjected to the rolling as desired, subsequently, controllably cooling the hot-rolled steel rod, allowing the cooled steel rod to be subjected to primary drawing to prepare a steel wire having a diameter of 5.0 to 5.5 mm, allowing the steel wire to be subjected to final patenting treatment, and thereafter, plating the steel wire with a brass, and finally, allowing it to be subjected to final drawing in a wet state. Many steel wires of the aforementioned type each having a very small diameter have been practically used in the form of a steel cord produced such that it is made of strands or bunches. As desired, a wire stranding or bunching operation is optionally performed to produce a steel cord having two steel wires stranded together, having seven steel wires stranded together or the like. To this end, it is necessary that each steel wire has excellent ductility sufficient to resist a severe wire stranding or bunching operation performed at high speed (in excess of 18000 rpm).In addition, each steel wire is required to have high tensile strength, sufficient toughness and excellent resistibility against fatigue breakage. To satisfactorily meet the foregoing requirement, a variety of development works have been heretofore conducted to produce a steel material having a high quality.For example, steel wires each having a very small diameter and sufficient toughness and high carbon steel wires employable as a steel cord, both of which are produced with low occurrence of wire breakage during a stranding operation by restrictively defining a content of manganese less than 0.3% to suppress the generation of an excessively cooled structure after completion of a lead patenting treatment, and moreover, restrictively defining the content of each of C, Si, Mn and other elements, are disclosed in an official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Publication Patent (Kokai) No. 60-204865. In addition, a steel rod usable for producing steel wires each having a very small diameter, sufficient toughness and excellent ductility, which are produced at a reduced drawing rate using steel rods each of which is subjected to a lead patenting treatment to elevate tensile strength with a content of silicon set to 1.00% or more, are disclosed in an official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Publication Patent (Kokai) No. 63-24046. Additionally, a steel rod having elements of Al, Ti, Nb and Zr added thereto by a quantity of 0.01% or more to improve ductility of the steel rod in the presence of a carbide and a nitride, wherein the maximum width of a segregation zone where carbon or manganese is segregated by a quantity as much as 1.3 times the average content of carbon or manganese within the range of less than a half of the radius of the steel rod as measured form the center of a cross-sectional plane of the steel rod determined to be 0.01 or less of a diameter of the steel rod are disclosed in an official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Publication Patent (Kokai) No. 62-238327.The prior invention disclosed in the official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Publication Patent (Kokai) No. 60-204865 is concerned with a high carbon steel rod employable in producing steel wires each having a very small diameter of 0.5 mm or less and a tensile strength of 250 kgf/mm2 or more by way of a step of wire drawing, and the prior invention disclosed in the official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Publication Patent (Kokai) No. 63-14046 is concerned with a high carbon steel rod employable in producing steel wires each having a very small diameter of 0.5 mm or less and a tensile strength of 300 kgf/mm2 or more.In recent years, however, earnest requests for increasing tensile strength of each steel wire for producing steel cords have been forthcoming from users in proportion to the latest accelerated reduction of the weight of each tire and increased performance of the same. To satisfy the foregoing requests, a variety of development works have been hitherto conducted to produce steel cords each having a tensile strength having an order of 340 kgf/mm2. In addition, it is expected by users that steel codes each having a tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2 or more will be practically produced on an industrial basis.DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has been made to obviate the drawbacks inherent to the prior art as mentioned above and its object resides in providing a method of producing steel wires each having a very small diameter and a tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2 or more without any deterioration of ductility.Specifically, according to the present invention, there is provided a method of producing steel wires each having a very small diameter ranging from 0.4 to 0.03 mm, a tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2 or more, wherein the method provides that a steel material having a composition of C : 0.090 to 1.10% by weight, Si : 0.4 or less by weight, Mn : 0.5% or less, Cr : 0.10 to 0.30% by weight and a balance of iron and unavoidable impurities is subjected to a diffusion treatment as claimed in claim 1. The method further provides that the material is subjected to hot rolling, the hot-rolled steel rod is subjected to primary drawing to prepare a steel rod having a smaller diameter, this steel rod is subjected to a patenting treatment, causing the steel rod to have a strength ranging from 140 to 160 kgf/mm2 thereby to provide a metallurgical structure including a preeutectoid ferrite and a preeutectoid cementite in terms of an area rate of 0.02% or less, and subsequently, the steel rod is subjected to final wire drawing in a wet state with a true strain of 3.50 or more.With the steel wires each having a very small diameter produced by employing the method of the present invention, to assure that a strength of each steel wire is increased and the appearance of the preeutectoid ferrite is suppressed after completion of the patenting treatment, the carbon content is increased, and the appearance of the preeutectoid cementite and the deterioration of the configuration of a pearlite lamella occurred by the increased carbon are suppressed by an element chrominum added thereto. Consequently, increase of the tensile strength of each steel wire has been realized by refining the pearlite lamella. In addition, ductility of a cementite layer is improved to a level of ductility of a conventional steel material by refining the pearlite lamella in size in the above-described manner, whereby an increase of ductility of each steel wire has been realized by suppressing a quantity of the addition of elements of Cr, Si and Mn as far as possible thereby to maintain ductility of a ferrite phase at a level of the conventional steel material. Conclusively, the inventors have succeeded in elevating the strength and ductility of each steel wire in excess of those of the conventional steel material by properly designing a composition of each steel material so as to realize that a strength of each steel wire is increased and precipitation of the preeutectoid ferrite and the preeutectoid cementite is suppressed after completion of the patenting treatment merely by refining microstructure of steel in the above-described manner. Thus, in spite of the fact that the strength of each steel wire is elevated after completion of the patenting treatment, the method of the present invention assures that the ductility of the steel wires each having a very small diameter produced at an increased drawing rate is maintained at a level of the conventional steel material, thereby enabling steel wires each having a very small diameter to be produced with high strength and excellent ductility.In addition, according to the present invention, an approach angle of a die to be used for performing a wire drawing operation is reduced to minimize the possibility of an interior flaw occurring during a primary wire drawing operation, and moreover, a die having a small die approach angle is used for performing a wire drawing operation in a wet state. Thus, it becomes possible to produce steel wires each having a very small diameter with high strength and excellent ductility by employing the method of the present invention.Since a content of unavoidable impurities, e.g., aluminum is restrictively defined to be 0.003% or less, deterioration of ductility of each steel wire due to the presence of non-metallic inclusions can be avoided.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a series of steps of producing steel wires each having a very small diameter and conditions for producing the same by employing a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, andFig. 2 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between tensile strength of each steel material and a rate of reducing a cross-sectional area of the steel wire until it is worked to an ultimate extent, with respect to steel materials of the present invention and comparative steel materials.BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTIONNow, description will be made below with respect to the best mode for carrying out the present invention.First, the reason the content of each component in a steel material used for practising the method of the present invention is restrictively defined as mentioned above will be described below.The inventors have discovered that a small quantity of preeutectoid ferrite precipitates along an old austenite grain boundary during the final patenting treatment when an eutectoid component comprising a carbon is contained in the steel material by a quantity near to 0.8% and that the preeutectoid ferrite leads to a factor reducing ductility of each steel wire after completing of the wire drawing operation. The carbon is not only an economical and effective reinforcing element but also an element effective for reducing the quantity of precipitation of the preeutectoid ferrite. Thus, it is necessary that a carbon content is defined to be 0.90% or more so as to improve ductility of the steel wires each having a very small diameter and a tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2. However, when the carbon content is excessively increased, the result is that ductility is degraded, and moreover, the drawability of each wire is undesirably reduced. for this reason, an upper limit of the carbon content is set to 1.10%.A silicon is an element that is required for deoxidizing a steel material. Thus, when a silicon content is excessively reduced, a deoxidizing effect becomes unsatisfactory. In addition, the silicon is solved in the ferrite phase in the pearlite formed after completion of the heat treatment to elevate the strength of each steel wire after completion of the patenting treatment. On the contrary, however, the silicon degrades ductility of the ferrite, and moreover, degrades ductility of the steel wires each having a very small diameter after completion of a wire drawing operation. For this reason, the silicon content is restrictively defined to be 0.4% or less, and a lower limit of the silicon content is set to 0.1% which assures an effect derived from the addition of the silicon as a deoxidizing agent.With respect to an element of manganese, it is desirable that a small quantity of manganese is added to a steel material so as to allow the steel material to maintain a certain quenching property. However, when a large quantity of manganese is added to the steel material, a part of the added manganese is undesirably segregated therefrom, and when the steel material is patented, causing an excessively cooled metallurgical structure containing a bainite and a martensite in the steel material with the result that a subsequent wire drawing operation is performed at reduced efficiency. For this reason, a manganese content is restrictively defined to be 0.5% or less, and a lower limit of the manganese content is set to 0.2% which assures an effect derived from the addition of the manganese to the steel material.In the case of a hyper-eutectoid steel employed for practicing the method of the present invention, a cementite network is liable to appear in the metallurgical microstructure after completion of the patenting treatment, and moreover, a cementite having a heavy thickness is liable to appear therein. To assure that high tensile strength- and excellent ductility are realized with the hyper-eutectoid steel, it is necessary that a pearlite be refined, and the cementite network and the heavy cementite as mentioned above are removed from the steel material. Chromium has the effect of suppressing the appearance of an abnormal portion such as the cementite, and moreover, refining the pearlite lamellar spacing. However, when a large quantity of chromium is added to the steel material, a dislocation density in the ferrite is undesirably increased after completion of the heat treatment, resulting in the ductility of the steel wires, each having a very small diameter after completion of the wire drawing operation, being significantly reduced. For this reason, a content of chromium added to the steel material is restrictively defined to be 0.10% or more which assures that an effect derived from the addition of the chromium to the steel material can be expected, and an upper limit of the chromium content is set to 0.30% or less, which assures that there is no possibility that the dislocation density in the ferrite will undesirably increase, resulting in the ductility of each steel wire being adversely affected.Since the method of the present invention is intended to produce steel wires each having a very small diameter of 0.4 mm or less in the above-described manner, it is required that especially, the ductility of each steel wire is maintained. To meet the requirement, a content of unavoidable impurities such as S, P, Al, Cu, Ni or the like is restrictively defined as far as possible.To assure that the ductility of each steel wire is maintained, it is desirable that a content of each of S and P is restrictively defined to be 0.020% or less. In addition, since an aluminum forms non-metallic inclusions such as Al2O3, MgO-Al2O3 or the like each containing Al2O3 as a main component, it is desirable that an aluminum content is restrictively defined to be 0.003% or less. Additionally, since a copper is a solid solution hardening element which functions to deteriorate the ductility of each steel wire, it is desirable that a copper content is defined to be less than 0.005%. Further, since a nickel is an element that functions to elongate transformation time, in the case of a high speed heat treatment line installed in a steel plant to produce steel wires each having a very small diameter by employing the method of the present invention, there is the possibility that a sufficiently long heat treatment time cannot be reserved unless line speed is reduced. For this reason, it is desirable that the nickel content is restrictively defined to be 0.05% or less.Subsequently, the steel material for which a diffusion treatment has been conducted is subjected to hot rolling, as desired, to prepare a rod having a diameter of 5.0 to 5.5 mm. The hot-rolled rod is then subjected to primary wire drawing with the aid of a drawing die having a die angle ranging from 8 to 12 degrees to prepare a wire having a diameter of 2.4 to 2.7 mm.As mentioned above, since the steel material employed for practicing the method of the present invention is a hyper-eutectoid steel, unfavorable portions are liable to appear in the metallurgical microstructure of the steel rod obtained after completion of the hot rolling operation. Each of the incorrect portions becomes a source where fine cracking occurs during a step of primary wire drawing. However, it is practically difficult to minimize the occurrence of final crulery by improving the metallurgical structure of the steel rod because the steel material employed for practicing the method of the present invention is a hyper-eutectoid steel. The inventors have found that the foregoing problem can easily be solved by using a drawing die having a die approach angle ranging from 8 to 12 degrees while a drawing die having a die approach angle of 10 decrees is taken as a reference die. In general, when a high carbon steel rod is drawn, a drawing die having a die approach angle of 12 to 16 degrees is employed and a die approach angle of 14 degrees, which assures that the magnitude of force required for performing a wire drawing operation is reduced to an ultimate extent and is taken as a reference. In this case, however, since a tensile stress appears in the central part of each steel rod during a wire drawing operation, the steel rod assumes that fine cracking is liable to occur in the central part thereof. Under the aforementioned circumstances, to assure that a primary wire drawing operation is easily performed without occurrence of fine cracking, it is desirable, from the viewpoint of practical use, to employ a drawing die having a die angle ranging from 8 to 12 degrees and a die angle of 10 degrees, which assures that a sufficiently high intensity of compression stress functions on the central part of each steel wire and is taken as a reference.Next, a description will explain the reason why the method of the present invention is practiced by way of the steps as mentioned above. First, a steel material (bloom or the like) having the aforementioned composition is subjected to a diffusion treatment. This diffusion treatment is conducted for the reason as noted below.Specifically, it is necessary because of the hyper-eutectoid steel employed for practicing the method of the present invention such that an occurrence of segregation is suppressed much more than any conventional method no matter how a composition of the steel material employed for the method of the present invention is designed. Fcr this reason, the steel material is subjected to diffusion treatment within the temperature range of 1250 to 1320°C for 2 to 15 hours to reduce the occurrence of segregation in the steel material as far as possible. To this end, the maximum width of a segregation zone where an element of C or Mn is precipitated by a quantity in excess of 1.3 times an average quantity of the element in the steel material within the range of a half of the radius of the steel rod as measured from the center of a cross-sectional plane of the same is set to 0.01 or less of the diameter of the steel rod. In addition, with respect to segregation of chromium, since it becomes practically difficult to heat treat ideally because transformation characteristics of the steel material are vary remarkably unless an occurrence of segregation of the chromium is suppressed, it is desirable that the minimum width of the segregation zone, where the element of chromium is segregated by a quantity in excess of 1.3 times an average quantity of the element in the steel material within the range of a half of the radius of the steel rod as measured from the center of a cross-sectional plane of the steel rod, be set to 0.01 or less of a diameter of the steel rod.In the case where it is acceptable that a cross-sectional area reduction rate of a final product and a working property of wire stranding or bunching of the same are slightly reduced or degraded, the step of diffusion treatment may be omitted. In this case, however, it is required that the steel material be subjected to hot rolling immediately after it is heated to an elevated temperature of 1250 to 1280°C to prepare a steel rod having a diameter of 5.0 to 5.5 mm.Subsequently, a patenting treatment is conducted for the steel rod prepared in that way. To assure that a final product of steel wires each having a very small diameter of 0.4 mm or less exhibits a tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2, it is necessary that the steel material exhibit a strength of 140 kgf/mm2 after completion of the patenting treatment. When the strength of the steel material after completion of the patenting treatment exceeds 160 kgf/mm2, an unfavorable portion such as a preeutectoid ferrite, a preeutectoid cementite or a bainite results in the ductility of each steel wire being degraded. For this reason, the strength of the steel wire after completion of the patenting treatment is determined to remain with the range of 140 to 160 kgf/mm2.To assure that the strength of the steel material after completion of the patenting treatment as mentioned above is obtained, it is required that the steel wire be first heated within the temperature range of 900 to 950°C and the heated steel wire then be dipped in a molten lead bath kept hot within the temperature range of 550 to 620°C (to conduct patenting treatment in the molten lead bath) or then immersed in a fluidized bed kept hot within the temperature range of 490 to 560°C (to conduct patenting treatment in the fluidized bed).After completion of the patenting treatment, the steel rod exhibits a metallurgical microstructure containing a preeutectoid ferrite and a preeutectoid cementite by a quantity of 0.02% or less in terms of an area rate.The steel wire for which the patenting treatment has been conducted in the above-described manner is plated with brass and the brass plated steel wire is then conveyed to a step of final wire drawing to be performed in a wet state. To assure that each steel wire exhibits a tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2 after completion of the final wire drawing operation, it is recommended that the final wire drawing operation be accomplished with a true strain of 3.50 or more. In addition, to assure that each steel wire has excellent ductility after completion of the final drawing operation, it is desirable that a die having a die angle ranging from 8 to 12 degrees be employed while a die angle of 10 degrees is taken as a reference. This is because compression stress appearing in each steel wire is increased when a die approach having a smaller die angle is employed, resulting in the final wire drawing operation being performed more uniformly.In such manner, when steel wires each having a very small diameter of 0.2 to 0.4 mm are produced by employing the method of the present invention, the result is that steel wires each having a very small diameter and a high tensile strength of 360 to 420 kgf/mm2 while exhibiting excellent wire stranding or bunching performance and excellent ductility can be obtained. In addition, when the method of the present invention is employed, it has been found that steel wires each having a very small diameter of 0.1 mm, a tensile strength of 470 to 510 kgf/mm2 and a cross-sectional area reduction rate of 20% or more can be obtained.EMBODIMENTSA steel cord was produced using a steel material of a particular component as shown in Table 1 by employing the method of the present invention.It should be noted that steel materials A to J on the table represent steel materials each employed for practicing the method of the present invention and steel materials K to L represent comparative steel materials and that among the steel materials shown on the table, the steel materials A and B represent steel materials wherein segregation of elements of C, Mn and Cr were not reduced, respectively, and the steel materials C to J represent steel materials wherein segregation of the foregoing elements was reduced by employing the method of the present invention, respectively.Production steps and production conditions are shown in Table 1. First, an effect of suppressing an occurrence of micro cracking on a die having a small die angle is shown on Table 2. As is apparent from the table, an occurrence of fine cracking could be reduced to an ultimate extent by using a die having an approach angle of 10 degrees. Comparison on the number of microcracks recognizedDie having a die angle of 14 degreesDie having a die angle of 10 degreesThe number of cracks recognized50Note: A mark (x) represents that a steel wire having a diameter of 5.5 mm was reduced to a diameter of 2.50 mm by way of a step of wire drawing.Material properties of steel wires produced by way of production steps shown in Fig. 1 are shown on Table 3 wherein they were measured after completion of final lead patenting (hereinafter referred to simply as final LP). When the method of the present invention was employed, a strength of each steel wire having a very small diameter after completion of the final LP was controlled to remain within the range of 140 to 160 kgf/mm2. In addition, material properties of steel cords produced by way of a step of final drawing in a wet state are shown in table 4. In this table, a working performance of bunching represents a value derived from dividing a breakage stress by a tensile strength wherein the foregoing breakage stress was measured when steel wires were bunched together with a pitch of 5 mm at a rotational speed of 18000 rpm. It is apparent from the table that a strength of 360 kgf/mm2 could be obtained with comparative steel materials (K, L) but each of the comparative steel materials (K, L) exhibits remarkable deterioration of a working performance of bunching, whereas a high strength of 400 kgf/mm2 could be obtained with steel materials (A to J) of the present invention and each of the steel materials (A to J) of the present invention exhibits excellent standing performance. In addition, a relationship between tensile strength and rate of reduction of a cross-sectional area of each steel wire until it is worked to an ultimate extent is shown in Fig. 2 with respect to the steel materials of the present invention and the comparative steel materials. As shown in the drawing, the ultimate working extent of the steel materials of the present invention is elevated compared with the comparative steel materials. Material properties after completion of final LPMarkLP condition (°C)Tensile strength (kgf/mm2)Rate of reduction of cross-sectional area (%)Appearance of abnormal phase area reduction rate (%)Steel materials of present inventionA950 to 575148.326.3 0.018B950 to 575150.4 25.0 0.017 C950 to 590144.442.60.013D950 to 560148.745.50.014E950 to 575147.539.00.017F950 to 590144.242.90.012G950 to 560150.638.50.015H950 to 575150.337.70.013I950 to 575154.334.30.017J950 to 560158.832.90.019Comparative steel materialK950 to 550132.640.20.063L950 to 575136.840.70.047Note: A mark (x) represents a proeutectoid cementite and a proeutectoid ferrite.Material properties after completion of wire drawing operationSampleQuantity of wire drawing (lnε)Tensile strength (kgf/mm2)Value after 100d twists (times)Performance of wire bunchingSteel materials of present inventionA3.81412.022.00.20B3.79419.023.00.19C3.79403.519.30.26D3.69402.219.00.27E3.70404.520.70.32F3.74400.921.00.31G3.68402.122.40.31H3.68404.822.60.32I3.62403.520.00.27J3.60402.819.30.26Comparative steel materialK3.79360.511.70.08L3.69363.819.00.11[Industrial Applicability]Steel wires each having a very small diameter produced by employing the method of the present invention have a diameter of 0.4 mm, respectively, but exhibit high tensile strength ranging from 360 to 420 kgf/mm2 as well as excellent wire bunching performance. Thus, the steel wires are most suitably employed in the production of steel cords, ropes or saw wires, and moreover, they have a wide industrial utilization range.	A method of producing steel wires each having a very small diameter, a high tensile strength of 360 kgf/mm2 or more and excellent ductility, the method providing that a steel material having a composition comprising C :0.90 to 1.10% by weight,Si:0.4% or less by weight,Mn:0.5% or less by weight,Cr:0.10 to 0.30% by weight and a balance of iron and unavoidable impurities is subjected to (a) diffusion treatment by which the maximum width of a segregation zone where elements of C, Mn or Cr are segregated by a quantity in excess of 1.3 times an average quantity of each of said elements in said steel material is set to 0.01 or less of a diameter of said steel material, said elements being present, after completion of said diffusion treatment, within the range of a half of the radius of said steel material as measured from the centre of the cross-sectional plane of said steel material, (b) hot rolling, (c) the resultant steel rod is subjected to primary drawing to prepare a steel rod having a smaller diameter, thereafter, (d) this steel rod is subjected to a patenting treatment to give it a strength of 140 to 160 kgf/mm2, and subsequently, (e) it is subjected to final drawing in a wetted state with a true strain of 3.50 or more.The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said unavoidable impurities comprise S: 0.020% or less, P: 0.020% or less, Al: 0.003% or less and Cu: less than 0.050% or Ni: 0.05% or less.The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that diffusion treatment is conducted for said steel material while it is kept hot within the temperature range of 1250 to 1320°C for 2 to 15 hours.The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said patenting treatment is conducted by dipping said steel wires in a molten lead bath kept hot within the temperature range of 550 to 620°C, after said steel wires are heated within the temperature range of 900 to 950°C.The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said patenting treatment is conducted by immersing said steel wires in a fluidized bed kept hot within the temperature range of 490 to 560°C, after said steel wires are heated within the temperature range of 900 to 950°C.The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a die approach angle employable in a die to be used for performing a wire drawing operation is set to 8 to 12 degrees.The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that each of said steel wires has a diameter ranging from 0.4 to 003 mm.The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a microstructure of each steel wire after completion of said patenting treatment in said molten lead bath contains preeutectoid ferrite and preeutectoid cementite at an area rate of 0.02% or less.	NIPPON STEEL CORP; NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION	NISHIDA SEIKI; OBA HIROSHI; OCHIAI IKUO; SERIKAWA OSAMI; NISHIDA, SEIKI; OBA, HIROSHI; OCHIAI, IKUO; SERIKAWA, OSAMI; NISHIDA, SEIKI, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION; OBA, HIROSHI, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION; OCHIAI, IKUO, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION; SERIKAWA, OSAMI, NIPPON STEETL CORPORATION
EP-0489160-B1	489,160	EP	B1	EN	19,941,109	1,992	20,100,220	new	C22C38	C21D8	C21D8, C22C38	C21D 8/00A, C22C 38/58	SHAPE-MEMORY STAINLESS STEEL EXCELLENT IN STRESS CORROSION CRACKING RESISTANCE	A stainless steel containing more than 10wt% of chromium and having sufficient functions as a shape memory alloy and further stress corrosion cracking resistance, which comprises 0.10 % or less of carbon, 3.0 to 6.0 % of silicon, 6.0 to 25.0 % of manganese, 7.0 % or less of nickel, more than 10.0 to 17.0 % of chromium, 0.02 to 0.3 % of nitrogen, 2.0 to 10.0 % of cobalt, and more than 0.2 to 3.5 % of copper, and optionally further at least one of 2% or less of molybdenum, 0.05 to 0.8% of niobium, 0.05 to 0.8 % of vanadium, 0.05 to 0.8 % of zirconium, and 0.05 to 0.8 % of titanium, and the balance of iron and inevitable impurities, and has a D value as defined by the following formula of -26.0 or above: D = Ni + 0.30Mn + 56.8C + 19.0N + 0.73Co + Cu - 1.85[Cr + 1.6Si + Mo + 1.5(Nb + V + Zr + Ti)] .	Field of the InventionThe invention relates to a shape memory stainless steel excellent in shape memory effect and a method for enhancing shape memory effect thereof. More particularly, the invention relates to a shape memory stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking which can advantageously develop its shape memory effect when used as fixing or fastening parts of machines, or as a pipe joint. Background of the InventionAs alloys exhibiting shape memory effect, there are known nonferrous metal alloys including Ni-Ti alloys, and Cu alloys as well as ferrous metal alloys such as Fe-Pd alloys, Fe-Ni alloys and Fe-Mn alloys. Among others, Fe-Mn alloys are inexpensive, and thus, because of their commercial value, various alloys of this Fe-Mn series are reported in patent literatures, for example, Fe-(15.9-30.0 %)Mn alloys in JP A 55-73846, Fe-Mn-(Si, Ni, Cr) alloys in JP A 55-76043, Fe-(20-40 %)Mn-(3.5-8 %)Si alloys in JP A 61-76647 and Fe-(15-30%)Mn-N alloys in JP A 63- 216946. Furthermore, JP A 62-112720 discloses a method for enhancing shape memory effect of a Fe-Mn-Si alloy wherein a so-called training effect by repeating a cycle of working at a rate of up to 20 % and heating to a temperature of at least 400 °C. is utilized. However, ferrous metal shape memory alloys are generally disadvantageous in low corrosion resistance. JP A 61-201761 discloses examples of Fe-Mn-Si alloys whose corrosion resistance is improved by adding Cr. However, the Cr content taught is too low, i.e. not more than 10.0 %, to achieve corrosion resistance well comparable with that of stainless steels. Furthermore, JP A 63-216946 teaches to improve corrosion resistance of ferrous metal shape memory alloys by adding Cr. Again, however, the Cr content disclosed is 10 % or less and it is not taught how to realize a desired level of shape memory characteristics with the ferrous metal shape memory alloys having Cr, which is a ferrite former, in excess of 10 % incorporated therein. On the other hand, as to general stainless steels, Scripta Metallurgica, 1977, vol.5, pp.663∼667 reports that SUS304 steel exhibits shape memory effect, if it is deformed at -196°C. and then heated to room temperature, however, its shape recovery is too small to put it to practical use. Object of the InventionAn object of the invention is to provide a shape memory alloy containing more than 10 % of Cr, which alloy is capable of exhibiting such a shape memory effect that even though the temperature of secondary deformation is not very low, for example, even though the temperature of secondary deformation is slightly below room temperature, when it is heated to moderately elevated temperature after the secondary deformation, it can recover its primary shape prior to the secondary deformation, and which alloy does not substantially suffer from stress corrosion cracking that may be a problem when the alloy is used as a pipe joint or the like. Disclosure of the InventionAccording to the invention, there is provided a shape memory stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking, which comprises, by weight, up to 0.10 % of C, 3.0 to 6.0 % of Si, 6.0 to 25.0 % of Mn, up to 7.0 % of Ni, more than 10.0 % and not more than 17.0 % of Cr, 0.02 to 0.3 % of N, 2.0 to 10.0 % of Co and more than 0.2 % and not more than 3.5 % of Cu, and optionally at least one selected from up to 2.0 % of Mo, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Nb, 0.05 to 0.8 % of V, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Zr, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Ti, the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, the alloying components being adjusted so that a D value is not less than - 26.0, wherein the D value is defined by the following equation:D = Ni + 0.30 × Mn + 56.8 × C + 19.0 × N + 0.73 × Co + Cu - 1.85 × [Cr + 1.6 × Si + Mo + 1.5 × (Nb + V + Zr + Ti)].When the steel having the above defined chemical composition is processed to an article of a predetermined shape, annealed to memorize the shape, deformed at a temperature of not higher than room temperature, heated to a temperature of at least 100 °C. and allowed to cool to room temperature. The memorized shape can be recovered at a high percent of recovery. The processing temperature prior to the annealing may room temperature or higher. The article may be in the form of plates, pipes or any other arbitrary shapes. While the article may be deformed at room temperature, for example, about at 20 °C.,the lower the deformation temperature the higher percent of shape recovery can be achieved. The deformation may be done, as with conventional shape memory alloys, by drawing, pulling, compression or bending, or by diameter expansion of tubular articles. If the steel having the above defined chemical composition is processed to an article of a predetermined shape, annealed, subjected one or more times to a training cycle comprising deformation to at a temperature of not higher than room temperature (primary deformation) and heating to a temperature of from 450 °C. and 700 °C., allowed to cool to room temperature, thereby to achieve and memorize a primary shape, deformed to a desired secondary shape at a temperature of not higher than room temperature (secondary deformation), heated to a temperature of at least 100 °C. and allowed to cool to room temperature, the primary shape can be recovered at a still higher percent of recovery. The stainless steel according to the invention has excellent resistance to stress corrosion cracking in addition to general corrosion resistance inherent to stainless steels. Brief Description of DrawingsFig. 1 is a perspective view of a test piece in the constrained condition which was subjected to the stress corrosion cracking test noted below. Under this condition the test piece is prevented from recovering its shape, that is it has a residual stress. Detailed Description of the InventionIn order to achieve the objects, we have extensively studied influences of alloying components as well as mechanical working and heat treating conditions on shape memory effect of corrosion resistive Fe-Cr steels. As a result, we have found that if a Cr-Fe based metal having more than 10 % of Cr is incorporated with appropriate amounts of Mn, Si and Co and the contents of C, N and Ni are properly controlled, the metal may exhibit a single austenitic phase in the annealed condition with no δ-ferritic and martensitic phases. We have also found that even if such a metal is deformed at a temperature not higher than room temperature, formation of permanent strain of work induced martensite (α') and dislocation can be suppressed, and in particular, when the metal is deformed at a temperature of 0 °C. or lower, formation of work induced ε-phase can be facilitated and in consequence, after deformation, if the metal is heated to its As point (temperature at which ε-phase starts to transform to γ-phase) or higher, the metal exhibits excellent shape memory effect. We have further found that the shape memory effect will be remarkably enhanced by carrying out one or more times a training treatment comprising deformation at a temperature of not higher than room temperature and heating at a temperature of 450 °C. or higher. Such a shape memory stainless steel has a high general corrosion resistance well comparable with other stainless steels. However, in some applications, for example, when used as a pipe joint, since the steel which has shape-recovered under constraint has an internal strain (residual stress), resistance to stress corrosion cracking is of importance. General information about resistance to stress corrosion cracking of general stainless steels, such as SUS304, is not necessarily applicable to shape memory stainless steels of high Mn-high Si-high Co series. On such Fe-Cr shape memory stainless steels incorporated with appropriate amounts of Mn, Si and Co and having properly controlled C, N and Ni contents. As a result, we have found that while C, Mn and Ni adversely affect resistance to stress corrosion cracking, Co, N and Cu, in particular N and Cu, enhance resistance to stress corrosion cracking. We have further found that Cu is also effective to enhance shape memory effect. Reasons for the restrictions of the alloying components of the stainless steel alloy used herein will now be described. C is a strong austenite former and serves effectively to prevent formation of a δ-ferritic phase in the annealed condition. Further C is a useful element to improve shape memory effect. However, C adversely affects resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Moreover, if C is included so much, when a training cycle of deformation in the temperature range of not higher than room temperature and heating in the temperature range of at least 450 °C is carried out one or more times, Cr carbide is produced to disadvantageously deteriorate corrosion resistance and workability. For this reason the content of C must be up to 0.10 %. Since during the step of deformation Si acts to prevent generation of permanent strain and to facilitate formation of a work induced ε-phase, Si is indispensable to develop excellent shape memory effect in the steel according to the invention and, thus, at least 3.0 % of Si must be included. However, Si his a strong ferrite former, and therefore, the presence of an excessive amount of Si, not only retains so much δ-ferritic phase in the annealed condition to deteriorate shape memory effect, but also adversely affects hot workability of the steel to make the steel making difficult. Accordingly, the upper limit for Si is now set as 6.0 %. Mn is an austenite former and serves to control formation of a δ-ferrite phase in the annealed condition. Further since during the step of deformation Mn acts to prevent generation of permanent strain and to facilitate formation of a work induced ε-phase, Mn is effective to enhance shape memory effect. For these purposes at least 6.0 % of Mn is required. However, Mn adversely affects resistance to stress corrosion cracking, and if Mn is included so much, on the contrary, it restricts formation of a work induced ε-phase to decrease shape memory effect, and therefore, the upper limit for Mn is now set as 25.0 %. Ni is an austenite former and is useful to prevent formation of a δ-ferrite phase in the annealed condition. However, if Ni is included so much, permanent strain may occur in the step of deformation at low a temperature to decrease shape memory effect and lowers resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Accordingly, the upper limit for Ni is now set as 7.0 %. Cr is an indispensable element for stainless steels and more than 10 % of Cr is required to achieve general high corrosion resistance. Further since Cr restricts generation of permanent strain during the step of deformation at a low temperature, Cr is effective to improve shape memory effect. However, since Cr is a ferrite former, if it is included so much, a δ-ferrite phase is likely to remain in the annealed condition, thereby adversely affecting shape memory effect. Accordingly, the upper limit for Cr is now set as 17.0 %. N enhances resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Furthermore, N is an austenite former and effectively acts to prevent a δ-ferrite phase from remaining in the annealed condition. Moreover, N controls generation of permanent strain during the step of deformation, thereby enhancing shape memory effect. For these effects, at least 0.02 % of N is required. However, if N is included so much, blow holes are generated in an ingot prepared in the steel making process, and thus, a sound ingot cannot be obtained. Thus, the upper limit for N is now set as 0.30 %. Co is an austenite former and effectively acts to prevent a δ-ferritic phase from remaining in the annealed condition. Further Co also effectively serves to control the generation of permanent strain during the step of deformation and to facilitate formation of a work induced ε-phase, thereby enhancing shape memory effect. Moreover, Co enhances resistance to stress corrosion cracking. For these effects at least 2.0 % of Co must be included. However, even if an increasing amount of Co is included, the effects are saturated, and so the upper limit for Co is now set as 10.0 %. Cu is an essential element for the steel according to the invention, since it remarkably increases resistance to stress corrosion cracking of the steel. Furthermore, Cu is an austenite former and effectively acts to prevent a δ-ferrite phase from remaining in the annealed condition thereby to enhance shape memory effect. For these effects more than 0.2 % of Cu is required. However, addition of an unduly excessive amount of Cu adversely affects hot workability of the steel. Accordingly, the upper limit for Cu is now set as 3.5 %. Nb, V, Zr and Ti are useful elements to maintain corrosion resistance and workability of the steel, since they serve to prevent formation of Cr carbide in the repeated cycle of deformation at not higher than room temperature and heating at an elevated temperature of 450 °C. or higher. Accordingly, at least one of these elements is preferably included in an amount of at least 0.05 %. However, since these elements are all ferrite formers, a δ-ferrite phase may remain in the annealed condition, and if these elements are included so much, shape memory effect is adversely affected, and so the upper limit for the content of each element is now set as 0.8 %. Mo is effective to enhance corrosion resistance of the steel. However, since Mo is a ferrite former and if so much Mo is included, a δ-ferrite phase may remain in the annealed condition to decrease shape memory effect and so the upper limit for Mo is now set as 2.0 %. We have experimentally found that the D value calculated according to the aforementioned equation is a measure of an amount of a δ-ferrite phase which has remained in the annealed condition and which adversely affects shape memory effect. We have further found that if the D value is less than -26.0, so much δ-ferrite phase remains to deteriorate shape memory effect. Accordingly, the alloying components must be mutually adjusted in order to make the D value not less than -26.0 with their individual proportions within the aforementioned respective ranges. The steel according to the invention excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking having the above-described chemical composition may develop its shape memory function, when treated in the manner as noted below. First, the steel is mechanically worked at room or warm temperature to form an article of a predetermined shape, and the article is annealed to memorize the shape. The steel according to the invention is substantially austenitic with no δ-ferritic and martensitic phases in the annealed condition, that is in the condition as annealed and allowed to cool to room temperature. While by the mechanical working, ε-phase, displacement and permanent strain of α' phase are formed in the resulting article, the ε-phase and the permanent strain completely disappear by annealing the article. The annealed article is then deformed at a temperature not higher than room temperature. This deformation at low temperature promote the formation of a work induced ε-phase. The shape after the deformation is as such maintained at temperatures below the As of the steel. When the deformed article is heated to a temperature of the As point or higher, the original shape of the article before the deformation is recovered at a high percent of recovery and maintained even if allowed to cool to room temperature. The As point of the steels according to the invention is near room temperature. Accordingly, the heating temperature for recovering the deformed article to the original shape need not be very high, and may be at least 100 °C., preferably at least 200 °C. Since the transformation of ε-phase to δ-phase at the As point or higher is accelerated by temperature, the higher the temperature the shorter the heating time. The heating time may normally be as short as one minute. In order to achieve still better shape memory and recovery effect, the following method is conveniently utilized. First, the steel according to the invention is mechanically worked at room or warm temperature to form an article of a predetermined prime shape, and the article is annealed. Thereafter, the article is deformed or mechanically worked at a temperature of not higher than room temperature (primary deformation), heated to a temperature of from 450 °C. and 700 °C.,and allowed to cool to room temperature. This primary deformation and heating may be repeated two or more times. By this treatment a desired primary shape is achieved and memorized. The article having the primary shape is deformed to a desired secondary shape at a temperature of not higher than room temperature (secondary deformation). When the article having the secondary shape is heated to a temperature of at least the As point of the steel, the primary shape is recovered and maintained even when allowed to cool to room temperature. The more the number of the above-mentioned training cycles comprising the primary deformation at a temperature of not higher than room temperature and heating at a temperature of from 450 °C. to 700 °C., the more satisfactorily high percent of shape recovery can be achieved even when an amount of the secondary deformation is large. For example, even in a case wherein an amount of the secondary deformation is as large as 8 %, the primary shape can be recovered at a satisfactorily high percent of recovery. Incidentally, upon the primary deformation a work induced ε-phase is formed, and the lower the deformation temperature the more the amount of an ε-phase formed. In the case of a high amount of deformation, a permanent strain is also generated inevitably. Accordingly, the heating after the primary deformation must be carried out at a temperature high enough not only to complete the transformation of the ε-phase to a γ-phase but also to remove the permanent strain. For this reason the heating temperature after the primary deformation should be at least 450 °C. However, an unduly high heating temperature is likely to form Cr carbide which adversely affects corrosion resistance. Accordingly, the upper limit for the heating temperature is set as 700 °C. After the article has been subjected to the cycle comprising the primary deformation at a temperature not higher than room temperature and the heating one or more times, the subsequent secondary deformation at a temperature of not higher than room temperature only promotes formation of an ε-phase with generation of substantially no permanent strain. Accordingly, if the secondarily deformed article heated to a temperature of at least the As point of the steel, the-primary shape is recovered at a high percent of recovery even if an amount of the secondary deformation has been considerably high. Thus, the invention further provides a method of shape memorizing and shape recovering of the stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking according to the invention or a method of using the stainless steel according to the invention, which comprises the steps of processing the stainless steel to an article of a predetermined shape and annealing the article to memorize the shape, deforming the annealed article at a temperature of not higher than room temperature, and heating the deformed article to a temperature of at least 100 °C. and allowing it to cool to room temperature, thereby to recover the memorized shape. As a more advantageous method there is provided a method of shape memorizing and shape recovering of the stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking according to the invention, which comprises the steps of:processing the stainless steel to an article of a predetermined shape and annealing the article, subjecting the article one or more times to a training cycle comprising deformation at a temperature of not higher than room temperature and heating to a temperature of from 450 °C. and 700 °C., and allowing the so-trained article to cool to room temperature, thereby to achieve and memorize a primary shape, deforming the primary shape memorized article to a desired secondary shape at a temperature of not higher than room temperature, heating it to a temperature of at least 100 °C. and allowing it to cool to room temperature, thereby to recover the primary shape. The invention will be further illustrated by the following examples. ExamplesEach steel melt having a chemical composition (% by weight) indicated in Table 1 was prepared using a high frequency melting furnace. Steels A1 to A16 are steels according to the invention, while Steels B1 to B4 are comparative steels. Steels B1 and B2 have Si and Mn outside the ranges prescribed herein, respectively. Steel B3 does not contain Cu. Steel B4 has a D value of less than -26.0, although a content of each alloying element is within the range prescribed herein. The steel melt was cast into an ingot, forged, hot rolled to a thickness of 3 mm, annealed, cold rolled to a thickness of 2 mm and annealed. From the cold rolled and annealed sheet a test piece having a width of 10 mm, a length of 75 mm and a thickness of 2 mm was cut out. This test piece can be said as a shaped article in the annealed condition. The test piece was bent at a temperature of -73 °C. by 120° with a bend radius of 8 mm, and set in a constraining apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Under this constrained condition the test piece was heated to at a temperature of 400 °C. for 15 minutes and allowed to cool to room temperature. By this treatment the test piece tends to recover its original sheet-like shape under the constrained condition, whereby and a residual stress is formed in the test piece. The test piece under the constrained condition was dipped in a boiling 42 % MgCl₂ aqueous solution, and a time until stress corrosion cracking occurred was determined. Results are shown in Table 2 wherein Mark o indicates that stress corrosion cracking did not occur within 5 hours whereas Mark X indicates that stress corrosion cracking occurred within 5 hours. Shape memory and recovery properties were estimated by the following tests. The hot rolled sheet having a thickness of 3 mm prepared in the manner described above, was annealed, and repeatedly cold rolled and annealed to provide a cold rolled and annealed sheet having a thickness of 1 mm. From this sheet a test piece having a width of 20 mm, a length of 200 mm and a thickness of 1.0 mm was cut out. This test piece can be said as a shaped article in the annealed condition. In one test, the test piece was deformed at a temperature of 20 °C., -73 °C. or -196 °C. by imparting a tensile strain of 4 %. The deformed piece was heated at a temperature of 400 °C. for 15 minutes and allowed to cool to room temperature. Percent of shape recovery (Ro) was determined. In another test, the test piece was deformed at a temperature of 20 °C. or -73 °C. by imparting a tensile strain of 6 % (primary deformation), and the deformed piece was heated at a temperature of 600 °C. for 15 minutes and allowed to cool to room temperature. The test piece so treated was again deformed at a temperature of 20 °C. or - 73 °C. by imparting a tensile strain of 6 % (secondary deformation), and the deformed piece was heated at a temperature of 600 °C. for 15 minutes and allowed to cool to room temperature. Percent of shape recovery (RT) to the shape after the primary deformation was determined. Percent of shape recovery (Ro) was determined in the following manner. An initial gage length (l₀ = 50 mm) was marked on the the test piece before the deformation, and the marked gage length after the tensile strain was imparted at the low temperature was measured. By subtracting the initial gage length from the measured gage length, an amount of strain (l₁) was determined. The gage length after the test piece was heated and allowed to cool to room temperature was measured, and a length (l₂) was calculated by subtracting the latter measured gage length from (l₀ + l₁). Percent of shape recovery was calculated from the following equation.R = (l₂/l₁) × 100 (%) Percent of shape recovery (RT) was determined in the following manner. An initial gage length (l₀ = 50 mm) was marked on the the test piece after it was primarily deformed, heated and allowed to cool to room temperature (that is before the secondary deformation), and the marked gage length after the secondary deformation was measured. By subtracting the initial gage length from the measured gage length, an amount of strain (l₁) was determined. The gage length after the secondarily deformed test piece was heated and allowed to cool to room temperature was measured, and a length (l₂) was calculated by subtracting the latter measured gage length from (l₀ + l₁). Percent of shape recovery was calculated from the equation described above. The determined Ro and RT values are also shown in Table 2. As seen from Table 2, while Comparative steels B1, B2 and B4 are excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking, they have low Ro and RT values at 20 °C. which indicate unsatisfactory shape memory effect. They have slightly increased Ro and RT values at -73 °C. and -196 °C., which are still unsatisfactory. Comparative steel B3 containing no Cu is poor in resistance to stress corrosion cracking. In contrast, Steels A1 to A16 according to the invention are all excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking. They all exhibit excellent shape memory effect as reflected by their Ro and RT values at 20 °C. as high as at least 42 %, and in particular by their remarkably increased Ro and RT values in the case of deformation at lower temperature as high as at least 65 %. Steel Stress Corrosion Cracking Resistance Ro value (%) RT value (%) 20°C -73°C -196°C 20°C -73°C AA1o5682915280 A2o5279865078 A3o5481905278 A4o5077854877 A5o5180884878 A6o5178875078 A7o4979864776 A8o4572824265 A9o5279885180 A10o5080894879 A11o5382905281 A12o5483895080 A13o5280885078 A14o5079864977 A15o5582905078 A16o5382915179 BB1o101617913 B2o1925281522 B3X5179874878 B4o2544472029 A: Steel according to the invention B: Comparative steel As demonstrated herein, the stainless steel according to the invention develop excellent shape memory effect by subjecting to deformation at low temperature or to repetition of deformation at low temperature and heating at a temperature of from 450 °C. to 700 °C., in spite off the fact that it contain mores than 10 % of Cr to enhance corrosion resistance. Furthermore, it is excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Accordingly, the steel according to the invention are particularly useful as a material for fixing or fastening parts of machines, or a pipe joint in the fields where corrosion resistance and in particular resistance stress corrosion cracking is required.	A shape memory stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking, which comprises, by weight, up to 0.10 % of C, 3.0 to 6.0 % of Si, 6.0 to 25.0 % of Mn, up to 7.0 % of Ni, more than 10.0 % and not more than 17.0 % of Cr, 0.02 to 0.3 % of N, 2.0 to 10.0 % of Co and more than 0.2 % and not more than 3.5 % of Cu, the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, the alloying components being adjusted so that a D value is not less than - 26.0, wherein the D value is defined by the following equation:D = Ni + 0.30 × Mn + 56.8 × C + 19.0 × N + 0.73 × Co + Cu - 1.85 × (Cr + 1.6 × Si) .A shape memory stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking, which comprises, by weight, up to 0.10 % of C, 3.0 to 6.0 % of Si, 6.0 to 25.0 % of Mn, up to 7.0 % of Ni, more than 10.0 % and not more than 17.0 % of Cr, 0.02 to 0.3 % of N, 2.0 to 10.0 % of Co and more than 0.2 % and not more than 3.5 % of Cu, and at least one selected from up to 2.0 % of Mo, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Nb, 0.05 to 0.8 % of V, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Zr, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Ti, the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, the alloying components being adjusted so that a D value is not less than - 26.0, wherein the D value is defined by the following equation:D = Ni + 0.30 × Mn + 56.8 × C + 19.0 × N + 0.73 × Co + Cu - 1.85 × [Cr + 1.6 × Si + Mo + 1.5 × (Nb + V + Zr + Ti)].A method of shape memorizing and shape recovering of a stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking, which comprises the steps of: processing a stainless steel to an article of a predetermined shape and annealing the article to memorize the shape, said steel comprising, by weight, up to 0.10 % of C, 3,0 to 6.0 % of Si, 6.0 to 25.0 % of Mn, up to 7.0 % of Ni, more than 10.0 % and not more than 17.0 % of Cr, 0.02 to 0.3 % of N, 2.0 to 10.0 % of Co and more than 0.2 % and not more than 3.5 % of Cu, and optionally at least one selected from up to 2.0 % of Mo, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Nb, 0.05 to 0.8 % of V, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Zr, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Ti, the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, the alloying components being adjusted so that a D value is not less than - 26.0, wherein the D value is defined by the following equation:D = Ni + 0.30 × Mn + 56.8 × C + 19.0 × N + 0.73 × Co + Cu - 1.85 × [Cr + 1.6 × Si + Mo + 1.5 × (Nb + V + Zr + Ti)], deforming the annealed article at a temperature of not higher than room temperature, and heating the deformed article to a temperature of at least 100 °C. and allowing it to cool to room temperature, thereby to recover the memorized shape. A method of shape memorizing and shape recovering of a stainless steel excellent in resistance to stress corrosion cracking, which comprises the steps of: processing a stainless steel to an article of a predetermined shape and annealing the article, said steel comprising, by weight, up to 0.10 % of C, 3.0 to 6.0 % of Si, 6.0 to 25.0 % of Mn, up to 7.0 % of Ni, more than 10.0 % and not more than 17.0 % of Cr, 0.02 to 0.3 % of N, 2.0 to 10.0 % of Co and more than 0.2 % and not more than 3.5 % of Cu, and optionally at least one selected from up to 2.0 % of Mo, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Nb, 0.05 to 0.8 % of V, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Zr, 0.05 to 0.8 % of Ti, the balance being Fe and unavoidable impurities, the alloying components being adjusted so that a D value is not less than - 26.0, wherein the D value is defined by the following equation:D = Ni + 0.30 × Mn + 56.8 × C + 19.0 × N + 0.73 × Co + Cu - 1.85 × [Cr + 1.6 × Si + Mo + 1.5 × (Nb + V + Zr + Ti)], subjecting the article one or more times to a training cycle comprising deformation at a temperature of not higher than room temperature and heating to a temperature of from 450 °C. and 700 °C., and allowing the so-trained article to cool to room temperature, thereby to achieve and memorize a primary shape, deforming the primary shape memorized article to a desired secondary shape at a temperature of not higher than room temperature, heating it to a temperature of at least 100 °C. and allowing it to cool to room temperature, thereby to recover the primary shape.	NISSHIN STEEL CO LTD; NISSHIN STEEL CO., LTD.	IGAWA TAKASHI; KINUGASA MASAYUKI; TAKEMOTO TOSHIHIKO; TANAKA TERUO; IGAWA, TAKASHI; KINUGASA, MASAYUKI; TAKEMOTO, TOSHIHIKO; TANAKA, TERUO
EP-0489165-B1	489,165	EP	B1	EN	19,960,508	1,992	20,100,220	new	F16C29	null	F16C29, B23Q1	F16C 29/00P, F16C 29/06S2B, F16C 29/06U1B4X	TABLE FOR LINEAR SLIDING	A set of bearings and tables of this invention for linear sliding comprises a sliding base (2) which is a train of a plurality of segment blocks (2a, 2b) each having surfaces (24) on which rolling bodies (4) roll, whereby the number of rolling bodies can easily be increased in proportion to the size of a table (7) for linear guiding by optionally determining the number of segment blocks (2a, 2b) so that waving of the sliding base (2) may be prevented as much as possible and straightness of sliding movement improved.	The present invention relates to a table for linear sliding motion for linearly guiding a movable object to be slid, for example, in a slide component for machine tools such as N.C. machines or industrial robots. A conventional bearing for linear sliding motion of a type described above generally has a construction shown in Figure 17. Specifically, it is formed of a track bed (b) having rolling surfaces (b1) on which rolling members (a) such as balls rolls in an axial direction; a slide bed (c) having load rolling surfaces (c1), which cooperate with the rolling surfaces (b1) to hold the rolling members (a) therebetween, and no-load rolling apertures (c2) corresponding to the load rolling surfaces (c1); and covers (d) for coupling and connecting the load rolling surfaces (c1) and the no-load rolling apertures (c2) to form endless paths for the rolling members (a). In this construction, the rolling member (a) rolls through load regions between the rolling surfaces (b1) of the track bed (b) and the no-load rolling surfaces (c1) of the slide bed (c), whereby the slide bed (c) can linearly move along the track bed (b) with a remarkably small frictional resistance. A table for linear sliding motion, which bears a machine tool or a work for guiding them, generally has a construction shown in Figures 18 and 19, in which a plurality of track beds (b) (two in the Figure) used for the bearings for the linear sliding motion are disposed on a fixing portion (e), and a plurality of sliding beds (c) (two in the Figure) for carrying a table (f) are assembled to each track bed with a space between each other. However, such bearings for the linear sliding motion have following disadvantages with respect to the motion of the slide beds due to its construction. First, minute vibration called as waving is generated in the slide bed. In the bearing for the linear sliding motion including the rolling members which circulate and perform an endless movement for the slide bed, the rolling members are generally in preloaded conditions when they roll through a load region in order to increase rigidity of the slide bed with respect to the track bed and prevent rattling thereof. Therefore, when the rolling members are forcedly entered into the load region or released from the load region, the slide bed minutely deviates in vertical or lateral directions, which causes the minute vibration, i.e., waving during the movement of the slide bed. A second disadvantage relates to a linearity of a motion of the slide bed. It is ideal for the slide bed to move linearly with respect to the fixing portion on which the track bed is disposed. However, the motion thereof is inevitably affected by a mounting accuracy of the track bed to the fixing portion and a machining accuracy of the rolling surfaces, and thus it is very difficult in practice to obtain a high linearity of the movement. If it is attempted to obtain the desired linearity of the movement by increasing the mounting accuracy of the track bed and the machining accuracy of the rolling surfaces, disadvantages such as high costs and low productive efficiency will be caused. Therefore, in view of the above, the linearity of the movement can be improved only to a restricted extent. The disadvantages of the motion of the slide bed described above form an important factor which cannot be overlooked in machine tools or the like which are guided by the bearings for the linear motion during machining operations, because the waving of the slide beds or the insufficient linearity of the movement causes deviation of the machine tools, and thus directly affects the machining accuracy of the products. However, in the recent industrial application, demands for higher accuracies in various products, and thus demands for higher machining accuracies have been increased in the machines and apparatusses such as machine tools for machining these products. Accordingly, the bearings for the linear sliding motion for performing linear guiding in various machines and apparatuses have been required to prevent the waving during movement or travelling of the slide beds and to improve the linearity of the movement. On the other hand, with respect to the tables for the linear sliding motion, reduction of costs has been attempted by minimizing thicknesses of tables which are mounted on the slide beds in the recent years. However, this adversely affects the rigidity, and specifically, this may cause deflection or the like in the tables which may reduce the machining accuracies of machine tools mounted thereon. In view of the above demands and problems, it is an object of the invention to provide a bearing for linear sliding motion, which can minimize the waving of the slide bed and improve the linearity of the movement. Another object of the invention is to provide a table for linear sliding motion which allows machining with a high accuracy by a machine or apparatus such as a machine tool mounted thereon. The inventor of the invention and others have earnestly studied to achieve the objects described above, and found that, as a number of rolling members which roll through a load region increases, a waving value of a slide bed decreases and also a linearity of a movement is improved. Based on this, with respect to a table for linearly sliding motion, a slide bed having a length which is increased to a maximum allowable extent and corresponds to a size of a table for linear sliding motion may be manufactured and attached to a lower surface of the table, whereby the table for the linear sliding motion can have the waving value and linearity for the movement which are improved as compared with the prior art. However, since tables have various sizes depending on machines and apparatus mounted thereon, it is not preferable, in view of productive efficiency, to manufacture slide beds of various sizes in accordance with user's orders. In view of this, the inventors and others have further studied and devised the present invention. FR-A-1 037 175 discloses a bearing in which an internal component is formed in several parts which are joined together. However, the arrangement illustrated in this reference fails to address the difficulties addressed by the present invention. According to the present invention there is provided a table for linear sliding motion comprising: a track bed provided with rolling surfaces for rolling members such as balls or rollers extending in a lengthwise direction; a slide bed provided with load rolling surfaces cooperating with said rolling surfaces to hold said rolling members therebetween; rolling member circulating means which connects opposite ends of said load rolling surfaces to form endless circulation paths for said rolling members; and a table for mounting a movable member to be guided linearly, said table being fixed to said slide bed for movement in a lengthwise direction of said track bed; characterised in that in the longitudinal direction said slide bed is formed of a plurality of divided blocks each of which is provided with load rolling surfaces, said divided blocks being joined together by means of a connecting plate to continuously join said load rolling surfaces, with said rolling member circulating means connecting opposite ends of said continuously joined load rolling surfaces, wherein said slide bed can be formed with a length depending on the size of said table. According to the subject of the invention, in which the slide is formed of divided blocks having the load rolling surfaces and joined together, a number of the divided blocks may be appropriately varied in accordance with sizes of the table to be linearly guided. Further, the divided blocks may be varied with respect to a configuration, a number of the load rolling surfaces and a contact angle of the rolling members and others depending on a practical application of the bearing, and slide bed of a bearing for linear sliding motion maybe utilized. Although the load rolling surfaces of the divided blocks may be formed by individually applying grinding or the like to the respective blocks, it is preferable to simultaneously form the load rolling surfaces on the divided blocks, which are fixed to a jig for handling it as one component, in order to improve continuity of the load rolling surfaces of the slide bed, i.e., an assembly of the blocks. Various variations such as use of ball tubes may be applied to a specific construction of the rolling member circulating means, which serves to scoop and return balls from one end of the continuously connected load rolling surfaces to the other end and cooperates with the load region to form an endless circulation path for the rolling members. Further, the rolling members may be appropriately selected from cylindrical rollers, barrel rollers, balls and others. Generally, so-called crowning may be applied to the load rolling surfaces of the slide bed in order to achieve smooth circulation of the rolling members, and specifically, opposite side regions of the load rolling surfaces may be ground to a relative large extent as compared with a middle region to form sections of the load rolling surfaces of the side regions into substantially convexly curved shapes. However, in the present invention, the construction requires to apply the crowning only to the load rolling surfaces of the divided blocks (will be called as end blocks ) located at opposite ends of the slide bed. Therefore, a pair of end blocks to which the crowning is applied may be assembled together with an intended number of divided blocks (will be called as middle blocks ) to which the crowning is not applied. This facilitates manufacturing of the slide bed having a length corresponding to the number of the middle blocks. According to the subject of the invention described above, by appropriately selecting the number of the divided blocks, the slide bed can be easily manufactured to have a long length corresponding to a movable member such as a table to be linearly guided, and the number of the load rolling members which rolls through the load region can be increased in accordance with the increase of the length of the slide bed. Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figures 1 and 2 are a perspective view and a cross section illustrating a bearing for linear sliding motion for use in a first embodiment of the invention, respectively; Figures 3 and 4 are a cross section and a side view illustrating an end block (middle block) according to a first embodiment, respectively; Figure 5 is a rear view of a cover; Figure 6 is a cross section taken along line VI-VI in Figure 5; Figure 7 is a cross section taken along line VII-VII in Figure 6; Figure 8 is a perspective view illustrating a guide piece; Figures 9 and 10 are a perspective view and a cross section illustrating a track bed, respectively; Figure 11 is a cross section illustrating an endless ball circulation path in the slide bed; Figures 12, 13 and 14 are a perspective view, a top view and a front view illustrating a first embodiment of a table for linear sliding motion of the invention, respectively; Figure 15 is a cross section illustrating an endless ball circulation path for bearings for the linear sliding motion used in experiments; Figure 16 is a cross section illustrating another of a bearing for linear sliding motion for use in a second embodiment of the invention; Figure 17 is a perspective view illustrating a bearing for the linear sliding motion in the prior art; and Figures 18 and 19 are a top view and a front view illustrating a table for the linear sliding motion in the prior art for comparison, respectively. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a bearing used in the first embodiment of table for linear sliding motion of the invention. The bearing is formed of a track bed 1 mounted on a stationary or fixing portion, a slide bed 2 disposed over the track bed 1, a pair of covers 3a and 3b (rolling member circulating means) attached to the opposite ends of the slide bed 2, and a large number of balls (rolling members) which bear a load between the track bed 1 and the slide bed 2. As shown in Figure 1, the slide bed is formed of end blocks 2a located at opposite ends thereof and two middle blocks 2b disposed therebetween. These blocks are connected by connecting bolts 51 through connecting plates 5. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, each of the blocks 2a and 2b has a base 21a (21b) and a pair of wings 22a (22b) extending downward therefrom to form an inverted C-shaped section, and is provided at an inner surface of each wing 22a (22b) with vertically spaced two grooves 23a (23b) extending in an axial direction. In each groove, there is formed a load rolling surface 24a (24b) having a curved section of a radius of curvature larger than a radius of a ball 4 which rolls thereon. Both the wings 22a (22b) are provided with no-load rolling apertures 25a (25b) which form parts of rolling member circulating means and respectively correspond to the load rolling surfaces 24a (24b). Upper surfaces of the base 21a (21b) form mounting surfaces 26a (26b) on which a movable member such as a table is mounted, and are provided with tapped bolt holes 27a (27b) engaging mounting bolts (not shown). In Figure 3, numerals 28 and 29 indicate ball retainers, which are fixed to the bases 21a (21b) and the wings 22a (22b) by screws (not shown), respectively, and serve to prevent the balls 4 from dropping from the grooves 23a (23b) on the blocks 2 when the slide bed 2 is removed from the track bed 1. Numerals 30a (30b) indicate bolt holes engaging the coupling bolts 51. In this embodiment, continuity of the load rolling surfaces 24a and 24b of the blocks 2a and 2b coupled together is improved by simultaneously grinding the four blocks 2a and 2b to form the load rolling surface 24. That is; the four blocks 2a and 2b are coupled together when fixed to a machine tool, and are handled as one integral slide bed when the grinding is applied thereto. Crowning is applied to the load rolling surfaces 24a of the end blocks 2a after the grinding so that the balls 4 may be smoothly forced into the load region and released therefrom On the other hand, the covers 3 are made from synthetic resin and are provided, as shown in Figures 5-7, at their inner sides with ball return paths 31 which connect the load rolling surfaces 24a formed on the end blocks 2a and the corresponding no-load rolling apertures 25a. These ball return paths 31 are formed by semicircular guide pieces 33 which have guide surfaces 32 continuing to the load rolling surfaces 24a and are fitted over ball guide grooves 34 formed in the covers 33. Numerals 35 indicate through holes through which fixing bolts (not shown) screwed into the end blocks 2d are inserted. The track bed 1 has a rectangular sectional shape as shown in Figures 9 and 10 which has opposite sides recessed into trapezoids and also has recessed right and left shoulders. On inclined surfaces which are faced obliquely downward and formed by the above trapezoidal as well as inclined surfaces which are faced obliquely upward and formed by the recessed shoulders, there are provided rolling surfaces 11 which correspond to the load rolling surfaces 24a and 24b of the end blocks 2a and the middle blocks 2b, respectively. Numerals 12 indicate attaching holes through which fixing bolts (not shown) are inserted for engaging the fixing portion. According to the bearing for the linear sliding motion of the invention thus constructed, as shown in Figure 11, a pair of end blocks 2a and the two middle blocks 2b are coupled together to form the long load rolling surface 24 by the continuous load rolling surfaces 24a and 24b of the blocks 2a and 2b, and also the slide bed 2 provided with the no-load rolling apertures 25 corresponding to the load rolling surfaces 24 are obtained therefrom Further, by attaching the covers 3 to the end blocks 2a, the endless ball circulation paths which connect the load rolling surfaces 24 and the no-load rolling apertures 25 of the slide bed 2 are formed, whereby the slide bed 2 shown in Figure 1 is completed. Figure 12 shows a first embodiment of a table for the linear sliding motion including two sets of the bearing for the linear sliding motion as described above. The track bed 1 is disposed on the fixing portion with a predetermined space between each other, and a table 7 is fixed to the slide beds 2. With respect to the manufacturing of the table for the linear sliding motion shown in Figure 12, since the number of the middle blocks 2b can be appropriately determined in the bearing for the linear sliding motion of the embodiment, the slide beds 2 having lengths depending on the sizes of the area in which the slide beds 2 are disposed can be facilely manufactured. Accordingly, it is possible to increase the number of the load balls 4 rolling between the load rolling surfaces 24 of the slide beds 2 and the rolling surfaces 11 of the track beds 1 in accordance with the sizes of the table 7, so that waving in the vertical and/or lateral directions, which may be caused by circulation of the balls 4, can be minimized, and the linearity of the movement can be increased. Since the lengths of the slide beds 2 are increased depending on the sizes of the table 7, a contact area between the slide beds 2 and the table 7 can be increased, so that the rigidity of the table can be increased, as compared with the conventional bearing for the linear sliding motion shown in Figure 20. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the invention, the inventors of the application and others have actually determined waving values of the table for the linear sliding motion shown in Figure 12. The measured results are as follows. For comparison, similar measurement has been made with respect to the table for the linear sliding motion employing the conventional bearing for the linear sliding motion shown in Figures 18 and 19 (this table will be called as a comparison example ), and the result of this measurement also will be described below. The slide bed 2 used in the experiment is slightly different from that of the first embodiment in that the slide bed 2 is formed of four conventional bearing blocks 2c coupled together. Therefore, as shown in Figure 15, the crowning has been applied to the load rolling surface 24c of each block 2. However, other structures such as the load rolling apertures 25c are similar to those of the bearing of the first embodiment. With respect to the table for the linear sliding motion of the invention, variation of the waving values which may be caused by the various coupling states between the blocks 2a and 2b and the table 7 were determined by measuring the waving values in a case (experiment (1)) in which only the attaching bolts for the bolt holes 27a in the end blocks 2a were fastened and in a case (experiment (2)) in which all the attaching bolts for the bolt holes 27a and 27b in the end blocks 2a and the middle blocks 2b were fastened (see Figure 13). The waving values were determined at points of distances and heights of A=97mm, B=107mm in Figures 13, 14, 18 and 19, and C=360mm. Spaces between the track beds in the embodiment and the comparison example are equal to each other, i.e., D=315mm. The slide bed of the embodiment has a length of E=341mm, and the space between the slide beds in the comparison example is 341mm (F=341mm). The waving values obtained from the experiments are as follows. Experiment 1 ○vertical direction:0. 11 µm lateral direction:0.09 µm Experiment 2 ○vertical direction:0.095 µm lateral direction:0.073 µm Comparison Examplevertical direction:0.2∼0.25 µm lateral direction:0.2∼0.25 µm As can be seen from the results described above, in the table for the linear sliding motion using the bearing for the linear sliding motion described above has the waving values which are substantially half or less than those of the comparison example, and thus the effectiveness of the invention can be confirmed. Further, it has been found that the waving values are improved in the bearing for the linear sliding motion according to the invention, if all the blocks c are fixed to the table. The bearing for linear sliding motion used in tables in accordance with the invention is not restricted to that described above, and, for example, it may have a sectional configuration as shown in Figure 16. Structures in Figure 16 are similar to those described above, except for the sectional configuration of the block 2a (2b), and thus the same reference numerals are allotted thereto without detailed description thereof. According to the bearing for the linear sliding motion as described hereinabove, the slide bed can be constructed by coupling the divided blocks and thus the number of the load rolling members can be facilely increased in accordance with the sizes of the table to be linearly guided, so that the waving of the slide bed can be minimized and the linearity of the movement can be increased. According to the table for the linear sliding motion of the invention which employs these bearings, the movable member such as a machine tool mounted thereon can be smoothly and linearly guided with a high linearity, and thus works can be machined with a high accuracy. Further, since the table can be supported by the slide beds having the lengths corresponding to the sizes of the table, the table for the linear sliding motion can have a high rigidity, whereby the thickness can be reduced for achieving low cost.	A table for linear sliding motion comprising: a track bed (1) provided with rolling surfaces (11) for rolling members (4) such as balls or rollers extending in a lengthwise direction; a slide bed (2) provided with load rolling surfaces (24) cooperating with said rolling surfaces (11) to hold said rolling members (4) therebetween; rolling member circulating means (3) which connects opposite ends of said load rolling surfaces (24) to form endless circulation paths for said rolling members (4); and a table (7) for mounting a movable member to be guided linearly, said table (7) being fixed to said slide bed (2) for movement in a lengthwise direction of said track bed (1); characterised in that in the longitudinal direction said slide bed (2) is formed of a plurality of divided blocks (2a,2b) each of which is provided with load rolling surfaces (24a,24b), said divided blocks (2a,2b) being joined together by means of a connecting plate (5) to continuously join said load rolling surfaces (24a,24b), with said rolling member circulating means (3) connecting opposite ends of said continuously joined load rolling surfaces (24a,24b), wherein said slide bed (2) can be formed with a length depending on the size of said table (7). A table as claimed in claim 1 wherein said table is at least connected with said divided blocks (2a) located at opposite ends of said slide bed (2). A table as claimed in claim 1 wherein said table is connected with every divided block (2a,2b) which comprises said slide bed (2).	THK CO LTD; THK CO. LTD.	KAWASUGI MASASHI; NOBUKUNI MITSUHIRO; KAWASUGI, MASASHI; NOBUKUNI, MITSUHIRO
EP-0489167-B1	489,167	EP	B1	EN	19,960,501	1,992	20,100,220	new	B23K35	B21C37	B23K35, C21C7	B23K 35/40F, C21C 7/00F, L23K35:40F2	METHOD OF MANUFACTURING TUBE FILLED WITH POWDER AND GRANULAR MATERIAL	A method of manufacturing a tube filled with powder and granular material such as a flux cored wire. A metallic band is fed in the longitudinal direction thereof so as to be formed into an open tube (1a) by means of forming rolls (2), powder and granular material (F) is supplied to the open pipe (1a) through an open part thereof in the course of the tube formation, opposing edges of the open part are butt-welded, and the welded tube (1b) is diametrically reduced to be turned into powder-and-granular-material-filled tubes continuously. During the above butt-welding process, an allowable lower limit or a maximum heat input quantity to cause cold-cracking and an allowable upper limit or a minimum heat input quantity to cause a spatter whose diameter is 0.83 times the inner diameter of a finally finished tube or larger are determined beforehand so as to apply butt-welding with a heat input quantity exceeding said allowable lower limit but not amounting to said allowable upper limit. In this way, powder and granular material (F) is filled into the tube and, when reducing the diameter of the tube (1b) having welded edges, no breakage occurs at the welded edges.	Field of the InventionThis invention relates to methods for manufacturing tubes of carbon steel, stainless steel, copper alloy, aluminum alloy and other metals filled with a powdery and/or granular substance. The powdery and granular substances are powders, granules or their mixtures, such as welding fluxes, oxide-based superconductors and steelmaking additives. This invention is used in the manufacture of wires containing welding fluxes, wires containing oxide-based superconductors and other tubes containing a powdery and/or granular substance. Description of the Prior ArtSeamless wire containing welding flux is an example of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance. The seamless wire is made by slitting steel strip into desired widths and gradually forming the slit strip formed into a U-shape, and then into an O-shape, using a series of forming rolls. Halfway in the forming process, a flux is fed from a feeder into the bottom of the U-shaped strip through an opening extending along the length thereof. When the U-shaped strip is formed into an O-shape, the meeting edges of the strip are welded together to close the opening. Then, the diameter of the welded shell is reduced. After being annealed as required, the tube filled with the flux is drawn into a wire of the desired diameter and coiled into the desired product form. Low-frequency welding, high-frequency induction welding and high-frequency resistance welding are extensively used in the manufacture of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance. In any of these welding methods, the edges of the strip fringing the opening are heated to the melting temperature by a low-frequency or high-frequency current and then pressed until they meet and form the weld by a pair of squeeze rolls. The welded tubes filled with the flux may break in the subsequent process in which their diameter is reduced by rolling and drawing. This break is considered to result from the following cause. When welding is performed, some of the oxide or silicate in the flux adheres to the fringing edges of the opening in the formed tube. At the welding point, air flows outside from the formed tube through the opening as a result of the expansion caused by the collision of the air carried in by the approaching formed tube and the air flowing backward from the size-reducing point and by the heat of welding. The stream of air thus created blows up part of the flux, which adheres to the fringing edges of the opening in the formed tube. Some of the flux jumping up under the influence of the vibration of the approaching formed tube too adheres to the same area. Because of a magnetic field built up by the welding current at the welding point, in addition, the fringing edges of the formed tube serve as a magnetic pole. Therefore, the magnetic force of the fringing edges attracts the ferromagnetic ingredients of the flux. At this time, the ferromagnetic ingredients take some nonmagnetic components with them to the fringing edges. The flux thus adhered to the fringing edges fuses into the weld to form nonmetallic inclusions detrimental to the weld. This welding defect leads to cracking or breaking in the subsequent size reduction process. The Method and Apparatus for Manufacturing Filler Wire disclosed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 234795 of 1985 offers a solution for this type of problem. This technology prevents the blow-up of the powder by drawing in the stream of air created in the formed tube upstream of the welding or roll-press zone. The Method of Manufacturing Filler Wire disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 234792 of 1985 offers another solution. This technology forms a lower layer of a ferromagnetic or ferrite-based substance and an upper layer of a nonmagnetic substance so that the latter inhibits the attraction of the former to the fringing edges of the opening. The Composite Welding Wire disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 234794 of 1985 discloses a still another solution. This technology fills a substantially nonmagnetic powder whose relative magnetic permeability is not higher than 1.10 to prevent the powder from getting magnetically attracted to the fringing edges of the opening. The Method of Manufacturing Tubes Filled with Powders disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 109040 of 1979 relates to a technology that does not fill a tube 100 % with a powder in order to leave such a space or distance between the weld and the surface of the powder as is large enough to keep the blown-up powder away from the fringing edges of the opening. The Method of Manufacturing Wires Filled with Powders disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 125436 of 1977 exhibits another technology that granulates all or part of those ingredients of a powder whose size is finer than 250 mesh with a suitable binder. This technology is intended for the improvement of feedability through granulation, rather than the prevention of the presence of nonmetallic inclusions in the weld of a powder-filled tube. But the increased powder particle size achieved by granulation seems to have an effect on the prevention of the blow-up of the powder exposed to a stream of air. Even after the introduction of the aforementioned weld improving technologies, however, breakage has continued to occur in the tube-size reducing process, entailing a drop in working efficiency and product yield. Breakage has occurred more frequently as the amount of drawing and size reduction increased. The tendency has been particularly pronounced when the diameter of the final product was 1.6 mm or under. The technology to suck the stream of air generated in the tube sometimes produces an adverse effect as a new air stream caused by the suction blows up, rather than settles, the powder inside. The technology to spread a layer of a nonmagnetic material on top of a layer of a ferromagnetic or ferrite-based material and the technology to fill a substantially nonmagnetic powder cannot prevent the nonmagnetic powder from getting blown up or jumping up under the influence of the vibration of the tube. Especially when the above materials are spread in two layers, one on top of the other, the nonmagnetic powder in the upper layer springs up because of the vibration of the lower layer caused by the alternating flux passing therethrough. The amount of the powder fed into a tube must be large enough to fill a certain percentage of the cross-sectional area thereof. Therefore, the space left between the weld and the surface of the powder is not always allowed to be large enough to prevent the powder from getting carried to the fringing edges of the opening by the stream of air, the vibration of the tube and the magnetic force of the fringing edges of the opening. Even when finer ingredients of a powder are granulated into larger particles, the ferromagnetic ingredients in the granulated material are attracted to the fringing edges of the opening. Together with the ferromagnetic ingredients, such nonmagnetic ingredients as might form nonmetallic inclusions can sometimes adhere to the fringing edges of the opening. During the manufacture of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance, large sagging beads are often formed on the inside of the weld. While the beads formed on the outside can be removed by scarfing, but those on the inside of the tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance cannot be removed. Tubes carrying such large internal beads have often cracked in the vicinity of the weld in the size-reduction process or broken in the drawing process. The Method of Manufacturing Welding Wires Filled with Flux disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 240199 of 1987 offered a solution for the problems just described. This technology uses a welded tube with such internal beads whose width and height, together with the angle formed between their root and the inner surface of the tube, are kept within certain limits. With a powder of flux filled by the vibrating method according to the Japanese Patent Publication No. 30937 of 1970 or other proper method, the tube is drawn to a wire of the desired diameter. If their width etc. are kept within certain limits, the internal beads are not pressed into the tube wall even when they are deformed in the drawing process. Such beads also prevent the occurrence of notches at their root and cracks in the vicinity of the weld. The inventors are aware that internal beads of satisfactory shape and size can be obtained even when welding is performed with an inverted-V groove so long as the angle of the groove and the amount of heat input are kept within proper limits. The groove angle varies with the forming schedule of the tube. As the edges of the formed tube are butted and continuously welded together, it is practically impossible to measure the groove angle of tubes with small wall thickness and small diameter. Their groove angle must be estimated on the basis of their forming schedule. Even the estimation of the groove angle is difficult with the tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance covered by this invention as their diameter and wall thickness at the butt welding point are very small (e.g., 21.7 mm in outside diameter and 2.2 mm in wall thickness). The proper heat input that forms satisfactory internal beads varies with the groove angle as well. Therefore, the conditions of heat input derived from the estimated groove angle have involved such considerable errors that the shape and size of internal beads have varied greatly. The Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 240199 of 1987 shows an example of welding with an inverted-V groove (only one example with a groove angle of 15 degrees). But it neither discloses nor suggests the welding conditions, including the groove profile, that will provide satisfactory internal beads. Summary of the InventionThe object of this invention is to provide methods for manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance without causing breakage in the size-reduction process. The inventors discovered that the breakage in the size reduction process is ascribable to the mixing of the spatter expelled during welding with the powdery and/or granular substance in the tube. The spatters are so hard that they remain uncrushed even after the tube has been subjected to rolling or drawing. The presence of the spatters causes the tube, which is prevented from changing its shape, to break. It was also discovered that no such breakage occurs if the size of the mixed spatters is smaller than a certain level. This invention is based on the findings just described. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance comprises the continuous steps of forming a metal strip being fed in the longitudinal direction thereof into an unwelded tube by means of forming rolls, feeding a powdery and/or granular substance into the unwelded tube through an opening therein in the course of the forming process, butt welding the fringing edges of the opening together, and reducing the diameter of the welded tube. The minimum allowable heat input below which cold cracking occurs and the maximum allowable heat input above which spatters not smaller than 0.83 times the inside diameter of the finished tube are expelled in the butt welding process are determined beforehand. Butt welding is then performed with a heat input that is greater than the minimum allowable heat input and smaller than the maximum allowable heat input. It is preferable to weld with a heat input that is smaller than the minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed. The minimum allowable heat input, maximum allowable heat input and minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed can be empirically determined. When the heat input exceeds the minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed, the number of spatters expelled increases sharply with increasing heat input. Because welding according to this invention is performed with a heat input smaller than the maximum allowable heat input, however, the size of the spatters mixing with the powdery and/or granular substance in the tube is limited. This eliminates the spatter-induced breakage that might otherwise occur when the diameter of the tubes filled with the powdery and/or granular substance is reduced. Also, welding with a heat input greater than the minimum allowable heat input eliminates cold cracking. The result is an improvement in the working efficiency and product yield in the manufacture of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance. It is of course desirable to perform welding with a heat input smaller than the minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed. The powdery and/or granular substance may be fed into the unwelded tube either as powder or with all or part of powder granulated. In a method in which the meeting edges of the formed tube are butt welded together with the heat input smaller than the maximum allowable heat input mentioned above, part of the powdery and/or granular substance fed into the unwelded tube that is substantially nonmagnetic and forms nonmetallic inclusions in the weld may be granulated. Here, the substantially nonmagnetic powder is one whose relative magnetic permeability is not higher than 1.10. When a powder is granulated, the weight of each particle increases. The heavier particles are neither blown up by a stream of air nor caused to jump up under the influence of the vibration of the tube to such an extent as to reach the edges of the opening. Having a smooth spherical surface, in addition, the granulated particles are less adhesive to the ferromagnetic constituents of the powder. Therefore, they are seldom taken by the ferromagnetic ingredients to the fringing edges of the opening. Also, they do not break when the powder is fed into the formed tube. As a consequence, no cracking in the weld or no breakage of the tube occurs when the diameter of the tube filled with the powdery and/or granular substance is reduced or the tube is drawn into a wire. Some of the ferromagnetic ingredients in the powder may adhere to the fringing edges of the opening and fuse into the weld, but they do not form nonmetallic inclusions. In the method in which the meeting edges of the formed tube are butt welded together with the heat input smaller than the maximum allowable heat input described above, the tube is welded so that the meeting edges are fused and joined together from the outside to the inside of the tube along a substantially straight line (hereinafter called the welding finishing line) that is inclined at an angle of  (10° <  < 90 ° ) with respect to the axis of the tube. Because the fusion and joining of the meeting edges proceed from the outside to the inside of the tube, the molten metal does not hang down from the inner surface of the tube to form large beads. Internal beads of proper shape and size are obtained so long as the angle of inclination of the welding finishing line is kept within the range of 10 ° <  < 90 ° . Because the angle of inclination of the welding finishing line can be measured, the forming schedule, and the heat input conditions, can be determined on the basis of the actually measured angle of inclination. This permits reducing the variation in the shape and size of internal beads, which, in turn, is conductive to the forming of satisfactory beads. The result is the elimination of the breakage of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance and an improvement in the working efficiency and product yield in their manufacture. Brief Description of the DrawingsFig. 1 shows the principal parts of an apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires according to the method of this invention. Fig. 2 graphically shows the relationship between the range of heat input and the varying welding speed. Fig. 3 graphically shows the relationship among the heat input, incidence of cold cracking and number of spatters expelled in the tube. Fig. 4 schematically illustrates a welding finishing line. Fig. 5 shows the method of an expanding test. Fig. 6 schematically illustrates a process in which a metal strip is formed into a tubular shape. Fig. 7 is a front view showing squeeze rolls and an inverted-V groove. Fig. 8 shows the principal parts of an apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires. Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IX-IX in Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a shielding member provided in the apparatus shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 11 shows the principal parts of another apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored welding wires. Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a shielding member provided in the apparatus shown in Fig. 11. Fig. 13 is a perspective view showing another example of a shielding member. Fig. 14 shows the principal parts of still another apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires. Fig. 15 is a perspective view showing a suction tip. Fig. 16 is a front view showing the suction tip of Fig. 15 that is inserted in a tube being manufactured. Fig. 17 shows the principal parts of yet another apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored welding wires. Fig. 18 is an enlarged perspective view showing a suction tip provided in the apparatus of Fig. 17. Fig. 19 shows the principal parts of another apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored welding wires. Fig. 20 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX-XX in Fig. 19. Fig. 21(a) illustrates the method of a flattening close test, and Fig. 21(b) shows how the incidence of cracking in the specimen tested by the test of Fig. 21(a). Fig. 22 shows the principal parts of another apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored welding wires. Fig. 23 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XXIII-XXIII in Fig. 22. Fig. 24 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of a work coil in an apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored welding wires. Fig. 25 graphically shows the relationship among the moisture content in the fed flux, maximum diameter of the spatter particles contained in the flux and the stability of electric arcs. Fig. 26 is a block diagram showing the principal steps of manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires. Fig. 27 graphically shows the relationship between the density of flux and the nitrogen content in the weld metal. The following are specific embodiments of the manufacture of flux-cored seamless welding wires. Fig. 1 shows the principal parts of an apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires. As shown in Fig. 1, forming rolls 2, side rolls 3 and a flux feeder 4 are disposed in the direction of the travel of the metal strip. Preforming rolls (not shown) are disposed upstream of the forming rolls 2. Flux F is fed into an unwelded tube 1a being formed from between the side rolls 3. The unwelded tube 1a carrying the flux F therein enters a welding zone after passing fin-pass rolls 6 and seam guide rolls 7. A high-frequency induction welder 8 has a work coil 9 and squeeze rolls 10. A power supply 11 supplies a high-frequency welding current of, for instance, 250 to 800 kHz to the work coil 9. The units just described are all of conventional types. A cutting tool 12 removes the excess beads from the outer surface of a welded tube 1b which is then rolled by a series of rolling rolls 14 and reduced to the desired product size by a drawing apparatus including an annealing unit (not shown). [Embodiment I]Butt welding according to this invention is performed with a heat input smaller than the maximum allowable heat input or the minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed. The minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed can be determined as follows. When the heat input is gradually increased while keeping the welding speed constant, spattering from the weld begins to occur. Spattering can be easily observed with the naked eye. The heat input at the point at which spattering is first observed (hereinafter called the spattering starting point) is taken as the minimum heat input at which spattering is observed. The amount of heat input can be indirectly learnt from the output (kVA) of the welding machine. To achieve a more quantitative observation of the spattering starting point, changes in the temperature (measured with a radiation pyrometer), brightness and other variables at or around the weld and the changing pattern of frequency corresponding to the gradual increase in the output (kVA) of the welding machine are determined. Then, the spattering starting point can be easily determined by counting the number of spatters existing in the tube welded with different outputs. The point at which the number of spatters increases sharply is the spattering starting point. The relationship between the size of spatters and the amount of heat input can be determined in a similar way. After determining spattering starting point and the output of the welding machine, temperature, brightness and other variables and the changing pattern of frequency corresponding to the size of spatters, the maximum allowable heat input is determined by observing the individual variables and the changing pattern. Cold cracking occurs in the weld when heat input is too small. The heat input that causes cold cracking can be readily empirically determined as an output (kVA) of the welding machine. As in the above case, the variables such as brightness and the changing pattern of frequency are determined in advance, and then the minimum allowable heat input is determined by observing the individual variables and the changing pattern. The allowable heat input varies not only with the diameter and wall thickness of tubes but also with the welding speed. Fig. 2 shows the relationship between the varying welding speed and the range of the allowable heat input. In the figure, region I under curve PL is an area in which cold cracking occurs. The curve PL is approximately expressed as PL = αVa , in which the exponent a takes a value of about 0.6. Line PU shows the minimum heat input at which spatters not smaller than 0.83 times the inside diameter of the finished tube are expelled. Within the range in which the welding speed is not higher than V₀ (which is the welding speed at point 0 at which the curve PL and the line PM intersect), the line PU is a curve that runs above the curve PL substantially therealong. Within the range in which the welding speed exceeds V₀ , the line PU becomes a straight line that is approximately expressed as PU = C + γV. Region II between the curve PL and the line PU is an area in which neither cold cracking nor the expelling of spatters not smaller than 0.83 times the inside diameter of the finished tube occurs. Straight line PM showing the minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed is approximately expressed as PM = βV (β ≦ γ). Region IIa between the curve PL and the straight line PM is an area in which neither cold cracking nor spattering is observed. Productivity increases with increasing welding speed which, however, is limited by the feed rate of the powdery and/or granular substance into the unwelded tube, capacity of the welding machine, and other factors. On the other hand, smaller heat input permits greater energy saving. But a large enough heat input must be chosen in the allowable region mentioned before to provide a margin to cope with variations in the welding speed, power supply voltage and other welding conditions. Now the results of cracking tests and drawing on tubes for flux-cored welding wires manufactured with the apparatus just described with varying amounts of heat input will be explained. A 2.2 mm thick steel strip was formed into a tube having an outside diameter of 21.7 mm and an inside diameter of 17.3 mm. With a flux filled with a filling ratio of 12 % ± 1 % halfway in the forming process, the meeting edges of the unwelded tube were continuously butt welded. The butt welding was performed at a welding speed of 30 m/min., with a distance of 25 mm left between the work coil and the welding point, and with an apex angle of 7 degrees. After its outside diameter has been reduced to 12.5 mm through a series of rolling rolls, the welded tube was coiled up. After annealing, the welded tube was reduced to the final product having an outside diameter of 1.2 mm and an inside diameter of 0.6 mm. Table 1 shows the results of the cracking tests and drawing. Heat Input (kVA) Measured Temperature (°C) Incidence of Cold Cracking (%) No. of Spatters Expelled in Tube Breakage during Drawing Rating 11811301000NoneX 12011501000NoneX 1221200700NoneX 1251230300NoneX 127125050NoneX 128126000None○ 129127000None○ 135130000None○ 141134000None○ 1451370090None○ 14714200148(0)None○ 15014500251(0)None○ 15314900904(102)OccurredX In the table, Heat Input is the heat input (kVA) expressed in terms of the output of the welding machine, Measured Temperature is the temperature of the weld measured with a radiation pyrometer at a point about 10 mm downstream of the welding point, Incidence of Cold Cracking is the percentage for 10 specimens having an outside diameter of 21.7 mm and a length of 50 mm, and Number of Spatters Expelled in the Tube is the number of spatters not smaller than 300µm that are present in a 10 m long segment of a specimen having an outside diameter of 12.5 mm. The figures in parentheses show the number of spatters not smaller than 500 µm (= the inside diameter of the finished tube x 0.83). Fig. 3 graphically shows the obtained results. Broken line A shows the incidence of cold cracking. Cold cracking ceased to occur when the heat input exceeded 128 kVA (at point a). Dotted line B shows the number of spatters not smaller than 300 µm that occurred in a 10 m long segment of the tube. Spattering began to be observed when the heat input reached 141 kVA (at point b). The number of spatters increased sharply when the heat input exceeded 141 kVA. The point b at which spattering started could be determined easily. Dot-dash line C shows the number of spatters not smaller than 500µm that occurred in a 10 m long segment of the tube. Spatters not smaller than 500µm started to occur when the heat input reached 150 kVA (at point c). The points a, b and c and the regions l and m in Fig. 3 correspond to those in Fig. 2. The following values were obtained when the welding speed was varied in the equations expressing the allowable ranges of heat input: PL =16.6V0.6, PU = (-16.3) + 5.56V, and PM = 4.69V. [Embodiment II]In manufacturing the powder-cored wire described hereunder, substantially nonmagnetic ingredients of the powder to be fed into the unwelded tube which form nonmetallic inclusions in the weld are granulated before being fed into the tube. The powders that must be granulated are such non-ferromagnetic oxides, silicates, carbonates, fluorides, alloy additives and deoxidizers as rutile sand, magnesia clinker, zircon sand, potassium titanate, magnesium aluminate, manganese silicate, some alloys of iron, nickel and cobalt. Some examples of iron alloys are given below. Fe-Al alloys containing not less than 18 % aluminum Fe-Cr alloys containing not less than 40 % chromium Fe-Mn alloys containing not less than 6 % manganese Fe-Mo alloys containing not less than 46 % molybdenum Fe-Nb alloys containing not less than 2 % niobium Fe-Si alloys containing not less than 33 % silicon Fe-Ti alloys containing not less than 23 % titanium Fe-V alloys containing not less than 35 % vanadium Fe-W alloys containing not less than 33 % tungsten Fe-B alloys containing not less than 33 % boron The iron alloys listed above are nonmagnetic. But they become ferromagnetic when the content of aluminum and other alloying elements falls below the specified percentages. It is preferable not to use such ferromagnetic iron alloys that involve the risk of forming nonmetallic inclusions, though the risk depends on the content of alloying elements. Only finer ingredients of the powder, such as those which are finer than 145 meshes (105µm), may be granulated. Granulation is achieved by such conventional methods as the pan amalgamation process. The granulated particles may be fired at a temperature of 400 to 500°C until their moisture content falls below 0.1 %. The size of the granulated particles should preferably be of the order of 145 meshes (105µm) to 20 meshes (840 µm). Particles finer than 145 meshes tend to get blown up by a stream of air or adhere to the ferromagnetic powder because of intermolecular force or Coulomb force (exerted by the particles that are charged by friction or fracture). Particles coarser than 20 meshes tend to break when they are fed into the tube, thereby damaging the uniformity of powder distribution in the tube, lowering the yield and efficiency in the granulation and firing processes and increasing the overall production cost. The ferromagnetic ingredients in the powder may be either granulated or not. When granulated, they must be granulated separately from the aforementioned ingredients that will form nonmetallic inclusions. If the two ingredients are granulated together, the magnetic force attracts the powder to the fringing edges of the opening, whereby ingredients forming nonmetallic inclusions are also taken into the weld. The size of the ferromagnetic ingredients should preferably be of the order of 200 meshes (74µm) to 80 meshes (177µm). If they are finer than 200 meshes, the quantity of ferromagnetic ingredients adhering to the fringing edges of the opening by the action of magnetic force and a stream of air increases, whereby the shape of beads at the weld and the uniformity of the filled powder are spoiled. If they are coarser than 80 meshes, complete fusion of the weld and uniform distribution of the filled powder are unattainable. Using the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, flux-cored tubes having an outside diameter of 10 to 25 mm were prepared and then drawn into flux-cored seamless welding wires under the following conditions. While Table 2 shows the composition of the steel strips and fluxes, Tables 3 and 4 show the particle size of the granulated flux powders. Steel Strip Carbon Steel Stainless Steel Flux Composition 1 (%) Composition 2 (%) Group AIron powder (total Fe: 95 % minimum)10- Nickel powder (Ni: 97 % minimum)-10 Group BRutile sand4636 Silica sand86 Zircon sand-13 Chromium-25 Manganese-6 Ferromanganese8- Ferrosilicon5- Silicomanganese19- Others44 Total100100 Group A: Material comprising ferromagnetic metals Group B: Substantially nonmagnetic powder of materials forming nonmetallic inclusions in welded joints The granulated fluxes shown in Tables 3 and 4 were prepared by granulating the material powder by the pan amalgamation process. The binder was made up of one part of two moles of sodium silicate and three parts of three moles of potassium silicate. The fluxes were dried at 150 °C until moisture content dropped to 0.2 to 0.5 %. The baked fluxes shown in Tables 3 and 4 were prepared by baking granulated fluxes at a temperature of 400 to 600 °C. The moisture content of the baked fluxes was not higher than 0.1%. Using a constant-volume feeder, the flux was fed into the formed tube at a rate of 80 to 140 g/sec. The flux filling ratio was 10.0 to 15.0 %. The fringing edges of the opening were joined together by high-frequency induction welding. Welding was performed at a speed of 20 to 70 m/min., with a heat input (EpIp) of 100 to 250 kVA. Tables 3 and 4 also show the results of a flattening close test conducted on the tubes thus prepared. The test was performed on ten specimens that were prepared by cutting tubes into successive lengths of 50 mm each and removing the flux therefrom. Each specimen was pressed from the direction 90 degrees apart from the weld until the inner walls thereof came in close contact with each other. Then, the weld was examined for cracks using a magnifying glass. Then, the incidence of the breakage of wires drawn from the flux-cored tubes was investigated. The investigation was made on 10 tons of wires (having an outside diameter of 1.2 mm) drawn from flux-cored tubes with an outside diameter of 21.7 mm. The results are shown in Tables 3 and 4. As is obvious from Tables 3 and 4, even fluxes consisting solely of granulated particles of practically nonmagnetic materials forming nonmetallic inclusions caused only such minute defects or breakage as were practically negligible. When the fluxes forming nonmetallic inclusions were granulated to particles coarser than 145 meshes, the results in the flattening close and wire breaking tests improved. Still better results were obtained when the granulated fluxes were fired. The flux-cored seamless welding wires prepared by the method of this invention produced weld metals of satisfactory mechanical properties with satisfactory welding efficiency. [Embodiment III]A method described here manufactures a flux-cored tube by welding an unwelded tube so that fusion and joining the meeting edges thereof is carried out from the outside to the inside of the tube along a substantially straight welding line inclined at an angle of  (10° <  < 90 ° ) with respect to the axis of the tube. To achieve such fusion and joining, it is necessary to form a tube according to a predetermined forming schedule. Fig. 4 shows a welding finishing line 1. It is not absolutely essential that starting point P is located at the outer surface of the tube. Any subsurface point above the center line C of the wall thickness serves the purpose. When starting point P is located at such subsurface point, the upper profile of the inverted-V becomes smaller. The angle of inclination  of the welding finishing line 1 decreases with an increase in the included angle of the inverted-V groove and a decrease in the apex angle. The groove becomes V-shaped when the angle of inclination  becomes larger than 90 degrees. When the angle of inclination becomes smaller than 10 degrees, cold cracking occurs on the inner side of the tube, thereby creating the risk of breaking in the course of drawing. When the angle of inclination becomes larger than 90 degrees, excess beads are formed on the inner side of the tube. This also creates the risk of breaking in the course of drawing. This is the reason why the angle of inclination is limited within the range of 10° <  < 90 ° , or preferably within the range of 20° <  < 85° . The forming schedule to obtain a welding finishing line whose angle of inclination  with respect to the axis of the tube is within the range of 10° <  < 90° and the heat input conditions complying with the angle of inclination are empirically determined in advance. The angle of inclination of the welding finishing line is determined by applying an expanding test on some welded tubes. Figs. 5(a), (b) and (c) illustrate the procedures of the expanding test. Fig. 5(a) shows squeeze rolls 10 in operation. After discontinuing welding, an approximately 50 mm long specimen 16, which includes both of the unwelded portion 1a and the welded portion 1b, is cut off. As shown in Fig. 5(b), excess beads extend to halfway down on both of the outer and inner surfaces of the specimen 16, excluding the unwelded portion. Then, as shown in Fig. 5(c), the end of the unwelded portion of the specimen 16 is flared by pressed it (with a pressure of approximately 10 tons) over a conical tool 17 tapered at an angle of 60 degrees. Then, the angle of the welding finishing line visible on the fractured surface thus obtained is measured. Now the forming schedule will be described by reference to Fig. 6 that schematically illustrates the process in which a strip is formed into an unwelded tube. In determining a forming schedule, the following variables are adjusted: (a) the degree to which both edges A of the strip are bent by the preforming rolls; (b) the degree of forming by the series of forming rolls; (c) the degree to which the unwelded tube 1a is formed to provide the desired groove by the fins of the fin-pass rolls; (d) the degree to which the unwelded tube 1a is formed to provide the desired groove by the fins of the seam-guide rolls; and (e) the degree of upsetting by controlling the diameter of the squeeze rolls and the gap therebetween. Then, an inverted-V groove is formed in the unwelded tube 1a. The apex angle β (the angle at which the unwelded tube opens at the welding point B) is then controlled so that the desired angle of inclination  of the welding finishing line is obtained. While the angle α of the inverted-V groove is determined by mainly controlling the degree (c) described above, the apex angle β is determined by controlling mainly the degree (e). The following paragraphs describe a method of manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires using the apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is an enlarged view showing the squeeze rolls 10 and the butted edges of the tube being welded. When the forming schedule is controlled so that the angle of inclination  of the welding finishing line falls within the range of 10° <  < 90 ° , the groove 15 is shaped like an inverted-V as illustrated. Though the groove angle α must be within a proper range, it is practically impossible or difficult to measure. Flux-cored seamless welding wires were prepared as described in the following. By controlling the forming schedule so that the welding finishing line is inclined at different angles, strips of different thicknesses were formed into tubes having an outside diameter of 21.7 mm and an inside diameter of 17.3 mm. After filling the flux with a filling ratio of 12 % ± 1 %, the unwelded tubes were continuously butt welded with a heat input of 140 kVA, at a frequency of 520 kHz and a welding speed of 30 m/min. The outside diameter of the welded tubes was reduced to 12.5 mm by the series of rolling rolls, and the obtained products were coiled up. After annealing, the diameter of the coiled tubes was further reduced to the desired product size. Table 5 shows the results of drawing. During Welding Angle of Inclination  10° 20° 30-70° 80° 85° 110° Internal Bead X ○ ○ ○ ○ X During Drawing Diameter of Broken Tube and Frequency of Breakage 1.43 1 00000 1.33200000 1.24200001 1.20500002 As is obvious from Table 5, breakage occurred during drawing when the angle inclination was not larger than 10 degrees because of cold cracking on the inner side of tubes. Breakage occurred also when the angle of inclination was 110 degrees because of excessive beads on the inner side of tubes. Neither internal cracking nor breakage during drawing occurred when the angle of inclination was kept within the range of 20 to 85 degrees. [Embodiment IV]As mentioned previously, welding according to this invention is carried out while controlling the expelling of spatters. But as the welding conditions, such as welding speed, power supply voltage and apex angle, vary, spatters exceeding the allowable limit may be expelled. To solve this problem, a method described here feeds the powdery and/or granular substance into the tube in such a manner as to leave a space at least up to the welding point. Then, with an opening near the welding point shielded from the side of the space thus left, a stream of gas is forcefully shot forth near the welding point to blow the expelled spatters outside the tube. The opening is shielded by putting a shielding member thereover from the side of the space. The shielding member, which is exposed to the welding heat, is made of ceramics or other similar refractory materials. The spatters are blown away by a stream of air, inert gas or other similar gases forcefully shot forth to the opening near the welding point. The following paragraphs describe the manufacture of flux-cored seamless welding wires. In the description of this embodiment, units and parts similar to those of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 are designated by similar reference characters, with no detailed description given thereabout. This embodiment is equipped with means to shoot forth a gas stream to the vicinity of the welding point, with the opening in that area shielded from the side of the space in the tube. As such, welding of the tube is performed while shooting forth the gas stream. As shown in Figs. 8, 9 (a cross-sectional view taken along the line IX-IX in Fig. 8) and 10, the inside of a tube 1 is shielded by putting a shielding member 26 over an opening 22 near the welding point 21 from the side of a space 24 in the tube 1, thereby protecting the flux F. The shielding member 26 consists of a ceramics rod 27 and a sheet of ceramics fiber 28 attached thereto. Held by a support member 29 between a seam guide roll 7 and a work coil 9 and inserted in the space 24 in the tube 1, the rod 27 keeps the sheet of the ceramic fiber 28 in contact with the under side of the opening 22. The shielding member used in the embodiment being described has a length of 200 mm. A tilted gas shooting nozzle 31 provided above the welding point 21 shoots forth a stream of compressed air at 5 to 7 kgf/cm² to the opening 22. The shooting nozzle used in this embodiment has an outside diameter of 8 mm and an inside diameter of 4 mm. The spatters expelled as a result of the welding of the tube 1 in the vicinity of the welding point 21 are blown out of the tube by the stream of air shot forth from the shooting nozzle 31. This avoids the mixing of the spatters with the flux F contained in the tube 1. The stream of air also blows off foreign matters away from the edges of the opening, thereby cleaning the edges before they reach the welding point. Fig. 11 shows another embodiment of this invention, which differs from the embodiment shown in Fig. 8 in that a stream of gas is shot forth from below the opening. A shielding member 32 of ceramics having an air passage 33 and an air nozzle 34 supported by a support member 29 is inserted in the tube 1 as in the embodiment shown in Fig. 8, with the air nozzle 34 positioned to meet the opening 22 near the welding point 21. A stream of compressed air from a compressor (not shown) is shot forth from the air nozzle 34 in the direction of an arrow 37. This stream of air blows the spatters resulting from welding outside, thereby avoiding the mixing of the spatters with the flux F in the tube 1. The shielding member used in this embodiment has a length of 200 mm, the air passage 33 has an inside diameter of 4 mm, and the air nozzle has a cross-sectional area of 30 mm by 8 mm. A shielding member 32 shown in Fig. 12 comprises a rod of ceramics having an air passage 33 and an air nozzle 34. The surface facing the opening is arched with the same radius of curvature as the inside of the tube 1. Reference numeral 35 denotes a groove to protect the internal bead. The following paragraphs describe the flux-cored welding wire manufactured by the apparatus just described. Steel strip was formed into tubes having an outside diameter of 21.7 mm and an inside diameter of 17.3 mm. Flux was fed into the tubes being formed with a filling ratio of 12 %. Table 6 shows the welding conditions employed. The welded tubes were coiled up after their outside diameter has been reduced to 12.5 mm through a series of size-reduction rolls. The tubes were then drawn through thirty-three dies with a final drawing speed of 1000 m/min. until the outside diameter reduced to 1.2 mm. Table 6 shows the results of drawing too. As is obvious from Table 6, tubes broke in the course of drawing when spatters were not blown off (Examples for Comparison Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9). This was due to the welding defects resulted from the mixing of spatters with the flux in the tube or the presence of impurities in the weld. By contrast, no breakage occurred during drawing when spatters were blown out of tubes. Of Examples Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 according to this invention, Examples Nos. 2, 6 and 10 were according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 8 and Examples Nos. 4 and 8 were according to the embodiment in Fig. 11. Fig. 13 shows another example of a shielding member. A shielding member 38 comprises a rod of ceramics having a cross section arched with the same radius of curvature as that of the inside of the tube 1 to assure complete shielding, with a groove 39 to protect the internal bead provided at the top. The stream of gas used in this embodiment blows the spatters expelled as a result of welding outside the tube. Therefore, the spatters do not mix with the powdery and/or granular substance in the tube. Even when such substance containing ferromagnetic ingredients is blown up by the action of a magnetic field induced by a high-frequency current, it does not adhere to the fringing edges of the opening that is shielded. As a consequence, no welding defect and, therefore, no breakage in the drawing process occurs. [Embodiment V]Like the embodiment IV, this embodiment is also intended to prevent spatters in excess of the allowable limit from mixing with the powdery and/or granular substance in the tube. To achieve this object, the powdery and/or granular substance is fed into the tube while leaving a space along the tube at least up to the welding point. Then, the spatters are drawn from near the welding point through a suction tube that extends through the space along the tube and discharged outside the tube upstream of the welding point. A vacuum pump is used for the suction of the spatters. The spatters are sucked either in an area covering the upstream and downstream of the welding point, an area upstream of the welding point, an area down stream of the welding point, or at one specific point in these areas. An apparatus for manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance used in this embodiment comprises a unit that forms a metal strip fed in the longitudinal direction thereof into a tubular shape, a unit to feed the powdery and/or granular substance into the formed tube while leaving a space along the tube at least up to the welding point, and a welding unit that joins together the fringing edges of an opening that extends in the longitudinal direction of the tube. The apparatus also has a suction tube that extends through the space along the tube and, with an intake thereof positioned near the welding point, and a suction pump connected to the suction tube. The welding unit is selected from the high-frequency induction, high-frequency resistance or other types. The outside diameter of the suction tube is equal to approximately 30 to 90 % of the space in the tube in which the powdery and/or granular substance is fed. Exposed to the welding heat, the leading end of the suction tube where the intake is provided should preferably be made of such heat-resisting materials as alumina, silicon carbide and silicon nitride. The leading end of the suction tube may be a designed as a replaceable tip. The suction pump is selected from the positive-displacement, centrifugal, ejector or other types of vacuum pumps. The intake of the suction tube may be opened toward the vicinity of the welding point. An intake opening toward the vicinity of the welding point is formed by cutting off an approximately semicircular portion of the leading end of the suction tube (positioned near the welding point) in the longitudinal direction thereof. The following paragraphs describe the manufacture of flux-cored seamless welding wires. A wire drawing line shown in Fig. 14 has a collecting tank 41 whose top is connected to a centrifugal vacuum pump 43 through a solenoid valve 42. The suction force expressed in terms of the vacuum in the collecting tank is, for example, between 1000 and 1600 mmAq. A suction tube 45 of steel is attached to the cylindrical portion of the collecting tank 41. The suction tube 45 enters the tube 1 being formed from an opening 22 therein and extends in the traveling direction of the tube 1 to near a seam guide 7. The suction tube 45 used in this embodiment has an outside diameter of 10 mm and an inside diameter of 6 mm. An intake tip 46 of alumina is attached to the leading end of the suction tube 45. A semicircular spatter intake 48 is provided near the leading end of the cylindrical tip proper 48. The suction tip 46 used in this embodiment has an outside diameter of 10 mm and an inside diameter of 6 mm, with the intake 48 thereof having a length of 100 mm. When the tube 1 is welded, spatters are expelled in the vicinity of the welding point 21. By the action of the vacuum pump 43, the spatters are sucked into the intake 48 of the suction tip 46 and collected into the collecting tank 41 through the suction tube 45. Therefore, the spatters do not mix with the flux in the tube 1. The following paragraphs describe the manufacture of flux-cored welding wires by the apparatus just described. Steel strip was formed into tubes having an outside diameter of 25.4 mm and an inside diameter of 21.4 mm. Flux was fed into the tubes being formed with a packing ratio of 12 %, and the flux-cored tubes were welded under the conditions shown in Table 7. No. Classification Welding Conditions Processed Weight (Kg) Broken or Not Broken Diameter of Broken Tube and Frequency of Breakage Heat Input (kVA) Welding Speed (m/min.) 1.43 (mm) 1.33 (mm) 1.24 (mm) 1.2 (mm) 1Specimen for comparison8012576Broken1122 2Specimen according to this invention8012722Not broken0000 3Specimen for comparison10012521Broken1112 4Specimen according to this invention10012738Not broken0000 5Specimen for comparison14532472Broken0111 6Specimen according to this invention14532798Not broken0000 7Specimen for comparison16032712Broken1001 8Specimen according to this invention16032793Not broken0000 9Specimen for comparison20042552Broken0101 10Specimen according to this invention20042735Not broken0000 Spatters were sucked from the vicinity of the welding point under a vacuum of 1200 to 1400 mmAq (in the collecting tank) at a rate of 30 to 50 m/min. The welded tubes were coiled up after their outside diameter has been reduced to 11.5 mm through a series of size-reduction rolls. The tubes were then drawn through thirty-three dies with a final drawing speed of 1000 m/min. until the outside diameter reduced to 1.2 mm. Table 7 shows the results of drawing. As is obvious from Table 7, breakage occurred during drawing when spatters were not sucked and collected (Examples for Comparison Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9). This was due to the mixing of spatters with the flux in the tube. By contrast, no breakage occurred during drawing when spatters were sucked and collected. Figs. 15 and 16 show another example of a suction tip. A suction tip 51 shown in Fig. 15 essentially comprises a tubular member 52 similar to the one shown in Fig. 14. As shown in Fig. 16, spatter catching wings 54 are provided on both edges of an intake 53. The spatter catching wings 54 are tilted toward the spatter intake 53 and cover the clearances between the inner wall of the tube and the tip proper 52. The spatters falling from the welding area are caught by the spatter catching wings 54, guided to the intake 53 along the surface of the wings, and sucked by the suction tube 45. Covering the clearance between the inner wall of the tube and the tip proper 52, the spatter catching wings 54 serve as a spatter shield. This prevents the spatters from falling and mixing with the flux F at the bottom of the tube. Another example of an apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires is described in the following. A wire drawing line shown in Fig. 17 slopes forward at an angle greater than the angle of repose of the flux (60 degrees in this embodiment). A series of forming rolls, a seam guide 7 and a high-frequency induction welding machine 8 are disposed in that order along the sloping wire drawing line. A flux feeder 4 has a flux feed tube 56 of quartz which is inserted in a tube 1 being formed through an opening 22 therein from between the forming rolls. The leading end of the flux feed tube 56 is positioned downstream of the welding point 21. The suction tube 45 enters the tube downstream of the point where the flux feed tube 56 is inserted into the tube and extends to near the seam guide 7 in the direction in which the tube 1 travels forward. An intake tip 57 of alumina is attached to the leading end of the suction tube 45. As shown in Fig. 18, the intake tip 57 comprises a semicircular box-shaped tip proper 58. A spatter intake 59 opening upward is provided in the tip proper 58, with a connecting tube 61 fastened to near the bottom thereof. While one end of the connecting tube 61 extends to near a spatter receiver 60 at the leading end of the tip proper, the other end is connected to the leading end of the suction tube 45. Provision may be made to feed a pressurized gas (such as argon, helium, nitrogen gas, carbon dioxide gas and air) into the flux feed tube 56 to facilitate the flow of the flux F therethrough. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 17, flux may be directly fed from a flux feeder into a tube being formed through an opening therein, as in the embodiment of Fig. 14, without employing the flux feed tube. Then, the flux moves forward in the tube while sliding over the bottom surface of the tube. In this embodiment, spatters resulting from welding are drawn into the tube together with the sucked air and discharged outside upstream. Therefore, the spatters do not mix with the powdery and/or granular substance in the tube. This eliminates the breaking of tubes filled with the powdery and/or granular substance in the drawing process, with a resulting improvement in the working efficiency and product yield in the manufacture of such tubes. [Embodiment VI]In the manufacture of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance, the edges of the opening therein are stained by, for example, the dust (of the powdery and/or granular substance) raised when flux is fed for edge welding, the metal powder resulting from the abrasion of the forming rolls and the strip in the forming process, and the lubricating oil that is likely to catch such dust and powder. When the edges of the opening are welded without removing these accretions, they are entrapped in the weld to form welding defects. Tubes involving such welding defects often break in the subsequent drawing process, thereby lowering the working efficiency and product yield therein. The possibility of breaking increases with an increase in the degree of drawing. An embodiment to be described in the following provides a method and apparatus for manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance having satisfactory welds by performing welding after removing such stains from the edges of the unwelded opening therein. In this embodiment, accretions on the fringing edges of the unwelded opening in a formed tube are wiped off just ahead of the welding point with a fabric belt. More specifically, accretions on the fringing edges are wiped off just ahead of or upstream of the welding point before they begin to melt. An apparatus for manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance used in this embodiment comprises a unit that forms a metal strip fed in the longitudinal direction thereof into a tubular shape, a unit to feed the powdery and/or granular substance into the formed tube while leaving a space along the tube at least up to the welding point, and a welding unit that joins together the fringing edges of an opening that extends in the longitudinal direction of the tube. The apparatus also has a push roll to push a fabric belt into the opening just ahead of the welding point and bring it in contact with the fringing edges of the opening and a device that feeds the fabric belt to and take it back from the push-in roll. The welding unit is selected from the high-frequency induction and high-frequency resistance types. The fabric belt pushed into the small opening (approximately 2.0 to 4.0 mm in width) by the push-in roll comes in contact with the fringing edges thereof to wipe off stains therefrom. Because the gap between the fringing edges changes delicately under the influence of the springback of the metal strip, it is preferable that the fabric belt has such cushioning property as will always keep it in contact with the edges no matter how the gap changes. Considering the exposure to the welding heat near the welding point, the fabric belt should preferably be made of a heat-resisting material. The fabric belt is made of plant fiber, such as cotton, synthetic fiber or ceramics fiber. Fig. 19 shows the principal parts of an apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored seamless welding wires. As shown in Figs. 19 and 20 (a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX-XX in Fig. 19.), a push-in roll 65 pushes a fabric belt 64 into an opening 22 just ahead of the welding point 21 between a seam guide 7 and a work coil 9 to wipe off the stains from the fringing edges 1c of the opening 22. The push-in roll 65 has a fin 66 that is adapted to push in the fabric belt into the opening 22 as the roll 65 rotates. The device to feed the fabric belt 64 to and take it back from the push-in roll 65 in this embodiment is made up of a supply system comprising a feed bobbin 67 to feed the fabric belt 64 to the push-in roll 65 and a pair of entry-side guide rolls 68 disposed between the feed bobbin 67 and the push-in roll 65 and a take-back system comprising a take-up bobbin 70 to take back the stained fabric belt from the push-in roll 65 and a pair of exit-side guide rolls 69 disposed between the take-up bobbin 70 and the push-in roll 65. While the take-up bobbin 70 is a driving bobbin, the push-in roll 65 and feed bobbin 67 are driven. The fabric belt 64 is guided by the entry-side guide rolls 68 and the exit-side guide rolls 69 so as not to sag therebetween. As the take-up bobbin 70 rotates, the fabric belt 64 enters the opening 22 from the downstream side (the work coil side) of the push-in roll and leaves the opening on the upstream side (the seam guide side). The running speed of the fabric belt 64 can be freely controlled by adjusting the rotating speed of the take-up bobbin 70. The running speed of the fabric belt 64 needs not to be greater than about 1 to 50 cm/min. Because the belt moves in the opposite direction of the travel of the tube 1 that is fed at a high speed of about 10 to 50 m/min, the fabric belt supplied at a speed in the above range wipes off the stains well from the edges 1c. With the dust generated in the feeding process of the flux F and the abrasive powder resulting from the strip forming process thus removed by the fabric belt 64, the edges 1c of the opening 22 entering the welding point 21 are always kept clean. Now the manufacture of flux-cored welding wires by the apparatus just described will be described. Steel strip was formed into tubes having an outside diameter of 21.7 mm and an inside diameter of 17.3 mm. Flux was filled into a tube being formed with a filling ratio of 12 %. The tubes filled with the flux were welded under the conditions shown in Table 8. Stains were removed from the edges 1c of the opening 22 by a 1 mm thick and 20 mm wide cotton belt 64 disposed just ahead of the welding point 21 between the work coil 9 and seam guide 7 and running at a speed of 10 cm/min. in the opposite direction of the travel of the tube 1. The welded tubes were coiled up after their outside diameter has been reduced to 12.5 mm by a series of size-reduction rolls. The flux-cored tubes were then drawn into wires having an outside diameter of 1.2 mm with a final drawing speed of 1000 m/min. Table 8 shows the results of drawing. The cracking ratio (%) of welding defects is determined by applying a flattening close test (flattened thickness H = 2t (t = wall thickness of the tube)) on a specimen (having an outside diameter of 21.7 mm, an inside diameter of 17.3 mm and a length L of 50 mm) taken from a tube right after welding as shown in Fig. 21(a). The cracking ratio (%) is a ratio of the total length Σl (= l1 + l2 ) of cracks 75 occurred in the weld 74 of the specimen 73 shown in Fig. 21(b) to the length L of the specimen, which is expressed as Σl/L x 100. As is obvious from Table 9, the frequency of breakage during the wire-drawing process increased with increasing welding speed when the accretions were not removed from the fringing edges of the opening (as in Examples for Comparison Nos. 2, 4, 6 and 8). It became difficult to perform the drawing operation when the welding speed exceeded 30 m/min. This is because the quantity of dust generated in feeding the flux increases with increasing welding speed. Also the increasing heat input builds up a stronger induction field. These factors attract more dust to the edges of the opening. As the quantity of dust and other accretions entrapped in the weld increases, more welding defects tend to occur. When accretions were removed from the edges of the opening (as in Examples Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 7 according to this invention), no welding defect and no breakage during drawing occurred. No welding defect occurred in this embodiment as accretions, such as the dust generated in feeding the flux and the abrasive powder resulting form the strip forming process, were wiped off from the fringing edges of the opening in the formed tubes. This resulted in the elimination of breakage in the subsequent wire-drawing process and an improvement in the working efficiency and product yield in the preparation of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance. [Embodiment VII]The tubes passing the work coil in the manufacture of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance described above carry such magnetic powders as the iron particles contained in the dust generated in feeding the flux and the abrasive powder and chips generated in the strip forming process. When a tube carrying such magnetic powders passes the work coil, a magnetic field created by the high-frequency current passing through the work coil transfers the magnetic powders from the tube to the work coil. When the magnetic powders thus accumulated on the work coil exceeds a certain limit, electricity is discharged between the tube and work coil. This electric discharge damages the water-cooled copper pipe on the work coil, with the cooling water contained therein scattered thereabout. When this damage occurs, the operation of the apparatus must be temporarily discontinued to change the work coil and remove the unwelded tube in process. This shutdown has heavily impaired the utilization rate of the apparatus and product yield. The embodiment to be described hereunder provides a method and apparatus for manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance that greatly lengthens the life of the work coil by preventing the adhesion of magnetic powders thereto, thereby avoiding the electric discharge by the built-up magnetic powders and preventing the damage to the work coil caused thereby. This method feeds a metal strip in the longitudinal direction thereof, forms the strip into a tubular shape, feeds a powdery and/or granular substance into a tube formed from the strip while leaving a space along the tube at least up to the welding point, and join together the fringing edges of an opening extending in the longitudinal direction of the tube by high-frequency induction welding that is applied by use of an induction heating coil that surrounds the tube with a space left therebetween. A stream of gas is passed through the space between the induction heating coil and tube to remove the magnetic powder therefrom. The removal of the magnetic powder is achieved by shooting forth a stream of such gases as air or inert gas into that space or by sucking the air therefrom. The ejection or suction should preferably be performed at such point, in such direction and with such force as will exert no influence on the flux contained in the tube. An apparatus for manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance used in this embodiment comprises a unit that forms a metal strip fed in the longitudinal direction thereof into a tubular shape, a unit to feed the powdery and/or granular substance into the formed tube while leaving a space along the tube at least up to the welding point, and a high-frequency induction welding unit that has an induction heating coil surrounding the tube with a space left therebetween to joins together the fringing edges of an opening that extends in the longitudinal direction thereof. The apparatus also has an insulating shielding member that covers the space between the induction heating coil and tube and a unit to pass a gas stream through the space between the shielding member and tube. Because the induction heating coil is exposed to the welding heat, the insulating shielding member should preferably be made of such heat-resisting materials as quartz glass, ceramics, alumina or fabrics of asbestos, ceramics and glass. The gas stream is either blown out or sucked in. The gas blow-out unit has a compressor and a blow-out tube. A compressed stream of air, inert gas or other gases is blown out into said space from the compressor through the blow-out tube. The gas suction unit has a suction pump and a suction tube. The suction pump draws the air from said space through the suction tube to create a stream of air therein. The suction pump is selected from the positive-displacement, centrifugal, ejector or other types of vacuum pumps. With their tip exposed to the welding heat, the blow-out and suction tubes should preferably be made of such heat-resisting materials as alumina, silicon carbide and silicon nitride. Fig. 22 shows the principal parts of an apparatus for manufacturing flux-cored welding wires. This apparatus has a unit to remove magnetic powder by a gas stream passed through a space 77 between the work coil 9 and tube 1 shown in Fig. 1. Thus, no magnetic powder is allowed to accumulate on the work coil 9 because the magnetic powder that has collected on the work coil 9 or that is about to be transferred from the tube to the work coil 9 is removed by means of a gas stream that either blows out or sucks in such magnetic powder from the space 77. As shown in Figs. 22 and 23 (a cross-sectional view taken along the line XXIII-XXIII in Fig. 22.), an ejection tube 79 connected to an air compressor (not shown) is provided just ahead of the work coil 9. The ejection tube 79 used in this embodiment is shaped like a ring concentric with the work coil 9. A gas ejection nozzle 80 extended therefrom is directed toward the space 77. As shown in Fig. 23, a water-cooled copper tube 81 of the work coil 9 is wound around the tube 1 twice, with both ends thereof connected to a high-frequency power supply 11. The water-cooled copper tube 81 is protected by a primary coating 82 of a heat-resisting material, such as a coating of glass fiber used in this embodiment, and an overall secondary coating of glass fiber. On the inner side of the work coil 9 is provided a concentric insulating shielding member, such as a shielding tube 84 of ceramics used in this embodiment, with a space 77 left between the shielding member and the tube 1. One end of the shielding tube 84 closer to the ejection tube 79 is flared to facilitate the admission of the air blown out from the gas ejection nozzle 80 into the space 77. The compressed air blown out from the gas ejection nozzle (in the direction of an arrow) removes the magnetic powder from the shielding tube through the space 77, thereby preventing the buildup of the magnetic powder. Flux-cored welding wires are manufactured as described hereunder. A steel strip approximately 50 to 100 mm wide and 1.5 to 2.5 mm thick is formed into an unwelded tube having an outside diameter of about 16 to 33 mm. The water-cooled copper tube of the work coil has an outside diameter of about 4 to 8 mm, and about 80 to 300 kVA of heat (EpIp) is supplied through the copper tube. If the outside diameter of the water-cooled copper tube 81 is d, the gap (i.e., the coating thickness) between the outer surface of the water-cooled copper tube 81 and the inner surface of the shielding tube 84 is t₁ , and the gap (i.e., the space 77) between the inner surface of the shielding tube 84 and the outer surface of the tube 1 is t₂ , it is preferable to make t₁ ≧ 0.2d to reduce the adhesion of the magnetic powder to the work coil, t1 + t2 ≦ d to increase the efficiency of the work coil, and t₂ ≧ 1 mm to facilitate the removal of the magnetic powder from the space 77. The embodiment shown in Fig. 24 is similar to the one shown in Fig. 23 in that the water-cooled copper tube is protected by a primary coating 82 and a secondary coating 83 of glass fibers and a gas ejection nozzle 80 is provided, and different in that the entire work coil 9 is covered with a shielding coating 85 of ceramics instead of the shielding tube 84 shown in Fig. 23. In this case, the thickness of the coating t₁ is equal to the clearance between the outer surface of the water-cooled copper tube 81 and the surface of the shielding coating 85. As in the embodiment shown in Fig. 23, the gas ejection nozzle shoots forth the air from a compressor not shown in the direction indicated by the arrow. The ejected compressed air immediately removes the magnetic powder from the shielding coating 85 through the space 77, thereby preventing the buildup of the magnetic powder. Instead of shooting forth the gas into the space 77 from the gas ejection nozzle used in the embodiments shown in Figs. 23 and 24, air may be sucked from the space 77 using a suction tube which draws the magnetic powder from the space 77 together with air into a collecting tank. It is preferably to make the surface of the shielding members such as the shielding tube 84 and shielding coating 85 as smooth as possible to minimize the adhesion of the magnetic powder and facilitate the removal of the adhered powder. The following paragraphs describe the manufacture of flux-cored welding wires using the apparatus shown in Figs. 22 and 23. Steel strip (according to JIS G 3131, SPHC) having a width of 62.9 mm and a thickness of 2.2 mm was formed into tubes with an outside diameter of 21.7 mm and an inside diameter of 17.3 mm, with the fringing edges of the opening therein joined together by high-frequency induction welding. Flux was fed into the tubes being formed with a filling ratio of 12 %. The welded tubes were coiled up after their outside diameter has been reduced to 12.5 mm through a series of size-reduction rolls. The tubes were then drawn through thirty-three dies with a final drawing speed of 1000 m/min. until the outside diameter reduced to 1.2 mm. Welding was performed with a heat input of EpIp = 12.4 (kV) x 11.8 (A) = 146.3 kVA and a welding speed (tube travel speed) of 30 m/min. With the embodiment of Fig. 23, in which the diameter d of the water-cooled copper tube is 5 mm and the gap t₁ + t₂ between the water-cooled copper tube and the tube is 4 mm, the service life of the work coil was investigated by changing the thickness t₁ of the coating as shown in Table 9. The results of the investigation are shown in Table 9. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Coating Thickness t₁ (mm) (t₁ /d)0.5 (0.1)1.0 (0.2)1.5 (0.3)2 (0.4)2.5 (0.5)3 (0.6) Space t₂ (mm)3.53.02.52.01.51.0 Life of Work CoilEmbodiment in Fig. 23--○○○○ Embodiment in Fig. 24-○○○○○ Example for ComparisonXXXX-- Note. ○ : Good (100 hours or above) X : Poor (10 hours or under) Example for comparison: Prepared without gas stream, shielding tube 84 and shielding coating 85 and with only secondary coating 83. As is obvious from Table 9, magnetic powder adhered to the work coil and built up, with electric discharge started in such a short time as between 1 and 10 hours and the water-cooled copper tube of the work coil broken, when no gas was passed through the space between the work coil and the tube and a coating of glass fiber alone was applied. With the embodiments of Figs. 23 and 24 in which a stream of gas was passed, by contrast, magnetic powder was removed from the space between the work coil and the tube by the gas stream, whereby no build-up of the magnetic powder and electric discharge occurred. As a consequence, no change appeared on the work coil during the testing period of about 100 hours. The gas stream passed through the space between the work coil and the tube in the embodiments just described prevents the magnetic powder from adhering to the work coil. Even when some powder adheres, the gas stream blows such powder out of the space. Therefore, no accumulation of magnetic powder occurs. As a consequence, no electric discharge, which can occur when the magnetic powder is present between the work coil and the tube, occurs. With the electric-discharge-induced damage to the work coil thus prevented, the working efficiency and product yield in the manufacture of tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance are improved. [Embodiment VIII]Flux-cored wires for gas-shielded arc welding (hereinafter called flux-cored wires) are made up of such outer skins as strip of mild or low-alloy steel and fluxes comprising slag forming agents, deoxidizers, alloying agents, arc stabilizers and other materials contained therein. Flux-cored wires produce more stable arcs and expel less spatters than solid wires. They assure easier welding, producing satisfactory beads in flat, horizontal, vertical and other positions. Flux-cored wires also provide higher melting and fusion speeds. Against the background of increasing demands for higher welding efficiency, the use of flux-cored wires is increasing sharply because of the features described above. Particularly, flux-cored wires whose flux contains not less than 4 % (total weight of the wire = 100 %) of such slag forming agents as TiO₂ and SiO₂ are extensively used because they provide good weldability in the various welding positions mentioned before. New methods of manufacturing flux-cored wires disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publications Nos. 234794 of 1985 and 234795 of 1985, etc. are attracting attention. These new methods continuously manufacture flux-cored wires by continuously feeding steel strip of relatively large size, feeding flux into unwelded tubes being formed from the strip, butt welding the upper edges of the formed tubes, and reducing the diameter of the welded tubes to the desired diameter of the finished flux-cored wires, using a series of apparatus. Among various types of welding methods employed for joining together the upper edges of the unwelded tubes, high-frequency resistance welding and high-frequency induction welding are particularly popular. But little study has been made as to the weldability of flux-cored wires whose outer skin is made of tubes whose upper edges are welded together with a flux contained therein. The inventors discovered that spatters expelled when the upper edges of formed tubes are welded together are detrimental. Spattering can be almost rid of by selecting proper welding conditions suited to the size of the steel strip and the speed of forming and tubing. Even then, however, spattering occurs, with individual spatters showing a tendency to increase in size, when the size of the strip changes slightly or the particle size of the flux changes considerably (an increase in the quantity of finer ingredients). Some of the spatters unavoidably fall into and mix with the flux in the unwelded tube, thereby damaging the arc stability, one of the important features of the fluxcored wires, and welding efficiency. The object of the embodiment to be described hereunder is to provide flux-cored wires with high arc stability and welding efficiency that are obtained by controlling the size of spatters that unavoidably mix with the flux in the course of manufacturing. In this embodiment, the moisture content of the flux is controlled so that the maximum diameter of the spatters mixing with the flux is kept at and under 0.2 mm. The inventors observed how spatters occurred when the upper edges of unwelded tubes are welded together and studied how the size of spatters mixing with the flux can be controlled by preparing flux-cored wires from the steel strip of the size and chemical composition shown in Table 10 and the flux consisting essentially of TiO₂ as shown in Table 11. Spattering resulting from the welding of tube edges following the feeding of flux showed a tendency to increase when the percentage of the finer ingredients in the flux increased. Some of the spatters proved to contain Ti and TiO₂ that were not present in the steel strip. Obviously, the Ti and TiO₂ stemmed from the rutile sand (TiO₂ ) contained in the flux. This points to the adherence of the flux to the upper edges of the unwelded tube before the upper edges are brought in contact with each other. The inventors considered that the adherence of the flux is ascribable to two causes. One is the flying up of the finer ingredients of the flux when the flux is fed into the unwelded tube from the flux feeder. The other is the flying up of the finer ingredients of the flux that occurs as a result of the weakening of the bonding force of flux particles as a result of an increase in the temperature of the unwelded tube and the flux contained therein resulting from the heating by the high-frequency induction coil near the welding point and under the influence of the slight vibration resulting from the forming and delivery of unwelded tubes. Therefore, the inventors studied measures to control the expelling of spatters by preventing the occurrence of the detrimental phenomena just described. The Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 234795 of 1985 discloses a method of removing the fine powder adhering to the upper edges of unwelded tubes by sucking the powder from outside the tube at a point upstream of the welding point (on the flux feeder side). In the experiment conducted by the inventors, the quantity of spatters showed a tendency to increase when the suction force was increased, though the finer ingredients of the flux that flew up and adhered to the upper edges of the unwelded tube were almost removed. This was due to a strong air stream created by the great enough suction force to remove the fine powder from the upper edges of the formed tube that furthered the flying up of the finer ingredients of the flux near the welding point. With the upper edges half-molten in the vicinity of the welding point, in addition, the strong air stream accelerated the oxidation of the molten iron. The resulting presence of excess oxide in the V-shaped groove inhibited the achievement of stable tube-forming and welding. The inventors envisaged the need of holding down the flying up of the finer ingredients of the flux because sucking them changes the composition of the flux contained in the wire and thereby inhibits the attainment of the originally intended welding performance. Therefore, the inventors tried to inhibit the flying up of the finer ingredients of the flux by controlling the moisture content thereof. When the moisture content of the flux was kept above a certain level, the flying up of the finer ingredients thereof on being fed from the feeder into the unwelded tube and resulting from the heating near the welding point was almost eliminated. As a consequence, spattering was reduced substantially to the level of flux-free welding. The advantage of preventing the flying up of the finer ingredients of the flux near the welding point, which cannot be achieved by suction, is particularly significant. The moisture content in the flux is considered to exert the following action. The high-frequency induction coil heats the side and bottom of an unwelded tube to about 300 to 500 ° C, whereby the flux in contact with these portions of the tube is also heated. The water contained in these portions of the flux becomes instantaneously vaporized. The resulting water vapor that fills the space between the particles of the inner flux strengthens the bonding force therebetween and inhibits the flying up of the finer ingredients. As such, only a very small quantity of water is required to be present in the flux. The presence of excess water impedes the stable feed of flux and tends to produce defects in the weld of flux-filled tubes. The residual water in the flux is dried and removed by the initial stage of the subsequent size-reducing process and during the intermediate annealing applied in that process. Therefore, the flux-cored wires thus manufactured exhibit a satisfactory welding performance. Next studied was the influence of the spatters expelled and mixed with fluxes having varying moisture contents on the welding performance of the manufactured welding wires. Tubes were formed and welded under such conditions as will reduce the expelling of spatters to a minimum. The flux filling ratio was 13.5 %. The size of spatters was determined by observing the cross section of wires drawn to the final product diameter (1.2 mm) from the flux-cored tubes cut in the longitudinal direction thereof or in the direction perpendicular thereto or by directly measuring the size of spatters taken out of the samples of the flux collected therefrom. Formed as a result of the rapid cooling and solidification of the molten metal, spatters can be readily distinguished from other materials making up the flux as they substantially maintain their original almost spherical shape because they are harder than the iron particles that are wrought when compressed in the drawing process. Spatters can be distinguished also by applying hardness test or chemical analysis. Fig. 25 shows the relationship between the moisture content in the flux fed into unwelded tubes (determined by applying the gravimetric method to the flux kept at 200 °C), the maximum particle size of the spatters observed in the cross section of wires finished to the diameter of 1.2 mm, and the arc stability of the finished flux-cored wires. As is obvious from Fig. 25, the maximum particle size of the spatters was kept at or below 0.2 mm and good arc stability was obtained when the moisture content in the flux was kept between about 0.15 and 1.0 % by weight. When the moisture content in the flux exceeded 1.0 % by weight, the arc became unstable while the maximum particle size of the spatters remained at or below 0.2 mm. This was due to the excess moisture content that inhibited the smooth feed of the flux, with a resulting increase in the variation of the flux filling ratio in the longitudinal direction of the finished wires. The maximum particle size of the spatters mixed with the flux must be kept at or below 0.2 mm in order to obtain good arc stability which is one of the important weldability parameters of flux-cored welding wires. If the maximum particle size of the spatters exceeds 0.2 mm, the tip of the welding wire does not smoothly melt and drip, which results in the impairing of arc stability, expelling of many spatters and forming of ill-shaped beads. The following paragraphs describe further details of the manufacture of flux-cored wires. Flux-cored tubes (with an outside diameter of 21.7 mm) were made using the steel strip of the size and chemical composition shown in Table 10 and the flux of the composition shown in Table 11 (with the ingredients not coarser than 100 meshes accounting for about 15 % by weight). After reducing the diameter by drawing (with two intermediate annealings), the tubes were finished into flux-cored wires having a diameter of 1.2 mm. The size of the expelled spatters was controlled by varying the moisture content in the flux while keeping the strip feed rate and welding condition unchanged at 25.0 m/min. and at 520 kHz and 120 kVA. Specification of Steel Strip Size (mm) Chemical Composition (wt %) Thickness Width C Si Mn P S N 2.064.00.050.010.300.0080.0030.0020 Chemical Composition of Materials for Flux (wt %) Symbol of Flux Rutlie Sand (TiO₂ ) Silica Sand (SiO₂ ) Zircon Sand (SiO₂ -ZrO₂ ) Ferrosilicon Manganese (Fe-Si-Mn) Ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) Alumimagnesium Powder (Al-Mg) Iron Powder Arc StabilizerF14134181069.58.5 The weldability of the trial wires thus prepared was investigated by using them in a semiautomatic welding tested conducted at 270 A on 30 V, with a gas feed rate of 20 l/min. Table 12 shows the specifications of the trial wires and the results of the welding test on them. As shown in Table 12, good weldability was obtained in Tests Nos. 1, 2 and 4 (on wires Nos. W1, W2 and W4) because the maximum particle size of the spatters mixed with the flux was kept at or under 0.2 mm. By contrast, the arc formed in Test No. 3 (on wire No. W3) was unstable because the maximum particle size of the spatters exceeded 0.2 mm. Specification of Trial Wires and Results of Weldability Test Test No. Symbol of Trial Wire Diameter (mm⊘) Flux filling Ratio (wt %) Flux Fed to Tube Being Formed Maximum Diameter of Spatters in Flux (mm) Weldability (Fillet Welding in Horizontal Position Vertical Down and Up) Type Moisture Content (wt %) 1W11.213.5F1 + water0.260.08○ (Good) 2W21.213.5F1 + water0.700.10○ (Good) 3W31.212.0F10.100.35▵ (Unstable arc) 4W41.213.5F1 + water0.200.08○ (Good) With the embodiment just described, stable arcs and good weldability in various welding positions are obtained by controlling the particle size of the spatters expelled during the manufacturing process of flux-cored closed wires comprising the outer skin of formed tubes and mixed with the flux. [Embodiment IX]The weld metals made by welding with flux-cored welding seamless wires contain more nitrogen than those of similar alloying constituents made by welding with solid wires. The higher nitrogen content lowers the toughness of the weld metal. The Method of Manufacturing Flux-Cored Welding Wires disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 21495 of 1984 was intended to offer a solution for the problem of low toughness. The inventors of this method discovered that the higher nitrogen content in the weld metals obtained from flux-cored seamless wires was due to the air contained therein, and invented the above method on the basis of this finding. According to this method, a tube filled with flux is vacuum-sucked to remove air from the space therein. After this vacuum-suction, the flux within the tube is compressed until the porosity in the tube (1 - Vn/VO), which is derived from the cubic volume (VO) per unit length of the tube after size reduction by drawing and the total cubic volume (Vn) occupied by the flux particles in the tube, becomes 0.40 or lower. With the reentry of air into the tube thus substantially prevented, an increase in the nitrogen content in the weld metal can be controlled. But the method disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 21495 of 1984 involved the following problem. Vacuum-suction of tubes filled with flux necessitates an additional apparatus and complicates the entire manufacturing process. Besides, the vacuum-suction step cannot be incorporated in the continuous process of manufacturing flux-cored wires from steel strips because tubes filled with flux must be vacuum-sucked from one end or both ends thereof. All this pushes up the production cost of flux-cored welding wires. Now the embodiment described here is intended to provide a method of manufacturing flux-cored welding wires at low cost while preventing the lowering of the toughness of the weld metal. In this method, the first annealing is applied after the diameter of the welded tube has been reduced until the density of the flux contained therein exceeds the tap density thereof. The diameter of the tube is reduced by rolling and drawing. Annealing is performed at a temperature of, for example, about 680 to 760 °C in the atmosphere or in N₂ , H₂ , argon and other similar gases, using a common induction heating, direct electrical heating or other continuous heating furnace. Size reduction and annealing are repeated two to four times. To prevent the entry of air into the size-reduced tube, it is preferable to perform size reduction and the first annealing continuously. The reason for keeping the flux density above the tap density (the bulk density determined according to DIN 53194) is to obtain high low-temperature toughness by preventing an increase in the total nitrogen content in the weld metal. To prevent an increase in the nitrogen content in the weld metal, it is necessary to minimize the nitrogen content in the seamless welding wire used in welding. The nitrogen contained in the seamless welding wire is present in the tube and the flux filled therein. Furthermore, the nitrogen entrapped when flux is fed into a tube and kept in the voids left between the particles thereof increases greatly as a result of annealing. The flux contained in the seamless welding wire usually contains considerable quantities of manganese, aluminum and other elements that are likely to become nitrated. During annealing, these elements form nitrides by reacting with the nitrogen in the air entrapped in the voids between the particles of the flux filled in the tube. The nitrogen thus fixed in the wire in the form of nitrides greatly increases the nitrogen content therein. As a consequence, the nitrogen content in the weld metal, which should preferably be equal to the total nitrogen content in the steel tube and flux filled therein, increases, with a resulting decrease in low-temperature toughness. The diameter of flux-filled tube in this embodiment is gradually reduced from the leading end thereof. The air in the space within the tube and in the flux is pushed backward (in the direction opposite to the direction of tube travel) as a result of size reduction and leaves the tube through the unwelded opening. When the diameter of the tube is reduced until the flux density therein exceeds the tap density, only very little air remains in the tube. When the quantity of the residual air is slight, only small quantities of iron and manganese in the tube and flux are nitrated by the nitrogen in the air during annealing. Therefore, the nitrogen in the product wire exerts only little influence on the toughness of the weld metal. Now that the closely compacted flux reduces the reentry of the air into the tube to a minimum, size reduction and the first annealing may be applied discontinuously. Generally, more iron, manganese, aluminum and other elements are nitrated by the nitrogen in the air as the annealing temperature or time increases. As such, nitration of these elements in the tube and flux is effectively controlled by not allowing the temperature of the tube to exceed 500° C for more than 20 minutes. Now this embodiment will be described by reference to a process block diagram shown in Fig. 26. The forming rolls formed the steel strip paid off from a reel and fed in the longitudinal direction thereof into an unwelded tube. The strip was of carbon steel (according to JIS G 3131, SPHC) having a width of 62.9 mm and a thickness of 2.2 mm, with a nitrogen content of 30 ppm. The strip was formed into a tube having an outside diameter of 21.7 mm at a speed of 30 m/min. A flux of the composition shown in Table 13 was fed into the unwelded tube being processed. Ingredients Content (%) Iron powder10 Rutile sand46 Silica sand8 Ferrosilicon5 Ferromanganese8 Siliconmanganese19 Others4 The filling ratio, static bulk density, tap density and nitrogen content of the flux was 12 % ± 1 %, 1.6 g/cm³ , 1.9 g/cm³ and 30 ppm, respectively. The meeting edges of the flux-filled unwelded tube was joined together by a high-frequency induction welder with a heat input of 140 to 150 kVA. The tube was then rolled through a rolling mill comprising twelve stands of three rolls each. Table 14 shows an example of the rolling schedule. Diameter of Original Tube 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Outside Diameter (mm)21.7-18.36-14.87-12.7-10.7-9.0-7.0 Cross-sectional Shape○▵○▵○▵○▵○▵○▵○ Then, several specimens taken from different stages of the rolling process were subjected to repeated annealing, cooling and drawing to the desired product size, and the obtained product wires were coiled up. Annealing was performed in a high-frequency induction heating furnace at 720 ° C, with the specimens heat to above 500 ° C for 200 seconds. The annealed specimens were air-cooled for 15 seconds and then water-cooled. Fig. 27 shows the nitrogen contents in the weld metals formed by the welding performed with the flux-cored wires thus prepared (CO₂ : 25 l/min., heat input: 270 A-30 V, welding speed: 30 cm/min.). As is obvious from Fig. 27, the nitrogen content in the weld metal decreased with increasing flux density. An increase in the nitrogen content resulting from the annealing-induced nitration can be controlled when the diameter of the tube is reduced until the flux density becomes higher than the tap density (1.9 g/cm3) because the nitrogen content in the weld metal falls below 40 ppm. In this embodiment, the diameter of the flux-filled tube is continuously reduced following welding until the flux density exceeds the tap density, thereby sending out air. Elimination of air according to this embodiment, therefore, can be accomplished with the existing apparatus, without necessitating any special discharging unit. Accordingly, flux-cored wires containing only very little nitrogen can be manufactured with ease and at low cost. In addition, a series of continuous steps ranging from tube forming to wire drawing permit efficient manufacture of flux-cored welding wires. Industrial ApplicabilityThe methods of manufacturing tubes filled with powdery and/or granular substances according to this invention are applicable to the manufacture of tubes of carbon steel, stainless steel, copper alloy, aluminum alloy and other metals filled with welding flux, oxide-based superconductors, steelmaking additives and other powdery and/or granular substances.	A method of continuously manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance by forming a metal strip fed in the longitudinal direction thereof into an unwelded tube (1a) with forming rolls (2), feeding a powdery and/or granular substance (F) through an opening in the unwelded tube (1a) being formed, butt welding the fringing edges of the opening, and reducing the diameter of the welded tube (1b) which is characterized in that: the minimum allowable heat input below which cold cracking occurs and the maximum allowable heat input above which spatters not smaller than 0.83 times the inside diameter of the finished tube are expelled in the butt welding are determined beforehand; and the butt welding is performed with a heat input that is greater than the minimum allowable heat input and smaller than the maximum allowable heat input. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1, in which the butt welding is performed with a heat input smaller than the minimum heat input at which spattering begins to be observed. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1, in which the substantially nonmagnetic ingredients contained in the powdery and/or granular substance and forming nonmetallic inclusions in the welded joint are granulated, and the granulated ingredients are fed into the unwelded tube (1a). A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1, in which the welding is performed so that the meeting edges are fused and joined together from the outside to the inside of the tube along a substantially straight line (l) that is inclined at an angle of  (10° <  < 90 ° ) with respect to the axis of the tube. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 4, in which the forming schedule of the tube (1) is adjusted so that the desired angle of inclination is obtained. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1 in which the powdery and/or granular substance (F) is fed into the tube (1) in such a manner as to leave a space (24) along the tube (1) at least up to the welding point (21), and a stream of gas is forcefully shot forth near the welding point (21) to blow the expelled spatters outside the tube (1), with an opening (22) near the welding point (21) shielded from the side of the space thus left,. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1 in which the powdery and/or granular substance (F) is fed into the tube (1) in such a manner as to leave a space (24) along the tube (1) at least up to the welding point (21), and the spatters are drawn from near the welding point (21) through a suction tube (45) that extends through the space (24) along the tube (1) and discharged outside the tube (1) upstream of the welding point (21). A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1 in which accretions on the fringing edges of the unwelded opening (22) in the formed tube are wiped off just ahead of the welding point (21). A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 8, in which a fabric belt (64) is fed from a feed bobbin (67) to a push roll (65) that pushes the fabric belt (64) into an opening (22) just ahead of the welding point (21) and brings the fabric belt (64) in contact with the fringing edges of the opening and a take-up bobbin (70) coils up the fabric belt (64) thus pushed in. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1 in which the fringing edges of an opening extending in the longitudinal direction of the tube are joined to gether by high-frequency induction welding that is applied by use of an induction heating coil (9) that surrounds the tube (1) with a space (77) left therebetween, and a stream of gas is passed through the space (77) between the induction heating coil (9) and tube (1) to remove the magnetic powder from the space (77). A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 10, in which an insulating shielding member (84, 85) is disposed between the induction heating coil (9) and the tube (1) and a stream of gas is passed through the space (77) between said shielding member (84, 85) and tube (1). A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1 in which the powdery and/or granular substance (F) comprises a flux for gas-shielded arc welding and the moisture content of the flux is controlled so that the maximum diameter of the spatters mixing with the flux is kept at and under 0.2 mm. A method of manufacturing tubes filled with a powdery and/or granular substance according to claim 1 in which the powdery and/or granular substance (F) comprises a welding flux, the diameter of the tube (1) is reduced following welding until the flux density in the tube (1) becomes higher than the tap density thereof, and the first annealing is applied after the reduction of the tube diameter.	NIPPON STEEL CORP; NIPPON STEEL WELDING PROD ENG; NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION; NIPPON STEEL WELDING PRODUCTS & ENGINEERING CO., LTD.	ARAKI NOBUO; CHATANI YOJI; FUKUI TAKESHI; HASHIMOTO SEIJI; ISHIKAWA YASUSHI; KAGAMI TAKEJI; KAMADA MASAO; KIKUTA SHUNICHI; MIZUHASHI NOBUO; NAKAMURA TAKUMI; UENO SHUICHI; YAMADA IWAO; ARAKI, NOBUO; CHATANI, YOJI; FUKUI, TAKESHI; HASHIMOTO, SEIJI; ISHIKAWA, YASUSHI; KAGAMI, TAKEJI; KAMADA, MASAO; KIKUTA, SHUNICHI; MIZUHASHI, NOBUO; NAKAMURA, TAKUMI; UENO, SHUICHI; YAMADA, IWAO; ARAKI, Nobuo, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; CHATANI, Yoji, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; HASHIMOTO, Seiji, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; ISHIKAWA, YASUSHI, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION,; KAGAMI, Takeji, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; KAMADA, Masao, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; KIKUTA, Shunichi, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; MIZUHASHI, NOBUO, NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION,; NAKAMURA, Takumi, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; UENO, Shuichi, Nippon Steel Welding Products &; YAMADA, Iwao, Nippon Steel Welding Products &
EP-0489169-B1	489,169	EP	B1	EN	19,961,030	1,992	20,100,220	new	G02B6	null	G02B6	G02B 6/38D6D4B, G02B 6/38D10G	METHOD OF DISCRIMINATING COMBINATION OF COVERED MULTIPLE-FIBER OPTICAL CABLE WITH FERRULE FOR MULTIPLE-FIBER CONNECTOR	According to discriminating method of the present invention, terminal-treated end portions of a covered multiple-fiber cable (1) and a ferrule (11) are set on a pair of support bedplates (31 and 36), respectively, the end portions of the respective optical fibers 2₁-2₄ and respective optical fiber holding portions (concave grooves 17₁-17₄ and insert holes 18₁-18₄) of the ferrule (11) are opposed to each other, thereafter, when the respective end portions of the optical fibers 2₁-2₄ and the respective optical fiber holding portions are positioned in alignment with each other so as to insert the respective end portions of the respective optical fibers into the respective optical fiber holding portions, prior to insertion, during insertion and after insertion, information on the respective end portions of the optical fiber and the respective optical fiber holding portions are picked up by an image processing device (51) or an optical sensor (62) and the said information is processed by an operational means (50 or 63), whereby discrimination is made as to whether the relative positional relationship between the end portions of the optical fibers and the optical fiber holding portions and the state of combination are proper or not.	This invention generally relates to the technology of connecting a multi-fiber optical fiber ribbon cable to a ferrule of a multicore optical connector. There have been known flat and tape-like covered multicore optical fiber cables (ribbon cables) and matching ferrules adapted for multicore optical connectors as illustrated in Figs 10 and 11 of the accompanying drawings. Referring to Figs. 10 and 11, a covered multicore optical fiber cable (ribbon cable) 1 comprises a plurality of silicon optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4, synthetic resin inner sheaths 3-1 through 3-4 for peripherally covering the respective optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 and a flat and band-shaped outer sheath 4 for collectively enclosing the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4. A ferrule 11 as typically shown in Figs. 10 and 11 comprises a body 12 made of a plastic material and is configured in a manner as described below. While the body 12 is provided with a flange 13 extending upward and downward from a portion thereof, it is generally rectangularly parallelepipedic and has a socket side 14 at the rear end and a butt side 15 at the front end. The body 12 is provided in its core portion with a fiat cavity 16 extending from the socket side 14 to the butt side 15 for receiving an optical fiber cable, grooves (e.g., V-shaped) 17-1 through 17-4 arranged in parallel with one another for engagedly receiving the respective optical fibers of the optical fiber cable, bores 18-1 through 18-4 also arranged in parallel with one another for receiving the front ends of the respective optical fibers and in its lateral portions with a pair of guide holes 19 arranged in parallel with the flat cavity 16, the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 and the bores 18-1 through 18-4 and running all the way from the socket side 14 to the butt side 15. It should be noted that each of the grooves and corresponding one of the bores; the groove 17-1 and the bore 18-1, the groove 17-2 and the bore 18-2, the groove 17-3 and the bore 18-3, the groove 17-4 and the bore 18-4 are accurately aligned. The grooves 17-1 through 17-4 and the bores 18-1 through 18-4 constitute an optical fiber holder section of the ferrule 11. Besides, the body 12 is provided on the top with an opening 20 that communicates with the cavity 16 so that an appropriate amount of bonding agent may be introduced into the cavity therethrough. For connecting a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 with another cable (now shown), the latter has to have an end identical with the illustrated one of the fiber cable 1 and another ferrule (not shown) formed symmetrically relative to the ferrule 1 should be brought in position. For connecting a covered multicore optical fiber cable with an optical device, the latter should be provided with a jack ready for connection with a ferrule 11 having a configuration as described above. Referring to Figs. 10 and 11, when a ferrule 11 is fitted to an end of a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1, the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are led into the corresponding respective bores 18-1 through 18-4 from the socket side 14 until the inner sheaths 3-1 through 3-4 of the covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 are properly located within the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 and the outer sheath 4 is found within the cavity 16 when the front end of each of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 reaches the butt side 15 of the connector. Then, under this condition, a certain amount of a bonding agent is poured into the cavity 16 to rigidly hold the components in position. When a pair of covered multicore optical fiber cables are mutually connected, a ferrule is fitted to the matching end of each of the covered multicore optical fiber cables. A pair of guide pins 21 as illustrated in Fig. 10 are reference pins for precise alignment of the ends of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 and, for this purpose, the guide pins 21 are elaborately worked to precisely fit in the respective guide holes 19. For aligning the matching ends of a pair of covered multicore optical fiber cables each provided with a ferrule, the guide pins 21 are firstly fitted into the respective guide holes for alignment of the butt sides of the cables so that the optical fibers of the cables are precisely aligned with and abut the corresponding respective optical fibers at the butt ends. When a covered multicore optical fiber cable is connected with an optical device, the ferrule 11 is inserted into the jack of the optical fiber so that the optical fibers of the cable 1 and those of the optical device are precisely aligned with and abut the corresponding respective optical fibers at the butt ends. While the operation of fitting a ferrule 11 to an end of a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 is mainly performed by hand at present, automation of such operation is an urgent issue of technological development. Such automation of the operation of fitting a ferrule to an end of a covered multicore optical fiber cable should be, as in the case of any process automation, handled with an analytical approach involving development of appropriate hardware and software designed on the basis of data obtained by analyzing the operation, segmentation of the operational process into steps, mechanization and electrification of the steps of the operational process, combination of two or more than two appropriate steps, verification of such combinations of steps and so on. From the viewpoint of automation of the operation of connecting a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 and a ferrule 11 as illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11, the operation comprises a step of placing the ends of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 vis-a-vis the respective ends of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 11 on respective supporting tables, a step of precisely aligning the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 with the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 by moving the supporting tables along the X-,Y- and Z- axes of movement and a step of introducing the terminal portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4. In other words, the key to the automation of the above operation is the provision of a couple of supporting tables that can be precisely moved and control of movement of the supporting tables. The problem is, however, that when the outer sheath 4 is partly removed to expose the extremities of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4, the latter can often become warped in different directions to lose their straightness. A covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 comprising optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 having such warped terminal portions can result in an unsuccessful connecting operation as those warped terminal portions often fail to be correctly led into respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of a ferrule 11. If such a failure is not noticed and the operation is completed without remedying the failure, the warped terminal portions of the optical fibers can be eventually broken in the ferrule. JP-A-63-80510 discloses a multicore optical connector. US-A-4506947 discloses a method of aligning individual fibers, in which a video camera is used to form an image of an optical fiber on a screen, so that the alignment of the individual fibers can be checked visually. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of verifying the matching of the ends of a plurality of optical fibers of a multi-fiber ribbon cable with the fiber holding grooves of the ferrule of a multicore optical connector, said ends of the optical fibers having been exposed by removal of the flat outer sheath of the ribbon cable, the method comprising holding the ribbon cable and the ferrule on respective supporting tables to position the said ends of the optical fibers relative to said grooves of the ferrule, moving the supporting tables relative to each other to introduce front end portions of the optical fibers into respective said grooves, and checking the positional relationship between said front end portions of the optical fibers and said grooves at least at one occasion before, during or after introduction of said front end portions of the optical fibers into said grooves, characterised in that an optical apparatus is used to inspect said grooves of the ferrule before introducing said front end portions of the optical fibers into said grooves, said optical apparatus providing data representing the positions of said grooves, storing said data in an electric or electronic store of an arithmetic processing means, using said optical apparatus to inspect said front end portions of the optical fibers before introducing said front end portions of the optical fibers into said grooves, said optical apparatus providing data representing the positions of said front end portions of the optical fibers, entering the latter data into said arithmetic processing means, and operating said arithmetic processing means to compare the data representing the positions of the front end portions of the optical fibers with the data representing the positions of said grooves. Preferably said optical apparatus is also used to provide data representing the positions of said front ends of the optical fibers after at least partial introduction thereof into said grooves, and said arithmetic processing means is used to compare the latter data with the data representing the positions of said grooves. Preferably said optical apparatus is also used to provide data representing the positions of said front end portions of said optical fibers after introduction thereof into said grooves and then through respective holding bores of the ferrule, and said arithmetic processing means is used in accordance with the latter data to check whether the fibers project from said bores of the ferrule. Data on the front end portions of the optical fibers and those on the grooves are collected by an image pickup means or an optical sensor means. When an image pickup means is used, images of the grooves of the ferrule are taken before introducing the optical fibers into the ferrule and converted into a set of electronic image signals by the image pickup means, which are stored in the electric or electronic means for arithmetic operations. Then, images of the front end portions of the optical fibers area also taken before (and optionally during and/or after they are introduced into the respective grooves of the ferrule) and converted into electronic image signals by the image pickup means, which are then also entered into said means for arithmetic operations for collation of the collected data. By the collation of the collected data, it is determined if the front end portions of the optical fibers are properly introduced into the respective optical fiber holding grooves and/or if fractures are present in any of the front end portions of the optical fibers in the optical fiber holding grooves. When an optical sensor means is used, the front end portions of the optical fibers in the respective optical fiber receiving grooves are scanned by the optical fiber sensor means to determine if those portions are properly held in position in the corresponding respective grooves. When the front end portions of the optical fibers are scanned by the optical sensor means, areas of the optical fibers that are found within the grooves and those that are found outside the grooves reflect scanning rays of light differently. When, more specifically, the front end portions of the optical fibers are properly set in position in the respective grooves, scanning rays of light are poorly reflected by the grooves because they are scattered by those portions of the optical fibers in the grooves. When, on the other hand, the front end portions of the optical fibers are not found in the grooves, scanning rays of light are strongly reflected by the grooves because there occurs no scattering of rays of light. Thus, by checking the reflection of light of the grooves, it can be determined if the front end portions of the optical fibers of an optical fiber cable are properly received by the corresponding respective grooves of a ferrule. Now, the present invention will be described in greater detail by referring to the accompanying drawings that illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a system realized by using a first embodiment of the method of verifying matching and alignment of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule adapted for a multicore optical connector according to the invention. Figs. 2 through 5 are images obtained by the embodiment of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a system realized by using a second embodiment of the method of verifying matching and alignment of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule adapted for a multicore optical connector according to the invention. Figs. 7, 8 and 9 show various results of levels of reflected beams of light in the other embodiments. Figs. 10 and 11 are respective a perspective view and a longitudinal sectional view of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule. BEST MODES OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTIONReferring to Fig. 1, a supporting table 31 held to a desired level by known means comprises an upper table plate 32 and a lower table plate 33 and the upper table plate 32 is provided with a cramp mechanism (not shown) of a known type. The upper table plate 32 of the supporting table 31 is fitted to the lower table plate 33 in such a manner that the former is movable back and forth (along the X-axis) relative to the latter. A drive mechanism 34 is provided for moving the upper table plate 32 of the supporting table 31 and it comprises as major components a step motor and a fine expander (having a construction similar to a micrometer) that finely expands and contracts under the effort of the step motor. A spring 35 is arranged at a side of the upper table plate 32 opposite to the drive mechanism 34. As seen from Fig. 1, another supporting table 36 comprises an upper table plate 37, a lower table plate 38 and a supporting plate 39 and the upper table plate 37 is provided with a removable cramp 40. The upper table plate 37 of the supporting table 36 is fitted at its rear end to the lower table plate 38 in such a manner that the former can be swung open as it is rotated upward around a pin 41 arranged along its rear edge, while the lower table plate 38 of the supporting table 36 is fitted to the supporting plate 39 by known holding means in such a manner that the former is laterally movable (along the Z-axis) relative to the latter and the supporting plate 39 of the supporting table 36 is vertically (along the Y-axis) movable by known means. Each of the drive mechanism 42, 43 for moving the lower table plate 38 of the supporting table 36 and that for driving the supporting plate 39 of the supporting table 36 comprises a step motor and a fine expander that finely expands and contracts under the effort of the step motor as in the case of their counterpart for moving the upper table plate 32 as described above and a spring 44 is arranged at a side of the lower table plate 38 opposite to the drive mechanism 42. In Fig. 1, an image pickup means 45 and a pair of lighting apparatuses 46 and 47 are arranged for lighting the supporting tables 31 and 36. The image pickup means 45 can typically be a CCD camera or a pickup tube of some other type. The lighting apparatus 46 can advantageously be a horizontally arranged circular lamp which is connected to a power source 48. On the other hand, the lighting apparatus 47 can preferably be a lamp inclined toward the space separating the two supporting tables 31 and 36 and is also connected to a power source 49. The image pickup means 45 and the lighting apparatuses 46 and 47 can be moved in the X-, Y- and Z-directions and the angle of inclination of the lighting apparatus 47 is adjustable. In Fig. 1, reference numeral 50 denotes an electric or electronic means for arithmetic operations or a computer comprising an image processor 51, a controller 52 and memory units, input/output ports, a data bus, registers, ALUs and other components in a known manner as well as a monitor (CRT) and a keyboard if necessary as peripheral equipment. Said image pickup means 45 is connected to the input port of the means for arithmetic operations 50 while the drive mechanisms 34, 42 and 43 are connected to the output port of the controller 52. When the system of Fig. 1 realized by using the first embodiment of the invention is used, a ferrule 11 is set in position on the supporting table 31 and a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 is placed in position on the other supporting table 36. At this stage, the ferrule 11 is cramped to the upper table plate 32 of the supporting table 31 while the front end of the covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 is also fastened to the upper table plate 37 of the supporting table 36 by means of the cramp 40 so that the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are arranged vis-a-vis the corresponding respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4. Thereafter, the supporting table 36 comprising the upper table plate 37, the lower table plate 38 and the supporting plate 39 is elevated along the Y-axis by a given distance by means of the drive mechanism 43 so that the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are precisely found on the level of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4. Then, prior to insertion of the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4, the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 are photographically taken by the image pickup means 45 to produce their images 117-1 through 117-4 on the screen while the ferrule 11 is illuminated by the lighting apparatus 46. The screen of the image pickup means 45 which is a CCD camera where images of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of a ferrule are displayed typically has a width and a height of 6mm x 5mm (512 x 480 dots). Fig. 2 shows images 117-1 through 117-4 of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 displayed on the screen of a monitor in so many lines which are parallel to one another. The X-axis of Fig. 2 indicates the longitudinal direction of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 (and its direction agrees with that of the X-axis of Fig. 1), while the Z-axis of Fig. 2 indicates a lateral direction intersecting the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 perpendicularly (and its direction agrees with that of the Z-axis of Fig. 1). Note that above statement concerning X- and Z-axes applies to the X- and Z-axes of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 in the following description. The reason why the images 117-1 through 117-4 are simply so many lines is that the bottom lines of the V-shaped grooves 17-1 through 17-4 reflect light most strongly toward the image pickup means 45 when the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 are illuminated. The images 117-1 through 117-4 are electronically processed by utilizing the technique of detecting the center of gravity of an object to determine their coordinates in terms of the Z-axis and the obtained data are stored in the means for arithmetic operations 50. Then, the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 projecting from the front end of the supporting table 36 are photographically taken by the image pickup means 45 while they are illuminated by the lighting means 46 and 47. The images 12-1 through 12-4 of the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 appear on the screen and are parallel to one another as illustrated in Figs. 3 through 5. The images 12-1 through 12-4 are also electronically processed in a manner as described above for the images 117-1 through 117-4 of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 and the obtained data (concerning their coordinates for the Z-axis) are given to the means for arithmetic operations 50, which by turn compares the data with the data for the images of Fig. 2. More specifically, the means 50 performs arithmetic operations on the two sets of values which are given to it for the two sets of images and, if they agree with each other and therefore if it is found that the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are precisely aligned with the corresponding respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4, it transmits an instruction to the system to proceed to the next step of operation or orders the controller 52 to cause the drive mechanism 34 to move the upper table plate 32 on the supporting table 31 in the X-direction of Fig. 1. If, on the other hand, the means 50 finds that the two sets of values do not agree with each other and therefore the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are not aligned with the corresponding respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4, it orders the controller 52 to cause the drive mechanism 42 to move both the upper table plate 37 and the lower table plate 38 on the supporting plate 39 in the Z-direction of Fig. 1 until the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 and the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 become precisely aligned. Once it is found that the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 and the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 are precisely aligned after an adjustment operation, if appropriate, the upper table plate 32 of the supporting table 31 is driven in the direction of the X-axis of Fig. 1 by the drive mechanism 34 to bring the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 17. At this stage, the rear end of the upper table plate 37 of the supporting table 36 is lifted by a lifting means (not shown) to make it rotate around the pin 41 until the upper table plate 37 is inclined relative to a horizontal plane by approximately 10°. As the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are bent by the rotating motion of the upper table plate 37, the front ends of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are pushed into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 by the resilient force of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 generated within them by the bending action. When the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are brought into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 17, they are photographically taken by the image pickup means 45 to check the condition of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 in the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 while the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 are illuminated by the lighting apparatus 46. Fig. 3 shows images of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 inserted into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 11 and displayed on the monitor screen. It may be seen from Fig. 3 that the images 12-1 through 12-4 of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 in the form of so many thick bars are placed exactly on the respective lines of the images 117-1 through 117-4 of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4. If the images of Fig. 3 are electronically processed in a manner as described above and the data obtained for those images (concerning their coordinates in terms of the Z-axis) are entered into the means for arithmetic operations 50 and compared with the data it stores for the images of Fig. 2, it will be difficult to determine if the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are properly placed in the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4. The reason for this is that the data obtained for the images of Fig. 3 contains both data for the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 and those for the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 in an undiscriminable manner and can lead to an erroneous judgment on the status of the grooves 17-1 through 17-4. In order to avoid such a situation, the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are photographically taken by the image pickup means 45 when the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are inserted into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 while the ferrule 11 is illuminated by the lighting apparatus 47 which is found askance above the ferrule 11. With such an arrangement, rays of light reflected by the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 hardly reach the image pickup means 45, whereas rays of light reflected by the upper surface of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 get into the image pickup means 45, so that the images 2-1 through 2-4 that appear on the monitor screen represent only the respective optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 as typically illustrated in Fig. 4. The obtained images 2-1 through 2-4 as shown in Fig. 4 are electronically processed and the obtained data (concerning their coordinates in terms of the Z-axis) are given to the means for arithmetic operations 50, which compares them with the data for the images of Fig. 2. When the two sets of data compared by the means for arithmetic operations 50 agree with each other, or when the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are properly placed in position in the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4, it transmits an instruction to the system to proceed to the next step of operation or orders the drive mechanism 34 of the supporting table 31 to continue its operation by issuing a continuation of operation signal to it, whichever appropriate. If, on the other hand, the means 50 finds that the two sets of values do not agree with each other and therefore the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are not properly placed in the corresponding respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4, it orders the related components to stop the current operation and start it afresh. When the result of collation of data by the means for arithmetic operations 50 is positive , the upper table plate 32 of the supporting table 31 is moved in the direction of the X-axis in a manner as described earlier to push the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 into the corresponding respective bores 18-1 through 18-4 until the tips of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 project out of the other ends of the bores 18-1 through 18-4. Thereafter, the ferrule 11 and the tips of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 projecting out of the bores 18-1 through 18-4 are illuminated and photographically taken by the image pickup means 45 in a manner as described above by referring to Fig. 4. The images taken by the means 45 will normally appear as shown in Fig. 5. The images in Fig. 5 are found to the left of line P, which indicates the front end of the ferrule 11, and therefore they represent the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 properly introduced into the respective bores 18-1 through 18-4 without fractures and projecting out of the other ends of the bores 18-1 through 18-4. If, on the other hand, any of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 is broken and not properly introduced into the corresponding one of the bores 18-1 through 18-4, its image will not be found to the left of line P. Therefore, the means for arithmetic operations 50 that receives the data for the broken optical fiber can immediately determine that the front end portion of the optical fiber is broken by recognizing that the image for the optical fiber is not found to the left of line P. In addition to the above judgment, the means for arithmetic operations 50 performs, if necessary, other operations for determining the condition of the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4. For instance, if all the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are found to the left of line P as shown in Fig. 5, there can be a situation where any of them is broken within the bores 18-1 through 18-4. If such is the case, the broken optical fiber can be detected by moving slightly the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 to the right in Fig. 1 or in the direction to remove the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 out of the bores 18-1 through 18-4 because the end portions of the optical fibers that are not broken will be pulled out of the bores whereas those that are broken will remain in the corresponding bores. Therefore, any broken optical fibers can be detected by photographically taking their images as in the case of Fig. 5 after slightly pulling out the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 from the respective bores 18-1 through 18-4. When the result of the above checking operation is positive , the combined covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 and the ferrule 11 are transferred to the next work station. If the result is negative , on the other hand, the means for arithmetic operations 50 notifies the operator of the defective combination of the covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 and the ferrule 11 so that the operation of combining them may be retried or they may be totally removed out of the scene as faulty parts. Now, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described by referring to Fig. 6. In Fig. 6, a supporting table 31 is provided on it with a cramp mechanism of any known type and held to a desired level by a holding means of any known type. In Fig. 6, another supporting table 36 comprises an upper table plate 37, a lower table plate 38 and a supporting plate 39 and is also provided with a cramp mechanism similar to the one for the supporting table 31. The upper table plate 37 is horizontally and longitudinally movable relative to the lower table plate 38, which is by turn horizontally and laterally movable relative to the supporting plate 39. The supporting plate 39 is, by its turn, vertically movable by a lift mechanism of any know type. Drive mechanisms 42, 34 and 43 respectively drive the upper table plate 37, the lower table plate 38 and the supporting plate 39 in the directions of the Z-, X- and Y-axes respectively and have a configuration similar to those illustrated in Fig. 1. The upper table plate 37 and the lower table plate 38 are provided with springs 40 and 39 are arranged on the sides opposite to the respective drive mechanisms 42 and 34. In Fig. 6, reference numeral 62 denotes an optical sensor provided with a displacement meter 61 and arranged above the supporting table 31. The optical sensor 62 may be of any appropriate type such as flying spot type, flying image type or veil type and typically of flying spot type comprising an optical scanning system having a laser source and a polyhedral rotary mirror as major components and a light detecting system having a light receiving device. The displacement meter 61 is typically of laser type (having, e.g., a spot diameter of 0.05mm and a resolution of 5µm). In Fig. 6, an electric or electronic means for arithmetic operations 63, or a computer, comprises memories input/output ports, a data bus, ALUs and a controller as well as peripheral devices such as a monitor and a keyboard. The optical sensor 62 is connected to the input port of the means for arithmetic operations 63, while the drive mechanisms 34, 42 and 43 are connected to the output port of the means 63. When a system that utilizes the second embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Fig. 6 is used, a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 and a ferrule 11 are placed on the respective supporting tables 36 and 31 and the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 of the covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 are aligned with the corresponding respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 in terms of the Y-axis in a manner similar to the one described earlier by referring to Fig. 1. Prior to introducing the end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 11, the upper surface of the ferrule 11 is laterally scanned by the optical scanning system of the optical sensor 62 and scanning beams of light reflected by the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 light are detected by the light detecting system of the optical sensor 62. The data obtained from the detected beams of light are then given to the displacement meter 61. Fig. 7 shows the levels of reflected beams of light R17-1 through R17-4, which are kept high because no significant scattering of light takes place there as no optical fibers are found in the grooves 17-1 through 17-4. Then, the upper table plate 37 of the supporting table 36 is moved in the direction of the Z-axis in Fig. 6 to align the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 of covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 with the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 1 and subsequently the lower table plate 38 of the supporting table 36 is moved in the direction of the X-axis in Fig. 6 to introduced the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 11. Under this condition, the upper surface of the ferrule 11 is optically scanned in a manner as described above and reflected beams of light are detected and converted into electric signals, which are then given to the displacement meter 61. If all the front end portions of the optical fibers are properly placed in the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule 11 at this stage, scanning beams of light are reflected by the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 so that beams of light R2-1 through R2-4 reflected by the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 will show the levels as illustrated in Fig. 8. As seen from Fig. 8, the levels of reflected beams of light R2-1 through R2-4 are lower than those of beams of light R17-1 through R17-4 reflected by the grooves 17-1 through 17-4 because scanning beams of light are scattered by the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4. If, on the other hand, the front end portions of the optical fibers are not placed in position in the grooves, reflected beams of light will show levels higher than those of the Fig. 8 because scanning beams of light are partly reflected by the related groove(s). Assume now, for instance, that the front end portions of the optical fibers 2-1, 2-2 and 2-4 are placed in position in the respective grooves 17-1, 17-2 and 17-4 but the front end portion of the optical fiber 2-3 is not properly fitted into the groove 17-3. Under this condition, the detected beams of light will be a mixture of beams reflected by the optical fibers R2-1, R2-2 and R2-4 and those reflected by the groove 17-3, which have a level higher than those of the reflected beams R2-1, R2-2 and R2-4. The monitor screen will show a similar pattern when any of the optical fibers 2-1, 2-2 and 2-4 are not properly placed in the respective grooves 17-1, 17-2 and 17-4. Upon receiving data from the displacement meter 61 representing a pattern as illustrated in Fig. 8 or 9, the electric or electronic means for arithmetic operations 63 performs certain operations. If the data given to the means 63 reflect a situation as represented by the pattern of Fig. 8, the means for arithmetic operations 63 judges that all the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are properly fitted into the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 and orders the related components to proceed to the next step of operation or continue the current step by issuing a continuation of operation signal, whichever appropriate. If, on the other hand, the data given to the means 63 represent a pattern as illustrated in Fig. 9, the means judges that an abnormal situation exists and not all the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 are properly placed in the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 and orders the related components to retry the current step without proceeding to the next step or completely stop the operation by issuing a suspension of operation signal. Alternatively, the data representing the pattern of Fig. 7 may be collected and stored in the means for arithmetic operations 63 as reference data so that the means 63 may compare the data obtained by scanning a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule with the stored reference data to determine if the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 of the cable and the respective grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of the ferrule are properly positioned relative to each other. When the result of the above checking operation is positive , the lower table plate 38 of the supporting table 36 is moved in the direction of the X-axis of Fig. 6 to introduce the tip portions of the optical fibers 2-1 through 2-4 into the corresponding respective bores 18-1 through 18-4 and, thereafter, the combined covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 and the ferrule 11 are transferred to the next work station. If the result is negative , on the other hand, the means for arithmetic operations 63 either temporarily stops the supporting table 36 and retries the operation of introducing the tips of the optical fibers into the respective bores or completely removes the covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 from the supporting table 36 and places a next covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 to combine it with a ferrule 11. While a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 is placed on the supporting table 36 and a ferrule is put on the supporting table 31 in the above description, the placement of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule may be reversed by putting a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 and a ferrule 11 on the supporting tables 36 and 31 respectively. Besides, the function of moving an object along the X-, Y- and Z-axes may be monopolized by either the supporting table 31 or 36 or, alternatively, both the sup porting tables 31 and 36 may be provided with such a feature. The image pickup system described by referring to the first embodiment and Figs. 1 through 5 may be replaced by an optical sensing system as described by referring to the second embodiment and Fig.s 6 through 9. The method of verifying matching of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule according to the invention may be applied to operation of fitting the front end portions of a covered multicore optical fiber cable 1 into corresponding grooves 17-1 through 17-4 of a ferrule having no bores 18-1 through 18-4. Since a method of verifying matching of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule according to the invention is based on collection of data concerning the state of the front end portions of the optical fibers of the cable and the optical fiber holding grooves of the ferrule to determine the positional relationship and alignment of the front end portions of the optical fibers and the respective optical fiber holding grooves at least at a point before, during and after the introduction of the front end portions into the respective grooves, the operation of determining if the front end portions of the optical fibers are properly fitted into the respective grooves can be conducted precisely and efficiently, detecting and eliminating any mismatching of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule. If there occurs a faulty combination of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule, it can be detected and the covered multicore optical fiber cable and ferrule can be removed out of the scene quickly. It is a common practice to automate by mechanization and electrification the entire process of fitting a covered multicore optical fiber cable to a ferrule including steps of treating the front end of the covered multicore optical fiber cable, checking the treated front end, introducing the treated front end into the ferrule, bonding the treated front end to the ferrule and grinding the butt side of the ferrule so that these steps are put into a single manufacture line. Such a mechanized and/or electrified line normally comprises a number of turntables on which combined covered multicore optical fiber cables and ferrules are forwarded to succeeding steps by manipulators (robot hands). A method of verifying matching of a covered multicore optical fiber cable and a ferrule according to the invention can, therefore, be used for a step of such a line where the treated front end of a covered multicore optical fiber cable is introduced into a ferrule. It may be needless to say that a method according to the invention may also be used for a manufacture line where only the step of introducing a covered multicore optical fiber cable into a ferrule is automated.	A method of verifying the matching of the ends of a plurality of optical fibers (2-1 to 2-4)of a multi-fiber ribbon cable (1) with the fiber holding grooves (17-1 to 17-4) of the ferrule (11) of a multicore optical connector, said ends of the optical fibers having been exposed by removal of the flat outer sheath (4) of the ribbon cable, the method comprising holding the ribbon cable (1) and the ferrule (11) on respective supporting tables (36, 31), positioning the said ends of the optical fibers (2-1 to 2-4) relative to said grooves (17-1 to 17-4) of the ferrule (11) by moving the supporting tables (36-31) relative to each other to introduce front end portions of the optical fibers (2-1 to 2-4) into respective said grooves (17-1 to 17-4), and checking the positional relationship between said front end portions of the optical fibers (2-1 to 2-4) and said grooves (17-1 to 17-4) at least at one occasion before, during or after introduction of said front end portions of the optical fibers into said grooves, characterised in that an optical apparatus (45) is used to inspect said grooves (17-1 to 17-4) of the ferrule (11) before introducing said front end portions of the optical fibers into said grooves, said optical apparatus (45) providing data representing the positions of said grooves, storing said data in an electric or electronic store of an arithmetic processing means (50), using said optical apparatus (45) to inspect said front end portions of the optical fibers (2-1 to 2-4) before introducing said front end portions of the optical fibers into said grooves, said optical apparatus (45) providing data representing the positions of said front end portions of the optical fibers, entering the latter data into said arithmetic processing means (50), and operating said arithmetic processing means to compare the data representing the positions of the front end portions of the optical fibers with the data representing the positions of said grooves. A method as claim in claim 1, characterised in that said optical apparatus (45) is also used to provide data representing the positions of said front ends of the optical fibers (2-1 to 2-4) after at least partial introduction thereof into said grooves (17-1 to 17-4), and said arithmetic processing means (50) is used to compare the latter data with the data representing the positions of said grooves. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that said optical apparatus (45) is also used to provide data representing the positions of said front end portions of said optical fibers (2-1 to 2-4) after introduction thereof into said grooves and then through respective holding bores (18-1 to 18-4) of the ferrule (11), and said arithmetic processing means (50) is used in accordance with the latter data to check whether the fibers (2-1 to 2-4) project from said bores (18-1 to 18-4) of the ferrule (11). A method as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that said optical apparatus (45) comprises an image pickup means. A method as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said optical apparatus comprises an optical scanning apparatus (62).	FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO LTD; THE FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.	KINOSHITA ISAMU; SHIBATA N; SUZUKI KENJI; KINOSHITA, ISAMU; SHIBATA, N.; SUZUKI, KENJI; KINOSHITA, ISAMU, THE FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.; SHIBATA, N., THE FURUKAWA ELECTR. CO., LTD. 6-1; SUZUKI, KENJI, THE FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
EP-0489170-B1	489,170	EP	B1	EN	19,970,402	1,992	20,100,220	new	B60R21	null	B60R21	B60R 21/217	AIR BAG DEVICE FOR ASSISTANT-DRIVER'S SEAT	An air bag device for the assistant-driver's seat, wherein: a folded air bag (18) is received in a sub-container (20) and then the sub-container (20) is inserted into a main container (12) so that the air bag device (10) may easily be assembled; the folded air bag (18) and an inflator (16) for inflating said air bag are held by holding members (12, 20); a module cover (14) to cover said air bag (18) is fixed to said holding member (12) which comprises a main container (12) fixed to the vehicle and the sub-container (20) inserted into the main container (12) and having a hole (21) for passage of gas from the inflator (16); and said air bag (18) is contained in said sub-container (20).	TECHNICAL FIELDThe present invention relates to a passenger's air bag system which is mounted on a vehicle for expanding at an instant of collision of the vehicle to protect the passenger. BACKGROUND TECHNIQUEUS-A-482 300 describes a passenger's air bag system. In the passenger's air bag system of this kind, an air bag and an inflater are attached to a holding member (eg, a container), and a module cover is further attached to cover the air bag. At the collision of a vehicle, the inflater operates so that the air expands. The module cover is opened into the compartment as it is pushed by the expanding air bag until the air bag largely expands in the compartment to protect the passenger. This module cover is formed with a tear starting line (or tear line) or a bend starting line so that it is pushed by the air bag, when the inflater operates. Then, the module cover is torn or bent along that starting line until it is opened into the compartment. The passenger's air bag system of this kind has to be firmly fixed to the vehicle and to constitute a container which will not be deformed by the gas pressure of the inflater. Thus, the container is frequently made of a thick metal. To the container, moreover, there is fixed the inflater having a heavy weight before the assembly of the air bag. As a result, the weight of the container is so high that heavy works are required for assembling the air bag system (especially for fitting the folded air bag in the container). Specifically, the folded air bag is snugly accommodated in the container while changing the direction of the container many times. This requires manual works for handling the heavy container. Thus, a high man power is required for charging the air bag, raising problems that the working fatigue is serious and that the assembly efficiency is low. US-A-3945665 describes a driver's side air bag device having a subcontainer inside a steering wheel cavity, but however, has a remote gas injection device so that the problem which the present invention addresses is not so severe. FR-A-2 163 059 describes a driver's air bag device and on which the preamble of claim 1 is based as applied to a passenger's air bag. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONA passenger's air bag system of the present invention comprises an air bag folded in a sub-container, said sub-container having an edge defining a first open face at one side and at least one hole at a side opposite to said first open face, a main container having a second open face at a front side, said second face being larger than the first open face said first and second open faces being located to be substantially flush with each other, an inflater fixed inside the main container and situated behind the sub-container, a module cover, said module cover being openable by said air bag when the air bag is inflated by said inflater upon detection of a pre-determined acceleration, said module cover covering the first and second open faces and being fixed to said main container, a frame situated between the main container and the sub-container and including a radially inner portion fixed to the edge of the sub-container by fixing means provided outside the sub-container and, a radially outer portion fixed to the main container, said radially outer portion of the frame being bent perpendicular to the inner portion, and radially outer portion of the frame and said module cover being situated inside and fixed to the main container by fixing means to thereby fix the sub-container to the main container, said air bag system being characterised in that said air bag is folded and completely retained in the sub-container without substantially extending outwardly from the first open face, said edge of the sub-container has an outwardly directed flange behind which the fixed air bag is substantially retained and, the air bag is fixedly held between the radially inner portion of the frame and the flange of the sub-container. The passenger's air bag system of the present invention is assembled by accommodating an air bag in the light sub-container in the main container. This makes it unnecessary to move the heavy main container many times so that the labours can be lightened. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig 1a is a perspective view showing an air bag system according to one embodiment of the present invention; Fig 1b is a perspective view showing the same embodiment when the air bag expands; Fig. 2 is a section taken along line II - II of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the assembly; Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing the assembly of essential portions; Fig. 6 is a view taken in the direction of arrow VI from Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is a section taken along line VII - VII of Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is an explanatory view showing the engagement and disengagement of a slot and a rivet. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTIONAn embodiment will be described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figs. 1 to 8 show an air bag system according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this air bag system 10, a holding member is constructed of a main container 12 and a sub-container 20. A module cover 14 is attached to the front face of the main container 12. Inflaters 16 are fixed in the main container 12. In this main container 12, there is inserted the sub-container 20, in which an air bag 18 is fitted in a folded state. The sub-container 20 is formed with holes 21, through which the gas released from the inflaters 16 is allowed to pass to inflate the air bag 18. The main container 12 is formed into a box which has its front face opened. A mounting frame 22 having an L-shaped section is attached to the inner peripheral edge of the open face of the main container 12. The flange 20a of the sub-container 20 and the flange 18a of the air bag 18 are individually fixed to the back of the frame 22 by means of rivets 24. Designated at reference numeral 18b is a cloth member (or masking cloth) which is disposed on the front face portion of the air bag 18. The cloth member 18b is interposed between the air bag 18 and the module cover 14 to prevent direct contact between the air bag 18 and the module cover 14. This module cover 14 is equipped with: a body 14a sized to cover the open front face of the main container 12; an upper flange 14b extending from the upper side portion to the back of the cover body 14a; a lower flange 14c extending from the lower side to the back of the body 14a. Moreover, the body 14a has its back formed with ribs 14d and grooves 14e for facilitating the opening of the body 14a. As shown in Fig. 4 presenting an enlarged perspective view showing the portion IV of Fig. 2, the upper flange 14b is formed on its lower face with projections 26, and the container 12 is formed in its upper face with openings 28 to fit the projections 26 therein. The upper flange 14b and the main container 12 are connected, after having been formed with the projections 26 and the openings 28, by means of rivets 30. These rivets 30 also connect the frame 22 to the upper face of the main container 12. Reference numeral 30a designates rivet holes at the container side, and numeral 30b designates rivet holes at the module cover side. Here, in the present embodiment, the module cover 14 has a two-layer laminated structure composed of a surface layer (i.e., a layer at the compartment side) and a back layer, which has an extension formed with the rivet holes 30b and slots 32 to be described in the following. As shown in Fig. 5 presenting a perspective view showing the assembly of a portion V of Fig. 2, in Fig. 6 presenting a view (i.e., a bottom view) taken in the direction of arrow VI of Fig. 2, and in Fig. 7 presenting a section taken along line VII - VII of Fig. 6, the lower flange 14c is formed with the slots 32 which extend in a direction (i.e., toward the inside of the compartment), in which the module cover 14 is opened. Slits 34 are further formed to connect one end of each of the slots 32 and the end side of the lower flange 14c. The bottom face of the main container 12 is formed with openings 36, through which rivets 38 are driven through the slots 32 to connect the main container 12 and the lower flange 14c. Incidentally, a collar 40 is fitted on each rivet 38 and has an external diameter larger than the width of the slits 34. In order to assemble the passenger's air bag system, it is sufficient to fold and fit the air bag 18 in the sub-container 20 and subsequently to insert the sub-container 20 into the main container 12. Since the air bag 18 is thus fitted in the light sub-container 20, the labors for moving the sub-container, even if many times, to fit the air bag 18, are so light that the muscular tissues are hardly fatigued. As a result, the working efficiency is improved. Incidentally, in case the sub-container 20 is to be fitted in the main container 12, it is sufficient to handle and insert the light sub-container 20 into the main container 12. Thus, the works are remarkably simple, and the labors required are light (so that their automation can be easily effected by using robots or the like). Even if the inflaters 16 are replaced by others having different shapes, the folding manner of the air bag 18 may be identical so long as the sub-container 20 has an identical shape. When the inflaters 16 are actuated in the air bag system 10 thus constructed, the air bag 18 is inflated to expand so that the module cover 14 is pushed by the expanding pressure. As shown in Fig. 8, the rivets 38 and the collars 40 thread through the slits 34 so that the lower half of the module cover 14 moves forward. By the expanding force of the air bag 18, moreover, the module cover 14 is bent along the grooves 14e and opened forward so that the air bag 18 expands into the compartment to protect the passenger as shown in Fig. 1(b). In the present embodiment, the lower flange 14c is formed with the slots 32, and a play (i.e., a portion A in Fig. 6) exists in the engaging portions of the lower flange 14c and the main container 12. Specifically, the lower half of the module cover 14 is allowed to move back and forth freely in the opening direction of the module cover 14 within a range, in which the rivets 38 can move within the slots 32. As a result, the lower half of the module cover 14 can shift into the compartment to prevent any local concentration of stress in the grooves 14e, even if the module cover 14 bears the weight of the air bag 18 at its back, if the module cover is pushed by the air bag 18 at the time of an acceleration of the vehicle or if the module cover 14 is pushed by the thermal expansion of the air bag 18. Even if, moreover, the passenger pushes the module cover 14, the lower half of the module cover 14 shifts in the direction to be pushed into the main container 12. As a result, the occurrence of the local stress at the portion of the grooves 14e can be prevented. Since the local stress concentration at the portion of the grooves 14e can thus be avoided, the grooves 14e can be freed from any material fatigue. Incidentally, according to the foregoing description, the module cover 14 is so constructed that its lower half can move forward into the compartment and backward into the main container 12. Nevertheless, if the rivets 38 are positioned to contact with the one-end sides of the slots 32 in the longitudinal direction, the module cover 14 is allowed to shift only in the direction toward the other sides of the slots. In the embodiment thus far described, the module cover 14 is bent along the portion of the grooves 14e. Despite this description, however, the present invention can naturally be applied to the structure, in which the module cover is torn and opened into the compartment at the time of air bag expansion. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITYIn the passenger's air bag system according to the present invention, as has been described hereinbefore, the container is constructed of the heavy main container and the light sub-container, and the sub-container can be inserted, after having been charged with the air bag, into the main container. As a result, the charging works of the air bag can be lightened to improve the assembling efficiency drastically. In the passenger's air bag system according to the present invention, the folded air bag is fitted in the sub-container so that the folding manner of the air bag can be unchanged irrespective of the shape of the inflaters, so long as the sub-container has an identical shape.	A passenger's air bag system (10) comprising: an air bag (18) folded in a sub-container (20), said sub-container (20) having an edge (20a) defining a first open face at one side and at least one hole (21) at a side opposite to said first open face, a main container (12) having a second open face at a front side, said second face being larger than the first open face said first and second open faces being located to be substantially flush with each other, an inflator (16) fixed inside the main container (12) and situated behind the sub-container (20), a module cover (14), said module cover being openable by said air bag when the air bag is inflated by said inflator upon detection of a pre-determined acceleration, said module cover (14) covering the first and second open faces and being fixed to said main container (12), a frame (22) situated between the main container (12) and the sub-container (20) and including a radially inner portion fixed to the edge (20a) of the sub-container (20) by fixing means provided outside the sub-container and, a radially outer portion fixed to the main container (12), said radially outer portion of the frame (22) being bent perpendicular to the inner portion, said radially outer portion of the frame and said module cover (14) being situated inside and fixed to the main container by fixing means (30, 38) to thereby fix the sub-container to the main container, said air bag system (10) being characterised in that said air bag (18) is folded and completely retained in the sub-container (20) without substantially extending outwardly from the first open face, said edge of the sub-container has an outwardly directed flange (20a) behind which the folded air bag (18) is substantially retained and, the air bag (18) is fixedly held between the radially inner portion of the frame and the flange (20a) of the sub-container (20). An air bag system (10) according to claim 1 wherein said frame (22) has a rectangular shape, said air bag (18) having an inner edge, said inner edge being retained and held between the radially inner portion of the frame (22) and the sub-container (20) so that the air bag is securely attached to the sub-container and gas from the inflator (16) is fully supplied to the air bag (18). An air bag system (10) according to either claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said main container (12) is a rectangular parallelepiped and retains the sub-container therein, said inflator (16) being situated behind the sub-container (20) to inflate the air bag (18). An air bag system according to any one preceding claim wherein the folds of the air bag (18) are directed generally parallel to the module cover (14). An air bag system according to any one preceding claim wherein the module cover (14) lies immediately adjacent the open faces of the main and sub-containers to retain said folded air bag (18) therein.	TAKATA CORP; TAKATA CORPORATION	SATOH TAKESHI; SATOH, TAKESHI; SATOH, TAKESHI, TAKATA CORPORATION ECHIGAWA PLANT
EP-0489172-B1	489,172	EP	B1	EN	19,951,004	1,992	20,100,220	new	C08L25	C08L33, C08L51, C08L35, C08L23, C08L63, C08L67, C08L55, C08L25	C08L23, C08L67, C08L35, C08L55, C08L25, C08L51, C08L33	M08L23:08, M08L55:02, C08L 67/02B+B, C08L 67/02+B, M08L67:02, C08L 51/04+B, C08L 55/02+B, C08L 35/00+B, C08L 25/16+B, C08L 33/14+B	THERMOPLASTIC RESIN COMPOSITION	A thermoplastic resin composition which comprises 100 parts by weight of a mixture composed of 10 to 85 wt% of a rubber-reinforced styrene resin, 5 to 50 wt% of a saturated polyester resin and 10 to 70 wt% of at least one copolymer selected from the group consisting of α-methylstyrene copolymers and maleimide copolymers, and 0.2 to 50 parts by weight of an epoxidized olefin copolymer, and which contains 5 to 25 wt% of a rubbery polymer based on the whole composition. This composition is excellent in not only sharpness but also resistances to heat, chemicals and impact.	FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to a thermoplastic resin composition which is excellent in sharpness and also in heat resistance, chemical resistance and impact resistance. BACKGROUND ARTStyrene resins such as polystyrene, a styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, an ABS resin and an AES or AAS resin which comprises, as a rubber component, an EPDM rubber or acryl rubber have good property balance and dimensional stability and widely used in various fields. Inter alia, the styrene resins find many applications in the automobile field. In this field, the resins should have resistance to, for example, gasoline or a braking oil, and improvement of such resistance is important. As a polymer having good chemical resistance, a saturated polyester resin is known. Since this resin has poor impact resistance, it is proposed to add the ABS resin to the polyester resin (cf. Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 30421/1972 and 25261/1976). However, a composition of the ABS resin and the saturated polyester resin has insufficient impact strength and poor heat resistance. In addition, a coating is applied on such composition for the purpose of decoration or improvement of weather resistance. However, sharpness of the coating is poor. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONAs a results of the extensive study by the present inventors to improve the properties of a composition comprising a rubber-reinforced styrene resin and a saturated polyester resin, it has been found that a composition comprising the rubber-reinforced styrene resin, the saturated polyester and two specific copolymers has excellent sharpness in addition to good heat resistance, impact resistance and chemical resistance, and the present invention has been completed. Accordingly, the present invention provides a thermoplastic resin composition comprising 100 parts by weight of a mixture of (A) 10 to 85 % by weight of a rubber-reinforced styrene resin which is obtainable by graft polymerizing (ii) an aromatic vinyl compound and (iii) a cyanated vinyl compound and/or other vinyl compound in the presence of (i) a rubbery polymer, (B) 5 to 50 % by weight of a saturated polyester resin and (C) 10 to 70 % by weight of at least one copolymer selected from the group consisting of (C-1) an α-methylstyrene copolymer which comprises (i) α-methylstyrene, (ii) a cyanated vinyl compound and optionally (iii) an aromatic vinyl compound (except α-methylstyrene) and/or an alkyl unsaturated carboxylate and (C-2) a maleimide copolymer comprising (i) a maleimide compound and (ii) an aromatic vinyl compound or a combination of an aromatic vinyl compound and another vinyl compound, and 0.2 to 50 parts by weight of (D) an epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer comprising (i) an olefin and (ii) an epoxy group-containing unsaturated compound or a combination of an epoxy group-containing unsaturated compound and an ethylenically unsaturated compound, wherein the content of said rubbery polymer is from 5 to 25 % by weight based on the total weight of the compositon (A + B + C + D). Rubber-reinforced resin (A)The rubber-reinforced resin (A) is a resin which is obtainable by graft polymerizing the aromatic vinyl compound (ii) and the cyanated vinyl compound and/or the other vinyl compound (iii) in the presence of the rubbery polymer (i). A ratio of the rubbery polymer (i), the aromatic vinyl compound (ii) and the cyanated vinyl compound or the other vinyl compound (III) in the rubber-reinforced styrene resin is not critical. Preferably, an amount of the rubbery polymer is from 10 to 70 % by weight, that of the aromatic vinyl compound is from 15 to 70 % by weight, and that of the other vinyl compound is from 5 to 50 % by weight. Examples of the rubbery polymer are polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene copolymers, acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymers, ethylene-propylene copolymers, acrylate copolymers and, chlorinated polyethylene. They may be used alone or as a mixture thereof. The rubbery polymer may be prepared by emulsion polymerization, solution polymerization, suspension polymerization or bulk polymerization. In the case of the emulsion polymerization, a particle size of the rubbery polymer and a gel content are not limited. Preferably, an average particle size is from 0.1 to 1 µm, and the gel content is from 0 to 95 %. Examples of the aromatic vinyl compound are styrene, α-methylstyrene, o-methylstyrene, m-methylstyrene, p-methylstyrene, tert.-butylstyrene, α-methylvinyltoluene, dimethylstyrene, chlorostyrene, dichlorostyrene, bromostyrene, dibromostyrene and vinylnaphthalene. They may be used alone or as a mixture thereof. Among them, styrene and α-methylstyrene are preferred. Examples of the other vinyl compound which may constitute the rubber-reinforced styrene resin together with the rubbery polymer and the aromatic vinyl compound are a cyanated vinyl compound such as acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile and fumaronitrile, an unsaturated alkyl carboxylate such as methyl (meth)acrylate, ethyl (meth)acrylate, propyl (meth)acrylate, butyl (meth)acrylate, butyl (meth)acrylate, and 2-ethylhexyl (meth)acrylate. They may be used alone or as a mixture thereof. Among them, the cyanated vinyl compound is preferred. A graft degree of the graft polymer is not critical. Preferably, it is from 25 to 150 %. For the preparation of the graft polymer and the copolymer, conventional emulsion polymerization, suspension polymerization, bulk polymerization, solution polymerization or a combination thereof is used. Saturated polyester resin (B)Examples of the saturated polyester resin used in the present invention are polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate and polyester-ether block polymer comprising a hard segment of the polyester and a soft segment of the polyether. It may be prepared from 1,4-butanediol and terephthalic acid, or dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol. The saturated polyester resins may be used alone or as a mixture thereof. Among them, polybutylene terephthalate is preferred. α-Methylstyrene copolymer (C-1)The α-methylstyrene copolymer is a copolymer of α-methylstyrene (i), the cyanated vinyl compound (ii) and optionally the aromatic vinyl compound (except α-methylstyrene) and/or the alkyl unsaturated carboxylate (iii). A composition of the α-methylstyrene copolymer is not critical. Preferably, an amount of α-methylstyrene (i) is from 60 to 85 % by weight, that of the cyanated vinyl compound (ii) is from 15 to 40 % by weight, and that of the other compound is from 0 to 25 % by weight. An intrinsic viscosity of the α-methylstyrene copolymer in dimethylformamide at 30°C is preferably from 0.3 to 1.0. Examples of the compounds which constitute the α-methylstyrene copolymer are the same as those exemplified in connection with the rubber-reinforced styrene resin (A). The α-methylstyrene copolymer may be prepared by emulsion polymerization, suspension polymerization, solution polymerization or bulk polymerization. Maleimide copolymer (C-2)The maleimide copolymer is a copolymer of the maleimide compound (i) and the aromatic vinyl compound or the combination of the aromatic vinyl compound and another vinyl compound (ii). A composition of the maleimide copolymer is not critical. Preferably, an amount of the maleimide compound (i) is from 5 to 65 % by weight, and that of the vinyl compound (ii) is from 95 to 35 % by weight. In particular, the copolymer comprises 5 to 60 % by weight of the maleimide compound and 30 to 80 % by weight of the aromatic vinyl compound and 10 to 50 % by weight of the other vinyl compound. An intrinsic viscosity in dimethylformamide at 30°C of the maleimide copolymer is preferably from 0.4 to 1.0. As the maleimide compound, not only maleimide but also N-arylmaleimide having, as a substituent, an aryl group such as a phenyl, methylphenyl, ethylphenyl or chlorophenyl group and N-alkylmaleimide having, as a substituent, an alkyl group such as a methyl or ethyl group are exemplified. They may be used alone or as a mixture thereof. Among them, N-phenylmaleimide is preferred. Examples of the aromatic vinyl compound and the other vinyl compound are the same as those exemplified in connection with the rubber-reinforced styrene resin (A). The maleimide copolymer may be prepared by emulsion polymerization, suspension polymerization, solution polymerization or bulk polymerization. Epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer (D)The epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer is a copolymer comprising the olefin (i) and the epoxy group-containing compound or the combination of the epoxy group-containing compound and the ethylenically unsaturated compound (ii). A composition of the epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer is not critical. Preferably, an amount of the olefin is from 99.95 to 5 % by weight, that of the epoxy group-containing compound is from 0.05 to 95 % by weight and that of the ethylenically unsaturated compound is from 0 to 40 % by weight. In particular, the copolymer comprises 99 to 50 % by weight of the olefin, 1 to 50 % by weight of the epoxy group-containing compound and 0 to 30 % by weight of the ethylenically unsaturated compound. Examples of the olefin are ethylene, propylene, butene-1 and 4-methylpentene-1. They may be used alone or as a mixture thereof. Among them, ethylene is preferred. The epoxy group-containing compound is a compound having an unsaturated group which is copolymerizable with the olefin and the ethylenically unsaturated compound. Examples are unsaturated epoxy compounds such as unsaturated glycidyl esters, unsaturated glycidyl ethers, epoxyalkenes and p-glycidylstyrenes which are represented by the following formulas (I), (II) and (III): wherein R is a C₂-C₁₈ hydrocarbon group having an ethylenically unsaturated bond; wherein R is a C₂-C₁₈ hydrocarbon group having an ethylenically unsaturated bond, and X is -CH₂-O-, wherein R is a C₂-C₁₈ hydrocarbon group having an ethylenically unsaturated bond, and R' is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group. Specific examples are glycidyl acrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, glycidyl itaconates, butenecarboxylates, allyl glycidyl ether, 2-methylallyl glycidyl ether, styrene p-glycidyl ether, 3,4-epoxybutene, 3,4-epoxy-3-methyl-1-butene, 3,4-epoxy-1-pentene, 3,4-epoxy-3-methylpentene, 5,6-epoxy-1-hexene, vinylcyclohexene monooxide and p-glycidylstyrene. They may be used alone or as a mixture thereof. Among them, glycidyl (meth)acrylate is preferred. Examples of the ethylenically unsaturated compound are vinyl esters having 2 to 6 carbon atoms in an unsaturated carboxylic acid moiety, acrylate, methacrylate or maleate having 1 to 6 carbon atoms in an alcohol moiety, vinyl halogenides, vinyl ethers, N-vinyllactams and carboxylic acid amides. Among them, the vinyl esters, in particular, vinyl acetate are preferred. The epoxy group-containing compound may be prepared by various methods. For example, the unsaturated epoxy compound, the olefin and optionally the ethylenically unsaturated compound are reacted in the presence of a radical generator at a temperature of 40 to 300°C under pressure of 5.0 to 4000 atm, or the unsaturated epoxy compound is mixed with polypropylene and irradiating the mixture with the gamma-ray under high vacuum to obtain the polymer. Thermoplastic resin compositionThe resin composition of the present invention comprises 100 parts by weight of a mixture of 10 to 85 % by weight of the rubber-reinforced styrene resin (A), 5 to 50 % by weight of the saturated polyester resin (B) and 10 to 70 % by weight of the α-methylstyrene copolymer (C-1) and/or the maleimide copolymer (C-2), and 0.2 to 50 parts by weight of the epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer (D), wherein the content of the rubbery polymer is from 5 to 25 % by weight based on the total weight of the composition ( A + B + C + D ). Outside the above ranges, it is impossible to obtain a composition which is excellent in sharpness, heat resistance, impact resistance and chemical resistance. In view of the levels of heat resistance, impact resistance and the chemical resistance and also the balance among them, preferably the composition comprises 20 to 70 % by weight of the component (A), 10 to 40 % by weight of the component (B) and 20 to 50 % by weight of the component (C), and 1 to 20 parts by weight of the component (D) per 100 parts by weight of the total weight of the components (A), (B) and (C), and the content of the rubbery polymer is from 10 to 20 % by weight. The mixing sequence and states of the rubber-reinforced styrene resin (A), the unsaturated polyester resin (B), the α-methylstyrene copolymer (C-1) and/or the maleimide copolymer (C-2) and the epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer (D) are not limited. The components (A), (B), (C) and (D) in the form of pellets, beads or powder may be simultaneously mixed, or at least two specific components are premixed and then the remaining component(s) are mixed. The mixing may be carried out by any of conventional mixing apparatuses such as a Banbury mixer, rolls and an extruder. If desired, during mixing, any of conventional additives, reinforcing materials and fillers such as an antioxidant, a UV-light absorber, a light stabilizer, an antistatic agent, a lubricant, a dye, a pigment, a plasticizer, a flame retardant, a mold release agent, glass fibers, metal fibers, carbon fibers and metal flakes may be added to the composition. In addition, other thermoplastic resins such as polyacetal, polycarbonate, polyamide, polyphenylene oxide, polymethyl methacrylate or polyvinyl chloride may be compounded. ExamplesThe present invention will be explained in detail by following Reference Examples, Examples and Comparative Examples. In Examples, parts and % are by weight. Reference Example 1Rubber-reinforced styrene resin (A)From a composition of Table 1, each resin was prepared. Reference Example 2Polyester resin (B)(B): Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)Viscosity average molecular weight of 30,000 Reference Example 3α-Methylstyrene copolymer (C-1)From a composition of Table 2, each copolymer was prepared. Reference Example 4Maleimide copolymer (C-2)From a composition of Table 3, each copolymer was prepared. Reference Example 5Epoxy group-containing copolymer (D)From a composition of Table 4, each copolymer was prepared. ExamplesThe components (A) to (D) prepared in Reference Examples 1-5 were simultaneously mixed in a composition shown in Tables 5 and 6 to obtain each resin composition. The properties of the resin composition are also shown in Tables 5 and 6. The properties are measured as follows: 1) Impact strengthASTM D-256, 1/4 inch, notched Izod. 2) Heat resistanceASTM D-648, 1/4 inch, the load of 18.6 kg/cm². 3) Chemical resistanceA test piece of 150 mm x 20 mm x 3 mm is molded and coated with dioctyl phthalate under strain of 1.5 %. Then, the coated piece is heated in an oven kept at 80°C for 48 hours and the presence of cracking is observed. 4) SharpnessA flat plate of 90 mm x 150 mm x 3 mm is molded by injection molding and coated with an urethane paint High-Urethane 5100 manufactured by Nippon Oil and Fat Co., Ltd. using a spray gun to a coating thickness of 30 µm. The coated plate is baked in an oven kept at 65°C for 30 minutes and sharpness of the coating is evaluated as follows: (i) Sharpness of the coated surface is measured at an incident angle of 60 degrees using an image clarity testing machine ICM-lD manufactured by Suga Testing Machines Co., Ltd. (ii) At a height of about 10 mm vertically above the coated surface, a metal bar is placed and an image of the bar on the coated surface is observed with naked eyes and evaluated according to the following criteria: O:The image of the metal bar is clearly seen in the form of a line on the coated surface and the image is good. X:The image of the metal bar is blurred in a wave form on the coated surface. Effects of the InventionAs described above, the resin composition of the present invention achieves good sharpness and has excellent balance among the physical properties such as impact resistance, heat resistance and chemical resistance, and is industrially very useful.	A thermoplastic resin composition comprising 100 parts by weight of a mixture of (A) 10 to 85 % by weight of a rubber-reinforced styrene resin which is obtainable by graft polymerizing (ii) an aromatic vinyl compound and (iii) a cyanated vinyl compound and/or other vinyl compound in the presence of (i) a rubbery polymer, (B) 5 to 50 % by weight of a saturated polyester resin and (C) 10 to 70 % by weight of at least one copolymer selected from the group consisting of (C-1) an α-methylstyrene copolymer which comprises (i) α-methylstyrene, (ii) a cyanated vinyl compound and optionally (iii) an aromatic vinyl compound (except α-methylstyrene) and/or an alkyl unsaturated carboxylate and (C-2) a maleimide copolymer comprising (i) a maleimide compound and (ii) an aromatic vinyl compound or a combination of an aromatic vinyl compound and another vinyl compound, and 0.2 to 50 parts by weight of (D) an epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer comprising (i) an olefin and (ii) an epoxy group-containing unsaturated compound or a combination of an epoxy group-containing unsaturated compound and an ethylenically unsaturated compound, wherein the content of said rubbery polymer is from 5 to 25 % by weight based on the total weight of the compositon ( A + B + C + D ).	SUMITOMO DOW LTD; SUMITOMO DOW LIMITED	ABE KATSUJI - - KITAKASUGAOKA; FUJIWARA TAKAYOSHI - - SHIGINO; KODAMA MIKIO - - KOGANE; UMEYAMA SATOSHI - TERATANI-CHO; YANO MOTOICHI - - MISHIMA; ABE, KATSUJI, 1-20-18, KITAKASUGAOKA; FUJIWARA, TAKAYOSHI, 3-6-1, SHIGINO NISHI JOTO-KU; KODAMA, MIKIO, 2-24-15, KOGANE; UMEYAMA, SATOSHI, 1-3, TERATANI-CHO; YANO, MOTOICHI, 3-5-45, MISHIMA
EP-0489173-B1	489,173	EP	B1	EN	19,960,306	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04N1	null	H04N1	H04N 1/387C2B	DEVICE FOR FORMING IMAGE	A device for forming images being capable of producing images of plural original images in different positions on a single recording sheet by simple operations. To attain the object, the device is characterized by the following. In advance of a copying operation, from among the four kinds of information, i.e., the number and sizes of originals to be copied on a sheet, the size of recording sheet and the magnifications of the originals, the sizes of originals and other two kinds of information are inputted into the device. The rest of information is calculated automatically according to these three inputted kinds of information. The plural original images are copied on the sheet, according to the inputted and calculated information.	Technical FieldThe present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming a plurality of images at different positions on a single recording sheet. Background ArtAs a conventional method of outputting a plurality of original images onto a smallest possible number of recording sheets, a method of outputting different images on two surfaces of a sheet, a method of performing a copying operation of a plurality of originals aligned on an original table at a reduced scale, and the like, are employed. However, the number of standard-size originals, which can be aligned on the original table, is two unless a large-size copying machine is used. The number of images, which can be formed on a single recording sheet is two per surface. In addition, a cumbersome operation for aligning a plurality of originals on the original table must be performed, and whether or not a plurality of original images can fall within a designated recording sheet at a set magnification must be determined. PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 13, no. 541 (E-854) (3889) 5 December 1989 & JP-A- 1 221 981 (RICOH CO LTD) 5 September 1989, describes a technique in that the number of images to be recorded on a single recording sheet is designated, and desired images are selected from a plurality of images stored in a memory, thereby recording a plurality of images on a single recording sheet. In this application, however, processing for storing original images in the memory, and processing for recording images on a recording sheet must be independently executed, resulting in poor operability upon recording of a plurality of original images on a single recording sheet. Disclosure of InventionThe invention is as set out in the claims. The preamble of claim 1 is based on PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 13, no. 541 (E-854) (3889) 5 December 1989 & JP-A-1 221 981 (RICOH CO LTD) 5 September 1989. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus free from the above-mentioned drawbacks. It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus, which can form a plurality of images on a single recording sheet with a simple operation. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus, which can detect the number of original images to be formed on a single recording sheet in accordance with a designated copying magnification. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus, which can obtain a copying magnification of originals in accordance with the number of originals to be copied on a single recording sheet. It is still another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus, which can select the types of parameter to be input upon formation of a plurality of original images on a single recording sheet. Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims. Brief Description of DrawingsFig. 1 is a view for explaining an arrangement of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an arrangement of a controller unit shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view showing an example of an operation panel provided to an image reader shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a view for explaining an image information reduction principle in a main scanning direction; Figs. 5A and 5B are timing charts for explaining input and output operations of image signals; Fig. 6 is a schematic view for explaining reduction/continuous copying processing; Figs. 7A and 7B are views showing setting states of a reduction/continuous copying mode to be displayed on a liquid crystal display unit shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a flow chart for explaining an original number designation priority reduction/continuous copying processing sequence; Figs. 9A and 9B are flow charts for explaining the original number designation priority reduction/continuous copying processing sequence; Fig. 10 is a view showing a setting state of the reduction/continuous copying mode to be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit shown in Fig. 3; Figs. 11A and 11B are views showing setting states of a magnification priority reduction/continuous copying mode to be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 12 is a flow chart for explaining a reduction magnification priority reduction/continuous copying processing sequence; and Fig. 13 is a view showing a setting screen for designating a type of reduction/continuous copying mode. Best Mode for Carrying Out the InventionFig. 1 is a view showing an arrangement of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a circulating type document feeder (RDF), which can sequentially feed a plurality of stacked originals one by one to a predetermined position on an original table glass surface 2, and can return the original to a stack position after exposure is ended. The length and width (passage time) of an original can be detected by sensors arranged in an original convey path of the RDF, thereby detecting the size of an original. Reference numeral 4 denotes a scanner constituted by a lamp 3, a scanning mirror 5, and the like. The scanner is reciprocally scanned in a predetermined direction when an original is placed on the original table glass surface 2 by the RDF 1, and focuses light reflected by the original on an image sensor unit 9 through scanning mirrors 5 to 7 and a lens 8. Reference numeral 10 denotes an exposure control unit comprising a laser scanner, which unit radiates a light beam modulated based on image data output from an image signal control circuit 52 (Fig. 2) of a controller unit CONT onto a photosensitive body 11. Reference numerals 12 and 13 denote developers for respectively visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive body 11 with developing agents (toners) in predetermined colors (black and red). Reference numerals 14 and 15 denote sheet stack units (cassettes), which can store a stack of standard-size cut sheets. A cut sheet is fed to the position of registration rollers 22 upon a drive operation of a paper feed roller, and is fed again while an image leading end registration timing is synchronized with an image to be formed on the photosensitive body 11. The size of sheets stored in each cassette is detected by a size detector (not shown), and is supplied to a CPU (Fig. 2). Reference numeral 16 denotes a transfer/peeling charger, which transfers a toner image visualized on the photosensitive body 11 onto a cut sheet, and peels the cut sheet from the photosensitive body 11. The peeled cut sheet is subjected to a fixing operation in a fixing unit 17 via a conveyor belt. Reference numerals 18 denote delivery rollers for delivering and stacking image-formed cut sheets onto a delivery tray 20. Reference numeral 19 denotes a directional flapper for switching a convey direction of an image-formed cut sheet between a direction toward a delivery port and an internal convey direction so as to prepare for a multiple/dual-surface image forming process. Fig. 2 is a block diagram for explaining an arrangement of the controller unit CONT shown in Fig. 1. Reference numeral 50 denotes a CPU, which incorporates a ROM and a RAM (neither are shown), and systematically controls the respective units on the basis of a control program stored in the ROM. Reference numeral 51 denotes an image reader, which is constituted by the above-mentioned image sensor unit 9, and the like, and outputs an analog image signal photoelectrically converted by the image sensor 9 to the image signal control circuit 52. Reference numeral 53 denotes a printer for driving the exposure control unit 10 on the basis of a video signal output from the image signal control circuit 52 so as to radiate a light beam onto the photosensitive body 11. Note that the image reader 51 is provided with a scanning panel having keys, indicators, and the like for setting modes necessary for image formation. Note that reference numeral 54 denotes a storage device for storing an image signal. In the image forming apparatus with the above-mentioned arrangement, a reading operation of an original image is started by the image reader 51, original image data are sequentially stored in the storage device 54, and the image signal control circuit 52 controls read timings of original image data stored in the storage device 54, and image write timings of the printer 53, thereby simultaneously outputting a plurality of original images to be laid out onto a single cut sheet (reduction/continuous copying). In this manner, a desired number of original images are output to be laid out on a single cut sheet. When another reduction/continuous copying mode is designated by a key 113 arranged on an operation panel (to be described later) to instruct the image reader 51 to start an image reading operation, the RDF 1 automatically feeds originals to an exposure position, and sequentially automatically reads original images. When the number of originals or an image formation magnification is designated at the operation panel, the CPU 50 calculates a magnification or the number of cut sheets on the basis of the designated number of originals or image formation magnification so as to simultaneously output a plurality of original images to be laid out on a single cut sheet, and displays the magnification value or the number of cut sheets as the calculation result on a display means of the operation panel. Fig. 3 is a plan view showing an example of the operation panel provided to the image reader 51 shown in Fig. 2. In Fig. 3, reference numeral 101 denotes a power switch for controlling energization to the image forming apparatus. Reference numeral 102 denotes a reset key, which serves as a key for resuming a standard mode in a standby state. Reference numeral 103 denotes a copy key. Reference numeral 104 denotes a developer selection/switching key. With this developer selection/switching key 104, one of the developers 12 and 13 is selectively switched. Reference numeral 105 denotes a ten-key pad for mainly inputting a copy count. Reference numeral 136 denotes an identification number input key. This identification number input key 136 allows specific operators to perform a copying operation, and inhibits a copying operation by operators other than the specific operators unless an identification number is input. Reference numeral 106 denotes a key for selecting one of the cassettes 14 and 15; 107, copy density adjusting keys; 108, a key for selecting an equal-magnification copying mode; 109, zoom keys for designating a copying magnification in units of predetermined magnifications, e.g., 1%; 130, an auto variable magnification key for automatically performing enlargement or reduction in correspondence with the size of a transfer sheet; 110, a standard magnification key for designating standard reduction or standard enlargement magnification; 111, a key for designating a frame erase mode of a transfer sheet; 112, a key for designating formation of a binding margin at one end of a copying sheet; 113, a key for designating the reduction/continuous copying mode; 125, an area designation key for performing an area designation; 126, an area call key for partially correcting a content of an area set by the area designation key 125; 117, a guide key for knowing the contents of the respective functions; and 131, a preheat mode key for setting a preheat mode. Reference numeral 114 denotes a multiple key for selecting a multiple mode; 115, a continuous copying key for designating a continuous copying mode for splitting the copying region of the original table glass surface 2 into two right and left regions, and performing continuous copying operations for automatically copying two copying regions; 116, a key for selecting a dual-surface copying mode; and 119 and 120, keys for designating operations of a sorter (not shown). Reference numerals 122, 123, and 124 denote keys for designating modes for writing predetermined character data in a copied image. These keys 122, 123, and 124 are respectively used for designating a date write mode, a memo write mode, and a number write mode. Reference numerals 127 and 129 denote mode memory keys for storing set copying modes. These keys can store three copying modes M₁ to M₃. Reference numeral 138 denotes a liquid crystal display unit (display), comprising a liquid crystal display element, for displaying a copy count, a transfer sheet, a set magnification, a message, and the like. Reference numerals 139 to 150 denote indicators comprising LEDs (light-emitting diodes). More specifically, reference numeral 139 denotes a sorter use indication LED for indicating a sort mode, a group mode, or the like when the sorter is used. Reference numeral 140 denotes an automatic exposure control indicator which is turned on when an automatic exposure control (AE) key 137 is depressed; 141, density indicators corresponding to the copy density adjusting keys 107; and 142, indicators for, when the color developer selection/switching key 104 is depressed to select a developer in the main body or in a developer storing device as optional equipment, turning on a color indication corresponding to the color of the selected developer. Reference numeral 143 denotes an auto variable magnification indicator for indicating depression of the auto variable magnification key 130; 144, a reduction/continuous copying mode indicator; 145, a date write mode indicator; 146, an area designation indicator; 147, a binding margin mode indicator; 148, a memo write mode indicator; 149, a frame erase mode indicator; and 150, a number write mode indicator. Reference numeral 132 denotes an asterisk key; 133 and 134, selection keys; and 135, an enter key. Reduction/continuous copying processing for copying a plurality of original images onto a single cut sheet according to the present invention will be described below with reference to Fig. 4 and Figs. 5A and 5B. Fig. 4 is a view for explaining an image information reduction principle in the main scanning direction. In Fig. 4, a ○ indicates an actual read position; b ○ indicates an actual output position; and c ○ indicates an imaginary read position. Note that Fig. 4 corresponds to a case wherein an image is reduced to x/(x+y)% in the main scanning direction, where x is the interval between reading elements of the image sensor 9, and the magnification changes according to the value y. Figs. 5A and 5B are timing charts for explaining an operation of Fig. 1. In these figures, reference symbol H1 denotes an input reference signal serving as a horizontal synchronization signal. Reference symbol CLK denotes a reference clock; and VD, an image signal. Processing for copying an original image on a cut sheet at a reduced scale will be described below. As for the subscanning direction, the image signal VD is read from the image reader 51 at constant timings. Thus, the moving speed of the scanner 4 for illuminating an original is increased to increase the area of an original to be read by the image reader 51 in a unit time. Therefore, an image can be reduced in a paper convey direction (subscanning direction). On the other hand, as for the main scanning direction, read/write processing of the image signal VD is controlled through the image signal control circuit 52. More specifically, in the main scanning direction, when no reduction is made, as shown in Fig. 4, no problem is posed since the actual output position b ○ and the actual read position a ○ correspond to each other. However, when an image is reduced to x/(x+y)%, processing is made under an assumption that an image signal is input at the imaginary read position c ○. An image can be reduced by outputting image data at this position to the actual output position b ○. Since an image at the imaginary read position corresponds to two actual read positions, an image density at the imaginary read position c ○ is predicted by linear interpolation of the density values of image signals read at the two actual read positions a ○ on the basis of the following equation (1). Note that R2 and R3 indicate the densities of images read at the actual read positions. 02 = {R3 × y + R2·(y - x)}/y Reduction/continuous copying processing will be described below with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a view for explaining reduction/continuous copying processing for copying a plurality of original images onto a single cut sheet. In Fig. 6, 1 ○ to 4 ○ respectively indicate, e.g., A4-size originals, and 5 ○ indicates, e.g., an A4-size sheet on which four original images are copied at a reduced scale. The reduction/continuous copying mode is informed to the CPU 50 upon depression of the reduction/continuous copying mode key 113 shown in Fig. 3. Thereafter, the originals 1 ○ to 4 ○ are set on the RDF 1, and the copy key 103 is then depressed. The RDF 1 conveys the originals 1 ○ to 4 ○ in turn onto the original table glass surface 2, and reads images using the image sensor unit 9. At this time, the scanner 4 is moved at a speed twice that in an equal-magnification mode, and images are read while being reduced in the subscanning direction according to the above-mentioned reduction algorithm. Image signals reduced in the subscanning direction are not directly supplied to the printer 53, but are stored in the storage device 54. When all the original images are read and stored at the reduced scale, the image forming process is started. When exposure control is performed while reading out the image signals from the storage device 54, image data are read out in the order for forming images like the sheet 5 ○ shown in, e.g., Fig. 6. More specifically, after main scanning signals for one line of the original 3 ○ are read out, signals for one line of the original 1 ○ are subsequently read out. Upon completion of image outputs for all the lines of the originals 1 ○ and 3 ○, signals are output in the order of the first line of the original 4 ○, the first line of the original 2 ○, and so on. A latent image is formed in this manner, and is developed, fixed, and delivered. With these operations, the images of the originals 1 ○ to 4 ○, which images are equally reduced according to the number of read originals, can be formed on a single transfer sheet. In the above description, images of four originals are output to a single sheet. In the case of nine originals or 16 originals, a plurality of originals can be similarly formed on a single recording sheet by changing the reduction magnification. In the above description of the embodiment, images are automatically reduced in size in accordance with the number of originals input from the RDF 1, and are formed on a single transfer sheet. Alternatively, a reduction magnification of each original image may be calculated by the CPU 50 in accordance with the number of originals designated at the ten-key pad 105 shown in Fig. 3 and the original size, and may be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 138. An original number designation priority reduction/continuous copying operation will be described below with reference to Figs. 7A and 7B, and Fig. 8. Figs. 7A and 7B are views showing reduction/continuous copying mode setting states displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 138 shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 8 is a flow chart for explaining a processing sequence of an original number designation priority reduction/continuous copying mode. Note that (1) to (4) indicate steps. When the reduction/continuous copying key 113 is depressed on the operation panel shown in Fig. 3, the reduction/continuous copying mode is set, and this flow chart is started. A frame shown in Fig. 7A is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 138. The number of originals is set using the ten-key pad 105 (1), and an original size is set by operating the zoom keys 109 (2). Note that a paper size is selected by the paper size selection key 106. The CPU 50 calculates a maximum reduction magnification, at which the set number of original images can be copied without overlapping each other, and also calculates output positions of the original images (3). The CPU displays the calculated magnification on the liquid crystal display unit 138 (4), as shown in Fig. 7B, so that a user can recognize a reduction state in an original layout-output mode. Setting processing is ended when the asterisk key 132 is depressed. Upon an input of the copy key 103, images reduced at the magnification calculated in units of the set number of originals are output to be laid out to the output positions shown in Fig. 6. In the above embodiment, the original number designation priority reduction/continuous copying processing operation has been described. However, reduction magnification designation priority processing may be performed, and the maximum number of originals, which can be copied on a single cut sheet, may be displayed. In the above description of the embodiment, the number of originals is set by the ten-key pad 105, and the magnification value is displayed. Alternatively, the number of originals may be counted and an original size may be detected by circulating originals using the RDF 1 shown in Fig. 1, and a magnification may be automatically calculated and displayed. Figs. 9A and 9B are flow charts for explaining an original number designation priority reduction/continuous copying processing sequence in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. Note that (1) and (11) to (13) indicate steps. When the reduction/continuous copying key 113 is input, the reduction/continuous copying mode is set (1), and a display is made on the liquid crystal display unit 138, as shown in Fig. 10. At this time, the column of the number of originals is filled with auto since the number of originals is automatically counted by the RDF 1 after the copy key 103 is input. The above-mentioned flow may be started upon an input from the ten-key pad 105. In this case, different magnification display processing operations according to a user's favor may be automatically started. Since the RDF 1 comprises a mechanism for detecting an original size (i.e., the original size is detected based on the feed distance and the width), a user need only set an output paper size. When the copy key 103 is depressed, processing shown in Fig. 9B is started. The RDF 1 counts the number of originals (11). Upon completion of counting of the number of originals, the CPU 50 calculates a maximum magnification at which the set originals can be output to be laid out onto a single cut sheet without overlapping each other, and also calculates output positions of images (12). The CPU causes the liquid crystal display unit 138 to display the magnification (13), and then starts copy processing. Figs. 11A and 11B are views showing setting states of a magnification priority reduction/continuous copying mode. Fig. 12 is a flow chart for explaining a processing sequence of a reduction magnification priority reduction/continuous copying mode. Note that (1) to (4) indicate steps. When the reduction/continuous copying key 113 is depressed on the operation panel shown in Fig. 3, the reduction/continuous copying mode is set, and this flow chart is started. A frame shown in Fig. 7A is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 138. A magnification is then set by the zoom keys 105 (1). A cursor is moved to a portion of an original size using the keys 134 and 135, the original size is set using the zoom keys 109, and an output paper size is set by operating the cassette selection key 106 (2). The CPU 50 calculates the number of originals, which allows image formation on a selected sheet at the magnification set by the zoom keys 109, and the output positions of the originals (3). The calculated maximum number of originals to be input is displayed (4), as shown in Fig. 11B, so that a user can recognize a reduction state in the reduction/continuous copying mode. When the asterisk key 132 indicating the end of processing is depressed, the setting processing is ended. In this embodiment, the original size can also be detected using the document feeder. Then, an operator need only input a paper size and a magnification. In the above description of the embodiment, the maximum number of originals for the desired magnification designated by the zoom keys 109 is displayed. In this manner, the number of originals for various magnifications can be displayed according to a user's favor. However, the ratio of an output sheet size and an original size must always be calculated. Thus, when the reduction/continuous copying key 113 is depressed, a predetermined magnification may be automatically set upon an instruction from the standard magnification key 110. When A4-size original images are simultaneously output to an output sheet, predetermined relationships, i.e., four original images can be simultaneously copied at a magnification of 50%; nine original images at 33%; 16 original images at 25%; and so on are established. Therefore, every time the standard magnification key 110 is input, the magnifications may be displayed in rotation to eliminate a magnification setting load on a user. Thus, magnification setting processing can be simplified, and the maximum number of originals to be input can be easily grasped. In the above description of the embodiment, a plurality of original images are laid out and output in a single transfer process. However, a plurality of original images may be formed on a single surface of a single sheet in a multiple transfer process to obtain the same effect as described above. More specifically, when image data of originals are output from the image reader 51, images are formed at predetermined positions of a conveyed single sheet in the multiple transfer process, while the image signal control circuit 52 controls the output timings of the original image data, as will be described later. In this manner, a large number of original images can be formed at a reduced scale on a single surface of a single sheet in the multiple process. The multiple transfer process will be described below. A sheet subjected to the fixing operation in the fixing unit 17 is conveyed to a re-feed sheet stack unit 21 by the directional flapper 19 for switching the convey direction. When the next original is set at an exposure position, an original image is read in the same manner as in the above-mentioned process. In this case, since the sheet is fed from the re-feed sheet stack unit 21, images are consequently multiple-transferred onto the single sheet. Therefore, upon repetition of this process, a plurality of original images can be output onto the single sheet to overlap each other. Processing for forming an original image at a predetermined position on a sheet will be described below. This image forming apparatus can independently control the start timing of the image reader 51 and the sheet convey timing. The start timing of the image reader 51 is managed by the CPU 50. A timing for registering the leading ends of a toner image on the photosensitive body and a sheet is also controlled by the registration rollers 22 through the CPU 50. In this manner, an image can be moved to a desired position in the convey direction (subscanning direction) of a recording sheet by adjusting the paper feed timing of the registration rollers 22. Timing control in a direction (main scanning direction) perpendicular to the convey direction is attained by adjusting an emission timing of a light signal output from the exposure control unit 10 with respect to an image signal read by the image sensor unit 9. More specifically, an image signal VD is fetched in synchronism with an input reference signal H1 shown in Fig. 5A and in response to a reference clock CLK. When an image is to be output without being moved, the image signal VD can be output in synchronism with an output reference signal H1 and in response to the reference clock CLK, as indicated by a dotted line in Fig. 5B. When an image is to be moved, the image signal control circuit 52 changes the output timing of an image signal with respect to the output reference signal H1, as shown in Fig. 5B, thereby forming an image at a desired position on a sheet. The reduction/continuous copying processing in the multiple transfer process will be described below. When the reduction/continuous copying key 113 shown in Fig. 3 is depressed, a frame shown in, e.g., Fig. 7A is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 138. The number of originals is then set by operating the ten-key pad 105, and an original size is set by operating the zoom keys 109. Furthermore, a paper size is set by operating the cassette selection key 106. Upon completion of these setting operations, the CPU 50 calculates a maximum magnification at which original images corresponding to a set count can be formed without overlapping each other, and also calculates the output positions of the original images. The magnification calculated in this manner is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 138, as shown in Fig. 7B, thus presenting the reduction magnification to a user in advance. When the asterisk key 132 is input, the control then waits for an input of the copy key 103. As shown in Fig. 6, originals 1 ○ to 4 ○ are set on the RDF 1, and the copy key 103 is depressed. At this time, if four original images are to be output onto a recording sheet having the same size as the original, a copying magnification of 50% is proper. The RDF 1 sequentially conveys the originals onto the original table glass surface, and original images are read by the image sensor unit 9. At this time, the scanner 4 is moved at a speed twice that in the equal-magnification mode, thereby reducing original images in the above-mentioned reduction process. The original image reduced to 50% is output to the corresponding position of a layout-output sheet 5 ○ shown in Fig. 6 upon execution of the above-mentioned image shift processing in a single image forming process. When the multiple transfer process is executed a plurality of times corresponding to the number of originals (e.g., four times), the sheet 5 ○, on which the images on the four originals 1 ○ to 4 ○ are copied at a reduced scale, can be obtained. In the above embodiment, four original images are copied onto a single sheet. Even when the number of originals is increased to 9, 16,..., these original images can be copied onto a single sheet by repeating the same multiple transfer processing. In this embodiment, as described above, the RDF can count the number of originals, and detects an original size. Therefore, an operator need only designate a paper size. When the RDF 1 is used in the magnification designation priority reduction/continuous copying mode, images stored in the storage device may be read out to form images on a sheet every time a calculated number of originals are fed. In this manner, a large number of originals may be stacked on the RDF. The same applies to a case wherein the multiple transfer process is performed. In each of the above embodiments, the number of originals is calculated based on a recording sheet size, a magnification, and an original size, or a magnification is calculated based on the number of originals, an original size, and a recording sheet size. In addition, a recording sheet size may be calculated based on the number of originals, an original size, and a magnification, thereby selecting a recording sheet. In the above-mentioned reduction/continuous copying mode, a method of calculating the number of originals, a method of calculating a magnification, and a method of calculating a recording sheet size are available. In this case, one of these methods may be selected upon selection of the reduction/continuous copying mode. More specifically, when the reduction/continuous copying key 113 is depressed, a display shown in Fig. 13 is made to allow selection of the type of reduction/continuous copying mode. When a desired reduction/continuous copying mode is input using the ten-key pad in this case, a parameter setting frame is displayed to wait for inputs. In each of the above embodiments, an original size is input from the operation unit or is detected by the RDF. However, an original size may be detected based on an image signal output from the image sensor 9.	An image forming apparatus comprising exposure means for exposing an original, number data generation means for generating number data indicating the number of input originals whose images are to be formed on a single recording sheet, first size signal generation means for generating a first size signal indicating a size of the original exposed by said exposure means, second size signal generation means for generating a second size signal indicating a size of the recording sheet, determining means for determining magnification to form images of the originals at different positions on a single recording sheet, based on the number data generated by said number data generation means, the first size signal generated by said first size signal generation means, and the second size signal generated by said second size signal generation means, image forming means for forming the images of the originals with the magnification determined by said determining means at a desired position on the single recording sheet, and feeding means for feeding the single recording sheet to the image forming means after the image is formed on the single recording sheet by said image forming means, in order to form another image on the single recording sheet; characterized by control means for repeatedly controlling said exposure means, said image forming means and said feeding means so as to form reduced images of each of the images of the plurality of originals at different positions on the single recording sheet which is repeatedly fed by said feeding means. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further characterized in that feed means for feeding a plurality of originals to an exposure position one by one, and said number data generation means detects the number of originals when said feed means feeds the originals. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further characterized in that feed means for feeding a plurality of originals to an exposure position one by one, and said first size signal generation means detects an original size during an original feed operation by said feed means. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means causes said image forming means to perform image formation of a first original on a recording sheet, then causes said exposure means to expose a second original, and causes said image forming means to perform image formation of the second original on the same recording sheet. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said number data generation means includes numerical value input means.	CANON KK; CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA	KAMEI MASAFUMI; KOHTANI HIDETO; KUTSUWADA SATORU; SAKAI MASANORI; TAKEDA HIROAKI; WATANABE MASAO; KAMEI, MASAFUMI; KOHTANI, HIDETO; KUTSUWADA, SATORU; SAKAI, MASANORI; TAKEDA, HIROAKI; WATANABE, MASAO, CANON AZAMINO-RYO
EP-0489175-B1	489,175	EP	B1	EN	19,970,903	1,992	20,100,220	new	A01C11	null	A01C11	A01C 11/02	VEHICULAR MACHINE FOR TRANSPLANTING VEGETABLES	A vehicular machine for transplanting vegetables, wherein the rear portion of a working truck pulled by the vehicle is provided with a planting part having seedling mounting tables and planting levers for planting seedlings on the tables onto seedbeds, and the working truck is provided thereon with steps to be used by the operator who rides on the working truck and supplies seedlings to seedling mounting tables of the planting part, said working truck being supported by supporting wheels disposed on the same lines as those for the wheels of said vehicle.	Field of the InventionThe present invention relates to a vehicular machine which is available for transplanting vegital seedlings onto plural seedbed lines, in which a tractive vehicle hauls an integrated planting unit. Description of the Background ArtA vehicular machine comprising the features of the precharacterizing clause of claim 1 is known from document JP-Y-57-16411. The planting unit of this known vehicular machine comprises supporting plates which slide along the ground surface. The seedbed field is usually roughly ploughed. When the supporting plates slide along the unleveled ground surface, the planting unit is irregularly lowered and lifted due to the unevenness of the ground surface. Moreover, the supporting wheels of the working truck also run along the unleveled ground surface so that only partly damped shocks are transmitted from the working truck to the planting unit. This results in that the vegetal seedlings cannot be properly transplanted at a constant depth. From document JP-A-20-60512 a vehicular machine is known which comprises a tractive vehicle and a planting unit linked to the tractive vehicle. This document further discloses a height control comprising a level-detecting sensor for detecting the distance between the planting unit and the ground surface of the seedbed field. On the basis of the output of the level-detecting sensor the rear wheels of the tractive vehicle are lifted to adjust the height of the planting unit above the ground surface. It is an object of the present invention to improve the vehicular machine known from document JP-Y-57-16411 such that the vegetal seedlings can be transplanted more properly at a constant depth. This object is achieved by the subject-matter of claim 1. According to the invention, it is provided that during operation of the vehicular machine the vertical relative position between the planting unit and the working truck is controlled on the basis of output signals of a level-detecting sensor which detects the height of the planting unit above the ground surface. This makes it possible to properly control the depth at which the vegetal seedlings are transplanted. Moreover, according to the invention it is provided that the supporting wheels of the working truck are arranged such that they run along the tracks of the wheels of the tractive vehicle. Thereby a more stable running of the working truck is achieved because the supporting wheels run along the tracks which have been smoothed by at least two of the wheels of the tractive vehicle. This results in that the working step of the working truck provides a more stable platform for the operator. Moreover, it results in that the height control by means of the level-detecting sensor and the lifting means is more effective because the required control amount is reduced due to the more stable running of the working truck. From the last-mentioned property of the vehicular machine according to the invention it follows that a synergistic effect is provided by the arrangement of the supporting wheels on the one hand and by the height control on the other hand. Further developments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims 2 to 6. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 is the overall lateral view of the vehicular machine available for transplanting vegital seedlings on seedbed lines according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is the plan of the vehicular machine embodied by the invention shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is the front view of the working truck of the vehicular machine embodied by the invention as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is the lateral view of the working truck shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is the perspective view of components in the periphery of the working step provided for the working truck shown in Figures 3 and 4; Fig. 6 is the front view of guide plate provided for the gear-shifting lever; Fig. 7 is the simplified block diagram of the HST control system introduced to the vehicular machine embodied by the invention; Fig. 8 is the lateral view of the integrated planting unit of the vehicular machine embodied by the invention; Fig. 9 is the plane sectional view of the seedling forwarding belt installation mechanism embodied by the invention; Fig. 10 is the partial diagram of the seedling forwarding belt installation mechanism as per the arrowed line F shown in Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is the partial diagram of the seedling forwarding belt installation mechanism as per the arrowed line G shown in Fig. 9; Fig. 12 is the partial diagram of the seedling for-forwarding belt installation mechanism as per the arrowed line H shown in Fig. 9; Fig. 13 is the sectional view of part of one-way clutch; Fig. 14 is the front view of the bottom of the planting unit of the vehicular machine embodied by the invention; Fig. 15 is the plan of the bottom of the planting unit of the vehicular machine embodied by the invention; Fig. 16 is the lateral view of the rolling sensor; Fig. 17 is the front view of the roller sensor; Fig. 18 is the flowchart of operation for controlling rolling of the planting unit embodied by the invention; and Fig. 19 is the plan of the pitching control system provided with pitching sensors having different shapes according to another embodiment of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSOptimal form for embodying the InventionFig. 1 through Fig. 18 respectively designate a vehicular machine available for transplanting vegital seedlings on seedbed lines according to an embodiment of the invention, which is effectively made available for transplanting seedlings of lettuse or the like for example. Basically, the vehicular machine for transplanting vegital seedlings on multiple seedbed lines according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a working truck 3 which is hauled by a tractive vehicle 2 and a planting unit 5 coupled with a parallel linking unit 4 secured to the rear end of the working truck 3. The planting unit 5 is capable of planting vegital seedlings onto plural seedbed lines (for example, 5 lines as shown in the accompanying drawings). Independent of manufacturers and models, basically, any conventional tractor may also be made available for the tractive vehicle 2 insofar as it can normally haul and drive the working truck 3 and the planting unit 5. The reference numeral 7 shown in Fig. 1 designates a, pair of front wheels, 8 a pair of rear wheels, 9 a driver's seat, and 10 designates a PTO shaft, respectively. The refefence numeral 12 designates a 3-P linking unit which consists of a pair of bottom linking members 13 and 13 which are disposed on both sides and a top linking member 14 capable of adjusting own length. The tip ends of a plurality of rotatable drive arms 16 and intermediate parts of these bottom linking members 13 and 13 are respectively interlocked by a pair of lift rods 17 and 17. As shown in Fig. 3 through Fig. 5, the working truck 3 is composed of the following: A truck frame is provided, which consists of a horizontal frame 20, a front frame 21, and a rear frame 22, which are respectively erected on the front and rear ends of the horizontal frame 20. A pair of truck-body supporting wheels 23 and 23 are provided on both sides of the front frame 21 via a shaft. These truck-body supporting wheels 23 and 23 are respectively aligned on the level line identical to that of the rear wheels 8 and 8 of the tractive vehicle 2, and therefore, when these truck-body supporting wheels 23 and 23 respectively trace the route rolled by those rear wheels 8 and 8, the working truck 3 can smoothly roll on itself without generating substantial pitching. Rear ends of those bottom linking members 13 and 13 of the 3-P linking unit 12 and the rear end of the top linking member 14 are respectively coupled with those linking members 31a, 31, and 31b. This permits the tractive vehicle 2 to smoothly haul the working truck 3. A working step 25 made of an iron plate is provided on the horizontal frame 20 to permit an operator to mount himself on it for replenishing vegital seedlings. A, stepping member 27 (which is formed in the gate-like shape from the front view and converted from a round pipe) is integrally secured to the rear frame 22. As shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 5, when the operator sits himself on the seat 26, he can place his feet on the stepping member 27. Availing of this, the seedling replenishing operator can remain at ease even when confining himself in narrow space of the working step 25. A pair of rods 28 and 28 available for supporting those reserved seedling mounting tables are rotatably installed in horizontal phase by way of projecting themselves from the the right and left sides of the front frame 21 in the upward inclined direction These supporting rods 28 and 28 respectively support a plurality of reserved seedling mounting tables 30 through 30n each containing plural shelves 29 for mounting plural seedling containers on those rods 28 and 28. When these reserved seedling mounting tables 30 through 30n are turned in the backward direction, part of these reserved seeding mounting tables 30 visually overlaps with part of the planting unit 5 in front of those seeding mounting tables 64 described later on when the operator views them from the top. Therefore, the operator needs to properly control, the height of these reserved seedling mounting tables 30 so that these reserved seedling mounting tables 30 can respectively be prevented from coming into contact with the lifted planting unit 5. Concretely, in order to contract the total length of the working truck 3 and the planting unit 5, part of these reserved seedling mounting tables 30 and part of the planting unit 5 visually overlaps when viewing them from the top. Rotating force transmitted from the PTO shaft 10 via a universal joint 32 is then transmitted to a drive-force input housing 33 which is provided above the front frame 21. The drive-force input housing 33 incorporates a plurality of gears. The transmitted drive force is then extracted by shifting the gear speed based on the predetermined gear-shifting ratio. Drive force output from the drive-force input housing 33 is then provisionally transmitted in the downward direction via a drive-force transmission belt 36, and then, drive force is routed to an oil-pressurized pump 39 and an alternator 40 secured to both sides of the drive-force input housing 33 via those drive-force transmission belts 37 and 38. Next, drive force provisionally transmitted in the downward direction to drive the planting unit 5 then passes through a stepless gear-shifting device (HTS) 42 and a clutch housing 43 before eventually being transmitted to the rear end of the working truck 3 via a drive shaft 44 of the planting unit 5 installed below the working step 25. The clutch housing 43 incorporates a planting clutch which causes the planting unit 5 to constantly stop at the predetermined position and a security clutch which shuts off transmission of drive force as soon as the planting unit 5 receives load beyond the predetermined amount. The stepless gear-shifting device HST 42 properly adjusts the rotational speed of the drive shaft of the planting unit 5. The stepless gear shifting device HST 42 steplessly shifts the gear speed by operating a gear-shifting lever 46 to vary angle of those tilted plates of the HST 42. When operating a tractor, actually, the rotational speed of the PTO shaft is often restrained to several aspects of the rotational speed, and therefore, it is convenient for the tractor operator to predetermine the operating position of the gear shifting lever 46 in accordance with those several aspects of the rotational speed of the PTO shiaft. Fig. 6 illustrates a guide plate for operating the gear shifting lever 46. A plurality of engaging parts 49 are provided for specific positions of a guide groove 48 of the guide plate 47 in order to properly engage the gear shifting lever 46 with the selected position of the guide groove 48 in correspondence with the rotational speed of the PTO shaft 10. The rotational speed of the PTO shaft 10 is expressed in terms of a range from A to E. In place of controlling the rotational speed of the PTO shaft 10 by operating the manual gear-shifting lever 46, as shown in the block diagram of Fig. 7, the rotational speed of the PTO shaft 10 may automatically be controlled. Concretely, a sensor 150 available for detecting the rotational speed of the PTO shaft 10 and a seedling interval setting unit 151 respectively output signals to a controller 152. The controller 152 then outputs control signal to the stepless gear-shifting device HST 42. The controller 152 continuously regulates the relationship between the rotational speed of the PTO shaft 10 and the rotational speed of the planting unit 5 constant, and yet, correctly maintains the interval between each vegital seedling to be planted as per the interval value established by the seedling interval setting unit 151. When introducing the above automatic control system to properly control the relationship between the rotational speed of the PTO shaft 10 and the rotational speed of the planting unit 5 constant, even when gears of the PTO shaft 10 are incorrectly shifted, intervals between those vegital seedlings remain invariable. As mentioned earlier, drive force transmitted to the drive force input housing 33 is provisionally transmitted in the downward direction via the drive force transmission belt 36 before being transmitted to the rear end of the working truck 3 via the drive shaft 44 of the planting unit 5 below the working step 25. As a result, the working step 25 can descend its position to permit the operator to easily mount himself on it and dismount himself from it. As shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, when viewing those important components including the drive force input housing 33, the oil-pressurized pump 39, and the alternator 40, from the front position, these components are respectively disposed in a range surrounded by those link connection members 31a, 31a, and 31b. By virtue of this arrangement, the front ends of these important components are fully protected by those bottom linking members 13 and 13 and the top linking member 14. Even though any obstacle were present between a pair of the truck supporting wheels 23 and 23 while the working truck 3 moves on, these important components can securely be prevented from incurring unwanted damage otherwise caused by collision with obstacle. As shown in Fig. 8, the parallel linking unit 4 is composed of the rear frame 22, a pair of upper linking members 50 and 50, a pair of lower linking members 51 and 51 respectively, being secured to the rear frame 22 by way of freely rotating themselves, and a connecting frame 52 which is connected to the rear ends of those upper and lower linking members 50 and 51. The planting unit 5 is rotatably connected to the connecting frame 52 by means of a rolling shaft within phase orthogonal to the moving direction. A piston rod of a lifting means formed by a pitching cylinder 54 having the base connected to the horizontal frame 20 is coupled with the tip end of a swinging arm 55 which vertically extends itself from a pair of the upper linking members 50 and 50. The planting unit 5 ascends and descends itself by effect of the elongation and contraction of the pitching cylinder 54. An oil-pressurized valve 56 of the planting unit 5 properly controls operation of the pitching cylinder 54. The main frame of the planting unit 5 comprises the following; a drive-force transmission gear housing 60 which receives drive force from the drive shaft 44 of the planting unit 5 via a drive-force transmission shaft 58; a pair of drive-force transmission pipes 61 and 61 which are projectively installed to both lateral surfaces of the drive-force transmission gear housing 60; and a case 62 which supports three planting levers extended from the rear surface of the drive-force transmission gear housing 60 and the both ends of the drive-force transmission pipes 61 and 61. A seedling mounting table 64, five units of planting devices 65, five units of soil reconditioning wheels 66, and an auxiliary seedling replenishing table 67, are respectively installed to the main frame of the planting unit 5. The seedling mounting table 64 is secured by way of slightly tilting itself so that the front end remains higher than the main frame of the planting unit 5. The rear end of the seedling mounting table 64 is supported by a frame 68 which is solely available for supporting the seedling mounting table 64 by way of permitting the rear end of the table 64 to freely slide itself to the left and to the right. The front end of the seedling mounting table 64 is held by a roller 70 which is provided for another frame 69 sole available for supporting the seedling mounting table 64. The reference numeral 72 designates a ⊐-shaped frame (seen from the top) which protects lateral surfaces of the seedling mounting table 64, and yet, it serves as a handle to lift the planting unit 5. The rear end of the frame 72 is secured to the frame 68 and supported by a pair of supporting pipes 74 and 74 which vertically extend from a pair of brackets 73 and 73 integrated with the lateral plates of the seedling mounting table as shown in Fig. 12. A rail member 75 available for engagement with the roller 70 is secured to the frame 72. The, upper surface of the seedling mounting table 64 is sectioned to provide a plurality of seedling mounting partitions 64a corresponding to the number of seedbed lines predetermined for transplanting vegital seedlings. A seedling forwarding belt 77 is secured to the seedling mounting table 64. A receiver plate 80 integrated with the frame 68 available for supporting the seedling mounting table 64 is provided with a plurality of seedling outlets 79 corresponding to the number of the planting devices 65, where the receiver plate 80 is installed behind the seedling mounting table 64. A pot holder 81 is secured to the rear end of the seedling mounting table 64 in order to hold pot domain of those vegital seedlings on the final rank of the receiver plate 80. The drive-force transmission housing 60 stores a roll cam shaft 82 having spiral groove on its external circumference and a horizontaly shifting rod 83 which integrally moves with a metal having a claw engaged with the spiral groove. Tip ends of projections on both sides of the horizontally shifting rod 83 are respectively secured to the seedling-mounting-table frame 72. When the roller cam shaft 82 rotates in the predetermined direction, the horizontally shifting rod 83 horizontally moves itself to cause the seedling mounting table 64 to reciprocate itself to the left and to the right. Fig. 9 through Fig. 12 respectively designate the drive mechanism for the above-identified seedling mounting belt 77. The seedling mounting belt 77 is engaged with a pair of seedling forwarding rollers including a drive roller 85 and a follower roller 86. A plurality of drive rollers 85 corresponding to the number of the seedbed lines are secured to a drive-roller shaft 87 via a one-way clutch 90. Likewise, a plurality of follower rollers 86 corresponding to the number of the seedbed lines are secured to a follower-roller shaft 88 via the one-way clutch 90. As shown in Fig. 13, the round housing 91 of the one-way, clutch 90 is annularly provided with a number of rollers 92 and a number of springs 93 which respectively energize these rollers 92 in the predetermined direction in this housing 91. The inner circumferential surface of the housing 91 is provided with a number of wedge-like recesses 94 engageable with these rollers 92. When the drive roller shaft 87 and the follower roller shaft 88 respectively rotate in the arrowed direction, as shown with solid lines, these rollers 92 are respectively engaged with the wedge-like recesses 94 to receive rotating force. Conversely, when the drive roller shaft 87 and the follower roller shaft 88 respectively reverse the rotation, as shown with broken lines, these rollers 92 are respectively disengaged from the wedge-like recesses 94, and thus, no rotating force is transmitted to these rollers 92. While solely rotating these rollers 92, rotating force is transmitted to the shaft in the direction inverse from the direction of driving the shaft. When operating the drive mechanism above described invention, rotating force is merely transmitted in the direction I (concretely, in the direction of forwarding those vegital seedlings) from the drive roller shaft 87 to the drive roller 85. When transmitting rotating force from the follower roller shaft 88 to the follower roller 86, the rotating force is merely transmitted in the direction J (concretely, in the direction of forwarding those vegital seedlings). While transmitting rotating force from the drive roller 85 to the drive roller shaft 87, the rotating force is merely transmitted in the direction which is inverse from the direction I. Conversely, while transmitting rotating force from the follower roller 86 to the follower roller shaft 88, the rotating force is merely transmitted in the direction which is inverse from the direction J. Next, details of the seedling forwarding mechanism and the seedling-forwarding adjustment mechanism are respectively described below. Concretely, the seedling forwarding mechanism comprises the following components: a seedling forwarding arm 95 which is unrotatably secured to the both edges of the drive roller shaft 87; and a seedling forwarding drive arm 97 which is secured to the both edges of the roll cam shaft 82 in order to support a roller at its tip end. As soon as the seedling mounting table 64 arrives at an end of reciprocating route either to the left or to the right, the roller 96 comes into engagement with the seedling forwarding arm 95 to rotate the drive roller shaft 87 in the direction I by a predetermined amount. As a result, the seedling forwarding belt 77 moves itself in the seedling forwarding direction by a specific amount corresponding to a piece of vegital seedling. The reference numeral 99 shown in Fig. 12 designates a spring available for returning the seedling forwarding arm 95. The spring 99 is installed between the supporting pipe 74 and an end of a pin 100 which is horizontally secured to the base of the seedling forwarding arm 95. The reference numeral 101 shown in Fig. 12 designates a seedling forwarding adjustment screw which is coupled with a nut 102 secured to the bracket 73. The tip end of the screw 101 remains in contact with the pin 100 via a cushion member 103. When the machine operator moves the seedling forwarding adjustment screw 101 back and forth by operating a grip 104 to vary the setup angle of the seedling forwarding arm 97, he can properly adjust the amount of vegital seedlings which are supposed to be fed per operation. If no adjustment were needed, then the operator secures the adjusting screw 101 with a locking nut 105. Concretely, the seedling forwarding adjustment mechanism comprises the following components: In order to carry forward vegital seedlings, an operating rod 108 is secured to an arm member 107a of a rib 107 which is coupled with the one-way clutch 90 of the follower roller 86 available for forwarding vegital seedlings. As soon as the machine operator pulls the operating rod 108, the rib 107 and the follower roller 86 jointly rotates themselves in the direction J. As mentioned earlier, since no rotating force is transmitted from the follower roller 86 to the follower roller shaft 88, and likewise, no rotating force is transmitted from the drive roller 85 to the drive roller shaft 87, only the seedling forwarding belt 77 corresponding to the objective seedbed line shifts itself in the seedling forwarding direction. The seedling forwarding operating rod 108 is held by the rail member 75 and energized in the return direction by the spring 109. The vegital seedling transplanting device 65 is furnished with a plurality of planting levers 111 which respectively move in the vertical direction along the predetermined track. Each of these planting levers 111 grasps vegital seedlings delivered to the outlet 79 at the top of the track, and then releases the seedlings at the bottom of the track onto designated groove dug by a groove excavator 112. The groove excavator 112 is secured to a horizontal rod 114 held by a bracket 113 secured to the base of the planting-lever supporting case 62. When the machine operator stops the seedling planting operation, as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 18, a stationary-position clutch (not shown) stops the movement of the planting levers 111 at the top of the rotating track. As a result, when the whole mechanism of the planting unit 5 completely stops operation, all the planting levers 111 are positioned right above the vegital seedlings stored on the seedling mounting table 64 and the pot holder 74, thus permitting the machine operator mounted on the working step 25 to fully observe the state of the planting levers 111. A pair of wheels 66 and 66 available for reconditioning soil of plowed seedbed lines respectively being disposed on both horizontal sides across those plowed seedbed lines make up a unit. Typically, multi-pairs of wheels 66 are provided for the planting unit 5 as shown in Fig. 2. In order to prevent these wheels 66 on respective seedbed lines from interfering with each other, those wheels 66 on the odd-th lines and the even-th lines are respectively disposed by way of shifting them in the forward and backward directions. Each pair of these wheels 66 are obliquely held so that the distance between each pair of wheels 66 is incremental in the upper direction, and yet, these wheels 66 and 66 are respectively energized in the downward direction by a spring 116. Functionally, these wheels 66 respectively pick up soil in the inward direction to reclaim grooves furnished with planted vegital seedlings before smoothly reconditioning soil in the periphery of the planted vegital seedlings. The auxiliary seedling supply table 67 provisionally mounts those seedling containers drawn out of the reserved seedling mounting tables 30 on the way of replenishing vegital seedlings. The auxiliary seedling supply table 67 is disposed on a frame 118 erected on those planting-lever supporting cases 62 and 62. The auxiliary seedling supply table 67 is set to low position corresponding to the waist of the machine operator. Furthermore, the operator can easily gain access to this table 7. On the other hand, the frame 118 supporting the auxiliary seedling supply table 67 also serves as a hand-rail for the operator on the working step 25. As shown in Fig. 1, it is desired that the auxiliary seedling supply table 67 be provided so that the sight of the planting levers 111 at the halt position cannot be intercepted even when the operator stands on the working step 25. As shown in Fig. 14 through Fig. 17, a pair of obliquely disposed pitching sensors 120 and 120 and another pair of rolling sensors 121 and 121 disposed on the identical oblique line are respectively provided below the planting unit 5. As shown in these drawings, these pitching sensors 120 and 120 are respectively set to positions capable of detecting a pair of external seedbed lines. Those rolling sensors 121 and 121 are respectively disposed outside of those pitching sensors 120 and 120. These pitching and rolling sensors 120 and 121 form level-detecting sensors and are respectively secured to a sensor fixing rod 125 held on the drive-force transmission housing 60 by means of an expandable and contractible linking member 124 by applying corresponding sensor fixing members 126. These sensors 120 and 121 can respectively ascend and descend their height positions against the working truck 3 in correspondence with the projected and recessed conditions on the surface of the seedbed field. Since the rear end of a pipe extended from the pitching sensor 120 in the backward direction and a horizontally extended rod 114 are connected to each other by means of a connective linking member 129, these pitching Sensors 120 can respectively move themselves in conjunction with the sensor fixing rod 125. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 16, those rolling sensors 121 are respectively secured to the sensor fixing rod 125 so that they can freely rotate themselves in the vertical direction. The main body of the oil-pressurized valve 56 is secured to the expandable and contractible linking member 124 on the part of the drive-force transmission housing 60, and yet, a spool is connected to the expandable and contractible linking member 124 on the part of sensors. Functionally, the oil-pressirized valve 56 detects the vertical movement of those pitching sensors 120, and then, in response to the vertical movement of those pitching sensors 120, the oil-pressurized valve 56 properly controls the oil-pressurized cylinder 54. For example, when these pitching sensors 120 and 120 respectively ascend themselves in correspondence with the rise of the round surface of the seedbed filed, the oil-pressurized valve 56 is driven in the direction of permitting the oil-pressurized cylinder 54 to elongate itself. Conversely, when these pitching sensors 120 respectively descend themselves in correspondence with the fall of the ground surface of the seedbed field, the oil-pressurized valve 56 is driven in the direction of permitting the oil-pressurized cylinder 54 to contract itself. In this way, the oil-pressurized valve 56 properly controls pitching effect of the planting unit 5 by permitting it to properly ascend and descend its height position in correspondence with the ground surface condition of the seedbed field so that the planted depth of all the vegital seedlings can securely be maintained constant. In order to properly control rolling effect, in other words, in order to properly control the swinging of the planting unit 5 to the left and to the right, an electrically driven rolling cylinder 130 is horizontally installed between the connecting frame 52 of the parallel linking device 4 and the frame 69 which supports the seedling mounting table 64. Since the operating amount of the rolling cylinder 130 is by no means sufficient, and yet, since quickly responsive operation is required, it is desired that the rolling cylinder 130 be driven by means of electric power. There are two modes practically available for controlling rolling effect including operative mode and inoperative mode. These modes can automatically be switched from each other by operating a change-over switch SWc which is provided in the neighborhood of the upper link member 50 of the rear frame 22. Concretely, when the operative mode is entered, a lever of the change-over switch SWc is depressed by the upper link member 50 rotating in the downward direction to activate ground-surface followup control mode. On the other hand, when the inoperative mode is entered, the lever of the change-over switch SWc returns to the initial position to activate absolute horizontal control mode. The ground surface followup control mode is described below. Those rolling sensors 121 and 121 secured to the left and to the right of the sensor fixing rod 125 are respectively provided with a ground-pressure sensing switch SWL and a ground-pressure sensing switch SWR which are respectively activated as soon as pressure from the ground surface of the seedbed field exceeds a predetermined value. In response to the ground pressure detected by those ground-pressure sensing switches SWL and SWR, the rolling cylinder 130 either elongates or contracts itself. For example, as shown in Fig. 17, if the ground surface inclines in the upper-rightward direction, then, the ground-pressure sensing switch SWR turns itself ON to cause the rolling cylinder 130 to contract itself, and then, the planting unit 5 is also obliquely positioned so that the right end of the planting unit 5 can rise to the right. In this way, while the vegital seedling planting operation is underway, these ground-pressure sensing switches SWL and SWR properly control the posture of the planting unit 5 in order that it can constantly be positioned in parallel with the ground surface of seedbed filed. In consequence, depth of the planted seedlings can securely be held constant in all the seedbed field lines. Next, the absolute horizontal control mode is described below. A horizontal sensor 131 is provided on the drive-force transmission housing 60 in order to detect the levelness. A pair of those rolling cylinders 130 and 130 are properly controlled in reference to the levelness detected by the horizontal sensor 131 so that the moving planting unit 5 always be positioned at perfect levelness in the course of planting those vegital seedlings on the seedbed lines. Not only performing those functions proper to those pitching sensors 120 and rolling sensors 121, but all of these sensors 120 and 121 also properly condition soil before actually planting vegital seedlings on the seedbed lines. Soil pressed by these sensors 120 and 121 rises on both sides of these sensors 120 and 121. To prevent these sensors 120 and 121 from adversely being affected by swollen soil, it is desired that sufficient intervals be provided between the rear ends of these sensors 120 and 121 and the groove excavator 112. A rake 133 is installed to the tip end of the pitching arm 55. The rake 133 has width corresponding to the intervals between the external edges of those rolling sensors 121 and 121 provided on both sides of the sensor fixing rold 125. As shown in Fig. 8 with solid line, while the seedling planting operation is underway, the rake 133 remains in contact with the ground surface. However, as shown in Fig. 8 with chained line, while no planting operation is underway, the rake 133 retracts itself in the backward direction aloft from the ground surface. In this way, the rake 133 is installed in front of those pitching sensors 120 and rolling sensors 121 which concurrently function to condition the ground surface before the plant unit 5 actually starts to plant seedlings on the seedbed lines. This mechanism helps to properly condition the ground surface, prevents those sensors from malfunctioning themselves, and yet, securely promotes accuracy of controlling the pitching and rolling of the planting unit 5. Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 19, those pitching sensors 120 and 120 on both sides of the sensor fixing rod 125 may integrally be combined with each other so that all the seedbed lines can jointly be conditioned. Before actually starting the vegital seedling planting operation, the operator mounts vegital seedlings on respective seedling mounting sections 64a of the seedling mounting table 64. The operator also mounts those vegital seedlings stored in containers onto a plurality of shevles 31 provided for the reserved seedling mounting table 32. Next, in order to replenish vegital seedlings, the operator mounts himself on the working step 25, and then starts the tractive vehicle while transmitting drive force to the planting unit 5. The operator then moves the reserved seedling mounting table 30 in the forward direction in order to reserve space enough to facilitate himself when mounting on and dismounting himself from the working step 25. On the way of planting vegital seedings on the predetermined seedbed lines, if the remaining amount of seedlings runs short, the operator then replenishes vegital seedlings from those reserved seedling mounting tables 32 to those seedling mounting sections 64a as required. Since the working step 25 is set to low position, the operator can conveniently command the view of the seedling mounting table 64. Furthermore, since the auxiliary seedling supply table 67 is provided in front of the working step 25, the operator can easily replenish seedlings. The working-truck supporting wheels 23 and 23 respectively follow tracks trodden by the rear wheels 8 and 8 of the tractive vehicle 2, and as a result, the working truck 25 is free from incurring much vibration in the vertical direction. This in turn facilitates the operator on the working step 25 to easily replenish vegital seedlings, and yet, the pitching and rolling movement of the planting system can fully be suppressed relative to the movement of the working truck 25 which merely incurs minimum vibration in the vertical direction.	A vehicular machine for transplanting vegetal seedlings on multiple seedbed lines of a seedbed field, comprising a tractive vehicle (2) having front and rear wheels (7,8); a working truck (3) connected to said tractive vehicle (2) by means of a first linking unit (12), said working truck (3) comprising a pair of supporting wheels (23) for supporting said working truck (3) and a working step (25) which is disposed to permit an operator to mount on it; and a planting unit (5) provided with a seedling mounting table (64) and a plurality of planting levers (111) for planting vegetal seedlings onto said plurality of seedbed lines; said planting unit (5) being connected to said working truck (3) by means of a second linking unit (4) such that it is capable of ascending and descending relative to said working truck (3) during operation of said vehicular machine, characterized in that said planting unit (5) comprises a level-detecting sensor (121) for detecting the distance between said planting unit (5) and the ground surface of said seedbed field, in that said second linking unit (4) comprises a lifting means (54) for controlledly lifting and lowering said planting unit (5) on the basis of the output of said level-detecting sensor (120), and in that said supporting wheels (23) of said working truck (3) are arranged such that they run along the tracks of the wheels (7,8) of said tractive vehicle (2). A vehicular machine according to claim 1, wherein a drive force transmitted from said tractive vehicle (2) to the front of said working truck (3) is provisionally transmitted in the downward direction before eventually being transmitted to said planting unit (5) via a transmission route (44) provided below said working step (25). A vehicular machine according to claim 1, wherein a stepless gear-shifting device (42) is provided in a drive-force transmission route (33,36,42,43,44,58) for transmitting a drive force from said tractive vehicle (2) to said planting unit (5). A vehicular machine according to claim 3, further comprising a sensor (150) for detecting the rotational speed of a PTO shaft (10) of said tractive vehicle (2) and a controller (152) which properly controls operation of said stepless gear-shifting device (42) based on the rotational speed of said PTO shaft detected by said sensor (150). A vehicular machine according to one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a seedling-forwarding belt (77) which is provided for each seedbed line and which is engaged with a pair of seedling-forwarding rollers consisting of a drive roller (85) and a follower roller (86), wherein, synchronously with a horizontal movement of said seedling mounting table (64), said seedling-forwarding belt (77) is shifted when said drive roller (85) intermittently rotates in a predetermined direction, and wherein said vehicular machine further comprises a seedling-forwarding adjustment means (107,108) for shifting the position of said seedling-forwarding belt (77) when said follower roller (86) individually rotates in the predetermined direction. A vehicular machine according to one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said planting unit (5) is furnished with a drive-force transmission housing (60), wherein said seedling mounting table (64) of said planting unit (5) is positioned above said drive-force transmission housing (60) and wherein said plurality of planting levers (111) are secured to a planting-lever supporting frame (62) which extends in the upper-rear direction from said drive-force transmission housing (60).	ISEKI AGRICULT MACH; ISEKI & CO., LTD.	AOKI YOSHIKATSU; KINOSHITA EIICHIRO; KUBO TAMAKI; SUZUKI KAZUYUKI; TAKEMOTO MASAHIRO; WATANABE SHIN; YANO NORIHIRO; AOKI, YOSHIKATSU; KINOSHITA, EIICHIRO; KUBO, TAMAKI; SUZUKI, KAZUYUKI; TAKEMOTO, MASAHIRO; WATANABE, SHIN; YANO, NORIHIRO
EP-0489179-B1	489,179	EP	B1	EN	20,011,114	1,992	20,100,220	new	H01L21	null	H01L21	H01L 21/311C2B, H01L 21/3213C4B, H01L 21/02F4D2, H01L 21/00S2Z2L	METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT	In order to prevent after-corrosion of the wiring and electrodes which are formed by patterning a thin film (2) of aluminum or an alloy thereof through the use of a reactive ion etching (RIE) that uses an etchant including chlorine gas or a gaseous chloride, chlorine molecules remained on the surfaces of the wirings and the electrodes are removed by exposing the wiring and the electrodes directly to a plasma generated in atmosphere including steam or to a neutral active species extracted from the plasma. This processing is performed in the ashing for removing a resist mask (3) used in the RIE by adding steam to an atmosphere including oxygen, or is performed independently after the ashing. In order to performing the latter independent processing, in an automatic processing system disclosed, an ashing equipment (20) is connected with a RIE equipment (10) through an evacuatable load-lock chamber (13), and an aftertreatment equipment (40) for removing residual chlorine is connected with the ashing equipment (20) through a second load-lock chamber (13c).	The present invention relates to a lithography process for use during the production of semiconductor integrated circuits. More particularly, it relates to the removal of chlorine or bromine which remains on a surface of a conductive film when the conductive film made of aluminum or an alloy thereof is dry-etched by using chlorine or bromine, or a compound thereof as an etchant. For a wiring forming a semiconductor integrated circuit formed on a substrate, such as silicon wafer or the like, thin films of aluminum (Al) or thin films of an alloy in which silicon (Si) or copper (Co) is added into aluminum are often used. To prevent an increase in the contact resistance of an aluminum or aluminum alloy thin film wiring due to an alloy reaction with a silicon wafer, a so-called barrier metal of a thin film of titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), or titanium-tungsten (TiW) is provided between the silicon wafer and the aluminum thin film.Patterning of an aluminum or aluminum alloy film for such wiring as described above is performed generally by a lithography in which the conductive film is selectively etched by using a mask formed of a resist layer. Anisotropic etching is required to make it possible to form fine wiring patterns. At the present time, reactive ion etching (RIE) is a typical anisotropic etching method. For removing a resist mask, a so-called ashing, which can be performed without using a solvent, such as trichloroethylene which poses a problem relating to the environmental pollution, is used.The above-mentioned etching and ashing methods are both a dry process. So, they are suitable for process control or automatic processing and free from the contamination due to impurities in an etching solution or a solvent as in a wet process. An outline of these processes will now be explained with reference to Figs. 1 and 2.Figs. 1(a), 1(b), and 1(c) show a change in the cross section of a member to be processed in the above-described dry etching and ashing processes. Fig. 2 schematically shows an example of the construction of a processing system for automatically performing the etching and ashing operations.In the system in Fig. 2, a RIE apparatus 10 for etching aluminum films and an ashing apparatus 20 for removing resist masks after etching are connected to each other via a load lock chamber 13 which is capable of a vacuum. Aluminum films are transported by the load lock chamber 13 from the RIE apparatus 10 to the ashing apparatus 20 without contacting the atmosphere. Another load lock chamber 13A is disposed on the entry side of the RIE apparatus 10, and another load lock chamber 13B is disposed on the exit side of the ashing apparatus 20. Substrates on which aluminum films are formed can be inserted into or taken out of the RIE apparatus 10 and the ashing apparatus 20 without introducing air into the apparatuses 10 and 20 by the load lock chambers 13A and 13B.Referring to Fig. 1(a), for example, an aluminum film 2 is deposited on the whole of a surface of a substrate 1 composed of a silicon wafer, following which a resist is applied onto the aluminum film 2. By applying ultra-violet rays, electron beams, or an energy beam, such as excimer laser, or the like, to a predetermined position of this resist and then developing, a mask 3 composed of the aforesaid resist is formed. The surface of the substrate 1 on which the aluminum film 2 is formed is generally covered with an unillustrated insulation layer composed of SiO2, etc. The surface of the substrate 1 or a lower layer wiring is exposed inside a contact hole provided on a part of the insulation layer.The substrate 1 with the mask 3 formed thereon as described above is placed on a stage 11 inside the RIE apparatus 10 through the load lock chamber 13A in Fig. 2. Then, for example, chlorine gas (Cl2) is introduced into the RIE apparatus 10 and, while the inside of such apparatus is being maintained at a predetermined pressure, a plasma is generated by applying a voltage between the stage 11 and an electrode 12. As a result, the aluminum film 2 is anisotropically etched, as shown in Fig. 1(b).The substrate 1 having the aluminum film 2 etched as described above is transported to the ashing apparatus 20 through the load lock chamber 13 in Fig. 2. Then, for example, an oxygen gas (O2) is introduced into the ashing apparatus 20, and while the inside of such apparatus is being maintained at a predetermined pressure, a voltage is applied between a pair of electrodes 16 which are opposed to each other. As a result, a plasma is generated between the electrodes 16. The mask 3 composed of the aforesaid resist reacts mainly with oxygen atoms or molecules, or ions in this plasma and vaporizes, being exhausted outside the ashing apparatus 20. In this manner, the mask 3 on the aluminum film 2 is removed, as shown in Fig. 1(c).Shown in Fig. 2 is the ashing apparatus 20 which performs plasma ashing in which a member to be processed is directly exposed to the plasma. The above-described processes are performed in the same manner as for an automatic processing system equipped with a so-called down-flow type ashing apparatus which exposes the member to be processed to only neutral active species extracted from a plasma. As a means for generating the aforesaid plasma, an excitation by microwaves radiation or an excitation using a high-frequency induction coil is often used in place of the electrode 16.In a RIE for films of aluminum or an alloy thereof, gaseous chlorine compound, such as boron trichloride (BCl3) or silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4), bromine gas (Br2), or gaseous bromine compound, such as hydrogen bromide (HBr) or boron tribromine (BBr3), are also used as an etchant.If the substrate 1 upon which etching and ashing has been performed as described above is taken out into the atmosphere, a phenomenon is often recognized in that after-corrosion occurs in wiring composed of thin films of aluminum or an alloy of aluminum. The resistance of the wiring increases due to this after-corrosion, and in extreme cases disconnection occurs. Such after-corrosion proceeds while a semiconductor integrated circuit in a state in which the wiring is covered with a passivation insulation layer is used for a long period of time, thereby resulting in the poor reliability of products.The mechanism causing such after-corrosion as described above is not yet completely clarified. It is considered that after-corrosion is due to the fact that chlorine, bromine, or their compounds, which are components of the etchant used in etching, remains on the surface of an aluminum film. That is, the residual chlorine, for example, reacts with the water of the atmosphere, generating hydrochloric acid (HCl), etc., which causes an aluminum film to become corroded.The introduction of the automatic processing system shown in Fig. 2 enables an aluminum film to be sent to an ashing apparatus without contacting the atmosphere. And, most of the remaining chlorine or the like are removed by the ashing apparatus. Accordingly, after-corrosion described above is considerably reduced.In recent years, however, aluminum-copper (Al-Cu) alloys, in which electro-migration and stress migration do not often occur in comparison with pure aluminum films, have come to be used as a wiring material. As mentioned earlier, thin films of Ti, TiN, or TiW are used as barrier metals for blocking the alloy reaction between a silicon substrate or polycrystal silicon lower-layer wiring, and aluminum wiring.The use of Al-Cu alloy films or barrier metals promotes after-corrosion because an electric cell is formed on the grain boundaries of different types of metals or the interface of the barrier metal and aluminum films because of the presence of hydrochloric acid generated from the above-mentioned residual chlorine. Therefore, even if the automatic processing system shown in Fig. 2 is introduced, a problem is posed in that after-corrosion cannot be completely avoided.Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for preventing after-corrosion in wiring composed of the aforesaid thin films of aluminum or an alloy thereof, more particularly, to provide a method which is capable of more completely removing chlorine or the like which remains after the aforesaid ashing on all the exposed surfaces including the side of the wiring and on the surface of a substrate exposed in the periphery of the wiring, and to provide an apparatus for performing such a method.EP-A-0 305 946 discloses a method according to the preamble of accompanying claim 1. In this method, NF3 is turned into plasma by a plasma generating means, and then water vapour is added to the plasma.EP-A-0 345 757 discloses a similar method, in which there is no process of removing components of the gaseous etchant remaining attached to the metallic film; however, the process of ashing the mask may use a plasma generated in an atmosphere containing three kinds of reactant gases, such as oxygen, water vapour and nitrogen. By using such a mixture of gases, the ashing rate is increased.EP-A-0 416 774 discloses a post-etch treatment method for preventing corrosion of aluminium-containing wiring films. A three-step process is disclosed comprising Cl etching of an Al layer, ashing the resist with O2 and performing the post-etch treatment using alcohols, acetone, H2 and CH4.According to the present invention, there is provided a method for producing semiconductor integrated circuits, comprising the following processes: a first process of selectively etching a metallic film exposed through a mask of a resist which selectively covers said metallic film, by a first plasma of a gaseous etchant containing chlorine, bromine or a compound thereof; and a second process of ashing the mask by a second plasma generated in an atmosphere containing oxygen; characterised by: a third process, occurring either concurrently with, or following, said second process, of removing components of said gaseous etchant remaining attached to said metallic film by applying a third plasma, generated by a plasma generating means acting on an atmosphere containing water vapour, thereby forcing said gaseous etchant components to be released from said metallic film. An embodiment of the present invention improves the production yield of semiconductor integrated circuits having wiring composed of thin films of aluminum or an alloy thereof, and enhances the reliability of the semiconductor integrated circuits for use for a long period of time.The present invention is characterized by including any one of the following modes. That is, (1) As shown in Fig. 3(a), a film 2 of aluminum or an alloy thereof formed on a surface of a substrate 1 is covered with a mask 3 composed of a resist. The aluminum film 2 is exposed through the mask 3 and selectively etched by using chlorine, bromine, or a gaseous etchant containing a compound thereof. The mask 3, used in the aforesaid etching, is ashed and removed, when it is directly exposed to a plasma generated in an atmosphere containing oxygen and water vapor, or exposed to neutral active species extracted from the plasma. Residual chlorine, bromine, or a compound thereof on the surface of the film 2 which is exposed as a result of the removal of the mask 3 is dissociated from the surface by forming volatile compounds, such as HCl, and removed. Or,(2) While the mask 3 is ashed by neutral active species extracted from a plasma generated in the atmosphere containing oxygen gas, the film 2, which is revealed along the removal of the mask 3 is exposed to a plasma generated in an atmosphere containing water vapor, in order that residual chlorine or the like is removed as described in above (1). Or,(3) As shown in Fig. 3(b), after removing the mask 3 by an ashing process, the thin film 2 is exposed directly to a plasma generated in an atmosphere containing water vapor or to neutral active species extracted from the plasma in order that residual chlorine or the like on the surface thereof is removed as described in above (1). In Figs. 3(a) and 3(b), O2 and H2O are shown as representative of the aforesaid neutral active species, CO2 as representatives of the reaction products when the resist mask 3 is removed, and HCl as representative of the product when the aforesaid neutral active species and the residual chlorine react and are removed. Of course, the aforesaid neutral active species and the products are not limited to these examples.(4) An automatic processing system is constructed in order that the removal of residual chlorine or the like in the mode (3) above, can be performed by using an apparatus different from an ashing apparatus. That is, as shown in Fig. 4, a after-treatment apparatus 40 is connected, via a load lock chamber 13C, to the ashing apparatus 20, which is connected to the RIE apparatus 10 via the load lock chamber 13. For the after-treatment apparatus 40, either a down flow type or a plasma processing type where a member to be processed is directly exposed to the plasma, is used in the same manner as in the ashing apparatus 20.In Fig. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate having a thin film of aluminum or an alloy thereof selectively covered with a resist mask but not etched. Reference numeral 1' denotes a substrate on which the aforesaid thin film is etched. Reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate from which the aforesaid resist mask has been removed.The applicant of the present invention has proposed an ashing method whereby water is added into the aforesaid gas for the purpose of increasing the ashing speed in down-stream ashing in which gases having oxygen are used (Japanese Patent Laid-Open JP-A-1 048 421, Application date: August 19, 1987). In this method, however, conditions for etching (a process anterior to an ashing operation) are not specified. Moreover, in this application, there is not even a suggestion that the addition of water to the ashing atmosphere prevents after-corrosion of aluminum films which are patterned by using an etchant, such as chlorine gas or the like.The applicant of the present invention has also proposed a method of preventing after-corrosion by exposing aluminum films which are etched by using a chlorine-type reactive gas, to water vapor in a pressure-reduced atmosphere (Japanese Patent Laid-Open JP-A-3 041 728, Application date: July 7, 1989). In this method, however, the removal of residual components, such as chlorine or the like, which cause after-corrosion, depends on a thermal reaction, and a substrate to be processed is heated to approximately 120°C in order to promote this reaction.In the present invention in contrast with these applications, aluminum films patterned by using an etchant, such as chlorine gas or the like is exposed directly to a plasma generated in an atmosphere containing water vapor or to active species extracted from this plasma, such as H2O in an excited state or hydrogen (H) in an atomic state, or OH free radicals, or the like, in order for residual chlorine or the like to be removed. As a consequence, since a removal reaction is more actively promoted than in a method which exposes aluminum films simply to water vapor as in the above-described application, it is possible to remove chlorine or the like which is strongly attached and cannot be removed by a thermal reaction.Reference is made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which:- Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a process for patterning wiring of a semiconductor integrated circuit;Fig. 2 is a schematic view showing an example of the construction of an automatic processing apparatus for performing wiring patterning in a semiconductor integrated circuit;Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a principle of the present invention;Fig. 4 is a schematic view showing an example of the construction of an automatic processing apparatus of the present invention;Fig. 5(a) is a schematic view showing an example of the construction of an automatic processing apparatus used for effecting the present invention;Fig. 5(b) is a schematic view showing a detailed construction of an ashing apparatus 20 or an after-treatment apparatus 40 in Fig. 4 or Fig. 5(a);Fig. 6 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of wiring construction processed by a method of the present invention;Fig. 7 is a schematic view showing a detailed construction of an example of the substitute ashing apparatus 20 or the after-treatment apparatus 40 in Fig. 4 or Fig. 5(a);Fig. 8 is a schematic view showing a detailed construction of an example of the substitute ashing apparatus 20 in Fig. 4 or Fig. 5(a); andFig. 9 is a graph showing an effect of reducing the amount of residual chlorine according to the present invention.Various embodiments of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout the figures, the same parts as those in figures shown previously are given the same reference numerals.In the following description the pressure is expressed in Torrs. It is to be understood that 1 Torr equals 133.3 Pascals (Pa).(First Embodiment)A substrate 1 on which is formed a mask 3 composed of a resist, with which a film 2 composed of aluminum containing 2% copper (Al-2%Cu) is selectively covered, as shown in Fig. 1(a), is transported into a RIE apparatus 10 through a load lock chamber 13A in the automatic processing system shown in Fig. 2 and placed on a stage 11.After the inside of the RIE apparatus 10 is turned to a vacuum of, for example, 2 x 10-4 Torr, a gaseous mixture of chlorine gas (Cl2) and silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) is introduced thereto. The total pressure is maintained at 8 x 10-2 Torr, and a high-frequency voltage is applied between the stage 11 and the electrode 12. As a result, the aluminum film 2 (not shown) on the substrate 1 is anisotropically etched by ions and radicals in the plasma generated between the stage 11 and the electrode 12. The substrate 1 with the aluminum film 2 etched as described above is transported to the ashing apparatus 20 through the load lock chamber 13 which has been turned into a vacuum and placed on a stage 14. The ashing apparatus 20 in the figure is of a so-called plasma ashing type. Oxygen gas (O2) and water vapor (H2O) are introduced into the ashing apparatus 20 each at a flow rate of 1 to 2 SLM (standard litre per minute) and 100 to 300 SCCM (standard cubie centimetre per minute) and the total pressure is maintained at 1 Torr. Then, the substrate 1 is heated, for example, to 100 to 200°C, by a heater disposed on the stage 14. In this state, plasma is generated by supplying, for example, high frequency power of approximately 1.5 kW at a frequency of 2.54 GHz; and the aforesaid resist mask 3 is ashed. Even when the aluminum film 2 processed as in the above-described embodiment was left in the air for 48 hours, an occurrence of after-corrosion could not be detected. In comparison, an ashing operation was performed without adding water vapor to gas introduced to an ashing chamber 21B in the above-described embodiment, then it was detected that after-corrosion occurred when the aluminum film 2 was left in the air for one hour.Also, the same results as described above were obtained in cases where chlorine (Cl2) gas introduced into the RIE apparatus 10 in the above description was substituted by bromine (Br2) gas, and silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) was substituted by silicon tetrabromide (SiBr4). (Second Embodiment)Etching and ashing operations were performed on the aluminum film 2 and the resist mask 3 in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment. The aluminum film 2, composed of Al-2%Cu, is formed on the substrate 1 via a barrier metal 4 (made of a titanium (Ti) film 4A and a titanium nitride (TiN) film) as shown in Fig. 6. In that operation, no occurrence of after-corrosion could be detected even when the aluminum film 2 from which the mask 3 was removed was left in the air for 48 hours.(Third Embodiment)An aluminum film was etched and ashed by using an automatic processing system shown in Fig. 5(a). The RIE apparatus 10 in the figure is of a parallel flat-plate electrode type having the stage 11 on which a substrate to be processed is placed and an electrode 12 opposing the stage 11. The ashing apparatus 20 is of a so-called down flow type and has a detailed construction, for example, as shown in Fig. 5(b). In this example, a cylindrical chamber 21 made of aluminum is divided into a plasma generation chamber 21A and an ashing chamber 21B by a shower head 28 in which a large number of small openings having a diameter of approximately 2 to 3 mm are disposed. A microwave generation source 23 like a magnetron is connected to one end of the plasma generation chamber 21A via a microwave transmission window 27.Referring to Figs. 5(a) and 5(b), the substrate 1 made of a silicon wafer having a diameter of 10 cm (4 inches) in which a film made of Al-2%Cu is formed is transported into the RIE apparatus 10 through the load lock chamber 13A, placed on the stage 11, and heated to a predetermined temperature. A gaseous mixture of BCl3, SiCl4, and Cl2 was introduced, as an etchant, into the RIE apparatus 10, and the total pressure was maintained at 0.08 Torr. For this reason, the flow rate of BCl3, SiCl4, and Cl2 was respectively controlled at 80 SCCM, 400 SCCM, and 10 SCCM. In this state, a plasma is generated by supplying high-frequency power between the stage 11 and the electrode 12. The power supplied at this time is 350W. The aforesaid aluminum film is anisotropically etched for approximately 180 seconds under these conditions.Next, the substrate 1 is transported, via the load lock chamber 13, into the ashing apparatus 20, placed on the stage 14, and heated to 180°C by a heater 24 disposed on the stage 14. Oxygen (O2) and water vapor (H2O) are mixed at the rate of the flow rate of 1350 SCCM and 150 SCCM, respectively, and introduced into the plasma generation chamber 21A via a gas introduction pipe 25. The total pressure is maintained at 1.0 Torr. In this state, the microwave generation source 23 is activated to generate a plasma. The output of the microwave generation source 23 at this time is 1.0 kW, and the operating time is 120 seconds. The resist mask is ashed and residual chlorine (Cl) on the aluminum film is removed by neutral active species in the plasma generated in this manner.That is, a shower head 28 is composed of, for example, pure aluminum. Therefore, no plasma will occur inside the ashing chamber 21B, whereas only the neutral active species inside the plasma generation chamber 21A flow out into the ashing chamber 21B through small openings of the shower head 28. These neutral active species include atomic oxygen (O), hydrogen (H), excited molecules of O2, H2O, etc., and active species, such as OH free radicals. It is considered that each of these is involved with the ashing of a resist mask, but it is considered that the ashing is contributed mainly by atomic oxygen (O) and excited oxygen molecules (O2).On the other hand, the residual chlorine on the surface of the aluminum film etched as described above reacts mainly with atomic hydrogen (H) and OH free radicals in the aforesaid neutral active species to produce a volatile compound, for instance, hydrogen chloride (HCl). The residual chlorine is released from the substrate 1, and discharged to the outside through an exhaust pipe 26. Residual chlorine present on the SiO2 surface exposed in the periphery of the aluminum film 2 similarly produces HCl and is discharged.According to a downflow type apparatus, the degradation of characteristics of elements forming an integrated circuit is small because the substrate 1 to be processed is not subjected to ion bombardment, as in a plasma ashing type apparatus shown in Fig. 2. Also, chances that impurity ions of sodium (Na), heavy metals, etc. are injected are reduced.An occurrence of after-corrosion was not detected even when an aluminum film processed as in the above-described embodiment was left in the air for 48 hours.(Fourth Embodiment)An operation for etching an aluminum film composed of Al-2%Cu, an operation for ashing a resist mask, and an after-treatment for removing residual chlorine were performed by using the automatic processing system shown in Fig. 4 in which the after-treatment apparatus 40 for removing residual chlorine or bromine on the surface of an aluminum film is disposed independently of the ashing apparatus 20 for removing a resist mask. Since the after-treatment apparatus 40 is of a down-flow type apparatus shown in Fig. 5(b) similarly to the ashing apparatus 20, the same reference numerals are used to explain the details thereof.The substrate 1, on which are formed the aluminum film 2 composed of Al-2%Cu shown in Fig. 1(a) and the mask 3 formed of a resist with which the aluminum film 2 is covered, is etched by the RIE apparatus 10 in the automatic processing system shown in Fig. 4. The etching conditions are the same as those for the above-described embodiments.Next, the substrate 1 is transported into the ashing apparatus 20 through the load lock chamber 13, placed on the stage 14, and heated to 180°C by the heater 24 disposed on the stage 14. Oxygen (O2) is introduced into the plasma generation chamber 21A via the gas introduction pipe 25 at a flow rate of 1350 SCCM, and the total pressure is maintained at 1.0 Torr. In this state, the microwave generation source 23 is activated to generate a plasma. The output of the microwave generation source 23 at this time is 1.0 kW, and the operating time is 120 seconds. The resist mask is ashed by neutral active species in the plasma generated in this manner.Next, the substrate 1 is transported, via the load lock chamber 13C, into the after-treatment chamber 40, placed on the stage 16, and heated to 180°C by a heater disposed on the stage 16. Water vapor (H2O) is introduced into the plasma generation chamber 21A via the gas introduction pipe 25 at a flow rate of 150 SCCM, and the total pressure is maintained at 1.0 Torr. In this state, the microwave generation source 23 is activated to generate a plasma. The output of the microwave generation source 23 at this time is 1.0 kW. The residual chlorine (Cl) on the aluminum film is exhausted, as HCl, to the outside of the after-treatment apparatus 40 by neutral active species in the plasma generated in this manner.No occurrence of after-corrosion was detected even when each of the three kinds of aluminum films on the substrate 1 was left in the air for 48 hours, upon which aluminum films after-treatment was performed for different times (30, 90, and 180 seconds) under the above-described conditions.(Fifth Embodiment)In comparison, samples of 1 ○to shown in Table 1 were produced. The amount of residual chlorine were measured, and the occurrence of after-corrosion when these samples were left in the air for 48 hours was observed. These samples are formed of Al-2%Cu thin films formed on a silicon wafer having a diameter of 10cm (4 inches). Conditions for treating each sample in Table 1 are as follows. That is, 1 ○: A state in which a resist mask is left on the aluminum film, with reactive ion etching being performed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiments 1 through 4.2 ○ : Downflow ashing by using a plasma generated in oxygen (O2) is performed upon a resist mask on an aluminum film on which reactive ion etching is performed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiments 1 through 4 (Flow rate of O2: 1500 SCCM, pressure: 1 Torr, microwaves power: 1.0 kW, substrate temperature: 180°C, and ashing time: 180 seconds).3 ○: Downflow ashing is performed upon a resist mask on an aluminum film on which reactive ion etching is performed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiments 1 through 4 by a plasma generated in mixed gas of oxygen (O2) and carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) (Flow rate of O2: 1500 SCCM, flow rate of CF4: 150 SCCM pressure: 1 Torr, microwaves power: 1.0 kW, substrate temperature: 180°C, and ashing time: 120 seconds).4 ○: Corresponds to the above-described third embodiment.5 ○ to 7 ○ : After downflow ashing is performed upon samples by a plasma generated in the oxygen (O2) in the same manner as in the above , the samples were exposed to water vapor (H2O) (Flow rate of H2O: 1500 SCCM, pressure: 1 Torr, substrate temperature: 180°C, and ashing times: 30, 90, and 180 seconds).8 ○ to : Corresponds to the above-described fourth embodiment. to : After downflow ashing is performed upon samples by a plasma generated in the oxygen (O2) in the same manner as for the sample of 2 ○ above, they were aftertreated by the down flow of plasma generated in hydrogen (H2) (Flow rate of H2: 1500 SCCM, pressure: 1 Torr, microwaves power: 1.5 kW, substrate temperature: 180°C, and ashing times: 30, 90, and 180 seconds).Fig. 9 is a graph schematically showing the relationships between the amount of residual chlorine and the conditions for treatment shown in Table 1. Graphic symbols indicating each sample in Fig. 9 are given in Table 1 in order for facilitating cross-reference. As can be seen from Table 1 and Fig. 9, the amount of residual chlorine is considerably low in the third embodiment (4 ○ in Table 1 and ⋄ in Fig. 9) and in the fourth embodiment (8 ○ and in Table 1 and Δ in Fig. 9) of the present invention, in the former, an ashing operation being performed by using a plasma generated in a gaseous mixture in which water vapor (H2O) was added into oxygen (O2) and,in the latter, after-treatment being performed by using a plasma of water vapor (H2O) after an ashing operation. Also, after-corrosion does not practically occur in these embodiments. In contrast, an effect for reducing the amount of residual chlorine is small in an ashing operation using the other gases or after-treatment posterior to the ashing operation, and thus after-corrosion cannot be completely prevented.In the third embodiment, the automatic processing system of Fig. 5(a) for performing an ashing operation and removing residual chlorine concurrently was used. In the fourth embodiment, the automatic processing system which is capable of performing after-treatment for removing residual chlorine separately from the ashing operation was used. Advantages and disadvantages of these automatic processing system will now be compared.The automatic processing system of Fig. 5(a) can perform an ashing operation and remove residual chlorine simultaneously, so it is efficient. When an ashing operation and the removal of residual chlorine are performed separately, these processes can be performed by using the same apparatus. Therefore, the present invention has an advantage in that the processing system is simple in construction. However, as will be described later, when water vapor must be removed from the ashing apparatus, it takes a long period of time for baking of the chamber 21 and vacuum exhaust.In contrast, the automatic processing system of Fig. 4 can avoid the influences of water vapor on an ashing operation. Particularly, in an ashing operation using gas in which carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) is added into oxygen (O2), if there is water vapor (H2O) in this gas atmosphere, CF4 is consumed by the reaction of CF4 + 2H2O → 4HF + CO2, with the result that the ashing speed becomes lower. In such a case, therefore, the automatic processing system of Fig. 4 is effective.The ashing apparatus 20 in Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 4 and the after-treatment apparatus 40 in Fig. 4 can be substituted by one constructed as shown in Fig. 7 or 8.Shown in Fig. 7 is a so-called plasma ashing type apparatus by which the substrate 1 to be processed is directly exposed to a plasma generated between electrodes 32. In Fig. 7, reference numeral 31 denotes a chamber, and reference numeral 33 denotes a high-frequency power supply.Fig. 8 shows an apparatus which is basically the same as the so-called downflow type shown in Fig. 5(b). It is characterized in that oxygen (O2) and water vapor (H2O) can be introduced separately to the ashing apparatus 20, as in the third embodiment. That is, only oxygen (O2) is introduced into the plasma generation chamber 21A, and water vapor (H2O) is introduced into the ashing chamber 21B. Another microwave generation source 36 is disposed in the midsection of the gas introduction pipe 35 for that purpose.Neutral active species generated in the plasma generation chamber 21A flow into the ashing chamber 21B after passing through the small openings of the shower head 28. Meanwhile, plasma of water vapor (H2O) is generated by the microwave generation source 36. Ions therein recombines with electrons while passing through the gas introduction pipe 35. Therefore, excited H2O molecules, neutral atomic hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O), or OH free radicals are introduced into the ashing chamber 21B.	A method for producing semiconductor integrated circuits, comprising the following processes: a first process of selectively etching a metallic film exposed through a mask of a resist which selectively covers said metallic film, by a first plasma of a gaseous etchant containing chlorine, bromine or a compound thereof; anda second process of ashing the mask by a second plasma generated in an atmosphere containing oxygen; characterised by:a third process, occurring either concurrently with, or following, said second process, of removing components of said gaseous etchant remaining attached to said metallic film characterised in that said third process is performed by applying a third plasma, generated by a plasma generating means acting on an atmosphere containing water vapour, thereby forcing said gaseous etchant components to be released from said metallic film.The method according to claim 1, wherein said second and third processes occur concurrently, and said second and third plasmas are generated in one and the same atmosphere.The method according to claim 1, wherein said second and third processes occur concurrently, and said second and third plasmas are not generated in one and the same atmosphere.The method according to claim 1, wherein said second and third processes occur sequentially, and said second and third plasma are not generated in one and the same atmosphere.The method according to claim 4, wherein said second and third processes are performed by using the same apparatus.The method according to claim 4, wherein said second and third processes are performed by using a different apparatus for each process.The method according to claim 6, wherein the apparatus used in said third process is of a downflow type.The method according to any preceding claim, wherein, in said second process, said mask and said metallic film exposed as a result of the removal of said mask are exposed to neutral active species extracted from said second plasma.The method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein, in said second process, said mask and said metallic film exposed as a result of the removal of said mask are exposed to said second plasma.The method according to any preceding claim, wherein said metallic film is exposed to neutral active species extracted from the third plasma in the third process.The method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein said metallic film is exposed to said third plasma in the third process.The method according to any preceding claim, wherein said metallic film is composed of aluminium or an alloy thereof.The method according to claim 12, wherein a barrier layer for blocking a reaction between said metallic film and a substrate thereunder is provided between the metallic film and the substrate.The method according to claim 13, wherein said substrate is maintained at a temperature of between 100° and 250°C in said second process.	FUJITSU LTD; FUJITSU LIMITED	FUJIMURA SHUZO; HARADA FUKASHI; ISHIDA TOSHIYUKI; ITO TAKAHIRO; KONDO TETSUO; KONNO JUN-ICHI; SHINAGAWA KEISUKE; FUJIMURA, SHUZO; HARADA, FUKASHI; ISHIDA, TOSHIYUKI; ITO, TAKAHIRO; KONDO, TETSUO; KONNO, JUN-ICHI; SHINAGAWA, KEISUKE
EP-0489181-B1	489,181	EP	B1	EN	19,961,002	1,992	20,100,220	new	A61K31	A61K47, A61K9	A61K47, A61K9, A61K31	A61K 31/505, A61K 9/14H6	SOLID PREPARATION	A solid preparation prepared from a powder obtained by dissolving 3-[3-(6-benzoyloxy-3-cyano-2-pyridyloxycarbonyl)benzoyl]-1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil (BOF-A2) and a water-soluble high-molecular compound completely in an organic solvent and removing the solvent to leave an amorphous substance behind. The preparation serves to promote the absorption of BOF-A2 through the digestive tract by increasing its solubility.	FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to a solid preparation. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONIt is known that 3-[3-(6-Benzoyloxy-3-cyano-2-pyridyloxycarbonyl)benzoyl]-1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil (hereinafter referred to as BOF-A2 ) is converted, after administered in vivo, into 1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil (hereinafter referred to as EM-FU ) and 3-cyano-2,6-dihydropyridine (hereinafter referred to as CNDP ) by chemical hydrolysis and enzymolysis, EM-FU being gradually converted into 5-fluorouracil, CNDP working as a metabolic inhibitor and showing continuous and strong anti-cancer activity. Because of the slight solubility of BOF-A2 in water, however, BOF-A2 has a drawback in that the solubility of BOF-A2 from prepared preparation is very poor in conventional preparation techniques, for example the technique to prepare granule or tablet adding excipients and the like, therefore rapid absorption of BOF-A2 from alimentary canal can not be expected. In general, as means to enhance elution of active ingredient with slight solubility, exemplified are (1) converting an active ingredient into a soluble derivative and using the derivative, (2) adding a solubilizer, such as surface active agents and the like in preparing preparation. However, these means do not produce a satisfactory result in case of BOF-A2. Detailedly, in case of BOF-A2, BOF-A2 has a relatively high molecular weight and is easily hydrolyzed so that it is extremely difficult to improve solubility of BOF-A2 by introducing hydrophilic groups. Further, in the preparation added surface active agents, such as polysorbate 80, sodium lauryl sulfate, stearic acid polyoxyl 40 and the like generally used as a solubilizer, the elution improvement effect of the solubilizer is small and not satisfied practically. GB-A-2 192 880 discloses a test suspension which is prepared by uniformly mixing BOF-A2 with polyvinyl pyrrolidone by co-precipitation and suspending the mixture in 5% gum arabic. EP-A-0 315 964 describes pharmaceutical compositions comprising exifone and a water-soluble polymer which improves the low absorbability of exifone upon oral administration. EP-A-0 240 773 relates to solid dispersion compositions comprising FR-900506 substance and a water-soluble polymer which overcomes the disadvantage of the poor bioavailability of FR-900506. The inventors conducted research to improve solubility of BOF-A2 considering the present conditions and accomplished the present invention at last. Thus, the present invention relates to a solid preparation characterized in that dissolving BOF-A2 and from 0.05 to 3 parts by weight of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose per part of BOF-A2 in an organic solvent and preparing preparation of amorphous powder obtained by removing the organic solvent. As a hydroxypropylmethylcellulose used in the invention, contained is the hydroxypropylmethylcellulose having 19 to 30 % of methoxy group and 4 to 12 % of hydroxypropyl group, 3 to 30000 cps (2% water solution, 20°C) preferably 3 to 4000 cps in viscosity. In the invention, as an organic solvent, all of known solvent can be used as long as being capable of dissolving hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, detailedly lower alcohols, such as methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, ketones, such as acetone, methylethylketone, halogenated hydrocarbon(s), such as dichloromethane, dichloroethane, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride or a mixture thereof can be exemplified. Further, purified water can be added into these solvents, if necessary. In the organic solvents, lower alcohols and halogenated hydrocarbon(s) are preferable in view of solubility and subsequent removal, a mixed solvent of dichloromethane with methanol, ethanol or isopropanol are particularly preferable. When producing the solid preparation of the invention, first of all, BOF-A2 and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose are completely dissolved in the above organic solvent. Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose is used in an amount of 0.05 to 3 parts by weight per part of BOF-A2, preferably 0.05 to 1 part by weight. When the mixing proportion of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose to BOF-A2 is too low, the mixture is not likely to become amorphous, when the mixing proportion is too high, the stability of BOF-A2 become worse. In the present invention, amorphous powder is then obtained by removing the organic solvent. As means to remove the organic solvent, known processes can be widely used without being limited, for example a method using evaporator, a method of freeze-drying and a method of spray-drying are exemplified. In the methods, a method-of spray-drying is especially preferable. The amorphous powder thus obtained is used to prepare various solid preparation by using a usual method of preparing solid preparation. Detailedly, solid preparation for oral administration, such as powder, fine granule, granule, capsule and tablet can be prepared by a usual method to prepare preparation after adding further excipient, disintegrator, binder and lubricant to the amorphous powder. EXAMPLESThe examples and comparative examples are further illustrative of the present invention. EXAMPLE 1A powder was prepared by dissolving 4 g of BOF-A2 and 0.4 g of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a mixed solvent of 19 g of methanol and 75 g of dichloromethane, followed by spray-drying the solution. Powder medicine was obtained by adding 7.8 g of lactose to 2.2 g of the spray-dried powder obtained and admixing the mixture. EXAMPLE 2A powder was prepared by dissolving 4 g of BOF-A2 and 4 g of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a mixed solvent of 19 g of methanol and 75 g of dichloromethane, followed by spray-drying the solution. Powder medicine was obtained by adding 6 g of lactose to 4 g of the spray-dried powder obtained and admixing the mixture. EXAMPLE 3A powder was prepared by dissolving 2 g of BOF-A2 and 4 g of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a mixed solvent of 19 g of methanol and 75 g of dichloromethane, followed by spray-drying the solution. Powder medicine was obtained by adding 2 g of lactose to 3 g of the spray-dried powder obtained and admixing the mixture. EXAMPLE 4A powder was prepared by dissolving 2 g of BOF-A2 and 6 g of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a mixed solvent of 19 g of ethanol and 75 g of dichloromethane, followed by spray-drying the solution. Powder medicine was obtained by adding 2 g of lactose to 3 g of the spray-dried powder obtained and admixing the mixture. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1A fine powder having about 5 µm in diameter of average particle was prepared by grinding 20 g of original BOF-A2 with an air-flow pulverizer. Powder medicine was obtained by adding 2 g of lactose to 3 g of the fine powder obtained and admixing the mixture. EXAMPLE 5A powder was prepared by dissolving 300 g of BOF-A2 and 15 g of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a mixed solvent of 270 g of ethanol and 2415 g of dichloromethane, followed by spray-drying the solution. spray-dried powder105 g lactose59 g crystalline cellulose27 g light anhydrous silicic acid2 g hydroxypropylmethylcellulose7 g total200 g 50 % of fine granule was obtained by mixing spray-dried powder, lactose and crystalline cellulose and conducting flow granulation using 4 % of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose water solution as a binder solution, followed by adding light anhydrous silicic acid and mixing the mixture. EXAMPLE 6 spray-dried powder obtained in example 3105 g lactose22 g cornstarch15 g light anhydrous silicic acid1 g hydroxypropylmethylcellulose7 g total150 g 100 mg of capsule of BOF-A2 was obtained by mixing spray-dried powder, cornstarch and light anhydrous silicic acid, adding lactose into the mixture and conducting flow granulation using 4 % of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose water solution as a binder solution, followed by adding light anhydrous silicic acid and mixing the mixture to give powder for capsule, and filling up the powder in a gelatine capsule. EXAMPLE 7A powder was prepared by dissolving 200 g of BOF-A2 and 20 g of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a mixed solvent of 180 g of ethanol and 1610 g of dichloromethane, followed by spray-drying the solution. spray-dried powder110 g lactose22.5 g crystalline cellulose10 g Croscarmellose Sodium5.3 g light anhydrous silicic acid1.5 g magnesium stearate0.7 g total200 g 100 mg of tablet of BOF-A2 was obtained by mixing spray-dried powder, lactose, crystalline cellulose and light anhydrous silicic acid and further adding magnesium stearate, followed by directly compressing the mixture. EXAMPLE 8A powder was prepared by dissolving 200 g of BOF-A2 and 20 g of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose in a mixed solvent of 180 g of ethanol and 1610 g of dichloromethane, followed by spray-drying the solution. spray-dried powder110 g hydroxypropylmethylcellulose8 g light anhydrous silicic acid3 g magnesium stearate1 g total122 g A capsule was obtained by mixing this powder and light anhydrous silicic acid and conducting flow granulation using 4 % of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose water solution as a binder solution, followed by adding magnesium stearate, admixing the mixture and filling up 122 mg of the resulting powder in one capsule. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2micronized original powder100 g (BOF-A2 average particle diameter: about 5 µm) lactose64 g crystalline cellulose28 g hydroxypropylmethylcellulose8 g total200 g 50 % of fine granule was obtained by mixing micronized original powder, lactose and crystalline cellulose, followed by conducting flow granulation using 4 % of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose water solution as a binder solution. TEST EXAMPLE 1 (solubility test)An amount corresponding to 100 mg of BOF-A2 of each sample obtained in examples 1 to 3 and comparative example 1 was weighed precisely respectively, each sample being put into a dissolution test solution, the dissolution rates of BOF-A2 after 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 50 minutes and 60 minutes was determined with automatic dissolution test apparatus (product of JASCO DT-610). As the dissolution test solution, used was 500 ml of the solution prepared by adding 0.5 % of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose and 1.5 % of polyoxyethylenecetylether in purified water. The determination of dissolution rate of the BOF-A2 was conducted by using a standard solution prepared by dissolving 2100 mg of BOF-A2 in 500 ml of acetonitrile and determining the difference of absorbance between standard solution and sample solutions at 266 nm and 360 nm in wave length. The results were shown in table 1. Powder Time (min) 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 60 Example 137.949.655.859.964.767.168.970.3 Example 239.352.258.362.768.271.574.676.8 Example 345.156.463.468.575.980.684.186.8 Comparative Example 10.20.20.30.30.40.40.40.5 TEST EXAMPLE 2 (absorption test using beagle)Using 3 or 4 heads of beagle weighing about 10 kg, each preparation prepared in examples 5 to 7 and comparative example 2 was orally administered in an amount corresponding to 100 mg of BOF-A2 per one head of beagle respectively, EM-FU concentration in plasma (µg/ml) at 1 to 24 hours after administration being determined, maximum concentration in plasma [Cmax (µg/ml)] and concentration in plasma and area under the curve [AUC (µg·hr/ml)] being determined. Non-changed compound, i.e., BOF-A2 was not detected in plasma so that the concentration of metabolite, i.e., EM-FU was used as an index of absorption in all cases. The results were shown in table 2. Sample Maximum concentration in plasma [Cmax(µg/ml)] Concentration in plasma and area under the curve [AUC(µg·hr/ml)] Example 54.0141 Example 63.9152 Example 73.2130 Comparative Example 20.050.9	A solid preparation of 3-[3-(6-benzoyloxy-3-cyano-2-pyridyloxycarbonyl)benzoyl]-1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil which is obtainable by dissolving 3-[3-(6-benzoyloxy-3-cyano-2-pyridyloxycarbonyl)benzoyl]-1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil and from 0.05 to 3 parts by weight of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose per part of the 3-[3-(6-benzoyloxy-3-cyano-2-pyridyloxycarbonyl)benzoyl]-1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil in an organic solvent, and then removing the organic solvent to form an amorphous powder. The solid preparation as defined in claim 1, which contains from 0.05 to 1 part by weight of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose per part of 3-[3-(6-benzoyloxy-3-cyano-2-pyridyloxycarbonyl)benzoyl]-1-ethoxymethyl-5-fluorouracil. The solid preparation as defined in claim 1, wherein said organic solvent is a mixed solvent of methylene chloride and methanol, ethanol or isopropanol. The solid preparation as defined in claim 3, wherein said organic solvent is a mixed solvent of methylene chloride and methanol or ethanol. The solid preparation as defined in claim 1, wherein the organic solvent is removed by spray-drying.	OTSUKA PHARMA CO LTD; OTSUKA PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD.	ISHIDA KOZO; ISHIZUE YOSHIHIRO; KUBO MASANORI; NISHIBAYASHI TORU; ISHIDA, KOZO; ISHIZUE, YOSHIHIRO; KUBO, MASANORI; NISHIBAYASHI, TORU; KUBO, MASANORI, 1-26, NAKANOKOSHI
EP-0489190-B1	489,190	EP	B1	EN	19,950,222	1,992	20,100,220	new	F26B13	F26B21	F26B13, F26B21	F26B 13/00D, F26B 13/08, F26B 21/02	Device to dry textile materials	Device (10) to dry textile materials such as yarns (14), woven fabrics, etc. which cooperates advantageously with apparatuses that treat such materials continuously such as mercerising machines, stenters, etc. and with means that take up the textile materials thus treated, the device (10) consisting of: a heater body (11) employing a forced (22) circulation (21) of air, assemblies of upper (12) and lower (13) rolls which pass the textile materials through the heater body (11), means (27-28) that deliver air from the exterior (25) towards the inside (29) of the heater body (11), and means (24) that heat the air thus delivered, and means (32-33) that remove the air from the inside of the heater body (11) towards the exterior (31), the quantity of air delivered (29) into the heater body (11) being coordinated with the quantity of air discharged (31) from the heater body (11).	This invention concerns a device to dry textile materials; to be more exact, the invention concerns a drier device suitable to cooperate with apparatuses that treat textile materials continuously such as mercerising machines, stenters and other like apparatuses comprising the features of the preamble of claim 1. Such a device is known, for example, from DE-A-1 635 277. By textile materials are meant yarns or pluralities of yarns, woven fabrics, fitted textile carpets or other like materials. The state of the art covers a plurality of drier devices used in the textile field and elsewhere on materials which are unwound continuously; these known devices employ a variety of drier means in cooperation with an enormous range of heater means. DE-A-1.635.277 includes a device to dry textile materials such as yarns, woven fabrics, etc. which cooperates advantageously with apparatuses that treat such materials continuously such as mercerising machines, stenters, etc. and with means that take up the textile materials thus treated, the device comprising a heater body, containing an assembly of upper rolls and an assembly of coordinated lower rolls which pass the textile materials through the heater body, and a forced circulation of hot air is maintained within the heater body. Said device also effects a system to dry bundles of parallel yarns which comprises a plurality of emitter nozzles cooperating with upper and lower rolls; intake openings are included at an intermediate position at the sides of the bundles of yarns; this patent also includes upper and lower fans for the recirculation of air; this fact entails high costs of construction, running and maintenance besides placing the machine operator in precarious conditions. Moreover the yarns are lapped by streams of non-homogeneous air, and this situation creates conditions of stress in the yarns themselves. WO 83/02312 includes an air changing system with two valves and a system for heating air entering immediately upstream of the intake valve; this solution not only does not keep the chamber under overpressure but immits streams of replacement air which are not homogeneous nor controlled. So far as the present applicant is aware, however, embodiments such as those disclosed in this invention are not known in the state of the art. The present applicant has the purpose of providing an efficient, simple drier device able to meet the most stringent requirements of the market. The invention is set forth in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe various features of the invention. The drier device according to the invention consists of a drier body within which the textile material, for instance a bundle of parallel yarns, to which we shall refer in the description that follows, is made to run continuously. But it should be clearly understood that other materials such as woven fabrics, fitted textile carpets and analogous materials can also be processed. The material leaving the drier body is thereafter taken up on means suitable for the purpose. The bundle of yarns upstream of the drier body is passed through a water removal assembly and is thereafter lapped within the drier body by a draught of hot air produced by forced circulation. The air is heated advantageously, but not only, by a submerged combustion means. The system of working and the embodiment of the drier device according to the invention are such as to obtain the continuous drawing of a quantity of air from outside the device, this quantity balancing a substantially equivalent discharge of air from within the device towards the outside. Means are included to check the relative humidity of the bundle of yarns leaving the device and can control and condition the state of entry and exit of air into and from the drier device. Means are also comprised to check the temperature of the air within the device and can condition the parameters of the heating of the air. These features of the invention will be made clearer in the description that follows. The attached figures, which are given as a non-restrictive example, show the following:- Fig.1gives a diagram of a drier device according to the invention; Fig.2is a three-dimensional drawing of a detail of the device of Fig.1. In Fig.1 a drier device 10 of the invention consists of a heater body 11 which contains an assembly 12 of upper rolls and an assembly 13 of coordinated lower rolls. A bundle of yarns 14 is passed alternately between the upper rolls 12 and lower rolls 13 within the body 11. The bundle of yarns 14 reaches the drier device 10 in the direction of the arrow 15 after undergoing a wet treatment, for instance continuous mercerising of the type disclosed in application IT-A-83488 A/89 in the name of the present applicant. The bundle of yarns 14, before entering the heater body 11 of the drier device 10, passes advantageously through a water removal assembly 16, which consists of a Venturi tube 17 (see Fig.2) cooperating with a first aspirator fan 18 equipped with its own motor 19. The combined action of the Venturi tube 17 and aspirator fan 18 causes removal of humidity according to the arrow 20 from the bundle of yarns 14, which upon entry into the heater body 11 may possess advantageously a degree of relative humidity of about 70%. During its series of passes between the upper 12 and lower 13 rolls the bundle of yarns 14 is lapped by a draught of hot air circulating according to the arrow 21 within the heater body 11. This air is circulated by a second fan 22 driven by its own motor 23. The bundle of yarns 14 leaving the heater body 11 possesses a relative humidity of about 7 to 8%. The yarns 14 thus dried can be taken up thereafter on a suitable take-up means such as a beam or, if they are divided into groups, on a plurality of beams. The heating of the air circulating within the heater body 11 at a temperature within a range of about 90° to 120°C is achieved by means of a so-called submerged combustion system, which provides for the heater means, in this case a burner 24, to be immersed directly in the air to be heated. The air to be heated is drawn from the exterior according to the arrow 25, is filtered 26 and then is passed through a pipe 27 by a third fan 28, which is connected advantageously to its own motor 23. The air which is delivered along the pipe 27 according to the arrow 29 into the heater body 11 may be pre-heated by a suitable means 30 located in the pipe 27 downstream of the filter 26. The air heated in the pipe 27 is introduced into the heater body 11 in a quantity proportional to a coordinated quantity of air discharged through a stack 32 according to the arrow 31. To this end a valve 33 is positioned in the stack 32 so as to regulate the flow of air discharged and is operated by a hygrometer 34 that measures the percentage of relative humidity found in the bundle of yarns 14 leaving the drier device 10. In this way are obtained an efficient control and sustainment of ideal working conditions of the system of hot air and bundle of yarns 14. A thermometer 35 to measure the temperature of the hot air circulating within the heater body 11 according to the arrow 21 is also included. This thermometer 35 cooperates suitably with the feed of air 36 and gas 37 to the burner 24. We have described here a preferred embodiment of the invention but many variants are available to a person skilled in this field without departing thereby from the scope of the invention as claimed. For instance, it can be pointed out that the system to heat the air by submerged combustion can be replaced by other known combustion systems suitable for the purpose.	Device to dry textile materials such as yarns, woven fabrics, etc. which cooperates advantageously with apparatuses that treat such materials continuously such as mercerising machines, stenters, etc. and with means that take up the textile materials thus treated, the device comprising: a heater body (11), containing an assembly of upper rolls (12) and an assembly of coordinated lower rolls (13) which pass the textile materials (14) through the heater body (11); a forced (22) circulation (21) of hot air is maintained within the heater body (11); characterized in that: the forced air (21) within the heater body (11) is circulated by a single fan (22); means (27) deliver air from the exterior (25) towards the inside (29) of the heater body (11); means (24) for heating the air thus delivered; means (32-33) which remove the air from the inside (29) of the heater body (11) towards the exterior (31); the delivery means (27) include fan means (28) to maintain an overpressure, so that the quantity of such air (29) delivered into the heater body (11) being coordinated with the quantity of air discharged (31) from the heater body (11); a water removal assembly (16) is included at the yarn intake side of the heater body (11); and the intake side and the outlet side of the heater body (11) are associated with means that deviate the circulating of air. Device (10) as in Claim 1, in which the water removal assembly (16) consists of a Venturi tube (17) through the length of which there passes the bundle of parallel yarns, the Venturi tube (17) being connected to aspiration means (18) equipped with their own motor (19). Device (10) as in Claim 1 or 2, in which the water removal assembly (16) comprises at its inlet an assembly to drain water from the yarns. Device (10) as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the means (24) to heat the air are of a submerged combustion type. Device (10) as in any claim hereinbefore, in which means (30) to pre-heat the air are included upstream of the means (24) that heat the air. Device (10) as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the feed (36-37) of air to the air heating means (24) is governed by a thermometer (35) that measures the temperature of the air circulating within the heater body (11). Device (10) as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the means (32-33) that remove the air from the heater body (11) are governed by a hygrometer means (34) that measures the relative humidity of the textile material leaving the heater body (11).	GESMA SPA; GESMA - GESTIONE SVILUPPO MEDIE AZIENDE SPA	CACCIA DOMINIONI AMBROGIO; CASASOLA LUCIANO; GERIN UMBERTO; LANCEROTTO FABIO; CACCIA DOMINIONI, AMBROGIO; CASASOLA, LUCIANO; GERIN, UMBERTO; LANCEROTTO, FABIO
EP-0489191-B1	489,191	EP	B1	EN	19,960,626	1,992	20,100,220	new	D06B7	null	D06B7	D06B 7/04	Method for continuous mercerising, and apparatus that employs such method	Method and apparatus for continuous mercerising which are suitable to carry out mercerising treatment of a plurality of yarns being unwound continuously and parallel to one another from one (12) or more (112-212) feeder beams, the plurality of yarns (11) undergoing in succession the following operational steps: a pre-wash by immersion in at least one vessel (14), but preferably in three vessels (14), containing a bath consisting of hot water with an addition of surface active agents, impregnation in caustic soda by immersion in at least one vessel (14), but preferably in two vessels (14), containing a bath of heated caustic soda, stabilisation with a control of shrinkage of the yarns (11) in a stabilisation and tensioning chamber (23), in which the yarns (11) are placed partly in contact with a caustic soda bath, tensioning and drawing in the stabilisation and tensioning chamber (23), in which the yarns (11) are again placed partly in contact with a caustic soda bath, neutralisation by a hot wash, the neutralisation comprising: a first stage of washing by immersion in at least one vessel (14), but preferably in two groups each of two vessels (14), containing a bath of hot water; a second stage of actual neutralisation by immersion in at least one one vessel (14), but preferably in two vessels (14), containing an acid bath; and a third stage of rinsing by immersion in at least one vessel (14), but preferably in three vessels (14), containing a bath of hot water, and drying in an oven (30) by a circulation of hot air, the yarns (11) leaving the drying process being wound on one or preferably on a plurality of take-up beams (33). Continuous mercerising apparatus which is suitable to carry out mercerising treatment of a plurality of yarns being unwound continuously and parallel to each other from one (12) or more (112-212) feeder beams, the apparatus carrying out the above method and comprising the following operational assemblies positioned in succession: a pre-wash assembly (13) consisting of at least one pre-wash vessel (14), but preferably of three equal vessels (14) positioned one after another, an impregnation assembly (21) consisting of at least one impregnation vessel (14), but preferably of two equal vessels (14) positioned one after another, a stabilisation and tensioning assembly (22) consisting of a stabilisation and tensioning chamber (23) comprising assemblies of upper rolls (24) and lower rolls (25) to control shrinkage and drawing of the yarns (11), a wash assembly (26) consisting of at least one wash vessel (14), but preferably of two groups each consisting of two equal vessels (14) positioned one after another, a neutralisation assembly (27) consisting of at least one neutralisation vessel (14), but preferably of two equal vessels (14) positioned one after another, a rinse assembly (28) consisting of at least one rinse vessel (14), but preferably of three equal vessels (14) positioned one after another, a drier assembly (29) consisting of an oven (30 employing hot air, and a yarn (11) take-up assembly consisting preferably of a plurality of beams (33) containing aliquot parts of the number of yarns contained in the feed (12-112-212) to the apparatus (10).	This invention concerns a method for the continuous mercerising of cotton yarns and other suitable yarns. To be more exact, the invention concerns a method suitable to carry out mercerising treatment of a plurality of yarns being unwound continuously from at least one feeder beam. The invention concerns also an apparatus which employs the above method. The state of the art covers a plurality of methods and apparatuses for mercerising fabrics and yarns, especially cotton fabrics and yarns. It is known that mercerising is a treatment employing caustic soda, which is applied to yarns for instance, and we shall refer to yarns in the description that follows, the yarns being subjected to a suitable tension to cause them to obtain a lustre like that of silk. In general, the mercerising process is applied above all to yarns intended for knitting by hand or machine, yarns for shirts and embroidery and sewing threads. The principle on which mercerising is based has been known for a long time; the action of the caustic soda causes a great shrinkage of cotton, which when restored to its original length possesses a silky lustre. The same result is achieved by hindering the shrinkage of the cotton by applying a suitable tension. The reason why the lustre increases can be ascribed to the fact that by means of the mercerising treatment the fibre becomes smooth instead of being curled and its cross section becomes rounded, thus giving rise to a greater and more uniform reflection of the light by the fibre. Mercerising increases also the strength of cotton yarns at the expense of their properties of resilience. Moreover, given the use of the same dye, a mercerised cotton can be dyed much more intensely than a non-mercerised cotton, thus entailing a smaller consumption of dyestuffs in the dyehouse. The known mercerising methods and apparatuses are of two types, namely discontinuous and continuous. In practice the discontinuous treatment is employed everywhere nowadays and is carried out in successive steps on yarns generally wound in hanks. These steps arrange that the yarn is impregnated with the mercerising liquid, is then drawn, freed of caustic soda, rinsed and lastly neutralized. Some patents and patent applications relating to the continuous mercerising treatment are known. Amongst them is US 3,549,310 which discloses a continuous mercerising method and device for core yarns undergoing a constant tension; this document concerns the treatment of a single yarn being unwound from a feed package. US 3,789,469 and its equivalent FR 2.213.997 disclose in particular a system suitable to unwind a plurality of yarns from a beam positioned to feed a continuous mercerising plant. The method provides for the plurality of yarns to be divided into groups by being tied with a lease yarn. This system enables the plurality of yarns to be guided and kept in the right position while being unwound from the beam and undergoing the mercerising treatment. GB 1,218,260 discloses a continuous mercerising device consisting substantially of a pair of tapered rolls on which the yarn to be mercerised is wound. The taper of the rolls causes tensioning of the yarn, which undergoes the mercerising action while being wound on the rolls. This device is suitable to treat one single yarn coming from a yarn package. GB 2,051,156 discloses a continuous mercerising device used especially for filament yarns and consisting of a vessel which contains assemblies of rolls that can be positioned in relation to each other so as to be able to vary the path of the textile material. DE 1.610.882 discloses a mercerising process comprising in particular a bath to bleach the textile material, which is passed through this bath after the mercerising and washing steps. JP-B-51022559 and JP-B-51014638 disclose continuous mercerising processes whereby the textile material is immersed in succession in a plurality of caustic soda solutions so as to obtain its final strength value gradually. The present applicant has the purpose of obtaining a continuous mercerising method and apparatus which are suitable for achieving a process which can be employed on an industrial scale at modest costs with high-quality technological results. The invention is set forth in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe various features of the invention. The method according to the invention provides for the continuous treatment of a plurality of yarns being unwound parallel to each other from at least one feeder beam. This plurality of yarns undergoes substantially six mercerising treatment steps: a pre-wash with water and surface active agents; impregnation in caustic soda; stabilisation with a control of the shrinkage of the yarns; tensioning and drawing; neutralisation by a hot wash; drying in an oven. Downstream of the drying step the yarns are taken up advantageously in separate groups on a plurality of beams having smaller dimensions than the feeder beam or beams. The above mercerising steps are carried out in a plurality of vessels which can be made movable so as to enable the yarns to be readily passed through, and inserted into, the operational assemblies arranged within such vessels. This becomes necessary upon each change of the lots being processed or owing to maintenance work or the like. Each vessel or each group of vessels is equipped advantageously with its own motor and control means governed by a central processor unit which sets the various working parameters from time to time. The apparatus of the invention may be equipped also with a system to monitor all the physical values entailed in the treatment so as to optimise every operational step, particularly from a technological or energy-consumption point of view. The yarns may be tied crosswise to their direction of feed in the apparatus at pre-set intervals so as to ensure the advance of each yarn along the whole path of the treatment, even in the event of any breakages. These lease ties may be removed before the yarns are wound onto their take-up beams. These and other special features of the invention will be made clearer in the description that follows. The attached figures, which are given as a non-restrictive example, show the following: Fig.1is a diagram of a side view of a mercerising apparatus according to the invention; Fig.2is a plan view of the diagram of Fig.1; Fig.3gives a side view of a preferred embodiment of a type of vessel according to the invention. Figs.1 and 2 give a diagram of the embodiment of a mercerising apparatus 10 according to the invention. The apparatus 10 is fed with a plurality of yarns 11 being unwound from at least one beam 12 packaged on a warping machine. In the example of the embodiment shown the feed consists of two beams 112 and 212 to feed separately two sides having an identical configuration 110-210 into which the mercerising apparatus 10 can be divided. If there is only one feeder beam 12, the apparatus 10 may not be divided in this way. In the description that follows we shall refer to a treatment path for the yarns 11 in which they may be unwound equally well from one single beam 12 or from a plurality of beams 112-212. The present applicant has found that with an embodiment such as that of Figs.1 and 2 the speed of unwinding of the yarns 11 from the beam 12, this speed being that of the whole mercerising process, can reach 60 metres per minute or more and will ensure at the same time the required level of quality of the product thus treated. The yarns 11 unwound from the beam 12 are fed to a pre-wash assembly 13 consisting in this example of three equal vessels 14, through which the yarns 11 are passed in succession. A plurality of vessels 14 comprised also in assemblies located downstream of the pre-wash assembly 13 is employed in the mercerising apparatus 10. When we speak of vessels employed in other assemblies that treat the yarns 11 in the following description, we means the same type of vessel 14 as those used in the pre-wash assembly 13. This type of vessel 14 is shown in Fig.3. In this example this vessel 14 comprises a container 15 for trteatment liquid, a pair of upper transverse rolls 16 at the entry and exit of the vessel 14, a pair of lower transverse rolls 17 positioned at the bottom of the vessel 14 and an intermediate transverse transmission roll 18. Thrust means 19 to press on the yarns 11 in correspondence at least with the upper rolls 16 may also be included. Actuation means 20 to drive the rolls are positioned above the vessel 14 and may cooperate with one single vessel 14 or with groups of vessels 14. The intermediate transmission roll 18 is equipped advantageously with its own motor, which can move the roll 18 crosswise to the direction of feed of the yarns 11; the purpose of this is to be able to ensure correct positioning of the plurality of yarns 11 during their movement of feed through the apparatus 10; the position of the yarns 11 is monitored by control means, such as photoelectric cells cooperating with the motor of the intermediate transmission roll 18. Each vessel 14 can displace its container 15 within the apparatus 10 so as to free the upper, lower and intermediate rolls 16-17-18 for the purpose of enabling an easy insertion and passage of the yarns 11 during operations for changes of lots or other operational requrements. The containers 15 can be lowered to the position shown with lines of dashes in Fig.3. Water heated to about 90°C and containing suitable surface active agents is employed in tee pre-wash step in the pre-wash assembly 13. The quantity and temperature of the water and its content of surface active agents may be checked advantageously by means of suitable sensors in the vessels 14; these sensors will be linked to centralised control systems for automatic management of the operations. This feature is included also in any other operational assembly which will be described hereinafter. Water to top up the vessels 14 of the pre-wash assembly 13 can be prepared in a separate tank and heated by means of heat exchangers, independently or with the water coming from the recovery of caustic soda, as we shall detail later. For indicational purposes, with a mercerising speed of about 60 metres per minute the yarns 11 in the embodiment shown take about 10 to 11 seconds to pass through the pre-wash assembly 13 fully according to experiments conducted by the present applicant. The yarns 11 pass from the pre-wash assembly 13 to an assembly 21 which performs impregnation with caustic soda and in this example consists of two vessels 14. The temperature of the bath is kept at about 40°C, while the metering and heating of the caustic soda can be carried out and checked in a supplementary container. In the conditions cited above the stay time of the yarns 11 immersed in the bath is about seven seconds. The yarns 11 pass from the impregnation assembly 21 to a stabilization and tensioning assembly 22 consisting of a stabilization and tensioning chamber 23 equipped with a plurality of upper rolls 24 and coordinated lower rolls 25. In a first phase in this chamber 23 the yarns 11 undergo a series of passes about the upper rolls and lower rolls 24-25 which hinder the shrinkage of the yarns 11. This shrinkage can also be suitably regulated by controlling the tension of the yarns 11 The stabilization phase in the above conditions lasts for a period of about 36 to 38 seconds. In a second phase, after being wrung with an adjustable pressure, the yarns 11, still within the chamber 23, undergo a further series of passes about the upper rolls and lower rolls 24-25. In this second phase the yarns 11 are drawn by tensioning, for instance by a length equal to 4% of the initial length, during a period of about 3 to 4 seconds. All the lower rolls 25 in the chamber 23 are advantageously partly immersed in caustic soda to prevent possible oxidation of the yarns 11. The step of neutralization of the yarns 11 consists of a first washing stage, a second actual neutralization stage and a third rinsing stage. The washing stage is performed by a wash assembly 26 consisting of two groups each formed of two vessels 14, each vessel 14 containing water at a temperature of about 80°C. The actual neutralization stage is carried out by a neutralization assembly 27 consisting of two vessels 14 containing an acid bath to neutralize the pH. The rinsing stage is performed by a rinsing assembly 28 consisting of three vessels 14 containing water at a temperature of about 40°C. The vessels 14 in the wash assembly 26 and rinse assembly 28 are equipped with an inlet and outlet for the water, which is fed continuously so as to flow in the opposite direction to the feed of the yarns 11 to be treated. The water passes advantageously from one vessel 14 to the next wthin each of the above assemblies 26-28 by an overflow system. The water collected at the outlets of the wash assembly 26 and rinse assembly 28 can be processed to recover caustic soda by evaporation of the water. The thermal energy made available during the processing can be employed to heat the water used in the upstream steps. The yarns 11 pass from the rinse assembly 28 to a drier assembly 29 consisting of an oven 30 in which the yarns 11 undergo a series of passes about upper rolls 31 and lower rolls 32. The oven 30 may advantageously be of a type with a circulation of a forced draught of air heated by a submerged combustion system, as described in IT-B-1239264 in the name of the present applicant. It is obvious that the system to heat the air by submerged combustion may be replaced by other known heating systems. During the drying step the yarns 11 undergo firstly a water removal process that brings the value of relative humidity down to about 70%; thereafter they are passed through the oven 30 in contact with air heated to a temperature between 90° and 120°C and then leave the oven 30 with a relative humidity of about 7 to 8%. The yarns 11 leaving the drier assembly 29 are taken up on a beam or advantageously a plurality of small beams 33, each of which will hold an aliquot part of the yarns 11 held on the feeder beam 12 or feeder beams 112-212. These small take-up beams 33 will be used to feed a suitable unwinding-winding machines thereafter.	Method for continuous mercerising which is suitable to carry out mercerising treatment of a plurality of yarns being unwound continuously and parallel to one another from one (12) or more (112-212) feeder beams, the plurality of yarns (11) undergoing in succession the following operational steps: a pre-wash by immersion in hot water; impregnation by immersion in a bath of heated caustic soda; a hot wash by immersion in a bath of hot water, neutralisation by immersion in an acid bath, and rinsing by immersion in a bath of water; drying; winding on one or more take-up beams; the method being characterised in that the pre-wash bath contains surface-active agents and its temperature is about 90°C, whereas the bath in the step of impregnation in caustic soda is at a temperature of about 40°C, after the step of impregnation in caustic soda the yarns (11) undergo a stabilisation step with control of shrinkage of the yarns (11) in a stabilisation and tensioning chamber (23), in which the yarns (11) are placed partly in contact with a caustic soda bath, and then undergo a step of tensioning and drawing. Method as in Claim 1, in which the temperature of the bath in the hot washing stage is about 80°C and the water circulates in the opposite direction to the movement of the yarn. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the temperature of the bath in the rinsing stage is about 40°C and the water circulates in the opposite direction to the movement of the yarn. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the drying step takes place in an oven (30) with a circulation of air, the temperature therein being kept within a range of 90° to 120°C. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the yarns (11) leaving the drying step have a relative humidity of about 7 to 8%. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the tension of the yarns (11) in the stabilisation step can be regulated. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the yarns (11) are wrung immediately downstream of the stabilisation step and such wringing can be performed with a variable pressure. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the value of the drawing of the yarns (11) in the tensioning and drawing step is about 4% of the initial length of the yarns (11). Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the washing and rinsing water of the neutralisation step is treated to recover caustic soda. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the thermal energy made available in the recovery of the caustic soda is employed in one or more steps of the method itself. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the speed of mercerising may be 60 metres per minute or more. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which the yarns (11) being unwound from the feeder beam (12) or beams (112-212) are tied in a crosswise direction at pre-set intervals. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, in which each step of the mercerising method is governed by a central processing unit which controls and regulates the working parameters. Method as in any claim hereinbefore, which includes a monitoring system to check all the physical values of the treatment. Continuous mercerising apparatus which is suitable to carry out mercerising treatment of a plurality of yarns being unwound continuously and parallel to each other from one (12) or more (112-212) feeder beams, the apparatus carrying out the method of the claims hereinbefore, the following operational assemblies being positioned in succession: a pre-wash assembly (13); an impregnation assembly (21); a wash assembly (26); a neutralisation assembly (27); a rinse assembly (28); a drier assembly (29); and a yarn (11) take-up system comprising a plurality of take-up beams (33), the apparatus being characterised in that: between the impregnation assembly (21) and the wash assembly (26) is included a stabilisation and tensioning assembly (22) consisting of a stabilisation and tensioning chamber (23) comprising a plurality of upper rolls (24) and lower rolls (25) to control shrinkage and drawing of the yarns (11), between which rolls (24-25) the yarns (11) are wound continuously, the drier assembly (29) consists of an oven with a circulation of hot air at a temperature of 90-120°C, and the remaining assemblies consist at least one vessel (14) of a standardised type, each vessel (14) consisting of a container (15) for the bath, a pair of upper transverse rolls (16), a pair of lower transverse rolls (17) and an intermediate transverse transmission roll (18), the apparatus (10) including means for the transverse movement of the intermediate transverse transmission roll (18), the container (15) being able to move vertically in relation to the rolls (16-17-18), the apparatus (10) being governed by a central control and data processing system. Apparatus (10) as in Claim 15, which comprises two equal parallel working sides (110-210). Apparatus (10) as in Claim 15 or 16, in which thrust means (19) to press on the yarns (11) cooperate with the upper rolls (16) of the vessels (14). Apparatus (10) as in any of Claims 15, 16 or 17, in which the transverse roll (18) cooperates with means that monitor the position of the yarns (11) during the lengthwise forward movement of the same (11). Apparatus (10) as in any of Claims 15 to 18 inclusive, in which the vessels (14) are equipped with sensors to monitor the working parameters. Apparatus (10) as in any of Claims 15 to 19 inclusive, in which the pre-wash assembly (13) is connected to a supplementary device that heats topping-up water. Apparatus (10) as in any of any Claims 15 to 20 inclusive in which the impregnating assembly (21) is connected to a supplementary device that heats the caustic soda. Apparatus (10) as in any of Claims 15 to 21 inclusive, in which the lower rolls (25) of the stabilisation and tensioning chamber (23), are partly immersed in a vessel containing caustic soda.	GESMA SPA; GESMA - GESTIONE SVILUPPO MEDIE AZIENDE SPA	CACCIA DOMINIONI AMBROGIO; CASASOLA LUCIANO; GERIN UMBERTO; LANCEROTTO FABIO; CACCIA DOMINIONI, AMBROGIO; CASASOLA, LUCIANO; GERIN, UMBERTO; LANCEROTTO, FABIO
EP-0489200-B1	489,200	EP	B1	EN	19,950,614	1,992	20,100,220	new	F16H61	null	F16H61	R16H61:02E4D, F16H 61/00K	Pressure control system for automotive automatic power transmission	A pressure control system is designed to disable action of a duty controlled solenoid while fluid pressure is not supplied. Namely, the pressure control system monitors a fluid pressure in a hydraulic circuit to detect the fluid pressure lower than a predetermined pressure criterion. When the fluid pressure lower than the pressure criterion is detected, the solenoid is disabled.	The present invention relates to a pressure control system for an automotive automatic power transmission, comprising: a hydraulic circuit connected to friction elements of the automatic power transmission for varying status of respective friction elements for establishing various speed ratio in transmission of an output torque of an automotive internal combustion engine; a duty controlled solenoid disposed in said hydraulic circuit for adjusting line pressure to be supplied to said hydraulic circuit according to a duty ratio of an electric control signal; a pressurised fluid source which is connected to said hydraulic circuit, control means associated with said duty controlled solenoid. U. S. Patent US-A-3 621 735 discloses a pressure control system for an automatic power transmission, which employs a duty controlled solenoid. The duty controlled solenoid receives a periodic signal having a given duty cycle and controls ratio of opening period and closing period of a fluid flow restricting orifice. By periodically opening and closing the flow restriction orifice, a magnitude of signaling pressure for a pressure regulator valve is adjusted. The pressure regulator valve is responsive to the signaling pressure to vary line pressure in a hydraulic circuit of the automatic power transmission. In such conventional construction, the solenoid is responsive to the periodic signal to perform signaling pressure adjusting operation irrespective of the status of the hydraulic circuit. For instance, even when the line pressure is not supplied, the solenoid becomes active in response to the periodic signal to perform adjustment of the signaling pressure. In such case, the plunger of the solenoid contact against the orifice in absence of the working fluid to cause shortening of lift of the solenoid. Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a pressure control system which controls the operation of the line pressure solenoid depending on the fluid pressure and thus can provide longer life for the solenoid. In order to perform the aforementioned objective a pressure control system as indicated above is improved, according to the present invention, in that said control means detects an engine revolution speed and disables and enables said duty controlled solenoid on the basis of the engine revolution speed, in such a way that said duty controlled solenoid is disabled when the engine revolution speed is below a predetermined value. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are set out in the subclaims. The present invention will be understood more fully from the detailed description given herebelow in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein: Fig. 1 is a Skeleton's diagram showing an automatic power transmission for which the preferred embodiment of a pressure control system according to the present invention is applicable; Fig. 2 is a table showing active element in the automatic power transmission of Fig. 1 at variation operational range; Fig. 3 is a diagram showing preferred construction of a hydraulic circuit employed in the automatic power transmission for selecting one of operational range among the ranged in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the preferred embodiment of a control unit designed for implementing the preferred process of fluid pressure control; and Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing routine for controlling operation of a pressure control solenoid. Referring now to the drawings, particularly to Fig. 1, there is shown an automatic power transmission which has a power train of four forward speed ratios and one reverse speed ratio. The power transmission mechanism includes an input or turbine shaft 13 connected to an output shaft 12 of an automotive internal combustion engine as a prime mover, via a torque converter 10. The power transmission mechanism also includes an output shaft 14 for transmitting driving torque to a final drive. The torque converter 10 has a pump impeller, a turbine runner and a stator. The pump impeller is connected to the engine output shaft. On the other hand, the turbine runner is connected to the input shaft 13. The pump impeller is also connected to an oil pump for driving the latter. Between the input shaft 13 and the output shaft 14, a first planetary gear set 15, a secondary planetary gear set 16, a reverse clutch (R/C) 18, a high clutch (H/C) 20, a forward clutch (F/C) 22, an overrun clutch (OR/C) 24, a low-and-reverse clutch (L&R/C) 26, a band brake (B/B) 28, a low one-way clutch (LO/C) 29 and a forward one-way clutch (FO/C) 30. The torque converter incorporates a lock-up clutch 11. On the other hand, the first planetary gear set 15 includes a sun gear S₁, a ring gear R₁, pinions P₁ and a pinion carrier PC₁ which supports the pinions. Similarly, the second planetary gear set 16 includes a sun gear S₂, a ring gear R₂, pinions P₂ and a pinion carrier PC₂ which supports the pinions. The pinion carrier PC₁ supporting the pinions P₁ is so designed as to connectably associated with the input shaft 13 via the high clutch (H/C) 20. The pinion carrier PC₁ is also connected to the ring gear R₂ of the second planetary gear set 16 via a forward clutch (F/C) 22 and a forward one-way clutch (FO/C) 30 which is coupled with the forward clutch in series, or in the alternative, via the forward clutch (F/C) 22 and the overrun clutch (OR/C) 24 which is provided in parallel to the forward one-way clutch (FO/C) 30. The pinion carrier PC₁ is adapted to be anchored by a low and reverse brake (L&R/B) and its reverse rotation is prevented by the low one-way clutch (LO/C). The sun gear S₁ of the first planetary gear set 15 is so designed as to be connectably associated with the input shaft 13 via a reverse clutch (R/C) 18. The sun gear S₂ of the second planetary gear set 16 is constantly connected to the input shaft 13. The ring gear R₁ of the first planetary gear set 15 and the pinion carrier PC₂ of the second planetary gear set 16 are constantly connected to the output shaft 14. The ring gear R₁ is integrally connected with the pinion carrier PC₂ of the second planetary gear set 16. The sun gear S₂ of the second planetary gear set 16 is connected to the input shaft 13. The ring gear R₂ is connectably associated with the pinion carrier PC₁ via the overrun clutch (OR/C) 24. In order to establish a predetermined drive relation, the forward one-way clutch (FO/C) 30 and the forward clutch (F/C) 22 are arranged between the pinion carrier PC₁ and the ring gear R₂ of the second planetary gear set 16. Engagement of the forward clutch (F/C) 22 causes the forward one-way clutch (FO/C) 30 to connect the ring gear R₂ with the pinion carrier PC₁ in the reverse rotational direction. A low and reverse brake (L&R/B) 26 can be fix the pinion carrier PC₁. On the other hand, the band brake (B/B can fix the sun gear S₁. A low one-way clutch (LO/C) 29 permits rotation of the pinion carrier PC₁ in forward direction (same direction to the rotating direction of the engine output shaft 12) and prevents the pinion carrier PC₁ from rotating in reverse direction (opposite to the rotating direction in the forward direction). The power train as set forth above is selectable of power transmission mode by combination of the states of one or more frictional elements, i.e. the reverse clutch R/C 18, the high clutch (H/C) 20, the forward clutch (F/C) 22, the overrun clutch (OR/C) 24, the low and reverse brake (L&R/B) 26 and the band brake (B/B) 28, to establish various mode of operation of the components of the sun gears S₁ and S₂, the ring gears R₁ and R₂, the pinion carriers PC₁ and PC₂ of the first and second planetary gear sets 15 and 16. With various mode of the first and second planetary gear sets 15 and 16, rotation speed at the output shaft 14 versus the rotation speed of the input shaft 13 is varied at various rates. Active components at respective operational modes of the transmission are illustrated by indicating (c) in respective column in Fig. 2.. In the shown construction, an apply chamber 11a and a release chamber 11b are defined in the torque converter 10 in order to control the state of the lock-up clutch 11. Namely, when the fluid pressure in supplied to the release chamber 11b, the lock-up clutch 11 is released and when the fluid pressure is supplied to the apply chamber 11a, the lock-up clutch 11 is engaged for establishing lock-up condition. The band brake (B/B) 28 defines a second speed servo apply chamber 28a, a third speed servo release chamber 28b and a fourth speed servo apply chamber 28c. With this construction, when the second speed pressure is supplied to the second servo apply chamber 28a, the band brake (B/B) 28 is applied; when the third speed pressure is supplied to the third speed servo release chamber 28b, the band brake is released; and when the fourth speed pressure is supplied to the fourth speed servo apply chamber 28c, the band brake is applied. Fig. 3 illustrates a hydraulic circuit for controlling operational modes of the above-mentioned automatic power transmission. As can be seen from Fig. 2, the hydraulic circuit includes a pressure regulator valve 40, a pressure modifier valve 42, a line pressure solenoid 44, a modifier pressure accumulator 46, a pilot valve 48, a torque converter relief valve 50, a lock-up control valve 52, a first shuttle valve 54, a lock-up solenoid 56, a manual valve 58, a first shift valve 60, a second shift valve 62, a first shift solenoid 64, a second shift solenoid 66, a servo charger value 68, a 3-2 timing valve 70, a 4-2 relay valve 72, a 4-2 sequence valve 74, a fast reducing valve 76, a second shuttle valve 78, an overrunning clutch control valve 80, an overrunning clutch solenoid 82, an overrunning clutch reducing valve 84, an 1-2 accumulator 86, 2-3 accumulator 88, 3-4 accumulator 90, N-D accumulator 92, an accumulator control valve 94, a filter 96 and so forth. These components are disposed in the hydraulic circuit as shown in Fig. 3. A variable displacement vane type oil pump 34 with a feedback accumulator 32, an oil cooler 36, a front lubricating circuit 37 and a rear lubricating circuit 38 are also provided in the hydraulic circuit. It should be noted that the components in the hydraulic circuit set forth above are essentially similar in construction and function to the hydraulic circuit with the associated components disclosed in the United States Patent 4,680,992. Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the preferred embodiment of a control system according to the invention. The control unit 300 is composed of a microprocessor-based data processing unit. The control unit 300 includes an input interface 311, CPU 313, ROM 314, RAM 315 and an output interface 316. These components of the control unit 300 are connected through address bus 319 and data bus 320. In addition, CPU 313 is connected to a reference pulse generator 312. In order to provide various transmission control parameters for enabling the control unit 300, an engine speed sensor 301, a vehicle speed sensor 302, a throttle angle sensor 303, a selector position switch 304, a kick-down switch 305, an idling switch 306, a full load switch 307, a fluid temperature sensor 308, an input shaft speed sensor 309, an over-drive switch 310 and an atmospheric pressure sensor 321 are connected to the input interface 311 of the control unit 300. The engine speed sensor 301 may comprise a crank angle sensor monitoring crankshaft angular position to produce a crank reference signal at every predetermined angular position of the crankshaft and crank position signal at every predetermined angular displacement of the crankshaft. The engine speed sensor 301 may further comprise an engine speed counter counting up the crank reference signal over a predetermined period for deriving an engine revolution speed to output an engine speed indicative signal N. The vehicle seed sensor 302 has perse well known construction and thus produces a vehicle speed indicative signal V. The throttle angle sensor 303 is associated with a throttle valve in an air induction system of an internal combustion engine. The throttle angle sensor 303 monitors the throttle valve angular position and produces a throttle valve angular signal TVO. The selector position switch 304 is associated with a selector lever of the transmission to detect the selector position and whereby produces a selector position indicative signal SEL representative of the selector position. The kick-down switch 305 is associated with an accelerator pedal greater than a predetermined magnitude to produce a kick-down demand indicative signal. The idle switch 306 is designed for detecting fully closed or approximately fully closed position of the throttle valve to produce an engine idling condition indicative signal. The full load switch 307 is provided for detecting fully open position of the throttle valve to produce an full load condition indicative signal. The fluid temperature sensor 308 monitors temperature of lubricant in the transmission to produce a fluid temperature indicative signal. The input shaft speed sensor 309 monitors rotation speed of the transmission input shaft 13 to produce an input shaft speed indicative signal. The input shaft speed sensor 309 monitors rotation speed of the transmission input shaft 13 to produce an input shaft speed indicative signal. The over-drive switch 310 is associated with the selector lever for manual operation for selecting over-drive or fourth speed ratio enabling state and inhibiting state for producing over-drive enabling state indicative signal when it is enabled. The atmospheric pressure sensor 321 monitors an atmospheric pressure to produce an atmospheric pressure indicative signal P. Though the shown embodiment, employs the atmospheric pressure sensor, it may be replaced with an altitude sensor for monitoring altitude level of the vehicle as a parameter equivalent to the atmospheric pressure. Employing the sensors and switches, the control unit 300 performs various transmission control operation for optimization. Fig. 5 shows process of speed ratio selection and line pressure control implemented by the preferred embodiment of the control system according to the invention. Fig. 5 shows a routine for enabling and disabling of the line pressure solenoid 44. In the shown process, the line pressure solenoid 44 is enabled and disabled depending upon the vehicle driving condition. The engine speed indicative signal N, the throttle valve angular signal TVO, the vehicle speed indicative signal V are employed as parameters for controlling status of the line pressure actuator 44. In the shown embodiment, the line pressure solenoid 44 is disabled whenever the engine revolution speed is lower than or equal to 300 rpm. Also, the line pressure solenoid 44 is disabled when the engine revolution speed is lower than or equal to 1400 rpm, the throttle valve is fully closed or substantially fully closed, the vehicle speed is lower than or equal to 10 km/h and the battery voltage is higher than or equal to a predetermined value. In order to implement the foregoing, the process as shown in Fig. 5, the engine speed indicative signal value N is read out at a step 1002 immediately after starting execution. At the step 1002, the engine speed indicative signal value N is checked whether it represents the engine speed lower than or equal to 300 rpm. The specific engine speed hereafter set out is mere example but represents the engine condition at which the engine is substantially stopping. Namely, in the normal automotive engine, an idling speed at no load condition is set about 600 rpm or higher. Therefore, when the engine speed is lower than or equal to 300 rpm, judgement can be made than the engine is stopping. In such case, the line pressure solenoid 44 is disabled at a step 1004. On the other hand, when the engine speed indicative signal value N represents the engine speed higher than 300 rpm as checked at the step 1002, the engine speed indicative signal value N is checked whether it represents 1400 rpm which serves as a low engine speed criterion. The low engine speed criterion may be set at a possible highest engine idling speed at no load condition, at a step 1006. If the engine speed is higher than 1400 rpm, process goes to a step 1008 to enable the operation of the line pressure solenoid 44. On the other hand, if the engine speed N as checked at the step 1006 is lower than or equal to 1400 rpm, check is performed whether the throttle valve is fully closed or the open angle thereof is substantially small to be judged that the throttle valve is nearly fully closed, at a step 1010. In practice, at the step 1010, the throttle angle indicative signal value TVO is compared with a throttle open angle criterion to make judgement when the throttle angle indicative signal value TVO is smaller than the throttle open angle criterion. If the throttle valve open angle is greater than or equal to the throttle open angle criterion, process goes to the step 1008 to enable the operation of the line pressure solenoid 44. If the throttle valve open angle is smaller than the throttle open angle criterion as checked at the step 1010, the vehicle speed is checked whether it is lower than a predetermined low vehicle speed criterion, e.g. 10 km/h, at a step 1012. Similarly, when the vehicle speed is higher than the low vehicle speed criterion, process goes to the step 1008. On the other hand, when the vehicle speed is lower than or equal to the low vehicle speed criterion, the battery voltage is checked if it is higher than or equal to the predetermined value Vref. If battery voltage is higher than or equal to the predetermined value, process goes to the step 1004 to disable the line pressure solenoid 44. Otherwise, process goes to the step 1008. After process at one of the steps 1004 and 1008, process goes END. Through the process set forth above, operation of the line pressure solenoid while the fluid pressure supplied from the pressure source is low, can be successfully prevented. As a result, durability of the solenoid can be prolongated. Although the shown embodiment employs various parameters associated with the fluid pressure in the hydraulic circuit for detecting fluid pressure indirect manner therefrom, it is, of course, possible to monitor the fluid source pressure from the fluid pressure source.	A pressure control system for an automotive automatic power transmission, comprising: a hydraulic circuit connected to friction elements (18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 29, 30) of the automatic power transmission for varying status of respective friction elements (18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 29, 30) for establishing various speed ratio in transmission of an output torque of an automotive internal combustion engine; a duty controlled solenoid (44) disposed in said hydraulic circuit for adjusting line pressure to be supplied to said hydraulic circuit according to a duty ratio of an electric control signal; a pressurised fluid source (34) which is connected to said hydraulic circuit, control means (300, 302) associated with said duty controlled solenoid (44),characterised in that said control means (300, 302) detects an engine revolution speed and disables and enables said duty controlled solenoid (44) on the basis of the engine revolution speed, in such a way that said duty controlled solenoid (44) is disabled when the engine revolution speed is below a predetermined value. A pressure control system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said control means (300, 302) further detects an engine load condition for disabling said duty controlled solenoid (44) when said engine revolution speed is below a first predetermined value and said engine load lower than a predetermined low engine load criterion. A pressure control system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that said control means (300, 302) detects a vehicle traveling speed below a predetermined vehicle speed criterion to disable said duty controlled solenoid (44) when said engine revolution speed is below a first predetermined value and said vehicle traveling speed is lower than said vehicle speed criterion. A pressure control system as claimed in at least one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said control means (300, 302) detects a supply voltage from an electric power source higher than a predetermined voltage criterion for disabling said duty controlled solenoid (44) when said engine revolution speed is below said first predetermined value and said supply voltage is higher than said voltage criterion. A pressure control system as claimed in at least one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that said control means (302) is responsive to the engine speed below a second predetermined value which is set at a lower engine speed than said first predetermined value to disable said duty controlled solenoid (44) irrespective to other parameter.	JATCO CORP; JATCO CORPORATION	SANO KUNIHIKO; SANO, KUNIHIKO
EP-0489201-B1	489,201	EP	B1	EN	19,951,115	1,992	20,100,220	new	C12N15	C12N1, C12N9, A61K38	C12N15, C12N9, C12N1, A61K38, A61P7, C12R1, C07K14	K61K38:00, C12N 15/81A, C07K 14/315A, M12N207:00	Method for the isolation and expression of a gene which codes for streptokinase, nucleotide sequence obtained, recombinant DNA and transformed microorganisms	The present invention relates to the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering and in particular a novel nucleotide sequence which codes for a streptokinase, as well as the recombinant DNA obtained therefrom which is used for the transformation of various host organisms. The technical object which is pursued with the proposed solution is to produce the protein in commercially useful quantities, by the recombinant method, with the possibility of alternatively using different hosts to obtain a high-quality streptokinase capable of being used as a thrombolytic agent in the treatment of different disorders. The present invention is based on the isolation of a new gene which codes for streptokinase from Streptococcus equisimilis of type C (strain ATCC-9542) and the cloning and expression thereof in prokaryotic (E. coli) and eukaryotic (Pichiapastoris) hosts, for which it includes the vehicles of expression which contain the genetic sequences of said gene, as well as the microorganisms transformed with these vectors capable of producing streptokinase. The protein obtained thereby can be used in clinical medicine as a therapeutic agent, in the treatment of disorders such as thromboembolic obstructions including coronary thrombosis.	The present invention relates to the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering techniques and in particular a method for the isolation and cloning of a novel nucleotide sequence which codes for a streptokinase, as well as the recombinant DNA obtained therefrom which is used for the transformation of different host organisms. Streptokinases are plasminogen activators from prokaryotic cells, which are usually secreted into the culture medium by a large number of haemolytic Streptococci of different serotypes. Being proteins of bacterial origin, some antigenic responses to them have been detected (Dykewies, M.S. et al., 1985 and McGroth, K.G. et al., 1985). Their molecular weight is approximately 47,000 dalton. The function in the pathogenicity of Streptococci is not known exactly, although potentially it must contribute to elimination or avoidance of the formation of fibrin barriers around the infection. During interaction of streptokinase with the plasminogen which is in human plasma, it was found that the protein is capable of converting the latter to plasmin, which displays proteolytic activity and can degrade fibrin clots into soluble products. Streptokinase, urokinase and tissue-type plasminogen activator are at present used as thrombolytic agents in the treatment of disorders which collectively represent one of the greatest causes of death in the world, such as myocardial infarct, pulmonary, arterial or venous thromboembolism, surgical complications and other cases of thrombosis. There are physicochemical and immunological differences and differences in respect of substrate specificity which bear witness to molecular heterogeneity of streptokinases of different origins, although they are all closely related in respect of function. Combined with the low yields obtained in production of the protein and the pathogenicity of its natural host, the Streptococcus strains used for the industrial production of streptokinase secrete other products into the culture medium, such as deoxyribonucleases, streptolysin or hyaluronidase and proteases, which makes the process of purifying the desired protein difficult. On the other hand, it has not yet been possible to obtain genetically improved strains from these hosts due to the lack of a developed methodology for the gene transfer. It is due to these drawbacks that the cloning of different isolated genes which code for these proteins has been attempted, using prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts. The German Democratic Republic patent no. 249493, IPC: C12 N 15/00, describes the cloning and expression of a gene which codes for streptokinase from strain H46A of Streptococcusequisimilis, belonging to Streptococcus type C, using E. coli bacteria as the host, wherein levels of excretion into the medium from 0.1 to 1.8 mg/l are obtained, depending on the age of the culture. The coding sequence for this gene, which was called SKC, was subsequently determined, including its signal peptide, as well as the identification of the primary structure of adjacent regions involved in the control of transcription and translation of said gene (Malke, H. et al., 1985). Other nucleotide sequences of genes which code for streptokinases from Streptococcus types G and A have been characterised (Water, F. et al., 1989). In particular, the gene which determines streptokinase type A (gene SKA) from strain 49 type M of Streptococcus piogenes was cloned and expressed in strain JM109 of E. coli and in Streptococcus sanguis Challis 57E (Huang, T.T. et al., 1989). In both cases, protein levels of 0.64 mg/l and 40 µg/l respectively were produced. In the case of E. coli, 94% of the protein recovered was in the periplasmic space and 6% in the cytosol, whereas in S. sanguis all the enzyme was found extracellularly. Moreover, many clones producing streptokinase in E. coli were very unstable, as in some cases the SKA gene was deleted or the host cells died owing to some lethal activity of the gene product in question. In the case of S. sanguis, the protein molecule obtained was approximately 3,000 dalton less than native streptokinase and the absence of 32 amino acids from the C-terminal end was detected; however, biological activity was not affected (Huang, T.T. et al., 1989). Subsequently, conclusive results were obtained with respect to the difficulty of cloning and expressing the isolated SKC gene in E. coli, it being found that the gene product interferes with the normal physiology of the host, which is shown by the mucosity of the cells which carry this gene, by the incomplete export of streptokinase into the periplasmic space, by the structural instability of the plasmids which carry the SKC gene and which are designated for the expression of high levels of the protein, as well as by the drawbacks encountered in cloning streptokinase genes from additional serotypes of Streptococcus in plasmids of E. coli and unsuccessful attempts to express heterologous genes under the control of expression-excretion signals of the SKC gene itself (Muller, J. et al., 1989). More recently the company Phillips Petroleum (patent DD257646, IPC: C 12 N 15/00, and Haggenson, M.J. et al., 1989) has obtained the expression of streptokinase in the methylotrophic yeast Pichiapastoris, under the control of gene regulatory sequences of alcohol oxidase, wherein yields of the desired product using continuous fermentation of the order of 77-250 mg/l culture medium were obtained, with an intermediary cell density of 46 g/l. This system uses the SKC gene, contained in the plasmid pMF5 which is licensed to this company by Dr. J.J Ferretti of Oklahoma University, USA, in the expression vectors. The controllability of the system makes it attractive, taking into account that it can easily be repressed by using glucose or glycerol and induced with methanol; nevertheless, its application is limited to this host. It is the object of the present invention to obtain high levels of streptokinase yield in different host systems, by the use of expression vectors which carry a novel nucleotide sequence which represents a genetic variant not described before and which codes for a bioactive streptokinase, which contains the active portion corresponding to streptokinase from Streptococcusequisimilis of type C, strain ATCC-9542. The novel isolated gene is called SKC-2, and codes for a protein of the same molecular weight as the one encoded by SKC; it has the fundamental characteristic of stability in vectors of E. coli and yeasts, adverse effects on cells growth or viability not being found in a single case, which makes it possible to obtain yields greater than those reported up to now in both hosts, in respect of the product obtained, which indicates a streptokinase different to those known up to now, with the desired biological activity. The present invention relates to a method for the isolation and expression of a novel nucleotide sequence corresponding to the SKC-2 gene, the product of which is a protein of approximately 47,000 dalton. Said protein belongs to the streptokinases, which are distinguished by their fibrinolytic activity. The present invention also relates to this gene, the sequence of which corresponds to: It was obtained from the genome of the Streptococcusequisimilis type C strain (ATCC-9542) by gene amplification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from three synthetic oligonucleotides called SK1, SK2 and SK3 having the sequences: SK1 5'...TGGAATTCATGAAAAATTACTTATCT...3' SK2 5'...TGGATCCTTATTTGTCGTTAGGGTTATC...3' SK3 5'...GGAATTCATGATTGCTGGACCTGAGTGGCTG...3' and constitute a novel aspect for this method. These primers further carry restriction sites which are not found in the gene and which allow direct cloning in an expression vector. On the other hand, the SK2 which hybridises at the 5' end carries an ATG which acts as a site for initiating translation and removes the signal peptide of SKC-2. The three oligonucleotides were synthesised from the SKC sequences published by Malke et al., 1985; and with them were marked the boundaries of the exact fragment of the gene which codes for the mature protein or the complete gene including the signal peptide. Another novel aspect of this method is the possibility of expressing the isolated gene in both bacteria and yeasts, high levels of expression being achieved in both cases. The present invention also relates to recombinant DNA which includes the SKC-2 gene, such as vectors for the expression of this gene, in bacteria pEKG3 (Fig. 1), and in yeasts pPESKC-4 and pPISKC-6 (Fig. 3). In particular for expression in E. coli, the SKC-2 gene with or without its signal peptide is cloned under the tryptophan promoter and with the transcription termination signal of phage T4. For yeasts there was used the expression vector referred to in the Inventor's Certificate application number 7/90 (Cu), in which the SKC-2 gene is located behind the signal peptide of sucrose invertase (SUC2) controlled by the alcohol oxidase gene promoter (AOX1) of Pichiapastoris and which carries the termination signal of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPt) gene of Saccharomycescerevisiae for the extracellular expression variant, this vector being called pPESKC-4. For the intracellular expression of SKC-2, the vector pPISKC-6 is used which does not contain the signal peptide of SUC-2 behind the AOX1 promoter, and this is obtained by inserting the SKC-2 gene in the expression vector pNAO (kindly provided by Muzio, CIGB, Havana, Cuba) (Fig. 3). The HIS3 gene of S. cerevisiae is used as a selection marker in both vectors, and the expression cassette referred to above is flanked by 5' and 3' sequences of the AOX gene of Pichiapastoris for integration. The present invention also relates to the microorganisms resulting from transformation of E. coli strain W3110 with vector pEKG3, and of mutant MP-36 of Pichiapastoris referred to in Inventor's Certificate application 7/90 with expression vectors pPESKC-4 and pPISKC-6, which are characterised as expressing high levels of streptokinase, and having good viability (the product has no adverse effects on cell growth) and high stability of the strains transformed. The transformed E. coli clone was called HSK-M and exhibits levels of expression of the product of the SKC-2 gene greater than 350 mg/l culture medium. The transformed Pichiapastoris strains MSK-M4 and MSK-M6 produce streptokinase levels intracellularly and extracellularly respectively which vary between 1.0 and 1.2 g/l culture medium. The method described in the present invention, given the levels of expression never before reported for this product, makes it possible to reach optimum purity thereof for its administration to human beings and animals, without the need to develop a complex and costly process for purification. ExamplesThe following examples are intended to illustrate but not limit the invention. E. coli and Pichiapastoris are used as host systems in these examples; nevertheless, other eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells can be used for the method described in the present invention. Example 1For the isolation of genomic DNA of Streptococcusequisimilis of type C, strain ATCC-9542 was used as a source thereof for cloning the SK gene. The cells of Streptococcusequisimilis were grown in Brain Heart Infusion Medium (GIBCO) at 240 r.p.m. for 12 hours at 37°C in 5-ml pre-cultures acting as an inoculum which was grown for 12 hours in a 300-ml Erlenmeyer flask. The cells were collected by centrifugation at 3,000 r.p.m. and resuspended in 8 ml lyse (4.5 g glucose, 1.86 g EDTA, 1.51 g tris-HCl, in 500 ml sterile water, pH=8), 80 µl of lysozyme were added at a concentration of 10 mg/ml, and the suspension was incubated for 30 minutes at 37°C. Next, to obtain efficient cell rupture, 500 µl pronase (Boehringer), 1 ml SDS at 10% and 200 µl EDTA, 0,5 M, pH=8, were added and the suspension was incubated for 2 hours at 50°C with smooth agitation. Successive treatments with phenol, phenol-chloroform and chloroform were carried out, and the genomic DNA was precipitated with absolute ethanol and NH₄Ac,, 7.5 M. The yield obtained was 100 µg per 300-ml Erlenmeyer culture flask. The presence of the gene which codes for streptokinase was verified by the Southern blot technique (Maniatis et al., 1982). Example 2For subcloning in bacteria, 1 µg genomic DNA of the Streptococcusequisimilis type C strain (ATCC-9542) was taken and the gene which codes for SKC-2 was amplified by a PCR (Randall et al., 1988) using the oligonucleotides SK1 and SK2 for cloning the gene with its signal peptide and SK2-SK3 for cloning without it. In each reaction 100 pmol of each oligonucleotide, 2 units of Taq polymerase (Perkin Elmer, USA) and 200 µmol of each dNTP were used and the reactions were performed in 10 mM MgCl₂, 100 mM dTT, 10 mM NaCl and 100 µg/ml gelatine. Thirty amplification cycles were performed, wherein in each one the reaction was incubated at 95°C for 1 minute for denaturisation, at 52°C for 45 seconds for hybridisation of the oligonucleotides and at 70°C for 80 seconds for extension. An efficiency greater than 5% of amplification was obtained. For cloning in bacteria (E. coli), a genetic construct different from those reported for the expression of this product was used, wherein the tryptophan promoter of E. coli and the termination signal of bacteriophage T4 are used. The fragments amplified in the PCR were digested with BamHI and ligated with the vector ptrip-NcoI-S1-BamHI (Estrada et al., 1988). This construct was transformed into a preparation of competent cells prepared according to Dagert et al. (1974) and Hanahan et al. (1983), of E. coli strain HB101 {(rB⁻mB⁻), supE⁴⁴, ara-14, galK-2, lacY1, proA2, rpsL20, (StrR), xy1-5, mt1-5, mt1-1, recA13}, which had a frequency greater than 10⁷ transformants per g DNA. The colonies obtained were applied to plates of LB medium (10 g/l trypton, 5 g/l yeast extract, 10 g/l sodium chloride) and 50 µg/ml ampicillin, and hybridised according to Maniatis et al. (1982), using as a probe the fragment resulting from the amplification in the PCR, which was marked using dATP³² (Amersham, UK) and the Klenow fragment of DNA-polymerase I of E. coli (Maniatis et al., 1982) in Whatman 541 filters for 30 minutes at 37°C, the reaction being terminated by EDTA and heat. 4% of the colonies were positive clones, which were examined by restriction analysis and had the same pattern of digestion with more than 10 restriction enzymes; moreover the positive clones were checked by double chain DNA sequencing (Sanger et al., 1977), using therefor an oligonucleotide of 17 bases (5'...ATCATCGAACTAGTTAA...3') which hybridises at the 3' end of the promoter, with which it was corroborated that joining of the latter to the SKC-2 gene was as desired. The selected clone was called pEKG-3 (Fig. 1), which was subjected to fermentation to realise the characterisation of the product. The plasmid of clone pEKG3 was purified using a CsCl gradient and the sequences of the SKC-2 gene were established, each time using 2 g of plasmid, and using the oligonucleotides which appear below as primers: SSK-01 5'...GAATCAAGACATTAGTC...3' SSK-02 5'...GTGGCGCGATGCCAC...3' SSK-03 5'...GCAACCATTACTGATCG...3' SSK-04 5'...CCAGTACAAAATCAAGC...3' SSK-05 5'...CTAGCTATCGGTGACAC...3' SSK-06 5'...CAGAGATCAGGTCAG...3' SSK-07 5'...GTTAAGAGCTGCTCGC...3' SSK-08 5'...CCAGTTAAGGTATAGTC...3' SSK-09 5'...TCTCGTTCTTCTTCGG...3' The protocol followed was basically according to Sanger et al. (1977), and dATP³² and S³⁵dATP (Amersham, UK) were used. Fig. 2 shows a comparison between the amino acid sequence derived from the base sequence of SKC-2, and those of the genes SKC (Malke et al., 1986), SKA and SKG (Water, F. et al., 1989). The plasmid pEKG3 was transformed in several E. coli strains such as W-3110, JM-101, LE392 and MC-1061 and the expression of streptokinase was compared between them. The best results were obtained with strain W3110 (F⁻ supF supE hsdR galK TrpR metB lacY tonA), owing to which it was selected to be subjected to fermentation, wherein stable expression levels greater than 20% of the total protein content of the cells were obtained, and 350-400 mg streptokinase per litre of culture medium were obtained. Example 3For subcloning of the SKC-2 gene in yeast, strain MP36 of Pichiapastoris was used as the host, and variants were made for intracellular and extracellular expression from the plasmids pNAO and pPS7 (Fig. 3), using the signal peptide of sucrose invertase for the extracellular construct, and in both cases subcloning the gene under the control of the alcohol oxidase (AOX) promoter, using as the terminator at the 3' end the termination signal of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene of S. cerevisiae and a non-coding 3' region of the AOX gene for integration by homology in the genome of the yeast, further relying on the gene encoding histidine 3, which was used for selection in strain MP36 his⁻. The vector pPESKC4 (plasmid for extracellular expression of the protein) was obtained from the vector construct pPS7-NcoI-S1 nuclease-phosphatase ligated with the SKC-2 gene amplified by PCR from pEKG3 with the oligonucleotide SK2 and a new primer which hybridises with the 5' end of the gene and eliminates the ATG which had been inserted for expression in bacteria. In the case of intracellular expression, pPISKC6 was obtained (plasmid for intracellular expression of the protein) from the vector pNAO-NcoI-EcoRI-S1 nuclease-phosphatase ligated with the band of SKC-2 amplified by PCR, with the primers SK2 and SK3 with which is obtained the exact gene which codes for streptokinase with an ATG at its 5' end (Fig. 3). Both plasmids were transformed in strain MP36 his⁻, using the protocol according to Cregg, J. et al. (1985). The positive clones were studied by the Southern blot method (Maniatis et al., 1982), and out of those which had the correct integration were selected the most productive in each case for characterisation of the product. The expression of recombinant streptokinase obtained in P. pastoris extracellularly was 1-1.2 g/l culture supernatant, and in case of the intracellular construct more than 1.0 g/l culture. In the construct for extracellular expression, the glycosylated protein was obtained with a molecular weight greater than 67,000 dalton, it being corroborated by Western blotting that it decreases to the molecular weight of native streptokinase when it is digested with endoglycosidase H. This was carried out by taking a portion having a concentration equal to 1 mg/ml in a sodium citrate solution, 0.05 molar, pH=5.5, and denaturing it by the addition of SDS (final concentration 0.02%) and heating at 100°C for 10 minutes, then leaving it to cool to ambient temperature and adding 20 milliunits (mU) of endoglycosidase H (endo H) and leaving it for 16 hours at 37°C, at the end of which it is subjected to subsequent heating at 100°C for 5 minutes and 10 mU of endo H are added, followed by 12 hours' incubation at 37°C, and it is applied to a 12.5% polyacrylamide gel and compared with an undeglycosylated sample. The streptokinase produced in Pichiapastoris in both constructs maintains biological activity, not varying its affinity for plasminogen and being in fact another variant for the use of this protein in clinical medicine. Example 4To verify the biological activity of the product of the SKC-2 gene, the pure recombinant streptokinase obtained from both bacteria and yeast was used for acute and subacute toxicology tests on rats, wherein satisfactory and acceptable results were obtained to allow its use in human and animal therapeutics. Its in vivo fibrinolytic activity was verified in clinical tests on animals, wherein there was success in dissolving clots in the coronary and femoral arteries of dogs, blood parameters being maintained similar to those reported in the literature with this type of product. The product of the SKC-2 gene showed a specific activity of 50,000-100,000 IU/mg, which was measured on plates of agarose-fibrin (Astrup et al., 1952), chromogenic substrate (Friberger et al., 1982) and in vitro clot lysis according to Westlund et al. (1985). Example 5To verify the amino acid sequence derived from the base sequence of the SKC-2 gene, an analysis was made of the pure product by high-performance liquid chromatography in reverse phase (HPLC-RP), using therefor a C8 4.6 x 250 mm column (Baker, USA), wherein there was used the gradient 5 minutes at 0% buffer B and up to 90% B in 55 minutes, with buffer A (trifluoroacetic acid (TFA, Pierce, USA) at 0.1% in distilled water) and buffer B (TFA at 0.5% in acetonitrile (Lichrosolv, Merck, FRG)), maintaining a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min. With the protein with a high degree of purity, the amino acid sequence derived from the base sequence obtained from the SKC-2 gene was verified by sequencing it by mass spectrometry. For this the protein was digested with different enzymes and with combinations of them. The enzymes used were chymotrypsin, endoproteinase Glu-C, endoproteinase Lys-C and trypsin. From the analysis of the mass spectra of the peptides obtained in each of the digestions with the different enzymes, the map of the amino acid sequence of the protein was constructed by superposition, which made it possible to verify that there is in this case 100% correspondence between the sequence of the SKC-2 gene and the amino acid sequence of the protein obtained. Strain depositsThe E. coli HSK-M [pEKG3] strain, based on the E. coli strain W3110 and containing the plasmid pEKG3, was deposited on June 11, 1990, with the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS), Baarn, The Netherlands, and obtained deposit number CBS 243.90. Likewise, the Pichiapastoris MSK-M4 [pPESKC-4] strain, based on the Pichiapastoris strain MP-36 and containing the plasmid pPESKC-4, was deposited on June 11, 1990, with the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS), Baarn, The Netherlands, and obtained deposit number CBS 244.90. REFERENCESAstrup, T., and Mullertz, S., 1952, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 40: 346-351 Burnett, N.N., 1981, Anal. Biochemistry 112: 195-203 Cregg, J.M., Barringer, K.J., Hessler, A.Y., and Madden, K.R., 1985, Mol. Cell. Biol. 5: 3376-3385 Dagert, M., and Ehrlich, S.D., 1974, Gene 6: 23-28 Dykewicz, M.S., McGrath, K.G., Harris, K.E., and Patterson, R., 1985, Int. Arch. Allergy Appl. Immun. 78: 386-390 Estrada, M.P., Hernández, O., and de la Fuente, J., Interferón y Biotecnología 5: 152-156 Fiberger, P., 1982, J. Clin. Lab. Invest. 42, Suppl. 162: 49-54 Hanahan, D., 1983, J. Mol. Biol. 166: 557-580 Huang, T.T., Malke, H., and Ferretti, J.J., 1989, Molec. Microb. 3(2): 197-205 Malke, H., and Ferretti, J.J., 1984, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 81: 3557-3561 Malke, H., Roe, B., and Ferretti, J.J., 1985, Gene 34: 357-362 Maniatis, T., Frisch, E.F., and Sambrook, J., 1982, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA McGrath, K.G., Zeffren, B., Alexander, J., Kaplan, K., and Patterson, R.J., 1985, Allergy Clin. Immunol. 76: 453-457 Muller, J., Reinert, H., and Malke, H., 1989, Journal of Bacteriology, Apr.: 2202-2208 Randall, K., Gelfond, D.H., Stoffel, S., Scharf, S., Higuchi, R., Horn, G.T., Mullis, K.B., and Erlich, H.A., 1988, Science 239: 487-491 Sanger, F., Nickler, S., and Coulson, A.K., 1977, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74: 5463-5467 Tombin, H., Stahelin, T., and Gordon, J., 1979, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76: 4350-4354 Walter, F., Siegel, M., and Malke, H., 1989, Nucl. Acids Res. 17(3): 1262 Westtund, L.E., and Anderson, L.O., 1985, Thrombosis Research 37: 213-223	A method for producing streptokinase by expression of a gene encoding said streptokinase which comprises the steps of transforming a host cell with an expression vector containing a streptokinase gene (skc-2) consisting essentially of the nucleotide sequence: operably linked to an effective promoter and transcription terminator, growing said transformed host cell and isolating the streptokinase so produced. The method of Claim 1 wherein said skc-2 gene is isolated from Streptococcusequisimilis type C strain ATCC-9542. The method of Claim 1 wherein said skc-2 gene is used without its signal peptide-encoding region. The method of Claim 1 wherein said skc-2 gene is used with its signal peptide-encoding region. The method of Claim 1 wherein said host cell is a bacterium. The method of Claim 5 wherein said bacterium is Escherichiacoli. The method of Claim 5 wherein said bacterium is Escherichiacoli strain W3110. The method of Claim 5 wherein said expression vector is a plasmid containing the skc-2 gene operably linked to the Escherichiacoli tryptophan promoter and the T4 transcription terminator. The method of Claim 8 wherein said expression vector is the plasmid pEKG3 contained in Escherichiacoli strain CBS 243.90. The method of Claim 1 wherein said host cell is a yeast. The method of Claim 10 wherein said yeast is Pichiapastoris. The method of Claim 10 wherein said yeast is Pichiapastoris his⁻ strain MP-36 (CBS 244.90). The method of Claim 10 wherein said expression vector is a plasmid containing the skc-2 gene operably linked to the Pichiapastoris alcohol oxidase promoter (AOX1) and the Saccharomycescerevisiae glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase termination sequence (GAPt). The method of Claim 13 wherein said expression vector contains the Saccharomycescerevisiae his3 gene as a selection marker. The method of Claim 14 wherein said expression vector is the plasmid pPESKC-4 contained in Pichiapastoris strain CBS 244.90. The method of Claim 14 wherein said expression vector contains the skc-2 gene without a signal peptide-encoding region. An isolated and purified nucleic acid consisting essentially of the nucleotide sequence shown in claim 1. An expression vector for the expression of streptokinase in a host cell, said vector containing a streptokinase gene (skc-2) consisting essentially of the nucleotide sequence shown in claim 1 operably linked to an effective promoter and transcription terminator. The expression vector of Claim 18 containing the skc-2 gene operably linked to the Escherichiacoli tryptophan promoter and the T4 transcription terminator for expression of said skc-2 gene in bacteria. The expression vector of Claim 19 which is the plasmid pEKG3 contained in Escherichiacoli strain CBS 243.90. The expression vector of Claim 18 containing the skc-2 gene operably linked to the Pichiapastoris alcohol oxidase promoter (AOX1) and the Saccharomycescerevisiae glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase termination sequence (GAPt) for expression of said skc-2 gene in yeast. The expression vector of Claim 21 containing the Saccharomycescerevisiae his3 gene as a selection marker. The expression vector of Claim 22 which is the plasmid pPESKC-4. A host cell for producing streptokinase by expression of a gene encoding said streptokinase, said host cell being transformed with an expression vector containing a streptokinase gene (skc-2) consisting essentially of the nucleotide sequence shown in claim 1 operably linked to an effective promoter and transcription terminator. The host cell of Claim 24 which is a bacterium. The host cell of Claim 24 which is Escherichiacoli. The host cell of Claim 24 which is Escherichiacoli strain W3110. The host cell of Claim 24 which is a yeast. The host cell of Claim 24 which is Pichiapastoris. The host cell of Claim 24 which is Pichiapastoris his⁻ strain MP-36 (CBS 244.90). An isolated and purified streptokinase consisting essentially of the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence shown in claim 1. A pharmaceutical composition comprising an isolated and purified streptokinase as defined in claim 31 and a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent, carrier or excipient.	CIGB; CENTRO DE INGENIERIA GENETICA Y BIOTECNOLOGIA	CHAPLEN ROGER RUBIERA; COLLAZO PEDRO RODRIGUEZ; DE LA FUENTE GARCIA JOSE DE JE; DOCE RICARDO SERRANO; ESTRADA GARCIA MARIO PABLO; FELIPE AIMEE PEREZ; FERNANDEZ ALICIA PEDRAZA; MARRERO LUCIANO FRANCISCO HERN; MARTINEZ LUIS SATURNINO HERRER; MARTINEZ WALFRIDO BRAVO; MUNOZ MUNOZ EMILIO AMABLE; RAMIREZ ANAISEL CASTRO; SOMAVILLA MAGALYS CAMPOS; CHAPLEN, ROGER RUBIERA; COLLAZO, PEDRO RODRIGUEZ; DE LA FUENTE GARCIA, JOSE DE JESUS; DOCE, RICARDO SERRANO; ESTRADA GARCIA, MARIO PABLO; FELIPE, AIMEE PEREZ; FERNANDEZ, ALICIA PEDRAZA; MARRERO, LUCIANO FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ; MARTINEZ, LUIS SATURNINO HERRERA; MARTINEZ, WALFRIDO BRAVO; MUNOZ MUNOZ, EMILIO AMABLE; RAMIREZ, ANAISEL CASTRO; SOMAVILLA, MAGALYS CAMPOS; de la Fuente Garcia, José de Jesús; Felipe, Aimeé Pérez; Fernández, Alicia Pedraza; Marrero, Luciano Francisco Hernández
EP-0489202-B1	489,202	EP	B1	EN	19,940,914	1,992	20,100,220	new	B22D11	B22D37	B22D11, B22D37	B22D 37/00, B22D 11/115	Method of controlling flow of molten steel in mold	A water-cooled mold for use in continuous steel casting process has at least two vertically-spaced coils arranged in the wall structure of the mold so as to surround molten steel in the mold or in a solidification shell within the mold and such that a jet of molten steel from an immersion nozzle of a tundish in the molten steel collides with the mold wall at a level between the coils. During supplying the molten steel from the tundish into the mold, the coils are supplied with DC currents of opposite directions so as to generate cusp fields in the mold, thereby suppressing the movement of the jet of the molten steel, as well as ascending and descending flows of the molten steel after collision with the mold wall.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONHitherto, an attempt has been made for controlling state of flow of a molten steel in a mold by applying a static magnetic field for the purpose of reducing any local deviation or uneven distribution of flow of the molten steel which tends to occur when the molten steel is poured into the mold. In such a method relying upon application of a static magnetic field, it is necessary that a path is formed to enable free flowing of an induction current which is generated as a result of interference between the static magnetic field and the flowing molten steel, corresponding to the outer product U x B of the flowing velocity U of the molten steel and the intensity B of the magnetic field. For instance, in a method shown in Fig. 6 in which a static magnetic field is applied substantially uniformly, an induction current 6 (see Fig. 7) tends to be generated due to interaction between the static magnetic field and the flow of molten steel. The induction current, however, cannot flow unless a path for circulation of such a current is provided. Consequently, it is necessary to form a bypass current which passes through the region near the wall where the magnetic field intensity is low. In order to obtain the bypass current, it is necessary to use an electromotive force large enough to produce such a current. Fig. 8 illustrates the distribution of the electric potential  which provides the electromotive force for the production of the bypass current. The bypass current ( J₁ = -σ grad  ) tends to flow from a region where the potential  is high to the region where the potential  is low. The actual current J is the sum of the induction current J₂ (σU x B) and the current J₁ produced by the electromotive force. Thus, the actual current J is expressed as J = J₁ + J₂ = σ(U x B - grad ) . In consequence, although the bypass current generated by the electromotive force flows in the region near the wall where the magnetic field intensity is low, a potential gradation (grad ) which serves to suppress the induction current J₂ is formed in the region around the discharge flow of the molten steel, so that the actual current J is reduced in such a region. As a consequence, a reduction is caused in the efficiency of the electromagnetic brake (Lorenz force corresponding to the outer product J x B of the current J and the magnetic field intensity B). This reduction is generally 50% or greater. In order to obtain the desired electromagnetic force, therefore, it is necessary to apply a larger magnetic force. In the field of single-crystal growth process in which a single crystal is made to grow and be lifted in accordance with a Czochralski process, it has been proposed to brake a natural convection generated in a melt, as well as forced convection caused by rotation of the crystal or of a crucible, by applying a cusp field as shown in Fig. 9. This art is shown in JP-A-58-217493 and JP-A-61-222984. In contrast to the discharge flow of molten steel in a continuous casting mold, the flow of the melt in the single-crystal growth process occurs in the regions near the walls of the container which has an axisymmetrical configuration with respect to the axis. This cusp field is generated radially and axisymmetrically, by placing upper and lower electromagnets which oppose each other with the same poles, namely with reverse polarity, so as to surround the single-crystal lifting furnace. It is reported that the cusp field provides a high braking efficiency because it acts perpendicularly to the flow of the melt in the region near the wall so as to enable the induction current to flow circumferentially. The behavior of the melt in the single-crystal lifting process in which convection is caused by heat from the wall and shear stress generated in the boundary between the melt and the wall is entirely different from the behavior of the melt in the continuous casting of steel in which the melt is jetted and supplied from a immersion nozzle into a mold. Therefore, the manner of application of a magnetic field in the single-crystal lifting process cannot give any hint to the manner of application of a magnetic field to the melt in continuous casting process. JP-A-6315426 discloses a continuous casting method for steel using static magnetic fields for the purpose of reducing the entry of non-metallic inclusions and air bubbles into a continuously cast slab. Static magnetic poles are arranged in contact with the short side faces at both ends of the part of the mould where the meniscus lies to create static magnetic fields. A submerged nozzle, through which molten steel is poured, is so arranged that the flow of molten steel, discharged from a discharge orifice at the lower end of the nozzle, hits against a side face of the mold and upward and downward flows of steel are decreased in speed and stabilized by the effect of the static magnetic fields. In that way, non-metallic inclusions, very much projected downwardly by the downward flow, are reduced. Furthermore, downward flow developing along the nozzle at the part where the meniscus lies, eddies resulting from unstable flow, and the infiltration of power into the cast slab are said to be reduced. JP-A-61199557 discloses a device for controlling the flow rate of molten steel in a continuous casting mold. A coil is formed on the outside of a mold by winding a conductive pipe around the mold and a DC power source is connected to the coil. A discharge flow of molten steel from a discharge port of an immersion nozzle flows diagonally downward in the device. The horizontal speed component of the flow is influenced by the magnetic field and a braking force horizontally applied to the flow of molten steel. It is stated that the braking force can be controlled by changing the intensity of the magnetic field and that non-metallic inclusions in the ingot are decreased. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn continuous steel casting process, suppression of the flow of the molten steel in the mold and reduction in the local deviation and non-uniformity of the molten steel, as well as oscillation of the molten steel surface, are quite important factors in order to attain a stable casting by avoiding trapping of powder into the molten steel and concentration of alumina-type inclusions to the slab. The control of flow of the molten steel in a mold requires a high magnetic field intensity or alternatively, a compact construction of the device for applying the magnetic field. The present invention has been achieved to give a solution to these problems. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling the flow of molten steel in a mold used in continuous casting of steel, which can suppress flow of the molten steel in the mold and reduce local deviation or lack of uniformity of flow of the molten steel, as well as oscillation of the free surface of the molten steel and which can prevent mixing of concentrations of components when different steels of different compositions are cast consecutively. The present invention provides a method of controlling the flow of molten steel in a continuous steel casting process, in which method a jet of molten steel from an immersion nozzle of a tundish in the molten steel collides with the wall of a mold and magnetic fields are applied to the molten steel to reduce ascending and descending flows of molten steel after it collides with the wall of the mold, and in which the jet of molten steel collides with the mold wall at a level between a plurality of means producing the magnetic fields, the method being characterized by: using a water-cooled mold having at least two vertically-spaced horizontally-wound coils, each having a plurality of turns, arranged in the wall structure of the mold so as to surround the molten steel in the mold or in a solidification shell within the mold; and supplying, during jetting of the molten steel from the nozzle into the mold, the coils with DC currents of opposite directions so as to generate cusp fields in the mold thereby suppressing movement of the jet of molten steel as well as the ascending and descending flows after collision with the mold wall. The invention also provides apparatus for the continuous casting of steel, the apparatus comprising a mold having a plurality of means for generating magnetic fields, and an immersion nozzle of a tundish so arranged that, in use, a jet of molten steel from the immersion nozzle strikes the mold wall at a level between the means for generating magnetic fields, characterized by: the means for generating magnetic fields comprising at least two vertically-spaced horizontal coils, each having a plurality of turns, arranged in the wall structure of the mold or in a solidification shell within the mold and wound horizontally so as to surround the molten steel, and means to supply the coils with DC currents of opposite directions so as to generate magnetic fields of cusp-like form in the mold. According to this method and apparatus, the flow of the molten steel is effectively braked so that the oscillation of the free surface at the meniscus, so that trapping of inclusions and bubbles into the slab is suppressed, thus preventing mixing of compositions when different steels with different compositions are cast consecutively. The cusp fields generated by the upper and lower horizontally-wound coils which are supplied with DC currents of opposite directions have all lines of magnetic force which have only horizontal components directed towards the center at the plane midst between the upper and lower coils. The cusp fields act perpendicularly to the jet of the molten steel from the immersion nozzle and the flow components of the molten steel deflected by the mold wall. Induction currents generated by the cusp fields flow in the directions perpendicular to the magnetic lines of force and the molten steel, i.e., circumferentially through a horizontal plane. The induction current therefore can freely flow without requiring any specific path. Consequently, a highly efficient electromagnetic braking effect is produced by the interaction between the applied magnetic field and the induction current. Two or more coils for generating cusp fields may be arranged at levels above and below the level at which the jet of the molten steel collides with the mold wall. The effect of suppression of the flow of molten steel and, hence, the advantages of the invention, are enhanced when a multiplicity of coils are used to generate multiple stages of cusp fields under suitable conditions. The arrangement may be such that each of the coils are divided into segments and the vertically aligned segments of the coils are connected through connecting portions so as to form independent DC current loops in the respective combinations of the segments, thereby generating at least one cusp magnetic field. Such an arrangement enables the method of the invention to be applied to a variable-width casting operation. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description of the preferred embodiments when the same is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an apparatus suitable for use in carrying out the method of the present invention; Fig. 2a is an illustration of the concept of generation of a cusp field; Fig. 2b is a sectional view taken along the line a-a' of Fig. 2a; Fig. 3a is an illustration of the relationship between magnetic lines of force and the flow of molten steel discharged from a immersion nozzle of a tundish; Fig. 3b is a sectional view taken along the line b-b' of Fig. 3a, showing the state of generation of induction current during braking of non-uniform flow of the molten steel; Fig. 3c is a sectional view taken along the line c-c' of Fig. 3a, showing the state of generation if induction current during braking of non-uniform flow of the molten steel; Fig. 4 is an illustration of two cusp fields generated when coils are arranged in three stages; Fig. 5 is a schematic illustration of upper and lower coils each being divided into four segments and corresponding segments of the upper and lower coils are connected; Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of a known method for controlling the flow of molten steel in a mold by a static magnetic field; Fig. 7 is an illustration of state of generation of induction current generated in the method illustrated in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is an illustration of the distribution of the electrical potential obtained in the method illustrated in Fig. 6; and Fig. 9 is an illustration of a single crystal lifting operation conducted in accordance with a Czochralski process under the influence of a cusp field. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTFig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a water-cooled mold 1 having coils arranged in two stages: namely, an upper coil and a lower coil. The water-cooled mold 1 is adapted to receive a molten steel discharged from an immersion nozzle 5 of a tundish which has a pair of nozzle ports 5a, 5a. The molten steel discharged form the nozzle ports 5a, 5a collides with the narrow side walls 1a, 1a of the mold 1, as will be seen from Fig. 3a. Horizontal upper and lower coils 2 and 3 are installed in the wall structure of the water cooled mold over the entire circumference thereof. These coils are positioned at levels which are above and below the level at which the molten steel collides with the mold walls 1a, 1a. The coils 2 and 3 are supplied with D.C. currents which flow in opposite directions each other so that they produce a cusp field as shown in Figs. 2a and 2b. The cusp field generate lines of magnetic force which have only horizontal components at the position in the middle of the gap between two coils. All the lines of magnetic force are directed towards the center B of the horizontal plane of the mold. The intensity of the magnetic field is highest at the point A midst of the coils and lowest at the center B. The relationship between the flow 10 of the molten steel and the lines 9 of magnetic force, supplied from the immersion nozzle 5 into the molten steel 4, is shown in a vertical sectional view of Fig. 3a. The state of generation of the induction current 6 in the molten steel 4 is shown in Figs. 3b and 3c which are sectional views taken along the lines b-b' and c-c' of Fig. 3a. The induction current 6 flows in the circumferential direction in a plane perpendicular to the lines of magnetic force 6 and the flow 10 of the motlen steel, i.e., within a horizontal plane. Therefore, the induction current is allowed to flow circumferentially without requiring any bypassing path. Consequently, an electromagnetic braking of a high efficiency is effected on the molten steel by the interaction between the applied static magnetic field and the induction current. Specifically high braking effects are produced on the molten steel flowing in the regions near the portions of the mold wall corresponding to the lines b-b' and c-c', due to the fact that the lines of magnetic force perpendicularly intersect each other, as will be seen from Figs. 3a, 3b and 3c. Fig. 4 illustrates the state of generation of cusp fields generated when the mold wall structure has three coils, i.e., upper, intermediate and lower coils. It is possible to increase the number of coils to generate cusp fields in a multiplicity of stages so as to increase the effect of suppressing molten steel flow, thus enhancing the effect produced by the method of the present invention. Fig. 5 shows another embodiment in which upper and lower coils are divided into segments. More specifically, the upper coil is divided into segments 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d, while the lower coil is divided into segments 2e, 2f, 2g and 2h. The segments 2a and 2e, 2b and 2f, 2c and 2g and 2d and 2h of the upper and lower coils, respectively, are connected through connecting portions 2i, 2j, 2k, 2l, 2m, 2n, 2o and 2p. In operation, independent loops of DC current are formed for the respective pairs of segments of upper and lower coils as indicated by arrows, thus generating a cusp field. Test Example 1A test was conducted for evaluating the effects of a cusp field under the operating conditions shown in the following Table 1. By way of comparison, a test also was conducted by the known method shown in Fig. 6, under operating conditions as shown in Table 2. It has been confirmed that the level at which the jet of the molten steel collides with the narrow side walls of the mold is at 500 mm from the meniscus, through measurement of a heat flux conducted by means of thermo-couples embedded in the mold wall structure. Operating Conditions Under Cusp Field Mold specification 1800 mm wide, 150 mm thick Immersion nozzle300 mm deep, discharge angle 20° Casting speed2.0 m/min. Coil position pattern AUpper coil: 100 mm below meniscus Lower coil: 500 mm below meniscus Coil position pattern BUpper coil: 300 mm below meniscus Lower coil: 700 mm below meniscus Coil position pattern CUpper coil: 500 mm below meniscus Lower coil: 900 mm below meniscus Current supplied0 to 1000 A to normal condition coil of 100 turns Maximum magnetic field generated in mold0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 Tesla Operating Conditions of Known Process Under Magnetic Field Mold1800 mm wide, 150 mm thick Immersion nozzle300 mm deep, discharge angle 20°C Casting speed2.0 m/min. Coil position Set at level 400 mm below meniscus and centered at position 450 mm spaced from shorter mold wall Maximum magnetic field generated in mold0.30 Tesla Castings were conducted under the conditions of Tables 1 and 2 and ingots were extracted from the mold, followed by measurement of amounts of slime of alumina-type inclusions in the inclusion accumulation zone which is about 1/4 level from the liquid level. The measured amounts of slime were normalized with the value obtained when no cusp field is applied, and the results are shown in Table 3. Amounts of Slime Extracted When no cusp field is applied1 Conventional method 0.30 Tesla0.49 Under cusp field (pattern A) 0.10 Tesla0.79 0.15 Tesla0.65 Under cusp field (pattern B) 0.10 Tesla0.45 0.15 Tesla0.23 Under cusp field (pattern C) 0.10 Tesla0.63 0.15 Tesla0.40 Castings were conducted under the conditions of Tables 1 and 2 and ingots were extracted from the molds, followed by measurement of amounts of white-blot defects in the surfaces of the extracted ingots. The measured amounts of defects were normalized with the value obtained when no cusp field is applied, and the results are shown in Table 4. Amounts of White Blot Defects When no cusp field is applied1 Conventional method 0.30 Tesla0.34 Under cusp fields (pattern A) 0.10 Tesla1.05 0.15 Tesla0.90 Under cusp field (pattern B) 0.10 Tesla0.42 0.15 Tesla0.22 Under cusp field (pattern C) 0.10 Tesla0.68 0.15 Tesla0.32 A test operation also was conducted under the conditions of Table 1 (only pattern B) and Table 2. In the test, steels of different compositions were cast consecutively, and the lengths of the portions of the ingots to be wasted due to mixing of the compositions were measured. The measuring results are shown in Table 5 below, in terms of value normalized with the value obtained when no cusp field is applied. Lengths of Ingots to be Wasted When no cusp field is applied1 Under cusp fields (pattern B) 0.10 Tesla0.64 0.15 Tesla0.48 As will be understood from the foregoing data, it was confirmed that the present invention offers the following advantages. (1) Reduction in accumulation of inclusions in the ingot thanks to the suppression of flow of the molten steel effected by the cusp field. (2) Reduction in generation of defects in the ingot surface thanks to the suppression of flow and oscillation of the free surface of the molten steel effected by the cusp field. (3) Prevention of mixing of compositions during consecutive casting of different steel compositions, thanks to the suppression of flow of the molten steel effected by the cusp field. Test Example 2Test operations for evaluation was conducted under the conditions shown in Table 6, using the molding apparatus of the type shown in Fig. 5. Castings were conducted under the conditions of Table 6 and ingots were extracted from the molds, followed by measurement of amounts of slime of alumina-type inclusions in the inclusion accumulation zone which is Operating Conditions Under Cusp Field Mold specification1800 mm wide, 150 mm thick Immersed nozzle300 mm deep, discharge angle 20° Casting speed2.0 m/min. Coil position patternUpper and lower coils were divided into four segments, respectively, as shown in Fig. 5. Upper coil: 300 mm below meniscus Lower coil: 700 mm below meniscus Current supplied1000 A to normal conduction coil of 100 turns (to each coil) Maximum magnetic field generated in mold0.15 Tesla about 1/4 level from the liquid level. The measured amounts of slime were normalized with the value obtained when no cusp field is applied, and the results are shown in Table 7. Amounts of Slime Extracted When no cusp field is applied1 Conventional method 0.30 Tesla0.49 Under cusp field (coils not divided) 0.15 Tesla0.23 Under cusp field (Coils divided) 0.15 Tesla0.25 It is thus understood that the effect in the reduction of amounts of inclusions is substantially the same, regardless of whether the coils are divided or not. As will be apparent from the above, according to the present invention, electric currents of opposite directions are supplied to two or more coils arranged around a water-cooled mold used in continuous casting of steel, iron or non-ferrous metal, so that cusp fields are generated to efficiently uniformalize the flow of the molten steel in the mold, while suppressing oscillation of the free surface of the melt in the mold, as well as mixing of compositions when different types of metals are cast consecutively. Both ordinary conductive coils and superconductive coils are equally usable as coils for generating the cusp fields.	A method of controlling the flow of molten steel in a continuous steel casting process, in which method a jet of molten steel from an immersion nozzle of a tundish in the molten steel collides with the wall of a mold and magnetic fields are applied to the molten steel to reduce ascending and descending flows of molten steel after it collides with the wall of the mold, and in which the jet of molten steel collides with the mold wall at a level between a plurality of means producing the magnetic fields, the method being characterized by: using a water-cooled mold having at least two vertically-spaced horizontally-wound coils, each having a plurality of turns, arranged in the wall structure of the mold so as to surround the molten steel in the mold or in a solidification shell within the mold; and supplying, during jetting of the molten steel from the nozzle into the mold, the coils with DC currents of opposite directions so as to generate cusp fields in the mold thereby suppressing movement of the jet of molten steel as well as the ascending and descending flows after collision with the mold wall. A method according to claim 1, wherein each of the coils is divided into segments and the vertically aligned segments of the coils are connected through connecting portions so as to form independent DC current loops in the respective combinations of the segments, thereby generating the cusp fields. Apparatus for the continuous casting of steel, the apparatus comprising a mold (1) having a plurality of means (2, 3) for generating magnetic fields, and an immersion nozzle (5) of a tundish so arranged that, in use, a jet of molten steel from the immersion nozzle (5) strikes the mold wall at a level between the means for generating magnetic fields, characterized by: the means (2, 3) for generating magnetic fields comprising at least two vertically-spaced coils (2, 3), each having a plurality of turns, arranged in the wall structure (1a) of the mold (1) or in a solidification shell within the mold (1) and wound horizontally so as to surround the molten steel, and means to supply the coils (2, 3) with DC currents of opposite directions so as to generate magnetic fields of cusp-like form in the mold (1). Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein each coil (2, 3) is divided into segments (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d; 2e, 2f, 2g, 2h) and vertically aligned segments of the coils (2, 3) are connected through connecting portions (2i, 2j, 2k, 2l, 2m, 2n, 2o, 2p) so as to form independent DC current loops in the respective combinations of the segments (2a - 2h), thereby generating the cusp fields in use.	NIPPON STEEL CORP; NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION	SAWADA IKUO C O DAIICHI GIJUTS; SAWADA, IKUO, C/O DAIICHI GIJUTSU KENKYUSHO
EP-0489203-B1	489,203	EP	B1	EN	19,960,911	1,992	20,100,220	new	C08F299	C09D4, C09J4, C08F2	C09D4, G03F7, C09J4, C08F290, C08G18, C08F299, C08F2, C08G59, C09D11, G11B7	G03F 7/038S, C09D 4/06+C08F290/14, C09J 4/06+C08F290/14, C08F 290/14	Active energy ray-curable type resin composition	An active energy ray-curable type resin composition comprising (A-1) a resin having a cyclocarbonate group and an alpha,beta-ethylenically unsaturated double bond in a molecule, or (A-2) a resin having a cyclocarbonate group, an alpha,beta-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and an urethane bond in a molecule, and optionally (B) an organic solvent and/or a reactive diluent has excellent pigment dispersibility and adhesion.	This invention relates to a novel and useful active energy ray-curable composition. More specifically, it relates to an active energy ray curable composition which has excellent pigment dispersibility and adhesion and is useful as a binder component for use in a paint, an adhesive, printing ink or a magnetic recording medium, said resin composition comprising a resin having a cyclocarbonate group and an alpha,beta-ethylenically unsaturated double bond (to be sometimes referred to as an unsaturated bond ) in a molecule as an essential film-forming component. In recent years, resins curable with active energy rays have come into wide acceptance in fields of a paint, an adhesive and a printing ink in particular. This is because of a number of advantages, for example, such an active energy-ray curable resin has a high speed of curing, can be cured without heating, and can be used in the absence of a solvent, and it has good storage stability. A resin composition crosslinkable under the action of active energy rays, now in use, comprises a combination of a (meth)acrylic oligomer having a (meth)acryloyl (oxy) group with various reactive diluents such as a monomer having one unsaturated bond per molecule (a monofunctional monomer) and/or a monomer having at least two unsaturated bonds per molecule (polyfunctional monomer), as required in further combination with photo(polymerization) initiators or (photo)sensitizers, and other additives. Typical examples of the (meth)acryllic oligomers include polyester (meth)acrylates, polyurethane (meth)acrylates, epoxy (meth)acrylates and polyether (meth)acrylates. SU-1558937 describes compositions for the preparation of electroluminescent layers. The compositions comprise a polymer binder based on a precopolymer derived from allyloxymethyl cyclocarbonate. JP 20-83818 relates to a binder for magnetic recording media, which is composed of a polyurethane resin having a cyclocarbonate group in it. The resin is cured by solvent evaporation. JP 11-46966 discloses a resin composition for paint, of which one component contains a polymerisable unsaturated group and a cyclocarbonate group, and a second component contains a ketimine group. The composition is heat-cured by the reaction between the ketimine and the cyclocarbonate group. When the properties of cured films, such as chemical resistance and mechanical properties (such as break strength, break elongation and moduli of elasticity) are taken into consideration, the polyurethane (meth)acrylate-type resins containing an urethane bond, having a large cohesive force between molecules, may be superior among them. However, the conventional polyurethane (meth)acrylate-type resins have insufficient adhesion to various plastics, metals and wooden materials, and in addition have insufficient dispersibility in inorganic fillers, inorganic pigments and magnetic powders. Accordingly, these resins are very inconvenient in utilizing them as a binder for paints or adhesives. As methods of improving the adhesion to various materials and improving the dispersibility of various additives, it is the practice to introduce strongly electrolytic inorganic components, having specific groups such as -SO3M and -COOM wherein M represents an alkali metal, acid components such as carboxylic acid and phosphoric acid, or various organic polar groups such as a primary or secondary amine or a hydroxyl group into the resin skeleton. However, the introduction of such strongly electrolytic inorganic components, such acid components or such organic polar groups results in facilitating the hydrolysis of an ester linkage or an urethane linkage in the resin skeleton or causes reaction with the (meth)acryloyl(oxy) group. This adversely affects the storage stability as a resin and a resin composition (paint) and properties of a cured coated film. Accordingly, introduction of such components or groups is not desirable. It is therefore an object of this invention to eliminate the various defects of the prior art, and to provide a very useful active energy ray-curable resin composition which is useful as paints of this type, adhesives, printing ink and magnetic recording media. It is another object of this invention to provide a greatly improved and very useful active energy ray-curable resin composition which is (a) non-electrolytic, (b) non-oxidising and non-basic, and (c) chemically inert in practice, and which provides new means of improving adhesion and dispersibility. The present inventors conducted extensive further investigations in order to achieve these objects. Consequently, these investigations have led to the discovery that a resin composition comprising a specified organic polar group (reactive polar group) as an essential film-forming component has the basic properties (a), (b) and (c), and has excellent adhesion to various plastic materials and products typified by PET films, various metal materials and products typified by tinplate, various timbers typified by Japanese oak and worked products, as well as the excellent dispersibility of inorganic fillers such as titanium dioxide and magnetic powder. Thus, according to this invention, there is provided an active energy ray-curable composition comprising a resin having a cyclocarbonate group, an alpha,beta-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and an urethane bond in the molecule as an essential film-forming component, the resin being obtainable by reacting together (i) a diol having a molecular weight of 500 to 4000, (ii) a diol containing a cyclocarbonate group, (iii) an isocyanate compound, and (iv) a compound having an unsaturated bond and a hydroxyl group. The invention also provides a composition comprising a resin having a cyclocarbonate group, an alpha,beta-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and an urethane bond in the molecule, the resin being obtainable by reacting together (i) a diol having a molecular weight of 500 to 4000, (ii) a diol containing a cyclocarbonate group, (iii) an isocyanate compound, and (iv) a compound having an unsaturated bond and a hydroxyl group. The cyclocarbonate group may be of the general formula wherein R1, R2 and R3 may be the same or different, and each represents a hydrogen atom, or an aliphatic, aromatic or alicyclic monovalent hydrocarbon group, and R1 and R2 or R1 and R3 may together represent a 5-membered or 6-membered cyclic hydrocarbon group. In the above general formula, R, R2 and R3 may be the same or different, and each of R1, R2 and R3 preferably represents a hydrogen atom or a lower alkyl group. As a general principle, a resin having a cyclocarbonate group and an unsaturated bond may be prepared by means of a known basic chemical reaction, such as those shown below: (R in the two formulae represent a monovalent organic group). Examples of the compound represented by the following formula, used in the reaction (1) (R is as defined above.) are compounds having an unsaturated bond in R, for example, glycidyl compounds or derivatives thereof, such as glycidyl (meth)acrylate. In this way, via the reactions (1) and (2), a compound having a cyclocarbonate group, represented by the following formula wherein R is as defined above, is formed and an unsaturated bond is then introduced into R to obtain a resin having a cyclocarbonate group and an unsaturated bond in a molecule. At that time, a glycidyl compound or a derivative thereof may be utilized as the compound of formula [II-1]. The starting materials that can be used are abundant. On the other hand, the compound of formula [III-1] used in the reaction (2) wherein R is as defined above, may be produced by utilizing the chemical reactions (1) to (3) shown below, and therefore obtained in abundance. wherein R4, R5, R6 and R7 each represent an organic group. In the production of a resin as described above, a diol monomer containing a cyclocarbonate group is formed, and then the resin is derived from it. Examples of the diol monomer containing a cyclocarbonate group are typically compounds of the following formula that can be synthesized from, for example, dimethylolpropionic acid and compounds of the following formula which can be synthesized from diethanolamine. To prepare the resin contained in the compositions of the present invention, which resins simultaenously contain a cyclocarbonate group, an alpha-beta ethylenically unsaturated bond and a urethane bond per molecule, a conventional synthesizing method may be followed employing a diol monomer containing a cyclocarbonate group as part of the material for the diol. A compound containing both an unsaturated bond and a hydroxyl group is also used. The method may be carried out in accordance with a reaction between the hydroxyl group and the isocyanate group (urethanization reaction). As one example, when a compound of the above formula (VI) is used, there can be obtained a resin comprising a cyclocarbonate group, a urethane linkage and an alpha-beta ethylenically unsaturated bond, namely have the following formula: Examples of the diol used to prepare the resin contained in compositions of the invention include various high-molecular-weight diols such as polyester-type diols, polyether-type diols and caprolactane-type diols. These high-molecular-weight diols have a molecular weight of 500 to 4,000. The polyester-type diols may be synthesized from low-molecular-weight diols and difunctional carboxylic acids such as adipic acid, succinic acid, sebacic acid, terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid as starting materials. Typical examples of the isocyanate compounds used together with the diols include diisocyanate compounds having an aromatic ring such as 2,4-tolylene diisocyanate, 2,6-tolylene diisocyanate, 1,3-xylylene diisocyanate, 1,4-xylylene diisocyanate, diphenylmethane-4,4'-diisocyanate, 3-methyldiphenylmethane diisoocyanate and 1,5-naphthalene diisocyanate; alicyclic diisocyanate compounds such as dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate and isophorone diisocyanate; aliphatic diisocyanate compounds such as hexamethylene diisocyanate and lysine diisocyanate; compounds obtained by hydrogenating the above various diisocyanate compounds containing the aromatic ring, for example, difunctional diisocyanate compounds such as hydrogenated xylylene diisocyate and hydrogenated phenylmethane-4,4-diisocyanate; polyisocyanate compounds obtained by addition-reaction of these diisocyanate compounds with di- to hexa-valent lower alcohols typified by trimethylolpropane so that 1 equivalent of the hydroxyl group is addition-reacted with 2 equivalents of the isocyanate group; biuret-type polyisocyanate compounds obtained by reacting a diisocyanate compound with water; trifunctional isocyanate compounds such as 2-isocyanate ethyl-2,6-diidocyanate hexanoate; and polymers obtained by isocyanurating the diisocyanate compound. Typical examples of the compound having both an unsaturated bond and a hydroxyl group include 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl (meth)acrylate, 2-hydroxybutyl (meth)acrylate, 4-hydroxybutyl (meth)acrylate, polyethylene glycol mono(meth)acrylate, polypropylene glycol, mono(meth)acrylate, pentaerythritol di(meth)acrylate, pentaerythritol tri(meth)acrylate, glycerol mono(meth)acrylate, glycerine di(meth)acrylate, glycidyl (meth)acrylate-(meth)acrylic acid adduct, ARONIX M-154 [epsilon-caprolactone-modified 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate produced by Toa Gosei Kagaku Kogyo, K.K.], tris(2-hydroxyethyl) isocyanurate-di(meth)acrylate, and N-methylol (meth)acrylamide. Other examples include unsaturated polyesters obtained by polycondensation between unsaturated carboxylic acids such as maleic acid, maleic anhydride, fumaric acid, citraconic acid, citraconic anhydride, itaconic acid and itaconic anhydride and low-molecular-weight diols such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, 1,6-hexanediol or 3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol. Amongst resins having a cyclocarbonate group, an alpha-beta ethylenically unsaturated group and an urethane bond per molecule, those obtained by introducing a cyclocarbonate group into a polyurethane (meth)acrylate resin having excellent film roughness and chemical resistance have particuarly marked improved adhesion (intimate adhesion) to various materials and paricularly marked improved dispersibility of various inorganic fillers, and are therefore especially desirable active energy ray-curable resins. The suitable cyclocarbonate group content of the resin used in compositions of the invention is usually 0.05 to 1.5 equivalents per 1,000 grams of the resin solids. In particular, 0.1 to 1 equivalent is suitable from the standpoint of high adhesion to various materials and a high improving effect of the dispersibility of inorganic fillers, and further from the standpoint of the fact that the resins are easy to dissolve in various reactive diluents such as tetrahydrofurfuryl (meth)acrylate, tripropylene glycol di(meth)acrylate or pentaertythritol tri(meth)acrylate and versatile organic solvents such as toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, ethyl acetate and butyl acetate. If required, an organic solvent and/or a reactive diluent may be added to the resin having a cyclocarbonate group, an alpha-beta ethylenically unsaturated bond and a urethane bond per molecule. The present invention therefore further provides an active energy ray curable composition as defined above, which further comprises an organic solvent and/or a reactive diluent as essential components. Typical examples of the organic solvent are aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene and xylene; ketones such as methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone and cyclohexanone; esters such as methyl acetate, ethyl acetate and butyl acetate; alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol; Cellosolve acetate; carbitol acetate; dimethylformamide; and tetrahydrofuran. Typical examples of the reactive diluent include 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, 2-hydroxylpropyl (meth)acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl (meth)acrylate, N-vinyl-pyrrolidone, tetrahydrofurfuryl (meth)acrylate, carbitol (meth)acrylate, phenoxyethyl (meth)acrylate, dicyclopentadiene (meth)acrylate, 1,3-butanediol di(meth)acrylate, 1,6-hexanediol di(meth)acrylate, polyethylene glycol di(meth)acrylate, hydroxypivalate neopentyl glycol di(meth)acrylate, trimethlolpropane tri(meth)acrylate, pentaerythritol tri(meth)acrylate, pentaerythritol tetra(meth)acrylate, and dipentaerythritol hexa(meth)acrylate. Other components employed in compositions of the invention typically include, for example, photo(polymerization) initiators, polymers, reactive oligomers, polymerization inhibitors, antioxidants, dispersing agents, surface-active agents, inorganic fillers, inorganic pigments and organic fillers. The present invention further provides a process which comprises curing a resin composition of the invention, as described above, by irradiating said resin with ionising radiation or active energy rays. To cure the resin composition of this invention by using ultraviolet rays as the active energy rays, a photo(polymerization) initiator should be used which is dissociated under the irradiation of ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 1,000 to 8,000 Å to generate radicals. Such a photo(polymerization) initiator may be of any known type. Typical examples thereof include acetophenones, benzophenones, Michler's ketone, benzyl, benzoin benzoate, benzoin, benzoin methyl ethers, benzyl dimethyl ketals, alpha-acryloxime esters, thioxanthones, anthraquinones and derivatives of these. Such photo(polymerization) initiators may be used in combination with known sensitizers. Typcal examples of the sensitizers include amines, ureas, sulfur-containing compounds, phosphorus containing compounds, chlorine compounds and nitriles, and other nitrogen compounds. The polymers that can be added are saturated or unsaturated and may be added to improve the cured coated film. Examples thereof may include acrylic resins, polyester resins, polyamide resins, epoxy resins, polyurethane resins, vinyl chloride/vinyl acetate copolymers, polyvinyl butyral resins, cellulosic resins and chlorinated polypropylene resins. The reactive oligomers include, for example, compounds having an isocyanate group in the molecule, compounds having a (meth)acryloyl group, or compounds having an isocyanate group and a (meth)acryroyl group. Typical examples of the fillers include body extender pigments such as barium sulfate, barium carbonate, gypsum, alumina white, clay, silica, talc, calcium silicate and magnesium carbonate; chromates such as chrome yellow, zinc chromate and molybdate orange; ferrocyanides such as Prussian blue; metal oxides such as titanium oxide, red iron oxide, iron oxide, zinc oxide and chromium oxide green; metal sulfates such as cadmium yellow, cadmium red and cadmium mercury red; sulfates such as lead sulfate; silicates such as Prussian blue; carbonates such as calcium carbonate; phosphates such as cobalt violet and manganese violet; metal powders such as aluminum powder, zinc powder, brass powder, magnesium powder, iron powder, copper powder and nickel powder; inorganic pigments such as carbon black; and organnic pigments such as azo pigments, copper phthalocyanine pigments (phthalocyanine blue and phthalocyanine green) and quinacridone pigments. The active energy rays used in this invention generically denote ionizing radiations or light such as electron rays, beta-rays, gamma-rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet-rays. The so-obtained active energy ray-curable resin composiiton of this invention may be cured by irradiating ionizing radiation or active energy rays by using the above-mentioned active energy sources. The active ray energy-ray curable resin composition of this invention may be utilized as a binder for a paint, an adhesive, a printing ink or a magnetic recording medium. The invention therefore further provides a paint, an adhesive, a printing ink or a magnetic recording medium which contains a resin composition of the invention as described above. Now, the present invention will be more specifically described below by Referential Examples, Examples, Comparative Examples, Application Examples and Comparative Application Examples, In these examples, all parts are based on weight. REFERENTIAL EXAMPLE 1Example of preparing a polyester diol:- A four-necked flask having a capacity of 500 ml was charged with 180 g of 1,4-butanediol and 130 g of adipic acid. Nitrogen gas was blown lightly into the reaction system to shut off the inflow of air. While the water of condensation was distilled off out of the reaction system, the esterification reaction was carried out for 2 hours at 170°C and for 8 hours at 210°C to obtain a product having a hydroxyl value of 160 and an acid value of 0.2. REFERENTIAL EXAMMPLE 2Example of a diol monomer containing a cyclocarbonate group:- A 500 ml four-necked flask was charged with 210 g of epichlorohydrin and 0.1 g of tetraammonium chloride. While the temperature of the reaction mixture was controlled to 40°C, 150 g of diethanolamine was added dropwise over 30 minutes. After the addition, the reaction was continued by maintaining the same temperature for 6 hours, and the unreacted epichlorohydrin was extracted and removed with toluene to obtain 322 g of an extraction residue having a nonvolatile content of 87 %. Then, 150 g of the extraction residue and 90 g of sodium hydrogen carbonate were charged into a four-necked flask. With stirring, the reaction mixture was maintained at 90°C for 1 hour to filter the insoluble matter such as sodium hydrocen carbonate or sodiuim chloride and remove it. Dimethylformamide in the filtrate was extracted with toluene to obtain 110 g of the extraction residue having a nonvolatile content of 76 %. Then, the nonvolatile component was analyzed by infrared absorption spectrum (IR), magnetic resonance spectrum (NMR) and gas chromatography mass spectrum (GC-MS). It was identified that the product was N-glyceryl cyclocarbonate diethanolamine with the structure of the following formula (VI) having a specific absorption at 1,800 cm-1. REFERENTIAL EXAMPLE 3Example of preparing glyceryl carbonate methacrylate:- A 500 ml four-necked flask was charged with 110 g of glycerol-alpha-monochlorohydrin, 100 g of dimethyl formamide, and 120 gram of sodium hydrogen carbonate, and the reaction was carried out at 100°C for 2 hours. By removing the insoluble matter such as sodium hydrogen carbonate via filtration, a viscous liquid material having a nonvolatile content of 99 % was obtained. Then, the nonvolatile component was analyzed by IR and NMR. It was identified that the product was hydroxymethylethylene carbonate with the structure of the following formula [VIII] having a specific absorption at 1,800 cm-1. Subsequently, a 500 ml four-necked flask was charged with 60 g of said hydroxymethylethylene carbonate, 77 g of methacrylic anhydride, 0.1 g of p-toluene-sulfonic acid and 0.04 g of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-toluene, and the reaction was conducted at 70°C for 8 hours. Thereafter, 100 g of toluene was added to dilute the reaction mixture. Then, the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature, and put in a 1 liter separatory funnel. An aqueous solution of 48 g of sodium hydrogen carbonate in 300 g of water was added thereto, and the mixture was well shaked to neutralize methacrylic acid, followed by removing an aqueous layer. An oil layer was washed five times with a 10 % sodium chloride aqueous solution, and put in an evaporator where toluene and a moisture were removed by distillation at 40°C and 20 mmHg. There was obtained a yellowish viscous liquid material. Analysis of the reaction product by IR, NMR and gas chromatography revealed that the product was an intended glyceryl cyclocarbonate methacrylate (purity 98 % or more). REFERENTIAL EXAMPLE 4Example of preparing an isocyanate group-terminated urethane acrylate:- A four-necked flask fitted with a thermometer, a stirrer and a reflux condenser was charged with 174 g of tolylene diisocyanate, and 130 g of 2-hydroxypropyl acrylate was added dropwise. The reaction was run at 70°C for 4 hours to afford a transparent viscous liquid material. An isocyanate equivalent of this product was 3.3 meq/g. REFERENCE EXAMPLE 5A four-necked flask fitted with a thermometer, a stirrer and a reflux condenser was charged with 50.1 g of polyester diol obtained in Referential Example 1, 11.0 g of N-glyceryl cyclocarbonate diethanolamine obtained in Referential Example 2, 15.0 g of cyclohexanone and 0.02 g of dibutyltin dilaurate. While controlling the temperature in the inside of the system to 70°C, 28.0 g of 4,4'-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate was added thereto dropwise, and the reaction was run for 6 hours. Further, 52 g of cyclohexanone was added, and 10 g of the isocyanate group-terminated urethane acrylate obtained in Referential Example 4 was then added dropwise. The reaction was carried out at 70°C for 5 hours. Analysis of the thus obtained reaction product revealed that the presence of the isocyanate group was not ascertained at all and the product was a cyclocarbonate group-containing polyurethane acrylate resin having a specific absorption at 1,800 cm-1. REFERENCE EXAMPLE 6Five grams of N-glyceryl cyclocarbonate diethanolamine obtained in Referential Example 2 and 5 g of 3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol were charged in the same reaction vessel as used in Example 1 and well mixed. Further, 6 g of polyester diol obtained in Referential Example 1 and 0.02 g of dibutyltin dilaurate were added thereto and they were well mixed. While controlling the temperature to 70°C, 20 g of tolylene diisocyanate was added thereto dropwise. When about one hour lapsed, the viscosity of the reaction system was increased and stirring became difficult. Accordingly, 67 g of methyl ethyl ketone was charged. While the same temperature was maintained for 4 hours, the reaction was continued. Subsequently, 12.4 g of the isocyanate group-terminated urethane acrylate obtained in Referential Example 4 was added thereto dropwise, and the reaction was run at 70°C for 5 hours. Analysis of the thus obtained reaction product by IR revealed that the presence of the isocyanate group was not ascertained at all and the product was a cyclocarbonate group-containing polyurethane acrylate resin having a specific absorption at 1,800 cm-1. REFERENCE EXAMPLE 7The same reaction vessel as used in Exmaple 1 was charged with 50 g of polyester diol obtained in Referential Example 1, 7 g of 1,6-hexanediol, 56 g of methyl ethyl ketone and 0.02 g of dibutyltin dilaurate. The temperature in the inside of the system was maintained at 70°C, and 28 g of 4,4'-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate was added dropwise. While the same temperature was maintained for 6 hours, the reaction was continued. Then, 14 g of the isocyanate group-terminated urethane acrylate obtained in Referential Example 4 was added thereto dropwise. While the above temperature was maintained for 5 hours, the reaction was run. Further, 10 g of glyceryl cyclocarbonate methacrylate obtained in Referential Example 3 was added thereto and the reaction was continued. Analysis of the thus obtained reaction product by IR revealed that the presence of the isocyanate group was not ascertained at all and the product was a cyclocarbonate group-containing polyurethane acrylate resin having a specific absorption at 1,800 cm-1. REFERENCE EXAMPLE 8The same reaction vessel as used in Example 1 was charged with 100 g of EPICLON N-665 (a tradename for a cresol novolak-type epoxy resin made by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.), 35 g of methyl isobutyl ketone and 0.06 of N,N-dimethylbenzylamine, and they were well dissolved. While keeping the temperature in the inside of the system at 70°C, 35 g of acrylic acid was added dropwise, and the reaction was carried out. When an acid value of the reaction system reached 80 KOH mg/g and an epoxy equivalent thereof became 705 g/eq, the reaction solution was well washed with water to remove unreacted acrylic acid. Subsequently, 25 g of 30 % hydrochloric acid was added dropwise to this system, and the reaction was run at 80°C for 2 hours. The reaction solution was then well washed with water to remove unreacted hydrochloric acid. Then, methyl isobutyl ketone was removed at 90°C and 20 mmHg to obtain a solid resin having a nonvolatile content of 95 %. Thereafter, 100 g of dimethylformamide was added thereto and dissolved, and 25 g of sodium hydrogen carbonate was added. The reaction was run at 100°C for 1 hour. The insoluble matter such as sodium hydrogen carbonate was removed by filtration, and dimethylformamide was distilled off from the filtrate by a rotary evaporator to obtain a solid resin having a nonvolatile content of 96 %. Analysis of the thus obtained resin by IR revealed that the presence of the epoxy group was not found at all and the product was one having a specific absorption at 1,800 cm-1. This resin was then dissolved in cyclohexanone to form a resin solution having a nonvolatile content of 60 %. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1The same reaction vessel as used in Example 1 was charged with 31 g of tolylene diisocyanate and 0.02 g of dibutyltin dilaurate. While controlling the temperature in the inside of the system to 70°C, 70 g of polyester diol obtained in Referential Example 1 was added thereto dropwise. The reaction was run at the above temperature for 4 hours to afford an isocyanate group-terminated urethane prepolymer having an isocyanate equivalent of 1.20 meq/g. Subsequently, 20 g of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate was added dropwise to the prepolymer, and the urethanization reaction was conducted at the above temperature for 2 hours. Analysis of the reaction product by IR revealed that the presence of the isocyanate group was not found at all and the absorption at 1,800 cm-1 ascribable to the cyclocarbonate group was not found at all either. REFERENCE APPLICATION EXAMPLES 1 to 4 and COMPARATIVE APPLICATION EXAMPLE 1:Each of the resins obtained in Reference Examples 5 to 8 and Comparative Example 1 and the other components shown in the following formulation were dispersed at 1,000 rpm for 1 hour by a high-speed dispersing device to obtain a paint. Formulation parts TIPAQUE R-820 (a tradename for rutile titanium oxide made by Ishihara Sangyo K.K.)50 Each solid resin50 Toluene90 Methyl ethyl ketone90 Subsequently, each of the paints was coated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film and a wet-sanded tinplate separately with a 60-micron applicator, and forcibly dried at 70°C for 1 hour. Electron rays were then irradiated at 6 Mrad to conduct curing. In the following manner, gloss and adhesion to the PET film and the tinplate were evaluated for the cured coated films. The results are shown in Table 1. [Gloss of the coated surface]It is indicated by a gloss value in reflection of a 60° mirror surface. [Adhesion of a coated film]A coated surface is subjected to a cellophane tape peeling test in a usual manner, and the presence or absence of peeling of the coated surface and a degree of peeling of the coated surface are evaluated with an unaided eye. The evaluation standard is as follows. excellent -Peeling of the coated surface is not observed at all. good -A degree of peeling of the coated surface is within 10 % in surface ratio. slightly bad -A degree of peeling of the coated surface is within 30 % in surface ratio. bad -A degree of peeling of the coated surface exceeds 30 % in surface ratio. REFERENCE APPLICATION EXAMPLES 5 to 8 and COMPARATIVE APPLICATION EXAMPLE 2:To each of the resins obtained in Reference Examples 5 to 8 and Comparative Example 1 was added 3 %, based on the solids content of each of the resins, of IRGACURE 651 (a tradename for benzyl dimethyl ketal made by Ciba Geigy, Switzerland), and they were thoroughly mixed with each other. The mixture was then coated on a PET film and a wet-sanded tinplate separately by a 60-micron applicator, forcibly dried at 70°C for 1 hour, and irradiated with a medium pressure mercury arc lamp at 2,000 mJ/cm2 at a distance of 15 cm to obtain a cured coated film. Subsequently, adhesion was evaluated for the coated films in the same way as in Application Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Application Example 1. The results are shown in Table 2. REFERENCE EXAMPLE 9The same reaction vessel as used in Reference Example 5 was charged with 50.1 g of polyester diol obtained in Referential Example 1, 11.0 g of N-glyceryl cyclocarbonate diethanolamine obtained in Referential Example 2, 15.0 g of tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate and 0.02 g of dibutyltin dilaurate. While maintaining the temperature in the inside of the system at 70°C, 28.0 g of 4,4'-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate was added dropwise, and the reaction was run at the same temperature for 6 hours. Further, 52.0 g of tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate was added, and 10.0 g of the isocyanate group-terminated urethane acrylate obtained in Referential Example 4 was added dropwise. The reaction was conducted at 70°C for 5 hours. Analysis of the resulting reaction product by IR revealed that the presence of the isocyanate group was not found at all and the product was a cyclocarbonate group-containing polyurethane acrylate having a specific absorption at 1,800 cm-1. REFERENCE APPLICATION EXAMPLE 9In the same way as in Reference Application Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Application Example 1, a paint was prepared except using the resin obtained in Reference Example 9, coated, forcibly dried and irradiated with electron rays to obtain a cured coated film. The coated film was evaluated as above. The results are shown in Table 1. REFERENCE APPLICATION EXAMPLE 10In the same way as in Reference Application Examples 5 to 8 and Comparative Application Example 2, a paint was prepared except using the resin obtained in Reference Example 9, coated, and irradiated with ultraviolet rays to obtain a cured coated film. The coated film was evaluated as above. The results are shown in Table 2. From the results in Tables 1 and 2, it follows that the active energy ray-curable type resin compositions of this invention can give the coated films excellent in dispersibility and adhesion in particular.	An active energy ray-curable composition comprising a resin having a cyclocarbonate group, an alpha,beta-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and an urethane bond in the molecule as an essential film-forming component, the resin being obtainable by reacting together (i) a diol having a molecular weight of 500 to 4000, (ii) a diol containing a cyclocarbonate group, (iii) an isocyanate compound, and (iv) a compound having an unsaturated bond and a hydroxyl group. A composition according to claim 1 which further comprises an organic solvent and/or a reactive diluent as essential components. A composition according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the cyclocarbonate group content in the resin is from 0.05 to 1.5 equivalents per 1000 g of the resin solids. A composition according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the cyclocarbonate group content in the resin is from 0.1 to 1 equivalents per 1000 g of the resin solids. A composition according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the diol having a molecular weight of 500 to 4000 is selected from polyester-type diols, polyether-type diols and caprolactame-type diols. A process which comprises curing the resin composition as claimed in any one of the preceding claims by irradiating said resin with ionizing radiation or active energy rays. A paint, an adhesive, a printing ink or a magnetic recording medium which contains a resin as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 as a binder.	DAINIPPON INK & CHEMICALS; DAINIPPON INK AND CHEMICALS, INC.	ICHINOSE EIJI; ISHIKAWA HIDENOBU; MOTOMURA MASATOSHI; ICHINOSE, EIJI; ISHIKAWA, HIDENOBU; MOTOMURA, MASATOSHI
EP-0489204-B1	489,204	EP	B1	EN	19,950,816	1,992	20,100,220	new	G11C16	G06F9	G06F9, G11C16, G06F3	G11C 16/10E, G06F 3/06D, G06F 9/445E	Reprogrammable data storage device	A reprogrammable data storage device is provided of the type which includes a host I/O port (10), a media read/write drive (12), a data buffer (13) for buffering data flow between the I/O port (10) and the drive (12), and control and processing electronics (16) for controlling the operation of the device and processing data passing through the device (for example, to re-format the data). The control and processing electronics (16) include a program-controlled processor (17) and a flash memory (18) storing program code for the processor. The control and processing electronics (16) is arranged to control reprogramming of the flash memory (18) with new code by the following steps: a) storing the new program code, received via the I/O port (10) or the drive (12), into the buffer (13); b) determining when all the new code has been received; c) erasing to flash memory (18); d) transferring the new code from the buffer (13) to the flash memory (18).	The present invention relates to a data storage device, such as a disc or tape storage device, which can be reprogrammed with new program code. Data storage devices are known of the type comprising: input/output means for exchanging data between the device and an external data handling system; media read/write means for reading/writing data from/to a storage medium; a data buffer connected between the input/output means and the media read/write means for buffering the transfer of data between the input/output means and the media read/write means; and control and processing means connected to the input/output means, the data buffer and the read/write means, and operative to control the transfer of data via said data buffer between the input/output means and the read/write means and to process said data, said control and processing means including a non-volatile memory for holding program code and a program-controlled processor operative to execute said program code. Typically, the data handling system will be a host computer while the media read/write means will be a magnetic-tape drive or a magnetic or optical disc drive. With such data storage devices, there is a general need to match the rate of transfer of data to/from the external data handling system with the rate of transfer of data from/to the storage media. Furthermore, there is usually also a requirement to effect high-level reformatting of the data. It is for one or both these reasons, that such data storage devices are provided with a data buffer as the buffer can serve to smooth data flows and can also act a temporary store enabling the control and processing means to access the data for reformatting purposes. The control and processing means will generally be microprocessor based with the controlling program code (the firmware ) being stored in a non-volatile memory either of the type referred as a ROM memory (Read Only Memory) or of the type referred to as EPROM memory (Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory). Should it be desired to change the firmware for whatever reason, it has in the past been necessary to remove the ROM or EPROM chip (or chips) concerned and either replace them with new ones containing revised firmware or undertake a lengthy erasure and reprogramming process before replacing the chip. Not only is this time consuming, but for practical reasons it requires the memory chips to be socket mounted rather than being soldered direct to the circuit board carrying the chips; this in itself is disadvantageous as socket mounting chips is not only more expensive but also less reliable than using soldered connections. The prior art document WO 86/03328 describes a data storage device using an EEPROM. Recently, electrically erasable and reprogrammable non-volatile memories, known generically as flash memories, have become available such as the Intel 28F010 flash memory chip. These chips can be electrically erased (though only on a chip basis, not a byte basis) and then reprogrammed on a byte-by-byte basis. The concept of flash memories is described in prior art document IEEE Spectrum, no.12, vol.26, December 1989 New York, US, pages 30-33, Pashley et al.: Flash memories: the best of two worlds . Flash memory enables the firmware code of microprocessor-based equipment to be changed without physical removal of the chips. Instead, the new code is provided to the equipment to be programmed (in any appropriate manner) and this code is written direct to the flash memory, the latter having been erased at the start of the reprogramming process. Since the new code can be provided either electronically from a remote host computer or stored on a media that can be sent through the mail system, the need for a service engineer to be present to carry out reprogramming is effectively avoided, the whole operation now being capable of being carried out by an end user without undue difficulty. However, a major problem arises if the transfer of the new firmware code should for any reason be unsuccessful at the first attempt (for example, due to a power failure, failure of the remote host, or failure of the storage media) since the original firmware that the equipment relied upon to initiate the reprogramming cycle of the equipment has been lost and the new firmware has not been fully installed. In these situations, the only recourse will normally be to call out a service engineer or to return the equipment for servicing. The period of vulnerability of the equipment during reprogramming is generally considerable due to the time taken to transfer all the new code to the equipment. It is an object of the present invention to reduce the aforesaid problem. According to the present invention, there is provided a data storage device of the aforesaid type, in which at least a portion of said non-volatile memory is a flash memory and the control and processing means is operative to implement the following steps in sequence for the purpose of reprogramming the flash memory with new program code: a) storage of the new program code, received via said input/output means or said media read/write means, into said data buffer; b) determination of when all said new program code has been received and stored in the data buffer; c) erasure of said flash memory; and d) transfer of the new program code from said data buffer to said flash memory. By using the data buffer to accumulate all the new program code prior to erasing the flash memory, the period of vulnerability of the device is reduced since should the reprogramming process fail, for whatever reason, during the transfer of the new code to the device, then the device is still available for operation, albeit with the old program code rather than with the new code. Because the rate of transfer of data to the data buffer either from an external data handling system or from a storage media will generally be considerably less than the rate at which code can be copied across from the buffer to the flash memory, it can be seen that the reduction in the period of vulnerability of the device by use of the data buffer is substantial. The program code used to effect steps (c) and (d) of the reprogramming process must, of course, reside elsewhere than in the flash memory, at least during the execution of these steps. This code could, for example, be run by a different processor to that associated with the flash memory, or the code could be stored, unmodifiable, in ROM for execution by the first processor; however, such approaches reduce the flexibility sought in the first place by providing for reprogrammability. One approach to providing the sought after flexibility would be to store the code for step (c) and (d) in the flash memory but to copy the code across to another rewritable memory (for example, a static RAM memory) associated with the processor prior to erasing the flash memory, and then having the processor execute the code from that other memory. Another approach would be to download the code for carrying out reprogramming steps (c) and (d) to a memory, such as a static RAM memory, of the control and processing means and then execute this code (with the processor associated with the flash memory, or another processor) to carry out steps (c) and (d). Preferably, following a positive determination in step (b) of the reprogramming process and prior to executing step (c), the control and processing means effects a checking step in which one or more checks are carried out on the new program code held in the data buffer, the control and processing means only proceeding with steps (c) and (d) where the check results are satisfactory. Advantageously, this checking step involves checking the new program code stored in the data buffer to ascertain whether any of the new program code has become corrupted since storage in the data buffer. For this purpose, the control and processing means can be arranged during step (a): to store parity data in respect of each byte or word of the new program code, and to generate progressively an error checking code by carrying out an exclusive OR function between each bit of the new program code as it is stored in the data buffer and another bit in said buffer, the resultant error checking code being stored in said buffer; during the checking step the control and processing means is then arranged to regenerate said error checking code and said parity data to detect any errors and seek to effect correction of errors so detected. Another check which is preferably effected concerns the compatibility of the new code and the device. This is possible where the flash memory holds identification data indicative of the identity of said program code and/or of said device, and the new program code also includes identification data indicative of the identity of the new program code and/or of the device on which the new program code is intended to run. In this case, the control and processing means can be arranged during the said checking step to compare the identification data held in the flash memory with that provided with the new program code to ascertain whether the new program code is compatible with said device. Where the flash memory holds device operational parameters, the control and processing means is advantageously operative to transfer said device operational parameters to a temporary store (for example, the data buffer) prior to implementing step (c), and then subsequently to restore said parameters to the flash memory. The control and processing means can be arranged during step (a) of the reprogramming process to calculate a checksum for the area of the buffer used to store the new program code, this checksum being recalculated as new program code is progressively stored in the buffer, the final checksum being loaded into the flash memory together with the new program code. The control and processing means can then be further arranged upon power up of the device to recalculate the check sum for the flash memory and compare it with the stored check sum to check the integrity of the program code stored in the flash memory. A reprogrammable data storage device embodying the invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: Figure 1is a block diagram of the data storage device; Figure 2Ais a flow chart illustrating the steps involved in transferring new firmware code from an external host to a data buffer of the data storage device; Figure 2Bis a continuation of the flow chart of Figure 2B illustrating the checking of the new firmware code and its transfer from the data buffer to a flash memory of the data storage device; Figure 3is a diagram of the file format of an Absolute File in which the host initially provides the new firmware code; and Figure 4is a diagram of the format of a data record of the Figure 3 Absolute File. The data storage device shown in Figure 1 is intended to store data from a data handling system ( in the present case, a host computer) to a data storage medium (in the present case, a magnetic tape) and also to read data from tape back to the host computer. The host computer (not shown) is connected to an input/output circuit 10 of the storage device by a bus system 11. Communications over this bus system 11 will generally take place in accordance with a standard protocol such as the SCSI protocol with the protocol interactions over the bus system 11 being handled by the input/output circuit 10. Data is written to tape and read back from tape by a tape drive sub-assembly 12 (including the mechanical drive deck, servo electronics and analog read/write electronics). In addition to the input/output circuit 10 and tape drive 12, the data storage device comprises a data buffer 13 for buffering the transfer of data between the input/output circuit 10 and the tape drive 12, and a control and processing subsystem 16. The data buffer 13 comprises, for example, 512K bytes of dynamic RAM memory 15 (shown notionally divided into four 128K byte segments), and a DMA controller 14 for controlling block transfers of data between the buffer 13 and the input/output circuit 10, the subsystem 16 and the drive 12. The DMA controller also serves to add a parity bit to each byte being stored in the memory 15 and to remove this bit from the byte before it is transferred out of the memory. The subsystem 16 comprises a microprocessor 17, a non-volatile memory 18 (for example, 256K bytes) storing a control program ( firmware code), and a static RAM memory 19. The function of the subsystem 16 is to control the overall operation of the data storage device. For this purpose, the bus system 20 of the microprocessor 11 extends to the input/output circuit 10, the buffer 13 and the tape drive 12. The subsystem 16 may also function to process (in particular, to reformat) data being stored and retrieved to/from tape; this processing is done by the microprocessor 17 by operating on the data in the buffer 13 via the bus system 20. The input/output circuit 10 and tape drive 12 are connected to the buffer 13 by bus systems 21 and 22 respectively. During data storage, the subsystem 16 controls the input of data into the buffer 13 from the host computer via the bus system 11, the input/output circuit 10 and the bus system 21, and the subsequent transfer of data from the buffer to the tape drive 12 via the bus system 22. The buffer 13 permits the differing data rates and formats of the host system and tape drive to be matched to one another. The subsystem 16 may also perform a reformatting function between the reading in of data into the buffer 13 and the reading out of data to the tape drive 12. In implementing this function, the subsystem 16 is arranged to read data from the buffer 13 and write it back to the buffer in a different arrangement possibly with the addition of format control codes. During data read back, the subsystem 16 oversees the reading in of data from the tape drive 12 into the buffer 13 via the bus system 22 and the subsequent reading out of that data from the buffer 13 to the host computer via the bus system 21, the input/output circuit 10 and the bus system 11. In addition, the subsystem 16 may effect a reverse formatting of the data held in the buffer 13 to that which was implemented during data storage. In addition to the passage of data through the data storage device as described above, the subsystem 14 will exchange control signals with the host computer and the tape drive 12 via the corresponding bus systems. It should be noted that the control and processing subsystem 16 may include additional processing elements. For example, a channel processor (not shown) may act on the data being passed between the buffer 13 and the tape drive 12 to effect low-level formatting additional to higher-level formatting effected by the processor 17. The channel processor may be a microprocessor-based system and include its own buffer memory (generally of a substantially smaller size than the buffer 13). Data storage devices operating substantially as described are well known in the art and a more detailed description of the general operation of the illustrated device will not therefore be given herein. However, it may be noted that a preferred arrangement for the form and operation of the buffer 13 are described in our co-pending European Patent Application EP-A-0,365,116. In the present data storage device, the non-volatile memory 18 storing the firmware code for the microprocessor 17 is a flash memory. Furthermore, in accordance with the present invention, the data storage device can be commanded to reprogram the memory 18 with new firmware code provided to the device either from the host computer via the input/output circuit 10 or on a tape media read by the tape drive 12. Control of the reprogramming process within the data storage device is effected by the control and processing subsystem (in particular, by the microprocessor 17). The overall reprogramming process is illustrated in Figures 2A and 2B with respect to new firmware code provided by the host computer. Figure 2A illustrates the process from generation of the new firmware code in the host computer to storage of the new code in the buffer 13 of the storage device, while Figure 2B illustrates the final part of the process in which the new code held in the buffer 13 is checked, followed by the flash memory 18 being erased and the new code being transferred into the flash memory 18. Referring to Figure 2A, the first step 30 of the reprogramming process is the provision of new firmware code in a standard file format, known as Absolute File format, which sets out not only the new code but also the intended locations in memory of the various segments of the code. Figure 3 illustrates the Absolute File format. An Absolute File 60 comprises a 9-word (2 bytes/word) header record 61, a 4-word processor information record 63, and a number of N-word data records 65, 67. Each of the processor information and data records 63, 65 and 67 is preceded by a word 62, 64 and 66 containing the number of bytes in the following record (this number will be a multiple of 2 since each record contains whole words). The header record and processor information record contain data identifying the code and providing certain information relevant to the target processor; the data records contain the new firmware code and the load addresses for this code. Figure 4 illustrates the structure of a data record 17 of the Absolute File. The first word of the record (word 0 ) contains the number of data bytes in the record (this number may differ from that contained in the word preceding the record since the number in word 0 of the record indicates the number of bytes which contain useful information and this may be less than the length of the record which is of fixed length). The second and third words of the data record 70 (words 1 and 2 ) contain the least significant and most significant words of the load address in memory of the firmware code held in the data record. These load addresses are relative to the first address of the memory concerned. The remaining words of the data record (words 3 to N ) are available for storing firmware code though, in practice, not all of these words may be used for this purpose and some may be left unused; the number of bytes containing firmware code can be derived from the number contained in word 0 of the data record. After the firmware has been embedded in an Absolute File, this file is then encoded as ASCII characters by taking each successive grouping of four bits and converting it into the corresponding hexa-decimal character ( 0 to F ). Thereafter, an 8-byte field is added to the front of the file indicating the total number of bytes in the file. Finally, the total package is subjected to a low-level encryption process to prevent it being tampered with by casual users; this encryption process is, for example, a simple substitution coding by which specified characters are substituted for other characters. The foregoing process forms step 31 in Figure 2A. The resulting encoded and encrypted firmware file is then transmitted from the host to the data storage device. Since the size of this file may be of the order of 750k bytes after encoding and encryption, this file is first subdivided into a number of sub-files and each sub-file is then transmitted to the device. Where the host computer and the data storage device communicate with each other using SCSI commands, each sub-file is transmitted under a corresponding Write Buffer command which the device will understand as being a command to transfer a predetermined number of bytes following the command to its buffer. In the present case a mode field of the Write Buffer command is set to mode 4 to indicate to the device that it is to use the data which it is being passed as new firmware code. The transmission of the firmware sub-files by the host is represented by block 32 of Figure 2A. Each command received by the device is passed to the microprocessor 17 for interpretation by a command interpreter process 33. Upon receipt of the first mode-4 Write Buffer command, the processor initiates flushing of the buffer 13 (block 34) and then sets up the DMA controller 14 to transfer the firmware sub-file associated with the Write Buffer command into the buffer 13 (block 35). The necessary information concerning the length of the sub-file is contained in the Write Buffer command itself and the microprocessor 17 causes the sub-file to be written into the memory segment 15D of the buffer memory 15. The memory segment 15D is used during the transfer process as a temporary store for incoming firmware sub-file data. After setting up the DMA transfer, the command interpreter 33 then initiates a firmware upgrade process (see block 36). Subsequent mode-4 Write Buffer commands received by the command interpreter 33 are treated somewhat differently by the command interpreter as it knows that a firmware update cycle is in progress; the command interpreter therefore simply sets up a DMA transfer for the sub-file associated with the command in order to store the incoming firmware sub-file data into the area 15D of the buffer memory 15. As already noted, the area 15D of the memory 15 is simply used as a temporary store for incoming data, this data being almost immediately extracted under the control of the firmware upgrade process, and appropriately processed to produce an image of the desired firmware code in areas 15A and 15B of the memory 15 together with Error Correction Code (ECC) in area 15C of the memory 15. The firmware update process itself is illustrated in Figures 2A and 2B as blocks 40 to 55. This process runs in parallel with the transfer of the sub-files to the buffer 13 and will suspend itself as necessary pending receipt of the next sub-file until all the sub-files have been received. Indeed, it is not necessary for the mode-4 Write Buffers commands and their associated sub-files to be sent in an uninterrupted sequence from the host to the data storage device and other commands may intervene in this sequence provided that these intervening commands do not require the destruction of the firmware code being built up in the buffer memory 15. Upon start of the firmware upgrade process (block 40) the first 8 bytes of the first sub-file are decrypted to give the overall length in bytes of all the sub-files taken together (block 41). This decryption process is simply a reverse of the process used to encrypt the data in block 31. This total length figure is subsequently used to determine when all the new firmware code has been received by the data storage device. Next, the firmware update process undertakes decryption and decoding of the sub-file data being passed into memory area 15D (this decryption and decoding being the reverse of the processes effected in block 31). The resultant data is firmware code data in Absolute File format and the microprocessor 17 then effectively unpacks the firmware data itself from this file format and stores the data in memory area 15A, B as indicated by the relative load addresses contained in the Absolute File. At the same time as writing the firmware data into the buffer memory 15, the processor progressively generates an ECC code (Error Checking/Correction Code) and recalculates a checksum for the new firmware. All these steps are represented by block 42 of Figure 2A. The ECC is generated by carrying out an exclusive OR function between corresponding bits of memory areas 15A and 15B with the result being stored in the corresponding area of 15C. This process is effected each time a bit is changed in one of the areas 15A or 15B (the process is, of course, only carried out on the changed bit and its counterpart in the other one of the areas 15B, A). The checksum is calculated by treating the memory areas 15A and 15B as 64K four-byte words which are added together to form the checksum. A check is also kept on the number of bytes processed from the memory area 15D and when this number equals the total byte length decoded in block 41, the processes of block 42 are terminated. As already indicated, the processes in block 42 are suspended in the event that all the data transferred into memory area 15D has been processed but the total byte count for that file has not been reached; in this case, the block 42 processes remain suspended until further data is received in the memory area 15D. After all the new firmware code has been decrypted, decoded, unpacked and stored in the memory areas 15A and 15B, the firmware update process copies certain data known as calibration data from the flash memory 18 across to the corresponding locations in the buffer memory 15A and 15B. This calibration data may include certain operational parameters and set up data, manufacturers code, and usage information. The data held in memory areas 15A and 15B should now be an image of the full firmware code that it is desired to download into the flash memory 18. Figure 2B illustrates the subsequent steps of the firmware update process in which the firmware code in the memory 15 is first subjected to a number of checks and is then transferred across to the flash memory. In order to ensure that the firmware code held in the memory 15 has not become corrupted over the period during which it has been stored in the memory (which could be a considerable length of time), the integrity of the data held in the memory areas 15A and 15B is first checked (see block 44). This integrity check is effected by checking the parity bit of each byte and also by recalculating the ECC and checking it with the ECC stored in the memory area 15C. Should either of these checks indicate an error, then the code is failed (block 45) and the update process is aborted with an appropriate response being sent back to the host. However, if the code passes its integrity check, the firmware update process proceeds to the next check after storing the checksum in a predetermined location in the firmware image in memory area 15A, B. This next check (block 46) concerns whether or not the firmware code stored in memory areas 15A, 15B is compatible with the storage device. To this end, identification data related to the drive and/or the code itself is associated with the firmware code, such identification data being present in the existing code held in the flash memory 18 as well as in the new code held memory 15. By comparing the identification data, the microprocessor 17 can tell whether or not the new code is compatible with the storage device. If the new code is incompatible (block 47) then the update process is aborted and the host appropriately informed. However, if the code is compatible, the update process proceeds to the next check. The next check to be carried out is whether or not the number of reprogrammings of the flash memory 18 has reached the limit set for the device (typically 10,000 reprogrammings). The current number of reprogrammings is held in the calibration area of the flash memory 18 and provided the check in this number is satisfactory, this number is incremented and stored to the corresponding location in the memory areas 15A and 15B. If, however, the number of reprogrammings has reached the limit value, then the update process is aborted (block 49) and the host is appropriately informed. After all the checks 44, 46, and 48 have been carried out and satisfactorily passed, a corresponding indication ( good ) is returned from the storage device to the host and the device is then set busy for the duration of the subsequent steps of the update process, these being the key steps when the device becomes vulnerable. During this period, any attempt by the host to communicate with the storage device will be met with a busy response. It will be appreciated that up to this point in the firmware update process, the original firmware in the flash memory 18 has remained intact so that any failure in the process would have been non-catastrophic and would simply have required reinitiation of the overall reprogramming cycle. However, now that all the new firmware code has been stored in the buffer memory 15 and checked, it is next necessary to erase the flash program 18 of the existing firmware code and transfer the new code across. Of course, before this can be done, code for controlling the microprocessor 17 during the erasure and copying process must be made available. In the present case, this code is available in the flash memory 18 but must, of course, be copied from this memory to a location where it is available after erasure of the memory 18. Thus, the relevant code is copied from the flash memory 18 into the static RAM memory 19 associated with the microprocessor 17 (see block 51). The program counter of the microprocessor 17 is correspondingly changed so that the rest of the firmware update code is read from the RAM 19. Next, the flash memory 18 is erased en bloc (see block 52). Thereafter, the new firmware code held in memory areas 15A and 15B is programmed into the corresponding locations in the flash memory 18 (see block 53). During this process, the parity of each byte is rechecked and the ECC recalculated and compared with the stored ECC. Should either of these checks indicate an error, then an attempt is made to correct the error. Thus, for example, if a byte in memory area 15A is shown to be errored by the checking of its parity bit but the corresponding byte in memory area 15B passes its parity check, then the corresponding ECC bits can be used to correct the errored byte in memory area 15A (with the checksum being recalculated). Finally, the buffer 13 is cleared and the device reset from its busy status (block 54). The firmware update process is then terminated (block 55). It will be appreciated that the above-described firmware update process ensures that the data storage device is only vulnerable to failures rendering the device becoming inoperable, for a minimum period of time. Storage of the final checksum in the flash memory 18 enables the microprocessor 17 to run a power-on test for the flash memory 18 in which it recalculates the checksum for the memory and compares it with the value previously calculated and stored in the memory 18. It will be appreciated that a number of modifications are possible to the described data storage device and its firmware update process. Thus, for example, the new firmware code could be provided on tape and transferred from the tape into the buffer in substantially the same manner as described above for the code provided from the host. Furthermore, the code necessary to control erasure of the flash memory 18 and subsequent transfer of the new firmware code from the buffer memory to the flash memory 18, can be provided with the new firmware code and copied from the buffer 13 into the static RAM 19 rather than using the old code held in the memory 18. Alternatively, the erasure and copying code could simply be stored in a permanent ROM memory. The firmware code for the microprocessor 17 could also be divided between the two or more memories which may all be flash memories updatable in substantially the manner described above; these memories may be constituted by independently erasable portions of the same flash memory chip. Furthermore, where the control and processing subassembly 16 includes other program-controlled processors (as previously noted) then the microprocessor 17 can be used to run an update process for updating firmware of those other processors where that firmware is held in flash memory.	A data storage device of the type comprising: input/output means (10) for exchanging data between the device and an external data handling system; media read/write means (12) for reading/writing data from/to a storage medium; a data buffer (13) connected between the input/output means (10) and the media read/write means (12) for buffering the transfer of data between the input/output means (10) and the media read/write means; and control and processing means (16)connected to the input/output means (10), the data buffer (13) and the read/write means (12), and operative to control the transfer of data via said data buffer (13) between the input/output means (10) and the read/write means (12) and to process said data, said control and processing means (16) including a non-volatile memory (18) for holding program code and a program-controlled processor (17) operative to execute said program code; characterised in that at least a portion of said non-volatile memory is a flash memory (18) and the control and processing means (16) is operative to implement the following steps in sequence for the purpose of reprogramming the flash memory (18) with new program code: a) storage of the new program code, received via said input/output means (10) or said media read/write means (12), into said data buffer (13); b) determination of when all said new program code has been received and stored in the data buffer (13); c) erasure of said flash memory (18); and d) transfer of the new program code from said data buffer (13) to said flash memory (18). A data storage device according to claim 1, wherein at least steps c) and d) are implemented by said program-controlled processor (17) under the control of the original said program code, said processor (17) having a further, rewritable, memory (19) associated therewith and the control and processing means (16) being operative in reprogramming the flash memory (18) to copy across from the flash memory (18) to said further memory (19), prior to erasure of the flash memory, that portion of said original program code which corresponds to steps c) and d) and thereafter to execute steps c) and d) by reading the code from said further memory (19). A data storage device according to claim 1, wherein at least steps c) and d) are implemented by said control and processing means (16) under program control, said control and processing means (16) including a further, rewritable, memory (19) and being operative in reprogramming the flash memory (18) to receive and store in said further memory (19), a program for implementing steps c) and d) that is provided via said input/output means (10) or said read/write means (12) along with said new program code, the control and processing means (16) thereafter executing steps c) and d) by reading the said program stored in said further memory (19). A data storage device according to claim 1, wherein following a positive determination in step b) and prior to implementing step c), the control and processing means (16) effects a checking step in which one or more checks are carried out on the new program code, the control and processing means (16) only proceeding with steps c) and d) where the check results are satisfactory. A data storage device according to claim 4, wherein said checking step involves checking the new program code stored in the data buffer (13) to ascertain whether any of the new program code has become corrupted since storage in the data buffer (13). A data storage device according to claim 5, wherein the device is operative during step a): to store parity data in respect of each byte or word of the new program code, and to generate progressively an error checking code by carrying out an exclusive OR function between each bit of the new program code as it is stored in the data buffer (13) and another bit in said buffer, the resultant error checking code being stored in said buffer; the device being further operative during said checking step to regenerate said error checking code and said parity data to detect any errors and seek to effect correction of errors so detected. A data storage device according to claim 4, wherein the flash memory (18) holds identification data indicative of the identity of said program code and/or of said device, and wherein the said new program code also includes identification data indicative of the identity of the new program code and/or of the device on which the new program code is intended to run; said control and processing means (16) being operative during the said checking step to compare the identification data held in the flash memory (18) with that provided with the new program code to ascertain whether the new program code is compatible with said device. A data storage device according to claim 4, wherein the flash memory (18) holds device operational parameters, the control and processing means being operative to transfer said device operational parameters to a temporary store (13) prior to implementing step c), and then subsequently to restore said parameters to the flash memory (18). A data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the control and processing means (16) is operative during step a) to calculate a checksum for the area of the buffer used to store the new program code, this checksum being recalculated as new program code is progressively stored in the buffer (13), the final checksum being loaded into the flash memory (18) together with the new program code; the control and processing means (16) being further operative upon power up of the device to recalculate the checksum for the flash memory (18) and compare it with the stored checksum to check the integrity of the program code stored in the flash memory (18). A data storage device according to claim 1, wherein along with the new program code, the device is provided with an indication of the length of the new code, the control and processing means (16) being operative in implementing step b) to utilize this length information to determine when all said new program code has been received. A data storage device according to claim 1, wherein the new program code is provided to said device in encoded form, the control and processing means (16) being operative in implementing step a) to decode the encoded program code and to store decoded code in said buffer (13).	HEWLETT PACKARD LTD; HEWLETT-PACKARD LIMITED	LLOYD-JONES KEVIN; LLOYD-JONES, KEVIN
EP-0489205-B1	489,205	EP	B1	EN	19,960,313	1,992	20,100,220	new	A61F13	null	A61F13	K61F13:15C1D, K61F13:15C1M, K61F13:15C1V, K61F13:15C8, A61F 13/15C1A, K61F13:15C1C	An absorbent padding material	An absorbent padding material (28) comprising a liquid-absorbing contact surface (30) formed of a layer of plastics material (32) provided on a layer of a non-woven cloth (34), the layer of the plastics material (32) being provided with a plurality of apertures (36) through which the liquid to be absorbed passes to the non-woven cloth (34), and the apertures (36) being parallel-sided through bores for facilitating the speed with which the liquid to be absorbed is able to pass through the layer of the plastics material (32) and for facilitating the speed with which the liquid-absorbing contact surface (30) is able to recover its liquid-absorbing properties after use.	This invention relates to an absorbent padding material which may be used, for example, as a personal sanitary product. Personal sanitary products such for example sanitary towels, sanitary sponges, nappies, diapers and diaper shorts are well known. These known personal sanitary products use absorbent padding material which is not entirely satisfactory. More specifically, the known absorbent padding material usually comprises a liquid-retaining material having a special liquid-absorbing contact surface. The liquid-retaining material is usually a high molecular padding material. The liquid-absorbing contact surface can be any one of several known types of structure. It is usually the liquid-absorbing contact surface which controls the operation of the absorbent padding material and the known liquid-absorbing contact surfaces suffer from disadvantages during use. A first known liquid-absorbing contact surface is constructed as a polyethylene film on the liquid-retaining material. The polyethylene film has a plurality of apertures through which the liquid to be absorbed passes to the liquid-retaining material. The apertures are inwardly tapering apertures which taper towards the liquid-retaining material. These tapering apertures slow down the passage of liquid to be absorbed through the polyethylene film so that absorbent padding material with this type of liquid-absorbing contact surface takes a relatively long while to absorb liquid, and also does not quickly recover to a dry state. This type of liquid-absorbing contact surface is often known as a dry mesh film. The dry mesh film has a special degree of elasticity and special equipment is required to overcome this elasticity. Thus, in addition to having a relatively slow liquid-absorbing speed and a relatively slow recovery rate, absorbent padding material produced with the dry mesh film tends to require the use of special equipment which adds to manufacturing costs. A second known liquid-absorbing contact surface is a polyethylene structure which has off-set apertures and which is provided on a non-woven cloth. The off-set apertures are parallel-sided apertures but they are in two separate layers in the polyethylene structure. The apertures in the polyethylene structure communicate with each other through side slots formed as the polyethylene structure is manufactured. This second type of liquid-absorbing contact surface is able to filter liquids faster than the above mentioned first type of liquid-absorbing contact surface. However, the speed of absorbing liquids is still not fast enough. Generally, known sanitary products having a high molecular liquid-retaining material and a special liquid-absorbing contact surface never really attain the required aim of fast liquid absorption and the speedy return of the liquid-absorbing contact surface to a dry state. Once the liquid, mainly water, is absorbed by the high molecules, coagulated particles tend to form and these coagulated particles tend to prevent the satisfactory use of the known absorbent padding material. It is known to provide slots in the high molecular liquid-retaining material for the purpose of guiding the flow of liquid to be absorbed, but such slots only very slightly improve the absorption speed of the absorbent padding material. It is also known from EP-A-0360929 to provide an absorbent padding material comprising a liquid-absorbing contact surface formed of a layer of plastics material provided on a layer of a non-woven cloth. The layer of the plastics material has a plurality of apertures through which the liquid to be absorbed passes to the non-woven cloth. These apertures are parallel sided bores which help to facilitate the speed through which the liquid to be absorbed is able to pass through the layer of the plastics material. In EP-A-0360929 the layer of the plastics material is described as a film which means that the layer of the plastics material is thin. Also in EP-A-0360929 the layer of the non-woven cloth is described as a web which means that the layer of the non-woven cloth is thick This agrees with what is shown in the drawings of EP-A-0360929 wherein the layer of the plastics material is shown as being substantially thinner than the layer of the non-woven cloth. This arrangement in which the layer of the plastics material is thinner than the layer of the non-woven cloth prevents the liquid-absorbing contact surface quickly being able to recover its liquid-absorbing properties after use. It is an aim of the present invention to provide an absorbent padding material which is an improvement over the above mentioned known absorbent padding materials. Accordingly, this invention provides an absorbent padding material comprising a liquid-absorbing contact surface formed of a layer of plastics material provided on a layer of a non-woven cloth, the layer of the plastics material being provided with a plurality of apertures through which the liquid to be absorbed passes to the non-woven cloth, and the apertures being parallel-sided through bores in combination with the layer of the plastics material being thicker than the layer of the non-woven cloth, for facilitating the speed with which the liquid to be absorbed is able to pass through the layer of the plastics material and for facilitating the speed with which the liquid-absorbing contact surface is able to recover its liquid-absorbing properties after use. It will be appreciated from the above that the absorbent padding material of the present invention is advantageous in that the liquid to be absorbed is able to pass through the layer of the plastics material quickly, which facilitates the speedy absorption of liquids to be absorbed. Furthermore, because the liquid is able to pass quickly through the liquid-absorbing contact surface, the liquid-absorbing contact surface is able to recover its liquid-absorbing properties quickly after use by returning to its dry state. Still further, the liquid-absorbing contact surface is such that the layer of the plastics material can be provided without the need for special manufacturing machines of the type required to overcome the elasticity of the known absorbent padding material having the plastics material with the two layers of off-set apertures. Preferably, the layer of the plastics materials is 0.1mm thick. Preferably, the apertures are circular apertures in plan view. The apertures may however have any suitable and appropriate shape in plan view, so long as they are parallel sided through bores. The plastics material is preferably polyethylene. Other plastics materials may however be employed. Preferably, the absorbent padding material is one in which the layer of the plastics material is so provided on the layer of the non-woven cloth that the plastics material and the cloth form an integral composite layer. The integral composite layer preferably has a thickness of less than 0.15mm. The absorbent padding material may be one in which the integral composite layer is formed by spreading the plastics material in molten form on to the non-woven cloth and thereafter passing the non-woven cloth and the hot plastics material through a machine for compressing and spreading the hot plastics materials into a required layer and for providing the apertures in the plastics material. The apertures may however be formed by means other than punching if desired. The absorbent padding material will usually be manufactured to include liquid-retaining material. The liquid-retaining material will usually form the bulk of the absorbent padding material. The liquid-retaining material is preferably a high molecular padding material. Such a high molecular padding material may be one which is known in itself and which is used in known absorbent padding materials. The present invention also extends to a personal sanitary product when including an absorbent padding material of the invention. The personal sanitary products may be a sanitary towel, a sanitary sponge, a nappy, a diaper or diaper shorts. Other products may also be produced from the absorbent padding material. An embodiment of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a cross section through part of a first known absorbent padding material; Figure 2 is a cross section through part of a second known absorbent padding material; and Figure 3 is a cross section through part of an absorbent padding material in accordance with the present invention. Referring to Figure 1, there is shown an absorbent padding material 2 comprising a liquid-absorbing contact surface 4. The liquid-absorbing contact surface 4 is a polyethylene film and the polyethylene film is provided on a liquid-retaining material in the form of a high molecular padding material 6. The liquid-absorbing contact surface 4 is provided with apertures 8 and these apertures 8 taper as shown towards the high molecular padding material 6. These tapering apertures 8 slow down the passage of liquid to be absorbed through the liquid-absorbing contact surface 4 so that the liquid to be absorbed cannot be absorbed quickly. Furthermore, the liquid-absorbing contact surface 4 does not quickly recover to its dry state. The liquid-absorbing contact surface 4 shown in Figure 1 is often known as a dry mesh film. This dry mesh film has a special degree of elasticity and special equipment is required to overcome this elasticity. The slow absorption speed of the liquid-absorbing contact surface 4 shown in Figure 1 is set out in Table 1 hereinbelow. The slow passage of the liquid to be absorbed through the apertures 8 is attributed to the tapering sides of the aperture and the fact that the length of the tapering bores forming the apertures is at least 0.3mm, which is a relatively long length. Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown a second known absorbent padding material 10. This absorbent padding material 10 comprises a liquid-absorbing contact surface 12 which is provided on high molecular padding material 6. The liquid-absorbing contact surface 12 comprises a polyethylene structure 14 provided on a non-woven cloth 16. The polyethylene structure 14 has off-set apertures 18 as shown. The off-set apertures 18 are parallel-sided apertures but they are in two separate layers 20,22 in the polyethylene structure 14 as shown. The off-set apertures 18 communicate with each other as shown by arrows 24, the communication being through side slots 26 formed as the polyethylene structure 14 is manufactured. As can be seen from the arrows 24, the liquid to be absorbed has to travel a relatively long distance through the polyethylene structure 14 and this liquid may have to travel longer than the 0.3mm distance mentioned above for the apertures 8 in the liquid-absorbing contact surface 4 illustrated in Figure 1. Because the off-set apertures 18 are parallel sided, it is believed that this helps to increase the speed of the passage of the liquid to be absorbed through the polyethylene structure 14 but, due to the relatively long distance required to be travelled by the liquid to be absorbed, the liquid-absorbing contact surface 12 still does not operate fast enough, even although it operates faster than the liquid-absorbing contact surface 4. In Figure 2, the non-woven cloth 16 is provided on the illustrated side of the polyethylene structure 14 in order to prevent absorbed liquid from filtering back out of the high molecular padding material 6. The provision of the polyethylene structure 14 on the non-woven cloth 16 requires the use of modified manufacturing machinery since the polyethylene structure 14 is elastic and this elasticity must be overcome by the manufacturing machine. Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown absorbent padding material 28 comprising a liquid-absorbing contact surface 30. The liquid-absorbing contact surface 30 is formed of a layer of a plastics material 32 which is provided on a layer of a non-woven cloth 34. The layer of the plastics material 30 is provided with a plurality of apertures 36 through which the liquid to be absorbed passes to the layer of the non-woven cloth 34. The apertures 36 are parallel-sided through bores as shown. These parallel-sided through bores facilitate the speed with which the liquid to be absorbed is able to pass through the layer of the plastics material 32, and they also facilitate the speed with which the liquid-absorbing contact surface 30 is able to recover its liquid-absorbing properties after use and to return to its dry state. As can be seen from Figure 3, the layer of the non-woven cloth 34 is provided on high molecular padding material 6. As can also be seen from Figure 3, the layer of the plastics material 32 is thicker than the layer of the non-woven cloth 34. The layer of the plastics material 32 is 0.1mm thick. The apertures 36 are circular in plan view. The plastics material is polyethylene and the layer of the plastics material 32 is so provided on the layer of the non-woven cloth 34 that the plastics material and the cloth form an integral composite layer. The integral composite layer has a thickness of less than 0.15mm. The integral composite layer is formed by spreading the plastics material in molton form on to the non-woven cloth and thereafter passing the non-woven cloth and the hot plastics material through a machine (not shown) for compressing and spreading the hot plastics material into the required layer of a plastics material 32 and for providing the apertures 36 in the plastics material. The apertures 36 are punched apertures 36 which are punched by the machine. The absorbent padding material 28 shown in Figure 3 is advantageous as compared with the absorbent padding material 2 shown in Figure 1 and with the absorbent padding material 10 shown in Figure 2. More specifically, because the apertures 36 are parallel sided through bores which communicate directly with the layer of the non-woven cloth 34, the speed of absorption of a liquid to be absorbed is very fast. The layer of the non-woven cloth 34 helps to prevent liquid already absorbed by the high molecular padding material 6 from passing back through the apertures 36. Preferably, as shown, the layer of the non-woven cloth 34 is thinner than the layer of the non-woven cloth 16. The hot compressing and spreading of the plastics material to form the layer of the plastics material 32 increases the strength of the layer of the non-woven cloth 34. The absorbent padding material 28 shown in Figure 3 is able very quickly to return to its state of dryness so that it can be maintained substantially constantly dry. Referring now to Table 1, there are shown the results from comparative tests in which A represents an absorbent padding material according to the present invention and of the general type shown in Figure 3, B represents an absorbent padding material of the type shown in Figure 2, and C represents an absorbent padding material of the type shown in Figure 1. Absorbent padding material A B C Absorption speed (seconds)3.067.4512.26 Dryness (g)0.021.270.03 From Table 1, it can be seen that the absorbent padding material of the present invention as shown in Figure 3 has a faster absorption speed than the absorbent padding material shown in Figure 2. The absorbent padding material shown in Figure 2 has a faster absorption speed than the absorbent padding material shown in Figure 1. The speed of absorption of the absorbent padding material shown in Figure 3 is believed to be due to the fact that the liquid-absorbing contact surface 30 is very thin, and also because the liquid to be absorbed passes through apertures 36 which are through bores having vertical sides. With regard to dryness, it will be seen from Table 1 that the liquid-absorbing contact surface of the absorbent padding material shown in Figure 3 is the one which returns to a dry state the fastest. The liquid-absorbing contact surface shown in Figure 1 is the next fastest one to return to the dry state, and the liquid-absorbing contact surface shown in Figure 2 is the slowest one to return to the dry state. It is concluded from the comparative results shown in Table 1 that the liquid-absorbing contact surface 30 shown in Figure 3 will always exhibit the fastest filtration speed and dryness. This is believed to be so irrespective of the particular type of liquid-retaining material used in the absorbent padding material so that the liquid-retaining material may be the high molecular padding material 6 or other liquid-retaining material which is not of a high molecular type. The present invention thus provides a significant advantage over the absorbent padding materials currently available and as typified by the absorbent padding materials shown in Figures 1 and 2. Furthermore, the layer of the plastics material 32 may be in the form of a plastics film which can be provided, for example punched, with a variety of different sized and shaped parallel-sided apertures in order to suit the requirements of different types of absorbent padding materials. It is to be appreciated that the embodiment of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings has been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, for example, the apertures 36 shown in Figure 3 may be of a different shape to those shown which are circular in plan view. Furthermore, the high molecular padding material 6 may be replaced by another type of liquid-retaining material.	An absorbent padding material (28) comprising padding (6) having a liquid-absorbing contact surface (30) formed of a layer of plastics material (32) provided on a layer of a non-woven cloth (34), the layer of the plastics material (32) being provided with a plurality of apertures (36) through which the liquid to be absorbed passes to the non-woven cloth (34), characterised by the combination of the apertures (36) being parallel-sided through bores and the layer of the plastics material (32) being thicker than the layer of the non-woven cloth (34), for facilitating the speed with which the liquid to be absorbed is able to pass through the layer of the plastics material (32), and for facilitating the speed with which the liquid-absorbing contact surface (30) is able to recover its liquid-absorbing properties after use. An absorbent padding material according to claim 1 in which the layer of the plastics material (32) is 0.1mm thick. An absorbent padding material according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the apertures (36) are circular apertures in plan view. An absorbent padding material according to any one of the preceding claims in which the layer of the plastics material (32) is so provided on the layer of the non-woven cloth (34) that the plastics material and the cloth form an integral composite layer. An absorbent padding material according to claim 4 in which the integral composite layer has a thickness of less than 0.15mm. An absorbent padding material according to claim 4 or claim 5 in which the integral composite layer is formed by spreading the plastics material in molten form on to the non-woven cloth and thereafter passing the non-woven cloth and the hot plastics material through a machine for compressing and spreading the hot plastics material into the required layer and for providing the apertures (36) in the plastics material. An absorbent padding material according to any one of the preceding claims and including a liquid-retaining material (6). A personal sanitary product when comprising an absorbent padding material (28) according to any one of the preceding claims.	KANG NA HSIUNG ENTERPRISE CO L; KANG NA HSIUNG ENTERPRISE CO. LTD.	TAI TSAI-SHENG; TAI, TSAI-SHENG
EP-0489206-B1	489,206	EP	B1	EN	19,970,219	1,992	20,100,220	new	A61L15	A61L25, A61L27	A61L26, A61L27	A61L 27/26+C08L5/14, A61L 26/00B8+C08L5/14, A61L 27/60, A61L 26/00B8+C08L33/26, A61L 27/26+C08L33/26	Synthetic skin substitutes	Membranes suitable for use as wound dressings and in particular as synthetic skin substitutes are disclosed. The membranes consist of a natural or synthetic polymer, a non-gellable polysaccharide and a cross-linking agent. The membranes of the invention may contain one or more additional components selected from water-loss control agents, emulsifying agents and plasticisers. An internal reinforcing material may also be provided to supplement the inherent mechanical strength of the membrane. Methods of forming such membranes are also disclosed.	This invention relates to a membrane suitable for use as a wound dressing. More particularly, it relates to a membrane suitable for use as a synthetic skin substitute. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe outer layer of skin surrounding the body performs an important protective function as a barrier to infection and as a means of regulating the exchange of heat, fluid and gas between the body and external environment. Where the skin is removed or damaged by being abraded, burnt or lacerated, this protective function is diminished. Such areas of damaged skin are therefore conventionally protected by the application of a wound dressing which serves as a skin substitute. Examples of wound dressings which have been developed are hydrocolloid dressings. UK Patent Number 1471013 and US Patent Number 3969498 to Catania et al describe hydrocolloid dressings which are plasma soluble, which form an artificial eschar with the moist elements at the wound site, and which gradually dissolve to release medicaments. These dressings comprise a hydrophilic foam of dextran polymer which can be applied without inunction, is non-irritating to the lesion and is easily removed. Known hydrocolloid dressings in general, and the Catania dressings in particular, are however subject to a number of drawbacks. The major disadvantages of these dressings are that they disintegrate in the presence of excess fluid at the wound site and that they have little if any control over water loss from the wound. This latter disadvantage is particularly important as excess water loss from a wound will cause an increase in heat loss from the body as a whole, potentially leading to hypermetabolism. In addition, such hydrocolloid dressings as are known require frequent dressing changes. This is especially true of the Catania dressing due to the dissolution of the dextran polymer at the wound site by the fluid lost through the wound in the exudative stage. New Zealand Patent Specification Number 198344 discloses a bandage which contains a medicament that is administered topically to the skin of a patient. The bandage disclosed comprises a backing element and a self-adhesive matrix, which matrix in turn comprises a solid phase and a liquid phase with the medicament being molecularly dispersed in the matrix. While the solid phase of the matrix can comprise synthetic polymers and natural gums, no teaching is provided of a synthetic skin substitute which can consist of only a natural or synthetic polymer, a non-gellable polysaccharide and a cross-linking agent. It is an object of the present invention to go some way towards overcoming the above disadvantages or at least to provide the public with a useful choice. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, the present invention provides a membrane suitable for use as a synthetic skin substitute characterised in that it comprises a polyacrylamide crosslinked mass and a non-gellable polysaccharide incorporated into said mass wherein said polymeric polyacrylamide crosslinked mass comprises acrylamide monomers cross-linked together by a cross-linking agent. Conveniently, the non-gellable polysaccharide is a non-gellable galactomannan. As used herein, the term non-gellable means a substance which has no gelling properties in itself, i.e. which does not undergo conformational transition during heating and cooling. In preferred embodiments, the membrane further includes one or more of a water loss control agent, a plasticizer and an emulsifying agent. The membrane optionally also includes a reinforcing material, preferably perforated, in order to increase its overall strength. A method of preparing a membrane is also described herein which method comprises the following steps: dispersing a non-gellable polysaccharide in water; adding to said dispersion a natural or synthetic monomeric or polymeric material, a cross-linking agent and a cross-linking catalyst, and mixing as appropriate; adding the mixture thus formed to a membrane casting apparatus; and allowing said mixture to remain in said apparatus under appropriate conditions and for a sufficient time for said membrane to form. Where the natural or synthetic material is acrylamide, the mixture is maintained in the membrane casting apparatus in the substantial absence of oxygen and at a temperature below 10°C. Conveniently, said dispersion includes a hydration control agent such as isopropyl alcohol (propan-2-ol) to enhance the formation of a coherent close knit mass of non-gellable polysaccharide. It will be appreciated that the monomeric or polymeric material, the cross-linking agent and the cross-linking catalyst can be added to the dispersion together or separately. Conveniently, the method includes the preliminary step of forming a solution comprising the monomeric or polymeric material, the cross-linking agent and the cross-linking catalyst and adding the solution to the dispersion. Alternatively, the method may include the steps of forming a solution comprising the monomeric or polymeric material and the cross-linking agent, adding the solution to the dispersion and conducting a first mixing step, then adding the cross-linking catalyst and conducting a second mixing step prior to adding the mixture to the membrane casting apparatus. Where the membrane is to include a perforated reinforcing material, the material is appropriately positioned within the casting apparatus prior to the addition of the mixture. Also described herein is a membrane casting apparatus including: first and second framing members, said framing members being positionable opposite and substantially parallel to each other; a plurality of partitioning members, said partitioning members being positionable spaced apart between said framing members andsubstantially parallel to each other such that a separate open-ended compartment is formed between the framing members and adjacent partitioning members; means capable of spacing said partitioning members apart; means capable of retaining said partitioning members in position; a first closure member capable of covering one open end of each compartment; and a second closure member capable of covering the other open end of each compartment; the arrangement being such that when assembled, each said compartment is closed and the ingress of air thereinto is resisted. In some embodiments, a single structure can function as both the spacing means and the retaining means. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes a substantially rectangular backing member, said backing member having attached thereto said first and second framing members at opposite ends thereof. In this embodiment the positioning means conveniently comprises means cooperable with the partitioning members and which bias the partitioning members toward the backing member, and the spacing means comprises spacing elements provided on the same side but at or towards the opposite ends of each partitioning member which elements in use abut against the adjacent partitioning member. In still a further aspect, the invention consists in a method of treating burns, donor sites, excised wounds, ulcers or dermal abrasions comprising applying a membrane as defined above to said burn, donor site, wound, ulcer or abrasion. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGAlthough the invention has been broadly described above, it will be understood that it is not limited to the foregoing but also consists in embodiments of which the following description gives examples. In addition, aspects of the invention will be more fully understood by having reference to the drawing accompanying the specification showing the preferred form of the membrane casting apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONIn one embodiment, the invention comprises a wound dressing in the form of a flexible membrane. The membrane is particularly suited for use as a skin substitute where the skin of a patient has been removed or damaged by for example abrasion or burning. In the broadest aspect of this embodiment of the invention, the membrane includes a natural or synthetic polymer and a non-gellable polysaccharide. In the presently preferred formulation of the invention where the natural or synthetic polymer is polyacrylamide, the acrylamide monomers are cross-linked with a cross-linking agent to form a thermally stable three dimensional coherent mass. The presently preferred cross-linking agent is NNN'N'-methylenebisacrylamide although other appropriate cross-linking agents such as bisacrylylcystamine and diallyltartar diamide may also be used. The final component of the membrane is a non-gellable polysaccharide, preferably a galactomannan macromolecule. The non-gellable nature of the polysaccharide component has been found by the applicants to be critical to the capability of the membrane to function as a viable skin substitute consisting of only the natural or synthetic polymer, the polysaccharide and a cross-linking agent. In previous unreported investigations, the applicants have formed membranes comprising a natural or synthetic polymer, a gellable polysaccharide and a cross-linking agent. However, while the membranes thus formed have high mechanical strength they exhibit little flexibility, elasticity or water-absorbing ability. The poor performance of such membranes in terms of their flexibility, elasticity and water-absorbing ability makes them unsuitable for use as a viable skin substitute. In contrast, the inclusion of the non-gellable polysaccharide component together with a natural or synthetic polymer and a cross-linking agent forms a membrane which exhibits desirable properties in terms of its ability of function as a skin substitute. In particular, the membrane of the invention consisting only of the polymer component, the non-gellable polysaccharide component and the cross-linking agent has high mechanical strength, flexibility, elasticity and water-absorbing ability. The inclusion of the non-gellable polysaccharide also avoids or reduces the problem of shrinkage and fragility attendant upon the membrane drying and reduces the pore size of the inherent membrane, thereby making it substantially impermeable to microorganisms. Conveniently, the non-gellable polysaccharide is a non-gellable galactomannan macromolecule such as guar gum due to its rigid nature. However, other macromolecules such as lucerne, fenugreek, honey locust bean gum, white clover bean gum and carob locust bean gum may also be used. In the presently preferred embodiment where the polymer is polyacrylamide, the non-gellable polysaccharide is incorporated within the polyacrylamide cross-linked mass. In addition to the essential components described above, in its preferred form the membrane contains a number of further components. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the membrane incorporates a hydrophobic water loss control agent such as a phospholipid. Phospholipid is an essential water holding lipid of human skin and therefore its inclusion as a component of the membrane will provide an additional barrier to both heat and water loss from the wound, thus aiding in the restoration of normal metabolism. Variation in the amount of phospholipid incorporated into the membrane adjusts the rate of water vapour transport of the membrane by effecting the water permeability of the strucutre. By way of example incorporation of 10% W/W of the phospholipid, L-α-phosphatidylcholine into the membrane allows water permeability of approximately 1400-2200 grams/m2/24 hours, which is well within the range of 2000-2500 gram/m2/24 hours required for burn coverings. Inclusion of a phospholipid component in the membrane also has an additional advantage in that the dressing is more adherent to both intact and abraded skin when a phospholipid is present. As indicated above, the presently preferred water loss control agent is L-α-phosphatidylcholine. However, substances other than phospholipids which control water loss such as glycolipids, ceramides, free fatty acids, cholesterol, triglycerides, sterylesters, cholesteryl sulfate, linoleic ethyl ester and silicone oil may also be used. The use of phospholipid as the water loss control agent also has other advantages. In particular, where it is desired to use the membrane as a sustained topical drug delivery device, the phospholipid may be incorporated in the form of lipid vesicle liposomes containing the desired drug. By way of example, various antimicrobial compounds, germicides, steroids, anaesthetics, chemotactic agents, angiogenic agents and epidermal growth factors may be incorporated in the membrane of the present invention in this manner. A further component which it is desirable to incorporate into the membrane of the invention is an emulsifying agent. Inclusion of this component enhances the emulsification of the water loss control agent component into the membrane. The presently preferred emulsifier is the anionic surfactant sodium lauryl sulphate but other anionic surfactants and non-ionic surfactants such as tweens, triton-X and pluronics may also be used. Where the membrane is to be used as a skin substitute in an area which requires a particular degree of elasticity, a plasticiser such as glycerol may be incorporated into the composition as an additional component. Glycerol may be substituted by other known plasticisers such as sorbitol, propylene glycols, PEG-400, PEG-75-lanolin oil, diethylene glycol, acetylated lanolin or mixtures thereof. The membrane optionally further includes a reinforcing material to enhance the strength of the product. The reinforcing material is preferably in the form of a sheet or net of material, the shape and dimensions of which correspond substantially to those of the membrane to be coextensive therewith. It is further preferred that the material be incorporated having a membrane layer on either side thereof. In this embodiment, the reinforcing material is perforated to allow both sides of the membrane to bond together through the perforations and to allow fluid communication between both sides of the membrane. This latter feature is important to maximise the absorptive capacity of the membrane for wound exudate. The presently preferred reinforcing material is a perforated polyester material. However, any of those reinforcing materials known in the art which would be suitable for the purpose could be used. By way of illustration, polyethylene, polypropylene. PVC, polystyrene, PTFE, cellulose derivatives, polybutadiene, polylactide, polyurethane, polypeptides, poly (E-caprolactone), nylon, keratin, collagen, chitin, chitosen, Styrene-butadiene copolomers and derivatives thereof can also be used, either alone or in a mixture. The membranes according to the present invention may be prepared in accordance with the following process. The first step of the process comprises the formation of a dispersion of the non-gellable polysaccharide component of the membrane in water. This dispersion may advantageously also include a hydration control agent for the polysaccharide to enhance the formation of a coherent, close-knit mass. In addition, where such a hydration control agent is present, the polysaccharide macromolecule can be used at higher concentrations. An example of suitable hydration control agent is isopropyl alcohol (propan-2-ol). The second step of the process involves the addition of the remaining components of the membrane (the monomeric or polymeric material and the cross-linking agent) together with a cross-linking catalyst to the dispersion. The cross-linking catalyst is added to catalyse the cross-linking reaction involved in the formation of the membrane. Examples of suitable catalysts are NNN'N'-tetramethylene diamine and ammonium persulfate. All of the components are then mixed together and homogenized before being poured into a membrane casting apparatus. Although it is preferred that the membrane casting apparatus is that described hereinafter as an aspect of the invention, this is not critical. Instead, the casting apparatus may be any of those known in the art suitable for this purpose. Where the membrane being formed includes acrylamide monomers cross-linked to form polyacrylamide, the mixture is then maintained in the absence of oxygen and at a temperature of less than 10°C for a period of time sufficient for the membrane to form. Conveniently, the mixture is maintained at a temperature between 4° and 10°C during the polymerisation process. The monomeric or polymeric material, the cross-linking agent and the cross-linking catalyst can be added to the dispersion either together or separately. Where each of the above components are to be added to the dispersion together, a solution containing them is formed which is then added to the dispersion. The solution and the dispersion are then mixed to provide the mixture to be added to the membrane casting apparatus. In other embodiments of the method, the monomeric or polymeric material and the cross-linking agent are added to the dispersion separately from the cross-linking catalyst. In this embodiment, a solution comprising the monomeric or polymeric material and the cross-linking agent is added to the dispersion and a first mixing step conducted. The cross-linking catalyst is then added, a second mixing step conducted, and the resulting mixture poured into the membrane casting apparatus. Where the membrane to be formed is also to include a water loss control agent and/or an emulsifying agent as components, these are also added to the dispersion prior to the mixing step. Again, these preferred components can be added either separately or together with the other components. Where the membrane is to include a reinforcing material, this material is positioned with each compartment of the membrane casting apparatus prior to the addition of the polymerisation mixture. If desired, the incorporation of the plasticiser into the membrane is achieved by immersing the membrane formed as above into an aqueous solution of the plasticiser. The concentration of the plasticiser and duration of the membrane immersion in the aqueous solution will depend on the degree of elasticity desired for that particular membrane. The present invention will be more clearly understood by having reference to the following non-limiting examples. EXAMPLE 1: Formation of a membrane including acrylamide.0.8 g of purified guar-gum (molecular weight of 2.2 million) was dispersed in 20 ml of a mixture containing 2 ml of isopropyl alcohol (propan-2-ol) and 18 ml distilled water to form a dispersion. 7 g of monomeric acrylamide and 160 mg of NN'-methylenebisacrylamide were dissolved in 20 ml of distilled water to form a solution. 0.8 g of L-α-phosphatidylcholine was solubilised in 20 ml of distilled water using 50 mg of sodium lauryl sulfate using an ultrasonic probe to form a second dispersion. The solution and the second dispersion were then added to the first dispersion and homogenised for about five minutes. 100µl of NNN'N'-tetramethylene-diamine and 100 mg of ammonium persulfate were then added to and mixed into the mixture. The resulting mixture was then poured into a membrane casting apparatus as is described below and allowed to cross-link in the absence of air and at a temperature of from 4° to 10°C for period of time sufficient to allow the membrane to form. The membrane was then removed from the casting apparatus and immersed in normal saline to remove the unreacted substances, followed by immersion in a 5% w/w aqueous glycerol solution for 5 hours and then dried at 50°C. When dry, the membrane was sterilized. The technique used was exposure to ethylene oxide but other techniques such as autoclaving or radiation are equally applicable. The above examples is merely provided as an indication of the procedure to be followed in preparing the membranes according to the invention. In particular, it will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art that the amount of each component will vary depending on the size of the membrane to be formed and on the particular requirements of the site to which it is to be applied. Further, the membrane can be made in any size by appropriate modification of the membrane casting apparatus. A membrane casting apparatus which may be used to make the membrane is also described herein. The apparatus includes first and second framing members which are positionable opposite and substantially parallel to each other. The apparatus further includes a plurality of partitioning members which are in turn positionable between the first and second framing members. The partitioning members are spaced apart and substantially parallel to each other. In this way, a separate open-ended compartment is formed between the first and second framing members and each pair of adjacent partitioning members. The apparatus also includes means by which the partitioning members can be spaced apart. The spacing means can be provided as a part of either the partitioning members themselves or the framing members. As a part of the framing members the spacing is achieved by provision of a series of slots in the surfaces of the framing members which face each other, the slots being cooperable with the distal ends of the partitioning members. In this embodiment the slots and ends of the partitioning members cooperable with the slots are preferably shaped such that the partitioning members are retained in position. In this way, the partitioning members and the framing members can be arranged into a structure which provides a series of open-ended compartments, but which is easily and quickly disassemblable. In the presently preferred embodiment, the spacing is achieved by spacing elements attached to the partitioning members themselves. Conveniently, the spacing elements are of substantially the same dimensions and are attached to opposite ends of the partitioning members. In this way, the spacing between the partitioning members can be varied as desired, which in turn varies both the volume of the compartment formed and the thickness of membrane being cast. The apparatus also includes means by which the partitioning members can be retained in position. Where the spacing of the partitioning members is achieved by the provision of slots in the framing members, the positioning means comprises the slots themselves appropriately shaped to retain the ends of the partitioning members in place. In the alternative and preferred embodiment, the positioning means comprises means cooperable with the partitioning members and which bias the partitioning members towards a fixed element of the apparatus. This fixed element may comprise either the final partitioning member of the series or a backing member positioned parallel to the partitioning members and which has the framing members positioned at opposite ends thereof. The casting apparatus is completed by the provision of first and second closure members which close or cover the open ends of the compartments formed between the partitioning and framing members. In this way when all the components of the apparatus are assembled together, a plurality of closed compartments are provided into which the ingress of air is resisted. The components of the casting apparatus can be formed from any material which is not affected by polymerisation reaction involved in the formation of the membrane. However, a transparent plastics or glass material is preferred to allow the polymerisation process to be observed without opening the compartments to air. The most preferred construction of the membrane casting apparatus will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing. As shown, first and second framing members 12, 14 are provided at opposite ends of a backing member 16. Between the framing members 12 and 14 are positioned a plurality of partitioning members 18 which are substantially parallel to backing member 16. Partitioning members 18 are spaced apart from each other by the provision of spacing elements 20 at opposite ends of each partitioning member 18. A plurality of separate open-ended compartments 17 are thus formed between the partitioning members. As shown, these spacing elements 20 abut directly against the adjacent partitioning member 18 and set the distance between each pair of partitioning members. Alternatively, where a reinforcing material is to be included in the membrane, the spacing elements 20 abut against secondary spacing elements (not shown) projecting from the surface of the adjacent partitioning member 18. The provision of the secondary spacing elements allows the reinforcing material to be fixed in a position within each compartment by being held between the abutting surfaces of the respective spacing elements. The preferred apparatus also includes paired positioning means which bias the partitioning members 18 toward backing member 16. As shown each positioning means comprises a portion 22 for contacting the outermost partitioning member and a spring 24 attached at one end to the contact portion 22 and at the other end to backing member 16. At the end of framing members 12 and 14 remote from backing member 16 there is provided a ledge 26 onto which contact portion 22 can be positioned out of engagement with the partitioning members 18 to allow for easy removal of the partitioning members. A gripping element 28 is also attached to each contact portion 22 to facilitate the movement of the contact portion to its rest postion on ledge 26. The apparatus further includes closure members in the form of a lid 30 and a base 32 which serve to cover the top and bottom openings of each compartment 17. Lid 30 is also provided with a gripping element 34 to allow easy removal. In operation, the components of the apparatus as shown are assembled. Where the membrane is to include a reinforcing material, this is positioned in each compartment 17 and held in position between the spacing elements. The mixture formed in accordance with the process of the invention is added to the compartments 17 and the lid 30 positioned to close each compartment. Following the formation of the membrane, the lid 30 is removed, the contact portion 22 is moved out of engagement with the outermost partitioning member and the partitioning members 18 removed. The formed membranes are then separated from the partitioning members for further treatment. The membranes of the invention of the preferred polyacrylamide formulation have been subjected to a number of tests. The results of these tests are as follows. The polyacrylamide membranes of the present invention formed as above are permeable to water vapour. The water vapour permeation transmission was determined on excised skin wounds of rats covered with a membrane. An EVAPORIMETER (Servomed AB) was used to find the water vapour transmission. The data obtained shows that the permeability of membrane is in the range of 1400-2500 grams/m2/24 hours. The membranes therefore have water vapour transport characteristics sufficient to keep the underlying tissues moist without fluid pooling or dehydration, both of which conditions retard wound healing. The oxygen permeability of the membrane was measured by using a specially designed oxygen permeability cell using an oxygen electrode. The data obtained shows that the dissolved oxygen permeability of the membrane is in the range of 1.4-2.40 x 10-9 [cm3.(STP).cm/cm.2sec.cm.Hg]. Therefore the membrane is highly permeable to oxygen which will promote wound healing. The polyacrylamide membranes of the present invention also have a high absorption capacity for exudate and tissue secretions at the wound site. When the membrane was immersed in distilled water at ambient temperature of 22°C, the rate of water absorption was 900% in 24 hours, without losing durability. The present membranes are therefore highly suitable for use in treating wounds which produce large amounts of exudate. The membranes of the present invention are also elastic, self-supporting and flexible. Tensile properties of the polyacrylamide membranes were studied according to ASTM D882-81, 1981 at 65% relative humidity (21°C). The elongation at the breaking point of the membrane is 400-750%, with a tensile strength of 2-3 MPa and an initial modulus of 0.5-0.9 MPa. It will be clear to those persons skilled in the art that the elasticity of the membrane can be adjusted by altering the concentration of plasticizer and components of the membrane, allowing the membrane to be stretched over joints without causing a shear stress that will break the adherence between the dressing and the wound surface. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the membrane according to the invention as a skin substitute, the following clinical experiments were performed. EXPERIMENT 1The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effectiveness of the membrane of the invention (SSS) in the management of excised skin wound in the rats. Its effectiveness has been compared with two marketed products Geliperm® Dry (Geistlich Pharma) and Bioclusive (Johnson and Johnson) used for the same purpose. ExperimentationSprague-Dawley rats weighing 200-250 gms were anaesthetised by an intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital and shaved with a clipper. A 4 x 4 cm area, about 15% of the rat skin, was excised from the dorsal surface with a Reese Drum Dermatome. Histological studies of the skin sections revealed that it was a split thickness injury covering epidermis and most of the dermis. A total of 20 rats were used in the study. Three groups comprising of five randomly selected rats were applied with SSS or Bioclusive or Geliperm Dry® and the remaining five rats used as controls with air exposure. In the case of SSS and Geliperm®, the membranes were fixed to the wound site with the help of an adhesive tape. All the animals were observed daily for the evaporative water loss through the membranes, appearance of the wound and the rate of healing. ResultsSSS adhered uniformly onto the wound surface and absorbed exudate from the wound. SSS also appeared to stop bleeding at the wound site and acted as a haemostatic agent. Bioclusive, due to its thin and flexible nature also conformed well to the wound surface. However, it did not absorb the exudate from the wound. Geliperm Dry®, a hydrogel dressing, did not adhere uniformly to the wound site and air pockets were observed between the wound and the dressing. In addition, the membrane showed mimimal exudate absorbing capacity. When the animals were inspected on day 3 post operation, all rats with Bioclusive showed evidence of pooling of excess exudate and maceration of the wound. The exudate was shown to be contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Rats with Geliperm Dry® showed no adherence to the wound. As it did not protect the wound from desiccation, a thick crust formation on the wound surface was observed. Animals treated with SSS showed uniform adherence to the wound, without fluid accumulation and with no infection. On day 8 post-operation the animals were examined for their degree of epithelialisation at the wound site and the results are presented in Table 1. Treatment Percentage of wound area re-epithelialised at day 8 of post-operation Air exposed50 Bioclusive78 Geliperm Dry60 SSS100 As seen from Table 1, animals treated with SSS showed complete wound healing. The entire area also showed uniform growth of hair. Treatment with Bioclusive was quite impressive with an average of 78% of area smoothly re-epithelialised but without any evidence of hair growth. Surface culture showed the presence of infection but it was less that that observed at 3 day post-injury. Those treated with Geliperm Dry® showed an average of 60% wound reduction, but crust formation was clearly evident. EXPERIMENT 2A clinical report of the usefulness of 'SSS' on scald burnsA young male aged sixteen sustained a scald burn injury to his leg due to the bursting of a hot water bottle. The patient was first inspected two days post-burn and burn injury ranged from superficial to full thickness with oedema and inflammation. Before the application of SSS, necrotic tissues and blisters were debrided, the wound was cleaned with Savlon solution and then rinsed with normal saline. SSS was applied to the area only with full-thickness burns and held in place with a gauze dressing. At the time of the first follow up visit, three days post-burn, SSS was found uniformly adhering to the wound. The wound was clean and without any sign of exudate accumulation, infection or inflammation. Though the same dressing could have been applied again, it was replaced with a fresh sheet of SSS and wrapped with gauze. On six days post-burn (4th day post-treatment), epithelialisation had already started and wound size reduced. At inspection on ten days post-burn, the wound was completely healed. As the re-epithelialisation was complete, SSS began to separate out from the wound surface. During the course of treatment, the patient resumed his daily activities and experienced minimal inconvenience. EXPERIMENT 3A young female aged five was severely burned as her clothes caught fire. Forty percent of her body surface was involved mainly localised on the trunk and all were deep dermal burns. Debridement and split thickness skin graft on the back was performed on day 12 following injury. A skin graft was taken from the back of right thigh. SSS was applied both on the donor and recipient areas. The wounds were examined on day 2 following application of SSS. Marked submembrane collection was detected in both sites (culture of the effusion yielded Pseudomonas). The wounds were thoroughly cleaned with antiseptics. Fresh SSS was applied on the donor sites. On day 5 post-application of SSS, three quarters of the graft had taken. The dressing on the donor sites was kept intact till day 9 at which time 85% of the wound was epithelised. Subsequently, skin grafting was performed on the anterior chest and abdominal walls of the patient. Split thickness skin grafts were taken from both the legs and buttock of the patient. SSS was applied to the donor site. Dressings on the donor sites were changed because the effusion soaked through the dressings. Fresh SSS was applied and was then kept intact for another seven days. The result was a complete epithelization on the donor areas. EXPERIMENT 4A young male aged 11 sustained 10% superficial burn injuries on the back after scalding by hot water. SSS was applied after the wound was cleaned with Savlon. The SSS was changed on day 2 after application because of marked submembrane collection. The dressings were replaced and remained dry until removal after 7 days. At the time of removal, complete epithelization of the wound had occurred. Minimal scarring of the patient was detectable three months after healing. EXPERIMENT 5A male patient aged 28 sustained deep dermal burn injuries to the middle and ring fingers of right hand due to spillage of hot tar. The wound was initially treated with topical antibiotics because of marked contaminations. SSS was applied 10 days after injury and the wound examined every two days subsequently. No further dressing was necessary as minimal effusion was detected. The wound was found to be completely epithelised beneath the SSS on day 7 following application. Minimal stiffness of the fingers was detectable two months later. Accordingly the membranes of the present invention possess numerous advantages over those hydrocolloid or hydrogel wound dressings previously known. The present membranes will not dissolve in water and therefore require less frequent dressing changes. This results in significant cost savings and also enhances the wound healing processes by minimising disturbances of the wound. The membranes of the present invention can be applied to the wound site in various forms. They can be applied to the wound site either as a wet or dry membrane. In the former cases, the membrane can be soaked in saline solution for few seconds before use. They can also be used in dry powder, wet granules or paste form. The latter form is most useful for deep cavities or exudative lesions such as decubitus and venous ulcers. In addition to the above, the membranes of the invention adhere to any moist surface rapidly and are also strong enough to resist shear stresses. The adherence is uniform and therefore eliminates the fluid filled pockets where bacteria may proliferate as a result of non-adherence. Where, as is preferred, the membranes incorporate a phospholipid, it is also possible to regulate the water vapour transport of the membrane and to thereby decrease the amount of water lost from the wound. This phospholipid component may also be incorporated in the form of lipid vesicle liposomes containing drugs to be administered topically. In this form, the resistance to dissolution also increases the efficiency of the present membrane as a delivery system for topical therapy as compared to those dressings known. By way of example the aerated dextran dry foam described by Catania et al in US Patent No. 3969498 dissolves in water in thirty seconds or less, thus releasing the incorporated drug immediately at the open wound site. In contrast, the membranes of the present invention release the drug slowly over a prolonged period of time, thus eliminating the hazards of dose dumping. The membranes are also impermeable to microorganisms and accordingly assists wound healing by keeping the wound clean. Where the membranes incorporate a perforated reinforcing material, the overall strength of the membranes is increased, together with their conformability. This latter feature in particular allows the membranes to be moulded to fit the surface to be covered. Other advantages of the membranes reside in their transparent nature, allowing wound inspection without removal, and in that they are non-toxic, non-allergenic, antiseptic, easy to apply and remove without inunction, allow gaseous exchange, provide thermal insulation for the wound and are relatively inexpensive. Thus, in accordance with the present invention there are provided membranes particularly suitable for use as synthetic skin substitutes. To those persons skilled in the art the invention will have obvious utility as a short and long term skin substitute for second and third degree burns, excised wounds, donor sites, ulcers and dermal abrasions. It will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art that the above description is provided by way of example only and that it should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of invention to which the applicants are entitled.	A membrane suitable for use as a synthetic skin substitute characterised in that it comprises a polyacrylamide crosslinked mass and a non-gellable polysaccharide incorporated into said mass wherein said polymeric polyacrylamide crosslinked mass comprises acrylamide monomers cross-linked together by a cross-linking agent. A membrane as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the non-gellable polysaccharide is a non-gellable galactomannan. A membrane as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that the non-gellable galactomannan is guar gum, honey locust bean gum, white clover bean gum or carob locust bean gum. A membrane as claimed in claim 3, characterised in that the non-gellable galactomannan is guar gum. A membrane as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the cross-linking agent is NN'-methylenebisacrylamide, bisacrylylcystamine or diallyltartar diamide. A membrane as claimed in claim 5 characterised in that the crosslinking agent is NN'-methylenebisacrylamide. A membrane as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it comprises an active agent for delivery to the skin. A membrane as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that it comprises a water-loss control agent. A membrane as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that the water-loss control agent is a phospholipid. A membrane as claimed in claim 9, characterised in that the phospholipid is L-α-phosphatidylcholine. A membrane as claimed in claim 9 or 10, characterised in that the phospholipid is present in the form of lipid vesicle liposomes which contain an active agent for delivery to the surface upon which the membrane is disposed in use. A membrane as claimed in claim 11, characterised in that the active agent for delivery is an antimicrobial compound, a germicide, a steroid, an anaesthetic, a chemotactic agent, an angiogenic agent or an epidermal growth factor. A membrane as claimed in any of claims 1 to 12, characterised in that it comprises an emulsifying agent. A membrane as claimed in claim 13, characterised in that the emulsifying agent is sodium lauryl sulphate. A membrane as claimed in any of claims 1 to 14, characterised in that it comprises a plasticizer. A membrane as claimed in claim 15, characterised in that the plasticizer is glycerol, sorbitol, a propylene glycol, PEG-400, PEG-75-lanolin oil, diethylene glycol, acetylated lanolin or a mixture thereof. A membrane as claimed in any of claims 1 to 16, characterised in that it comprises a reinforcing material. A membrane as claimed in claim 17, characterised in that the reinforcing material is a plastic net or mesh, or a perforated sheet of plastic material. A membrane as claimed in claim 18, characterised in that the reinforcing material comprises a perforated polyester sheet. Use of a polyacrylamide crosslinked mass and a non gellable polysaccharide incorporated into said mass wherein said polyacrylamide crosslinked mass comprises acrylamide monomers crosslinked together by a crosslinking agent for the manufacture of a membrane as claimed in any of clams 1 to 9 for the treatment of burns, donor sites, wounds, ulcers or abrasions. A process for the manufacture of a membrane as claimed in any of claims 1 to 19 characterised in that it comprises processing a polyacrylamide crosslinked mass and a non gellable polysaccharide incorporated into said mass wherein said polymeric polyacrylamide crosslinked mass comprises acrylamide monomers crosslinked together by a crosslinking agent to form a membrane.	ZENITH TECHNOLOGY CORP LTD; ZENODERM LIMITED	HUNG CHEUNG-TAK; NANGIA AVINASH C; HUNG, CHEUNG-TAK; NANGIA, AVINASH; NANGIA, AVINASH, C/-UNIV. SAN FRANCISCO
EP-0489208-B1	489,208	EP	B1	EN	19,950,510	1,992	20,100,220	new	F01C1	F02B53	F02B53, F02B75, F01C1	F01C 1/10E, R02B75:02S4, F02B 53/02	Rotary engine, pump or compressor, with triangular cylinder	Describing in simplicity, this research-the new engine (herein after referred to YTRE) is related to a kind of triangular rotation instead of linear reciprocating motion, which comprises an oval rotor (2) set to revolve along three cylinder walls combined inside a cylinder block (1) to achieve a new combustion moving function of an internal combustion engine with smaller volume, less weight, less parts but stronger power so as military vehicle or vessels can be served with better capability and efficiency in the field. The Three-in-One (three cylinders combined in one) principle means the three cylinder walls are incorporated into one unit in which a rotor rotates. It performs the function three times compared to a conventional cylinder. Since no linkage is used, and crank and most parts are commonly used, the size can be greatly reduced while the power is relatively increased. Because several intake (12) and exhaust ports (12) can be simultaneously used during each stroke, the efficiency in intaking and exhausting strokes is greatly improved which means the thermodynamics is fully utilized. The rotor is designed for circulation therethrough of air and engine oil, better lubricating and cooling effects can be achieved. The rotor is constantly disposed to contact the cylinder walls during its rotary motion around a circle, high compression ratio is simultaneously achieved as needed.	The present invention relates to a rotary engine, pump or compressor of the type comprising a cylinder block defining a triangular chamber with convex arcuate walls connected by rounded corners, and an oval rotor mounted in the chamber for revolution around the inner wall surfaces thereof by a crankshaft which is slidable in a central slideway of the rotor and is connected at opposite ends to respective axles for transmitting drive to and from the rotor, the rotor being rotatable through 60° about two centres of the oval in alternation whereby, for one complete cycle of revolution, the rotor rotates about three instantaneous centres disposed at the corners of a regular triangle, causing changes in the volume of the spaces between the opposite sides of the rotor and the walls of the chamber. Rotary engines, pumps and compressors of this type are known from US-A-3996901. In 1878, Nicholas Otto disclosed an internal combustion engine to obtain power from heat and pressure produced by the combustion of a fuel-and-air mixture inside a closed cylinder through a four-stroke cycle. Today's engines are generally developed on the principle disclosed by Nicholas Otto. A certain period of years after Otto's disclosure, a compression ignition type of internal combustion engine was developed by Diesel. Few years after, a two-stroke (cycle) engine was developed. In the aforesaid engines, a reciprocating piston is commonly used to produce power output. Several years after the invention of two-stroke reciprocating engine, centrifugal type and axial-flow type jet engines and stroke engines were developed one after another. In 1950, Wankel (a German engineer and inventor) developed a rotary internal-combustion engine having a three-lobed rotor and requiring fewer parts than a comparable piston-operated engine. The common disadvantages of the traditional reciprocating engines and the recent rotary engines are numerous. These engines are heavy, complicated in structure, expensive to manufacture, less efficient and less powerful, and/or will produce strong vibration during operation. The object of the present invention is to try to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages. According to the present invention, there is provided a rotary engine, pump or compressor of the aforesaid type, characterised in that two pulley wheels are rotatably attached to the rotor on opposite sides of each centre of the oval, and in that each axle carries a respective fanshaped wheel which is disposed at or constitutes the connection between the axle and the crankshaft and which has a sector of 120° regular circular arc at one end and a 240° curved circular arc at the opposite end, each fanshaped wheel being disposed in continuous contact with the two pulley wheels on the corresponding side of the rotor to guide the pulley wheels to rotate along a track of circular arc, permitting the crankshaft to slide relative to the rotor and guide the latter to revolve in a fixed direction. Preferred features of the invention are defined in the dependent Claims 2 to 8 below. An engine, pump or compressor according to the present invention can easily achieve a high compression ratio, produce high torque force, minimize space occupation, and fully utilize heat power so that its function can be highly improved. Brief Description of the DrawingsThe present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the annexed drawings, in which: Fig. 1 illustrates the outer appearance of the cylinder block of a rotary engine according to the preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure. 1-1 is a perspective sectional view of the cylinder block; Fig. 2 is a perspective and partly sectional view of the rotor of the preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the crank shaft; Fig. 4 is a perspective sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the power output of the invention; Fig. 6 is a schematic plan view of the rotor; Fig. 7 is a partly enlarged view taken on Fig. 2; Fig. 8 is a partly enlarged view taken on Fig. 4, illustrating a roller and an area where barriers are overlapped; Fig. 9 is a sectional side view of a one-way intake valve of the preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 10 is a schematic drawing illustrating the intersected area inside the rotor; Fig. 11 is a schematic drawing illustrating the circulation of gas and engine oil inside the cylinder block; Fig. 12 is a schematic drawing illustrating the relative relations among the internal parts; Figs. 13 through 15 illustrate the continuous motion of a first stroke of the engine of the invention; Figs. 15 through 17 illustrate the continuous motion of a second stroke of the engine; Figs. 17 through 20 illustrate the continuous motion of a third stroke of the engine; Fig. 21 is a schematic drawing illustrating the return of the rotor to the original position after completion of the third stroke; Fig. 22 illustrates an alternate form of the rotor with reinforced transmission mechanism for use in a large-scale engine; Fig. 23 is a partly enlarged view taken on Fig. 22 regarding a screw pump on the axis of the pulley wheels; Annex. 1 illustrates the works performed at the cylinder walls at two opposite sides of the rotor in counter-clockwise direction during the rotary motion of the rotor, and Annex. 2 illustrates a simple calculation of the cylinder volume and rotation capacity for the rotor. Detailed Description of the Preferred EmbodimentA. Structure1. Cylinder:Referring to Figs. 1, 4 and 10, the present invention comprises a cylinder block 1 defining therein an approximately triangle circle with a rotor 2 set to rotate therein. The three cylinder walls A, B, C inside the cylinder block 1 are respectively designed in such a curvature which serves as the track for another elliptic end while the rotor 2 is rotated through an angle of 60° on center 2A or 2B (see Fig. 10). The three circular ends of the triangular ellipsoidal cylinder block 1 are respectively designed in a curvature corresponding to the curvature of the small circular end of the rotor 2 (see Fig. 12). The three cylinder walls have each at least an intake port 11, an exhaust port 12 and an ignition plug 13 (see Fig. 1). The ignition plug 13 can be replaced with an oil nozzle for compression ignition. Exhaust port is most preferably disposed at a location corresponding to the combustion chamber near the traveling end of the rotor so as to extend the duration of the opening of exhaust valve during exhaust stroke. Intake port is most preferably disposed at a location near the instantaneous center (2A) so as to extend the duration of the opening of intake valve during intake stroke. Gas flows counter-clockwise along the rotary track of the rotor. Intake port can be designed in a one-way valve (see Fig. 9) permitting fuel gas to enter the cylinder block such that installation of cam wheel can be eliminated. 2.Rotor:Referring to Figs. 1 through 4, an oval rotor is set to rotate inside a substantially triangularly circular arc cylinder block 1 on axles 33 (see Fig. 4). The rotor 2 comprises two centers 2A, 2B having each two pulley wheels 21 or 22 respectively attached thereto at two opposite ends. A slide way 211 is made of the rotor 2 piercing through its center for supporting a crank 3 permitting the crank 3 to slide therein (see Fig. 2, 3 & 6). There are channels made in the rotor 2 at two opposite ends and the front and back peripheral areas for mounting barriers 212 to isolate internal space from external space. At each top of the rotor, two or three barriers 212 are fastened. There are an oil feeding holes 216(see Fig.8) made on the rotor under and among barriers for lubrication themselves, the maximum pitch therebetween is larger than the width of the intake and exhaust ports and also the ignition hole so as not to interfere with the isolation effect while the rotor passing through intake and exhaust holes during its rotary motion. The rotor 2 has internally an I shaped bar, transverse cross-section 213 with holes 217 made thereon at two opposite ends within the oil ring and barrier district for equilibrium of air pressure on each side. The metal structure of the rotor 2 is designed in such a manner that the space out of the hollow substance with ribs inside for the passing therethrough of engine oil inside the rotor is minimized. At least two rows of rollers 215 are respectively made on the rotor 2 at two opposite ends permitting the rotor 2 to smoothly rotate along the inner wall of the cylinder block 1. For an engine of small scale, the design of rollers 215 can be eliminated so that the outer barriers wall of the rotor 2 directly rubs against the inner wall of the cylinder block 1 during the rotary motion of the rotor 2. There is a recessed combustion chamber 214 (see Fig. 4) made on the outer wall of the rotor 2 eccentrically at each side near rotating end thereof for receiving compressed air/gas and guiding explosive force in correct rotary direction. The intake and exhaust ports according to the present research are characterized in that either two of three cylinder walls A, B, C are involved in the operation of each intake or exhaust port. Therefore, the intake and exhaust ports on either two cylinder walls are simultaneously used for operation (Each intake or exhaust port can be simultaneously controlled by two cam shafts with little different time lag) (see Figs. 13-21). Referring to Fig. 10, there is a substantially triangular arc area 112 formed around the axles 33 which is the intersected area 112 (see Fig. 10) covered within the rotor 2. The axles 33 are also constantly disposed within the intersected area 112. A plurality of holes 121 may be made on the rotor 2 within the intersected area 112 for the passing therethrough of engine oil and cooling air to lubricate and cool down the inner structure of the rotor 2. 3.Axles, Crank and Fanshaped Wheels:Please refer to Fig.3 regarding the illustration of the axles, crank and fanshaped wheel. The axles 33 are for output of engine power and bilaterally connected to a crank shaft 32 through two crank arms 30. The crank shaft 32 is movably fastened in the slide way 211 of the rotor 2. Two fanshaped wheels 34 designed in 120° sector are respectively mounted on the axles 33 and attached to the two crank arms 30 at two opposite sides. The crank arms 30 are respectively connected to the center of the 120° sector of the fanshaped wheels 34. ( We can also Utilize the fanshaped wheels substitute for the crank arms ) The fanshaped wheels 34 have each a radius equal to the radius of the pulley wheels on the rotor 2 (see Fig. 12). The 120° sector of the fanshapd wheels 34 is a right circular arc. There is a 240 ° of curved circular arc 35 which is the intersecting line between the fanshaped wheels and the circumference of the pulley wheels when the fanshaped wheels is rotated clockwise through 120° relative to the rotor and the rotor is rotated counter-clockwise through 60° ,i.e.the connected line made of the nearest distance between the circumference of the pulley wheels and the center axis of the axles during the rotation of the rotor through 60° angle relative to the cylinder block. The fanshaped wheels are continuously in contact with the pulley wheels to guide the pulley wheels of the rotor to move along a certain track, permitting the relative motion between the crank shaft and the slide way to guide the rotor to move along a fixed route, and simultaneously prohibiting the crank shaft and the rotor from reverse rotation or displacement so as to keep the rotor to move stably. B.Principle of Operation1.The way the axles drive the rotor to move:As soon as engines is started, the axles 33 drive the rotor 2 to rotate (see Fig. 12). The axles 33 rotate clock-wise to carry the fanshaped wheels 34 to revolvably press on the lower left pulley wheels 22, permitting the fanshaped wheels 34 and the pulley wheels 22 to reversely make rotary motion. The crank shaft 32 simultaneously forces the slide way 211 of the rotor 2 to move transversely toward the axles so as to drive the rotor to counter-clockwise move upward, with its position at 4-8 hours changed to the position of 8-12 hours. The motion is repeated again and again. During first stroke, the intersecting point between the fanshaped wheels and the pulley wheels 2A, 2B is constantly within the regular circular arc of the 120° fanshaped wheel, which serves as a bearing when matching with the inner wall of the cylinder block. Therefore, when the rotor is rotated counter-clockwise through 60° angle, the lower left instantaneous center 03 (i.e. the center 2B of the pulley wheel) is located at a constant position, the upper pulley wheels 2A follows the rotor to rotate counter-clockwise along the 240° curved circular arc 35. At the same time, the 240° curved circular arc 35 gives support to the upper pulley wheels 2A and is maintained within a rotary track relative to the inner wall of the cylinder block. The 240 ° curved circular arc 35 also matches with the 120° circular arc to support the pulley wheels 2B and serves as a bearing to support the rotary motion of the rotor permitting the rotor to rotate smoothly and stably. The movement of the axles and the crank shaft is a clockwise circular motion relative to the engine, the movement of the crank shaft is a reciprocating linear motion relative to the slide way 211, and the movement of the rotor is a counter-clockwise circular motion relative to the cylinder block. It is counted a stroke to the cylinder block or the axles are rotated clockwise through 120° angle. Once the rotor has completed three strokes, it completes a cycle and the axles are also rotated through one full turn. (see Fig. 12-21 2.The way the rotor drives the axles:After the engine is started, the explosive force pushes the rotor to carry the axles to rotate, in same manner as described above, via the crank shaft. However, except the crank shaft, there is another point where the torque force out of rotor 2 can pass onto the axles 33. That is the 240 ° curvature of fanshaped wheel 35 where is applied a rolling pressure from the outer rotating pulley 21. Therefore, the way the rotor drives the axles is rotating more smoothly and powerfully than the way conversely. The axles are also maintained by means of the inertial effect of the external idle wheels 36 to smoothly rotate clockwise. 3.Principle of stability:The fanshaped wheels 34 are the key parts which keep the rotor to rotate stably. Referring to Fig. 10, the three instantaneous centers of the rotor are the three dead points 01, 02, 03, i.e. the upper dead point 02, the right dead point 01 and the left dead point 03. Referring to Fig.12, before the start of a first stroke (see Fig. 20), the left pulley wheels 2B move along the curved circular arc 35 from the upper dead point 02 to the left dead point 03, the crank shaft 32 is simultaneously moved to the center of the slide way. Once the first stroke start, since the crank shaft is carried to make circular motion clockwise, after passing through the center of the slide way 211 the crank shaft moves leftward and upward to support and push the slide way 211 continuously. When the fanshaped wheels 34 are rotated through 120° angle from a position corresponding to the cylinder wall B to a position corresponding to the cylinder wall A, each 120° circular arc thereof is maintained to support or press on the right pulley wheels 2A. Therefore, a seesaw-like lever motion is arisen. Once the fanshaped wheels 34 press and support on the pulley wheels 2A to pause temporarily so as to prohibit the rotor 2 from hitting the inner wall of the cylinder block 1 at the time a last stroke just dully finished. After the start of the first stroke, the crank shaft 32 moves clockwise. Because the 120° circular arc of each fanshaped wheel 34 is rotated at the same time and exactly together with the crank shaft 32 (see Fig. 12-14), the left center of the rotor 2, i.e. the left pulley wheels 2B, during its first stroke, is confined by the 120 ° circular arc of the fanshaped wheels 34 within the left dead point 03. Immediately thereafter, the rotor 2 is carried by the crank shaft 32 and the slide way 211 to rotate upward. As soon as the right pulley wheels 2A are allocated at the upper dead point 02, the first stroke is completed. The second and third strokes are performed in the same manner. After the third stroke is completed, the rotor is returned to the original position. During rotary motion, the rotor 2 is constantly externally keeping in contact with the inner wall of the cylinder block 1 and constantly internally supported by the crank shaft 32 and the fanshaped wheels 34. Therefore, during rotary motion of the rotor 2, the mechanical parts are constantly maintained in contact with each other. The main feature of the design is at the three dead points 01, 02, 03, which permit the rotor 2 to pause temporarily at every instantaneous center. Actually the rotational inertia driving the rotor 2 to move for next stroke can be recurred by a seesaw-like mechanically momentum intertransference between both ends of the rotor. Since the rotor 2 runs through 60° angle per every stroke. In comparison with the conventional reciprocating piston which changes its moving direction per every reverse 180° angle, better rotational inertia, longer duration at upper and lower dead points and less vibration can be achieved by the present design. 4.Factor of Non-Reverse Rotation:Excepting the fanshaped wheel and the allocation of the eccentric recessed combustion chamber 214 can give a non-reverse rotation function through their bearing effect and the direction of the explosion force as afore-described, The arrangement of an external idle wheel also can supply the same function through its inertia momentum. Therefore, the rotary motion of the rotor 2 keeps moving smoothly and will not be forced to change its direction reversely. C.Description of Rotational StrokeWhen the rotor 2 is closely attached to the cylinder wall A during its rotation inside the cylinder block 1 (see Fig. 12 through 15), presume that it is the first stroke of the rotor 2 when the rotor 2 is rotated on the instantaneous center 2B counter-clockwise through 60° angle to closely attach to the cylinder wall C ; it is the second stroke of the rotor 2 when the rotor 2 is continuously rotated on the instantaneous center 2A counter-clockwise through 60° angle to closely attach to the cylinder wall B (see Fig. 15 through 17); it is the third stroke of the rotor 2 when the rotor 2 is continuously rotated on the instantaneous center 2B counter-clockwise through 60° angle to return to attach to the cylinder wall A (see Fig. 18 through 21). Under this condition, the three strokes of the rotor are continuously rotated through the three ends of a regular triangle which form a cycle. This is meant that three strokes are completed per every revolution of the rotor 2, each stroke causes volume change at the two opposite sides of the rotor 2, and the circulatory volume change executes the function of internal combustion engine. D. Description of Otto CyclesReferring to Figs. 12 through 15, the rotor 2 moves from cylinder wall A to cylinder wall C during its first stroke, the volume at cylinder wall A is extended (see Fig. 13) for the performance of two Otto strokes, i.e. fuel gas intake and explosion, and the volume at cylinder wall C is reduced for the performance of compression or exhaust of gas. If cylinder wall A is determined for fuel gas intake (see Fig. 13) and cylinder wall C is for exhaust of gas, the rotor 2 starts a second stroke to revolve closely along the cylinder wall B (Fig. 15 through 17) after the termination of a first stroke (Fig. 12 through 15). Under this situation, the gas at cylinder wall B is turned into a compression stroke, and simultaneously the space at cylinder wall C which was just duly exhausted is turned into a fuel gas intake stroke. In the same manner, the volume at cylinder wall B in a third stroke becomes an explosive stroke, and the volume at the cylinder wall A becomes a compression stroke. After three different strokes are performed, the rotor 2 returns to original position. The rotational motion of the rotor 2 is repeated again and again. Thus, four Otto cycles are resulted (see Annex. 1). As illustrated, after the rotor 2 revolves through 12 strokes a big cycle is started again, i.e. Otto cycle starts again after the rotor 2 as well as the axles 33 having revolved for four runs around a circle within the cylinder block 1, within which each six times of intake work, compression work, explosion work and exhaust of gas are performed, i.e. total 24 times of works. In comparison with a conventional reciprocating type 4-stroke engine (every time the axle of which revolves for four runs of Otto cycle, total eight times of works are performed) or 2-stroke engine (every time the axle of which revolves for four runs of Otto cycle, 16 times of works are performed), the engine of the present invention performs more works (3 times over 4-stroke engine or 1.5 times over 2-stroke engine). If we modify the invention to be designed in 2-stroke type Otto cycle (fuel gas intake and exhaust of gas are simultaneously performed), its output power can be doubled, i.e. approximately 6 times of power over conventional 4-stroke engine or 3 times of power over conventional 2-stroke engine of equivalent cylinder capacity however with much smaller volume. E. CoolingSimilar to a conventional reciprocating type of engine, cooling of cylinder wall of the engine of the invention can be effected through water cooling or air cooling. However, cooling of internal space of the rotor 2 is made through different way. Mixed cooling fuel gas is guided, before fuel gas intake into the cylinder block 1, to pass through the intersected area 112 and then enter fuel gas intake port. Thus, most heat inside the rotor 2 is carried out of the cylinder block 1, mixing rate of fuel gas is increased, and combustion efficiency is improved. F. LubricationEntrance of the mixture of gasoline and engine oil (in a ratio of 50:1 normally) in the cylinder block 1 of the engine of the invention simultaneously lubricates the mechanism of the engine, the crank shaft 33 and pulley wheels 21, 22 are also internally lubricated by the mixed fuel gas which is guided therein for cooling purpose. There is another method to lubricate rotary mechanism parts by compressing engine oil to enter through hole 331 on either the axles 33 to the fan shaped wheels 34 and the crank shaft 32 (see Fig. 3). When the rotor 2 is stopped, engine oil inside the rotor 2 is discharged out of the rotor 2 through bilateral drain holes 121 (see Fig. 1), to an external engine oil tray for further circulation. During revolution of the rotor 2, engine oil is shaken by the rotor 2 fo splash over the pulley wheels and the shafts thereof, and the rollers. Because the axles 33 revolve for one circle when the rotor 2 is rotated through three strokes, during each stroke of the rotary motion of the rotor 2 engine oil inside the rotor 2 is caused to produce a centrifugal inertia force and a centripetal inertia force relative to two opposite sides of the rotor 2. Engine oil under centripetal inertia force is turned to rotate through a spiral hole 3111 (see Fig. 3) toward an external engine oil tray for next circulation. Through the said circulation, the internal mechanism of the rotor 2 is well lubricated and cooled down, and no excessive volume of engine oil is allowed to maintain inside the rotor 2 from entering the cylinder block 1, which forces engine oil to coat over the inner wall surface of the cylinder 1 for barrier 212 lubrication. If the invention is designed as a large-scale engine or compressor (military frigate, vessels, locomotive or even industrial jumbo compressor or power generator etc.), lubrication for barriers and top rollers must be made in another way as described hereinafter. The pulley wheels and the fan-shaped wheels are peripherally designed with toothed portion 2121 for engagement (see Fig. 22, 23), and the shaft of each pulley wheel is designed as a screw pump 218. The rotary motion of the pulley wheels sucks proper amount of engine oil from two opposite ends gathered due to centrifugal effect inside the rotor and then guides the sucked engine oil to flow through the oil holes 216 (see Fig. 8) toward the barriers and rollers. Thus, the barriers and rollers can be properly lubricated during high temperature or high pressure operation. The Advantages Compared with Conventional EngineA. Between Reciprocating Engines1. Mechanical Property:1) No connecting rod is required:The invention does not require a connecting rod and is not ceaselessly rotated along a round circle. There is a certain obliquity on the forwarding route of the rotor starting from a dead point to prevent explosive force from directly vertically acting on the crank shaft. Distorted or cracked connecting rod events can be avoided. 2) Cylinder wear-off problem is eliminated:In a reciprocating engine, during transmission between rotational motion (crank shaft) and linear reciprocating motion (piston), a piston may be repeatedly carried by a connecting rod giving part of tangent force from such transmission to scratch the cylinder wall to further affect the compression process. Since there is no connecting rod in the present invention, this problem can be eliminated. 3) High torque force is provided:The rotor of the invention (the equivalent of a piston in a reciprocating engine) acts on a crank shaft through lever motion (longer arm of force), therefore less power is required. In the same manner, stronger explosive force and torque force can be achieved (in direct proportion to the length of the arm of force). Therefore, even the engine is operated under low speed, high performance still can be achieved. 4) Short range of stroke is sufficient:As soon as the axles of the invention move through 1/3 run, ie.e. 120° angle, a complete stroke is finished while it is 180° in a reciprocating engine. Short range of revolution stroke with longer enough displacement of Otto cycles achieves high efficiency and produces sufficient power. 5) Less vibration is produced:The substantially rotational motion of the invention produces less vibration than the linear motion of the conventional reciprocating engines. 6) Less weight and space occupation are required:The single rotor cylinder of the invention is equivalent to three comparable piston-operated engines (one common crank shaft set in one cylinder block which has three cylinder walls), therefore size and weight can be greatly reduced and high power/weight ratio can be achieved which is most poorly requirement in military service. 7) High compression ratio is achieved:The invention's design can efficiently increase compression ratio and its lever motion type of rotational stroke can efficiently eliminate compression resistance. 8) Stress tensor is evenly shared:The points at which stress from the rotor (equivalent to a piston) is applied in the invention are not only the crank shaft but also the fan shaped wheel, the latter sharing a lot of stress during the initial explosion in which the structure of crank system will be influenced to longer and durable life cycle. 2. Power:1) Same volume of cylinder:The invention's power output is approximately 3 times over a comaprable 4-stroke reciprocating engine or 1.5 times over a comparable 2-stroke reciprocating engine (see Annex. 1). The invention can also be designed in a 2-stroke(cycle) type to double its power output, so the energy cost can be tremendously saved. 2) Inertia:The 60° rotation of the rotor of the invention produces rotational inertia momentum to be reapplied approximately 3 times over the motion of the 180° linear reciprocating piston. 3) Fuel-air-mixture:The fuel-air-mixture combustion of the invention's rotational path is obviously much better than the straight fuel gas intake type of engine. 4) Fuel gas intake and exhaust:No matter what kind of engine, we can improve the efficiency of intake and exhausting stroke only by increasing the so called ports area. In a conventional reciprocating engine, the fuel gas intake port and exhaust port areas are limited within the cylinder head. In the invention, the fuel gas intake ports and exhaust ports on either two of the three cylinder walls are simultaneously used for circulation. Also we can add more ports as we need through its longer path on cylinder block. It means the so called ports areas can be highly increased. Better thermodynamic circulation is achieved and pollution of air can be minimized as well. B. Between Wankel Engine1. Uniform temperature:In a Wankel engine, a combustion stroke is performed at a fixed area to favourably affect lubrication effect on local cylinder wall and the barrier of the rotor and uniform temperature inside the cylinder can not be achieved. These problems are eliminated in the invention because the explosion stroke is averagely resulted in the three cylinder walls. 2. Barrier:The barrier at the sharp end of the rotor in a Wankel engine rubs forwardingly against the flank portion of the cylinder block at a sharp angle. Therefore, strong vibration and damage on cylinder wall such as chatter marks can not be eliminated even if material is improved. Also the barrier at the apex portion does not give a good air-sealing against explosion pressure. However, the barrier at the sharp end of the rotor in the invention is carried to slide against the three clinder walls of the cylinder block through vertical 90° angle as conventional engine so that the friction resistance and air-sealing problem are minimized. 3. Torque force:Since a Wankel engine utilizes a rotor to rotate on a main shaft along a peritrochoid, high torque force can not be achieved, and high power output can only be achieved by increasing the revolving speed. This means the engine can not afford good function/power at low speed. As described above, the invention can produce high torque force. 4. Fuel gas intake and exhaust:In a Wankel engine, fuel gas intake port and exhaust port will be overlapped when the rotor is rotated to a certain angle. Under this condition, the circulation of gas will be badly affected. In the invention, fuel gas intake ports and exhaust ports on either two of the three cylinder walls are simultaneously used during same stroke for circulation. Better thermodynamic circulation is achieved and pollution of air can be minimized as well.	A rotary engine, pump or compressor comprising a cylinder block (1) defining a triangular chamber with convex arcuate walls (A, B, C) connected by rounded corners, and an oval rotor (2) mounted in the chamber for revolution around the inner wall surfaces thereof by a crankshaft (32) which is slidable in a central slideway (211) of the rotor (2) and is connected at opposite ends to respective axles (33) for transmitting drive to and from the rotor (2), the rotor (2) being rotatable through 60° about two centres (2A, 2B) of the oval in alternation whereby, for one complete cycle of revolution, the rotor (2) rotates about three instantaneous centres (2A, 2B) disposed at the corners (01, 02, 03) of a regular triangle, causing changes in the volume of the spaces between the opposite sides of the rotor (2) and the walls (A, B, C) of the chamber, characterised in that two pulley wheels (21, 22) are rotatably attached to the rotor (2) on opposite sides of each centre (2A, 2B) of the oval, and in that each axle (33) carries a respective fan-shaped wheel (34) which is disposed at or constitutes the connection between the axle (33) and the crankshaft (32) and which has a sector of 120° regular circular arc at one end and a 240° curved circular arc (35) at the opposite end, each fan-shaped wheel (34) being disposed in continuous contact with the two pulley wheels (21, 22) on the corresponding side of the rotor (2) to guide the pulley wheels (21, 22) to rotate along a track of circular arc, permitting the crankshaft (32) to slide relative to the rotor (2) and guide the latter to revolve in a fixed direction. A rotary engine, pump or compressor according to Claim 1, characterised in that each wall (A, B, C) of the chamber has a curvature such that it serves as a respective track for a rotation of the rotor (2) through 60° and in that the curvature of the corners of the chamber correspond to the curvature of the small sides of the rotor (2). A rotary engine, pump or compressor according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, characterised in that the axles (33) are connected to the crankshaft (32) by two crank arms (30) and in that each fan-shaped wheel (34) is attached to a respective crank arm (30) at the centre of the 120° sector. A rotary engine, pump or compressor according to Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3, characterised in that the fan-shaped wheels (34) have radii equal to the radii of the pulley wheels (21, 22). A rotary engine, pump or compressor according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the pulley wheels (21, 22) and the fan-shaped wheels (34) have peripheral toothed portions (212) for engagement. A rotary engine, pump or compressor according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the rotor (2) has at least one transverse channel for the mounting of at least one barrier (212), at least two rows of rollers (215) at its opposite ends, the rollers (215) being pressed against two of the three walls (A, B, C) of the cylinder block as the rotor (2) revolves, and an eccentric recessed combustion chamber (214) in its outer wall on each side. A rotary engine, pump or compressor according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the rotor (2) has an intersected area (112) formed around the axles (33) and defining passages for coolant and lubricant. A rotary engine, pump or compressor according to Claim 6, characterised in that the shaft of each pulley wheel (21, 22) forms a screw pump (218) for drawing lubricant from the inside of the rotor (2) during rotation to lubricate the or each barrier (212) and the rollers (215).	YANG CHUNG CHIEH; YANG, CHUNG-CHIEH	YANG CHUNG-CHIEH; YANG, CHUNG-CHIEH
EP-0489211-B1	489,211	EP	B1	EN	19,960,228	1,992	20,100,220	new	B01J14	B01J19, B01F5	B01F5, B01J14, B01J19	B01F 5/02C, B01J 19/26, B01F 5/06B3, B01F 5/06F, B01J 19/24D, B01J 14/00, L01F5:00A2, L01F5:00A4	Jet impingement reactor	An apparatus to allow reaction in the liquid phase. The apparatus is a vessel (2) having a baffle (4). There are openings (6) in the baffle (4) through each of which a liquid (8) passes as a jet (10). Neighboring openings (6) are sufficiently close to allow impingement of the jets (10) thereby allowing for reaction of the liquids. The invention finds application in reactions where the reactants are immiscible and is particularly suitable in the nitration of aromatic hydrocarbons using mixed acids in aqueous solution. A method of conducting a reaction between at least two reactants in the liquid phase is also provided comprising passing a liquid containing the reactants through a plurality of adjacent spaced openings to create a series of impinging jets.	This invention relates to an apparatus to allow a reaction in the liquid phase and finds application in reactions where the reactants are immiscible. It is of particular application in the nitration of aromatic hydrocarbons using mixed acids in aqueous solution. It is known that vigorous agitation is required for nitration reactions between an aromatic hydrocarbon and a mixture of sulfuric acid and nitric acid, commonly called mixed acid. Most of the known nitration processes using mixed acid use reactions vessels that incorporate agitation. These reactions are notoriously dangerous. They are highly exothermic and potentially explosive but it is well known that the risks inherent with these processes can be reduced if the charge of unreacted components can be made small. It is also well known that the formation of undesirable by-products is increased as residence time within the apparatus is increased. For example, in processes for the manufacture of mononitrobenzene, United States Patent 4,021,498 to Alexanderson recognized that a reaction time of 0.5 to 3 minutes was preferred and United States Patent 2,256,999 to Castner indicates a complete reaction in about 10 minutes. It is not as well known that by-product production also increases with temperature. It has, however, been found that when such processes are scaled up the efficiency of the reactant conversion is often less than that achieved on a small scale. This reduction in efficiency is commonly overcome by adding further conventional stirred tank reactors to the system. This has the effect of increasing the residence time, which increases the charge of unreacted and reacted components and increases the formation of undesirable by-products. Inevitably, the continuous stirred tank reactor, when operated in a manner necessary to provide the desired vigorous agitation, is subject to wear and mechanical breakdown. United States Patent 4,453,027 to Vaidyanathan teaches that halobenzenes can be nitrated in a tubular reactor of the static-mixer type. It has been found, however, that the efficiency of these static-mixers is also reduced when scaled up to sizes practical for large scale production. This is probably due to the comparatively low velocities available within the constraints of space and residence time. It is therefore recognized that a need exists for apparatus that permits nitration processes to operate efficiently and safely in large commercial applications. Prior art devices for handling fluids are well known, however, these devices are generally limited to performing mixing and blending operations. U.S. Patent 4,514,095 to Ehrfeld et al. discloses a motionless mixer in which a series of discs are arranged so that fluid passing through the mixer is divided into a number of streams whereupon the streams are recombined to thoroughly blend the fluid. U.S. Patent 4,043,539 to Gilmer et al. teaches a static-type mixer comprising a conduit that separates a fluid or fluids to be mixed into a series of parallel streams. A portion of the fluid is diverted laterally from a main passage and the remainder of the flow is then reversed to rejoin the diverted portion in order to produce a mixing effect. U.S. Patent 4 136 976 to Leffelman also teaches a static mixing device comprising a cylinder having an inlet and outlet and a plurality of hollow spheres with openings therethrough mounted within the cylinder. Fluids flowing through the cylinder are mixed in the turbulent flow that is created about the spheres. U.S. Patent 4,361,407 to Pelligrini discloses a further example of a stationary mixing device that uses a series of separable stages in which are formed cavities and alignable holes to define passages for the flow of fluids to be mixed. Fluids are divided and recombined in the passages to create an essentially homogeneous mixture after passing through several of the stages. The devices of the prior art are essentially concerned with mixing or blending of miscible fluids. In contrast, the apparatus of the present application is concerned with accelerating reactions between immiscible fluids that have been previously mixed. It accepts a flowing fluid comprising two or more immiscible and reactive liquids and uses the energy from the flow of the fluid to create a high shear on the fluid that breaks up a portion of the flow into small droplets having a large exposed surface area. These small droplets provide a greatly increased surface area for chemical reaction between the liquids thereby greatly accelerating the reaction rate. The shearing action is achieved by passing the fluid through sharp edges holes, and by impinging the resulting jets against a surface or against other jets or a slower moving fluid. Accordingly, the present invention provides an apparatus to allow reactions in the liquid phase, comprising a vessel having a longitudinal axis, and at least one baffle located in the vessel and comprising a first sphere provided with a plurality of first openings defining inlets and a plurality of second openings defining outlets, each first and second opening allowing liquid to pass therethrough as a jet, said apparatus being characterized in that said at least one baffle further comprises at least one second sphere or at least one semi-sphere outside said first sphere and concentric with said sphere, said at least one second sphere or said at least one semi-sphere having a plurality of openings, each opening again allowing liquid to pass therethrough as a jet, neighbouring openings in said first sphere, said at least one second sphere and said at least one semi-sphere being spaced apart so as to allow impingement of the jets. Other features of the apparatus according to the present invention are disclosed in sub-claims 2 to 8. In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation, partially in section, of an apparatus embodying features of the prior art; Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 of a further apparatus embodying features of the prior art; Figure 3 is a section through yet a further apparatus embodying features of the prior art; Figure 4 shows a development of the embodiment of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a section of a further apparatus embodying features of the prior art; Figure 6 is a section of an apparatus according to the present invention; Figure 7 shows an inlet system for introducing reactants into the apparatus of the present invention; Figure 8 is a section view through the inlet system taken along line 8-8 of Figure 7; Figure 9 is a side elevation, in section, of a further embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 10 is a detail of a variation of the Figure 9 embodiment. Figure 1 shows a reactor comprising a vessel 2 in the form of an open-ended cylinder. There is a baffle 4 in the vessel 2 and a plurality of first openings 6 in the baffle 4. Through each of these openings 6, a liquid 8, passing through the vessel 2, passes as a jet 10. The openings 6 are arranged sufficiently close to allow impingement of the jets 10, as schematically illustrated by the arrows 12 in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows the presence of a second baffle 14, spaced downstream from the first baffle 4. There is a plurality of second openings 16 in the second baffle 14. The second openings 16 are arranged so that the first and second openings 6 and 16 are not aligned. Thus, the jets 10 from the first openings impinge on the second baffle 14 as shown by the arrows 18 in Figure 2. There is an inlet for further reactants at 19 and further baffles, with openings, are placed downstream to provide a further reaction location. In the embodiments of Figures 1 and 2, the first and second openings 6 and 16 are both arranged to direct the jets 10 longitudinally of the apparatus. In both cases, the first and second baffles 4 and 14 extend transversely of the vessel 2. Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment in which the baffle 20 comprises an annulus extending inwardly from the periphery of the vessel 2. A cylinder 22 extends longitudinally of the vessel 2, from the inner periphery of the annular baffle 20, to terminate in a closure 24 that is parallel to the annular baffle 20. Openings 26 are formed in the cylinder 22 so that jets 28 are directed by the openings 26 transverse of the vessel 2. In the embodiment of Figure 4, there is a plurality of cylinders 30, each having first openings 32, extending from annular walls 34 and 36. Again inlet 19 for further reactants is present in Figures 3 and 4 and there will be a further reaction location downstream. Figure 5 illustrates an apparatus in which there is a plurality of generally coaxial cylinders 38, 40 and 42, each extending from an annular wall 44 extending from the periphery of vessel 2. Openings 46, 48 and 50 are arranged so that the liquid 8 flowing through an opening in an inner cylinder impinges on the wall of an outer cylinder before it can pass through openings in that outer cylinder. Figure 5 also illustrates a particular embodiment in which there are opposed cylinders. Thus Figure 5 also shows cylinders 52, 54 and 56 extending from annular wall 58 towards wall 44. Openings 60, 62 and 64 are formed in cylinders 52, 54 and 56. Figure 6 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which baffles 66 are formed as generally concentric spheres 68, 70 and 72 each having inlet openings 74 and outlet openings 76 arranged so that liquid flowing in the vessel 2 must pass through the inlets 74, to the inner spheres 68, then outwardly. Reactants can be added to the embodiment of Figure 6 through inlet 19. An inlet system that uses a multiplicity of pipes distributed radially around reactor vessel 2 may also be used. The location of the inlet pipes 19 may also be between stages of the concentric spheres, as shown in Figure 7. Figure 8 shows a sectional view through the multiple delivery pipes 19 to demonstrate the arrangement of the pipes through the vessel walls and into the concentric spheres. The number and size of the inlet pipes 19 are arranged to ensure a very high velocity jet, with very small droplets entering the reactor. Figure 9 illustrates an embodiment of the invention resembling that of Figure 7 and common reference numerals are used where appropriate. However, Figure 9 also shows the use of semi-spherical baffles 78 arranged concentrically around the sphere 68. The sphere 68 on the left of Figure 9 has two semi-spherical baffles. On the right of Figure 9 there are two spherical baffles 68 and 70 and one semi-spherical baffle 78, downstream of the pair of spherical baffles 68 and 70. Figure 10 also shows the relationship of the embodiment of Figure 9 to the embodiment of Figure 7 in showing multiple inlet pipes 19 extending through the vessel walls and into the sphere 68. Using the apparatus of the present invention the local velocity of each stage can be made sufficiently high to create conditions necessary for a nitration reaction between an aromatic hydrocarbon and mixed acid in the liquid 8 to take place independently from the bulk velocities of the reactants passing through the apparatus. The proportions of the apparatus can be adjusted, using simple experimental techniques, to achieve a wide range of intensive agitation and residence time. The apparatus can be used either as a single unit or as a number of units connected in series or in conjunction with one or more continuously stirred tank reactors. The apparatus of the invention is immediately of use in the adiabatic mononitration of benzene because of the large scale manufacture of this product. However, the invention can also be used in the nitration of other aromatic hydrocarbons or halogen substituted aromatic hydrocarbons. The particular benefit provided by the present invention is the degree of agitation that is available. This ensures that the reaction rate and conversion efficiency of the reactor are high. The desired high agitation is accomplished by causing the jets containing the liquid 8 of aromatic hydrocarbon and mixed acids to be directed towards each other so as to provide varying degrees of impingement of the jets. This impingement, or interplay, of the jet produces high shear rates in the liquid, much higher for example than provided by propeller blades in a conventional stirred tank reactor or than of the shearing rates in a static mixer reactor. In addition to the shear between the jets a certain portion of the jet streams will directly impinge so as to bring droplets of the dispersed phase into direct contact and further enhance the reaction. The direct impingement of the jets, along with the relative shear between the jets, will produce a constant supply of fresh interface between the reacting components, thereby enhancing the reaction rate and overall conversion efficiency of the reactor. An additional benefit provided by the present invention is the ability to add reactants in a high velocity jet directly into a region of high-intensity mixing as shown by the inlet system of Figures 7 and 8. The high velocity produces a jet of small droplets having a high surface area to mass ratio, thereby promoting the overall conversion of the reactants. The particular arrangement used to bring about jet impingement will vary according to the rate of reaction required. In the simplest form, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the lowest degree of impingement is provided. The liquid jets are disposed parallel. The impingement occurs when the jets spread and combine in a downstream direction. Impingement is due to lateral components of the turbulent velocity in the jets. The embodiment of Figure 2, with its downstream impingement plate, causes the jets to change direction and impinge more directly. The provision of orifices in the second plate ensures a second stage of reaction. Further amounts of reactants can then be introduced through inlet 19 to increase the efficiency of conversion and minimize by-product formation. That is, still further stages or reaction locations can be arranged, depending on the degree of reaction required. In the Figure 3 embodiment the jets are turned so that they impinge on the wall of the reactor. In this embodiment the impingement, shearing and mixing of the components is further enhanced by the requirement of the fluid to turn back into the main fluid direction, as shown by the arrows. Such an arrangement can also be repeated in stages to the desired degree of reaction. In the embodiment of Figure 4, the multiplicity of lateral jets ensures that some of the liquid jets will impinge directly on each other, achieving the highest possible degree of agitation and therefore reaction rate. The arrangement of annular walls and cylinders shown in Figure 4 can be repeated downstream for further conversion, if required. Further reactants can be added through inlet 19 prior to each stage as discussed above for Figure 2. Figures 1 to 4 show the flow direction to be axial, but the same principles can also be used if the flow arrangement be radial as shown by the cylindrical arrangement of Figure 5, and the spherical arrangement of Figure 6. In Figure 5 the flow issues outwardly through a series of cylinders. The successive outward cylinders are preferably arranged so that the openings are not in line, producing the maximum benefit of reaction as discussed for Figure 2. The same arrangement can be used equally with the flow passing radially inwardly through the cylindrical shells. Again reactants may be added between the two stages through inlet 19. The first stage is defined by cylinders 38, 40 and 42 and the second by cylinders 52, 54 and 56. Again this reactant addition between stages improves conversion. In Figure 6 the flow issues outward through a series of spheres, each with openings to produce jets. The openings are successively offset to produce maximum reactions as in the case of Figure 2. Flow can also be directed radially inward, that is opposite to that shown in Figure 6, and combination of radial inflow and outflow can be combined to form a compact stage. Many more stages can be added in the continuation of this principle. In Figure 7, the reactants are introduced directly between the concentric spheres shown through a plurality of inlet pipes 19 arranged radially about vessel 2. The size and number of the inlets is chosen appropriately so that the reactant jet velocity is very high. This promotes the formation of small droplets of reactant which leads to high overall reaction rates and high conversion efficiency. Figures 9 and 10 show that hemispheres may be used to achieve the same effect as spheres. Hemispheres may be arranged in any combination or number on the upstream or the downstream side of the spheres. The preferred arrangement depends on the degree of reaction desired and would be determined for any particular set of reaction conditions by routine experiment. Figure 10 shows that the arrangement that includes inlet pipes is also compatible with the semi-spherical arrangement shown in Figure 9. In the embodiments of Figures 1 to 4, the vessels 2 can be cylinders of a diameter within the range of 15.25 to 30.5 cm (6 to 12 inches). The openings 6, 16, 26 and 32 may have a diameter of about 1.27 cm (1/2 inch). They are symmetrically arranged in walls 4 and 14. Flow rates can, for example, be in the range of 378 to 3028 litres (100 to 800 U.S. gallons) per minute. In the embodiment of Figures 5 and 6 the end pipes shown may, for example, have diameters of about 20.3 cm (8 inches). The vessels 2 have, for example, diameters of about 30.5 cm (12 inches). Openings 60, 62, 64, 74 and 76 have diameters, for example, in the range of 0.64 to 1.27 cm (1/4 to 1/2 inch). In the embodiment of Figure 7, the inlet pipes 19 may be 0.16 to 0.79 cm (1/16 to 5/16 inch) with any number of such inlets, for example, 32, disposed radially about the reactor vessel. This embodiment could be used, for example, if only the aromatic hydrocarbon is being added through the inlets. The apparatus may be made of glass lined steel, as in the prior art, but preferably are made from zirconium or tantalum or any suitable corrosion-resistant material.	Apparatus to allow reactions in the liquid phase, comprising a vessel (2) having a longitudinal axis, and at least one baffle (66) located in the vessel and comprising a first sphere (68) provided with a plurality of first openings defining inlets (74) and a plurality of second openings defining outlets (76), each first and second opening allowing liquid to pass therethrough as a jet, characterized in that said at least one baffle (66) further comprises at least one second sphere (70, 72) or at least one semi-sphere (78) outside said first sphere (68) and concentric with said sphere (68), said at least one second sphere (70, 72) or said at least one semi-sphere (78) having a plurality of openings (74, 76),each opening again allowing liquid to pass therethrough as a jet, neighbouring openings in said first sphere, said at least one second sphere and said at least one semi-sphere being spaced apart so as to allow impingement of the jets. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one semi-sphere (78) is upstream or downstream relative to said first sphere (68). Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes a plurality of stages each comprising at least one baffle (66), and an inlet (19) for further reactants between each stage. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes an inlet (19) for introducing reactants. Apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that said inlet (19) comprises a plurality of pipes arranged radially about said vessel (2). Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said inlet pipes (19) extend through said first sphere (68). Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that said inlet pipes (19) open into said first sphere (68). Apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that there is a plurality of spheres (68, 70, 72) of different diameters, arranged one within the other.	NRM INT TECH; NRM INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES C.V.	HAUPTMANN EDWARD G; RAE JOHN M; HAUPTMANN, EDWARD G.; RAE, JOHN M.
EP-0489214-B1	489,214	EP	B1	EN	19,960,320	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04M11	null	H04M11	H04M 11/06	Coupling device to be connected to a dce for allowing the connection to different public switched telephone networks, dce and workstation including the same	Coupling device (150) according to the invention for connecting a DCE to a PSTN including the electronic components matching the electric requirements of a specific PSTN. The coupling device comprises plugging means for removably connecting the latter to the DCE, means (227) for storing an identification code corresponding to a specific type of PSTN to which the coupler is intended to be connected to. The coupling device (150) further comprises means (226) responsive to a control signal received from the DCE for transmitting the identification code to the DCE. The DCE connected to the coupling device includes processing means and a storage for storing tables, each table comprising data characterizing a specific PSTN which the DCE is intended to operate with. The DCE reads the identification code during an identification phase by transmitting the control signal and selects in response to said reading the appropriate table corresponding to the coupling device. Therefore, by simply connecting an appropriate coupling device, a same DCE can be easily adapted to operate with a specific PSTN. Moreover, since the voluminous components are located into the coupling device, the DCE can be easily integrated, for example in one workstation.	Technical field of the inventionThe invention relates to data transmission and particularly to data transmission between a data terminating equipment (DTE) and a public switched telephone network (PSTN). Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) are of major importance in the data transmission field since they can be used in order to communicate data from a first data terminating equipment (DTE) to a second, remote, DTE. The attachment of a DTE to a telephone network requires a device known as a DCE or a modem which particularly provides the adaptation of the electrical signals to the characteristics of the switched telephone network which is operated in the country of the user. The DCE particularly comprises a coupler circuit which includes the electric components matching the electric requirements of a specific PSTN. However, since the characteristics of the existing PSTNs in the world substantially differ, a DCE which is designed to operate in a determined country, for instance France, will not operate when connected to the PSTN of another country. It should be noticed that at least thirty telephone networks having different characteristics exist in the world, and therefore the user has to change the DCE everytime he wishes to connect a DTE to a different PSTN. Japan patent application JP-A-61274550 discloses a modem which permits the connection to different PSTNs. The system disclosed uses a country specification table for storing data being characteristic of different PSTN and particularly data relating to the calling method etc... Once the data relating to the appropriate PSTN to which is intended to be connected the DCE has been selected, the modem is able to operate with the latter PSTN. However, the modem includes all the coupler circuits matching the electric requirements of the different PSTNs to which the modem is intended to be connected to. That unfortunately results in a a complex modem including a great deal of electronic components and particularly voluminous transformers, relays etc... which can not be easily integrated in an interface card for a workstation such as a personal system computer. EP-A-0 309 627 discloses an Apparatus for connecting data processing equipment to a communications network includes hardware for a range of different communications standards. A coupler (preferably in the form of a cable) having a particular standard communications plug contains an identifying code associated with that particular standard plug, which code is used to configure the apparatus to that particular standard. The apparatus contains a digital signal processor controlled by control code contained in a control store having associated therewith a standard identifier code. Control logic reads the standard identifier code associated with the control code and the standard identifying code in the coupler and enables the apparatus if the two match (or disables if they do not match). Copending application EP-A-0489 215 entitled Coupling device to be connected to a DCE for the connection to a public switched telephone network having a local power supply circuit for allowing the use of the local telephone, DCE and workstation including the same relates to a coupler which allows the communication of vocal messages between a telephone set and the DCE attached to the coupler. Therefore, a need has appeared for a simple device which allows the connection of a data terminating equipment to a wide variety of switched networks, all having different characteristics, and which does not necessitate the DCE to include all the needed electronic components, thereby allowing the latter DCE to be easily integrated. Summary of the inventionIt is an object of the invention to provide a coupling device for connecting a DCE to a PSTN which allows the DCE to be automatically adapted to operate with said PSTN. It is another object of the invention to provide a DCE for the connection of a DTE to a wide variety of PSTN. It is a further object of the invention to provide an DCE interface card for a workstation such as a personal computer system which, when removably connected to a coupling device adapted to a specific PSTN, is automatically adapted to operate with said specific PSTN. It is another object to provide a workstation which can be easily connected to any type of PSTN existing in the world. These and other objects of the invention are achieved by means of the coupling device for connecting a DCE to a PSTN which is defined in claim 1. Briefly, the coupling device comprises plugging means for removably connecting the latter to the DCE, means for storing an identification code corresponding to a specific type of PSTN to which the coupler is intended to be connected to, and means responsive to a control signal received from the DCE for transmitting the identification code to the DCE. The invention also provides a DCE receiving the coupling device and which includes processing means and a storage for storing tables, each table comprising data characterizing a specific PSTN which the DCE is intended to operate with. The DCE reads the identification code during an identification phase by transmitting the control signal and selects in response to said reading the appropriate table corresponding to the coupling device. Therefore, by simply connecting an appropriate coupling device, a same DCE can be easily adapted to operate with a specific PSTN. Moreover, since the voluminous components are located into the coupling device, the DCE can be easily integrated. There is further provided a workstation which includes the DCE according to the present invention and which, when connected to an appropriate coupling device, performs an identification phase in order to determine the type of the coupling device and automatically selects the corresponding table. the workstation can therefore be easily adapted to operate with any type of PSTN. Description of the drawingsFigure 1 is a view of the preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 illustrates the coupler which is attached to the base card of the DCE. Figure 3 shows a flow chart of the country code validation process in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 4 details a flow chart of the process relative to an out-going call. Figure 5 details the process relative to a incoming call. Figure 6a to 6d are views illustrating the ring detector process. Figures 7A and 7B are views of preferred embodiments of local feeder circuit 219. Description of the preferred embodiment of the inventionFigure 1 shows the preferred embodiment of the DCE according to the present invention which includes a base system 120 to which is connected to a coupler 150. Contrary to the base system 120 which is unique for a wide variety of PSTN, coupler 150 is specific to a determined PSTN and includes all the hardware components which are necessary to comply with the electrical requirements of the considered PSTN. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, coupler circuit 150 takes the form of a box which can be removably attached to base 120 by means of a multiconductor cable. Base circuit 120 consists in an interface card which is intended to be connected to a workstation such as a personal computer operating as a DTE transmitting and receiving data via a switched telephone network in accordance with the requirements of a specific country. It should be however noticed that the invention concerns any type of DCE, taking the form either of interface cards or of a stand-alone DCE. In one particular embodiment, base circuit 120 is included into a portable personal computer system and coupler circuit 150 is a box which is connected to the latter portable system. Coupler 150 particularly provides, as will be detailed hereinafter, the electrical adaptation to the electrical requirements of the telephone network of a specific country. Base card 120 includes a processor 160 which is connected via a bus 161 to a PROM storage 162, to a RAM storage 163, to Input/Output (I/O) blocks 165 providing the communication between coupler 150 via bus 130 and other I/O devices 164 which are not part of the invention. Processor 160 communicate with an hybrid 173 (resp. 183) via a block of A/D and D/A converter 171 (resp. 181) and pass-band filters 172 (resp. 182). Hybrid 173 or 183 is a two-wires/four-wires well known in the data communication art. Hybrid 173 (resp. 183) communicates with coupler 150 via a set of two wires 103-104 (resp. 110-111). As mentioned above, processor 160 in base card 120 controls coupler 150 by means of bus 130 which is connected to I/O circuit 165. Bus 130 consists in the following leads: lead 100off-hook lead 101dial pulse lead 104dial loop leads 105-108identification leads lead 109SW hook lead 112hand-set I/O The function of those leads will be better understood with respect to the hereinafter description. It should be noted that base circuit 120 further provide coupler 150 with positive Vcc and ground potentials, the latter potential being particularly used for local feeder circuit 219 as will be described hereinafter. The connection of the coupler circuit 140 to the base 120 is achieved by means of a plug which can receive a multiconductor cable. PROM storage 162 stores the software program which is required for performing the instructions detailed hereinafter with respect to the flow chart of figures 3-6. PROM 162 further includes a set of PSTN tables in which are stored parameters characterizing the different telephone networks existing in different countries to which is likely to be connected the DCE according to the invention. The latter PSTN tables particularly includes information relative to the range of frequencies of the signal on the telephone lines, information relative to the different signalling tones characterizing a specific PSTN. Those PSTN tables which are stored into a PROM storage into the preferred embodiment of the invention can also be loaded into RAM storage 163 from any other storing devices such as a 3.5 inch-disquette devices which is connected to the DTE (particularly in the case when the DTE is a personal computer). Figure 2 illustrates the preferred embodiment of the coupler 150 according to the present invention. Coupler 150 is connected to the 'tip-ring' leads of the PSTN considered, the latter 'tip-ring' leads being connected to a off-hook relay 200 which performs the connection of the base card 120 to the PSTN network under control of processor 160. More accurately, 'tip-ring' leads are connected to the two input leads 202 and 203 of switch 200. Relay 200 has a third input lead 205 which is connected to a DIAL-pulse circuit 214, a lead 206 which is connected to an input lead 211 of a 'Hand-set IO' relay 201, which switch 201 being under control of processor 160 via control lead 112. Relay 200 has a further input lead 215 which is connected to the secondary winding of transformer 218. At last Relay 200 has a input lead 207 which is connected to an input lead 209 of relay 201. Relay 201 has inputs leads 208 and 209 which are connected to a local feeder voice circuit 219, the operating of which will be described hereinafter. Input leads 212 and 213 of relay 201 are respectively connected to a Telephone-Set1 (Ts1) lead 220 via a switch-hook detector circuit 221 and to a Ts2 lead 213. Relay 200 provides the OFF-HOOK function well known in the telecommunication art. Whenever processor 160 sets leads 100 and 112 to a low level, 'tip-ring' leads of the PSTN network are connected directly to the telephone set via relay 200, relay 201 and SH detector circuit 221. Whenever the user hand-sets the telephone, a flow of current appears at leads 220-213, the latter flow of current being detected by SH detector circuit 221 (being a photocoupler in the preferred embodiment of the invention) and transmitted to processor 160 via lead 109. When processor 160 wishes to transmit data to the PSTN, it activates lead 100 and 101 so that to connect the secondary winding of transformer 218 to 'tip-ring' leads via relay 200 and a DP circuit 214. DP circuit 214 performs a decadic pulsing as described hereinafter. To achieve this, processor 160 transmits a succession of break-makes signals via lead 101 to DP circuit 214 which accordingly opens and closes the electrical circuit. It should be noticed that the cadence of those break-make signals strongly depends on the specific PSTN considered, and the corresponding parameters allowing a connection of the DCE to a large number of PSTN, are stored into the above mentioned tables. A dial-loop circuit 217 is connected in parallel on the secondary winding of transformer 218 and provides the short-circuit of the latter when the processor generates break-make signals on lead 101. To achieve this activates a dial-loop lead 104 which is connected to the control input of DL circuit 217. In the preferred embodiment of the invention dial-loop circuit 217 is a photo relay circuit. The PSTN tables stored into PROM storage 162 includes information relative to the period during which DL circuit 217 performs a short-circuit of the secondary of transformer 218, the latter period being a characteristic of the specific PSTN considered. A circuit 223 for adapting the impedance is connected in parallel between the secondary leads of transformer 218. The latter circuit is used for fixing to a determined value, depending on the considered PSTN, the apparent impedance 'seen' from the telephone line. Transformer 218 is an usual transformer which can be used in traditional couplers for achieving a galvanic isolation between base card and the telephone line. Between leads 206 and 207 is connected inn circuit consisting of a capacitor Ci in series with a resistor Ri also in series with a RI detector circuit 224. RI detector 224 is used for detecting the ring voltage and activates Ring Indicate (RI) lead 113 accordingly. The activation of RI lead 113 can be detected by processor 160 via I/O circuit 165 which then executes tests in order to make sure that the RI signals which have appeared on lead 113 fully comply with the requirements of the specific PSTN to which is connected the DCE. The latter tests will be particularly described with respect to the 'incoming call' flowchart of figure 5 and to the ring detection process of figure 6. The leads 208 and 216 of relay 201 are connected to a secondary winding of a transformer 225 via local-feeder circuit 219. Transformer 225 has its primary winding connected to leads 110 and 111 and therefore achieves the galvanic isolation between the base card and the telephone set. It should however be noted that in the case when the latter isolation is not required, transformer 125 can be omitted. Local-feeder circuit 219 provides the telephone set with DC current and therefore allows its operating in the case when control processor activates lead 112. Local-feeder circuit will be described in detail with respect to Fig. 7A and 7B. The coupler 150 further includes a multiplexer 226 which has 8 input leads connected to a 8-bits bus 227 carrying a wired 8-bits identification code. That identification code characterizing the specific PSTN to which is adapted coupler 150, can be read by control processor 160 via the four leads 105-108. Multiplexer 226 has a control lead which is connected to dial-loop lead 104. When processor 160 activates lead 104, multiplexer 226 transmits the 4 Most significant bits of the identification code to leads 105-108. Conversely whenever control processor sets lead 104 to a low level, the Least significant bits of the identification code are transmitted to leads 105-108. Therefore, after a sequence of two read operations of leads 105-108, processor 160 derives the identification code of coupler 150 and therefore the type of PSTN to which it can be connected. As will be described with more details hereinafter, one the identification code has been recognized by processor 160 in an initialization step, the latter processor loads RAM storage 163 with the appropriate parameters corresponding to the specific coupler which is attached to base 120. It should be noticed that, for economy purpose, the coupler 150 should be as simple as possible and should only includes the hardware components which are required for matching the electrical requirements of the considered PSTN. Particularly, the interface bus 100-112 between base system 120 and coupler 150 should be as simple as possible. This is firstly achieved by using the same lead 104 for controlling multiplexer 226 in the initialization step and also for controlling Dial-loop circuit 217. The advantageous use of the same lead 104 for two control purpose does not jeopardize the operating of the multiplexer 226 and DL circuit 117 since the reading step of the identification code of coupler 150 takes place in an initialization period occurring after the power-on of the machine while the control of DL circuit 117 is effective only after that initialization period. As a matter of fact, as long as processor 160 does not communicate through the PSTN, telephone set 222 is connected to the network since leads 100 and 112 are at a low level. Consequently, the short-circuit appearing at the secondary winding of transformer 218 during the initialization period caused by processor 160 which has activated lead 104 in order to read the 4 MSB of the identification code, does not affect the PSTN network. The simplicity of the interface between base system 120 and coupler 150 is still achieved by means of multiplexer 226 which allows the transmission of a 8-bit code through only 4 leads 105-108. Figure 3 particularly describes the country code validation step involved in the initialization period mentioned above. After the power-on of the machine, the base system 120 included into the DCE performs a power-on sequence which particularly consists in the internal tests of the major features of the machine, step 301. Then, step 302, processor 160 activates via I/O circuit 165 lead 104, what results in a first effect of performing a short circuit at the secondary of transformer 218 and also the transfer of the 4 MSB of the identification code to leads 105-108. As mentioned above, since transformer 218 is not connected to the PSTN, the latter short-circuit does not affect the operating of the network. Step 303, processor 360 loads the 4 MSB into RAM storage 163. Then step 304, processor 160 disactivates lead 104, what entails the transfer of the 4 LSB of the identification code to the leads 105-108, and also the suppression of the above short-circuit. The LSB are then stored into RAM 163, step 305. Then, step 306 processor 160 compares the full 8-bits identification code which has read from multiplexer 226 to the list of identification codes which are available into PROM 162, and each corresponding to a specific PSTN, to which the DCE is likely to be connected via coupler 150. If the code read from coupler 150 does not match one code of the above list stored into PROM 162, then processor 160 stops the power-on process and maintains lead 100-112 to a low level in order to prevent the connection of base system 120 to the PSTN. On the contrary, in the case when the code read from coupler 150 is recognized, processor 160 loads from PROM 163 into RAM 162, the parameters which are characteristics of the recognized PSTN such as the characteristics of the dial tone, the ring, etc As will be better understood in the description above, the latter parameters which are characteristics of the specific PSTN, to which is adapted coupler 150, includes tests parameters in particularly for the dial tone, the ring detection. Figure 4 illustrates an out-going call process. The process is initiated with a request from the attached DTE, or from the user or application program running into the personal computer in which is plugged the base card 120, step 401. Step 402, processor 160 tests the status of SW hook line 109. If the latter line is active, in the case when a user is communicating with the telephone set 222 through the PSTN network, the request is aborted and the application program is informed. In the reverse case, the PSTN is available for a communication session and processor 160 goes to step 403 where it activates off-hook lead 100. Then processor 160 goes to step 404 where it waits for the appearance of a dial tone on the telephone line on leads 202, 203. The dial tone is transmitted via converters 171, filters 172 and hybrid 173 to processor 160. Processor 160 then performs a digital signal processing on the received dial tone in order to determine its frequency, its duration, its amplitude. Once the latter values have been measured by processor 160, those are compared with values stored into the PSTN tables stored into RAM 162 and which have been loaded with appropriate parameters value after the identification of the coupler 150. Generally speaking, the PSTN tables loaded into RAM 162 consist in ranges of values which corresponds to a specific PSTN. For example, in the case of France, the dial tone received by processor 160 should have a frequency comprised between comprised between 406 and 474 Hz. The processor 160 is therefore able to determine whether the received dial tone full complies with the requirements of the specific PSTN connected. If the measured values do not match the characterizing parameters stored into the mentioned PSTN tables, what may occur in the case when the PSTN is in a failure state or still in the case when the user has plugged a wrong coupler 150 (eg a coupler not designed for the specific PSTN), the process is then aborted and the leads 100-112 are maintained to a low level thus preventing any communication between base card 120 and the PSTN. In the reverse case, the process proceeds to step 405 where processor 160 reads into PSTN tables stored into RAM 160 whether a decadic or DTMF pulsing is required. If a decadic pulsing is required then processor 160 performs a succession of activation and disactivation of lead 101 in order to generate the appropriate break-make signals. Simultaneously to the pulsing, processor 160 activates DL lead 104 in order to perform a short circuit at the secondary winding of transformer 218. The PSTN tables stored into RAM 162 contain parameters defining the sequencing of the activating and disactivating of dial-pulse lead 101 which fully comply with the considered PSTN. On the contrary, if a DTMF pulsing is required then processor 160 goes to step 407 where it generates the appropriate tones on leads 102-103 to the PSTN, the latter appropriate tones being generated in accordance with parameters (frequency, duration) depending on the specific PSTN and stored into the above mentioned tables. Step 408, processor 160 waits for an answer tone having characteristics complying with the parameters stored into the above mentioned PSTN tables. If an answer tone has been detected, then processor 160 goes to step 409 which completes the process of establishment of the out-going call. From that instant, the base card 120 of the DCE according to the present invention is ready to communicate with a remote DCE via the PSTN. Figures 5 and 6 illustrate the incoming call process that is to say to procedure which is carried out by the DCE in order to analyze a ring signal in accordance with the requirements of a specific PSTN. The ring signal appearing on the telephone line at the input of ring detector circuit 224 is illustrated with respect to figures 6A and consists in a succession of bursts appearing during Ton period and separated by silences having a period Toff. An elementary sinusoïde wave is detailed in figure 6B. Ring detector circuit 224 has a first function of suppressing the DC component of the signal, as illustrated with respect to figure 6C. Ring detector circuit performs a full-wave rectifying operation on the signal of figure 6C in order to provide a rectified signal such as illustrated in figure 6D. The signal is then compared with a threshold value depending on the characteristics of the PSTN. That particularly shows that the design of RI detector 224 and more generally the electronic components included therein, closely depends on the specific PSTN to which the coupler 150 is intended to be connected, that specific PSTN being defined by the identification code wired on bus 227. On the contrary, base system is unique for all PSTN considered. The adaptation of base card 120 is achieved by loading RAM 163 with appropriate parameters stored into PROM 163, those parameters corresponding to the identification code read from coupler 150 during the initialization period described in reference with figure 3. The comparison of the rectified signal to the above threshold provides a squared wave signal on RI lead 113 illustrated in figure 6E. Then processor 160 performs an analysis of the latter signal shown in figure 5 in order to determine the validity of the detected ring signal. The analysis of the signal first begins step 501 by a test in order to detect the appearance of a negative transitions on RI lead 113. At the appearance (t0) of a negative transition, processor 160 performs a measure of the frequency of the squared wave signal on lead 113, step 502. To achieve this, processor 160 waits for the next negative transition appearing, if so, at t1 in order to measure the period T0=t1-t2 between the two first negative transitions. From the measure of T, processor 160 estimates the value of the frequency of the ring signal and compares it to the range loaded into the PSTN tables which were loaded at the initialization step of figure 3. If the latter estimation of the ring frequency is not comprised between the minimum and the maximum value authorized in the table corresponding to the PSTN connected to the DCE, processor 160 proceeds to step 501. In the reverse case, processor 160 goes to step 503 where it measures the period T1 separating the instant t1 and the occurrence t2 of the following positive transition. Then, step 503, processor 160 checks whether the latter measured period T1 is comprised within the range of values stored into the PSTN table located into RAM 163. If T1 is comprised between the minimum and maximum authorized values T1min and T1max, then processor 160 goes to step 504. In the reverse case, the ring signal is considered invalid and the process goes back to step 501. Step 504, processor 160 performs a measure of the period T2 separating the instant t2 with the occurrence t3 of the following negative transition and tests that measured value. If the latter value is found to be comprised within a range of authorized values T2min and T2max, then the process proceeds to step 505, otherwise processor 160 goes back to step 501. Then processor 160 performs a next measure consisting in the measure of the period T3 separating the instant t3 with the occurrence of the following positive transition t4. If the measured value T3 is found to be comprised within a range of authorized values T3min and T3max, then the process proceeds to step 506, otherwise it proceeds to step 501. The successive testing of the measured values T1, T2 and T3 therefrom permits the DCE to be largely insensitive to the noise which is likely to appear at the input of ring detector 224. In order to improve the immunity to the noise, ring detector circuit 224 also includes a Schmidt trigger (not shown in the figure 2). Step 506, processor 160 performs the continuous measure of the period corresponding to a low level of the squared wave signal on lead 113 in order to detect the beginning of a silence period Toff as shown in figure 6A. For that purpose, processor 160 compares that measured period during which the signal on lead 113 is at a low level to a second predetermined threshold value loaded into the tables in RAM 163. Whenever, the measured period is equal to that second threshold, processor 160 performs the seizing of the line by activating leads 100 and 101, step 507. That second threshold value is chosen so that to make sure that the seizing of the telephone line will be performed approximately near middle of the Toff period corresponding to a silence of the ring signal. It has been noticed that the seize of the line during a Ton period corresponding to the existence of energy on the telephone line might cause great damage to coupler 150 and particularly to transformer 218. It is therefore essential to make sure that the seize of the telephone line will not occur during the existence of energy on the line. That is achieved in the coupler according to the invention by comparing the period corresponding to a low level of signal 113 to the second threshold which is stored into the tables in RAM 163 which correspond to the identification code of the coupler and have been loaded during the initialization step of figure 3. Since in France, two consecutive rings are separated by a silence of approximately 3 seconds, the second threshold value loaded into the RAM 163 and corresponding to the French PSTN is chosen to be equal to 1 second. Coupler 150 according to the present invention permits the use of the telephone set 222 in different modes. In a first mode, the telephone set is used as traditionally, in order to transmit and receive voice messages through the PSTN. In a second mode, coupler 150 permits the transmission of voice from the telephone set 222 to the base card 120 while processor 160 is in a data communication session trough the PSTN network. In that second mode, the voice is concurrent to the data transmission via leads 202-203. The first mode is achieved by means of the disactivation of leads 100 and 112. Therefore the telephone set 222 is connected to the PSTN network via relays 200 and 201. In this 'on-hook' mode, the telephone set 222 can be used by an user for transmitting voice through the PSTN. The second mode, or 'Off-hook' is achieved by activating leads 100 and 101 and disactivating lead 112. This carries out the connection of leads 102/103 to the telephone network via transformer 218, circuit 223, DL circuit 217, DP circuit 214 and relay 200. By transmitting digital data to D/A converter 171, and conversely by processing the digital data received from A/D converter 171, processor 160 is able to exchange data with a remote DTE or transmit and receive an analog signal with a remote telephone set. In a third mode, called 'voice recording local communication mode', telephone set 222 is used for transferring voice into base card 120 at the same time than a possible data communication between the DCE and a remote DCE through the PSTN. For this purpose, processor 160 activates lead 112, what entails the connection of the telephone set to the local feeder 219 and to the transformer 225 via relay 201. Local feeder circuit 219 provides telephone 222 with a continuous DC current, being approximately equal to 20 milli-amperes in the preferred embodiment of the invention. The microphone of the telephone set 222 can thus be used for generating an analog electrical signal which is transmitted via relay 201, circuits 219 and 225 to leads 110 and 111. The analog signal existing on leads 110 and 111 is then transmitted to hybrid 182, then filtered by circuit 182 and converted into digital words by means of A/D circuit 181. The digital samples appearing at the output of the A/D converter 181 are then available on bus 161 and are stored into RAM 163 by processor 160 for further processing. Conversely, processor 160 can read data located into RAM 163 and transmit them to digital-to-analog converter 181 via bus 161. The analog signal is then filtered by filter 182 and transmitted via hybrid circuit 183 to leads 110 and 111. The vocal message are transmitted to the telephone set 222 via relay 201 since lead 112 is activated. In a fourth mode, processor 160 transmits differed data which have been stored into RAM 163 while in the above second mode, the latter data consisting of a digitalized vocal message which is intended to be transmitted to a remote telephone set. For that purpose, processor 160 initiates an out-going call such as described above with respect to figure 4. When the communication is established, processor 160 transmits the digitalized vocal message to D/A converter 171 via bus 161. The digitalized message is converted into analog form, filtered by filter 172 and then transmitted to hybrid circuit 173. Since leads 100 and 101 are activated, the vocal message is thus transmitted to the remote telephone set via relay 200 and the PSTN. It should be noticed that the DCE according to the present invention can be used for achieving the routing an incoming call to a remote telephone set. For this purpose, processor 160 activates leads 100 so that the vocal message is transmitted to transformer 218 via relay 200. The analog signal appearing at leads 102/103 is then transmitted to hybrid 173, then to filters 172 and then to A/D converter 171. The digital samples are then directly stored into RAM 163. Once the vocal message has been entirely stored, at the detection of the end of the communication by processor 160, the latter processor initiates an outgoing call process in order to establish a communication with a determined remote telephone set. The telephone set to be called is identified by identification data which have also been stored into RAM 163, either by the user or by the application program in the case when the DCE is used as an interface card for a personal computer. The establishment of the communication with the determined telephone set is carried out in accordance with the procedure which is described with respect to figure 4. Once the communication is established with the remote telephone set, processor 160 unloads the digitalized samples from RAM storage 163 to D/A converter 171, filter 182 and hybrid 183 which restitute the analog vocal message on leads 102/103. Since processor 160 has activated leads 100 and 101, the analog vocal message is transmitted to the remote telephone set via relay 200 and the PSTN. Therefore, the DCE according to the present invention can be used as a rerouter of telephone calls from a remote telephone set to another remote telephone set. It should be noticed that the DCE according to the invention can provide the user or the application program (in the case when the DCE is embodied as an interface card for a personal computer) with a test routine which permits the entire check coupler 150. For this purpose, a external loop is performed by connecting 'tip-ring' leads 202 and 203 to leads 213 and 214. Once the external loop has been established, processor 160 activates leads 100, 101 and also lead 112. Therefore, the local feeder circuit 219 provides block 223 with DC current. Then processor 160 generates a test pattern to leads 102/103 via D/A circuit 171, filter 172 and hybrid 173. The analog signal corresponding to the test pattern is then transmitted from transformer 218 to the 'tip-ring' leads 202/203 via circuits 223, 214 and relay 200. The analog signal is then transmitted back to leads 110 and 111 via relay 201, local feeder 218 and transformer 225. The analog signal is then converted back to digital samples by A/D converter 181 and the corresponding received test pattern is stored into RAM 163. Processor 160 then performs a comparison between the transmitted and the received test pattern in order to determine a potential failure in one of the components of coupler 150, and in case when the DCE according to the invention is embodied as an interface card for a personal computer, reports the failure state to the user or the application program. Figures 7A and 7B shows illustrative embodiments of local feeder circuit 219. In a first preferred embodiment of Fig. 7A, which is used when no galvanic isolation is required between base circuit 120 and the telephone set 222, local feeder circuit 219 includes a capacitor 701 for preventing the DC current provided by a current source based on a PNP transistor 702 from flowing through leads 110-111. Transistor 702 has its emitter connected to a first lead of a resistor 703 having its second input connected to positif voltage source Vcc supplied by base card 120. Positive supply voltage Vcc is also connected to the anod of a first diod 704 which has its cathod connected to the anod of a second diod 705 having its cathod connected either to base of transistor 702 and to a first lead of a resistor 706. Resistor 706 has its second lead connected either to AN2-B lead 111 (since transformer 225 is not required) and to lead 216. Capacitor 701 has a first lead connected to AN2-A lead 110 and a second lead connected either to the collector of transistor 702 and to lead 208. Therefore, transistor 702 provides telephone set 222 via leads 208-216 with DC current, which value being closely dependent on the value of resistor 703 and approximately equal to 0.7 Volt/R, where R is the value of the latter resistor. In the case when the base circuit (and therefore the personal system to which is connected to base circuit 120) must be isolated from either the PSTN and the telephone set 222, transformer 225 and a local feeder circuit 219 providing a galvanic isolation between base card 120 and telephone 222 are required. Such a local feeder circuit is shown with respect to figure 7B which uses a DC/DC converter based upon an oscillator circuit and a third transformer 712. The oscillator circuit includes a integrated circuit of the type 555 well known by the skilled man which provides a squared wave signal at its output lead 3. The squared wave signal is used to control a NPN transistor 713 having its emitter connected to ground and its collector connector a first lead of primary winding of transformer 712, a second lead of which being connected to positive supply voltage Vcc (12 Volts). The secondary winding of transformer 712 therefore provides an AC signal which is rectified by means of a diode 730 and filtered by a capacitor 711 and which can be used for supplying DC current source based on transistor 702 and described above. More particularly, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, integrated circuit 555 has its first pin connected to ground potential, its second and sixth pins connected to a first lead of a resistor 716 having a second lead connected to the positive supply voltage Vcc, a third lead connected to the base of transistor 713 via a resistor 718 for limiting the current through the latter base, a fourth pin which is used as an inhibit control lead under control of base card 120. Integrated circuit 555 has its fifth pin connected to ground via a capacitor 719 and its seventh pin connected to the first lead of resistor 716 via a resistor 717 and, at last, its eighth pin connected to the positive supply voltage. A capacitor 714 is connected between the first lead of primary winding of transformer 712 and ground potential. Pins 6 and 2 of integrated circuit NE 555 are also connected to ground potential via a capacitor 715. A capacitor 720 is connected between positive voltage source Vcc and ground for decoupling purpose. Transformers 225 and 712 should be chosen so that to provide the required galvanic isolation. For instance, in the case of a coupler designed to be connected to the United Kindom PSTN, a 3 Kvolt isolation is required. In the following table is more particularly described some parameters which are stored into RAM 143 during the initialization phase and which characterized a given PSTN. The parameter below are indicated with respect to two different examples, i.e. France and Germany. PARAMETER FR DE RING Min Freg18 Hz20.5 Hz Max Freg60 Hz57.5 Hz RI glitch at state 0 Max Value2 ms5 ms RI State 2 Min Value60 Hz57.5 Hz DIALING DTMF-Global Level DTMF-4 dBm- 4 dBm DTMF Interdigit Value70 ms2 ms PULSE-Delay between Dial loop and 1st digit25 ms0 ms Delay between Dial loop OFF and last digit40 ms0 ms Break duration60 Hz60 ms Make duration33 ms40 ms Interdigit delay0.9 sec1.1 sec AUTO CALL V25 bis Pause duration after line Seize03 sec CRN/CRI indicatorCRB onlyCRI only MODEM MANAGEMENT Guard Tone XmityesNo Nominal Xmit level-10 dBm-7 dBm Auto Disconnect on RD notactive189 sec120 sec TONE DETECTION Duration of Dial Tone Analysis1.3 sec0 Busy tone Min duration200 ms0 Busy tone Max duration600 ms0 FILTER SELECTION Dial Tone Filter selection325-480 Hz0 Busy Tone Filter selection400-480 Hz0	Coupling device (150) for connecting a Data Circuit Terminating Equipment (DCE) to a public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) including electronic components matching the electric requirements of a specific PSTN, said coupling device comprising: plugging means (130) for removably connecting said coupling device (150) to said DCE; storage means (227) for storing an identification code uniquely identifying said specific PSTN; transmission means (226) responsive to a control signal received from said DCE for transmitting said identification code to said DCE; characterized in that: said storage means (227) consists of a wired bus formed by n parallel-mounted wires, each carrying a logical state of said identification code; and said transmission means (226) comprises multiplexing means receiving said control signal from said DCE for transmitting either the most significant bits or the less significant bits of said identification code in accordance with the logical state of said control signal. Coupling device according to claim 1 characterized in that it further includes: a transformer (218) allowing the galvanic isolation between said DCE and said PSTN; short-circuit means (217) for short-circuiting said transformer during the dialing phase, said short-circuit means being controlled by said control signal. Data Circuit Terminating Equipment (DCE) for the connection of a Data Terminating Equipment (DTE) to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) including processing means (160) and storage means (162) for storing tables, each table comprising data characterizing a specific PSTN to which said DCE subassembly is intended to operate with, characterized in that it further includes: means for removably attaching a coupling device (150) as defined in claim 1 or 2; means (160, 165) for transmitting a control signal (104) during an identification phase for determining the type of said coupling device; means (160) for reading said identification code stored into said coupling device (150); means (160, 162) for selecting the appropriate table corresponding to said specific PSTN in response to said reading of said identification code; whereby said DCE is automatically adapted to operate within said PSTN. DCE according to claim 3 characterized in that said control signal is used during a dialing phase for controlling a short-circuit means (217) for short-circuiting a galvanic isolation transformer included into said coupling device. Data Circuit Terminating Equipment (DCE) comprising the coupling device according to claim 1 or 2, said coupling device being removably connected inside said DCE. DCE according to claim 4 or 5 characterized in that said tables stored into said storage means (162) comprises data relative to the dial tone corresponding to said PSTN. DCE according to claim 6 characterized in that said tables stored into said storage means (162) comprise data relative to the frequency, the duration and the amplitude of the dial tone. DCE according to claim 7 characterized in that said tables loaded into said storage means (162) comprise data relative to the ring signal which is conveyed through said given PSTN. DCE according to claim 8 characterized in that it consists of an interface card to be plugged into a workstation Workstation having a DCE in accordance with claim 9. Workstation having a DCE in accordance with claims 3 or 5.	IBM; INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION	BRUNO ANDRE; FIESCHI JACQUES; MARTIN JEAN; VAUTIER REMI; BRUNO, ANDRE; FIESCHI, JACQUES; MARTIN, JEAN; VAUTIER, REMI; Bruno, André; Vautier, Rémi
EP-0489215-B1	489,215	EP	B1	EN	19,960,320	1,992	20,100,220	new	H04M11	H04M19	H04M1, H04M19, H04M11	H04M 19/08, H04M 11/06	Coupling device to be connected to a DCE for the connection to a public switched telephone network having a local power supply circuit for allowing the use of the local telephone, DCE and workstation including the same	Coupling device for the connection of a Data Circuit Terminating Equipment DCE to a given Public Switched Telephone Network PSTN and to a local telephone set. The coupler includes means for providing said local telephone set with DC current whereby the microphone and the headphone of the telephone can be used respectively for transmitting and receiving vocal messages from the a DTE which is connected to said DCE. The invention also provides a DCE for the connection of a DTE toga a PSTN and to a local telephone set including a coupler circuit having the electronic components matching the electric requirements of a given PSTN. The coupler further includes means for providing the telephone set with DC current whereby vocal messages can be transmitted and received from the DTE to the telephone set. The invention further provides a DCE for the connection of a DTE to a PSTN and to a local telephone set which includes means for removably attaching a coupler circuit having the electronic components matching the electrical requirements of a given PSTN and further including means for providing the telephone set with DC current whereby vocal messages can be transmitted and received from the telephone set to the DTE.	Technical field of the inventionThe invention relates to data transmission and particularly to data transmission between a data terminating equipment (DTE) and a public switched telephone network (PSTN). Background artPublic Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) are of major importance in the data transmission field since they can be used in order to communicate data from a first local data terminating equipment (DTE) to a second, remote, DTE. The attachment of a DTE to a telephone network requires a device known as a DCE or modem which particularly includes a coupler circuit for providing the adaptation of the electrical signals to the characteristics of the switched telephone network to which the DCE is likely to be connected. With the development of sophisticated systems allowing the powerfull processing and use of vocal messages in data processing systems, a need has appeared in a device that allows the transmission of voice from a local telephone set to a data processing system via a DCE. However, coupler circuits which are known in the art does not allow that possibility since the local telephone set operates only when it is connected to the PSTN and consequently can not be used from transmitting voice messages through the DCE into the local DTE. US-A-4 799 144 of Parruck et al discloses a multiple option computer card which allows the connection of a computer to a PSTN and which comprises means interfacing with analog voice signals. EP-A-0 489 215 copending application relates to a coupling device for connecting a DCE to a PSTN including the electronic components matching the electric requirements of a specific PSTN. The coupling device comprises plugging means for removably connecting the latter to the DCE, means for storing an identication code corresponding to a specific type of PSTN to which the coupler is intended to be connected to. The coupling device further comprises means responsive to a control signal received from the DCE for transmitting the identification code to the DCE. The DCE connected to the coupling device includes processing means and a storage for storing tables, each table comprising data characterizing a specific PSTN which the DCE is intended to operate with. The DCE reads the identification code during an identification phase by transmitting the control signal and selects in response to the reading the appropriate table corresponding to the coupling device. Summary of the inventionIt is an object of the invention to provide a coupling device for connecting a DCE to a PSTN and which allows the transmission of voice messages between said DCE and the local telephone set. It is another object of the invention to provide a coupling device which can be removably connected to a DCE for adapting the latter to the requirements of a specific PSTN and allowing the transmission of voice messages between said DCE and the local telephone set. It is a further object of the invention to provide a coupling device which allows transmission of voice messages between the DCE and the local telephone set while providing a full galvanic isolation between both. It is another object of the invention to provide a DCE which can be connected to a specific PSTN and which allows the transmission of vocal messages between a local telephone set to a DTE connected to the DCE. It is a further object of the invention to provide a DCE interface card for a personal computer system to which can be attached a coupler circuit and which allows the transmission of vocal messages between the local telephone set and the personal computer system. It is a further object of the invention to provide a workstation which includes a DCE having a coupling device allowing the transmission of vocal messages between the local telephone set and the workstation. These and other objects of the invention are achieved by means of the coupling device which is defined in claim 1. Briefly the coupling device allows the connection of a DCE to a given PSTN and to a local telephone set. The coupling device includes means for providing said local telephone set with DC current whereby the microphone and the headphone of the telephone can be used respectively for transmitting and receiving vocal messages from the a DTE which is connected to said DCE. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the coupler consists in a box which can be removably attached to the DCE and which adapts the latter to the electric requirements of a given PSTN. The invention also provides a DCE for the connection of a DTE to a a PSTN and to a local telephone set including a coupler circuit having the electronic components matching the electric requirements of a given PSTN. The coupler further includes means for providing the telephone set with DC current whereby vocal messages can be transmitted and received from the DTE to the telephone set. The invention further provides a DCE for the connection of a DTE to a PSTN and to a local telephone set which includes means for removably attaching a coupler circuit having the electronic components matching the electrical requirements of a given PSTN and further including means for providing the telephone set with DC current whereby vocal messages can be transmitted and received from the telephone set to the DTE. The invention further provides a workstation such as a personal computer system which includes a DCE interface card to which can be removably connected a coupling device providing the telephone set with DC current whereby vocal messages can be transmitted and received from the latter telephone and the workstation. Description of the drawings.Figure 1 is a view of the preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 2 illustrates the coupler which is attached to the base card of the DCE. Figure 3 shows a flow chart of the country code validation process in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. Figure 4 details a flow chart of the process relative to an out-going call. Figure 5 details the process relative to a incoming call. Figure 6a to 6d are views illustrating the ring detector process. Figures 7A and 7B are views of preferred embodiments of local feeder circuit 219. Description of the preferred embodiment of the inventionFigure 1 shows the preferred embodiment of the DCE according to the present invention which includes a base system 120 to which is connected to a coupler 150. Contrary to the base system 120 which is unique for a wide variety of PSTN, coupler 150 is specific to a determined PSTN and includes all the hardware components which are necessary to comply with the electrical requirements of the considered PSTN. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, coupler circuit 150 takes the form of a box which can be removably attached to base 120 by means of a multiconductor cable. Base circuit 120 consists in an interface card which is intended to be connected to a workstation such as a personal computer operating as a DTE transmitting and receiving data via a switched telephone network in accordance with the requirements of a specific country. It should be however noticed that the invention concerns any type of DCE, taking the form either of interface cards or of a stand-alone DCE. In one particular embodiment, base circuit 120 is included into a portable personal computer system and coupler circuit 150 is a box which is connected to the latter portable system. Coupler 150 particularly provides, as will be detailed hereinafter, the electrical adaptation to the electrical requirements of the telephone network of a specific country. Base card 120 includes a processor 160 which is connected via a bus 161 to a PROM storage 162, to a RAM storage 163, to Input/Output (I/O) blocks 165 providing the communication between coupler 150 via bus 130 and other I/O devices 164 which are not part of the invention. Processor 160 communicate with an hybrid 173 (resp. 183) via a block of A/D and D/A converter 171 (resp. 181) and pass-band filters 172 (resp. 182). Hybrid 173 or 183 is a two-wires/four-wires well known in the data communication art. Hybrid 173 (resp. 183) communicates with coupler 150 via a set of two wires 103-104 (resp. 110-111). As mentioned above, processor 160 in base card 120 controls coupler 150 by means of bus 130 which is connected to I/O circuit 165. Bus 130 consists in the following leads: lead 100:off-hook lead 101:dial pulse lead 104:dial loop leads 105-108:identification leads lead 109:SW hook lead 112:hand-set I/O The function of those leads will be better understood with respect to the hereinafter description. It should be noted that base circuit 120 further provide coupler 150 with positive Vcc and ground potentials, the latter potential being particularly used for local feeder circuit 219 as will be described hereinafter. The connection of the coupler circuit 140 to the base 120 is achieved by means of a plug which can receive a multiconductor cable. PROM storage 162 stores the software program which is required for performing the instructions detailed hereinafter with respect to the flow chart of figures 3-6. PROM 162 further includes a set of PSTN tables in which are stored parameters characterizing the different telephone networks existing in different countries to which is likely to be connected the DCE according to the invention. The latter PSTN tables particularly includes information relative to the range of frequencies of the signal on the telephone lines, information relative to the different signalling tones characterizing a specific PSTN. Those PSTN tables which are stored into a PROM storage into the preferred embodiment of the invention can also be loaded into RAM storage 163 from any other storing devices such as a 3.5 inch-disquette devices which is connected to the DTE (particularly in the case when the DTE is a personal computer). Figure 2 illustrates the preferred embodiment of the coupler 150 according to the present invention. Coupler 150 is connected to the 'tip-ring' leads of the PSTN considered, the latter 'tip-ring' leads being connected to a off-hook relay 200 which performs the connection of the base card 120 to the PSTN network under control of processor 160. More accurately, 'tip-ring' leads are connected to the two input leads 202 and 203 of switch 200. Relay 200 has a third input lead 205 which is connected to a DIAL-pulse circuit 214, a lead 206 which is connected to an input lead 211 of a 'Hand-set IO' relay 201, which switch 201 being under control of processor 160 via control lead 112. Relay 200 has a further input lead 215 which is connected to the secondary winding of transformer 218. At last Relay 200 has a input lead 207 which is connected to an input lead 209 of relay 201. Relay 201 has inputs leads 208 and 209 which are connected to a local feeder voice circuit 219, the operating of which will be described hereinafter. Input leads 212 and 213 of relay 201 are respectively connected to a Telephone-Set1 (Ts1) lead 220 via a switch-hook detector circuit 221 and to a Ts2 lead 213. Relay 200 provides the OFF-HOOK function well known in the telecommunication art. Whenever processor 160 sets leads 100 and 112 to a low level, 'tip-ring' leads of the PSTN network are connected directly to the telephone set via relay 200, relay 201 and SH detector circuit 221. Whenever the user hand-sets the telephone, a flow of current appears at leads 220-213, the latter flow of current being detected by SH detector circuit 221 (being a photocoupler in the preferred embodiment of the invention) and transmitted to processor 160 via lead 109. When processor 160 wishes to transmit data to the PSTN, it activates lead 100 and 101 so that to connect the secondary winding of transformer 218 to 'tip-ring' leads via relay 200 and a DP circuit 214. DP circuit 214 performs a decadic pulsing as described hereinafter. To achieve this, processor 160 transmits a succession of break-makes signals via lead 101 to DP circuit 214 which accordingly opens and closes the electrical circuit. It should be noticed that the cadence of those break-make signals strongly depends on the specific PSTN considered, and the corresponding parameters allowing a connection of the DCE to a large number of PSTN, are stored into the above mentioned tables. A dial-loop circuit 217 is connected in parallel on the secondary winding of transformer 218 and provides the short-circuit of the latter when the processor generates break-make signals on lead 101. To achieve this activates a dial-loop lead 104 which is connected to the control input of DL circuit 217. In the preferred embodiment of the invention dial-loop circuit 217 is a photo relay circuit. The PSTN tables stored into PROM storage 162 includes information relative to the period during which DL circuit 217 performs a short-circuit of the secondary of transformer 218, the latter period being a characteristic of the specific PSTN considered. A circuit 223 for adapting the impedance is connected in parallel between the secondary leads of transformer 218. The latter circuit is used for fixing to a determined value, depending on the considered PSTN, the apparent impedance 'seen' from the telephone line. Transformer 218 is an usual transformer which can be used in traditional couplers for achieving a galvanic isolation between base card and the telephone line. Between leads 206 and 207 is connected un circuit consisting of a capacitor Ci in series with a resistor Ri also in series with a RI detector circuit 224. RI detector 224 is used for detecting the ring voltage and activates Ring Indicate (RI) lead 113 accordingly. The activation of RI lead 113 can be detected by processor 160 via I/O circuit 165 which then executes tests in order to make sure that the RI signals which have appeared on lead 113 fully comply with the requirements of the specific PSTN to which is connected the DCE. The latter tests will be particularly described with respect to the 'incoming call' flowchart of figure 5 and to the ring detection process of figure 6. The leads 208 and 216 of relay 201 are connected to a secondary winding of a transformer 225 via local-feeder circuit 219. Transformer 225 has its primary winding connected to leads 110 and 111 and therefore achieves the galvanic isolation between the base card and the telephone set. It should however be noted that in the case when the latter isolation is not required, transformer 125 can be omitted. Local-feeder circuit 219 provides the telephone set with DC current and therefore allows its operating in the case when control processor activates lead 112. Local-feeder circuit will be described in detail with respect to Fig. 7A and 7B. The coupler 150 further includes a multiplexer 226 which has 8 input leads connected to a 8-bits bus 227 carrying a wired 8-bits identification code. That identification code characterizing the specific PSTN to which is adapted coupler 150, can be read by control processor 160 via the four leads 105-108. Multiplexer 226 has a control lead which is connected to dial-loop lead 104. When processor 160 activates lead 104, multiplexer 226 transmits the 4 Most significant bits of the identification code to leads 105-108. Conversely whenever control processor sets lead 104 to a low level, the Least significant bits of the identification code are transmitted to leads 105-108. Therefore, after a sequence of two read operations of leads 105-108, processor 160 derives the identification code of coupler 150 and therefore the type of PSTN to which it can be connected. As will be described with more details hereinafter, one the identification code has been recognized by processor 160 in an initialization step, the latter processor loads RAM storage 163 with the appropriate parameters corresponding to the specific coupler which is attached to base 120. It should be noticed that, for economy purpose, the coupler 150 should be as simple as possible and should only includes the hardware components which are required for matching the electrical requirements of the considered PSTN. Particularly, the interface bus 100-112 between base system 120 and coupler 150 should be as simple as possible. This is firstly achieved by using the same lead 104 for controlling multiplexer 226 in the initialization step and also for controlling Dial-loop circuit 217. The advantageous use of the same lead 104 for two control purpose does not jeopardize the operating of the multiplexer 226 and DL circuit 117 since the reading step of the identification code of coupler 150 takes place in an initialization period occurring after the power-on of the machine while the control of DL circuit 117 is effective only after that initialization period. As a matter of fact, as long as processor 160 does not communicate through the PSTN, telephone set 222 is connected to the network since leads 100 and 112 are at a low level. Consequently, the short-circuit appearing at the secondary winding of transformer 218 during the initialization period caused by processor 160 which has activated lead 104 in order to read the 4 MSB of the identification code, does not affect the PSTN network. The simplicity of the interface between base system 120 and coupler 150 is still achieved by means of multiplexer 226 which allows the transmission of a 8-bit code through only 4 leads 105-108. Figure 3 particularly describes the country code validation step involved in the initialization period mentioned above. After the power-on of the machine, the base system 120 included into the DCE performs a power-on sequence which particularly consists in the internal tests of the major features of the machine, step 301. Then, step 302, processor 160 activates via I/O circuit 165 lead 104, what results in a first effect of performing a short circuit at the secondary of transformer 218 and also the transfer of the 4 MSB of the identification code to leads 105-108. As mentioned above, since transformer 218 is not connected to the PSTN, the latter short-circuit does not affect the operating of the network. Step 303, processor 360 loads the 4 MSB into RAM storage 163. Then step 304, processor 160 disactivates lead 104, what entails the transfer of the 4 LSB of the identification code to the leads 105-108, and also the suppression of the above short-circuit. The LSB are then stored into RAM 163, step 305. Then, step 306 processor 160 compares the full 8-bits identification code which has read from multiplexer 226 to the list of identification codes which are available into PROM 162, and each corresponding to a specific PSTN, to which the DCE is likely to be connected via coupler 150. If the code read from coupler 150 does not match one code of the above list stored into PROM 162, then processor 160 stops the power-on process and maintains lead 100-112 to a low level in order to prevent the connection of base system 120 to the PSTN. On the contrary, in the case when the code read from coupler 150 is recognized, processor 160 loads from PROM 163 into RAM 162, the parameters which are characteristics of the recognized PSTN such as the characteristics of the dial tone, the ring, etc As will be better understood in the description above, the latter parameters which are characteristics of the specific PSTN, to which is adapted coupler 150, includes tests parameters in particularly for the dial tone, the ring detection. Figure 4 illustrates an out-going call process. The process is initiated with a request from the attached DTE, or from the user or application program running into the personal computer in which is plugged the base card 120, step 401. Step 402, processor 160 tests the status of SW hook line 109. If the latter line is active, in the case when a user is communicating with the telephone set 222 through the PSTN network, the request is aborted and the application program is informed. In the reverse case, the PSTN is available for a communication session and processor 160 goes to step 403 where it activates off-hook lead 100. Then processor 160 goes to step 404 where it waits for the appearance of a dial tone on the telephone line on leads 202, 203. The dial tone is transmitted via converters 171, filters 172 and hybrid 173 to processor 160. Processor 160 then performs a digital signal processing on the received dial tone in order to determine its frequency, its duration, its amplitude. Once the latter values have been measured by processor 160, those are compared with values stored into the PSTN tables stored into RAM 162 and which have been loaded with appropriate parameters value after the identification of the coupler 150. Generally speaking, the PSTN tables loaded into RAM 162 consist in ranges of values which corresponds to a specific PSTN. For example, in the case of France, the dial tone received by processor 160 should have a frequency comprised between comprised between 406 and 474 Hz. The processor 160 is therefore able to determine whether the received dial tone full complies with the requirements of the specific PSTN connected. If the measured values do not match the characterizing parameters stored into the mentioned PSTN tables, what may occur in the case when the PSTN is in a failure state or still in the case when the user has plugged a wrong coupler 150 (eg a coupler not designed for the specific PSTN), the process is then aborted and the leads 100-112 are maintained to a low level thus preventing any communication between base card 120 and the PSTN. In the reverse case, the process proceeds to step 405 where processor 160 reads into PSTN tables stored into RAM 160 whether a decadic or DTMF pulsing is required. If a decadic pulsing is required then processor 160 performs a succession of activation and disactivation of lead 101 in order to generate the appropriate break-make signals. Simultaneously to the pulsing, processor 160 activates DL lead 104 in order to perform a short circuit at the secondary winding of transformer 218. The PSTN tables stored into RAM 162 contain parameters defining the sequencing of the activating and disactivating of dial-pulse lead 101 which fully comply with the considered PSTN. On the contrary, if a DTMF pulsing is required then processor 160 goes to step 407 where it generates the appropriate tones on leads 102-103 to the PSTN, the latter appropriate tones being generated in accordance with parameters (frequency, duration) depending on the specific PSTN and stored into the above mentioned tables. Step 408, processor 160 waits for an answer tone having characteristics complying with the parameters stored into the above mentioned PSTN tables. If an answer tone has been detected, then processor 160 goes to step 409 which completes the process of establishment of the out-going call. From that instant, the base card 120 of the DCE according to the present invention is ready to communicate with a remote DCE via the PSTN. Figures 5 and 6 illustrate the incoming call process that is to say to procedure which is carried out by the DCE in order to analyze a ring signal in accordance with the requirements of a specific PSTN. The ring signal appearing on the telephone line at the input of ring detector circuit 224 is illustrated with respect to figures 6A and consists in a succession of bursts appearing during Ton period and separated by silences having a period Toff. An elementary sinusoïde wave is detailed in figure 6B. Ring detector circuit 224 has a first function of suppressing the DC component of the signal, as illustrated with respect to figure 6C. Ring detector circuit performs a full-wave rectifying operation on the signal of figure 6C in order to provide a rectified signal such as illustrated in figure 6D. The signal is then compared with a threshold value depending on the characteristics of the PSTN. That particularly shows that the design of RI detector 224 and more generally the electronic components included therein, closely depends on the specific PSTN to which the coupler 150 is intended to be connected, that specific PSTN being defined by the identification code wired on bus 227. On the contrary, base system is unique for all PSTN considered. The adaptation of base card 120 is achieved by loading RAM 163 with appropriate parameters stored into PROM 163, those parameters corresponding to the identification code read from coupler 150 during the initialization period described in reference with figure 3. The comparison of the rectified signal to the above threshold provides a squared wave signal on RI lead 113 illustrated in figure 6E. Then processor 160 performs an analysis of the latter signal shown in figure 5 in order to determine the validity of the detected ring signal. The analysis of the signal first begins step 501 by a test in order to detect the appearance of a negative transitions on RI lead 113. At the appearance (t0) of a negative transition, processor 160 performs a measure of the frequency of the squared wave signal on lead 113, step 502. To achieve this, processor 160 waits for the next negative transition appearing, if so, at t1 in order to measure the period T0=t1-t2 between the two first negative transitions. From the measure of T, processor 160 estimates the value of the frequency of the ring signal and compares it to the range loaded into the PSTN tables which were loaded at the initialization step of figure 3. If the latter estimation of the ring frequency is not comprised between the minimum and the maximum value authorized in the table corresponding to the PSTN connected to the DCE, processor 160 proceeds to step 501. In the reverse case, processor 160 goes to step 503 where it measures the period T1 separating the instant t1 and the occurrence t2 of the following positive transition. Then, step 503, processor 160 checks whether the latter measured period T1 is comprised within the range of values stored into the PSTN table located into RAM 163. If T1 is comprised between the minimum and maximum authorized values T1min and T1max, then processor 160 goes to step 504. In the reverse case, the ring signal is considered invalid and the process goes back to step 501. Step 504, processor 160 performs a measure of the period T2 separating the instant t2 with the occurrence t3 of the following negative transition and tests that measured value. If the latter value is found to be comprised within a range of authorized values T2min and T2max, then the process proceeds to step 505, otherwise processor 160 goes back to step 501. Then processor 160 performs a next measure consisting in the measure of the period T3 separating the instant t3 with the occurrence of the following positive transition t4. If the measured value T3 is found to be comprised within a range of authorized values T3min and T3max, then the process proceeds to step 506, otherwise it proceeds to step 501. The successive testing of the measured values T1, T2 and T3 therefrom permits the DCE to be largely insensitive to the noise which is likely to appear at the input of ring detector 224. In order to improve the immunity to the noise, ring detector circuit 224 also includes a Schmidt trigger (not shown in the figure 2). Step 506, processor 160 performs the continuous measure of the period corresponding to a low level of the squared wave signal on lead 113 in order to detect the beginning of a silence period Toff as shown in figure 6A. For that purpose, processor 160 compares that measured period during which the signal on lead 113 is at a low level to a second predetermined threshold value loaded into the tables in RAM 163. Whenever, the measured period is equal to that second threshold, processor 160 performs the seizing of the line by activating leads 100 and 101, step 507. That second threshold value is chosen so that to make sure that the seizing of the telephone line will be performed approximately near middle of the Toff period corresponding to a silence of the ring signal. It has been noticed that the seize of the line during a Ton period corresponding to the existence of energy on the telephone line might cause great damage to coupler 150 and particularly to transformer 218. It is therefore essential to make sure that the seize of the telephone line will not occur during the existence of energy on the line. That is achieved in the coupler according to the invention by comparing the period corresponding to a low level of signal 113 to the second threshold which is stored into the tables in RAM 163 which correspond to the identification code of the coupler and have been loaded during the initialization step of figure 3. Since in France, two consecutive rings are separated by a silence of approximately 3 seconds, the second threshold value loaded into the RAM 163 and corresponding to the French PSTN is chosen to be equal to 1 second. Coupler 150 according to the present invention permits the use of the telephone set 222 in different modes. In a first mode, the telephone set is used as traditionally, in order to transmit and receive voice messages through the PSTN. In a second mode, coupler 150 permits the transmission of voice from the telephone set 222 to the base card 120 while processor 160 is in a data communication session trough the PSTN network. In that second mode, the voice is concurrent to the data transmission via leads 202-203. The first mode is achieved by means of the disactivation of leads 100 and 112. Therefore the telephone set 222 is connected to the PSTN network via relays 200 and 201. In this 'on-hook' mode, the telephone set 222 can be used by an user for transmitting voice through the PSTN. The second mode, or 'Off-hook' is achieved by activating leads 100 and 101 and disactivating lead 112. This carries out the connection of leads 102/103 to the telephone network via transformer 218, circuit 223, DL circuit 217, DP circuit 214 and relay 200. By transmitting digital data to D/A converter 171, and conversely by processing the digital data received from A/D converter 171, processor 160 is able to exchange data with a remote DTE or transmit and receive an analog signal with a remote telephone set. In a third mode, called 'voice recording local communication mode', telephone set 222 is used for transferring voice into base card 120 at the same time than a possible data communication between the DCE and a remote DCE through the PSTN. For this purpose, processor 160 activates lead 112, what entails the connection of the telephone set to the local feeder 219 and to the transformer 225 via relay 201. Local feeder circuit 219 provides telephone 222 with a continuous DC current, being approximately equal to 20 milli-amperes in the preferred embodiment of the invention. The microphone of the telephone set 222 can thus be used for generating an analog electrical signal which is transmitted via relay 201, circuits 219 and 225 to leads 110 and 111. The analog signal existing on leads 110 and 111 is then transmitted to hybrid 182, then filtered by circuit 182 and converted into digital words by means of A/D circuit 181. The digital samples appearing at the output of the A/D converter 181 are then available on bus 161 and are stored into RAM 163 by processor 160 for further processing. Conversely, processor 160 can read data located into RAM 163 and transmit them to digital-to-analog converter 181 via bus 161. The analog signal is then filtered by filter 182 and transmitted via hybrid circuit 183 to leads 110 and 111. The vocal message are transmitted to the telephone set 222 via relay 201 since lead 112 is activated. In a fourth mode, processor 160 transmits differed data which have been stored into RAM 163 while in the above second mode, the latter data consisting of a digitalized vocal message which is intended to be transmitted to a remote telephone set. For that purpose, processor 160 initiates an out-going call such as described above with respect to figure 4. When the communication is established, processor 160 transmits the digitalized vocal message to D/A converter 171 via bus 161. The digitalized message is converted into analog form, filtered by filter 172 and then transmitted to hybrid circuit 173. Since leads 100 and 101 are activated, the vocal message is thus transmitted to the remote telephone set via relay 200 and the PSTN. It should be noticed that the DCE according to the present invention can be used for achieving the routing an incoming call to a remote telephone set. For this purpose, processor 160 activates leads 100 so that the vocal message is transmitted to transformer 218 via relay 200. The analog signal appearing at leads 102/103 is then transmitted to hybrid 173, then to filters 172 and then to A/D converter 171. The digital samples are then directly stored into RAM 163. Once the vocal message has been entirely stored, at the detection of the end of the communication by processor 160, the latter processor initiates an outgoing call process in order to establish a communication with a determined remote telephone set. The telephone set to be called is identified by identification data which have also been stored into RAM 163, either by the user or by the application program in the case when the DCE is used as an interface card for a personal computer. The establishment of the communication with the determined telephone set is carried out in accordance with the procedure which is described with respect to figure 4. Once the communication is established with the remote telephone set, processor 160 unloads the digitalized samples from RAM storage 163 to D/A converter 171, filter 182 and hybrid 183 which restitute the analog vocal message on leads 102/103. Since processor 160 has activated leads 100 and 101, the analog vocal message is transmitted to the remote telephone set via relay 200 and the PSTN. Therefore, the DCE according to the present invention can be used as a rerouter of telephone calls from a remote telephone set to another remote telephone set. It should be noticed that the DCE according to the invention can provide the user or the application program (in the case when the DCE is embodied as an interface card for a personal computer) with a test routine which permits the entire check coupler 150. For this purpose, a external loop is performed by connecting 'tip-ring' leads 202 and 203 to leads 213 and 214. Once the external loop has been established, processor 160 activates leads 100, 101 and also lead 112. Therefore, the local feeder circuit 219 provides block 223 with DC current. Then processor 160 generates a test pattern to leads 102/103 via D/A circuit 171, filter 172 and hybrid 173. The analog signal corresponding to the test pattern is then transmitted from transformer 218 to the 'tip-ring' leads 202/203 via circuits 223, 214 and relay 200. The analog signal is then transmitted back to leads 110 and 111 via relay 201, local feeder 218 and transformer 225. The analog signal is then converted back to digital samples by A/D converter 181 and the corresponding received test pattern is stored into RAM 163. Processor 160 then performs a comparison between the transmitted and the received test pattern in order to determine a potential failure in one of the components of coupler 150, and in case when the DCE according to the invention is embodied as an interface card for a personal computer, reports the failure state to the user or the application program. Figures 7A and 7B shows illustrative embodiments of local feeder circuit 219. In a first preferred embodiment of Fig. 7A, which is used when no galvanic isolation is required between base circuit 120 and the telephone set 222, local feeder circuit 219 includes a capacitor 701 for preventing the DC current provided by a current source based on a PNP transistor 702 from flowing through leads 110-111. Transistor 702 has its emitter connected to a first lead of a resistor 703 having its second input connected to positif voltage source Vcc supplied by base card 120. Positive supply voltage Vcc is also connected to the anod of a first diod 704 which has its cathod connected to the anod of a second diod 705 having its cathod connected either to base of transistor 702 and to a first lead of a resistor 706. Resistor 706 has its second lead connected either to AN2-B lead 111 (since transformer 225 is not required) and to lead 216. Capacitor 701 has a first lead connected to AN2-A lead 110 and a second lead connected either to the collector of transistor 702 and to lead 208. Therefore, transistor 702 provides telephone set 222 via leads 208-216 with DC current, which value being closely dependent on the value of resistor 703 and approximately equal to 0.7 Volt/R, where R is the value of the latter resistor. In the case when the base circuit (and therefore the personal system to which is connected to base circuit 120) must be isolated from either the PSTN and the telephone set 222, transformer 225 and a local feeder circuit 219 providing a galvanic isolation between base card 120 and telephone 222 are required. Such a local feeder circuit is shown with respect to figure 7B which uses a DC/DC converter based upon an oscillator circuit and a third transformer 712. The oscillator circuit includes a integrated circuit of the type 555 well known by the skilled man which provides a squared wave signal at its output lead 3. The squared wave signal is used to control a NPN transistor 713 having its emitter connected to ground and its collector connector a first lead of primary winding of transformer 712, a second lead of which being connected to positive supply voltage Vcc (12 Volts). The secondary winding of transformer 712 therefore provides an AC signal which is rectified by means of a diod 730 and filtered by a capacitor 711 and which can be used for supplying DC current source based on transistor 702 and described above. More particularly, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, integrated circuit 555 has its first pin connected to ground potential, its second and sixth pins connected to a first lead of a resistor 716 having a second lead connected to the positive supply voltage Vcc, a third lead connected to the base of transistor 713 via a resistor 718 for limiting the current through the latter base, a fourth pin which is used as an inhibit control lead under control of base card 120. Integrated circuit 555 has its fifth pin connected to ground via a capacitor 719 and its seventh pin connected to the first lead of resistor 716 via a resistor 717 and, at last, its eighth pin connected to the positive supply voltage. A capacitor 714 is connected between the first lead of primary winding of transformer 712 and ground potential. Pins 6 and 2 of integrated circuit NE 555 are also connected to ground potential via a capacitor 715. A capacitor 720 is connected between positive voltage source Vcc and ground for decoupling purpose. Transformers 225 and 712 should be chosen so that to provide the required galvanic isolation. For instance, in the case of a coupler designed to be connected to the United Kindom PSTN, a 3 Kvolt isolation is required. In the following table is more particularly described some parameters which are stored into RAM 143 during the initialization phase and which characterized a given PSTN. The parameter below are indicated with respect to two different examples, i.e. France and Germany. PARAMETER FR DE RING Min Freg18 Hz20.5 Hz Max Freg60 Hz57.5 Hz RI glitch at state 0 Max Value2 ms5 ms RI State 2 Min Value 60 Hz 57.5 Hz DIALING DTMF-Global Level DTMF-4 dBm-4 dBm DTMF Interdigit Value70 ms2 ms PULSE-Delay between Dial loop and 1st digit25 ms0 ms Delay between Dial loop OFF and last digit40 ms0 ms Break duration60 Hz60 ms Make duration33 ms40 ms Interdigit delay0.9 sec1.1 sec AUTO CALL V25 bis Pause duration after line Seize03 sec CRN / CRI indicatorCRB onlyCRI only MODEM MANAGEMENT Guard Tone XmityesNo Nominal Xmit level-10 dBm-7 dBm Auto Disconnect on RD notactive189 sec120 sec TONE DETECTION Duration of Dial Tone Analysis1.3 sec0 Busy tone Min duration200 ms0 Busy tone Max duration600 ms0 FILTER SELECTION Dial Tone Filter selection325-480 Hz0 Busy Tone Filter selection400-480 Hz0	Coupling device (150) for allowing the connection of a Data Circuit Terminating Equipment (DCE) to a given Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and to a local telephone set (222) characterized in that it includes: a first transformer (218) for performing a galvanic isolation between said PSTN and a Data Terminating Equipment (DTE); switching means (200, 201) for performing the connection of said telephone set (222) to either said PSTN or said DTE according to control signals (100, 112) received by said DCE; a current source (702, 703, 704, 705, 706) connected to a voltage source received from said DCE and for providing said telephone set with DC current; whereby said telephone set is used for exchanging voice messages with said PSTN or said DTE. Coupling device according to claim 1 characterized in that it consists in a box which can be removably attached to said DCE for adapting it to the requirements of said given PSTN. Coupling device according to claim 2 characterized in that it includes: a second transformer (225) for providing a galvanic isolation between said DCE and said telephone set (222), a DC/DC converter connected to a voltage source received from said DCE and fro providing said tele phone set with DC current while achieving galvanic isolation between said voltage current (Vcc) and said telephone set (222). Coupling device according to claim 3 characterized in that said DC/DC converter further includes: an oscillator supplied by said voltage source (Vcc) for providing a oscillating control signal, switching means (713) controlled by said oscillat ing signal, a third transformer (712) driven by said switching means (713) for providing a AC voltage at its secon dary winding, rectifying means (730) for providing a DC voltage source, a current source (702, 703, 704, 705) for providing said telephone set (222) with DC current source. Data Circuit Terminating equipment DCE (120) for the connection of a Data Terminating Equipment (DTE) to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and to a local telephone set (222) characterized in that it includes a coupling device (150) including the electronic components matching the electric requirements of a given PSTN and having a first plug (202,203) for the connection to said PSTN and a second plug for the connection to said local telephone set (213, 220), said coupler circuit (150) further including : a first transformer (218) for performing a galvanic isolation between said DTE and said PSTN, switching means (200, 201) for performing the connection of said telephone set (222) to either said PSTN or said DTE according to control signals (100, 112) received by said DCE, a current source (702, 703, 704, 705, 706) connected to a voltage source received from said DCE and for providing said telephone set with DC current. whereby said telephone set is used for exchanging voice messages with said PSTN or said DTE. DCE according to claim 5 characterized in that said coupling device includes: a second transformer (225) for providing a galvanic isolation between said DCE and said telephone set (222), a DC/DC converter connected to a voltage source received from said DCE and fro providing said tele phone set with DC current while achieving galvanic isolation between said voltage current (Vcc) and said telephone set (222). Data Circuit Terminating equipment DCE (120) for the connection of a Data Terminating Equipment (DTE) to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and to a local telephone set (222) characterized in that it includes : means (130) for removably connecting a coupling device (150) including the electronic components matching the electric requirements of a given PSTN, said coupler circuit (150) having a first plug (202, 203) for the connection to said PSTN and a second plug (213, 220) for the connection to said local telephone set (222), said coupling device further including : a first transformer (218) for performing a galvanic isolation between said DTE and said PSTN, switching means (200, 201) for performing the connection of said telephone set (222) to either said PSTN or said DTE according to control signals (100, 112) received by said DCE. a current source (702, 703, 704, 705, 706) connect ed to a voltage source received from said DCE and for providing said telephone set with DC current. whereby said telephone set is used for exchanging voice messages with said PSTN or said DTE. DCE according to claim 5 characterized in that said coupling device includes: a second transformer (225) for providing a galvanic isolation between said DCE and said telephone set (222), a DC/DC converter connected to a voltage source received from said DCE and fro providing said tele phone set with DC current while achieving galvanic isolation between said voltage current (Vcc) and said telephone set (222). DCE according to any one of claims 5-8 characterized in that it consists in a DCE interface card to be included or plugged into a workstation. Workstation having a DCE in accordance with claim 9. Workstation system according to claim 10 character ized in that it includes means for recording voice messages received from said local telephone set (222) and means for sending the recorded vocal messages to a remote telephone set. Workstation system according to claim 10 character ized in that it includes means for recording voice messages received from a remote telephone set and means for transmitting said recorded telephone mes sage to said local telephone set (222). Workstation system according to claim 10 character ized in that it includes means for generating a test sequence received at one of said first and second plug and means for receiving said test sequence at one of said first and second plug, whereby said system can detect a misfunction which has occurred in said coupler circuit.	IBM; INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION	BRUNO ANDRE; FIESCHI JACQUES; MARTIN JEAN; VAUTIER REMI; BRUNO, ANDRE; FIESCHI, JACQUES; MARTIN, JEAN; VAUTIER, REMI; Bruno, André; Vautier, Rémi
EP-0489216-B1	489,216	EP	B1	EN	19,970,416	1,992	20,100,220	new	C08L21	C08G18	C08L21, C08G18	C08L 21/00+B4, C08G 18/08D	High modulus rubber compositions	It is desirable to increase the modulus of rubbers utilized in a wide variety of applications. This invention discloses a technique for preparing high modulus rubber compositions. By utilizing this technique, high modulus can be attained without sacrificing other properties, such as hysteresis. The subject invention more specifically relates to a process for preparing a high modulus rubber composition which comprises: (1) polymerizing at least one diisocyanate with at least one member selected from the group consisting of diols and diamines in a polymer cement of a rubbery elastomer under conditions which result in the formation of a rubber cement having the crystalline polymer dispersed therein; and (2) recovering the high modulus rubber composition from the rubber cement.	Background of the InventionIt is sometimes desirable to increase the modulus of rubber compounds. For instance, it is generally desirable to increase the modulus of rubber compounds which are utilized in tire tread base compositions and in tire wire coat compounds. A higher degree of stiffness in such rubber compositions is conventionally attained by incorporating larger amounts of fillers, such as carbon black, into the rubber compounds and/or by increasing the state of cure of such compounds. Unfortunately, both of these techniques lead to undesirable results. For instance, the incorporation of additional carbon black into rubber compounds typically leads to high levels of hysteresis. Accordingly, the utilization of such compounds in tires results in excessive heat build-up and poor cut growth characteristics. The utilization of high amounts of sulfur to attain a high state of cure typically leads to poor-aging resistance. Furthermore, it is highly impractical to reach high levels of stiffness by increased state of cure alone. For these reasons, it is not possible to attain the desired degree of stiffness in tire tread base compounds by simply adding higher levels of fillers or curatives. FR-A-2,508, 046, FR-B-1,576,887, and DE-B-1,118,447 relate to techniques for synthesizing polyureas and polyurethanes within rubbers. FR-A-2,508,046 discloses a technique whereby a diisocyanate is reacted with a primary diamine in the presence of cis-1,4-polyisoprene rubber. Its teachings disclose methods of reacting the diisocyanate with a diamine by both solid-phase and liquid-phase methods. Summary of the InventionThe subject invention reveals a technique for preparing a high modulus rubber composition which comprises polymerizing at least one diisocyanate with at least one member selected from the group consisting of diols and diamines within the matrix of at least one dry rubbery elastomer to produce said high modulus rubber composition, wherein said process is carried out by (1) mixing the diisocyanate in a first portion of the rubber, (2) mixing the diol or diamine in a second portion of the rubber, and (3) mixing the rubber containing the diisocyanate with the rubber containing the diol or diamine. Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims. The high modulus rubber compositions made by this technique are well suited for applications where a high degree of stiffness is desired. However, rubber compositions made by this technique do not have an increased degree of hysteresis. Detailed Description of the InventionVirtually any type of elastomer can be utilized in preparing the high modulus rubber compositions of this invention. The rubbery elastomers which are utilized in accordance with this invention typically contain repeat units which are derived from diene monomers, such as conjugated diene monomers and/or nonconjugated diene monomers. Such conjugated and nonconjugated diene monomers typically contain from 4 to 12 carbon atoms and preferably contain from 4 to 8 carbon atoms. Some representative examples of suitable diene monomers include 1,3-butadiene, isoprene, 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene, 2-methyl-1,3-pentadiene, 3,4-dimethyl-1,3-hexadiene, 4,5-diethyl-1,3-octadiene, and phenyl-1,3-butadiene. The polydiene rubber can also contain repeat units which are derived from various vinyl aromatic monomers, such as styrene, 1-vinylnaphthalene, 2-vinylnaphthalene, α-methylstyrene, 4-phenylstyrene and 3-methylstyrene. Some representative examples of polydiene rubbers that can be modified by utilizing the high modulus rubber compositions of this invention include polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), synthetic polyisoprene, natural rubber, isoprene-butadiene rubber, isoprene-butadiene-styrene rubber, nitrile rubber, carboxylated nitrile rubber, and EPDM rubber. The technique of this invention is particularly well suited for utilization in modifying natural rubber, synthetic polyisoprene, and cis-1,4-polybutadiene. The elastomers utilized in the high modulus rubber compositions of this invention can be made by solution polymerization, emulsion polymerization or bulk polymerization. It is, of course, also possible to use natural rubber in preparing the rubber compositions of this invention. The manner by which the dry rubbery elastomer was synthesized is not of great importance. Virtually any type of diisocyanate monomer can be utilized. These diisocyanate monomers will typically have the structural formula: O=C=N-A-N=C=O wherein A represents an alkylene, cycloalkylene, arylene or cycloarylene moiety. Some representative examples of diisocyanate monomers which can be employed include 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate, 4,4'-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, toluene diisocyanate, naphthalene diisocyanate, and isophorone diisocyanate. Isophorone diisocyanate is also known as 5-isocyanato-1-(isocyanatomethyl)-1,3,3-trimethylcyclohexane and has the structural formula: Virtually any type of diamine monomer can be used. Some representative examples of diamine monomers which can be utilized include ethylene diamine, phenylene diamine, 1,6-hexanediamine, naphthalyne diamines, 1,4-butylene diamine, piperazine and hydrazine. By the same token, any diol monomer can be used. Some representative examples of diol monomers which can be employed include ethylene glycol, butylene glycol, neopentyl glycol, cyclohexane dimethanol and 1,6-hexanediol. Small amounts of polyiisocyanates, polyamines, or polyols can be copolymerized into the polymer to cause cross-linking. In some cases, it is desirable to utilize an aromatic diamine because of the generally fast reaction rate which is attained. Fast reaction rates are particularly desirable in cases where the polyurea or polyurethane is being synthesized within the matrix of a dry rubber. In the practice of this invention, the polyiisocyanate is dispersed into a first portion of dry rubber. The diol monomer or diamine monomer is blended into a second portion of the rubber. The two components can then be blended so as to mix the rubber containing the diisocyanate with the rubber containing the diol or diamine monomer. This procedure also results in the production of a highly dispersed blend of polyurethane or polyurea within the matrix of the dry rubber. The polyurea or polyurethane can be synthesized in the rubber matrix over a wide temperature range. The temperature at which the polymerization is conducted is typically within the range of 60°C to 200°C. It is preferred for such polymerizations to be conducted at a temperature within the range of 100°C to 160°C with it being most preferred for the polymerization to be done at a temperature within the range of 120°C to 140°C. The polymerization is carried out while the rubber and monomers are being subjected to mechanical shearing forces. Typically the polymerization will be carried out in an extruder or a mixer which is capable of providing sufficiently high shearing forces so as to homogeneously disperse the monomers throughout the dry rubber. Banbury mixers and Brabender mixers are very suitable for utilization in this procedure.	A process for preparing a high modulus rubber composition which comprises polymerizing at least one diisocyanate with at least one member selected from the group consisting of diols and diamines within the matrix of at least one dry rubbery elastomer to produce said high modulus rubber composition, wherein said process is carried out by (1) mixing the diisocyanate in a first portion of the rubber, (2) mixing the diol or diamine in a second portion of the rubber, and (3) mixing the rubber containing the diisocyanate with the rubber containing the diol or diamine. A process as specified in claim 1 wherein said rubbery elastomer is polybutadiene. A process as specified in claim 1 wherein said rubbery elastomer is polyisoprene. A process as specified in claim 1 wherein said rubbery elastomer is styrene-butadiene rubber. A process as specified in claim 1 wherein said rubbery elastomer is styrene-isoprene-butadiene rubber. A process as specified in claim 1 wherein said members selected form the group consisting of diols and diamines are diols. A process as specified in claim 1 wherein said members selected from the group consisting of diols and diamines are diamines.	GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER; THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY	BURLETT DONALD JAMES; CALLANDER DOUGLAS DAVID; HALASA ADEL FARHAN; HSU WEN-LIANG; KELLEY MELLIS MICHAEL; TUNG WILLIAM C T; BURLETT, DONALD JAMES; CALLANDER, DOUGLAS DAVID; HALASA, ADEL FARHAN; HSU, WEN-LIANG; KELLEY, MELLIS MICHAEL; TUNG, WILLIAM C.T.
EP-0489222-B1	489,222	EP	B1	EN	19,950,809	1,992	20,100,220	new	G01N29	G01N29, G10K11, A61B7	G01N29, A61B8, G10K11	G01N 29/22C, G10K 11/30	Ultrasound probe and lens assembly for use therein	This invention provides an ultrasonic transducer probe (10) for medical scanning and a lens assembly for use therein. The probe has a housing (21) in which an ultrasonic transducer array (16) is mounted, there being an opening (23) in the housing adjacent the transducer array (16). A first lens subassembly (20) is mounted to the transducer (16) and moves therewith if the transducer is rotated. A second lens subassembly (25, 27) is mounted to the housing (21) to fill the opening (23) therein, and includes, for example, a thin plastic firm (25) covering the opening (23) and bonded to the housing (21) to seal the opening (23) and a film backing lens or layer (27). The first lens subassembly (20) is preferably a compound lens. The lens subassemblies are formed of materials having relative acoustic properties, and having mating surfaces which are shaped, to selectively focus ultrasonic signals from the transducers.	Field of the InventionThis invention relates to ultrasonic transducer systems and more particularly to an ultrasonic transducer probe and to lens assemblies for use therein. Background of the InventionUltrasonic transducers, and in particular phased array ultrasonic transducers, are frequently utilized for a variety of medical and other scanning applications. For such applications, and in particular medical applications, the transducer of the ultrasonic scanner is generally positioned adjacent to a selected outer portion of the body, for example, adjacent to the chest wall to scan the heart. However, superior images can be obtained in at least some applications by positioning the transducer at the end of an endoscope which is suitably positioned in the patient's esophagus. Where this transducer or probe, which is referred to as a transesophageal probe, is utilized for scanning the heart, the procedure is referred to as transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). In order to permit multiple cross-sectional planes of the heart to be scanned, it would be desirable if the transducer array could be rotated. However, since a probe of this type is inside the body, the probe must be sealed to protect it against attack from body fluids and acids, as well as against sterilant solutions and cleaning solutions either inside or outside the body. This requires the transducer, and any focusing lens thereon, to be enclosed and sealed within a protective housing which does not move as the transducer and lens are rotated. The housing, which is preferably of metal, may be sealed and electrically isolated from the patient by having an epoxy covering molded over it. However, neither the metal housing nor the epoxy covering will transmit ultrasonic signals from the transducer or the echo signal returned theretos. Therefore, it is necessary that an opening be formed in the housing and epoxy covering over the transducer array through which ultrasonic signals may pass. However, this opening must also be sealed. In order to avoid acoustic distortion from the sealing medium, this seal would typically be a thin plastic film, such as for example a Mylar film, attached to the housing. Such a sealing medium, which is generally flexible, also protects the body from irritation as a result of probe rotation. However, since air has different acoustic properties than the focusing lens and the body being scanned, and thus causes undesired reflection of acoustic waves passed therethrough, it is necessary that either (a) an acoustic medium, typically a fluid, having suitable acoustic characteristics, be provided to transmit the ultrasonic waves; or (b) that the lens be pressed tightly against the flexible sealing medium. With the latter solution, the curved, generally cylindrical, shape of the lens deforms the sealing medium when the array is rotated, distorting the acoustic imaging beam. For the former solution, the acoustic medium is particularly necessary to fill the space between the focusing lens, which is typically curved, and the generally flat sealing film. However, the rotating curved lens causes churning of the acoustic medium and may also cause the outer covering film to distort, disturbing the acoustic waves passing through both the medium and the film. This is particularly true for a cylindrical lens which is preferable for focusing each element of the array, but which causes edge turbulence in the medium. Further, the thin film which is used to seal the opening in the housing has little structural strength and is, therefore, subject to both distortion which may adversely affect acoustic imaging and to rupture. Therefore, it is generally desired to have a structural backing for this thin film layer. However, the acoustic properties of the backing for the thin film sealing element should not cause undesired distortion of the ultrasonic signals either transmitted or received by the transducer array. It is also desirable that a radio frequency interference (RFI) shield be provided between the body and the array to reduce noise in the array output. A need, therefore, exists for an improved ultrasonic transducer probe which permits ultrasonic signals to be transmitted from a rotating transducer array through a stationary housing and seal, and in particular for an improved technique for accomplishing this objective in a transesophageal or other invasive probe. Similar problems may also arise for noninvasive probes where a precise location is required for various imaging planes. In such application, the probe could be placed against the body and the array rotated to obtain different sector scans. Another nonrotational area where similar problems arise is in vascular probe imaging near the surface, or in other similar applications, where a vertical standoff of the probe is required to permit the beam to properly focus or to get adequate beam width for a sector scan. To avoid beam distortion, it is desirable that the offset area between the body and the probe not be filled with air. Summary of the InventionIn accordance with the above, this invention provides an ultrasonic transducer probe for medical scanning of a body and, in particular, a lens assembly for use therein. The probe has a housing in which an ultrasonic transducer or transducer array is mounted. An opening is provided in the housing in the area adjacent the transducer. The housing is sealed by a suitable means such as an epoxy coating with there also being an opening in the coating in the area overlying the opening in the housing. A first lens subassembly is mounted to the transducer and a second lens subassembly is mounted to the housing to fill the opening therein. The second lens subassembly includes a means for sealing the opening, for example, a thin plastic film covering the opening which is bonded to the housing in the area thereof around the opening. The lens subassemblies are formed of materials having relative acoustic properties, and having mating surfaces which are shaped, to selectively focus ultrasonic signals from said transducers. For a preferred embodiment, the first lens subassembly is a compound lens having a first lens section of a first material with first acoustic properties and a second lens section of a second material with second acoustic properties. The first lens section has a first substantially flat surface in contact with the transducer and a second surface opposite the first surface, which surface may have a convex curve. The second lens section has a first surface mating with the second surface of the first lens section and an opposed second flat surface which is substantially parallel to the transducer and to the first surface of the first section. The acoustic properties of the second section are, preferably, substantially the same as those of a body to be scanned, and the relative acoustic properties of the first and second materials and the curves of the mating surfaces are preferably such that the ultrasonic signals from the transducers are selectively focused. The first and second lens sections are preferably formed together such that they are adhered and no air exists at the interface. Where the transducer is being used to perform transesophageal echocardiography, or for other rotational applications, means are provided for fixing the lens to the transducer and, preferably, for rotating the transducer and lens. Where, as indicated above, the focusing of the ultrasonic signals is performed by the first lens subassembly, the acoustic properties of the second lens subassembly should be substantially the same as those of the body being scanned. In particular, the second lens subassembly preferably includes a thin plastic film covering the openings and bonded to the housing in the area thereof around the openings and a structural backing for the film which is preferably of a material and is shaped relative to the first lens subassembly at the junction thereof so as not to alter the acoustic paths of ultrasonic signals passing therethrough. Where focusing of the ultrasonic signals is not accomplished solely by the first lens subassembly, then the backing for the thin plastic film could also be a lens which cooperates with the first lens subassembly to properly focus the ultrasonic signals. Particularly where the transducer array is being rotated, a thin layer of a low vapor pressure fluid is provided between the first and second lens subassemblies. An RFI screen may also be embedded in the structural backing of the second lens subassembly. The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawing. In the DrawingsThe figure is a cutaway side view of a portion of a transesophageal probe utilizing the lens assembly of this invention. Detailed DescriptionReferring to the figure, a probe 10 is located in the esophagus or other internal body channel 12 of a patient on which, for example, transesophageal echocardiography is being performed. However, while for the preferred embodiment it is assumed that the probe 10 is an invasive transesophageal probe, as previously indicated, this is not a limitation on the invention. The probe has, for example, a standard phased array ultrasonic transducer array 16 formed of piezoelectric material. Transducer array 16 is rotated by being mounted to a mechanism 18 which either directly or indirectly rotates the transducer utilizing a reciprocating motor or other suitable means. The mechanism for rotating the transducer does not form part of the present invention. A compound lens 20 forms a first lens subassembly. Lens 26 is preferably (but not limited to) cylindrical to permit focusing of each element of the array and is mounted on top of transducer 16 and secured thereto by a suitable glue or other known means. Transducer 16, mechanism 18 and lens 20 are mounted within a housing 21 which is covered by an epoxy seal 22. Additional hardware and circuitry would typically also be contained within housing 21. Since housing 21, which would typically be formed of a metal, and epoxy seal 22 do not pass ultrasonic signals, or do not pass such signals in undistorted form, openings 23 and 24 are provided in the housing and coating, respectively, through which ultrasonic signals may pass. The openings 23 and 24 are filled and sealed by a second lens subassembly consisting of a thin polyester or other plastic film 25, for example, a Mylar film, with a backing layer 27 formed thereto. An RFI screen 29 is embedded in backing layer 27. The small space between the first lens subassembly mounted to rotating transducer array 16 and the second lens subassembly which is secured to stationary housing 21 is filled with a thin layer 31 of a low vapor pressure fluid which may for example be an oil, but is preferably a semisolid acoustic grease, for example, a fluorosilicone grease. Compound lens 20 is in two parts or sections. The first section of lens 20 is a convex lens 26 of a first material having selected acoustic properties. Lens section 26 may, for example, be of a silicone rubber such as RTV-560 available from General Electric. The second section of compound lens 20 is a concave section 28 which mates to convex section 26 and is formed of a material having substantially the same acoustic properties as the body being scanned. A suitable material for lens section 28 is a urethane rubber such as RP-6400 available from Ciba Geigy. The two sections of lens 20 are preferably formed together so that they bond to each other without there being an adhesive or other specific bond line therebetween and no air exists at the interface. The second lens subassembly is preferably formed by bonding the thin polyester film, for example, Mylar, which may, for example, be in the range of 1/2 mil thick, to the outside of housing 21 in the area of opening 23 with the film covering the opening. The film may then be vacuum formed to expand into and substantially fill openings 23 and 24. RFI screen 29 may then be dropped in the expanded film, being supported, for example, on a shoulder (not shown) in the housing, and the material of backing layer 27 then poured into the expanded film to fill the opening therein as shown in the figure. Layer 27 functions in a lens section and is preferably of a material having substantially the same acoustic characteristics as the body, for example a urethane rubber such as RP-6400 (i.e. the same material as used for lens section 28). The lower flat surface of lens section 26 is bonded to the upper surface of transducer 16 with a suitable adhesive which is thin enough so as not to refract the ultrasonic signals from the transducer 16. Therefore, ultrasonic waves 30 emitted from transducer 16 are not refracted at the junction between transducer 16 and lens section 26, these signals continuing, as shown in the Figure, in a direction perpendicular to the upper surface of the transducer. However, the materials of lens sections 26 and 28 and the curve at the junction between these two lens sections are such that acoustic waves at this junction are refracted to converge at a desired focal point F. Since the material of lens section 28 and the material of backing layer or lens 27 are preferably of the same material and, therefore, have the same or substantially the same acoustic properties, which properties are substantially the same as those of the patient's body, and since film layer 25 and acoustic grease layer 31 are extremely thin (i.e., less than 1/10 of a wavelength), and are therefore substantially transparent to acoustic waves, the acoustic beams are not refracted or bent at the junctions between lens section 28 and grease 31, between grease 31 and layer 27, between layer 27 and film 25 or between film 25 and internal body channel 12. In this regard, it is important that the outer surface of lens section 28 be flat and substantially parallel to the upper surface of transducer 16 (and thus to the lower surface of lens section 26), and that this surface substantially mate and be in contact with a flat, parallel lower surface of backing layer 27 so that no air is between these two surfaces. Air between these two surfaces would cause undesired reflection or refractions of the acoustic waves. Acoustic grease 31 lubricates the contacting surfaces of lens section 28 and lens or backing 27 so that the rotating lens section may move relative to the stationary housing and second lens subassembly affixed thereto without rippling the film layer 25 or causing damage thereto, and also serves to seal and keep air out of the junction between lens section 27 and 28. A simple lens assembly is thus provided which permits a transesophageal probe or other similar device to be sealed in a suitable housing, and for the housing and its seals to remain stationary while the transducer and its focusing lens are rotated to permit multiple planes to be scanned, without causing undesired reflection of the acoustic waves as a result of air in the acoustic path, or bending as a result of ripples in an acoustic medium, or rippling of a sealing film. While the two lens sections are formed together for the preferred embodiment, they may also be secured together by other suitable means such as an acoustic adhesive having suitable properties. With spherical or flat lenses, it is also possible to fix one lens section to the rotated transducer 16 and to use lens or backing layer 27 as the other lens section which is fixed to the housing. For this configuration, the shape of lens 27 might need to be modified to provide proper focusing of the ultrasonic signals. A suitable lubricating agent would be utilized between the relatively rotating lenses. A replaceable lubricating agent, such as an acoustic coupling gel, may be used in place of the acoustic grease 31 for noninvasive applications. Further, while particular lens shapes and materials have been described above, it is apparent that both the shapes of lens sections 26, 27 and 28 and the materials utilized therefor may vary with specific application. Thus, for a particular application and lens section material, the convex and concave lens sections may be reversed or the sections may be flat. What is required is that the sections mate. Further, lens sections 26 and 28 may only partially focus the ultrasonic signals and lens 27 may be utilized to complete the focusing operation. Therefore, while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, the foregoing and other changes in form and detail may be made therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed.	A lens assembly (10) for use with an ultrasonic transducer array (16) mounted in a housing (21), there being an opening (23) in the housing in the portion thereof adjacent the array, the array being used for medical scanning of a body part, the lens assembly comprising: a first lens subassembly (20) mounted to the array; and a second lens subassembly (25, 27, 29) mounted to the housing (21) to fill said opening (23) therein, and including means (25, 27) for sealing said opening; said lens subassemblies being formed of materials having relative acoustic properties, and having mating surfaces which are shaped, to selectively focus ultrasonic signals from said transducer array. A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first lens subassembly (20) is a compound lens having a first lens section (26) of a first material having first acoustic properties, said first lens section having a first substantially flat surface in contact with said transducer array (16), and a second surface opposite said first surface; and a second lens section (28) of a material having second acoustic properties, said second lens section having a first surface mating with the second surface of said first lens section (26) and an opposed flat second surface which is substantially parallel to said transducer array (16) and to the first surface of said first section (26). A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 2 wherein the acoustic properties of said second material are substantially the same as those of a body (12) being scanned. A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 2, wherein said first material is a silicone rubber and said second material is a urethane rubber. A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second surface of said first lens section (26) is a convex curved surface and wherein the first surface of said second lens section (28) is a mating concave surface. A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein focusing of said ultrasonic signals is performed by said first lens subassembly (20); and wherein the acoustic properties of the second lens subassembly (25, 27) are substantially the same as those of a body (12) being scanned. A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 6, wherein said second lens subassembly (25, 27) includes a thin plastic film (25) covering said opening and bonded to said housing (21) in the area thereof around said opening (23), and a structural backing (27) for said film (25) which is of a material and is shaped relative to said first lens subassembly (20) at the junction thereof so as not to alter the acoustic paths of ultrasonic signals passing therethrough. A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second lens subassembly (25, 27) includes a thin plastic film (25) covering said opening (23) and bonded to said housing (21) in the area thereof around said opening (23), and a structural backing (27) for said film (25). A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 8, including an RFI screen (29) embedded in said structural backing (27). A lens assembly (10) as claimed in claim 1 wherein said housing is contained in a transesophagael probe and said lens assembly is rotated.	HEWLETT PACKARD CO; HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY	CHEN JAMES N C; DUFFY JOHN W; KING ROBERT W; CHEN, JAMES N.C.; DUFFY, JOHN W.; KING, ROBERT W.
EP-0489227-B1	489,227	EP	B1	EN	19,981,223	1,992	20,100,220	new	G06F9	null	G06F3, G05B19, G06F9	G06F 9/445B5, G06F 3/06D, G05B 19/042P	Data storage system having removable media and equipped to download a control program from the removable media	A data storage device is disclosed having associated therewith a removable storage medium. The data storage device has a main control unit with a microprocessor. The system is designed such that an internal control program for control of the media is stored directly on the media itself. By use of a boot program which can be stored in the microprocessor or separately from the microprocessor, the control program is read off of the media by the microprocessor and is stored in a main control program storage within the data storage device. The main control program storage is an erasible storage like an EEPROM, RAM, or flash memory.	The present invention relates to storage devices having a removable storage media.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIn the data storage field, many different types of storage media exist. Storage devices are known which have removable storage media, like magnetic tapes, optical disks, removable magnetic disks, flexible disks, etc.Although these devices differ greatly in the way they store data, the units always have some form of electronic controller built in to control the operation of the data storage process. In modern designs, these built-in control units are very often designed around one or more microprocessors. A typical prior art system is shown in Figure 1.The main control unit 11 (very often designed around one or more microprocessors) controls the operation of the storage device generally shown at 10. To write data on the removable storage medium 10, the main control unit 11 receives commands from a host via input/output electronics 12, interprets those commands, and controls the flow of data from the host. It also controls the flow of data internally within the storage unit (from the input section electronics 12 through an internal data buffer 13 (if included) to a write electronics 14, and controls the physical writing of the data on the medium 9. In the write electronics section 14, the data to be recorded is modified in special ways (encoded) to fit requirements of the recording media.When reading data from the media, the main control unit 11, after receiving a command to read data from the host, reads data from the storage medium 9 through a read electronics 15 and the internal data buffer 13 (if any), and from the buffer 13 out to the host. The read electronics 15 performs necessary decoding of the read data to make it suitable for the host. The main control unit 11 also controls servo electronics 16 for drive of the medium 9, as is well known in the art.The actual design will vary between different devices. A more detailed design example of a prior art data storage device 10 called a streaming tape drive which is representative for the general system or device 10 described in Figure 1 can be found in the TDC3600 service manual from Tandberg Data, incorporated herein by reference.Hereafter, reference will be made mainly to tape drives, although the invention is suitable for any type of data storage device having a removable medium.The main control unit 11 typically contains a special control program stored in a memory which controls the execution of the whole storage device 10 or part of it. In general, this control program or programs controls the operation of one or more of the built-in (micro-) processors. These programs are often stored in ROM (Read Only Memory) or EPROM (Erasable ROM), although designs also exist where the control program is stored in some form of volatile memory like RAM (Random Access Memory) (Both DRAM (Dynamic RAM) and SRAM (Static RAM)) or non-volatile memory which can be electrically erased like EEPROM (Electrical Erasable ROM) or Flash Memory (which is also a special form of electrical erasable and programmable memory).Generally, the control programs are stored in the storage device at the time of manufacturing. This can be done by programming, for example in an EPROM, and then mounting the EPROM in the control unit. It is also possible to design microprocessors with the control program or at least a part of it embedded into the processor itself.Figure 2 shows a typical prior art design main control unit 11 having a microprocessor 17 and a control program stored in an EPROM 18 or ROM in the control unit 11. The microprocessor 17 calls its control information from the EPROM 18, and executes the commands according to the stored program. For every address sent by the microprocessor to the EPROM, the EPROM returns Data which gives the microprocessor the necessary instructions about the next step it shall perform.Of course, the main control program storage may not necessarily be considered to be part of what is hereinafter called the main control unit , but could be considered separate therefrom.In the past, some data terminals have been designed in such a way that their internal control program (or a part of it) could be transferred from the host to a terminal over the cable connecting the two units (downloadable code). In principle, the same method could be used for data storage units. The host could transfer the whole control program or a part of it on a cable connecting the two units. The program could then be stored in a RAM, EEPROM, or Flash Memory. This would make it possible to upgrade storage devices in the field. Up to now, such methods have not been used extensively for data storage devices. The main reason is that very often the control programs are very complex and large, and it is time consuming and sometimes difficult to transfer such programs by this method.At the same time, storing the control programs once and for all in an EPROM or similar unit has drawbacks, since it is very expensive and sometimes difficult to upgrade the control program, especially when the storage unit is placed in a data system at a user site.In the document WO 90/05339 a method and system is disclosed, providing the feature of transferring a control program from a portion of a rotating medium to memory means like a RAM, but the data transfer takes place with every power up or reset of the system, whether necessary, desired or not, thereby consuming a lot of time.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention as claimed to provide flexibility in storage devices such that it is not necessary to store a specific control program for a specific medium for reading and writing from and to an associated storage medium.It is another object of the invention to provide a data storage device or system by which control programs for reading and writing data from a storage medium associated therewith can be easily updated or upgraded.It is another object of the invention to provide a storage device which can be operated with a variety of storage media having different types of control operations associated therewith.It is another object of the invention to provide a data storage device which can be operated partly or completely independent of a host system when operating a control program for reading and writing data from an associated storage medium.It is an additional object of the invention to provide a control program in a data storage device which may be upgraded with little or no control from the host system.According to the invention, a new control program is loaded from the data storage medium itself, for example a tape cartridge. Thus, the data storage system having removable media according to the invention is equipped to download a control program directly from the media associated with the system. In this way, the control program in the data storage device may be upgraded with little or no control from the host system. In fact, the data storage device does not even have to be connected to the host.According to the invention, a data storage device utilizes a removable storage media and has internally a main control unit comprising a processor, and a stored so-called boot program. The device is designed so that an internal control program for a media may be replaced or updated by reading a new control program (or a part of a program) from data stored in the medium itself by use of the boot program. The control program for the medium is stored in a programmable (and erasable) control memory device like a DRAM, a SRAM, an EEPROM, or a flash memory.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFigure 1 is a block diagram showing a typical prior art data storage system for reading and writing data from and to an associated medium;Figure 2 is a block diagram of a prior art microprocessor in a system like Figure 1 where a control program for the medium is stored in an EPROM;Figure 3 is a block diagram of the data storage system of the invention having a removable media and which is equipped to download a control program from the media;Figure 4 is a block diagram of an alternate embodiment of the invention;Figure 5 is a block diagram of a further embodiment of the invention; andFigure 6 is an illustration of a tape cassette having a physical opening for sensing by the drive unit of the data storage system so as to initiate a booting program according to the invention.DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSThe basic organization of the main control unit 19 in the data storage system of the invention is shown in Figure 3. In practice, any number of processors 8 in the control unit 19 may be given a new control program by the system and method of the invention.With the invention, the microprocessor has a special control program already available to it in order to be able to load the new control program from the storage media. This will be described hereafter.The control unit 19 has a microprocessor 8 which contains a special program ( boot program ) stored either internally in the microprocessor 8 itself as shown in Figure 3 with the program being stored in ROM, EPROM, RAM or Flash Memory 20 or in a special external storage device (Boot Storage 24) connected to the processor 22 in a main control unit, as shown in Figure 4, like a ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash Memory, or the equivalent. This boot program is designed to execute the loading (reading) of data from the data storage medium into the main control program storage device (21 in Figure 3 or 23 in Figure 4), which can be an EEPROM, RAM, a Flash Memory or a similar device capable of storing the control program. The boot program may be started on command from the host (if connected), by a boot start activator on the storage device (like a push button 3, 4, or 5 as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5) or by inserting a special storage media which directly informs the drive's boot program to start booting, for example a special tape cartridge with a physical difference from a standard media (like an opening or an extra pin, etc. as shown at 31 of the tape cassette 32 shown in Figure 6). This special physical difference (for example a pin or opening) initiates the booting program by pressing an internal button or equivalent. It is also possible to use standard storage media with no physical differences, for example on the tape cartridge itself, but which has a special data recording stored on the media which when read by the data storage device, initiates the booting operation.In a further embodiment of the invention as shown in Figure 5, when informed either by a command from the host, by an external triggering like a push button 5 (either initiated by the operator or activated by a special cartridge or storage media such as shown in Fig. 6) or by reading special information recorded on the storage media which contains information that a new control program shall be loaded, the microprocessor 25 in the main control unit 6 transfers its current control program or a part of it (the boot part ) to a temporary storage device 27 like a RAM (DRAM or SRAM) or an EEPROM or Flash Memory. The microprocessor 25 then runs the boot program stored in this temporary device 27 and loads the new control program into the main control program storage 26. Thereafter, the new control program takes over.Using the methods described above with respect to Figures 3, 4, and 5, the storage device has a removable media like a tape drive which permits easy upgrading of the internal control program by transferring a new program from a specially recorded tape (or media) to the internal control storage memory. This memory is of a type which allows erasing and storing of new data.The loading of data for the first time is done by having a special boot program permanently stored in the microprocessor itself or by loading the boot program through other methods than from the media itself (for example, using a serial input channel to the microprocessor if available). Once the boot program is stored, the rest of the storage operation is then done from the reading of the media itself.When a drive reads a cartridge containing a main control program which shall be loaded into the flash or EEPROM memory 21, 23, or 26, some sort of protection is needed to assure that the right program is loaded. It is also important to make sure that someone does not get hold of a control program designed for another person (for example, a competitor) and is able to load it into his own machine. For example, today it is known to have different control programs for almost every customer. The customers want something special which can make them different from their competitors. Therefore, it is known to provide tape drives having EPROMs with different contents, partly custom made for each particular customer. This is important since it is desirable to assure a company that customer is anxious that his or her control program shall not be given to other companies.In the present invention, the drive equipped with means to download the control program from the drive media as described above (i.e., from a tape cartridge) has a protection built in to avoid that an incorrect control program is loaded. Such a protection can be made in many ways. In general, the drive and its associated main control unit is equipped with a special ID, which can be a unique number, letters, etc., which are permanently stored in the drive, for example inside the microprocessor as shown at 28, in Figure 3 or at 29 in the boot program fixed storage 24 as shown in Figure 4; or at 30 as shown in the boot program temporary storage 27 in Figure 5. When a control program load operation takes place, the drive first makes a check to see that its internal ID matches the ID of the control program to be loaded. If so, the program may be loaded, if not, the drive will refuse to load.In a further enhancement of this ID system, more than one customer control programs can be stored on the cartridge. The drive then sees the program which matches its own ID and loads only that one.Although various minor changes and modifications might be proposed by those skilled in the art, it will be understood that I wish to include within the claims of the patent warranted hereon all such changes and modifications as reasonably come within my contribution to the art.The features disclosed in the foregoing description, in the claims and/or in the accompanying drawings may, both, separately and in any combination thereof, be material for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.	A data storage system, comprising: a removable storage medium (9),a control unit means (6, 7, 19) for the control of reading and writing of data to and from the removable storage medium (9) ;a control program means stored directly on the storage medium (9) itself;an erasable and programmable control program storage means (21, 23, 26) for receiving and storing of at least a part of said control program means whereby said control program means is operable by said control unit means (6, 7, 19) for reading and writing data from and to the storage medium (9) ;boot program storage means (20, 24, 27);boot program means for transfering at least a part of said control program means from the medium to the control program storage means (21, 23, 26); wherein the removable storage medium (9) comprises initiation means (31) for initiating said transfer.A system according to claim 1, wherein the control program storage means (21, 23, 26) is an erasable memory.A system according to claim 2, wherein the control program storage means (21, 23, 26) comprises a memory selected from the group consisting of an EEPROM, RAM, and flash memory. A system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit means (6, 7, 19) comprises a microprocessor (8, 22, 25).A system according to claim 4, wherein the microprocessor has said boot program storage means (20, 24, 27) constructed internally thereof.A system according to claim 5, wherein the boot program storage means (20, 24, 27) comprises a memory selected from the group constisting of a ROM, EPROM, RAM, and flash memory.A system according to claim 4, wherein the boot program storage means (20, 24, 27) is an external storage (24, 27) from the microprocessor.A system according to claim 7, wherein the boot program means external storage (24, 27) is a fixed storage (24).A system according to claim 8, wherein the boot program means fixed external storage (24) is a memory selected from the group consisting of a ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory.A system according to claim 7, wherein the boot program means external storage (24, 27) comprises a temporary storage.A system according to claim 10, wherein the boot program means temporary external storage comprises a memory selected from the group consisting of a RAM, EEPROM, and flash memory. A system according to claim 1, wherein said initiation means comprises a special physical design characteristic (31) associated with a housing for the medium, and means are provided for detecting the physical design characteristic when the medium is loaded in the system.A system, according to claim 1, wherein said initiation means comprises a special recording on the medium, and wherein said system has means for detecting the special reccording as a signal for initiating the transfer of the control program means.A system according to claim 1, wheren the control program means on the tape medium (9) has a recorded ID associated therewith, wherein the control unit means (6, 7, 19) has a stored identification ID (28, 29, 30) therewith, and wherein means are provided for comparing the stored ID of the control unit means with the recorded ID of the storage medium (9) to determine whether they are the same, and if they are the same, then the boot program means is free to load in the control program means.A system according to claim 1, wherein the system can load the control program means independently of commands from the host computer. A system according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the means for updating comprises a boot program means for loading in the new control program from the medium to the control program storage (21, 23, 26).A system according to claim 16, wherein the boot program means is transferred from the processor to a temporary boot memory prior to loading in the new control program.A data storage method, using: a removable storage medium (9) comprising initiation means (31) ;a control program stored directly on the storage medium (9) itself;an erasable and programmable control program storage (21, 23, 26) which can store the control program;a control unit (6, 7, 19) for the control of reading and writing of data to and from the removable storage medium (9); under control of the control program in the control program storage ;a boot program;comprising the steps of:initiating the boot program by said initiation means ;loading at least a part of the control program from the storage medium (9) into the control program storage (21, 23, 26) by using the boot program.	TANDBERG DATA; TANDBERG DATA ASA	SOLHJELL ERIK; SOLHJELL, ERIK
EP-0489234-B1	489,234	EP	B1	EN	19,941,214	1,992	20,100,220	new	B60S3	B60S3	B60S3	B60S 3/06, B60S 3/00B	Complete and fast car washing system mounted on one single mobile portal	This car washing system is consisting of two vertical brushes (6) for lateral washing, one horzontal brush (8) for washing the car top, two lateral brushes (11) for washing the wheels of the car, two pair of toroidal brushes (13) acting with their bristles on planes vertical to the plant for washing the car sides; two narrow slotted oscillating air blowers (16, 17) through which the drying air is blown, and accessories for spraying water, detergents and car wax, so as to obtain a compact, economic and fast car washing system .	Several complete automatic car washing systems are known, which are mounted on one or more portals equipped with rotary brushes and accessory facilities. These systems can be grouped under two categories: with a fixed portal while the car to be washed is moving with one or more mobile portals, while the car to be washed is stationary. This invention covers the latter category, i.e. a car washing system with mobile portal and stationary car. These known mobile portal car washing facilities are consisting of at least one mobile portal moving on lateral rails and usually equipped with at least one rotary brush with transverse horizontal axis (for cleaning the top of the car) and two brushes with vertical axis (for cleaning the car sides). Obviously, this car washing system will not permit thorough cleaning of the car since the trajectory of the bristles cannot efficiently clean moldings, and shapes which are transverse or perpendicular to these trajectories. Washing has therefore to be done both during the foreward and during the backward movement of the portal, involving the following sequenced operations: during its foreward movement, the car is sprayed with a detergent followed by an initial cleaning with the large brushes; during its backward movement, the car receives a second wash, followed by waxing and drying. This has the drawback that the foreward and backward portal movements, must be rather slow so that the car can be completely cleaned in about 3 minutes. A second disadvantage is caused by the fact that the car cannot be efficiently dried since drying is started immediately after the second backward movement so that there has been no time for water to run off. Furthermore, these known car washing systems are fitted with fixed tubular air outlets provided with a long lengthwise slot pointing upwards and sideways in car direction. The air flows through these long delivery slots at low pressure which is insufficient for mechanical removal of the water drops. The above drawbacks are valid for car washing systems mounted on one single portal equipped with the cleaning facilities as well as for two-portal systems, one of which is equipped with the brushes and the other with the running water, detergent and wax dispensers and drying facilities. A car wash for such two-portal systems takes usually longer than 3 minutes. Although better cleaning results are obtained with the two-portal system, its installation costs are much higher than for a single portal system. In consequence this invention refers to a single-portal car washing systems and has the aim to improve its efficiency and to reduce washing time. The following components are generally mounted on a known single portal: Two vertical brushes One horizontal brush Two circular brushes to wash the wheels and the lower part of the car: two pairs of oscillating fans; water, detergent and wax spraying devices. These components are disclosed partially or totally in many documents as US-A-3877107, US-A-3447505, US-A-3793663, US-A-3994041, US-A-4685169, US-A-3763822, US-A-4622246, FR-A-2139867, FR-A-1591115. Besides according to EP-A-0407695, two sets of elliptic brushes, i.e. having an almost elliptic configuration with radial bristles, are positioned transverse to the car on a lengthwise horizontal axis. Each pair of elliptic brushes is mounted on both ends of a motor-driven vertical support, moving on a frame transverse positioned with respect to the washing system so that the moving brushes are slightly pressing against the car sides to be washed. Furthermore, the elliptic shape of the brushes causes alternatively a stronger and weaker pressure of the bristles against the car thus ensuring better cleaning of the oblique or vertical moldings and shapings. The paired elliptic brushes are indeed capable of cleaning these oblique or vertical moldings on the car sides which are not at all or are only poorly cleaned by the vertical brushes having a horizontal path. In this way, the car sides - which are the most difficult to clean - are perfectly washed even during only one forward motion of the portal. No washing is performed during its backward motion, but only waxing and drying. On this subject it should be observed that the car is dried after the water has been run off. Furthermore, according to this invention, all facilities are mounted on one single portal so that the dimensions of this system are similar to those of known single portal car washing facilities. To make place for the paired elliptic brushes, spacings between the vertical and horizontal brushes have been reduced and special drying fans are mounted in narrow slotted cowls. These fans with air blower mounted in a narrow slotted cowl offer the advantage of occupying little place and to provide for a concentrated air flow with a strong mechanical water removing action, but with the drawback of acting on limited zones. To obviate this drawback, the air blowers are oscillating at a preset angle (about 30°) and are therefore pivoting, on a pin having its horizontal axis lengthwise to the washing system. The periodical oscillating motion of the air blowers is automatically controlled, preferably by hydraulic fluid powered pistons. The whole car surface is thus covered by a variable air flow. This system is therefore designed for a complete car wash in about 2 minutes. As already explained, the system subject matter of this invention provides for brush washing during the foreward motion of the portal, whereas waxing and drying are performed during its backward motion. It is, however, also possible to perform, during the forward motion, when the transverse horizontal brush is rotating in one direction, a short backward motion in which the horizontal brush is rotating in the opposite direction, to provide for a more efficient cleaning of the back of the car which is usually less good cleaned by the vertical brushes since the latter are closing up less quickly when they have got beyond the car sides. The invention in question is illustrated in a practical exemplifying implementation in the enclosed drawings, in which: Fig.1 shows a front view of the car washing system; Fig.2 shows a longitudinal section of the system according to X-X of fig.1 Fig.3 shows a sectional detail view of the oscillating drying fans mounted on the mobile portal. Fig.4 shows a schematic view of the foreward-backward motion of the system; Fig.5 shows a schematic view of the foreward movement, including a short length of backward motion. With reference to these figures, 1 refers to the mobile portal with motor-driven wheels 2 running on rails 3. As shown in Fig.4, the portal is moving foreward and backward, whereas the car to be washed is stationary. Two vertical brushes 6 each provided with a motor 7 supported on a frame 5 are mounted on the portal 1. These vertically axed brushes 6 are oscillating and are moving transversally to the washing system by means of known devices. A large brush 8 having its horizontal axis transverse to the washing system, driven by a motor 9 and moving vertically on lateral guides 10, is also mounted on the portal 1. The vertical movements of this horizontal brush 8 are controlled, according to a know method, by current absorption variations when the brush is more or less pressing against the car sides. This means that the brush 8 performs continuous short oscillating movements at the top and bottom. Two lateral brushes 11 having a circular base and lateral bristles are located below the portal mounted horizontal brush 8, to clean the wheels and lower part of the car. These brushes 11 are supported by properly operated articulated quadrilaterals 12, so that the bristles on their front side are always facing the car on parallel planes. This orientation is on vertical planes slightly converging towards the back of the system, as shown in fig.1 to prevent them from being blocked against the vehicle during washing. The portal 1 is also housing two pairs of elliptical shaped rotary brushes 13 with radial bristles, i.e. two pairs of elliptic brushes. These paired elliptic brushes are located on two opposite sides of a vertical support 14 housing the motor connected transmission gears which are driving the brushes. These supports 14 are properly mounted on the frame 5 by means of guides sliding transversally to the system. The elliptic brushes are rotating on pivots having their horizontal axis located lengthwise to the system so that the bristles of these brushes are following a path on planes which are transverse to the system. Since these brushes have an almost elliptic configuration, their rotation will cause them to apply alternatively a stronger or weaker pressure to the car, thus efficiently penetrating the vertical or oblique moldings on the car sides. The portal 1 is also equipped with two pairs of air blowers one couple 16 being located on the sides of the system and the other 17 at the top as shown in fig.3 Each lateral air blower is consisting of a cowl featuring a narrow slot 18 facing the side of the car and connected to its fan 20, by means of a deformable section 19. Each lateral air blower 16 is mounted on a horizontally axed pivot 21 lengthwise positioned with respect to the washing system and oscillating by means of an automatic control device 22, as for instance a hydraulic fluid powered piston, so that the blower 16 can periodically rotate at an angle α (e.g. 30°) in a plane transverse to the system, thus successively covering the whole car side. Each upper blower 17 is provided with a narrow slot pointing downward and directly connected to its related fan 23. The fan its blower are oscillating on a pivot 24 having its axis lengthwise to the washing system, by means of an automatic control device 25, such as a hydraulic fluid powered piston mounted on the system and driving both upper fans. Thus, both fans 17 can rotate in a plane transverse to the system at an angle α, e.g. 30° so that their air jets will cover the whole car top. The system is completed by all accessories required for water and detergent spraying and for car waxing , all mounted on the same portal. Two operations are involved, based upon the system thus described, one in either direction of the portal 1. Actual washing is done during the foreward motion, illustrated by the continuous line A, involving all brushes mounted on the portal: No washing is performed during the backward movement of the portal, indicated by the short dashes line R, since operations during this motion are limited to waxing and drying, the latter being a function of the oscillating fans 16 and 17. The whole car washing and drying operation with the system in question is completed in about 2 minutes, which is much faster than can be achieved with other known car wash systems (3 minutes or even longer). As said before, during the forward motion A of the portal 1, when the horizontal brush 8 is rotating clockwise (S) it is advisable to move a short length backwards, with the brush 8 rotating counter-clockwise to ensure perfect cleaning of the car back which cannot be easily reached by the vertical brushes since these would have to close up suddenly after they have cleaned the car sides. This short backward movement would only take a few seconds and would virtually not affect the total time required for washing. Obviously the car washing system here described is completely automated by adopting known control equipment. Therefore, this system is very compact and will take up little space; it is highly cost effective, with an excellent washing capacity and perfect performance.	Car washing system consisting of one single mobile portal (1) running on rails (3) and equipped with: two motor driven vertical brushes (6) washing the car sides, one transerve motor driven horizontal brush (8) washing the car top, two pairs of elliptic brushes (13) washing the car sides, two circular brushes (11) washing the wheels and the lower portion of the car, two lateral air blowers (16), two upper air blowers (17), various facilities for water and detergent spraying and for waxing,characterized by that: each lateral air blower (16) presents a cowl provided with a vertical inward narrow air slot (18) oscillating on a pin (21) having its axis lengthwise to the system, its periodical oscillation being ensured by means of a controll device (22) such as a hydraulic fluid powered piston, each upper air blower (17) presents a cowl provided with a horizontal downward air slot and oscillating on a pin (24) having its axis lengthwise to the system, its periodical oscillation being ensured by a control device (25) such as a hydraulic fluid powered piston, wherein a single piston operates both the blowers (17). Operation of the car washing system according to claim 1 in which the car washing is performed during the forward run (A) of the portal (1) whereas car waxing and drying are performed during its backward run (R) characterized by that a short backward movement (A') is made during the forward run (A) and that the horizontal brush (8) rotates during this short backward run (A') in opposite sense in regard to the sense of rotation during the forward run (A).	LAVAGGI AUTOEQUIP SRL; AUTOEQUIP LAVAGGI S.R.L.	MURIALDI MICHELE; MURIALDI, MICHELE
EP-0489240-B1	489,240	EP	B1	EN	19,960,703	1,992	20,100,220	new	A61B1	A61B1, G03B17	G03B17, A61B1	G03B 17/48, A61B 1/04	Endoscopic adapter with lamina interface	The adapter (12) for an endoscopic system comprises an ocular piece (20) suitable for substitution for the eye-piece of a conventional endoscope (14). The ocular piece (20) includes a window (36) that is fitted into the end of a barrel-like member (20) and slightly recessed from the edge thereof. The endoscope-engageable portion (22) of the adapter includes a similar window (40) that is also recessed creating a thin cavity therebetween. A latch mechanism at the end of the endoscope engageable portion of the adapter (12) includes a plate (54) having an interior circular aperture (60) that can be selectively moved between positions that block and permit axial travel between the ocular piece and the endoscope engageable portion. A thin chamber (44) between the windows (36, 40) is filled with sterilized water, preventing loss of optical clarity from the accumulation of liquid particles on window surfaces. The separation between the windows permits rotation therebetween without damage to optical surfaces.	BACKGROUNDField of the InventionThe present invention relates to an endoscopic adapter in accordance with the precharacterizing part of Claim 1. Such an endoscopic adapater is known from EP-A-0 324 657 or US-A-4 600 940. Description of the Prior Art:The field of video endoscopy to which the present invention generally relates includes medical, diagnostic and therapeutic disciplines that utilize endoscopes to penetrate and view internal body cavities and organs with minimal intrusion and surgical procedures. Conventional endoscopes can generally be categorized as rigid or flexible and include, for example, the laparoscope, cystoscope, arthroscope, ureterscope, bronchoscope, and colonscope. Video endoscopy has greatly enhanced the utility of endoscopic procedures. This technological advance requires apparatus for coupling the endoscope to the video camera head. Various couplers or endoscopic adapters generally include both real image forming optics and focusing apparatus mounted within a sleeve. Exemplary couplers and adapters are described in U.S. Patents Nos. 4,076,018 of Heckele; No. 4,279,246 of Chikama; No. 4,344,092 of Miller: No. 4,344,861 of Sebald; No. 4,413,278 of Feinbloom; No. 4,414,576 of Randmae; No. 4,439,030 of Veda; No. 4,621,618 of Omagari; and 4,639,772 of Sluyter, et al.; and Japanese Patent No. 58-21134 of Nishigaki. Before use, the complete endoscopic system, including endoscope, adapter and video camera head must be disinfected by soaking or immersion in an appropriate solution, followed by rinsing in sterile water, drying and assembly. However, the viewing clarity of the adapter can often be hampered by the unavoidable trapping of residual liquid particles inside the various chambers formed between the conventional adapter and endoscope, as well as those between the adapter and the video camera head. The endoscopic system is, therefore, vulnerable to liquid condensation at the adapter's optical surfaces. Condensation of the particles, which are heated by the heat emitted by the illumination source, generally occurs at the relatively cool front window of the optical adapter which offers a lower moisture-pressure gradient than the surrounding metal surfaces. The resulting reduction in clarity can significantly hinder the physician's diagnostic ability and his ability to perform surgical procedures. While various techniques and couplers have been employed to minimize the condensation of residual fluid on the viewing optics, none has proven to be entirely satisfactory. One such coupler is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,611,888 to Prenovitz, et al. While providing a compact coupler, this device suffers from drawbacks that render it less than desirable for modern applications. The Prenovitz et al. apparatus includes front and rear sections that are rotatable relative to one another to cause similar rotation of the endoscope relative to the camera head. The device further includes sealing means for reducing fogging. The Prenovitz et al. coupler is, however, unsuitable for arthorscopic procedures that require use of multiple, interchangeable endoscopes since it requires soaking of the complete endoscopic system as a unit for disinfection. In fact, disconnection during the surgery can expose the image forming optics of the endoscopic system to contamination by fluids surrounding the surgical wound. The EP-A-0324657 mentioned above teaches an endoscopic system that includes a glass-on-glass arrangement for maintaining optical clarity despite the presence of trapped liquid particles. The device known from this document comprises a mechanism for creating a glass-on-galss interface between the endoscope and the adapter by the intimate contact between optical surfaces that does not permit intrusion of liquid particles therebetween. A glass-on-glass structure is achieved by removing the eyepiece of a conventional endoscope and replacing it with a so-called ocular adapter that comprises a tube like structure with an optical window that engages the proximal end of the endoscope. The window is aligned axially with the optics of the endoscope and the camera head. It protrudes slightly from the back wall of the ocular adapter toward an opposed window in the wall of the endoscope engageable portion of the adapter. While providing an advantageous arrangement that is particularly useful for situations or procedures requiring more than one interchangeable endoscope, the glass-on-glass structure suffers numerous drawbacks. Particular care must be take to avoid scratching of the contacting optical windows. This requires, in part, a relatively-complex mechanical arrangement for moving the optical adapter into engagement with the endoscope engageable portion. Such a mechanism is required to control the purely axial interengagement of the two windows to avoid the potential scratching that can result from rotational motion between contacting windows. Further, the windows of the glass-on-glass device are necessarily formed of very hard, scratch-resistant (and expensive) materials such as sapphire. Finally, as it is often required to rotate the axis of the endoscope with respect to that of the camera head, the adapter-to-camera head mounting must permit rotation as rotation cannot occur between the endoscope and the adapter for the reasons discussed above. It is an object of the present invention to avoid the short-comings of the prior art and to provide an endoscopic adapter which can effectively prevent fogging of optical elements during use. The above object is solved in accordance with Claim 1. Accordingly, an endoscopic adapter of the type that includes an elongated adapter body having opposed ends, a first end being arranged to engage a camera head and a second end being arranged to engage an endoscope, comprising in combination; a) an ocular piece; b) means for fixing said ocular piece to the proximal end of said endoscope; c) said ocular piece including a first substantially planar window; d) said second end of said adapter including a second substantially planar window; e) said first window being recessed into said ocular piece and said second window being recessed into said second end characterized in that said first window and said second window are secured in their respective reacesses so that a cavity is defined therebetween and sealing means for sealing said cavity is located between said ocular piece and said fixing means, said cavity being adapted to receive an optical coupling medium. Depending Claims 2 to 14 each characterize advantageous developments thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe above-mentioned and other objects and features of the present invention and the manner of obtaining them will become apparent, and the invention itself will be best understood, by reference to the following description of the embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is an elevation view of an endoscopic system in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is an exploded elevation view of an endoscopic system in accordance with the invention; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional elevation view of the ocular piece and endoscopic engageable portion of the adapter taken at line 3-3 of Figure 4; Figure 4 is a cross sectional top plan view of the ocular piece and endoscope engageable portion of the adapter taken at line 4-4 of Figure 1; and Figure 5 is a front elevation view of the latch plate of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTIONFigure 1 is an elevation view of an endoscopic system in accordance with the invention and Figure 2 is an exploded elevation view thereof. The system 10 includes an adapter assembly 12 for coupling an endoscope 14 and a video camera head 16. As shown, the assembly 12 is integral with the camera head 16. However, the invention is not so limited and may be practiced with a removable adapter-to-camera head assembly. The endoscope 14 may be one of any number of conventional types, either rigid or flexible in nature. The proximal end of the endoscpe 14 terminates in a hub 18 for interconnecting the endoscope to the adapter assembly 12 and to the required illumination source. The endoscope 14 produces a virtual image of the internal body region probed that is then processed and focused by the optics of the adapter assembly 12 and transmitted to an electronic pick-up device (e.g. a CCD imager) within the camera head 16. An eyepiece is generally fixed to the hub 18 at the proximal end of the endoscope 14. However, similar to the adapter known from EP-0 324 657 discussed above, in the present invention an ocular piece 20 replaces the eyepiece of the standard endoscope. This minor modification to an otherwise off the shelf instrument may be accomplished at either the point of manufacture or through simple and straightforward modifications (Note: since the endoscope is a costly precision instrument, this type of modification should be referred to a facility possessing the proper, specialized tooling and should not be attempted ordinarily by the practicing physician). In the present invention, the adapter 12 including the ocular piece 20 functions in a way that is both analogous an superior to that of the adapter systems that incorporate or utilize the function of a conventional endoscope eyepiece. Further, the invention achieves substantial advantages over the previously-referenced non-eyepiece device that employs glass-on-glass technolgy. The adapter assembly 12 shown in Figure 1 can be rigidly fixed to the camera head 16. Rotation of the endoscope relative to the camera is often required. Numerous endoscope types look at an angle with respect to the optical axis of the shaft or probe and must be rotated to provide the physician with a comprehensive view of the operating area. In the present invention, such rotation is not limited to the interface between adapter 12 and camera head 16. The adapter 12 also includes an endoscope engageable portion 22, described in greater detail below, and a conventional focusing ring 24 that is rotatable with respect to the adapter 12 for controlling the axial positioning of focusing optics therein. In use, the eyepiece of the conventional endoscope 14 is detached (if necessary) and the ocular piece 20 then threadedly attached to the hub 18. Prior to use, the camera head 16, the adapter 12 and the endoscope with ocular eyepiece 20 may be separately disinfected and soaked in sterile water. The endoscope-engageable portion 22 of the adapter assembly 12 is then easily secured to the ocular piece 20 by a latching means (discussed below). Once the adapter assembly 12 is coupled to the endoscope 14 (and to the attached camera head 16) the system is configured for medical use. Furthermore, other endoscopes, each with an ocular piece fixed to its proximal hub, may readily be substituted during a single medical procedure without complication or loss of visual clarity. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional elevation view of the ocular piece 20 and endoscope engageable portion 22 of the adapter 12 taken at line 3-3 of Figure 4 and Figure 4 is a top plan view of the same arrangement in cross-section taken at line 4-4 of that figure. The content of Figure 4 differs from that of Figure 3 by display of a portion of the proximal hub 18 of the endoscope 14. However, as the most proximal portion of the hub 18 comprises a symmetrical threaded structure 26, little is lost by omitting this element from Figure 3 and, of course, additional clarity is gained. The ocular piece 20 comprises a generally tube like body that includes an interiorly threaded portion 28 for engaging the exteriorly threaded portion 28 for engaging the exteriorly threaded structure 26 of the proximal hub 18. The substantially permanent attachment is strengthened by an appropriate bonding agent. Thus, the ocular piece 20 effectively replaces the eyepiece of the endoscope with a device that is compatible with the other teachings of this invention. The ocular piece is designed to mate with the proximal hub of a standard endoscope. Accordingly numerous endoscope sizes, shapes and types can be modified by means of a single type of ocular piece. As will be seen, an appropriately modified endoscope can be readily fixed to and removed from the adapter 12. That is, the interior of the tube-like ocular piece 20 is designed for conformance to the geometry of a standard hub 18 while the exterior of the ocular piece 20 is designed for compatibility with the endoscope engageable portion 22. The body of the ocular piece 20 is peferably formed of stainless steel machined to a tolerance of ± .0005 inches (± 13 µm). In cases where electrical isolation of the endoscope from the adapter is required, this ocular piece may be formed out of an insulating material such as that marketed under the trademark LEXAN the rear of the tube-like body terminates in an annular wall 30 having a central aperture 32 that is orthogonal to the optical axis of the endoscope 12. The body of the piece 20 terminates in an inwardly protruding flange 34 that provides a region for receiving a window 36 of optical quality glass. The window 36 is secured within the annular flange 34 by an appropriate adhesive. A small recess is maintained between the rear surface of the window 36 and that of the ocular piece 20. This recess results from the fact that the depth of the flange 34 exceeds the thickness of the window 36. A similar recess is created by the relative depth of an annular shoulder 38 that is positioned at the rear of the endoscope engageable portion 22 for mounting a window 40. By arranging metal bearing surfaces and separating the windows 36 and 40 from each other, a distance of on the order of .010 to .015 inches (0,25 to 0,38 mm) is maintained between adjacent surfaces of the windows 36 and 40, creating a thin chamber 44. The chamber 44 may be either dry or filled with sterilized fluid. In either case, since the optical windows 36 and 40 are separated, significant shortcomings of the glass-on-glass arrangement of the prior art are overcome. The absence of intimate contact between the windows 36 and 40 eliminates the potential for scratching of optical surfaces caused by rotation therebetween, From this it follows that, among other advantages, (1) the windows need not be restricted to extremely hard (and expensive) materials, (2) rotation can occur between the ocular piece 20 and the endoscope engageable portion 22, thereby enlarging options for design of the overall endoscopic system and (3) a complex mechanical assembly (or any means for that matter) is not required to assure purely axial movement between the two optical windows during engagement of the adapter to the endoscope. The interface can be operated dry if there are no required substitutions of endoscopes and if the separable components of the endoscopic system are completely dried prior to assembly. Substitution of endoscopes necessitates the operation of the interface with a liquid lamina layer. After soaking, the engagement of the wet endoscope to the adapter is attained by pointing the adapter 12 upwardly to trap sterilized water and then inserting the ocular piece (with attached endoscope, of course) downwardly until it is latched into place as shown in Figures 3 and 4. (A latch mechanism 46, discussed below, permits the ready attachment and detachment of the ocular piece 20 and the endoscope engageable portion 22). A small hole 48 (about 1,25 mm diameter) in the stainless steel body of the barrel-like portion 22 permits evacuation of air and excess liquid from the mated devices, leaving a uniform lamina layer of sterilized water to fill the chamber 44. An O-ring 50 seated within an internal circumferential bore 52 of the portion 22 provides rotational resistance. The close tolerance provided between the ocular piece 20 and the endoscope engageable portion 22 (between 13 µm and 38 µm) acts to retain the liquid layer through the effect of capillary action. The lamina layer allows rotation without abrasion of the opposed surfaces of the windows 36 and 40. The bearing surfaces of the ocular piece 20 and the endoscope engageable portion 22 are of stainless steel. Since the cavity 44 is completely filled with water, fogging cannot result from condensation of trapped liquid particles on the window surfaces. Figure 5 is a front elevation view of the latch plate 54 of the invention for releasably securing adapter and endoscope. As shown, opposed, elongated lateral cutouts 56 an 58 are formed at either side of a central circular cutout 60 of the plate 54. As can be seen in Figures 3 and 4, the cutout 60 encircles the ocular piece 20, its diameter exceeding the outer diameter of the barrel-like ocular piece 20 to permit clearance therebetween. Such clearance allows the latch plate 54 to be moved between positions that lock and unlock the endoscope engageable portion 22 of the adapter to the endoscope 14. Referring now to Figure 4 in conjunction with Figure 5, screws 62 and 64 are symmetrically displaced in the horizontal plane and threadedly engaged to counter bored regions 66 and 68 of the endoscope engageable portion 22 respectively. The heads of the screws 62 and 64 protrude into access holes 70 and 72 machined into the body of the endoscope engageable portion 22, forming stop positions of the latch plate 54 ( locked and unlocked ) in the vertical plane. Referring to Figure 4, a cantilevered flange 74 adjoins the top of the latch plate 54 and points toward the camera head end of the adapter 12. The flange 74 overlies and abuts a spring 76 seated within a bore 78 in the endoscope engageable portion 22. When compressed, the spring 76 exerts an upwardly-directed force upon the bottom of the flange 74, raising the latch plate 54 to an extent that is limited only by abutment of the inwardly-curved bottom edges of the cutouts 56 and 58 with the heads of the screws 62 and 64. At the same time, the inner edge 80 of the latch plate 54 adjacent the central cutout 60 abuts the lower annular ridge 82 of the occular piece 20, securely locking it (and the endoscope 14) to the endoscope engageable portion 22 of the adapter 12. The orientation of the latch plate 54 for unlocking the endoscope 14 from the endoscope engageable portion 22 is shown in Figure 4. Unlocking is accomplished by depressing the flange 74, (preferably with the thumb). This compresses the spring 76 and lowers the latch plate 54 until the inwardly-curved upper edges of the cutouts 56 and 58 abut the screws 62 and 64. When this occurs, the internal circular aperture 60 is aligned with the ocular adapter 20 as shown in Figure 4. As shown, when the flange 74 is depressed the aperture 60 is aligned with the ocular piece 20 in such away that the annular inner surface 80 of the latch plate 54 no longer abuts the annular ridge 82 of the ocular piece 20. Consequently, when the flange 74 is depressed axial movement of the ocular piece 20 relative to the endoscope engageable portion 22 is entirely unrestricted and the endoscope 14 can be easily removed from or inserted into the adapter 12. Thus, the latching mechanism provides the physician with a simple, ergonomic means for ready substitution of endoscopes during medical procedures. Thus, it is shown that the present invention provides an extremely useful new instrument for use in adapting endoscopy to video technology. Accordingly, the invention enhances the attractiveness and utility of this increasingly helpful medical technology. By utilizing the teachings of this invention, the physician is enabled to perform procedures that require the substitution of multiple endoscopes without encountering many of the problems and limitations experienced in the past. Furthermore, the invention possesses excellent optical transmission qualities. A simple and relatively inexpensive anti-reflection coating such as magnesium fluoride is subject to only 2 percent glass-to-water reflection which is quite superior to the measured performance of glass-on-glass interfaces that experince reflection on the order of 2 to 4 percent. The apparatus of the invention is extremely ergonomic, providing a flange-button demanding little dexterity on the part of the physician for locking and unlocking of endoscopes made interchangeable by the invention. The lamina layer between the windows of the ocular piece and the adapter provides lubrication that brings a greater amount of freedom to overall endoscopic system design. Relative rotation can take place between the adapter and the endoscope without abrasion of optical surfaces. Furthermore, expensive materials are not mandated for the windows of the ocular piece and the adapter and the mechanical linkages therebetween are substantially simplified. While this invention has been described with respect to its presently preferred embodiment, it is not limited thereto. Rather, this invention is limited only insofar as defined by the following set of claims and includes all equivalents thereof within its scope.	An endoscopic adapter of the type that includes an elongated adapter body (12) having opposed ends, a first end being arranged to engage a camera head (16) and a second end being arranged to engage an endoscope (14), comprising in combination: a) an ocular piece (20); b) means (22) for fixing said ocular piece to the proximal end of said endoscope: c) said ocular piece (20) including a first substantially planar window (36); d) said second end of said adapter including a second substantially planar window (40); e) said ocular piece and said adapter body (12) being arranged so that said first and second windows (36,40) are substantially aligned along the optical axis of said adapter; and f) said first window (36) being recessed into said ocular piece (20) and said second window (40) being recessed into said second end; characterized in that said first window (36) and said second window (40) are secured in their respective recesses so that a cavity (44) is defined therebetween and sealing means (50) for sealing said cavity (44) is located between said ocular piece (20) and said fixing means (22), said cavity being adapted to receive an optical coupling medium. The adapter as defined in claim 1, wherein said sealing means (50) is an O-ring seated within an internal circumferential bore (52) of the fixing means. The adapter as defined in Claim 1 or 2 further including means for releasably fixing said adapter body (12) to said endoscope. The adapter as defined in Claim 3 further characterized in that:a) said ocular piece (20) is generally cylindrical; and b) said second end of said adapter body (12) includes a generally-cylindrical chamber for receiving said ocular piece (20). The adapter as defined in Claim 4 wherein said means (22) for releasably fixing additionally includes: a) a latch plate (54); b) said latch plate (54) being located at the second end of said adapter (12); and c) means for selectively moving said latch plate (54) between two predetermined positions so that said endoscope may be alternately locked to and removed from said adapter (12). The adapter as defined in Claim 5 further characterized in that:a) said latch plate (54) includes an internal aperture (60); b) said latch plate (54) is arranged so that said aperture (60) surrounds said ocular piece (20); c) said ocular piece (20) includes an annular ridge (82); and d) said means for selectively moving said latch plate includes means for moving said latch plate (54) between a position that abuts said annular ridge (82) and a position wherein said ocular piece is unimpeded by said latch plate. The adapter as defined in Claim 6 wherein said means for selectively moving said latch plate (54) is further characterized in that:a) said latch plate (54) includes an integral horizontal flange (74); and b) a spring (76) is located between said second end of said adapter and said flange for urging said latch plate to said locking position. The adapter as defined in Claim 7 wherein said means for selectively moving said latch plate is further characterized in that:a) said latch plate (54) includes a pair of opposed elongated edge cut-outs (56, 58); and b) means (62, 64) are arranged within said cutouts for defining the limits to movement of said latch plate. The adapter as defined in Claim 8 wherein said limit defining means (62, 64) comprises a pair of screws affixed to said second end of said adapter body (12). The adapter as defined in Claim 9 wherein said camera head is fixed to said first end of said adapter body (12) so that rotational movement is not permitted therebetween. The adapter as defined in Claims 2 or 9, said O-ring (50) is adapted for providing rotational friction between said ocular piece (20) and said adapter body (12). The adapter as defined in Claim 11 including a pressure release hole (48) in said second end of said adapter body (12). The adapter as defined in Claim 10 wherein said pressure release hole (48) is located in said sealed interface between said ocular piece (20) and said second end of said adapter body (12). The adapter as defined in Claim 1 wherein said cavity (44) is filled with liquid as said optical coupling medium.	MEDICAL CONCEPTS INC; MEDICAL CONCEPTS INCORPORATED	CHATENEVER DAVID; MATTSSON-BOZE DANIEL H; CHATENEVER, DAVID; MATTSSON-BOZE, DANIEL H.
EP-0489246-B1	489,246	EP	B1	EN	19,961,120	1,992	20,100,220	new	C25D1	B41J2	C25D1, B05B1, B41J2	B41J 2/16G, C25D 1/08, B41J 2/16M3W, B41J 2/16M1, B41J 2/16M2, B41J 2/16M8P, B41J 2/16M5, B41J 2/16M4, B41J 2/16M8C	Manufacturing process for three dimensional nozzle orifice plates	A process of forming a mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12) for manufacturing inkjet orifice plates (6, 13) and the like includes the steps of providing an electrically-conductive layer (2, 8) on a substrate (1, 7), providing a pattern of electrically conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) on the conductive layer (2, 8), and surface treating the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) to reduce adhesion of a subsequently applied electroplated film (6, 13) to the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a). The mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12) includes a substrate (1, 7), a pattern of electrically conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) on the substrate (1, 7) and an oxide layer (5, 12) on the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) for reducing adhesion of an electroplated film (6, 13) to the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a). The pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) can be an electro-deposited layer of nickel, and the release means (5, 12) can be a nickel oxide and/or nickel hydroxide film on the layer of nickel.	BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the Invention:The present invention generally relates to nozzle plates for inkjet printers and, more particularly, to mandrels for use in manufacturing nozzle plates for inkjet printers. State of the Art:It is known to provide printheads for inkjet printers wherein the printheads each include a substrate, an intermediate barrier layer, and a nozzle plate including an array of nozzle orifices, each of which is paired with a vaporization chamber in the substrate. Also, a complete inkjet printhead includes means that connect the vaporization cavities to a single ink supply reservoir. In conventional practice, a heater resistor is positioned within each vaporization cavity of a printhead. Typically, the resistors are of the thin film type. The heater resistors are connected in an electrical network for selective activation. More particularly, when a particular heater resistor receives a pulse, it rapidly converts the electrical energy to heat which, in turn, causes any ink immediately adjacent to the heater resistor to form an ink vapor bubble that ejects a droplet of ink from the orifice in the nozzle plate above the energized heater resistor. Thus, by appropriate selection of the sequence for energizing the heater resistors in an inkjet printhead, ejected ink droplets can be caused to form patterns on a paper sheet or other suitable recording medium. In conventional practice, nozzle plates for inkjet printheads are formed of nickel and are fabricated by lithographic electroforming processes. One example of a suitable lithographic electroforming process is described in United States Patent No. 4,773,971. In such processes, the orifices in a nozzle plate are formed by overplating nickel with a dielectric pillar pattern. Although such electroforming processes for forming nozzle plates for inkjet printheads have numerous benefits, they also have several shortcomings. One shortcoming is that the processes require delicate balancing of parameters such as stress and plating thicknesses, pillar diameters, and overplating ratios. Another shortcoming is that such electroforming processes inherently limit design choices for nozzle shapes and sizes. An article entitled The ThinkJet Orifice Plate: A Part with Many Functions by Gary L. Siewell et al. in the Hewlett-Packard Journal, May 1985, pages 33-37, discloses an orifice plate made by a single electroforming step wherein nozzles are formed around pillars of photoresist with carefully controlled overplating. More particularly, the article discloses that a stainless steel mandrel is: (1) deburred, burnished, and cleaned; (2) a layer of photoresist is spun on the surface and patterned to form protected areas where manifolds are desired; (3) the exposed surface is uniformly etched to a specified depth; (4) the resist is removed and the mandrel is burnished and cleaned again; (5) a new coat of photoresist is spun on and patterned to define the barriers and standoffs; and (6) the barriers and standoffs are etched. Further, the Siewell article discloses that the orifice plate can be made by: (1) laminating the stainless steel mandrel with dry film photoresist; (2) exposing and developing the resist so that circular pads, or pillars, are left where the orifices, or nozzles, are desired; (3) electroplating the mandrel with nickel on the exposed stainless steel areas including the insides of grooves etched into the mandrel to define the barrier walls and standoffs; (4) peeling the plating from the mandrel, the electroplated film being easily removed due to an oxide surface on the stainless steel which causes plated metals to only weakly adhere to the oxide surface; and (5) stripping the photoresist from the nickel foil. According to the article, the nickel foil has openings wherever the resist was on the mandrel. Still further, the article states that the resist is used to define edges of each orifice plate, including break tabs which allows a large number of orifice plates formed on the mandrel to be removed in a single piece, bonded to a mating array of thin-film substrates and separated into individual printheads. In practice, the performance of ink jet printheads depends on the nozzle configurations in the printheads. Although high quality nozzle orifice plates have been made for inkjet printheads, there exists a need in the art for even higher quality configurations. From the EP-A 273 525 a reusable mandrel and a method of making a reusable mandrel is known, wherein a conductive film is deposited on a substrate and a pattern of electrically conductive surfaces is provided in the conductive film to form the mandrel. Further, from the EP-A-193 678 a method of manufacturing an inkjet print nozzle is known wherein the nozzle is deposited on a steel core by electroforming of a layer of metal of predetermined thickness. Before deposition of the metal layer the steel core is subjected to an anti-adhesion passivation treatment. This invention provides a thin-film process for forming a mandrel for manufacturing inkjet orifice plates according to claim 1, a nozzle plate for an injekt printer according to claim 10, a mandrel for manufacturing inkjet orifice plates according to claim 13 and a method of electroforming an inkjet orifice plate according to claim 17. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONGenerally speaking, the present invention provides a process of forming a mandrel for manufacturing inkjet orifice plates and the like. In the preferred embodiment, the process includes the steps of providing an electrically-conductive layer on a substrate, providing a pattern of electrically conductive surfaces on the conductive layer, and surface treating the pattern of conductive surfaces to reduce adhesion of a subsequently applied electroplated film to the pattern of conductive surfaces. In one particular embodiment, the second step includes etching the electrically conductive layer to form a pattern of electrically conductive regions on a glass substrate. The second step can also include electro-depositing a second electrically-conductive layer on the conductive regions. The second layer can be formed, for example, of nickel. In another particular embodiment, the second step includes providing a dielectric material such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, silicon oxide or another suitable dielectric on the conductive layer to define a pattern of electrically conductive regions. The second step can also include electro-depositing a second electrically conductive layer on the conductive regions to form the pattern of conductive surfaces. Here again, the second layer can be nickel. The third step preferably comprises oxidizing the pattern of conductive surfaces. For instance, the pattern of conductive surfaces can be exposed to an oxygen plasma process or the pattern of conductive surfaces can be immersed in a hot bath containing at least one hydroxide of an alkaline earth metal. The hydroxide can comprise potassium hydroxide. In this way, an oxide layer can be provided on the pattern of conductive surfaces, or an oxide-containing and hydroxide-containing layer can be provided on the pattern of conductive surfaces. In practice, the mandrel comprises a substrate, a pattern of electrically conductive surfaces on the substrate and release means on the pattern of conductive surfaces for reducing adhesion of a subsequently applied electroplated film to the pattern of conductive surfaces. The substrate can comprise a glass substrate, the pattern of conductive surfaces can comprise a layer of nickel and the release means can comprise at least one of a nickel oxide and a nickel hydroxide surface layer on the layer of nickel. The pattern of conductive surfaces can be formed by a patterned layer of an electrically conductive material on the substrate and an electro-deposited layer of nickel on the layer of conductive material. Alternatively, the pattern of conductive surfaces can be formed by a layer of an electrically conductive material on the substrate, a pattern of dielectric material on the layer of conductive material and an electro-deposited layer of nickel on exposed portions of the layer of conductive material. The mandrel can be used for electroforming an inkjet orifice plate, also called a nozzle plate herein. The nozzle plate can be made by a process including a first step of depositing material on a surface of a nickel mandrel, the surface having a least one of a nickel oxide and a nickel hydroxide film thereon for reducing adhesion of the deposited material on the nickel mandrel. The process also includes a second step of separating the deposited material from the nickel mandrel. The nickel mandrel can comprise a patterned layer of an electrically conductive material on a substrate, and a layer of electro-deposited nickel on the layer of conductive material. Alternatively, the nickel mandrel can comprise a layer of electrically conductive material on a substrate, a pattern of dielectric material on the layer of conductive material and a layer of electro-deposited nickel on exposed portions of the layer of conductive material. The first step preferably comprises electro-depositing nickel as the deposited material. A nozzle plate can be manufactured with the mandrel described above. The nozzle plate includes a metal plate having first and second opposed surfaces and at least one nozzle. The nozzle is defined by an inlet opening extending into the first surface of the metal plate and an outlet opening extending into the second surface of the metal plate. The nozzle includes an interior surface converging from the inlet opening to the outlet opening, and the interior surface extends a distance in a direction parallel to an axis passing through the inlet and outlet openings. This distance is greater than a thickness of the metal plate between the first and second surfaces thereby providing a three dimensional (three dimensional) nozzle plate. The metal plate can comprise an electro-deposited metal layer and the interior surface of the nozzle can comprise an electroformed surface of the electro-deposited layer. The metal layer can comprise nickel and the interior surface of the nozzle can comprise a very smooth and converging surface which is frustoconical in shape. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe present invention can be further understood with reference to the following description in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. In the drawings: Figures 1a-e show various stages of making a mandrel and a nozzle plate in accordance with one aspect of the invention; Figures 2a-e show various stages of making a mandrel and a nozzle plate in accordance with another aspect of the invention; Figures 3a-f are photomicrographs of nozzle plates manufactured in accordance with the invention; Figures 4 a-b are photomicrographs of a printed pattern formed with a nozzle plate in accordance with the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSFigures 1a-e and 2a-e show different manufacturing processes for three dimensional nozzle orifice plates. In particular, these processes allow electroforming of relatively pure metal or an alloy for manufacturing orifice plates which can be used for thermal inkjet printheads. Figures 1e and 2e show nozzle plates having a three dimensional type of nozzle configuration. The performance of an inkjet printhead which includes such a nozzle plate allows high quality printing. As shown in Figures 1e and 2e, the nozzle protrudes from the orifice surface. In particular, the outlet opening of the nozzle is separated from the inlet opening of the nozzle by a distance which is greater than the thickness of the nozzle plate. The nozzle plate can comprise an electro-deposited metal layer and the interior surface of the nozzle can comprise an electroformed surface of the electro-deposited layer. The electro-deposited layer can comprise nickel and the interior surface of the nozzle can comprise a very smooth and converging surface which is frustoconical in shape. The mandrel for such three dimensional nozzle orifice plates can comprise a thin film mandrel such as a sheet of nickel which has a configuration suitable for manufacturing of orifice plates having convergent orifices. The nickel surface can be coated by nickel or a stainless steel thin film which will serve as an electroforming surface. The other portions of the mandrel surface can be coated with a non-conducting material such as a photoresist or plating tape. An electroforming process is carried out until the desired thickness is achieved for the orifice plates. Upon separation of the electroformed deposit from the mandrel, three dimensional nozzle orifice plates are obtained. A first type of mandrel will now be described. As shown in Figure 1a, a substrate 1 such as polished glass is coated with a conductive film layer 2. The conductive film layer 2 can comprise a single layer or multiple layers such as a first layer of chromium which bonds firmly to the substrate 1 and a second layer of stainless steel on the chromium layer. The conductive film layer 2 can be provided by a vacuum deposition process such as the planar magnetron process. The conductive film layer 2 is patterned by a suitable process such as photolithography. For instance, a photoresist layer can be provided on the conductive film layer 2, a photomask can be placed on the photoresist layer and the photoresist layer can be exposed to ultra violet light. The photoresist layer can be developed to obtain the photomask pattern into the photoresist layer and the unmasked areas can be etched to provide a patterned conductive film layer 2 which includes features to be incorporated into a nozzle plate which is electroformed on the mandrel. As shown in Figure 1a, the patterned conductive layer 2 can include an opening 3 extending through the conductive layer 2 to the substrate 1. The first type of mandrel allows a nozzle plate to be electroformed such that an outlet opening of a nozzle is formed adjacent the substrate 1. As shown in Figure 1b, a layer of conductive material 4 is deposited on the conductive film layer 2 such that the opening 3 is defined in part by the substrate 1. The layer 4 preferably comprises an electro-deposited layer of nickel that extends from the conductive layer 2 such that the opening 3 converges towards the substrate 1. The layer 4 provides a pattern 4a of electrically conductive surfaces. A release means 5 is provided on the layer 4 to facilitate removal of an electroformed nozzle plate subsequently formed on the pattern 4a of electrically conductive surfaces. Preferably, the release means 5 comprises an oxidized film on the layer 4. The oxidized film 5 can be provided by oxidizing the pattern 4a of electrically conductive surfaces. For instance, an oxygen plasma process can be used to provide the oxidized film 5. In the case where the layer 4 is made of nickel, the release means 5 can comprise a nickel oxide surface of about 10 to 100 Å in thickness on the layer 4. Another way of providing the oxidized film 5 is by immersing the layer 4 in a hot bath containing at least one hydroxide of an alkaline earth metal. For instance, the bath can comprise potassium hydroxide (KOH) which is heated to 80°C and the layer 4 can be immersed for about two hours. In the case where the layer 4 is made of nickel the KOH bath can form an oxide and a hydroxide containing layer on the pattern 4a of conductive surfaces. The release means 5 reduces adhesion of a subsequently applied electroplated film to the pattern 4a of conductive surfaces. For instance, as shown in Figure 1d, a material 6 is deposited on the layer 4 and the release means 5 allows easy separation of the material 6 in the form of a nozzle plate, as shown in Figure 1e. The nozzle plate 6 is preferably an electro-deposited layer of nickel and includes an inlet opening 6a and an outlet opening 6b. A second type of mandrel will now be described. As shown in Figure 2a, a substrate 7 such as polished glass is coated with a conductive film layer 8. The conductive film layer 8 can comprise a single layer or multiple layers such as a first layer of chromium which bonds firmly to the substrate 7 and a second layer of stainless steel on the chromium layer. The conductive film layer 8 can be provided by a vacuum deposition process such as the planar magnetron process. A dielectric layer 9 such as silicon nitride, silicon carbide or other dielectric material is provided on the conductive film layer 8. The dielectric layer 9 can be provided by a suitable process such as a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process and is patterned by a suitable process such as photolithography. For instance, a photoresist layer can be provided on the dielectric layer 9, a photomask can be placed on the photoresist layer and the photoresist layer can be exposed to ultra violet light. The photoresist layer can be developed to obtain the photomask pattern into the photoresist layer and the unmasked areas can be etched to provide a patterned dielectric layer 9 which defines a pattern of electrically conductive regions on the conductive layer 8. As shown in Figure 2a, the patterned dielectric layer 9 can form a region 10 surrounded by exposed portions of the conductive layer 8. The second type of mandrel allows a nozzle plate to be electroformed such that an outlet opening of a nozzle is formed adjacent the dielectric layer 9 and thus the height of the nozzle from an inlet opening to an outlet opening of the nozzle can be controlled to be less than that of the nozzle plate 6 formed on the first type of mandrel. As shown in Figure 2b, a layer of conductive material 11 is deposited on the conductive film layer 8 such that the region 10 forms an opening defined in part by the dielectric layer 9. The layer 11 preferably comprises an electro-deposited layer of nickel which extends from the conductive layer 8 such that the opening 10 converges towards the dielectric layer 9. The layer 11 provides a pattern 11a of electrically conductive surfaces. A release means 12 is provided on the layer 11 to facilitate removal of an electroformed nozzle plate subsequently formed on the pattern 11a of electrically conductive surfaces. Preferably, the release means 12 comprises an oxidized film on the layer 11. The oxidized film 12 can be provided by oxidizing the pattern 11a of electrically conductive surfaces. For instance, an oxygen plasma process can be used to provide the oxidized film 12. In the case where the layer 11 is nickel, the release means 12 can comprise a nickel oxide surface of about 10 to 100 Å in thickness on the layer 11. Another way of providing the oxidized film 12 is by immersing the layer 11 in a hot bath containing at least one hydroxide of an alkaline earth metal. For instance, the bath can comprise potassium hydroxide (KOH) which is heated to 80°C and the layer 11 can be immersed for about two hours. In the case where the layer 11 is nickel, the KOH bath can form an oxide and a hydroxide containing layer on the pattern 11a of conductive surfaces. The release means 12 reduces adhesion of a subsequently applied electroplated film to the pattern 11a of conductive surfaces. For instance, as shown in Figure 2d, a material 13 is deposited on the layer 11 and the release means 12 allows easy separation of the material 13 in the form of a nozzle plate, as shown in Figure 2e. The nozzle plate 13 is preferably an electro-deposited layer of nickel and includes a nozzle having an inlet opening 13a and an outlet opening 13b with a smooth converging surface extending therebetween. The inlet and outlet openings can be spaced apart by a distance which is more than the thickness of the nozzle plate. In fact, this distance could be two or more times larger than the nozzle plate thickness. Advantages of the first and second types of mandrels include precise control of the diameter of the nozzle opening, very smooth contour of the inner surface forming the nozzle opening and independent control of the height from the exit surface to the entrance surface. As a result, trajectory of the ink drop as it exits the nozzle opening can be controlled and high quality printing can be obtained. Figures 3a-f show features of a nozzle plate electroformed on one of the previously described mandrels having the release means 5, 12. According to the prior art, a nozzle has been formed by electrical discharge machining with an annular electrode to form the outer configuration of the nozzle and a wire to form the opening of the nozzle. For instance, the nozzle opening described in the article entitled Air-Assisted Ink Jet with Mesa-Shaped Ink-Drop-Forming Orifice by Hue Le et al., The 4th International Congress on Advances in Non-Impact Printing Technologies, New Orleans, LA, March 1988, would have a cylindrical rather than a converging surface extending from the inlet opening to the outlet opening thereof. Also, this surface would be expected to exhibit surface roughness. The interior surface of the nozzle openings shown in Figures 3a-f is much smoother than the interior surface of the nozzle opening described in the Le et al. article. Accordingly, the nozzle plate of Figures 3a-f will provide more precise control of the inkjet and much higher quality printing than would be obtainable with a nozzle plate having openings like the one described in the Le et al. article. For instance, the nozzle plates shown in Figures 3a-f allow high quality printing patterns to be obtained having well defined ink drop formations as shown in Figures 4a and 4b. It can be seen from Figures 4a and 4b that the ink drops can be deposited in patterns which have well-defined contours along the edges thereof. The foregoing has described the principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention. However, the invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed. Thus, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and it should be appreciated that variations may be made in those embodiments by workers skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.	A thin-film process for forming a mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12) for manufacturing ink jet orifice plates and the like, comprising: a first step of providing an electrically conductive layer (2, 8) on a substantially flat substrate (1, 7); a second step of providing a pattern of electrically conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) on the conductive layer (2, 8), wherein the pattern of surfaces (4a, 11a) is adapted for forming the orifice plate with nozzles having heights greater than a thickness of the orifice plate; and a third step of surface treating the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) to reduce adhesion between a subsequently applied electroplated film (6, 13) and the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a). The process of claim 1, wherein the substrate (1, 7) comprises glass, the second step comprises etching the electrically conductive layer (2, 8) to form a pattern of electrically conductive regions on the glass and electrodepositing a second electrically conductive layer (4, 11) on the conductive regions to form the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a). The process of claim 1, wherein the second step comprises providing a dielectric material (9) on the conductive layer (8) to define a pattern of electrically conductive regions on the conductive layer (8) and electrodepositing a second electrically conductive layer (11) on the conductive regions to form the pattern of conductive surfaces (11a). The process of claim 2, wherein the second electrically conductive layer (4, 11) comprises nickel. The process of claim 3, wherein the second electrically conductive layer (4, 11) comprises nickel. The process of claim 1, wherein the third 3tep comprises oxidizing the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a). The process of claim 6, wherein the oxidizing step comprises exposing the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) to an oxygen plasma process. The process of claim 6, wherein the oxidizing step comprises immersing the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) in a hot bath containing at least one hydroxide of an alkaline earth metal. A process of claim 8, wherein the hydroxide comprises potassium hydroxide. A nozzle plate (6, 13) for an inkjet printer comprising: a metal plate (6, 13) having first and second opposed surfaces and a plurality of nozzles, each of which is defined by an inlet opening (6a, 13a) extending into the first surface and an outlet opening (6b, 13b) extending into the second surface, and each nozzle including an interior surface converging from the inlet opening (6a, 13a) to the outlet opening (6b, 13b), the height of the nozzle from the inlet opening to the outlet opening being greater than the thickness of the metal plate (6,13) whereby the nozzle emerges from the plane of the plate, and the thickness of the metal plate being substantially uniform from the inlet opening to the outlet opening. The nozzle plate of claim 10, wherein the metal plate (6, 13) comprises an electro-deposited metal layer, and the interior surface of the nozzle comprises an electroformed surface of the electro-deposited layer. The nozzle plate of claim 11, wherein the metal layer comprises nickel and the interior surface of the nozzle comprises a smooth and converging surface which is frustoconical in shape. A mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12) for manufacturing ink jet orifice plates and the like, comprising: a substantially flat substrate (1, 7); a pattern of electrically conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) on the substrate (1, 7) for forming the orifice plate with nozzles having heights greater than the thickness of the orifice plate; and release means (5, 12) formed on the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) for reducing adhesion between an electroplated film (6, 13) and the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a). The mandrel of claim 13, wherein the substrate (1, 7) comprises a glass, the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) comprises a layer of nickel, and the release means (5, 12) comprises at least one of a nickel oxide and a nickel hydroxide surface layer on the layer of nickel. The mandrel of claim 13, wherein the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) comprises a patterned layer of an electrically conductive material (2, 8) on the substrate and an electro-deposited layer (4, 11) of nickel on the layer of conductive material (4, 11), the release means (5, 12) comprising at least one of a nickel oxide and a nickel hydroxide film on the layer of nickel. The mandrel of claim 13, wherein the pattern of conductive surfaces (4a, 11a) comprises a layer of an electrically conductive material (8) on the substrate (7), a pattern of dielectric material (9) on the layer of conductive material (8) and an electro-deposited layer (11) of nickel on exposed portions of the layer of conductive material (8). A method of electroforming an inkjet orifice plate (6, 13), comprising: a first step of depositing material (6, 13) on a surface (4a, 11a) of a nickel mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12), the surface (4a, 11a) having at least one of a nikkel oxide (5, 12) and a nickel hydroxide film (5, 12) thereon for reducing adhesion of the deposited material (6, 13) on the nickel mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12), and the surface (4a, 11a) having a pattern for forming the orifice plate with nozzles having heights greater than the thickness of the orifice plate; and a second step of separating the deposited material (6, 13) from the nickel mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12) so as to provide the orifice plate (6, 13). The method of claim 17, wherein the nickel mandrel (1, 2, 4, 5; 7, 8, 9, 11, 12) comprises a patterned layer of an electrically conductive material (2, 8) on a substrate (1, 7), and a layer (4, 11) of electro-deposited nickel on the layer of conductive material (2, 8). The method of claim 17, wherein the nickel mandrel (7, 8, 9, 11, 12) comprises a layer of electrically conductive material (8) on a substrate (7), a pattern of dielectric material (9) on the layer of conductive material (8) and a layer of electro-deposited nickel (11) on exposed portions of the layer of conductive material (8). The method of claim 17, wherein the first step comprises electrodepositing nickel as the deposited material (6, 13).	HEWLETT PACKARD CO; HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY	LAM SI-TY; LAM, SI-TY
EP-0489258-B1	489,258	EP	B1	EN	19,960,207	1,992	20,100,220	new	C22B3	null	C12P3, C12R1, C22B3, C12S99	C22B 3/18, C12P 3/00	A bio-metallurgical process in which bio-oxidation of mineral compounds is produced	A bio-metallurgical process in which mineral compounds contained in mineral ores or concentrates and constituting substrates for microorganisms, are bio-oxidized to allow solubilization and separation thereof.	The present invention refers to a process in which mineral compounds, contained in mineral ores or concentrates and constituting substrates for microorganisms, are bio-oxidized to allow solubilization and separation thereof. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTIONBiotechnology of metals is the science of extracting metals from minerals, concentrates, rocks and solutions by the action of microorganisms or their metabolites at normal pressure and at a temperature of 5 to 90° C. One of its areas of technological development is Biohydrometallurgy which refers to the oxidation of sulphide minerals, elemental sulphur, ferrous iron and a number of reduced metals by acidophilus microorganisms, turning them into soluble, easily separable compounds. Optimization of this technology could advantageously compete with the conventional processes of extractive metallurgy. It has been proved that by bacterial leaching it is possible to oxidize the following sulfides: pyrite and marcasite (FeS₂), pyrrhotite (FeS), chalcopyrite (CuFeS₂), bornite (Cu₅FeS₄), covellite (CuS), chalcocite (Cu₂S), tetrahedrite (Cu₈Sb₂S₇), enargite (3Cu₂S.As₂S₅), molybdenite (MoS₂), sphalerite (ZnS), arsenopyrite (FeAsS), realgar (AsS), orpiment (As₂S₃), cobaltite (CoAsS), pentlandite (Fe,Ni)₉ S₈, violarite (Ni₂FeS₄), bravoite (NiFe)S₂, millerite (NiS), polydymite (Ni₃S₄), antimonite (Sb₂S₃), marmatite (ZnS), galena (PbS), geocronite Pb₅(Sb, As₂)S₈, Ga₂S₃ and CuSe among others. Tt is known that microbial species oxidize insoluble sulphide minerals into soluble sulphates either directly or indirectly. In the case of direct oxidation, the destruction of the crystalline structure of the sulphide mineral takes place by the enzymatic systems of the acting microorganisms. The indirect oxidation of sulphide minerals is due to the action of the ferric ion (Fe³⁺), which, in turn, is a product of the bacterial oxidation of ferrous iron and iron-containing sulphide minerals. We shall analyze the chemistry of pyrite biological oxidation via the most probable reaction: 4 FeS₂ + 15 O₂ + 2 H₂O Bacteria 2 Fe₂ (SO₄)₃ + 2H₂SO₄The above reaction illustrates the direct bacterial oxidation of pyrite. The resulting ferric sulphate, in turn, oxidizes pyrite, forming ferrous sulphate and elemental sulphur: Fe S₂ + 7Fe₂(SO₄)₃ + 8H₂O Chemically 15 Fe SO₄ + 8 H₂SO₄Fe S₂ + Fe₂(SO₄)₃ Chemically 3 Fe SO₄+2 S°Ferrous iron and sulphur undergo bacterial oxidation: 4 Fe SO₄ + O₂+2H₂SO₄ Bacteria 2 Fe₂(SO₄)₃+2H₂O2S° +3 O₂ +2 H2O Bacteria 2 H₂ SO₄In the case of chalcocite (Cu₂S) it has been proved that cuprous ion (Cu¹⁺) and sulphide (S²⁻) are oxidized by the microbian enzymatic systems to Cu²⁺, S° y SO = / 4respectively. By similar mechanisms, the bacterial oxidation of a wide spectrum of sulphide minerals is possible. Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and related bacteria oxidize the uranous ion according to the following reaction: 2U⁴⁺ O₂ + 2H₂O Bacteria 2UO2²⁺ + 4H⁺The leading role in uranium leaching is played by ferric iron. Fe³⁺ oxidizes U⁴⁺ to U⁶⁺ which is solubilized in sulfuric acid solutions. UO₂ + Fe₂ (SO₄)₃ Chemically UO₂ SO₄ + 2Fe SO₄UO₃ + H₂ SO₄ Chemically UO₂ SO₄ + H₂OThe bacteria regenerate Fe³⁺ by oxidation of Fe²⁺ or Fe S₂. By reactions similar to the above, a wide variety of mineral compounds can be oxidized. The most important microorganisms in biohydrometallurgy are presented in Table I. As indicated in Table I, the main areas of application of the biohydrometallurgy processes are : metals leaching, coal desulphurization and precious metals purification. These areas will be briefly discussed hereinbelow: Leaching of MetalsAt present, the microbial leaching of metals takes place by different processes that depend on the scale and characteristics of the mineral involved. In-situ microbial leaching may be considered as a specialized underground extraction system consisting in the microbiologically enhanced dissolution of metal values from run-of-mine ores with grades ranging from above the cut-off grade to the so-called submarginal or submilling grades. Leach solutions are injected into-and percolate through-the rock mass. When the dissolution of the desired metal values is achieved, the solutions are collected and pumped to the metal recovery plant. Microbial dump leaching may be defined as a metal scavenging method employed for recovering metal values from lean ores, usually the submarginal-grade over-burden of the open-pit mining operations, i.e. that part of the ore body containing rock with grade below the cut-off and which must be removed in order to enable access to the richer parts of the mineralization. These rocks are accumulated in dumps located in the vicinity of the open-pit. The top of the dump is irrigated with leach solutions containing microorganisms. These solutions percolate through the broken rock mass, solubilizing the metal values. The pregnant solutions flow out of the bottom of the dump and are finally collected in ponds and then pumped to the metal recovery plants. Microbial heap leaching, is a method in which the crushed ore is piled up in regular layers on appropriately prepared areas. The heap is a truncated pyramid. The controlling dimension of size is the height of the heap which is related with the graduation of the mineral. The top part of the heap is irrigated with leach solutions containing microorganisms and percolate continuously through the mineral. Microbial tank leaching is a process whereby metals are leached from ores and concentrates in Pachuca tanks, reactors or conditioning tanks where the pulp formed by the mineral and the leach solution, once inoculated, is stirred and aerated in a thermostated system. In the biotechnological practice, the dilution of the pulp expressed as the liquid to solid rate mass contained in a given mass of pulp, ranges from 4 to 10. It should be pointed out that even though the different leaching processes developed and put into practice so far have distinctive characteristics, all have a common feature: the ores or concentrates are suspended, flooded and/or subjected to percolation with aqueous solutions, in such a way that the microorganisms are confined to an aqueous environment.Coal desulphurizationCoal contains elemental sulphur in variable quantities and mainly as pyrite form (FeS₂). The combustion of coal results in the conversion of the existing sulphur to SO₂, which pollutes the atmosphere causing acid rains with the consequent damages to vegetation, animals and human health. In order to keep appropriate levels of sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere in areas where coal is burned in great scale, low-sulphur coals should be exploited, generally with a total sulphur content below 1 to 1,5%. Isolation of T. ferrooxidans from acid drainages of coal mines, generated interest due to its potential to desulphurize coal by oxidation of sulphur and pyritic minerals. Microbial leaching of sulphur compounds from coal has been practiced along similar guidelines and under the criteria developed for microbial leaching of metals, that is, the microorganisms must act in an aqueous environment. Several microorganisms have proved to be effective in coal desulphurization according to conventional techniques. However the process cannot be practiced at industrial scale under such conditions, essentially due to the long processing time and high processing volumes required as a consequence of the low microbial activity. Precious metals purification by the liberation of sulphide mineralsIt has been demonstrated that when concentrates containing pyrite, arsenopyrite and finely dispersed gold, are subjected to bioleaching prior to cyanidation, most of the sulphide minerals are dissolved and the gold yield is substantially increased by subsequent cyanidation. Considerations about the optimization of biometallurgical technologyThis technology has arised worldwide interest because of its potential advantages over the conventional extractive metallurgical processes : Low energy consumption Low chemical reagents consumption Low investment cost It is a clean process which does not pollute the environment. Allows the economical exploitation of low grade deposits. However in the present state of development, the application of this technology requires long processing times, from several months to years in order to obtain acceptable recoveries. The leaching velocity is low and this is attributable to the low multiplication velocity of the intervening bacteria. The processing time constitutes, by itself, a significant technical-economical barrier for the purposes of industrial application. Also, the low leaching velocity requires operating with large masses of mineral that, in general, are subject to climatic variations, preventing the precise control of the systems which become fluctuating and erratic and result in variable and unpredictable processing times. The study of physiological characteristics, conditions of growth and development of microorganisms related to oxidation of metallic compounds, applied to the solution of the above mentioned technological problems constitutes an important area of investigation encompassing the principles on which the present invention is based. Description of the inventionIntroductionThe present invention refers to a biometallurgical process in which mineral compounds contained in mineral ores or concentrates and constituting substrates for microorganisms are bio-oxidized, dissolved and separated. More particularly, the present invention refers to a process that considerably increases the microbial oxidation velocity of mineral compounds. The essential principle of this process is based on the discovery of the bioleaching bacteria behavior with respect to water. The process of invention is characterized by the following steps: a) conditioning the mineral ore or the concentrate with the quantity of acid which is determined before-hand as the minimum volume that ensures the total and homogenous acidification of the substrate and having a concentration which ensures neutralization of the mineral ore or the concentrate, prevents compaction and provides an environment for microbial development, or contacting the mineral ore or the concentrate with acid vapours so as to homogeneously acidify the substrate while introducing the minimum possible amount of water required to provide an effective coating of the mineral ore or concentrate into the system; b) adding a microbial inoculum capable of oxidating the mineral compound of interest, or enriching the mineral ore's own microbial flora, either simultaneously with or independently from step a); c) enabling the spontaneous or induced loss of the excess of water that may be present in the system by evaporation or by dehydrating with flowing air until the thermodynamically available water is sufficiently low for obtaining the bio-oxidation products in solid state, said bio-oxidation products, in turn, constituting microbial colonies; and d) separating the bio-oxidation products. Preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in sub-claims 2 to 9. The first stage of interaction of bioleaching microorganisms with a solid inorganic substrate consists in their attachment to the surface, whereupon the substrate being oxidized is attacked biochemically. Attachment is specific to the mineral compounds which offer a source of energy, but such attachment is not frequent and does not always occur in the systems so far tried. The conditions which allow or facilitate a stable and efficient attachment, enabling the bacteria to transform the substrate and multiplicate quickly, had not been explained heretofore. From the physiological characterization and development conditions hereinafter described, it is clear that these microorganisms have a definite hydrophobic character. In other words, the water, or at least the water levels in conventional systems, make difficult the stable attachment of cells to the substrates. The phenomenons that take place when the cells and the surface of mineral compounds interact or the mechanism of destruction of the sulphide mineral lattice are not clear. Although there are different theories, it is generally, believed that enzymatic mechanisms are involved in this interaction. In such case, the intervening enzymes must not be diluted or washed out from the reacting surface. The culture and bio-oxidation of mineral compounds in the conditions described below, were carried out by using the strains indicated in Table II, by way of example and not limitation. Some of these strains were isolated from minerals from the Argentine deposits Bajo de la Alumbrera and Campana Mahuida . Strains Capable of Bio-oxidating Mineral Compounds.OriginAlready Tested or Known SubstratesOptimum Temperature RangeT. ferrooxidans ATCC 19.859Fe²⁺, S°, S₂O 2- / 3, S₄O 2- / 6 Sulphide Minerals28-37°C BA₁Isolated from copper mineral from Bajo de la Alumbrera depositFe²⁺, CuS, Cu₂S, FeS₂, PbS, ZnS, Sb₂ S₃, CoS28-37°C BA₂Isolated from copper mineral from Bajo de la Alumbrera Fe²⁺, mineral sulphide28-37°C BA₃Same as aboveFe²⁺, mineral sulphide40-50°C SAIsolated from a sample of soils rich with sulphur compoundsS°, S₂O 2- / 3, CuS, ZnS37-60°C CM₁Isolated from copper mineral from Campana Mahuida depositFe²⁺, CuS, Cu₂S, FeS₂, CoS, PbS, ZnS, Sb₂S₃28-37°C CM₂Same as aboveSame as above28-45°C CRTIt was detected as a temperature resistant contaminant growing in sulphides sterilized with flowing steamCuS, ZnS, PbS, Sb₂S₃70-100°C The invention will now be described in the chronological order of the studies and ideas that, lead to its fundamentals, with reference to the accompanying figures. Brief Description of the FiguresFigure 1 shows colonies on the dehydrated, thinnest edge of a plate with an agarized ferrous medium. The arrow indicates the inoculation place. Figures 2, 3, 4 and 6 show colonies obtained on dehydrated agarized ferrous medium. Figure 5 shows colonies obtained in a salt deposit on the glass of a plate. The salts derive from the dehydration of 3cm³ of a concentrated ferrous liquid medium (without gelling agent). Figure 7 shows schematically a star-shaped colony similar to that indicated with an arrow in Figure 6, in which: (a) designates the centre, (b) the border, (c) the zone between centre and border. Figures 8, 9 and 10 are photographs obtained by scanning microscope corresponding to the centre of a colony indicated with (a) in the schematic drawing of Figure 7. Figures 11, 12 and 13 are photographs obtained by scanning microscope corresponding to the zone of a colony indicated with (c) in the schematic drawing of Figure 7. Figures 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are photographs obtained by scanning microscope corresponding to the border of a colony, indicated with (b) in the schematic drawing of Figure 7. Figure 19 (a) shows the typical tracks of a bacterial surface translocation mechanism, by which bacteria move in groups, called social gliding . It was produced in a film of analytic grade ferrous sulphate deposited on a plate glass. Figure 19 (b) shows the colonies obtained in a film of salts containing, in addition to ferrous sulphate, other salts required for bacterial development. Figure 20 shows blue colonies of a crystalline appearance obtained in acidified synthetic CuS by inoculating the BA₂ strain. It was incubated at 30°C. Figure 21 shows a bacterial development associated with light blue crystals in a plate with acidified synthetic CuS. Tt was obtained by inoculating the plate centre with a concentrated suspension of the BA₃ strain. It was cultivated at 37°C keeping the plate half open. Figure 22 shows a bacterial development associated with light blue crystals in a plate with acidified synthetic CuS that was inoculated with the CRT strain. It was incubated at 85°C. Figure 23 shows colonies of the CM₁ strain associated to soluble iron compounds obtained by using, as substrate, a natural pyrite specimen of high purity, crushed to -100 mesh. It was incubated at 30°C. Figure 24 shows a bacterial development associated to the white colour of zinc sulphate, obtained by using an acidified sphalerite concentrate as substrate. It was inoculated with the ATCC 19.859 strain and incubated at 30°C. Figure 25 illustrates a plate prepared in the same way as the one on Figure 24. It was dehydrated until 90% of the water added during the acidification, was lost. It was inoculated with a liquid inoculum in the place indicated with the arrow. Figure 26 shows a bacterial development associated to zinc sulphate, in the inoculation place indicated with the arrow. It was inoculated with the CRT strain, from a solid culture. It was incubated at 96°C keeping the plate halfway open. Figure 27 shows the development of the BA₂ strain, using a natural specimen of Sb₂S₃ as substrate. It was incubated at 30°C. Figure 28 shows the red colonies obtained by inoculating acidified synthetic cobalt sulphide (CoS) with different strains. Figure 29 shows light blue colonies obtained by inoculating the BA₁ and CM₁ strains in an acidified concentrate comprising chalcocite (Cu₂S) and enargite (3Cu₂S.As₂S₅) as predominant specimens of copper. It was incubated at 30°C keeping the plates open. Figure 30 are photographs from the same plates shown in Figure 29, which were taken at a shorter distance. Figure 31 (a) shows a mineral ore triturated to 0.64 cm (1/4 inch), comprising chalcocite (Cu₂S) as predominant specimen of copper, not subjected (left) and subjected (right) to bio-oxidation by the CM₁ strain. It was incubated at 37°C for sixteen hours keeping the plate open. Figure 31 (b) shows the mineral ore subjected to bio-oxidation. Figure 32 shows photographs of the same colonized and bio-oxidated mineral ore of Figure 31, taken at a shorter distance. Figure 33 shows the development of the CM₂ strain in a copper mineral crushed to -0,15 mm (-100 mesh) and acidified, which contains 2,1% of chalcocite. It was incubated at 37°C. Figure 34 shows the development of the CM₂ strain, in the plate area, which was first dehydrated. The arrow indicates the inoculation place. The substrate was the same as in Figure 33. Figure 35 is a schematic drawing of microscopic observations obtained from the suspension of a bacterial colony in a liquid medium. Preliminary Studies of the Growth in Ferrous Agarized MediumT. ferrooxidans is the bacterium most commonly used in Biometallurgy. Although microorganisms like T. ferrooxidans, have, as energetic substrates, numerous insoluble sulphur compounds, in addition to ferrous iron, the solubility of ferrous iron has encouraged its use in agarized media for laboratory cultures. The culture of T. ferrooxidans in solid agarized medium, in order to obtain colonies, has posed many problems. Several solid ferrous media have been designed so far. All these media support the growth of colonies. However, the colonies are small, slow growing (between one and six weeks) and sometimes with non-repetitive results. These difficulties have been attributed to low bacterial multiplication velocity. Besides, agar or the hydrolysis products of the agarose, used as gelling agents, are thought to inhibit growth. Observations on the obtention of colonies in agarized ferrous medium led to establish bio-oxidation conditions for sulphur compounds which are explained below. Petri plates prepared with a conventional ferrous medium and 0,5% agarose, and inoculated with the strains ATCC 19.859, BA₁ and BA₂, were cultivated at 30°C and observed every six to eight hours by stereomicroscopy. For a period of forty days approximately, there was no evidence of growth. On the day the colonies appeared, the beginning of growth was observable by stereomicroscopy, and after a few hours, colonies 0,5-1 mm in diameter were clear to direct observation. If a forty-day period was required to obtain colonies due to an intrinsically low bacterial multiplication velocity, it follows that growth must have been progressive. Petri plates placed on a slightly inclined plane were prepared with a ferrous agarized medium in order to obtain a thickness gradient of the agarized culture medium. Thus the culture medium is thickest at one edge of the plate and thinnest at the diametrically opposite edge. The plates were inoculated by touching with a loop holding a liquid inoculum a location on the thickest edge, as indicated with an arrow in Figure 1. At the third or fourth day, colonies were formed on the thinnest edge which is diametrically opposite to the inoculation place, as shown in Figure 1. There was no evidence of development prior to the day in which colonies were formed. In the case shown in Figure 1, some colonies were formed even on the thin film of medium deposited over the side wall. It must be taken into account that the thinner is a gel, the quicker it is dehydrated. A great number of tests were made varying agar or agarose concentrations and analyzing the growth according the above guidelines. It is concluded that agar or agarose does not govern the adhesion of these bacteria at the inoculation place, as it generally happens with other bacteria. The essential condition for the formation of colonies is the adhesion of the cells to the agarized medium. Everything happened as if the conditions that allow such adhesion were to be achieved in due time. The conditions that may vary spontaneously with time in a solid agarized medium containing approximately 95% of water, are the loss of water by evaporation and the resulting increase of concentration of the component salts. Tests were carried out varying the concentrations of the component salts according to wide gradients, without observing a meaningful effect on the time of apparition of the colonies, and without any effect whatsoever on the adhesion of the cells at the inoculation place. Everything indicated that adhesion of the cells to the substrate requires a very low water content. In tests with plates carrying equal volumes of culture medium, evenly distributed all over the plate, the dehydration degree was increased by subjecting the plates to a laminar flow hood and/or by keeping the plates at 30°C for the spontaneous loss of water prior to inoculation. A considerable decrease in the appearance time of the colonies was observed. Using techniques combining the above-mentioned strategies with the addition of chemical agents that are known to be compatible solutes in biological osmoregulatory systems, it was possible to obtain colonies in twelve to twenty-four hours. The addition of polyethylenglycol to decrease the water activity and the addition of surfactants, also improve the growth in agarized media. The morphology and size of the colonies as shown in Figures 2-6 will depend on the strain in question, the number of inoculated cells per plate, and essentially, on the composition of the medium and the strategy used to decrease the water activity. However, there is a common factor for all the colonies obtained : geometrical shapes that look like crystals. This aspect was analyzed by scanning microscope and will be described hereinafter. Considering that in agarized media, the loss of water by evaporation is slow, an additional strategy was employed for the quick formation of colonies on a plate. 3 cm³ of salt solution 10X with respect to the salt concentration of the ferrous medium used in previous tests, but without agarizing, were distributed per plate and then the plates were inoculated. The amount of water was less and the evaporation velocity was higher than in the agarized media. As soon as a fine film of salts was deposited on the surface of the plate glass and the typical brightness of excess humidity was lost, colonies developed in a few hours attached to the plate glass as illustrated in Figure 5. Once again, this form of culture emphasizes the capacity of adhesion and high bacterial multiplication velocity in highly dehydrated environments. Microbian movement through surfacesThe above tests revealed that bacteria are able to move throughout the plate even on rather dry agarized media. When working with liquid inocula it was impossible to obtain the direct attachment of the bacteria at the inoculation place even when the medium was highly dehydrated. Microbial movement on humid sulphides and minerals has been also detected, as will be discussed hereinafter. Microbial movement through an agarized surface, even when it is rather dry, and the requirement of a highly dehydrated agarized media for cell attachment and colony formation, are characteristics of the so-called gliding bacteria. They constitute a group taxonomically heterogeneous bacteria and are believed to phytogenetically arise from different roots. Yet, there are several characteristics that most, or all of them, have in common: The cell wall is typically Gram-negative. In many cases a lipopolysacharide component has been isolated and characterized. Some gliding bacteria are connected with the secretion of a mucilaginous material, causing the cells, in a liquid medium, to group or adhere to the walls of the cultivating container. These characteristics are similar to those found in bioleaching bacteria. The environments and metabolism in which gliding bacteria have evolved favored the development of motility on surfaces. In general they transform substrates which do not diffuse, so that the microorganisms have to roam about in order to find them. It has been demonstrated on synthetic media that gliding is essentially dependant on the humidity and concentration of nutrients. It should be considered that microorganisms with bioleaching capacity have evolved in mineral environments insoluble substrates are in low concentration and finely disseminated. Only the development of surface spreading mechanisms or surface translocation, has allowed them to evolve. These characteristics have an enormous potential for technological exploitation. It should be considered that in order to achieve high yields in the bio-oxidation of compounds that are disseminated into mineral ores, at the moment of obtaining the required dehydration conditions to enable a stable bacterial attachment, each particle to be transformed must be in contact with at least one cells. If this is not the case, on subsequently moisturizing and dehydration stages, the cells will be allowed to move and spread to reach new particles. Studies of generation timesAs previously indicated, the slowness of bioleaching processes in the conditions experimented so far, is essentially due to the low bacterial multiplication velocity. The development of bacterial colonies in a few hour's time, clearly indicates that when the bacteria is attached to a solid substrate with low water activity, they multiply quickly. The generation times of the ATCC 19.859, BA₁ and BA₂ strains were determined in order to compare them in two systems. One was a conventional ferrous liquid medium shaken at 30°C. The development was followed up by extracting daily samples and the number of cells was determined by dilution and count in plate. During the exponential phase corresponding to the highest multiplication velocity, the minimum generation times were determined and they are indicated in Table III as generation times corresponding to free growth in a liquid medium. The other system corresponds to the development in a medium of the same composition as the above, but solidified with 0.35% of agarose and highly dehydrated. The mean generation times were determined considering that each colony originates in one cell, and taking as a developing time a period starting half an hour before the first evidence of growth was detected by stereomicroscopy until the moment when there were clearly evident colonies which were completely isolated with a toothpick. Each colony was suspended in a measured volume of a solution, vortexing in order to liberate the cells. The number of cells in each colony was determined by recount in plate, and considered as an average of three different colonies. Table III indicates the mean generation times when the strains grow attached to a highly dehydrated solid medium. Generation Times (tg)StrainsMinimum tg. Free Growth in a Liquid MediumMean tg. Attached Growth in a Solid Dehydrated MediumATCC 19.85910 hours and 20 min.24 min. and 50 sec. BA₁8 hours and 27 min.20 min. BA₂11 hours and 32 min.28 min. and 15 sec. These results demonstrate that optimum microbial development corresponds to low water activity conditions or to a rather dry environment. Studies of the relation solid product-bacteria by scanning-microscopyAs previously mentioned, the colonies of the tested strains have in common angular forms and crystal-like appearance, although a dense bacterial population is present when they are suspended in a liquid medium and undergoing microscopic observations. As expected, the oxidized products from their metabolism, at so low water activity conditions are in solid state. In order to examine the distribution and the relationship bacteria-solid product of such colonies, microscopic scanning observations were carried out. As an example, the observations made on star-shaped bacterial colonies of approximately one centimeter in diameter, such as the one indicated with an arrow in Figure 6, will be described. These colonies were obtained from a ferrous agarized medium in which the water content was reduced according to the above described strategies. Figure 7 is a schematic drawing of a standard colony in which differentiable characteristic zones of the colony are indicated a) centre b) border c) intermediate zone between centre and border. The centres of the colonies such as the one indicated with a), exhibit, under direct observation, a granular appearance or degradation. The corresponding scanning photographs show minor units of disintegrated cubic form, as shown in Figure 8, with their walls severely perforated as shown in Figures 9 and 10. This suggests that the bacteria remain temporarily occluded in the solid product they form, and afterwards, they perforate the solid product and abandon it. When the surface of the zone between the centre and the border, as represented by c) in Figure 7, was examined by scanning, only a solid compound, looking like crystals ordered parallel to the plane of the colony was observed, as shown in Figure 11. However, if a colony is washed with a slightly acid solution prior to fixing for analysis by scanning, bacteria in the inside can be observed without an organized distribution, as shown in Figure 12. However, if the crystal-like solid from this zone is destroyed mechanically with a sterile toothpick prior to observation by scanning, the bacteria appears distributed in planes and in ordered directions, as shown in Figure 13. When the border of the colony indicated with b) in Figure 7 is analyzed by scanning without introducing any previous alteration, crystal-like bodies are observed, but these differ from those of zone c) because they stand up from the plane of the colony and groups of them adopt the form of a cluster, as shown in Figures 14 and 15. Although all the bodies from the border have a similar form, differences among them can be seen basically at their upper extremity which is more exposed to air and remote from the base. Some of these bodies have their upper extremities closed, but others are openended, as shown in Figures 16 and 17. Some of the bodies show fractures on the upper as shown in Figure 18. Observations carried out in the border of the colonies, together with the fact that 24 to 48 hours after the analyzed colonies were obtained, minor colonies began to form in the surroundings of the original ones without any evidence of communication through the substrate, permit associating the phenomenon to a kind of bacterial surface translocation known in microbiology as darting . It is produced by the expansive forces developed in an aggregate of cells inside a common capsule and results in the ejection of cells from the aggregate. Bacterial development in relation to the nitrogen sourceAlthough bioleaching bacteria are extremely efficient in scavenging nitrogen in the form of ammonia, the scarcity of nitrogen in leach liquors may limit the efficiency of bacterial leaching operations. On the other hand, the addition of ammonia to leaching solutions, implies an additional cost. The ability to fix nitrogen is important for any organism inhabiting environments deprived of nitrogen. It has been demonstrated that, at least T. ferrooxidans is capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in limited conditions of oxygen supply and has been characterized as having a nitrogenase system, and nif genes from this system have been cloned. However, in situ studies have not demonstrated nitrogen fixing activity in heap leaching operations. Although the physiological conditions under which nitrogen is fixed vary, the nitrogenase enzyme is conserved and is usually sensitive to oxygen. The nif proteins are oxygen-labil and the system responsible for nitrogen fixation has been found to function only when protected from oxygen. The physiology of an obligate aerobe microorganism, of free life which possesses a nitrogenase system has stated, in the scientific field an apparently biological contradiction, that until now, had not been solved. Nevertheless, it was expected, that if bacteria had evolved with a nitrogenase system, conditions in which this system functions efficiently must exist. The growth of microorganisms with bio-oxidation capacity, indicated in Table II, using synthetic siilphides as substrate, under the conditions mentioned below (which are characterized by low water activity) and which result in the corresponding oxidized solid, crystal-like products containing the bacteria, is totally independent from the addition of nitrogen. As corroboration of the nitrogen source and the elements required for microbial growth, although in small quantities (such as phosphorus, potassium, magnesium), the bacterial development was analyzed in relation to the medium composition, using analytic grade ferrous sulfate as energetic substrate. In order to introduce in the analysis system the least possible quantity of components, and considering that gelling agents may bring impurities, the method of colonies formation in the salts deposited on the plate glass, was used. Plates, nine centimeters in diameter, were prepared distributing either of the following media on each plate: a) 3 ml of an analytic grade SO₄Fe.7H₂O 10% solution, adjusted to pH=1.8 b) 1,5 ml of an analytic grade SO₄Fe.7H₂O 20% solution adjusted to pH=1.8, plus 1.5 ml of a solution adjusted to pH=1.8 containing: KCL, 0.1 g; K₂HPO₄. 0.25g; MgSO₄. 7H₂O, 0.25 g; Ca(NO₃)₂ 0.01 g; H₂O, 800 ml. Different strains gave equivalent results. In the plates containing only analytic grade ferrous sulfate, there was no colonies formation. In some cases, the typical slime tracks of a kind of bacterial surface translocation called social gliding remained engraved, as shown in Figure 19 (a). It is known that this phenomenon is induced by nutrient defficiency. In the plates containing, besides ferrous sulphate, small quantities of salts which provide life-supporting elements, although without the addition of a nitrogen source, colonies of approximately 5 mm developed, as shown in Figure 19 (b). This suggests that in high dehydrated conditions, the nitrogenase system is efficient for fixing atmospheric nitrogen. We could surmise that the solid product in which the bacteria remain occluded, at least temporarily, protects the nitrogenase system for oxygen. Characterization of these bacteria as free life microorganisms must be scientifically discussed and studied in depth. Microbial Development and Bio-Oxidation of Sulphide MineralsThe principles described previously with respect to bioleaching bacteria in relation to water, were applied to bio-oxidation of synthetic sulphides, natural specimens, concentrates and ores. A weighted and sterile quantity of each concerned substrate was placed on Petri plates and homogeneously distributed on all the surface. Afterwards, the substrate was moisturized with a sulphuric acid solution, the most convenient volume and concentration of which were determined for each particular case, taking into account the following criteria : The most convenient volume per mass unit of the substrate under consideration is the minimum volume that ensures the total and homogeneous acidification of the substrate. This volume will depend on the physical and chemical characteristics of each particular substrate and in the case of porous minerals, acidification through the pores must be ensured. Nevertheless, the volume must be as small as possible in order to decrease the losses of time inherent to the subsequent dehydration of the substrate. The most convenient concentration of acid is the amount of acid which in the most convenient volume, ensures neutralization of the mineral, prevents compacting, provides the amount of acid for an efficient bacterial development, and contemplates possible losses of acid by evaporation. Criteria established in respect of the optimum pH for microbial growth in liquid media, are not valid for the development conditions here proposed for several reasons. The acidification volume is many times smaller than the volumes of acid solutions provided in liquid systems. If the acid concentrations were the same or equivalent, the availability of acid would be very low in this new system. The metabolic conditions and probably the cellular surface composition of the bacteria in such diverse environments, are different. Also, when the system reaches the high dehydration degree required for quick bacteria development, the pH concept is not applicable. It should be mentioned that the existing impurities in natural specimens, and even in the synthetic sulphides tested, were generally enough to provide the required small quantities of elements essential for bacterial growth, such as phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, etc. Nevertheless, this must be analyzed for each substrate. The plates were inoculated with any of the strains indicated in Table II and subsequently incubated in such a way as to facilitate a quick loss by evaporation of water introduced during the acidification. In all cases, when the substrate acquired a dry appearance, the microbial development associated with the corresponding bio-oxidated solid product, was obtained in a few hours. Tests using different substrates, which are not limitative, will now be described. a) A thin layer of dry and sterile synthetic copper sulphide was distributed in a Petri plate, 9 cm in diameter. Next, it was acidified adding, drop by drop, 1.5 cm³ of a sterile 0.1 N solution of sulphuric acid. It was inoculated in the centre of the plate with 10 microliters of an inoculum of the BA₂ strain prepared by dissolution of a copper sulphate crystal from a previous culture, in a 0.06 N solution of sulphuric acid. The inoculum was prepared at the time of inoculating the new plate, so as to keep the bacteria in a liquid medium during the least possible time. It was incubated at 30°C. When the substrate acquired a dry appearance, the first evidences of development were observed, and a few hours later, blue crystals of copper sulphate were obtained. They were 0.5 cm wide by 1.5 to 2.5 cm long, as shown in Figure 20. These crystals, are themselves, bacterial colonies. b) A plate prepared as in a. was inoculated at the centre with 20 microlites of a dense inoculum of the BA₃ strain and was cultivated at 37° C keeping the plate halfway open in order to facilitate the loss of water by evaporation. After twelve hours, a development as illustrated in Figure 21, was obtained. It proves the bacterial movement capacity while humidity was present. c) A plate prepared as before was acidified by adding 2 cm³ of a 0.06 N solution of sulphuric acid. It was inoculated with 10 microliters of an inoculum of the CRT strain prepared as previously described and incubated at 85°C. After six hours, the first evidences of development were detected. Two hours later a development as the one shown in Figure 22 was obtained. d) A natural pyrite specimen (FeS₂) of high degree of purity, crushed to -0.15 mm (-100 mesh) when dehydrated after acidification, was used as a substrate. It showed a high tendency for compacting impeding bacterial development. It was determined that by using a 1:1 ratio between the weight of pyrite and the acidification volume, the most convenient concentration of acid is 0.45 N. Thus, placing 0.5 g of sterile pyrite on a plastic plate, 5.5 cm in diameter, and adding 0.5 ml of a sterile 0.45 N solution of sulphuric acid, and by rotating movements, a fine homogenous layer of acidified substrate was obtained. The centre of the plate was inoculated with an inoculum of the CM₁ strain adapted for growing in pyrite by previous cultures. Keeping the plate closed, it was incubated at 30°C. In these conditions, twenty four hours were required for the substrate to acquire a dry appearance. At this time, the first evidences of development were observed and ten hours later, a development as shown in Figure 23 was obtained. e) A natural galena specimen (PbS) of high degree of purity, crushed to -0.37 mm (-40 mesh) was used as a substrate. 1 g of sterile galena was placed on a plastic plate of 5.5 cm in diameter. It was acidified with 1 ml of a sterile 0.24 N solution of sulphuric acid and it was inoculated with the CM₂ strain from a previous culture in CuS. It was incubated at 37°C. Between 18 and 22 hours later the beginning of growth was detected. Six hours later, glassy white bodies with a crystalline appearance were obtained. The size was the same as the galena grain, but contrasting with the greyish tone of the latter. It was determined, by microscopic observation, that they carry a dense bacterial population. f) 2 g of the same substrate as in e., were placed in a glass plate. 2 ml of a 3.0 N solution of sulphuric acid were added. It was inoculated with a CRT strain. It was incubated at 90°C. After six hours, the first evidences of development were observed. Four hours later, white solid bodies of similar characteristics as those described in e., were obtained. g) A concentrate of sphalerite (ZnS) containing 56% of zinc was used as substrate. 2 g were placed on a plastic plate 9 cm in diameter. 1.5 ml of a sterile 0.24 N solution of sulphuric acid was added. By rotating movements, the acidified substrate was distributed throughout the plate. The centre of the plate was inoculated with the ATCC 19.859 strain, previously adapted to growth in ZnS, and suspended in SO₄H₂ 0,06 N at the moment of inoculation. It was incubated at 30°C, keeping the plate closed. About 48 hours later, the first evidences of developmente were observed, and twelve hours afterwards the development shown in Figure 24 was obtained, associated with the typical white colour of zinc sulphate. h) A plate prepared in the same way as in g) but without inoculation was incubated at 30°C. until 90% of the water during acidification was lost as determined by loss of weight. After that, it was inoculated with a liquid inoculum, in the place indicated by the arrow in Figure 25. Twelve hours later the typically white development was obtained in the surrounding area of the inoculation place. No development was observed in the inoculation place, which had a higher degree of humidity due to the inoculum. This indicates that the bacterium moves from the most humid area to the less humid area where it is attached transforming the substrate. i) A glass plate carrying 2 g of the same concentrate of sphalerite (ZnS) as the one used in g) and h) was acidified with 2 ml of a sterile 0.18 N solution of sulphuric acid. It was inoculated with the CRT strain from a previous culture in ZnS, but instead of suspending the inoculum in a solution. The inoculation was carried out by direct transfer, with a thick needle, of solid zinc sulphate to a marked edge of the plate indicated with an arrow in Figure 26. It was incubated at 96°C. with the plate half open to enable the quick loss of humidity. After two hours the first signs of development were detected and two hours, later a development associated to the typical white colour of zinc sulphate, was obtained in the inoculation area, as shown in Figure 26. j) A natural antimonite (Sb₂S₃) specimen of high purity degree, crushed to -0.15 mm (-100 mesh) was used as substrate. Of the substrates tested, this one was the hardest to acidify because of its hydrophobicity. Obtaining a homogenous acidified pulp, distributed on the surface of the plates required higher volumes of acid solution than in previous cases. Besides, in order to obtain a homogenous pulp, a sterile spatula should be used when mixing on the plate. This system also had a high tendency to compact, which obstructs bacteria development. This explains the need to use higher concentrations of acid than in previous cases. A wide variety of tests were carried out to determine the most convenient volume and acid concentration. For any of the strains indicated in Table II, the best results were obtained by homogenously distributing 0.5 g of Sb₂ S₃ and 1.5 ml of an acid solution 0.6 N in polystyrene plates, 5.5 cm in diameter. It was incubated at 30°C keeping the plates open to enable the loss of water by evaporation. Between 3 and 4 days later microbian development took place associated with the deliquescent white bio-oxidation product in solid state, as shown in Figure 27. It is possible to reduce the volumen of the acidification solution by adding tensoactive agents, as such as sarcosyl (1%), which further more enhance the microbial development. In this manner, it has been possible to obtain development in 24 to 30 hours. k) Plates, 9 cm in diameter, were prepared with a thin layer of dry, sterile synthetic cobalt sulphide (CoS). They were acidified adding drop by drop, 0,5 ml of a sterile sulphuric acid solution 0,3 N, so as to acidify homogeneously all the substrate. Plates were inoculated with different strains from previous culture in cobalt sulphide and were incubated at 30°C. Twenty four hours later, the developments shown in Figure 28 were obtained. The developments presented the typical pink to red color of cobalt sulphate. The bio-oxidized product obtained in solid state may be separated by screening. l) A copper concentrate was used as substrate. The mineral composition considering the base as 100% copper sulphide minerals, indicates that the predominant specimens are chalcosite (64,29%) and enargite (21,96%). 1 g was placed on each plate, 9 cm in diameter. It was acidified with 1 ml of a sulphuric acid solution 0,3 N. The plates were inoculated with the BA₁ and CM₁ strains from previous cultures in the same concentrate. It was incubated at 30°C, keeping the plates open. Twenty four hours later, developments as shown in Figure 29 were obtained. Figure 30 shows photographs of the same developments, but taken at a shorter distance. m) A mineral ore from the Argentine deposit of Campana Mahuida comprising chalcocite (Cu₂S) as the predominant copper specimen, triturated to 0.64 cm (1/4 inch), was tested. 30 g of the mineral ore were placed in a plate, 9 cm in diameter. It was acidified adding 20 ml of sulphuric acid solution 0.45 N. It was inoculated with the CM₁ strain from a culture in synthetic copper sulphide. It was incubated at 37°C keeping the plate open so as to facilitate quick dehydration. After twelve hours, when the mineral ore has acquired a dry appearance, the growth began. Four hours later, over the dry stones, the bacterial development associated with the oxidation of the sulphide was obtained. Figure 31 (a) shows the mineral ore non subjected and subjected (left and right respectively) to bio-oxidation. Figure 31 (b) shows the bio-oxidated mineral. Figure 32 shows photographs taken at a shorter distance, of the colonized and bio-oxidated mineral ore. n) A copper mineral crushed to -0.15 mm (-100 mesh) comprising 2.1% of chalcocite (Cu₂S) was used as substrate. 5 g of sterile mineral were placed in polystyrene plates of 8.5 cm in diameter. It was acidified with 5 ml of sterile 0.4 N solution of sulphuric acid, and by rotating movements the pulp was homogenously distributed throughout the plate. 100 microliters of an inoculum of the CM₂ strain from a culture in CuS were distributed by drops and the inoculated substrate was incubated at 37°C. After 48 hours, and when the substrate had a dry appearance, the development started to appear looking like elevations in the more dehydrated edges of the plate. Twelve hours later a development as shown in Figure 33 was obtained, it was characterized by irregularities of the mineral layer associated to blue little crystals. o.- A plate of the same composition as the one indicated in (n) was used but it was incubated and prepared on a slightly inclined plane, so that the pulp is thinner at one edge than at the diametrically opposite edge. The pulp was inoculated at the thicker edge indicated with an arrow in Figure 34. It was inoculated with 20 microliters of the same inocula mentioned in (n). It was incubated at 37°C. As expected, the thin edge was dehydrated first. After twenty six hours the first evidence of development and microbial transformation on the thin edge was detected and six hours later, the development shown in Figure 34 was obtained. Several days later, when the plate was completely dehydrated with respect to the humidity added in the acidification, there was no evidence of development in the rest of the plate. This indicates that while there is excess of humidity, the bacteria move through the substrate, curiously in a path and associated to a negative humidity grade, producing a stable attachment on the area which is dehydrated first. Most Relevant Conclusions Regarding the Physiology of Bioleaching MicroorganismsKnowledge of the physiology of these microorganisms permits solving specific problems of optimization of the biological oxidation processes with a view to intensify them. Although substrate oxidation activity by different bacterial species, and even by different strains of the same species, is variable and determined by the prehistory of their existence, the previous mechanisms which must be fulfilled for the efficient biological oxidation, such as a stable substrate-cell attachment and the destruction of the sulphide mineral lattice, are governed by similar conditions. From the previously described tests is follows that : 1) These bacteria have evolved in mineral environments of low water content or at least that are not immersed in a liquid system. The water contained in the minerals and the humidity of the environment is enough for their development. 2) Biological oxidation of a solid insoluble substrate implies an interaction substrate-cell through an adhesion mechanism. A stable adhesion permits the quick transformation of the substrate with a consequently high, bacterial multiplication velocity. Excess of water prevents or makes difficult such adhesion. 3) If there are enzymatic systems involved on the destruction of the sulphide mineral lattice, such enzymes should not be diluted or washed out from the reacting surface. 4) In conditions of low water activity, the microbial metabolism is activated, decreasing considerably the generation times with a consequently high microbial multiplication velocity associated to a high substrate oxidation velocity. 5) Under such conditions the microorganisms multiply, remaining occluded, at least temporarily, into the solid, crystal-like bio-oxidation product. 6) At least the tested microbial strains, when grown in a high dehydrated media, do not require the addition of a nitrogen source, suggesting an efficient fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. 7) Most of the microorganisms have mechanisms for dealing with a degree of water stress, but relatively few have evolved with physiological adaptations that enable them to grow well in low water activity (aw) environments. Many terms have been used to describe these microorganisms halophilic, osmophilic, osmotolerant, xerophytic, xerophilic, etc. Of these terms, xerophilic (from the greek = dry-loving) is perhaps the most appropiate for describing the microorganisms here tested. The fact that these bacteria have not been analyzed in such a frame of conditions is attributed to the procedure of isolating them starting from the acid drainage of the mines, under the preconception that there are only ways of life on systems with abundance of water, without considering that these bacteria evolved transforming minerals which usually are not found on nature, suspended on a watery environment and although minerals may look dry or dehydrated contain a percentage of water, at least what is at equilibrium with the humidity of the environment. In our experience samples of minerals that are apparently dehydrated, have a rich microbial flora, specially on the surfaces exposed to the air and they are viable cells. Considering to the basically antagonistic relation-ship in respect to water between the traditional processes included in Biohydrometallurgy and the microbial bio-oxidation conditions here described, one may propose the term Biodehydrometallurgy . Benefits derived from the Technological Application of These PrinciplesThe benefits of the application of the principles of the present invention will be obvious, if the following is considered: Under any of the systems until now developed heretofore in Biohydrometallurgy: tank leaching, in-situ, waste dumps and heaps, the microbial flora is compelled to develop in an aqueous environment. In such conditions, the microbial multiplication velocity and the substrate bio-oxidation velocity are limited. These entail long processing times, in the order of several months, which create a technical and economical barrier. By application of the principles hereby described, it will be possible to obtain equivalent extracting yields in terms of days. Considering that the microorganisms develop and transform their substrates in terms of hours, the determining parameters of the total processing time is the dehydration velocity in each system and the strategy employed in the acidification and the proper inoculation, incorporating to the system the least possible amount of water. Considerably shorter processing times imply that for an equivalent production, much smaller processing volumes would be required, with the consequent economy in capital investment. The management of smaller processing volumes opens the possibility of operating precisely controlled systems. Traditional systems have an important energetic cost. In tanks or reactors, pulp must be continuously shaken and aired. On other systems, the mineral is subjected to percolation of the acid leaching solutions with the attendant energetic and capital costs. These costs become very important for the long processing periods required. Fast processes will imply less operational costs. The most convenient form to practice the inventionThe most convenient volume and acid concentration must be determined for each system according to the above mentioned criteria, in order to neutralize the mineral ore or the concentrate, prevent their compactation and provide the adequate environment for the microbial development. Once the substrate is acidified and inoculated, the loss of the water excess must take place either by spontaneous evaporation, induced by a dehumidifier, or by flow of air through the mineral ore or the concentrate. The substrates to be oxidized via microbial action are found in mineral ores, generally disseminated in small particles. The transformation of each particle requires the attachment of at least one cell. Particles that at the time they reach the convenient dehydrating level meet the above condition, will be transformed in a few hours turning into a soluble solid product, which at the same time constitutes a microbial colony. If at the following stage, the mineral ore is moisturized to dissolve at least partially, the already formed solid product, the bacteria will be released and under humid conditions may glide or reach by any other means new particles of substrate. The previous operations may be repeated as many times as required in order to obtain the expected extraction yield and this will depend on the characteristics of each particular system, whether the substrate is a mineral ore or a concentrate. Finally the bio-oxidated solid products must be separated by washing or screening, when a concentrate is subjected to bio-oxidation. If solubilization is used, the pH of the washing solutions will depend of the solubility of the oxidized compounds involved. Considering that the solubility of metal can also take place indirectly, that is the ferric iron resulting from microbial oxidation, can react chemically with sulphides oxidizing them to soluble forms, the convenience of maintaining for a certain time the washing solution in contact with the mineral for a certain time, in order to permit eventual increases of the extraction yields by the indirect way, must be analyzed for each particular case. In the case of metals bioleaching processes, the washing solutions will carry the products of interest, whereas the solids will constitute the residuum. In the case of microbial purification processes, for example the desulphuration of coal or the purification of precious metals, the washing solutions will carry the residuum, while the solids will constitute the product of interest. EXAMPLESThe performance of this invention is demonstrated with the following examples, which are not limitative : Examples I and II ilustrate the quantitave differences of biological activity of the oxidation of metallic compound in liquid media and in conditions of low water contents. Example III explains the application of the invention to a mineral ore. EXAMPLE IA natural pyrite specimen (FeS₂), with a high degree of purity containing 43.5% Fe; 49.67% sulphur and 6.83% impurity, crushed to -100 mesh and sterilized in three consecutive days by flowing steam, was used as substrate. An inoculum corresponding to the CM₁ strain previously adapted to growth in pyrite was used. In all cases, the corresponding sterile controls were carried out simultaneously. The biological oxidation was tested in a conventional liquid system, with or without the addition of ammonia, and in a system of low water content in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The biological activity was determined by measuring of soluble iron by absorption spectrophotometry. The number of cells was determined by recount in plate in agarized ferrous medium. In the liquid medium, test were carried out in 300 ml erlenmeyers containing 5 g of pyrite, 95 ml of sulphuric acid solution, with or without the addition of 0.3 g of ammonia sulphate and adjusted to pH=1.7. It was inoculated with 5ml of a culture of the CM₁ strain containing 2x10⁸ cells/ml. In sterile controls, 100ml of solution was added instead of 95 ml. The erlenmeyers were incubated in a shaker at 30°C. Iron solubilization kinetics was followed by periodic determinations of soluble iron concentration in aliquots taken from the leaching solution. The rate of iron extraction was estimated from the linear part of a plot representing the total biologically disolved iron as a function of time and refering this value to each inoculated cell in the system. The rate of iron solubilization was expressed as solubilized iron milligrams per hour and per inoculated cell. In the test with ammonia nitrogen, this value was 1.68 x 10⁻⁹ mg/h cell. In the test without ammonia nitrogen there was basically no difference with the sterile control. For the test in dehydrated solid medium, the most convenient volume and acid concentration were previously determined. The best volume was the one corresponding to a ratio of 1:1 pyrite weight in grams to acid solution volume in mililiters. The most convenient acid concentration was 0.45 N. In order to follow up the kinetics for soluble iron, polystyrene plates, 5.5 cm in diameter were used, each containing 0.5 g of pyrite and 0.5 microliters of a sulphuric acid solution 0.45 N. By rotational movements a fine film was spread all over the surface. Each plate was inoculated with 360 cells of the CM₁ strain contained in 20 microliters of a sulphuric solution 0.06 N. The number of cells was determined by count of colonies in plate in an agarized ferrous medium and coincided, with a mistake of ± 7% with the colonies which can be counted in pyrite plates. These plates after reaching the highest development were of a similar appearance to the one shown in Figure 23. 20 microliters of a sterile sulphuric acid solution 0.06 N were added to the corresponding sterile controls . All the plates were incubated at 30°C. Periodically, one sterile and one inoculated plate were subjected to soluble iron determination by absorption spectrophotometry. Solubilized iron by biological oxidation was plotted as a function of time. After twenty two hours, when the plates had acquired a dry appearance, biological oxidation was initiated. Starting from twenty six hour and for a period of eight hours, the highest biological oxidation rate was obtained, which was of 8.79 x 10⁻⁴ mg/h cel. Comparising this value with the one obtained from the liquid medium with ammonia, results a difference of five orders of magnitude. EXAMPLE IISynthetic CuS was used as substrate. It was inoculated with the BA₁ strain. Just like in example I, the biological oxidation in conventional liquid medium was carried out with and without ammonia aggregate, and in a dehydrated solid medium according to the criteria already described. In all cases, corresponding sterile controls were conducted simultaneosly. Soluble copper was determined by absorption spectrophotometry. The biological oxidation was determined in each case as the difference of solubilized copper between the inoculated system and the corresponding sterile control. The liquid medium leaching was carried out in erlenmeyers containing 5 g of CuS and 95 ml of sulphuric acid solution, with and without the addition of 0,3 g of ammonia sulphate. The pH of the solution was adjusted to 2. It was inoculated with 5 ml of an active culture of the BA₁ strain, containing 2 x 10⁸ cel/ml. In sterile controls, 100 ml of acid solution were added instead of 95. The erlenmeyers were incubated in a shaker at 30°C. The copper solubilization kinetics was followed up by periodical determinations of soluble copper in aliquots taken from the leaching solution. The rate of copper biological solubilization corresponding to the lineal part of a plot representing the biologically solubilized copper, as a function of time was determined. It was expressed in milligrams of solubilized copper per hour and per inoculated cell. In the test with ammonia nitrogen this value was 5.1x10⁻⁹ mgr/hr cel. In the test without ammonia nitrogen there was basically no difference with the sterile control. For the test in dehydrated solid medium, plates, 9 cm in diameter, were prepared by adding to each one 2 g of CuS and 2 ml of H₂O. A pulp was formed and by rotational movements it was homogenously distributed all over the surface of the plate. The plates were dried in a laminar flux hood untill attaining constant weight. To each plate, 0,5 ml of a sterile 0.3 N solution of sulphuric acid was added distributing it drop by drop so as to acidify homogenously. Each plate was inoculated with approximately 40 cells of the BA₁ strain, contained in 20 microliters of a 0.06 N solution of sulphuric acid. The number of cells contained in the inoculum (2,000 cel/ml) was by count of colonies in ferrous agarized medium and it coincided, with a mistake ± 8% with the number of colonies that were obtained in the plates with CuS at the end of development. To the sterile controls, 20 microliters of a sterile acid 0,06 N solution were added. All the plates were incubated at 30oC. Soluble copper was analyzed periodically from a sterile plate and from an inoculated plate. After 18 hours, when the plates had a dry appearance, the biological oxidation was initiated and continued with an almost constant velocity during eight hours. At the end of this stage the maximum development in terms of the size of the colonies constituted by solid crystal-like copper sulphate, was achieved. The biological oxidation rate during this period expressed as solubilized copper per hour and per inoculated cell was 0.319 mg/h cel. This value should be compared with the corresponding one obtained from a liquid medium. NOTE : When a bacterial colony constituted by a solid crystal-like product is suspended in a solution, even when subjected to vortexing and is then examinated with a microscope, it is possible to observe forms like the ones shown in the schematic drawing of Figure 35: Small mobile cells, intermediate and very long non-mobile cells, and groups of cells that appear liked to each other by a very thin filament. As a consequence, that at the time of determining the number of cells present in an inoculum by count of colonies in plate, it is uncertain whether each colony originates from a cell or from a group of cells. Nevertheless, considering that the applied inocula in the corresponding liquid and solid medium have the same origin and have been treated in the same way, the biological activity values referred to inoculate cells are valid for comparison purposes, although they should not be considered as absolute values. EXAMPLE IIIThe bio-oxidation of a copper mineral ore was tested, in order to determine the copper extraction yield and the necessary time to achieve it by application of the principles of the invention. Characterization of the Mineral Orea. - Chemical CharacterizationTotal Copper1.25 % Soluble Copper0.15 % Total Iron2.66 % Total Sulphur1.78 % Insoluble Material78.50 % b. Mineralogic CharacterizationThe main species resulting from mineralogic analysis are listed below. The percentage of each one is expressed with reference to 100% mineral ore. SpecieWeightSCuFeChalcocite1.260.251.01-- Chalcopyrite0.130.050.040.04 Covellite0.060.020.04-- Bornite0.01<< 0.01< 0.01<< 0.01 Pyrite2.711.45--1.26 It will be seen that the predominant copper specimen is chalcocite; chalcopyrite, covellite and bornite follow in order of importance. c. - Granulometric AnalysisTriturated mineral to 0.64 cm (1/4 inch) was subjected to granulometric analysis using the 4.75 mm (#4), 2.36 mm (#8), 1.00 mm (#16), 0.37 mm (#40), 0.21 mm (#65), 0.15 mm (#100), series. The granulometric distribution is indicated below : Granulometric Distribution Tyler SeriesWeight Retention in the FractionAccumulated Weight+ 4.75 mm (+4#)2.62.6 - 4.75 mm (-4#)+ 2.36 mm (+8#)36.739.3 - 2.36 mm (-8#)+ 1.00 mm (+16#)34.473.7 - 1.0 mm (-16#)+ 0.37 mm (+40#)9.182.2 - 0.3 mm (-48#)+ 0.21 mm (+65#)5.388.1 - 0.21 mm (-65#)+ 0.15 mm (+100#)2.290.3 - 0.15 mm (-100#)9.7100.0 d.- Natural Humidity DeterminationNatural humidity was determined by loss of weight of the mineral at 100oC until constant weight was achieved. Corresponds to 1.5%. e.- Acid Consumption TestBy a standard test the sulphuric acid consumption of the mineral ore was determined. Such value corresponds to 9.9 g of acid by kilogram of mineral. Test: Bio-oxidation on TrayTwo parallel tests were carried out on 35 x 45 cm stainless steel trays. Each tray was loaded with 1 kg of mineral and it was treated as indicated below. The tests took place in a closed room, with a sealed door containing a dehumidifier. Water condensed by the dehumidifier was drained outside with a hose. Thus, the mineral dehydration was facilitated. The room temperature was maintained between 28 and 32°C during the test. The mineral, homogenously distributed on each tray was acidified with 800 ml of solution containing the amount of acid determined by the consumption acid test, that is, 9.9 g of sulphuric acid. Each tray was inoculated with 10 ml of an inoculum of the CM₂ strain. The inoculum was prepared by suspension in a 0.06 N solution of sulphuric acid of the white zinc sulphate development, corresponding to the culture of this strain in zinc sulphide. The inoculum was prepared at the moment of inoculation and was distributed homogenously by drops all over the tray. The trays were incubated in the above described conditions. After twenty six hours, the mineral presented a dry aspect and a strong bacterial development associated to little light blue crystals. Basically it was observed on the surfaces and on the sections of the mineral more exposed to air. As shown previously, the microorganisms move towards the areas which are more quickly dehydrated. At the end of this stage, and at the end of each of the following ones, samples of 30 g of mineral were taken from each tray in order to analyze soluble copper by absorption spectrophotometry. The samples were taken with a spoon, trying to comprise all the strata established through the thickness of the mineral, in order to get a representative sample. Subsequently, three stages of humidification and dehydration were carried out. The added acid solution in each stage was homogeneously distributed with a sprinkler. Finally, the mineral was washed keeping it in contact with the solution during six hours to enable eventual indirect increases of copper recovery. Soluble copper was determined in the filtered supernatant and the final extraction was calculated. Table IV indicates relevant information concerning the operative conditions and required times in each stage, and also the resultant copper extraction from each stage, for the two trays. Table IV also indicates the volume of the acid solution and the quantity of acid added in each stage per kilogram of mineral. In practice, it was added a proportional volume of acid, corresponding to the real quantity of remanent mineral, taking into account mineral samples previously removed. It could be seen that operating under the conditions indicated in Table IV it is possible to achieve a copper extraction between 66 and 68% in about three days. It is known that with conventional systems operating at similar scales, the necessary time to reach equivalent extraction yields ranges from seventy to ninety days. Operations Conditions and Results of Example IIIStageVolume of Acid. Sol. (ml)H₂SO₄ Partial (g)H₂SO₄ Accum (g)Time Partial (h)Time Accum (h)Copper % Tray AExtrac Tray B1.- Conditioning and dehydrat.8009.909.90262626.9726.10 2.- Humidification and dehydrat.4001.5011.40133936.1035.23 3.- Humidification and dehydrat.4001.2512.65135253.9052.70 4.- Humidification and dehydrat.4001.0013.651365-- 5. Washing1,0001.8015.4567168.1066.35	A bio-metallurgical process in which mineral compounds contained in mineral ores or concentrates and constituting substrates for microorganisms, are bio-oxidized, dissolved and separated, characterized by the following steps: a) conditioning the mineral ore or the concentrate with the quantity of acid which is determined before-hand as the minimum volume that ensures the total and homogenous acidification of the substrate and having a concentration which ensures neutralization of the mineral ore or the concentrate, prevents compaction and provides an environment for microbial development, or contacting the mineral ore or the concentrate with acid vapours so as to homogeneously acidify the substrate while introducing the minimum possible amount of water required to provide an effective coating of the mineral ore or concentrate into the system; b) adding a microbial inoculum capable of oxidating the mineral compound of interest, or enriching the mineral ore's own microbial flora, either simultaneously with or independently from step a); c) enabling the spontaneous or induced loss of the excess of water that may be present in the system by evaporation or by dehydrating with flowing air until the thermodynamically available water is sufficiently low for obtaining the bio-oxidation products in solid state, said bio-oxidation products, in turn, constituting microbial colonies; and d) separating the bio-oxidation products. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that said quantity of acid is contained in the minimum possible volume of a solution that ensures the total and homogenous acidification of the mineral ore or concentrate. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that the conditioning of mineral ore or concentrate includes the addition of compounds in the form of a salt or an aqueous solution comprising at least one element selected from potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, calcium and nitrogen, for enabling the microbial development and bio-oxidation of the substrate, such addition depending on the microbial strain and the composition of the mineral ore or concentrate in question. A process according to Claim 1, characterized in that the volume of the conditioning solution is diminished by the addition of surfactants which also improve microbial development. A process according to Claim 1, characterized in that bio-oxidation activity is enhanced by decreasing the thermodynamically available water by the addition of a dehydrating agent. A process according to Claim 1, characterized in that the microorganisms used therein develop at temperatures ranging from 5 to 100°C. A process according to Claim 1, characterized in that the thermodynamically available water is increased and decreased alternately in order to solubilize at least partially the bioxidized particle thus releasing the microorganims contained therein, whereby said microorganisms, in a humid environment, reach new substrate particles and oxidize these particles after the subsequent decrease of water activity, and repeating these operations as required to obtain the expected yield. A process according to Claim 1, characterized in that the bio-oxidation products are separated by washing or screening. A process according to Claim 8, characterized in that in the bioleaching of metals, the bio-oxidized compounds will be the products of interest and the remaining solids will constitute the residuum, and in purification processes, the bio-oxydized compounds will be the residuum and the remaining solids will constitute the purified product.	LEACHING SRL; SHELL CHILE; SHELL CHILE S.A. COMERCIAL E INDUSTRIAL	PANOS NORA HILDA; PANOS, NORA HILDA
EP-0489260-B1	489,260	EP	B1	EN	19,960,417	1,992	20,100,220	new	G06F13	null	G06F13	G06F 13/26	Interrupt controller	An interrupt controller is so that configured that if the priority level is divided into 2n or less levels, the priority levels are scanned in the order of 2n → 2n-1 → · · · 2⁰, and the priority levels having the same order of priority are scanned on the basis of the default values at only one timing. Therefore, even if interrupt requests having the same priority levels compete with each other, an interrupt request signal having the highest priority level can be detected from the competing interrupt requests with only (n+1) timings.	Background of the InventionField of the inventionThe present invention relates to an interrupt controller, and more specifically to an interrupt controller for use in a microcomputer, capable of designating the order of preference or the priority level to interrupt requests. Description of related artA microcomputer includes therein an interrupt controller for processing various interrupt requests. A typical conventional interrupt controller includes a scan counter which sequentially scans a given number of priority levels for realizing such an interrupt priority level control that when an interrupt processing having a low priority level is under execution, another interrupt processing having a high priority level can be executed by interrupt, but, when an interrupt processing having a high priority level is under execution, another interrupt processing having a low priority level cannot be executed However, in the conventional interrupt controller, since the priority levels are sequentially scanned by the scan counter, the larger the number of priority levels is, the longer the time for one cycle of the scanning operation becomes. In recent advanced microcomputers, the number of interrupt request signals is large, and the number of priority levels also becomes large in order to realize an elaborate control. As a result, a maximum time from the moment an interrupt signal is generated to the moment the interrupt signal is acknowledged becomes long. This is not suitable to microcomputers adapted for a real time control. Summary of the InventionAccordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an interrupt controller which has overcome the above mentioned defect of the conventional one. Another object of the present invention is to provide an interrupt controller capable of controlling various priority levels of interrupt requests at a high speed even if the number of priority levels is increased. The above and other objects of the present invention are achieved in accordance with the present invention by a interrupt controller comprising a plurality of n-bit priority bit registers for designating 2n priority levels to a plurality of interrupt request signals (where n is an integer not less than 2), a stage counter for sequentially and repeatedly generating (n+1) timing signals used for scanning the priority levels of the interrupt request signals, an priority-level-under-execution register for storing the content of the priority bit register of the interrupt request signal corresponding to an interrupt processing being currently under execution, interrupt request signal controlling means for comparing the content of the priority-level-under-execution register with contents of priority bit registers of the interrupt request signals being generated including the priority bit register of the interrupt request signal corresponding to the interrupt processing being currently under execution, in synchronism with the n timing signals in the order of the highest place bit to the lowest place bit, the interrupt request signal controlling means operating to detect an interrupt request signal having the highest priority bit from the interrupt request signals being generated, the interrupt request signal controlling means also operating in such a manner that when a plurality of interrupt request signals having the highest priority bit are detected, the interrupt request signal controlling means selects one interrupt request signal in accordance with a predetermined order in synchronism with a timing signal following the n timing signals, and means for generating an interrupt processing request signal when the interrupt request signal controlling means detects a interrupt request signal having the highest priority level. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. Brief Description of the DrawingsFigure 1 is a block diagram of a typical usual microcomputer; Figure 2 is a block diagram of a typical conventional example of the interrupt controller incorporated in the microcomputer shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a timing chart illustrating an operation of the interrupt controller shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 5 is a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 is a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 4; Figure 7 is a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 4; Figure 8 is a timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller shown in Figure 4; Figure 9 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 10 is a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 9; Figure 11 is a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 9; Figure 12 is a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 9; Figure 13 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 14 is a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 13; Figure 15 is a logic circuit diagram of the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 13; Figure 16 is a timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller shown in Figure 13; Figure 17 is a block diagram of a fourth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 18 is a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 17; Figure 19 is a logic circuit diagram of the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 17; Figure 20 is a block diagram of a fifth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 21 is a logic circuit diagram of the stale counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 20; Figure 22 is a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 20; Figure 23 is a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 20; Figure 24 is a timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller shown in Figure 20; Figure 25 is a block diagram of a sixth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 26 is a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 25; Figure 27 is a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 25; Figure 28 is a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 25; Figure 29 is a block diagram of a seventh embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 30 is a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29; Figure 31 is a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29; Figure 32 is a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29; Figure 33 is a timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29; Figure 34 is a block diagram of a eighth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention; Figure 35 is a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 34; Figure 36 is a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 34; and Figure 37 is a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 34. Description of the Preferred embodimentsReferring to Figure 1, there is shown block diagram of a typical usual microcomputer. The shown microcomputer includes a CPU (central processing unit) 100, a memory block 200, an interrupt controller 300, and a peripheral function block 400, which are coupled to each other by an internal data bus and other signal lines and buses. An instruction is read out from a program memory within the memory block 200, and executed by the CPU 100. On the other hand, the peripheral function block 400 is controlled to access to the CPU 100 through the internal data bus so as to write data to the CPU and to read data from CPU. However, the peripheral function block 400 operates independently upon the CPU 100. The peripheral function block 400 includes various functions such as a timer, a serial interface, etc. When the peripheral function block 400 detects a special condition, for example, when the timer reaches a some value, or when reception of serial data has been completed, the peripheral function block 400 generates an interrupt request signal INT so as to inform the CPU 100 of generation of the special condition. The interrupt request signal INT is supplied to the interrupt controller 300. The interrupt controller 300 discriminates whether or not the received interrupt request is permitted to be sent to the CPU 100 (interrupt enable), whether or not another interrupt request exists, and the order of preference (priority level) of the received interrupt request. If a required condition is satisfied, the interrupt controller 300 transfers the interrupt request to the CPU 100, namely, outputs an interrupt processing request signal INTRQ to the CPU 100. If the CPU 100 receives the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ, the CPU outputs, to the interrupt controller 300, various control signals CNT including a signal indicating that the interrupt request is acknowledged. In addition, the CPU having acknowledged the interrupt request, interrupts a processing under execution, and starts to execute a processing corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT, namely to a peripheral function unit generating the interrupt request signal INT. Here, the order of preference of the interrupt request signal INT will be described. In the case that there are a plurality of interrupt request signals INT, these interrupt request signals are divided into an interrupt request signal INT that requests to urgently execute an interrupt processing (this is called a urgent interrupt request hereinafter) and another interrupt request INT which is allowed to be processed late (this is called a usual interrupt request hereinafter). If the urgent interrupt request is generated when a processing for the usual interrupt request is being executed, a processing for the urgent interrupt request is required to be executed in preference of the processing for the usual interrupt request being processed, by interrupting or discontinuing the processing for the usual interrupt request being processed. Therefore, it is necessary to give a different priority level to each of the interrupt requests INT. In this case, the control has to be performed to the effect that a processing for an interrupt request given with a high priority level is executed by interrupting or discontinuing the execution of a processing for an interrupt request given with a low priority level if the processing for the interrupt request having the low priority level is under execution. The above mentioned priority level control is executed in the interrupt controller 300. Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a block diagram of a typical conventional example of the interrupt controller 300. In the shown example, the priority level is divided into four levels. In Figure 2, INT0, INT1, INT2 and INT3 designate different interrupt request signals supplied from the peripheral function block 400, respectively. The interrupt interrupt request signals INT0, INT1, INT2 and INT3 are supplied to interrupt request signal controllers 3I, 3J, 3K and 3L, respectively. Since the interrupt request signal controllers 3I, 3J, 3K and 3L has the same construction, only the interrupt request signal controller 3I will be described in the following. When an interrupt request is generated and the interrupt request signal INT0 is brought into 1 , an interrupt request flag register 32 is set to 1 . The CPU 100 designates an address of the interrupt request signal controller 3I by an internal address bus AD, and outputs data to the internal data bus 1 and generates a write signal WE. In response to these signals, a write signal controller 8 brings its output WS1 into 1 , so that corresponding data items outputted from the CPU 100 are written from the internal data bus 1 to a mask bit register 31 and priority bit registers 33A and 33B, respectively. When a content of the mask bit register 31 is 1 , an output of an AND gate AG11 is fixed to 0 by an inverter IV7. On the other hand, when the content of the mask bit register 31 is 0 , the output of the AND gate AG11 is determined by an interrupt enable signal EI and a content of the interrupt request flag register 32. When the interrupt enable signal EI is 1 , the interrupt processing is enabled or permitted. The priority bit registers 33A and 33B constitute bits which designate a priority level of the interrupt request signal INT0. The priority bits of two bits can designate four priority levels of 0 , 1 , 2 and 3 . 0 shows the highest priority level, and 3 indicates the lowest priority level. The priority bit register 33A corresponds to a high place bit, and the priority bit register 33B corresponds to a low place bit. A comparator 36 ceaselessly compares an output of a scan counter 10 with the content of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B. If coincidence is obtained, the comparator 36 brings its output EQ to 1 . Therefore, when the content of the mask bit register 31 is 0 and the interrupt enable signal EI is 1 , if the interrupt request signal INT0 is brought into 1 and if the output EQ of the comparator 36 is brought into 1 , an output RA of an AND gate AG35 is brought into 1 , and therefore, an output of an OR gate OG1 is brought to 1 . CLK designates a timing clock, and is supplied to a latch circuit 9A directly and through an inverter IV31. The latch circuit 9A latches the output of the OR gate OG1 in time to 1 of the timing clock CLK, and outputs its content in time to 0 of the timing clock CLK. The scan counter 10 scans the priority levels. Specifically, the scan counter 10 sequentially and cyclicly generates a pair of scan signals SC1 and SC2 so that the priority levels are sequentially and cyclicly scanned in the order of 0 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 0 →... in an ordinary case. However, if the content of the scan counter 10 is consistent with an output ISPRO of a priority-level-under-execution register 7B, the scan counter 10 is cleared and restarts its counting operation from 0 . When the content of the priority-level-under-execution register 7B is 2 , the scan counter 10 sequentially and cyclicly scans in the order of 0 → 1 → 2 → 0 →... On the other hand, if the output of the OR gate OG1 is 1 , the scan counter 10 stops its counting operation and therefore holds its count content. The priority-level-under-execution register 7B holds the priority level of an interrupt request corresponding to an interrupt processing which is being executed by the CPU 100. When an OEVC signal (which is one of the control signals CNT generated by the CPU 100) is 1 , the priority-level-under-execution register 7B reads the outputs SC1 and SC2 of the scan counter 10. At this time, the content of the priority-level-under-execution register 7B which has been stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7B is held in the priority-level-under-execution register 7B, but a higher one of the priority level stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7B and the priority level newly read out by the priority-level-under-execution register 7B is outputted as the output ISPRO of the priority-level-under-execution register 7B. If the OEVC signal is outputted, when the output of the AND gate AG35 of the interrupt request signal controllers 3I to 3L is brought to 1 , a corresponding interrupt vector address is read out from a vector address table 3 through an output buffer 6 to the internal data bus 1. The CPU 100 discriminates the kind of the interrupt request signal on the basis of the interrupt vector address. When a CLRIF signal, which is one of the control signals CNT of the CPU 100, is brought into 1 , an output of an AND circuit AG 34 is brought into 1 , and therefore, the interrupt request flag register 32 is reset to 0 . Incidentally, a reset signal RESET is used for initialize the interrupt controller 300. When the reset signal RESET is brought into 1 , the interrupt request flag register 32 is brought into 0 , and the mask bit register 31 is brought into 1 . The priority bit registers 33A and 33B are brought to 1, 1 , and the priority-level-under-execution register 7B is initialized into a condition in which no interrupt processing is executed. Now, an operation will be explained with reference to the timing chart of Figure 3, assuming that the mask bit register 31 of the four interrupt request signal controllers 3I, 3J, 3K and 3L (corresponding to the interrupt request signals INT0, lNT1, INT2 and INT3, respectively) are set to 0 , 0 , 0 and 0 , respectively, and that the, priority bit registers 33A and 33B of the four interrupt request signal controllers 3I, 3J, 3K and 3L are set to 1, 0 (priority level 2 ), 1, 0 (priority level 2 ), 0, 0 (priority level 0 ), and 0, 1 (priority level 1 ), respectively. In Figure 3, if the interrupt request signal INT0 is generated at a timing of the clock T2, since the outputs SC1 and SC2 of the scan counter 10 show the priority level 2 at the timing T4, the comparator 36 generates the coincidence signal EQ of 1 , and the output RA of the AND gate AG 35 is brought to 1 . As a result, the output of the OR gate OG1 is brought to 1 , and therefore, the content of the scan counter 10 is stopped at the level 2 . At the timing T5, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is brought to 1 . Namely, the interrupt request INT0 is acknowledged, and the interrupt processing is requested to the CPU 100. In compliance with the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ, the CPU 100 brings the OEVC signal into 1 at the timing T6. At the timing T7, the output ISPRO of the priority-level-under-execution register 7B indicates the priority level 2 . Here, if the CPU 100 brings the CLRIF signal into 1 , the content of the interrupt request flag register 32 is cleared. Accordingly, the outputs of the AND gates AG11 and AG35 are brought into 0 and the output of the OR gate OG1 is also brought into 0 . As a result, since at the timing T8 the content of the scan counter 10 is consistent with the output ISPRO of the priority-level-under-execution register 7B, the scan counter is cleared, and restarts the scan operation from the priority level 0 . At the timing T10, if the interrupt request signal INT2 is generated, since at the timing T11 the outputs SC1 and SC2 of the scan counter 10 are consistent with the content of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B in the interrupt request signal controller 3K, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is brought into 1 , and therefore, the interrupt request INT2 of the priority level 0 is acknowledged. As a result, the content of the scan counter 10 is fixed to 0 after the timing T11. Thereafter, even if the interrupt request signal INT3 is generated at the timing T14, since the content of the scan counter 10 is 0 , the comparator 36 in the interrupt request signal controller 3L generates no coincidence signal EQ, and therefore, there is not acknowledged the interrupt request signal INT3 (priority level 3 ) having a priority level lower than that of the interrupt request signal INT2 (priority level 3 ) the processing for which is currently under execution. When the interrupt processing is completed, the CPU 100 generates the CLRIP signal. If the CPU 100 brings the CLRIP into 1 at the timing T15, the priority-level-under-execution register 7B reacts at the timing T16 the priority level 0 being currently outputted to the scan counter 10, and outputs the priority level 2 just before the priority level 2 . As a result, the scan counter 10 sequentially scans in the order of 0 → 1 → 2 → 0 → ..., again. As seen from the above, the conventional interrupt controller is such that the scan counter 10 sequentially scans the priority levels for the interrupt priority level control, so that when an interrupt processing having a low priority level is under execution, another interrupt processing having a high priority level can be executed by interrupt. However, when an interrupt processing having a high priority level is under execution, another interrupt processing having a low priority level cannot be executed. However, in the conventional interrupt controller, since the priority levels are sequentially scanned, the larger the number of priority levels is, the longer the time for one cycle of the scanning operation becomes. In recent advanced microcomputers, the number of interrupt request signals is large, and the number of priority levels also becomes as large as 8 to 16 in order to realize an elaborate control. If the priority level is divided into eight levels, eight timing clocks are required until one cycle of the scanning operation is completed. In this case, a time from the moment the interrupt signal is generated to the moment the interrupt signal is acknowledged, requires 16 timing clocks at maximum. This time will be called a response time hereinafter. Accordingly, the above mentioned conventional interrupt controller becomes unsuitable to microcomputers adapted for a real time control, since the response time is long. Embodiment 1Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a block diagram of a first embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. In Figure 4, elements similar to those shown in Figures 1 to 3 are given the same Reference Numerals, and explanation thereof will be omitted. Namely, only portions different from the conventional interrupt controller will be explained. In Figure 4, for a timing control, a stage counter 2 generates a timing signal STG1, STG2, STG3 and STG0 for scanning the priority level of an interrupt request. A priority-level-under-execution register 7 reads the priority level outputted from interrupt request signal controller 3A to 3D, at a timing of 1 of the OEVC signal, and outputs a pair of output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 in synchronism with a timing clock CLK appearing next to the OEVC signal. The pair of output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 are obtained by encoding the highest priority level of priority levels stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7. In addition, when no interrupt request signal is acknowledged, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 brings an ENISPR signal into 0 . On the other hand, a priority level is stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, the ENISPR signal is brought into 1 . In addition, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 operates to respond to a CLRIP signal so as to clear a current priority level and to output a priority level just before the current priority level. Here, the ISPR1 signal has a weight of 2 , and the ISPR0 signal has a weight of 1 . A latch circuit 9 latches the output of the OR gate OG1 when the timing signal STG3 is 1 and the timing clock CLK is 0 , and becomes to output the latched data in response to the next timing clock, so that the output of the latch circuit 9 is outputted through an AND gate AG2 as the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ at the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG0. The latch circuit 9 is reset by a reset signal RSET and a CLRIF signal. Three P-channel MOS transistors Q1 to Q3 are rendered conductive when an output of an inverter IV1 becomes 0 , namely when the timing clock CLK is 1 , so that a SLPRH signal, a CM1 signal and a CM2 signal are brought to a voltage supply voltage VDD, namely to 1 , respectively. A signal line of each of the SLPRH signal, the CM1 signal and the CM2 signal is connected to a capacitor (not shown), which is precharged to 1 , during each period in which the clock is 1 . The SLPRH signal is a vector interrupt request signal, and the CM1 signal and the CM2 signal are interrupt priority level discrimination signals. An output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3D is supplied as an input signal CMIN to the interrupt request signal controller 3C, and an output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3C is supplied as an input signal CMIN to the interrupt request signal controller 3B. Similarly, an output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3B is supplied as an input signal CMIN to the interrupt request signal controller 3A, and an output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is supplied as an input signal CMIN to the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4. Referring to Figure 5, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter 2. In an initial condition, if the reset signal RESET is brought into 1 , a latch circuit L1 is initialized to 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK, and similarly, latch circuits L3 and L5 are initialized to 0 and a RS type latch L7 is initialized to 0 . Accordingly, at the timing of 1 of a next timing clock CLK, a latch circuit L2 is brought to 1 , and latch circuits L4 and L6 are brought to 0 . If the next timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the timing signal STG1 is outputted from an AND gate AG8. If the reset signal RESET is brought into 0 , the output 1 of the latch circuit L2 is latched into the latch circuit L3 through an AND gate AG3 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Similarly, when the timing clock CLK is 1 , the output of the latch circuit L3 is latched into the latch circuit L4, so that the latch circuit L4 is brought to 1 , which is latched into the latch circuit L5 through an AND gate AG4 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Here, assuming that the CLRIF signal is 0 and the SLPRH signal is 0 , an output of an inverter IV5 is 1 , and an output of an inverter IV6 is 0 , so that the latch circuit L7 is maintained at 0 . Therefore, the outputs of the AND gales AG6 and AG7 are 0 , and the output of the OR gate OG5 is 0 , so that when the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the output 0 of the OR gate OG5 is latched into the latch circuit L1 through the OR gate OG3. Next, if the timing clock CLK is brought to 1 , the latch circuit L2 is brought to 0 , and the latch circuit L4 is brought to 1 . When the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the timing signal STG2 is brought into 1 . Then, when a next timing clock CLK is 0 , the latch circuit L5 is brought to 1 , and if the timing clock CLK is next brought to 1 , the latch circuit L5 is brought to 0 , and the latch circuit L6 is brought to 1 . When the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the timing signal STG3 is brought into 1 . When the SLPRH signal is 0 , the latch circuit L7 is in no way brought to 1 , and 1 and 0 are sequentially and cyclicly transferred through the latch circuits L1 and L2, the latch circuits L3 and L4 and the latch circuits L5 and L6, so that the timing signals STG1, STG2 and STG3 are sequentially generated. On the other hand, when the SLPRH signal is 1 , the output of the inverter IV6 is brought to 1 . Therefore, if the output of the latch circuit L6 is 1 the latch circuit L7 is set to 1 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Then, when the timing clock CLK becomes 1 , a latch circuit L8 is brought into 1 , so that the timing signal STG0 is outputted. When the SLPRH signal is 1 , since the output of the AND circuit AG6 becomes 0 , the output of the OR gate OG5 is brought into 0 . Therefore, the timing signal STG1 is not generated until the CLRIF signal is brought to 1 . Thereafter, when the CLRIF signal is brought to 1 , the output of the AND gate AG7 becomes 1 . Accordingly, when the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the latch circuit L1 is brought to 0 . On the other hand, if the CLRIF signal is brought to 1 , since the output of the OR gate OG4 is brought into 1 , the latch circuit L7 is reset. Accordingly, the timing signal STG1 is generated following the timing signal STG0. Referring to Figure 6, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller 3A. Since the interrupt request signal controllers 3A to 3D have the same construction, only the interrupt request signal controller 3A is shown. When the interrupt request signal INT0 is inputted, if the content of the mask bit register 31 is 0 and the interrupt enable signal EI is 1 , the output of the AND gate AG11 is brought into 1 . The priority bit register 33A has a weight of 2 , and the priority bit register 33B has a weight of 1 . When the priority bit register 33A is 0 , the output of the inverter IV8 is 1 . When the timing signal STG1 is brought into 1 , the output of the AND gate AG12 is brought into 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK, so that an N-channel transistor Q4 is turned on so as to bring the CM1 signal into 0 . As mentioned above, the CM1 signal has been brought into 1 by the precharging when the timing clock CLK is 1 . However, when the output of the AND gate AG12 becomes 1 , the CM1 signal is brought into 1 . Simultaneously, a RS type latch 34 is latched to 1 through an OR gate OG7 and an AND gate AG13. Next, when the timing clock CLK is brought into 1 , a latch circuit 35 is brought into 1 . When the timing signal STG3 is brought into 1 , an output of an AND gate AG17 is brought into 1 . As a result, an output of an inverter IV14 is brought into 0 , and therefore, a N-channel MOS transistor Q8 is not rendered conductive. Therefore, the input signal CMIN, which has been precharged by a P-channel MOS transistor Q7 turned on when a preceding timing clock CLK was 0 , is 1 . On the other hand, when the output signal CMOT grounded through the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is 0 , an output of an inverter IN15 is brought into 1 . Accordingly, an output of an AND gate AG18 is brought into 1 , and therefore, the RA signal is outputted. When the priority bit register 33B is 0 and the latch circuit 35 is 1 , if the timing signal STG2 becomes 1 , an output of an AND gate AG14 is brought into 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK. Therefore, an N-channel MOS transistor Q5 is turned on, so as to bring the CM2 signal into 0 . As mentioned above, the CM2 signal has been brought into 1 by the precharging when the timing clock CLK is 1 . However, when the output of the AND gate AG14 becomes 1 , the CM2 signal is brought into 0 . An output of an AND gate AG15 is brought into 1 when the priority bit register 33B is 1 , the CM2 signal is 0 and the timing signal STG2 is 1 . An output of an AND gate AG16 is brought into 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK when the RA signal is 0 , 0 and the timing signal STG3 is 1 . When the output of the AND gate AG15 is 1 , or when the reset signal RESET is 1 , or when the CLRIF signal is 1 , or when the output of the AND gate AG16, an output of an OR gate OG8 is brought into 1 . Thereafter, when a next timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the RS latch circuit 34 is reset to 0 . When the output of the OR gate OG8 is 0 , an output of an inverter IV11 is brought into 1 . When the output of the latch circuit 35 is 1 and the timing signal STG3 is 1 , an output of an NAND circuit NAG1 is outputted into 0 , so that an N-channel MOS transistor Q6 is turned off. Therefore, the SLPRH signal is brought to 1 . When the output of the latch circuit 35 is 1 and when the timing signals STG1, STG2 and STG3 are 0 , namely when the timing signal STG0 is 1 , the output of the AND gate AG19 is brought into 1 , so that the outputs of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B are read out through output buffers B1 and B2 as the signals PR1 and PR0. Referring to Figure 7, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller 4. In Figure 7, elements corresponding to those shown in Figure 6 operate in a similar manner, and therefore, explanation will be omitted. The circuit shown in Figure 7 is different from the circuit shown in Figure 6 in the following points: The output of the AND circuit AG11 shown in Figure 6 is the ENISPR signal, and the outputs of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B are replaced by the INPR1 and ISPR0 signals. In addition, the AND circuits AG20, AG19, AG17, AG18 and AG16, the NAND circuit NAG1, the N-channel MOS transistors Q6 and Q8, the P-channel MOS transistor Q7, the inverters IV11, IV14, IV15, IV16, IV13, and the NOR gate NOG1 are omitted. The RA signal is omitted. Therefore, in the other points the circuit shown in Figure 7 is the same as the circuit shown in Figure 6. Accordingly, a RS latch 41 and a latch 42 correspond to the RS latch 34 and the latch 45, respectively. AND gates AG21, AG22, AG23, AG24, AG25, AG26 and AG27 correspond to the AND gates AG12, AG13, AG14, AG15, AG17, AG16 and AG18. An OR gate OG10 corresponds to the OR gate OG8, and inverters IV17, IV18, IV19, IV20, IV21, IV22, IV23 and IV24 correspond to the inverters IV8, IV9, IV10, IV12, IV14, IV15, IV13 and IV16, respectively. N-channel MOS transistors Q9, Q10 an Q11 and a P-channel transistors Q12 correspond to the N-channel MOS transistors Q4, Q5 an Q8 and the P-channel transistors Q7, respectively. Now, operation of the first embodiment of the interrupt controller will be explained with reference to Figure 8 showing the timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller. Here, similarly to the operation of the conventional example, assume that the mask bit register 31 of the four interrupt request signal controllers 3A, 3B 3C and 3D (corresponding to the interrupt request signals INT0, INT1, INT2 and INT3, respectively) are set to 0 , 0 , 0 and 0 , respectively, and that the priority bit registers 33A and 33B of the four interrupt request signal controllers 3A, 3B 3C and 3D are set to 1, 0 (priority level 2 ), 1, 0 (priority level 2 ), 0, 0 (priority level 0 ), and 0, 1 (priority level 1 ), respectively. In addition, the EI signal is 1 . The timing signals STG1, STG2, STG3 are sequentially outputted by alternately repeating 1 and 0 . At the timing T3, the interrupt request signal INT1 is brought into 1 , the content of the interrupt request flag register 32 is brought into 1 . At this time, since no interrupt request signal has yet been acknowledged and the output signal ENISPR of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 is 0 , the output of the AND gate AG21 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is maintained at 0 . Similarly, the output of the AND gate AG12 in the interrupt request signal controllers 3A, 3C and 3D are maintained at 0 , 0 and 0 , respectively. Therefore, the CM1 signal is maintained at 1 . As a result, in the timing T4, the RS latch 34 is brought to 1 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Ar the timing T6, the output of the latch circuit 35 is brought into 1 , and when the timing signal STG3 is brought into 1 , the output of the AND gate AG17 is brought to 1 , so that the input signal CMIN precharged to 1 in a just preceding timing clock CLK is isolated by the turned-off MOS transistor Q8. Since the outputs of the inverters IV21 and IV14 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 and the interrupt request signal controller 3A are 1 , the input of the inverters IV22 and IV15 are grounded, and therefore, the output of the inverters IV22 and IV15 are brought into 1 . On the other hand, the input signal CMIN is precharged to 1 . Therefore, the output of the AND gate AG18 is brought into 1 . Namely, the RA signal is brought to 1 . Since the priority bit register 33B is 1 , the output of the AND gate AG14 becomes 0 , and therefore, the CM2 signal becomes 1 . Since the CM2 signal is 1 and the output of the inverter IV12 is 0 , the output of the AND gate AG15 is 0 , and therefore, the RS latch circuit 34 is not reset. Since the RA signal corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT1 is 1 , when the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the latch circuit 9 is brought into 1 . In addition, when the timing signal STG3 becomes 1 , the output of the NAND gate NAG1 is brought into 0 , and therefore, the SLPRH signal is maintained at 1 . As a result, at the timing T7, the timing signal STG0 is generated. Since the timing signal STG0 is 1 and the output of the latch circuit 9 becomes 1 , the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ becomes 1 , so that an interrupt processing is required to the CPU 100. If the OEVC signal is outputted from the CPU 100 at the timing T9, a vector address corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT1 is read out through the output buffer 6 to the internal data bus 1, and the content of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT1 is read and latched by the priority-level-under-execution register 7. At the timing T10, the output of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 is brought to the priority level 2 , so that the output signal ISPR1 is brought to 1 and the output signal ISPR0 is brought to 0 , and the signal ENISPR is brought to 1 . In addition, the CLRIF signal is outputted from the CPU 100. When the timing clock becomes 0 , the RS latch circuit L7 becomes 0 , and the latch circuit L8 becomes 0 . At the next timing T11, the timing signal STG1 is generated. If the interrupt request signal INT2 is generated at the timing T13, the output of the AND gate AG12 in the interrupt request signal controller 3C is brought to 1 at the timing T14. When the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the RS latch circuit 34 becomes 1 . Since the output of the AND gate 21 is 0 and the output of the AND gate AG22 is 0 , the RS latch circuit 41 is maintained at 0 . Thereafter, similarly to the interrupt request signal INT1, the timing signals STG2, STG3 and STG0 are generated at the timings T15, T16 and T17. The interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is brought into 1 at a timing (T17) next to the timing T16. Then, if the OEVC signal is brought into 1 by the CPU 100, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 latches the priority level 0 . In addition, in response to the CLRIF signal, the stage counter sequentially outputs the timing signals from the timing signal STG1. If the interrupt request signal INT3 is generated at the timing T19, an operation of checking the priority level of the interrupt request signal INT3 starts at the timing T20. Since the output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 are 0 and 0 , respectively, the output of the AND gate AG21 is brought into 1 , and the CM1 signal is brought to 0 . As a result, since the output of the AND gate AG13 on the interrupt request signal controller 3D is maintained at 0 , the output of the RS latch 34 is maintained at 0 . Therefore, the RA signal is maintained at 0 even at the timing T22. In addition, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is not generated at the timing T23. Accordingly, the interrupt request signal INT3 having the priority level 1 cannot interrupt the interrupt processing of the interrupt request signal INT1 having the priority level 0 At the timing 23, if the CLRIP signal is generated, the content of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 is returned to the just preceding priority level 2 . At the timing T26, if the interrupt request signal INT0 is generated, since the output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 are 1 and 0 at the timing T27, respectively, the output of the AND gate AG21 becomes 0 and the CM1 signal becomes 1 . The output of the AND gate AG22 becomes 1 so that the RS latch circuit 41 is set. When the timing clock CLK becomes 1 , the output of the latch circuit 42 is brought to 1 . Since the ISPRQ is 0 , the output of the AND gate AG23 is maintained at 0 , the CM2 signal is maintained at 1 . Accordingly, the output of the AND gate 24 is maintained at 0 , the output of the OR gate OG10 is also maintained at 0 , and therefore, the RS latch circuit 41 is not reset. Since the priority level (level 2) of the interrupt request signal INT0 is the same as that of the preceding one, the content of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B is also the same, and the interrupt request signal controller 3A operates similarly, so that the output of the latch circuit 35 becomes 1 . At the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG3, the output of the AND gate AG25 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 and the output of the AND gate AG17 of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are brought into 1 , respectively, and therefore, outputs of the inverters IV21 and IV14 are brought into 0 ,.so that the MOS transistors Q12 and Q8 are turned off. Accordingly, only the grounded output signal CMOT of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is 0 , and the input signal CMIN of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 and the input signal CMIN and the output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are maintained 1 , since the signal CMIN has been precharged when the timing clock CLK was 1 . Therefore, the output of the inverter IV22 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 becomes 1 , and the output of the AND gate AG27 is brought into 1 , so that the output of the inverter IV23 is brought into 0 and the output of the AND gate AG26 is also brought to 0 . Accordingly, the output of the OR gate OG10 is also brought to 0 . In the interrupt request signal controller 3A, on the other hand, the output of the inverter IV15 becomes 0 , and the output of the AND gate AG18 also becomes 0 , so that the RA signal is maintained at 0 . Simultaneously, the output of the inverter IV13 is brought into 1 , and the output of the AND gate AG16 is brought into 1 , so that the output of the OR gate OG8 is brought into 1 , and the RS latch circuit 34 is reset. Namely, the interrupt request signal INT0 is not acknowledged, and therefore, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is not outputted. Thereafter, although not shown in the timing chart, when no interrupt request has not been acknowledged, if the interrupt request signals having the priority level 0 and the Contents 0 and 0 of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B are generated, namely, when two interrupt requests having the same priority level are generated, the output of the AND gate AG17 of the interrupt request signal controllers 3A and 3B is brought into 1 at the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG3, and therefore, the output of the inverter IV14 is brought into 0 , so that the MOS transistor Q8 is turned off in both of the interrupt request signal controllers 3A and 3B. As mentioned above, since no interrupt request is not acknowledged at this timing, the output of the latch 42 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is 0 , and therefore, the output of the AND gate AG25 is 0 and the output of the inverter IV21 is also 0 . Accordingly, the MOS transistor Q21 is in a turned-on condition. Thus, the output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is grounded and therefore is brought into 0 . On the other hand, the input signal CMIN of the interrupt request signal controller 3A and the output CMOT and the input signal CMIN of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are 1 . Therefore, only the output of the inverter IV15 of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is brought into 1 , and accordingly, the output of the AND gate AG18, namely, the RA signal corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT0 is brought into 1 . However, the output of the inverter IV15 of the interrupt request signal controller 3B is brought into 0 , and accordingly, the output of the AND gate AG18, namely, the RA signal corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT1 is brought into 0 . Thus, when the interrupt request signals INT0 and INT1 having the same priority level are generated, the interrupt request signals INT0 has priority over the interrupt request signal INT1. As mentioned above, when an interrupt processing having a high priority level is requested in the course of the execution of an interrupt processing having a low priority level, the priority level is scanned from a large weight of priority bit to a light weight of priority bit in the order of weight. Therefore, the interrupt controller can respond to the interrupt request at a speed higher than that of the conventional interrupt controller. In addition, when an interrupt request having the same priority level as that of the interrupt processing being currently executed is generated, and when two or more interrupt requests having the same priority level are simultaneously generated, an interrupt request having a high default (high in the order of preference set by a circuit) is acknowledged, but an interrupt request having a low default is not acknowledged. Therefore, the interrupt controller as mentioned above can flexibly comply with various interrupt requests at a high speed. Embodiment 2Referring to Figure 9, there is shown a block diagram of a second embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the priority level is divided into 8 levels. Because of this modification, the second embodiment includes a stage counter 2A modified as shown in Figure 10, and interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3J modified as shown in Figure 11, and an acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A modified as shown in Figure 12. In Figure 9, elements similar to those shown in Figure 4 are given the same Reference Numerals, and explanation thereof will be omitted. The second embodiment shown in Figure 9 is different in construction from the first embodiment shown in Figure 4, in that the stage counter 2A generates a timing signal STG4, and a CM3 signal is supplied in common to the interrupt request signal controller 3E to 3H A signal line of the CM3 signal is connected to a P-channel MOS transistor Q13, similarly to the signal lines for the CM1 signal and the CM2 signal. The interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3H generates a PR2 signal, which is supplied to the priority-level-under-execution register 7. The priority-level-under-execution register 7 generates a ISPR2 signal to the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A. Here, the PR2 signal has a weight 4 of the priority bit, and the ISPR2 signal has a weight 4 of the priority level under execution. In Figure 10, elements similar to those shown in Figure 5 are given the same Reference Numerals, and explanation thereof will be omitted. The stage counter 2A shown in Figure 10 is different in construction from the stage counter 2 shown in Figure 5, in that AND gates AG28 and AG29, an inverter IV25 and latch circuits L9 and L10 are added, and a timing signal STG4 is added as one output signal. The stage counter 2A operates similarly to the stage counter 2 shown in Figure 2, but since the timing signal STG4 is generated next to the timing signal STG4, the scan signal is generate in a manner of STG1 → STG2 → STG3 → STG4 → STG1 ···. Figure 11 shows only the interrupt request signal controller 3E, since the interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3H are the same in construction. In Figure 11, elements similar to those shown in Figure 6 are given the same Reference Numerals, and explanation thereof will be omitted. The interrupt request signal controller 3E shown in Figure 11 is different in construction from the interrupt request signal controller 3A shown in Figure 6, in the following points: In interrupt request signal controller 3E shown in Figure 11, there are added the CM3 signal, the timing signal STG4, inverters IV26 and IV27, AND gates AG30 and AG31, a N-channel MOS transistors Q41, an output butter B3, and a priority bit register 33C. In addition, the OR gate OG11 is modified to a 5-input type, and the NOR gate NOG2 is modified to a 4-input type. The NOR gate NOG2 is connected to receive the added the timing signal STG4. The inverters IV8 and IV9 are connected to receive the outputs of the priority bit registers 33C and 33A in place of the outputs of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B. The priority bit register 33C has a weight of 4 , and therefore, the priority bit registers 33A to 33C can express 8 priority levels of 0 to 7 . Accordingly, the priority level is scanned in such an order that the weight of 4 is scanned by the timing signal STG1, the weight of 2 is scanned by the timing signal STG2, and the weight of 1 is scanned by the timing signal STG3. The circuit shown in Figure 11 operates similarly to the circuit shown in Figure 6, except that one bit is added in the priority bit. When the timing signal STG4 is generated, if the RS latch circuit 34 is reset to 0 , the SLPRH signal is brought to 1 , and therefore, the next timing signal STG0 is generated, so that the interrupt request is acknowledged. In Figure 12, elements similar to those shown in Figure 8 are given the same Reference Numerals, and explanation thereof will be omitted. The acknowledged interrupt request controller shown in Figure 12 is different in construction from the acknowledged interrupt request controller shown in Figure 8, in that the CM3 signal and the timing signal STG4 are added, and inverters IV28, IV29 and IV30, AND gates AG32 and AG33, N-channel MOS transistors Q15 and Q16, and a NAND gate NAG2 are added. The ISPR2 signal is supplied to the inverter IV17, and the ISPR1 signal is supplied to the inverter IV18. The ISPRQ signal is inputted to the inverter IV28. The acknowledged interrupt request controller shown in Figure 12 scans the priority levels from the weight of 4 , similarly to the interrupt request signal controller shown in Figure 11. As mentioned above, the second embodiment is such that the eight priority levels are controlled with the three timings in the order of the weight 4 → the weight 2 → the weight 1 . In this controlling operation, the output signal CMOT of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A is grounded at the timing of the timing signal STG4, similarly to the first embodiment, and the output signal CMOT and the input signal CMIN of the interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3H are connected in the manner mentioned hereinbefore. With this connection, when two or more interrupt requests having the same priority level are generated, the priority level control based on the default values can be realized with one timing. As seen from the above, if the priority level is divided into 16 (2⁴) levels, the priority levels can be scanned with 5 timings. Accordingly, if the priority level is divided into 2n levels, the priority level discrimination and control for interrupt requests can be completed with (n+1) timings. Embodiment 3Referring to Figure 13, there is shown a block diagram of a third embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. Elements similar to those shown in Figure 4 are given the same Reference Numerals, and explanation thereof will be omitted. As seen from comparison between Figures 4 and 13, the third embodiment is characterized in that an disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B is provided, differently from the first embodiment. The priority-level-under-execution register 7 reads the RA signal from the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B when the OEVC signal becomes 1 . The RA signal is a signal for preparing a vector table. In addition, when no interrupt request signal INT0 to INT3 is acknowledged, or when the RA signal is outputted from the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B and latched in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 brings an ENISPR signal into 0 . Accordingly, the ENISPR signal is indicative of presence/absence of a memory in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, and is maintained at 0 when no priority level is stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, and brought to 1 when a priority level is stored in the the priority-level-under-execution register 7. On the other hand, when a priority level is stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7 and the RA signal outputted from the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B is not latched in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, the ENISPR signal is brought into 1 . In addition, in response to the CLRIP signal (the highest level clear signal), the priority-level-under-execution register 7 operates to clear the highest priority level of the priority levels being currently stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, and outputs a highest priority level next to the cleared highest priority level. Furthermore, when the RA signal outputted from the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B is being latched in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 brings an NMIDI signal 46 to 0 , which is supplied to an AND gate 47 receiving the EI signal. The NMIDI signal 46 is an else-interrupt inhibition signal for inhibiting (when NMIDI signal 46 is 0 ) all other interrupts during a period in which an NMI interrupt processing is executed The output signal CMOT of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is connected to an input signal CMIN of the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B, and the output signal CMOT of the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B is grounded through an N-channel MOS transistor 48, which is turned off when the timing clock is 1 , so that the levels of the output signal CMOT and the input signal CMIN (which are default priority level discrimination signals) are maintained as they are. Referring to Figure 14, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter 2 used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 13. The stage counter 2 shown in Figure 14 is different from the stage counter 2 shown in Figure 5, in which the inverter IV5 is omitted and the SLPRH signal is supplied to the AND gate AG6 through only the inverter IV6. Therefore, when the SLPRH signal is 1 , the latch circuit L7 is in no way brought to 1 , and 1 and 0 are sequentially and cyclicly transferred through the latch circuits L1 and L2, the latch circuits L3 and L4 and the latch circuits L5 and L6, so that the timing signals STG1, STG2 and STG3 are sequentially generated. On the other hand, when the SLPRH signal is 0 , the output of the inverter IV6 is brought to 1 . Therefore, if the output of the latch circuit L6 is 1 the latch circuit L7 is set to 1 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Then, when the timing clock CLK becomes 1 , a latch circuit L8 is brought into 1 , so that the timing signal STG0 is outputted. When the SLPRH signal is 1 again, since the output of the AND circuit AG6 becomes 0 , the output of the OR gate OG5 is brought into 0 . Therefore, the timing signal STG1 is not generated until the CLRIF signal is brought to 1 . In the other points, the stage counter 2 shown in Figure 14 operates similarly to the stage counter 2 shown in Figure 5. The interrupt request signal controllers 3A to 3D are the same in construction as that shown in Figure 6, and the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller 4 is the same in construction as that shown in Figure 7. Therefore, detailed description of these elements will be omitted. Referring to Figure 15, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 13. A RS latch 512 is set to 1 when the NM1 signal is 1 , and is reset when the reset signal RESET of 1 is supplied, or when an output of an AND gate 510 becomes 1 by the CLRIF signal of 1 and a Q output of 1 of the RS latch circuit 512. When the Q output of the RS latch circuit 512 is 1 , an output of an AND gate 541 is brought to 1 at the timing of the timing signal STG3, so that an N-channel MOS transistor 544 is turned off through an inverter 542. Since the CMOT signal is directly grounded and therefore is 0 , the CMIN signal is precharged to 1 when the timing clock is 1 . Therefore, the RA signal outputted from an AND gate 543 is brought to 1 . When this RA signal is 0 , an output of an AND gate 549 is brought to 1 at the timing signal STG3 of 1 when the timing clock CLK becomes 0 . An OR gate 500 brings its output to 1 when one of the CLRIF signal, the RESET signal and the output of the AND gate 549 is 1 . An output of an AND gate 535 is brought to 1 when the Q output of the RS latch circuit 512 is 1 , an output of an inverter 533 is 1 (namely, the output of the OR gate 500 is 0 ), the timing signal STG3 is 1 and the timing clock CLK is 0 . At this time, in N-channel MOS transistor 534 is turned on, and therefore, the SLPRH signal is brought to 0 . Furthermore, since the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B has neither a priority bit nor a mask bit for masking the interrupt request, and is not influenced by the EI signal, the NMI signal supplied to the disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller 4B constitutes an interrupt request signal which is not possible to disable the acknowledgment of the interrupt request signal. Now, operation of the third embodiment of the interrupt controller will be explained with reference to Figure 16 showing the timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller. The third embodiment operates under the same condition as that of the first embodiment. In this case, the operation before the timing T26 is the same as the corresponding operation of the first embodiment, and therefore, only operation from the timing T26 will be explained. At the timing T26, if the interrupt request signal INT0 is generated, since the output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 are 1 and 0 at the timing T27, respectively, the output of the AND gate AG21 becomes 0 and the CM1 signal becomes 1 . The output of the AND gate AG22 becomes 1 so that the RS latch circuit 41 is set. When the timing clock CLK becomes 1 , the output of the latch circuit 42 is brought to 1 . Since the ISPR0 is 0 , the output of the inverter IV18 becomes 1 and the output of the AND AG23 becomes 1 . At the timing T28, if the timing signal STG2 is outputted, the CM2 signal becomes 0 . However, since the ISPR0 is 0 , the output of the AND gate 24 is maintained at 0 , and therefore, the output of the OR gate OG10 is also maintained at 0 . Accordingly, the RS latch circuit 41 is not reset. Since the priority level (level 2) of the interrupt request signal INT0 is the same as that of the preceding one, the content of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B is also the same, and the interrupt request signal controller 3A operates similarly, so that the output of the latch circuit 35 becomes 1 . At the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG3, the output of the AND gate AG25 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 and the output of the AND gate AG17 of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are brought into 1 , respectively, and therefore, outputs of the inverters IV21 and IV14 are brought into 0 ,.so that the MOS transistors Q12 and Q8 are turned off. Accordingly, only the grounded output signal CMOT of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is 0 , and the input signal CMIN of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 and the input signal CMIN and the output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are maintained 1 , since the signal CMIN has been precharged when the timing clock CLK was 1 . Therefore, the output of the inverter IV22 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 becomes 1 , and the output of the AND gate AG27 is brought into 1 , so that the output of the inverter IV23 is brought into 0 and the output of the AND gate AG26 is also brought to 0 . Accordingly, the output of the OR gate OG10 is also brought to 0 . In the interrupt request signal controller 3A, on the other hand, the output of the inverter IV15 becomes 0 , and the output of the AND gate AG18 also becomes 0 , so that the RA signal is maintained at 0 . Simultaneously, the output of the inverter IV13 is brought into 1 , and the output of the AND gate AG16 is brought into 1 , so that the output of the OR gate OG8 is brought into 1 , and the RS latch circuit 34 is reset. Namely, the interrupt request signal INT0 is not acknowledged, and therefore, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is not outputted. At the timing T29, the NMI signal is generated. Since as mentioned hereinbefore the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is not influenced by the priority bit control, the mask bit, and the EI signal, the output of the AND gate 541 is unconditionally brought to 1 at the timing T30 when the timing signal STG1 is 1 . Therefore, the N-channel MOS transistor is turned off through the inverter 543. At the timing T32, since the Q output of the RS latch circuit 512 becomes 1 when the timing signal STG3 is 1 and the timing clock CLK is 0 , the output of the AND gate 535 is brought to 1 , so that the N-channel transistor 534 is turned on, and therefore, the SLPRH signal is brought to 0 . In addition at the timing T32, the CMIN signal is maintained at 1 , since the CMIN signal has been precharged to 1 when a just preceding timing clock CLK is 1 . On the other hand, since the CMOT signal of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is directly grounded, the CMOT signal is 0 . Therefore, the RA signal outputted from the AND gate 543 becomes 1 , and therefore, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is outputted to the CPU 100 at the timing T33 when the timing signal STG0 is 1 . Now, consider the following situations although not shown in the timing chart: When no interrupt request has not been acknowledged, if the interrupt request signals having the priority level 0 and the contents 0 and 0 of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B are generated, namely, when two interrupt requests having the same priority level are generated, the output of the AND gate AG17 of the interrupt request signal controllers 3A and 3B is brought into 1 at the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG3, and therefore, the output of the inverter IV14 is brought into 0 , so that the MOS transistor Q8 is turned off in both of the interrupt request signal controllers 3A and 3B. As mentioned above, since no interrupt request is not acknowledged at this timing, the output of the latch 42 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is 0 , and therefore, the output of the AND gate AG25 is 0 and the output of the inverter IV21 is also 0 . Accordingly, the the N-channel MOS transistor Q21 is in a turned-on condition. Similarly, the N-channel MOS transistor 544 of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is also in in a turned-on condition. Thus, the output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is grounded and therefore is brought into 0 . On the other hand, the input signal CMIN of the interrupt request signal controller 3A and the output CMOT and the input signal CMIN of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are 1 . Therefore, only the output of the inverter IV15 of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is brought into 1 , and accordingly, the output of the AND gate AG18, namely, the RA signal corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT0 is brought into 1 . However, the output of the inverter IV15 of the interrupt request signal controller 3B is brought into 0 , and accordingly, the output of the AND gate AG18, namely, the RA signal corresponding to the interrupt request signal INT1 is brought into 0 . Thus, when the interrupt request signals INT0 and INT1 having the same priority level are generated, the interrupt request signals INT0 has priority over the interrupt request signal INT1. In addition, when no interrupt request has not been acknowledged, if an interrupt request signal INT0 having the priority level 0 and the contents 0 and 0 of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B and the NMI interrupt request signal are concurrently generated, the output of the AND gate AG17 of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is brought into 1 at the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG3, and the output of the AND gate 542 of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is also brought to 1 . As a result, the MOS transistor Q8 is turned off in the interrupt request signal controller 3A, and therefore, the CMIN signal is 1 because it has been precharged when the clock CLK was 1 . On the other hand, the MOS transistor 544 is turned off in the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B, and therefore, the CMIN signal is 1 because it has been precharged when the clock CLK was 1 . However, since the CMOT signal of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is connected to the CMIN signal of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B, the CMOT signal of the interrupt request signal controller 3A is maintained at 1 . Accordingly, the RA signal outputted from the AND gate AG18 in the interrupt request signal controller 3A is maintained at 0 , and therefore, the interrupt request signal INT0 is not acknowledged. On the other hand, since the CMOT signal of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is directly grounded and therefore at 0 , the RA signal outputted from the AND circuit 543 in the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is brought to 1 , and therefore, the NMI signal has a preference. Furthermore, when an interrupt request having the priority level 0 has been already acknowledged, if the NMI signal is generated, the output of the AND gate AG27 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 does not become 1 , and on the other hand, the output of the AND gate 543 of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is brought to 1 at the timing signal STG3, so that the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is outputted to the CPU 100 in synchronism with the timing signal STG0. Namely, the NMI signal can interrupt the processing of the interrupt processing having the priority level 0 . If the RA signal of 1 is outputted from the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 brings the ENISPR signal to 0 , the AND gates AG22 and AG21 are fixed to 0 , and therefore, the RS latch circuit 41 is not set. In addition, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 brings the NMIDI signal 46 to 0 , so that the output of the AND gate 47 is brought to 0 . Therefore, the output, of the AND gate AG11 in the interrupt request signal controllers 3A to 3D is fixed to 0 , and therefore, the interrupt request signals INT0, INT1, INT2 and INT3 are not longer acknowledged. Namely, the NMI signal has the high priority level. As mentioned above, when an interrupt processing having a high priority level is requested in the course of the execution of an interrupt processing having a low priority level, the priority level is scanned from a large weight of priority bit to a light weight of priority bit in the order of weight. Therefore, the interrupt controller can respond to the interrupt request at a speed higher than that of the conventional interrupt controller. In addition, when an interrupt request having the same priority level as that of the interrupt processing being currently executed is generated, and when two or more interrupt requests having the same priority level are simultaneously generated, an interrupt request having a high default (high in the order of preference set by a circuit) is acknowledged, but an interrupt request having a low default is not acknowledged. Namely, the interrupt request is acknowledged in the order of NMI, INT0, INT1, INT2, and INT3. In addition, since the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B is provided, even if the NMI interrupt request competes with the interrupt request having the priority level 0 , the NMI interrupt request has preference over the interrupt request having the priority level 0 . The NMI interrupt request can interrupt although the interrupt request having the priority level 0 is acknowledged. On the other hand, the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4B can be controlled similarly to the interrupt request signal controllers 3A to 3D, without requiring any special control. Therefore, the interrupt controller as mentioned above can flexibly comply with various interrupt requests at a high speed. Embodiment 4Referring to Figure 17, there is shown a block diagram of a fourth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. The fourth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that the priority level is divided into 8 levels. Because of this modification, the second embodiment includes a stage counter 2A modified as shown in Figure 18, and interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3J modified as shown in Figure 11, and an acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A modified as shown in Figure 12, and a disable inhibition interrupt controller 4C modified as shown in Figure 19. Therefore, explanation of the interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3J and the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A will be omitted. In addition, the modification of the circuit shown in Figure 14 to the circuit shown in Figure 18 is made in the same manner as the modification of the circuit shown in Figure 5 to the circuit shown in Figure 10. Therefore, explanation of the circuit shown in Figure 18 will be omitted. Furthermore, the modification of the circuit shown in Figure 15 to the circuit shown in Figure 19 is only that the timing signal STG4 is inputted in place of the timing signal STG3. Therefore, the fourth embodiment is such that the eight priority levels are controlled with the three timings in the order of the weight 4 → the weight 2 → the weight 1 . In this controlling operation, the output signal CMOT of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4C is grounded at the timing of the timing signal STG4, similarly to the third embodiment, and the output signal CMOT and the input signal CMIN of the interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3H and the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4C are connected in the manner mentioned hereinbefore. With this connection, when two or more interrupt requests having the same priority level are generated, the priority level control based on the default values can be realized with one timing. Embodiment 5Referring to Figure 20, there is shown a block diagram of a fifth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. In Figure 20, elements similar to those shown in Figures 1 to 19 are given the same Reference Numerals, and explanation thereof will be omitted. Namely, only portions different from the interrupt controller shown in Figures 1 to 19 will be explained. The fifth embodiment is different from the first embodiment, in that a latch 48A is provided as a means for designating either the vector interrupt processing or a macro-service processing. In this connection, the interrupt request signal controllers 3A to 3D are configured to detect the interrupt request with n timings at maximum in accordance with the priority level designated for each of the interrupt request signal controllers 3A to 3D and in accordance with the processing designated by the latch 48A. A priority-level-under-execution register 7 reads the priority level outputted from interrupt request signal controller 3A to 3D, at a timing of 1 of the OEVC signal, when the output of the latch circuit 48A is 0 , and outputs a pair of output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 in synchronism with a timing clock CLK appearing next to the OEVC signal. The output of the latch circuit 48A becomes 1 when the macro-serviced is executed. The pair of output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 are obtained by encoding the highest priority level of priority levels stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7. In addition, when no interrupt request signal is acknowledged, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 brings an ENISPR signal into 0'. On the other hand, a priority level is stored in the priority-level-under-execution register 7, the ENISPR signal is brought into 1 . In addition, the priority-level-under-execution register 7 operates to respond to a CLRIP signal so as to clear a current priority level and to output a priority level just before the current priority level. The CLRIP signal is a signal for clearing the latch circuit 48A designating the macro-service. Here, the ISPR1 signal has a weight of 2 , and the ISPR0 signal has a weight of 1 . A latch circuit 9 latches the output of the OR gate OG1 when the timing signal STG3 or the timing signal STG1 is 1 and the timing clock CLK is 0 , and becomes to output the latched data in response to the next timing clock, so that the output of the latch circuit 9 is outputted through an AND gate AG2 as the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ at the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG0. The latch circuit 9 is reset to 0 by a reset signal RSET and a CLRIF signal (an interrupt request flag clear signal), and a CLRMS signal (a macro-service request bit latch clear signal). The latch circuit 48A latches the output of the QR gate OG1 at the timing signal STG1 when the timing clock CLK is 0 , and becomes to output the latched data in response to the next timing clock. In addition, the latch circuit 48A outputs an MSINTRQ signal through an AND gate 49 at the timing signal STG0. This MSINTRQ signal is a macro-service interrupt processing request signal to the CPU 100. The latch circuit 48A is reset to 0 by the reset signal RESET, the CLRIF signal and the CLRMS signal. The CLRMS signal is generated in the execution of the macro-services, for clearing a processing designation bit latch 160 (MSINT bit) designating the interrupt by the macro-service. The CMOT signal of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is grounded through the N-channel MOS transistor 48 which is turned on when the output of the inverter IV1 (an inverted signal of the clock CLK) is 1 . On the other hand, the CMIN signal of the interrupt request signal controller is connected to a DMS signal of the stage counter 2. This DMS signal is a macro-service processing designating signal which is inputted in synchronism with the timing signal STG1 when the macro-service is designated. Referring to Figure 21, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter 2 shown in Figure 20. In an initial condition, if the reset signal RESET is brought into 1 , a latch circuit 321 is initialized to 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK, and similarly, latch circuits 323 and 325 are initialized to 0 and a RS type latch 327 is initialized to 0 . Accordingly, at the timing of 1 of a next timing clock CLK, a latch circuit 322 is brought to 1 , and latch circuits 324 and 326 are brought to 0 . If the next timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the timing signal STG1 is outputted from an AND gate 342. If the reset signal RESET is brought into 0 , the output 1 of the latch circuit 322 is latched into the latch circuit 323 through an AND gate 343 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Similarly, when the timing clock CLK is 0 , the output of the latch circuit 323 is latched into the latch circuit 324, so that the latch circuit 324 is brought to 1 , which is latched into the latch circuit 325 through an AND gate 331 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Here, assuming that the CLRIF signal and the CLRMS signal are 0 , and that the SLPRH signal is 1 and the DMS signal is 0 , an output of an inverter 341 is 0 and the output of the AND gate 332 is 0 , so that the latch circuit 327 is maintained at 0 . Therefore, the outputs of the AND gates 339 and 340 are 0 , and the output of the OR gate 338 is 0 , so that when the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the output 0 of the OR gate 338 is latched into the latch circuit 321 through the OR gate 329. Next, if the timing clock CLK is brought to 1 , the latch circuit 322 is brought to 0 , and the latch circuit 324 is brought to 1 . When the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the timing signal STG2 is brought into 1 . Then, when a next timing clock CLK is 0 , the latch circuit 325 is brought to 1 , and if the timing clock CLK is next brought to 1 , the latch circuit 325 is brought to 0 , and the latch circuit 326 is brought to 1 . When the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the timing signal STG3 is brought into 1 . When the SLPRH signal is 1 , 1 and 0 are sequentially and cyclicly transferred through the latch circuits 321 and 322, the latch circuits 323 and 324 and the latch circuits 325 and 326, so that the timing signals STG1, STG2 and STG3 are sequentially generated. On the other hand, when the SLPRH signal is 0 , the output of the inverter 341 is brought to 1 . Therefore, if the output of the latch circuit 326 is 1 the latch circuit 327 is set to 1 when the timing clock CLK is 0 . Then, when the timing clock CLK becomes 1 , a latch circuit 328 is brought into 1 , that the timing signal STG0 is outputted. When the SLPRH signal is 0 , since the output of the AND circuit 339 becomes 0 , the output of the OR gate 338 is brought into 0 . Therefore, the timing signal STG1 is not generated until the CLRIF signal or the CLRMS signal is brought to 1 . Thereafter, when the CLRIF signal is brought to 1 , the output of the AND gate 340 becomes 1 . Accordingly, when the timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the latch circuit 321 is brought to 0 . On the other hand, if the CLRIF signal is brought to 1 , since the output of the OR gate 333 is brought into 1 , the latch circuit 327 is reset. Accordingly, the timing signal STG1 is generated following the timing signal STG0. When the DMS signal is 1 , the output of the inverter 350 becomes 0 , and the output of the AND gate 330 is brought to 0 , so that the generation of the timing signals STG2 and STG3 are prevented. When the timing signal STG1 becomes 1 , the output of the AND gate 351 is brought to 1 , which acts to bring the RS latch 327 and the latch 328 to 1 through the OR gate 352, so that the timing signal STG0 is generated. Since the timing signal STG3 is not generated, the timing signal STG1 is not generated until the CLRIF signal or the CLRMS signal is brought to 1 . When the CLRMS signal becomes 1 , the output of the AND gate 353 becomes 1 , and therefore, when the clock CLK becomes 0 , the latch 321 is brought to 1 . Since the output of the OR gate 333 becomes by the CLRMS signal, the RS latch 327 is reset to 0 . Therefore, the timing signal STG1 is generated following the timing signal STG0. Referring to Figure 22, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller 3A shown in Figure 20. Since the interrupt request signal controllers 3A to 3D have the same construction, only the interrupt request signal controller 3A is shown. When the interrupt request signal INT0 is inputted, if the content of the mask bit register 111 is 0 and the interrupt request flag 112 is 1 and if the interrupt enable signal EI is 1 and a MSINT bit 160 is 0 , the output of the AND gate 114 is brought into 1 . The MSINT bit 160 designates the macro-service processing when it is 1 and a vector interrupt when it is 0 . The MSINT bit 160 can be rewritten by the COU 100, and is reset to 0 by the reset signal RESET and the CLRMS signal. The priority bit register 116 has a weight of 2 , and the priority bit register 117 has a weight of 1 . When the priority bit register 116 is 0 , the output of the inverter 120 is 1 . When the timing signal STG1 is brought into 1 , the output of the AND gate 121 is brought into 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK, so that an N-channel transistor 122 is turned on so as to bring the CM1 signal into 0 . As mentioned above, the CM1 signal has been brought into 1 by the precharging when the timing clock CLK is 1 . However, when the output of the AND gate 121 becomes 1 , the CM1 signal is brought into 1 . Simultaneously, a RS type latch 126 is set to 1 through an OR gate 124 and an AND gate 125. Next, when the timing clock CLK is brought into 1 , a latch circuit 127 is brought into 1 . When the timing signal STG3 is brought into 1 , an output of an AND gate 141 is brought into 1 . As a result, an output of an inverter 142 is brought into 0 through an OR gate 166, and therefore, a N-channel MOS transistor 144 is not rendered conductive. Therefore, the input signal CMIN, which has been precharged by a P-channel MOS transistor 146 turned on when a preceding timing clock CLK was 0 , is 1 . On the other hand, when the output signal CMOT grounded through the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is 0 , an output of an inverter IN15 is brought into 1 . Accordingly, an output of an AND gate 143 is brought into 1 , and therefore, the RA signal is outputted for preparing the vector address table 5. If the timing signal STG2 becomes 1 , when the priority bit register 117 is 0 and the latch circuit 127 is 1 , an output of an AND gate 128 is brought into 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK. Therefore, an N-channel MOS transistor 129 is turned on, so as to bring the CM2 signal into 0 . As mentioned above, the CM2 signal has been brought into 1 by the precharging when the timing clock CLK is 1 . However, when the output of the AND gate 128 becomes 1 , the CM2 signal is brought into 0 . An output of an AND gate 132 is brought into 1 when the priority bit register 117 is 1 , the CM2 signal is 0 and the timing signal STG2 is 1 . An output of an AND gate 149 is brought into 1 at the timing of 0 of the timing clock CLK when the RA signal is 0 and the timing signal STG3 is 1 . When the output of the AND gate 132 is 1 , or when the reset signal RESET is 1 , or when the CLRIF signal is 1 , or when the CLRMS signal is 1 , or when the output of an AND gate 149 is 1 , an output of an OR gate 140 is brought into 1 . Thereafter, when a next timing clock CLK becomes 0 , the RS latch circuit 126 is reset to 0 . When the output of the OR gate 140 is 0 , an output of an inverter 133 is brought into 1 . When the output of the latch circuit 127 is 1 and the timing signal STG3 is 1 , an output of an AND circuit 135 is outputted into 1 , so that an N-channel MOS transistor 134 is turned on. Therefore, the SLPRH signal is brought to 0 . When the output of the latch circuit 127 is 1 and when the timing signals STG1, STG2 and STG3 are 0 , namely when the timing signal STG0 is 1 , the output of the AND gate 136 is brought into 1 , so that the outputs of the priority bit registers 116 and 117 are read out through output buffers 138 and 139 as the signals PR1 and PR0. Next, when the MSINT bit 150 is 1 and the mask bit 111 is 0 , an output of an AND gate 162 is brought to 1 if the interrupt request signal INT0 is generated. When the timing signal STG1 becomes 1 , the output of the AND gate 165 is brought to 1 , which brings the output of the inverter 142 to 0 through the OR gate 166. Therefore, the N-channel MOS transistor 144 is not rendered conductive. The CMIN signal which has been precharged to 1 by the P-channel MOS transistor 146 when the preceding clock CLK was 0 is applied to the AND gate 143. In addition, the CMOT signal which is grounded through the N-channel transistor 48 in the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is supplied through an inverter 145 to the AND gate 143. Therefore, the output of the AND gate 143 is brought to 1 , and the RA signal is generated. A Latch 167 latches the RA signal in response to the timing signals STG1 or STG3, and the content of the latch 167 is transferred to another latch 168 in response to the clock CLK. When the latch 168 is 1 , if the CLRIF signal is inputted, the interrupt request flag 112 is cleared, and if the CLRMS signal is inputted, the MSINT bit 160 is cleared. In any case, the latch 167 is simultaneously cleared. When the CLRMS signal is inputted, since the interrupt request flag 112 is not cleared, the interrupt priority level discrimination of the vector interrupt is immediately started. Referring to Figure 23, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller 4 shown in Figure 20. In Figure 23, elements corresponding to those shown in Figure 22 operate in a similar manner, and therefore, explanation will be omitted. The circuit shown in Figure 23 is different from the circuit shown in Figure 22 in the following points: The output of the AND circuit 114 shown in Figure 22 is the ENISPR signal, and the outputs of the priority bit registers 116 and 117 are replaced by the INPR1 and ISPR0 signals. In addition, the AND circuits 110, 114, 135, 136, 162, and 164, the N-channel MOS transistors 134, the inverters 119 and 133, the NOR gate 137, the OR gates 113, 161, 163, 166 and 169, the mask bit 111, the interrupt request flag 112, the latches 160, 167 and 168 are omitted. The RA signal and the SLPRH signals are omitted. Therefore, in the other points the circuit shown in Figure 23 is the same as the circuit shown in Figure 22. Accordingly, a RS latch 41 and a latch 42 correspond to the RS latch 126 and the latch 45, respectively. AND gates 423, 425, 429, 432, 441, 449 and 443 correspond to the AND gates 121, 125, 128, 132, 141, 149 and 143. An OR gate 440 corresponds to the OR gate 140, and inverters 420, 423, 430, 431, 442, 445, 448, and 447 correspond to the inverters 120, 123, 130, 131, 142, 145, 148 and 147, respectively. N-channel MOS transistors 442, 429 and 444 and a P-channel transistors 446 correspond to the N-channel MOS transistors 122, 129 an 144 and the P-channel transistors 146, respectively. Now, operation of the fifth embodiment of the interrupt controller will be explained with reference to Figure 24 showing the timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller. Here, assume that the mask bit register 111 of the four interrupt request signal controllers 3A, 3B 3C and 3D (corresponding to the interrupt request signals INT0, INT1, INT2 and INT3, respectively) are set to 0 , 0 , 0 and 0 , respectively, and that the MSINT bits 160 of the four interrupt request signal controllers 3A, 3B 3C and 3D are set to 1 , 0 , 0 and 0 , respectively, and also assume that the priority bit registers 33A and 33B of the four interrupt request signal controllers 3A, 3B 3C and 3D are set to 1, 0 (priority level 2 ), 1, 0 (priority level 2 ), 0, 0 (priority level 0 ), and 0, 1 (priority level 1 ), respectively. In addition, the EI signal is 1 . Therefore, the condition is the same as the operation of the conventional example except for the the MSINT bits 160. In this case, the operation before the timing T26 is the same as the corresponding operation of the first embodiment, and therefore, only operation until the timing T24 will be explained. At the timing T27, if the interrupt request signal INT0 is generated, the timing signal STG1 is generated at the timing T29, and the output of the AND gate 165 is brought to 1 , so that the RA signal is generated similarly to the interrupt request signal INT1. At the timing T30, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ and the MSINTRQ signal are generated. The CPU 100 brings the OEVC signal to 1 , an address of the vector address table 5 is outputted to the internal data bus 1. At this time, since the latch circuit 48A is 1 , the output of the AND gate 51 is not brought to 1 , and therefore, the value of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 does not change. Thereafter, the CLRMS signal is outputted, the MSINT bit 160 is cleared, and the timing signal STG1 is simultaneously outputted from the stage counter 2. Since the interrupt request flag 112 in the interrupt request signal controller 3A is maintained at 1 , the interrupt priority level discrimination is started again. At the timing T35, since the output signals ISPR1 and ISPR0 of the priority-level-under-execution register 7 are 1 and 0 at the timing T27, respectively, the output of the AND gate 421 becomes 0 and the CM1 signal becomes 1 . The output of the AND gate 425 becomes 1 so that the RS latch circuit 426 is set. When the timing clock CLK becomes 1 , the output of the latch circuit 427 is brought to 1 . Since the ISPR0 is 0 , the output of the AND 428 becomes 1 , and the CM2 signal is maintained at 1 . Accordingly, the output of the AND gate 432 is maintained at 0 , and therefore, the output of the OR gate 440 is also maintained at 0 . Accordingly, the RS latch circuit 426 is not reset. Since the priority level (level 2) of the interrupt request signal INT0 is the same as that of the preceding one, the content of the priority bit registers 116 and 117 is also the same, and the interrupt request signal controller 3A operates similarly, so that the output of the latch circuit 127 becomes 1 . At the timing of 1 of the timing signal STG3, the output of the AND gate 441 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 and the output of the AND gate 141 of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are brought into 1 , respectively, and therefore, outputs of the inverters 442 and 142 are brought into 0 ,.so that the MOS transistors 444 and 144 are turned off. Accordingly, only the grounded output signal CMOT of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 is 0 , and the input signal CMIN of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 and the input signal CMIN and the output signal CMOT of the interrupt request signal controller 3A are maintained 1 , since the signal CMIN has been precharged when the timing clock CLK was 1 . Therefore, the output of the inverter 445 of the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4 becomes 1 , and the output of the AND gate 443 is brought into 1 , so that the output of the inverter 448 is brought into 0 and the output of the AND gate 449 is also brought to 0 . Accordingly, the output of the OR gate 440 is also brought to 0 . In the interrupt request signal controller 3A, on the other hand, the output of the inverter 145 becomes 0 , and the output of the AND gate 143 also becomes 0 , so that the RA signal is maintained at 0 . Simultaneously, the output of the inverter 148 is brought into 1 , and the output of the AND gate 149 is brought into 1 , so that the output of the OR gate 140 is brought into 1 , and the RS latch circuit 126 is reset. Namely, the interrupt request signal INT0 is not acknowledged, and therefore, the interrupt processing request signal INTRQ is not outputted. In other words, the interrupt request having the same priority level as that of the interrupt processing being executed is not acknowledged. Although not shown in the timing chart, when no interrupt request has not been acknowledged, if the interrupt request signals having the priority level 0 and the contents 0 and 0 of the priority bit registers 33A and 33B are generated, namely, when two interrupt requests having the same priority level are generated, the fifth embodiment operates similarly to the first and third embodiments. Namely, also in the fifth embodiment, when the interrupt request signals INT0 and INT1 having the same priority level are generated, the interrupt request signals INT0 has priority over the interrupt request signal INT1. As mentioned above, when an interrupt processing having a high priority level is requested in the course of the execution of an interrupt processing having a low priority level, the priority level is scanned from a large weight of priority bit to a light weight of priority bit in the order of weight. Therefore, the interrupt controller can respond to the interrupt request at a speed higher than that of the conventional interrupt controller. In addition, when an interrupt request having the same priority level as that of the interrupt processing being currently executed is generated, and when two or more interrupt requests having the same priority level are simultaneously generated, an interrupt request having a high default (high in the order of preference set by a circuit) is acknowledged, but an interrupt request having a low default is not acknowledged. In addition, the fifth embodiment can comply with the macro-service processing. Therefore, the interrupt controller as mentioned above can flexibly comply with various interrupt requests at a high speed. Embodiment 6Referring to Figure 25, there is shown a block diagram of a sixth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. The sixth embodiment is different from the fifth embodiment in that the priority level is divided into 8 levels. Because of this modification, the second embodiment includes a stage counter 2A modified as shown in Figure 26, and interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3J modified as shown in Figure 27, and an acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A modified as shown in Figure 28. In addition, the modification of the circuit shown in Figure 21 to the circuit shown in Figure 26 is made in the same manner as the modification of the circuit shown in Figure 5 to the circuit shown in Figure 10. The modification of the circuit shown in Figure 22 to the circuit shown in Figure 27 is made in the same manner as the modification of the circuit shown in Figure 6 to the circuit shown in Figure 11. The modification of the circuit shown in Figure 23 to the circuit shown in Figure 27 is made in the same manner as the modification of the circuit shown in Figure 7 to the circuit shown in Figure 12. Therefore, explanation of the stage counter 2A, the interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3J and the acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A will be omitted. Therefore, the sixth embodiment is such that the eight priority levels are controlled with the three timings in the order of the weight 4 → the weight 2 → the weight 1 . In this controlling operation, the output signal CMOT of the disable inhibition interrupt request controller 4C is grounded at the timing of the timing signal STG4, similarly to the third embodiment, and the output signal CMOT and the input signal CMIN of the interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3H are connected in the manner mentioned hereinbefore. With this connection, when two or more interrupt requests having the same priority level are generated, the priority level control based on the default values can be realized with one timing. Embodiment 7Referring to Figure 29, there is shown a block diagram of a seven embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. The seventh embodiment is a simplified one of the first embodiment, so that only the timing signals STG1, STG2 and STG0 are generated. In Figure 29, elements similar or corresponding to those shown in Figure 4 are given the same Reference Numerals. Since the seventh embodiment is the same as the first embodiment excluding that the timing signal STG3 is not generated, the explanation of the construction and the operation will be omitted. Referring to Figure 30, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the stage counter 2 used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29. Although in Figure 30 there are given Reference Numerals different from those given in Figure 5, since elements corresponding in circuit function to those shown in Figure 5 will operates in the same manner, the operation of the circuit of Figure 30 will be omitted Turning to Figure 31, there is shown a logic circuit diagram of the interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29. Similarly to Figure 30, although in Figure 31 there are given Reference Numerals different from those given in Figure 6, since elements corresponding in circuit function to those shown in Figure 6 will operates in the same manner, the operation of the circuit of Figure 31 will be omitted Referring to Figure 32, them is shown a logic circuit diagram of the acknowledged interrupt request signal controller used in the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29. Similarly to Figure 30, although in Figure 32 there are given Reference Numerals different from those given in Figure 7, since elements corresponding in circuit function to those shown in Figure 7 will operates in the same manner, the operation of the circuit of Figure 32 will be omitted Figure 33 is a timing chart for illustrating the operation of the interrupt controller shown in Figure 29. The seventh embodiment operates similarly to the first embodiment, excluding the fact that the timing signal STG3 is not generated, the explanation of the operation will be omitted Embodiment 8Referring to Figure 34, there is shown a block diagram of an eighth embodiment of the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention. The eighth embodiment is different from the seventh embodiment in that the priority level is divided into 8 levels. Because of this modification, the second embodiment includes a stage counter 2A modified as shown in Figure 35, and interrupt request signal controllers 3E to 3J modified as shown in Figure 36, and an acknowledged interrupt request controller 4A modified as shown in Figure 37. In Figure 35 although there are given Reference Numerals different from those given in Figure 6, since elements corresponding in circuit function to those shown in Figure 6 will operates in the same manner, the operation of the circuit of Figure 35 will be omitted Similarly to Figure 35, in Figure 36 although there are given Reference Numerals different from those given in Figure 11, since elements corresponding in circuit function to those shown in Figure 11 will operates in the same manner, the operation of the circuit of Figure 36 will be omitted Also similarly to Figure 35, in Figure 37 although there are given Reference Numerals different from those given in Figure 12, since elements corresponding in circuit function to those shown in Figure 12 will operates in the same manner, the operation of the circuit of Figure 37 will be omitted As will be apparent from the embodiments explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, the interrupt controller in accordance with the present invention is characterized in that if the priority levels is 2n or less, the priority levels are scanned in the order of 2n → 2n-1 → ··· 2⁰, and the priority levels based on the default values is scanned at only one timing. Therefore, even if interrupt requests having the same priority levels compete with each other, an interrupt request signal having the highest priority level can be detected from the competing interrupt requests with only (n+1) timings. The invention has thus been shown and described with reference to the specific embodiments. However, it should be noted that the present invention is in no way limited to the details of the illustrated structures but changes and modifications may be made.	An interrupt controller comprising a plurality of n-bit priority bit registers for designating 2n priority levels to a plurality of interrupt request signals (where n is an integer not less than 2), a stage counter for sequentially and repeatedly generating (n+1) timing signals used for scanning the priority levels of the interrupt request signals, an priority-level-under-execution register for storing the content of the priority bit register of the interrupt request signal corresponding to a interrupt processing being currently under execution, interrupt request signal controlling means for comparing the content of the priority-level-under-execution register with contents of priority bit registers of the interrupt request signals being generated including the priority bit register of the interrupt request signal corresponding to the interrupt processing being currently under execution, in synchronism with the n timing signals in the order of the highest place bit to the lowest place bit, the interrupt request signal controlling means operating to detect an interrupt request signal having the highest priority bit from the interrupt request signals being generated, the interrupt request signal controlling means also operating in such a manner that when a plurality of interrupt request signals having the highest priority bit are detected, the interrupt request signal controlling means selects one interrupt request signal in accordance with a predetermined order in synchronism with a timing signal following the n timing signals, and means for generating an interrupt processing request signal when the interrupt request signal controlling means detects a interrupt request signal having the highest priority level. A interrupt controller claimed in Claim 1 wherein the respective bits of the priority bit register are set to have a weight of 2(N-1) (where N is 1 to n). A interrupt controller claimed in Claim 2 wherein the content of the priority bit register is detected in the order from a large weight bit to a light weight bit. A interrupt controller claimed in Claim 1 further including an interrupt disable inhibition interrupt request signal controller for detecting an inputted interrupt disable inhibition interrupt request signal in the predetermined order with one timing. A interrupt controller claimed in Claim 1 further including a processing designating means for designating a selected one of a vector interrupt processing and a macro-service processing.	NIPPON ELECTRIC CO; NEC CORPORATION	NISHIGUCHI YUKIHIRO; SHIBUYA TADASHI; SUZUKI TOMIKAZU; TAKAMINE YASUFUMI; NISHIGUCHI, YUKIHIRO,; SHIBUYA, TADASHI,; SUZUKI, TOMIKAZU,; TAKAMINE, YASUFUMI,; Nishiguchi, Yukihiro, c/o NEC IC Microcomputer; Shibuya, Tadashi, c/o NEC IC Microcomputer; Suzuki, Tomikazu, c/o NEC IC Microcomputer; Takamine, Yasufumi, c/o NEC IC Microcomputer
EP-0489263-B1	489,263	EP	B1	EN	19,990,310	1,992	20,100,220	new	F02D21	null	F02D21, F02M25	F02M 25/07J2, R02B275:18, F02D 21/08, F02M 25/07J4L, F02M 25/07J4H, F02M 25/07P6C2, R02M25:07P6C4, R02M25:07P6C6, R02M25:07P6T, R02M25:07P2C, R02M25:07P4P, R02M25:07P16, F02D 41/00F6	Exhaust gas recirculation system for an internal combustion engine	Disclosed is an exhaust gas recirculation system for an engine having a high compression ratio or with a supercharger. An outside EGR duct connecting the exhaust system (4) to the intake system (3) is provided with a first control valve (22), which has a second outside EGR duct (23) bypassing the first control valve. The second EGR duct has a second EGR control valve (24) and a cooler (25). When the engine exists in an extremely low load state, the first and second control valves are closed to inhibit the outside EGR. In the light load state, the first control valve is opened while the second control valve is closed, thereby allowing recirculation of the EGR gases having high temperature and reducing the pumping loss. In the high load state, the first control valve is being closed while opening the second control valve, thereby increasing a recirculation ratio of EGR gases cooled by the cooler and performing both an improvement of anti-knocking performance and a decrease in pumping loss, as well as reducing the heat load of the exhaust system and within the engine.	The present invention relates to an internal combustion engine and, more particularly, to an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system so adapted as to recirculate a portion of exhaust gases into an intake system of the internal combustion engine.Internal combustion engines, particularly for automotive vehicles, are designed such that a portion of exhaust gases is recirculated into the intake system. In other words, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 160,052/1984, the internal combustion engines adopt a so-called EGR system that has been employed as measures against NOx (measures to curtail NOx as hazardous ingredients in exhaust gases) in a light load region.As effective means for enhancing heat efficiency of the internal combustion engine, it is known to set a compression ratio of the internal combustion engine to a high value. A supercharged engine is further known, which has a supercharger mounted to an intake system of the internal combustion engine so as to produce a large output at a small displacement. For the internal combustion engines of the type having a high compression ratio or the supercharged engines, the problems exist, first, in the fact that knocking is likely to occur in a high load region and, secondly, in the fact that heat load within the internal combustion engine or within the exhaust system thereof increases in the high load region. These problems make it difficult to set a high compression ratio. This is particularly so for the supercharged engines. An internal combustion engine according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from JP-A-62-7943. However, from this document it is not known to dispose a catalyst converter in the exhaust system. Furthermore, according to this document, EGR control valves are used, which constitute an all or nothing valves , meaning that EGR is performed only via a first duct of a low load, and via a second duct at a high load, this system not being flexible during a continuous increase of the load.From FR-A-2 553 471 it is known to forcibly cool at least a part of the exhaust gases. However, this document also does not relate to the use of a catalyst converter.From JP-A-62-41941 and exhaust gas recirculation system is known, which controls exhaust gas recirculation only before a steady state condition is reached.The object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system for an internal combustion engine so adapted to improve anti-knocking performance in a high load driving region as well as to reduce a heat load of the exhaust system or within the internal combustion engine, when the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine is made high or when the internal combustion engine is provided with a supercharger.This object is achieved with an internal combustion engine with the features of claim 1.This arrangement permits the EGR gases forcibly cooled by the EGR cooler to be recirculated into the intake system, thereby allowing the cooled EGR gases to lower combustion temperature. Hence, the recirculation of the cooled EGR gases into the intake system in the high load region can reduce NOx during the high load driving region by recirculating the cooled EGR gases to the intake system in the high load region, as well as the anti-knocking performance can be improved while reducing the heat load of the exhaust system or within the internal combustion engine. By applying the exhaust gas recirculation according to the present invention to the internal combustion engine having a high compression ratio or to the supercharged internal combustion engine, the heat load of the exhaust system or within the internal combustion engine can be reduced while improving the anti-knocking performance.A plurality of pipes may be juxtaposed with each other, in place of the EGR cooler, thereby forming the outside EGR duct.This arrangement can cool down the EGR gases during passage through the outside EGR duct and recirculate the cooled EGR gases in a manner similar to the EGR cooler.Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the course of the description of the preferred embodiments, which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figs. 1 to 4 are directed to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which:Fig. 1 is a schematic representation showing an outline of the internal combustion engine; Fig. 2 is a graphic representation showing contents of control over the EGR system; Fig. 3 is a graphic representation showing the relationship between the pumping loss and the temperature of EGR gases; and Fig. 4 is a graphic representation showing the cylinder pressure and the temperature of fuel in an equal volume cycle.Fig. 5 is a schematic representation showing an outline of the internal combustion engine according to the second embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 6 is a schematic representation showing an outline of the internal combustion engine according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The present invention will be described more in detail by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings.First Embodiment (Figs. 1 to 4)As shown in Fig. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an engine body of the internal combustion engine, and the engine body 1 includes an in-line 4-cylinder engine of natural air intake type having four cylinders 2 disposed in a row. The internal combustion engine to be employed herein has a compression ratio of 12.5.Reference numeral 3 stands for an intake system of the internal combustion engine and reference numeral 5 for a common intake passage. To the common intake passage 5 are disposed an air cleaner 6, an air flowmeter 7 for detecting a quantity of intake air, and a throttle valve 8 in this order from its upstream side to its downstream side. Connected to a downstream end of the common intake passage 5 is a surge tank 9 which in turn branches into four independent intake passages 10, and a downstream end portion of each of the independent intake passages 10 further branches into two intake ports 11 and 12 for respective cylinders 2.On the other hand, each of the cylinders 2 has two exhaust ports 13 and 14, to each of which is connected the independent exhaust passage 15.A downstream end of the independent exhaust passage 15 connected to each of the cylinders 2 is combined into a common exhaust passage 16 which in turn is provided with a catalyst converter 17.Reference numeral 20 denotes an exhaust gas recirculation unit (an EGR unit) through which the intake system 3 is communicated with the exhaust system 4, thereby allowing a portion of exhaust gases to be recirculated into the intake system 3.The EGR unit 20 has an EGR duct 21 disposed outside the engine body 1 of the internal combustion engine. One end of the EGR duct 21 is connected to an immediate downstream side of the catalyst converter 17 and the other end thereof is connected to the independent intake passage 10. Further, the EGR duct 21 has a first EGR control valve 22 disposed in its intermediate position.Further, the EGR unit 20 has a second EGR duct 23 bypassing the first EGR control valve 22. The second EGR duct 23 has a second EGR control valve 24 and an EGR cooler 25. The EGR cooler 25 is of a water cooled type and is disposed in an intermediate position of a coolant passage 26 for cooling the internal combustion engine.The first EGR control valve 22 is connected to a first actuator 27 of a diaphragm type, while the second EGR control valve 24 is connected to a second actuator 28 of a diaphragm type. A vacuum chamber of the first actuator 27 is communicated with the surge tank 9 through a first pressure pipe 29 which in turn is provided with a first solenoid valve 30 of an electromagnetic type. A vacuum chamber of the second actuator 28 is communicated with the surge tank 9 through a second pressure pipe 31 which in turn is provided with a second solenoid valve 32. The opening angles of the first and second solenoid valves 30 and 32 are controlled by a duty ratio.The first EGR control valve 22 is opened when the first solenoid valve 30 is opened and the negative pressure is introduced into the first actuator 27. On the other hand, the second EGR control valve 24 is closed when the second solenoid valve 32 is opened and the negative pressure is introduced into the second actuator 28.As shown in Fig. 1, reference numeral 40 denotes a control unit which is composed of, for example, a microcomputer with CPU, ROM, RAM, etc. built therein in conventional manner. Entered into the control unit 40 are a signal indicative of a quantity of intake air from the air flowmeter 7 as well as signals from sensors 41 and 42. The sensor 41 is to sense an opening angle of the throttle valve 8, that is, a load. The sensor 42 is to sense the number of rotation of the engine.Control signals are generated from the control unit 40 to the first solenoid valve 30 and the second solenoid valve 32, thereby controlling the opening angles of the first EGR control valve 22 and the second EGR control valve 24.Fig. 2 shows the contents of the control of the first EGR control valve 22 and the second EGR control valve 24. In Fig. 2, the broken line represents the first EGR control valve 22, while the solid line represents the second EGR control valve 24.As is apparent from Fig. 2, the first EGR control valve 22 and the second EGR control valve 24 are both closed in an extremely low load region. In other words, the outside exhaust gas recirculation (the outside EGR) through the first EGR duct 21 and the second EGR duct 23 is inhibited in the extremely low load region, thereby ensuring stability in combustion in this range.On the other hand, in a light load region, the first EGR control valve 22 is fully opened while the second EGR control valve 24 is fully closed. In other words, the exhaust gas recirculation is implemented using the first EGR duct 21 in the light load region where the problem with a pumping loss may arise. Since no EGR cooler is mounted to the first EGR duct 21, the EGR gases at relatively high temperature are recirculated into the intake system 3.Fig. 3 is a graphical representation showing the relationship between the temperature of EGR gases and an extent to which the pumping loss is reduced, by using an EGR ratio as a parameter. As the extent of restriction of intake air by the throttle valve 8 is large in the light load region, the pumping loss becomes likely to occur at a higher rate. As is apparent from Fig. 3, however, the pumping loss can be reduced to a larger extent by a slight quantity of exhaust gas recirculation as the temperature of the EGR gases becomes higher. It is thus to be noted that it is desired to use the EGR gases at a higher temperature in the light load region.As shown in Fig. 2, in the high load region, on the other hand, the opening angle of the first EGR control valve 22 is made smaller as the load becomes larger. Conversely, the opening angle of the second EGR control valve 24 is made larger. In other words, in the high load region, the rate of the EGR by using the first EGR duct 21 is made smaller while the rate of the EGR by using the second EGR duct 23 is made higher, as the load becomes higher. This means that the rate of recirculation of the EGR gases cooled by the EGR cooler 25 is increased to a larger extent as the load becomes larger.It is further to be noted that, as the temperature of the EGR gases is lower or as the quantity of the EGR gases is larger, the temperature of combustion becomes lower. Fig. 4 is a graph representation showing the relationship between the cylinder pressure P and the combustion temperature T. Reference symbols TA, TTDC, ΔT and Tb are represented by the following formulas: TA=CpaGaTa + CpeGeTeCpaTa + CpeTeTTDC=TA×εk-1ΔT=QCv[Ga(1+1/AF) +Ge]Tb=TTDC+ΔT where TAis the temperature at the moment of start of compression;TTDCis the temperature of the top dead center of compression;Tb is the temperature after combustion;ε is an effective compression ratio;Cp is an equal pressure specific heat;Cv is an equal volume specific heat;AF is an air-to-fuel ratio;suffix a represents fresh air;suffix e represents exhaust gases (EGR);Q is the total calorific value, Q ∝ Ga (constant AF); andG is the gas weight.As is apparent from the above formulas, the temperature of combustion becomes lower as the temperature of the EGR gases is made lower or as the quantity of the EGR gases is made larger. When the temperature of combustion is lowered, the temperature on the wall of the combustion chamber becomes lower, too, thereby reducing the heat load within the internal combustion engine. Further, the temperature of burned gases is so low in the course of combustion that the radiation heat against unburned gases is reduced and that the temperature of the unburned gases can be suppressed. Hence, the anti-knocking performance can be improved. Furthermore, the reduction in the temperature of combustion leads to the decrease in the temperature of the exhaust gases, so that it is advantageous from the heat-resistance point of view for parts of the exhaust system and the heat load of the exhaust system is made lower.Hence, in the high load region, as the load is made greater, the adverse effect of the pumping loss becomes smaller, while the problems may arise with the heat load within the internal combustion engine, etc. In order to solve the aforesaid problems, the recirculation ratio of the EGR gases having relatively high temperature is reduced, while the recirculation ratio of the EGR gases having relatively low temperature is increased, as the load becomes larger.In this embodiment, the inlet of the EGR gases, that is, a site connecting the EGR duct 21 to the exhaust system 4, is disposed on the downstream side of the catalyst converter 17, so that the exhaust gases are introduced into the EGR duct 21 after they have been cooled to some extent by the exhaust system 4. This arrangement enables the EGR gases cooled by the EGR cooler 25 to become lower in temperature, thereby improving the effects sought to be achieved in the high load region.The EGR cooler 25 may be of an air cooled type as well as of a water cooled type. The duct length of the second EGR duct 23 may be prolonged to thereby cool the EGR gases during passage through the prolonged EGR duct 23, without disposition of the EGR cooler to the second EGR duct 23. Further, the EGR ducts 23 may be composed of plural ducts juxtaposed with each other, thereby cooling the EGR gases.Figs. 5 et seq are directed to the other embodiments according to the present invention and, in those embodiments, the same parts or substantially the same parts are provided with the same reference numerals employed for the first embodiment as described hereinabove and description thereof will be omitted for brevity of explanation. The characteristic portion of the present invention will be described.Second Embodiment (Fig. 5)This embodiment according to the present invention is directed to the supercharged internal combustion engine having a supercharger of a mechanical type, which has the compression ratio of 10. To this embodiment is applied the control of the exhaust gas recirculation as described hereinabove in the first embodiment.In this embodiment, the common intake passage 5 of the intake system 3 is provided with a supercharger 50 on its upstream side and an inter cooler 51 on its downstream side. An input shaft 50a of the supercharger 50 is connected to an output shaft 1a of the internal combustion engine through a belt 52, and the supercharger 50 is driven by the engine output. The intake system 3 has a bypass passage 53 bypassing the supercharger 50 and the inter cooler 51. The bypass passage 53 contains a relief valve 55 drivable by the actuator 54 of a diaphragm type. The pressure chamber of the actuator 54 is communicated with the surge tank 9 and the relief valve 55 is so disposed as to open the bypass passage 53 when the pressure becomes higher than a predetermined value.The EGR unit 20 has the second EGR duct 23 connected to the common intake passage 5 interposed between the throttle valve 8 and the supercharger 50. The site where the second EGR duct 23 is connected may be the one interposed between the supercharger 50 and the inter cooler 51.The first EGR control valve 22 is arranged to be opened when the first solenoid valve 30 is opened and the negative pressure is introduced into the first actuator 27, in the manner as in the first embodiment according to the present invention. On the other hand, the second EGR control valve 24 is arranged to be opened when the second solenoid valve 32 is opened and the positive pressure (supercharging pressure) is introduced into the second actuator 28.The practices for controlling the first EGR control valve 22 and the second EGR control valve 24 are the same as in the first embodiment, so that description thereof will be omitted from the following description.Further, the EGR gases cooled by the EGR cooler 25 are recirculated toward the upstream side of the inter cooler 51 of the intake system 3, thereby supplying the EGR gases having lower temperature to the internal combustion engine.Third Embodiment (Fig. 6)This embodiment according to the present invention is directed to the internal combustion engine with a turbo charger and the way of controlling the EGR as employed in the first embodiment is applied to this embodiment.A turbo charger 57 comprises a turbine 58 disposed at the common exhaust passage 16, a supercharger 59 disposed at the common intake passage 5, and a connecting shaft 60 for connecting the turbine 58 to the supercharger 59.The exhaust system 4 is provided with a bypass passage 61 bypassing the turbine 58, and the bypass passage 61 in turn is provided with a gate valve 63 drivable by an actuator 62 of a diaphragm type. A pressure chamber of the actuator 62 is communicated with the common intake passage 5 on the downstream side of the supercharger 59 and the gate valve 63 is opened to withdraw the exhaust gases when the supercharging pressure reaches a value higher than a predetermined value.The EGR unit 20 has the first EGR duct 21 connected to the independent exhaust passage 15, thereby permitting the exhaust gases immediately after withdrawn from the engine to be introduced thereinto. The second EGR duct 23 is independent from the first EGR duct 21, and one end of the second EGR duct 23 is connected to the common exhaust passage 16 on the downstream side of the turbine 58 while the other end thereof is connected to the common intake passage 5 on the upstream side of the supercharger 59.The first EGR control valve 22 is opened when the negative pressure of intake air is introduced into the first actuator 27, like in the first embodiment according to the present invention. The second EGR control valve 24 is opened when the supercharging pressure is introduced into the second actuator 28.The practices for controlling the first EGR control valve 22 and the second EGR control valve 24 are the same as in the first embodiment, so that description thereof will be omitted from the following description.In this embodiment, as described hereinabove, the first EGR duct 21 to be opened in the light load region is connected to the independent exhaust passage 15, thereby allowing the exhaust gases having high temperature, immediately after withdrawn from the engine body 1, to be recirculated into the intake system 3. This arrangement can suppress an increase in work of the supercharger 59 by the EGR gases having high temperature in the light load region, so that the speed of rotation of the supercharger 59 is increased and the turbine efficiency is elevated.On the other hand, in the high load region, the exhaust gases having relatively low temperature is introduced into the second EGR duct 23, like in the second embodiment as described hereinabove, and the exhaust gases are then cooled by the EGR cooler 25, followed by recirculation into the intake system 3.Hence, in the low-rotation and high-load region where particularly the knocking is likely to occur, this embodiment has the advantages that the EGR gases having low temperature prevents the knocking from occurring and the turbine efficiency from decreasing.	An internal combustion engine (1) having a first outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (21) connected to the exhaust system (4) of the internal combustion engine (1) and an intake system (3) thereof for recirculating a portion of exhaust gases into the intake system (3) thereof,a second outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (23) connected to the exhaust system (4) of the internal combustion engine (1) and an intake system (3) thereof for recirculating a portion of exhaust gases into the intake system (3) thereof, while forcibly cooling that portion of the exhaust gases,a first exhaust gas recirculation control valve (22) disposed at said first outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (21),a second exhaust gas recirculation control valve (24) disposed at said second outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (23), andload detecting means (8, 41) for detecting the load of the engine,characterized in thatthe internal combustion engine further comprises a catalyst converter (17) disposed at an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine, said second outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (23) being connected to the exhaust system (4) at the downstream side of the catalyst converter (17),exhaust gas recirculation control means (27, 28) for controlling said first exhaust gas recirculation control valve (22) and said second exhaust gas recirculation control valve (24) based on the load condition of the engine in such a way as to reduce the recirculation ratio of the exhaust gases having relatively high temperature while increasing the recirculation ratio of the exhaust gases having relatively low temperature as the load becomes larger.An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first exhaust gas recirculation duct (21) is connected to the exhaust system (4) at the downstream side of the catalyst converter (17).An internal combustion engine according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said second outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (23) is provided with an EGR cooler.An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 3, wherein said exhaust gas recirculation cooler (25) is of water cooled type.An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 3, wherein said exhaust gas recirculation cooler (25) is of air cooled type.An internal combustion engine as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 5, wherein said first outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (21) is connected with a downstream portion of the exhaust system (4). An internal combustion engine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said internal combustion engine (1) is an engine having a high compression ratio.An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 7, wherein said internal comustion engine is an engine having a supercharger (50) disposed in the intake system.An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 8, wherein said supercharger (50) is of a mechanical type as drivable by output of the engine (1).An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 8, wherein said supercharger (50) is a turbo charger of a type as drivable by exhaust gases from the engine (1).An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 10, wherein said second outside exhaust gas duct (23) is connected on the downstream side of a turbine of said turbo charger (57).An internal combustion engine as claimed in claim 8, wherein an inter cooler (51) is disposed in the intake system of said engine on the downstream side of said supercharger (50).An internal combustion engine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said first outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (21) is composed of pipes juxtaposed with each other.An internal combustion engine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said second outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (23) has a duct length longer than said first outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (21). An internal combustion engine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said second outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (23) is composed of pipes juxtaposed with each other.An internal combustion engine as claimed in any one of the claims 12 to 15, wherein said second outside exhaust gas recirculation duct (23) is connected on the upstream side of said inter cooler (51).	MAZDA MOTOR; MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION	HATTORI TOSHIHIKO; HITOMI MITSUO; IWATA NORIYUKI; KAIDE TADAYOSHI; KASHIYAMA KENJI; NOMURA KAZUMASA; SASAKI JUNSOU; UMEZAWA KAZUAKI; YAMAGATA NAOYUKI; HATTORI, TOSHIHIKO; HITOMI, MITSUO; IWATA, NORIYUKI; KAIDE, TADAYOSHI; KASHIYAMA, KENJI; NOMURA, KAZUMASA; SASAKI, JUNSOU; UMEZAWA, KAZUAKI; YAMAGATA, NAOYUKI; HATTORI, TOSHIHIKO, C/O MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION; HITOMI, MITSUO, C/O MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION; Iwata, Noriyuki, c/o Mazda Motor Corporation; Kaide, Tadayoshi, c/o Mazda Motor Corporation; KASHIYAMA, KENJI, C/O MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION; Nomura, Kazumasa, c/o Mazda Motor Corporation; SASAKI, JUNSOU, C/O MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION; Umezawa, Kazuaki, c/o Mazda Motor Corporation; Yamagata, Naoyuki, c/o Mazda Motor Corporation
EP-0489265-B1	489,265	EP	B1	EN	19,970,917	1,992	20,100,220	new	B60R25	B60R25	B60R25, E05B65	L60R25:10C, B60R 25/10A, B60R 25/00G2C4	Anti-theft system for vehicles	A vehicle anti-theft device comprising a gear shift lock (14) and an ancillary vehicle anti-theft device which is operated automatically by operation of the gear shift lock (14).	Various types of anti-theft devices are known for use with motor vehicles. These include, for example, intrusion alarms, ignition locks, ignition interlocks, steering wheel and brake locks and the like. A particularly successful anti-theft device and its method of use, according to the preamble portions of claims 1 and 8, respectively, are described in U.S. Patent No. 4,693,099 dated September 15, 1987. This device makes use of a gear shift lock. It is known for a vehicle to be protected by multiple anti-theft devices. The use of multiple devices is generally inconvenient due to the multiple operations that must be undertaken both to activate and to deactivate the anti-theft devices each time the operator leaves, enters or operates the vehicle. It is therefore desirable to combine such multiple anti-theft devices in a way that permits them to be activated by a single operation. DE-A 3 702 479 relates to an anti-theft system comprising a gear shift lock and an ancillary anti-theft device that is adapted to trigger an alarm if the gear shift lever is tampered with. Herein, the lever is locked by means of a locking pin that can be displaced along the lever so as to engage a stationary locking hole without touching its edges. If the lever is moved, the pin will touch the edges of the hole, thus closing an electrical circuit and setting off the alarm. This system requires a very particular construction of the gear shift lever, which makes it not retrofittable. Further, the ancillary system can only detect unauthorized handling of the gear shift lever, which is already protected by the lock. Safety might be improved much more if the ancillary system, instead of being thus restricted, were able to detect suspicious events happening at other places in or near the car. Another multiple anti-theft system is known from GB-A 2 023 076. This system comprises a gear shift lever which is articulated at its base so that it may be pivoted down to the vehicle floor and imprisoned in this position by means of a locking device. A switch detects whether the lever is turned down or not, and if it is, it activates an ancillary alarm system. Just like the system described before, this one requires a special construction of the gear shift lever. Due to this and to the fact that the lever must be in a specific position in order to activate the ancillary system, it is not retrofittable either. The present invention seeks to provide an improved retrofittable, generally universal, multi-functional vehicle anti-theft device and a method for preventing vehicle theft which are quick and convenient to use. This is achieved by a system as defined in claim 1 and a method as defined in claim 8. The ancillary vehicle anti-theft device may comprise one or more of the following: audio or visual alarm, ignition or vehicle operation interlocking means, intrusion or vehicle motion detection apparatus, any other suitable vehicle anti-theft device. Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, electronic circuitry forming part of the ancillary vehicle anti-theft device may be located within the housing assembly. The electronic circuitry may communicate with other elements of the ancillary vehicle anti-theft device, such as sensors, interlocks and alarm output devices via electrical conductors or by wireless communication apparatus, such as infra-red communication apparatus. There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a gear shift lock for a vehicle comprising a housing assembly retrofittably fixable to a vehicle chassis, a lock assembly mounted in the housing assembly and arranged for operative engagement with a lock yoke, the lock assembly being arranged to define a cylinder face for insertion of a key which cylinder face is arranged to lie facing upwardly in a plane angled between the horizontal and vertical directions with respect to the vehicle chassis, and preferably at about 45 degrees with respect thereto. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention the housing is fixed to the chassis by means of shear nuts. Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the housing includes a reinforced apertured portion through which legs of the yoke extend when the yoke is in locking engagement with the lock assembly. Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is also provided a lock assembly cover which also defines at least one socket for holding the yoke, when it is not in locking engagement with the locking assembly, in at least one storage orientation. Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the yoke is provided with a thermal insulative cover. Preferably the cover is arranged for snap on engagement with the yoke. Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a vehicle including a gear shift lock constructed and operative as set forth hereinabove. Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention there is provided a vehicle including a gear shift lock and an ancillary vehicle anti-theft device which is operated automatically by operation of the gear shift lock. The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a pictorial illustration of a vehicle including anti-theft apparatus constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partial exploded view illustration of part of the anti-theft apparatus of the present invention; Fig. 3 is an exploded view illustration of part of anti-theft apparatus of the present invention; Fig. 4 is a pictorial illustration of part of the anti-theft apparatus of Fig. 2; Figs. 5A and 5B are respective side view and top view illustrations of the apparatus of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a side sectional view illustration taken along the lines VI - VI of Fig. 5A; Fig. 7 is a sectional view illustration taken along the lines VII - VII of Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustration of the gear lock and ancillary anti-theft device system provided in accordance with the present invention. Reference is now made to Fig. 1, which illustrates a motor vehicle 10 having a gear shift lever 12, preferably of the floor mounted type. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided a retrofittable gear shift lock, indicated generally by reference numeral 14, which is arranged for selectable locking engagement with the gear shift lever 12, but which is not normally mounted thereon or attached thereto. One principal feature of the present invention resides in the upwards orientation of key entry surface or face 16 of the gear shift lock 14, which is preferably not vertical, as distinguished from the prior art. Another principal feature of the present invention is that the gear shift lock 14 is integrated with an ancillary vehicle anti-theft device, such as, for example, one or more of the following: audio or visual alarm, ignition or vehicle operation interlocking means, intrusion or vehicle motion detection apparatus, any other suitable vehicle anti-theft device. Preferably all or a significant part of the control electronics for the ancillary anti-theft device is located within the housing of the gear lock. Another principal feature of the invention resides in its universal, retrofittable construction, which enables it to be installed after completion of manufacture in most automobile models and does not require attachment to the gear mechanism itself. Reference is now made to Figs. 2 - 7 which illustrate the construction and mounting of the gear shift lock 14 on a vehicle. As seen particularly in Fig. 2, the gear shift lock 14 includes a housing assembly comprising a mounting bracket 20, which is typically bolted onto the vehicle chassis using bolts 22 and shear nuts 24. A lock surrounding housing element 26 is mounted onto an upstanding apertured portion 27 of mounting bracket 20 by means of bolts 28, which also serve to attach a reinforcing cover member 30 over portion 27. A yoke 32 preferably having a snap on plastic cover 34 is arranged to removably extend through the apertures in apertured portion 27 and reinforcing cover member 30 and to be locked in a gear shift lever engaging position by a lock 40, located within housing element 26. A cover member 42, typically formed of plastic, is disposed over the housing element 26 and is configured to provide a pair of sockets 44 and 45 for receiving yoke 32 in either of two mutually perpendicular orientations, such as those indicated by reference numerals 46 and 48, when the yoke 32 is not in a gear shift lever engagement orientation. It is noted that the angular orientation of the key receiving cylinder opening 50 of lock enclosure 26 is upward and between the horizontal with respect to the vehicle chassis, here represented by plane 52 and the vertical with respect to the vehicle chassis, here represented by plane 54, and is preferably arranged to lie at 45 degrees therebetween. Referring now particularly to Fig. 3, it is seen that disposed within the housing element 26 there is provided lock 40, which includes a base member 60, a pair of angled bolts 62 and 64 which are slidably mounted with respect to base member 60 and a spring 66, which is operative to urge the bolts away from each other and into engagement with corresponding recesses 68 and 70 of yoke 32. Cooperating with base member 60 is a cylinder mounting member 72, which is arranged for mounting a cylinder 74 preferably at a generally 45 degree angle with respect to the bottom surface of member 60 and the plane of yoke 32 when in locking engagement. Electronic circuitry 80, forming part or substantially all of an ancillary anti-theft device is also disposed within housing element 26. A yoke locking orientation sensor 82 is preferably associated with circuitry 80 for sensing when the yoke 32 is in a locked orientation with respect to lock 40. Sensor 82 may be any suitable type of sensor, such as a microswitch, capacitive, magnetic or optical sensor. A set screw assembly 84 is preferably provided to maintain internal parts 60, 62, 64, 66, 72, 74, 80 and 82 in a generally fixed orientation within the housing 26. Unscrewing the set screw 84 allows easy access to the internal parts of the apparatus, such as when it is necessary to change the cylinder. Reference is now made to Fig. 8, which is a block diagram illustration of an ancillary alarm system useful in the present invention. Sensor 82 provides an output indicating the LOCKED/UNLOCKED status of the gear lever lock 14 via actuation delay circuitry 90 to an alarm control circuit 92. The alarm control circuit may be any suitable alarm control circuit, which is preferably of a sufficiently small size as to be locatable within the available space in housing element 26. It may be embodied in a suitable integrated circuit as appropriate and should include standard functions of alarm controls commercially available from Visonic Ltd. of Israel. The alarm control receives alarm inputs from various sensors such as a volume sensor 94, for example, a passive infrared sensor manufactured by Visonic Ltd. of Israel, a motion sensor 96, for example, a conductive ball sensor, commercially available from Nahshol Electronics Ltd. of Israel and any other suitable sensor 98, such as a sensor which senses the attempted starting of a vehicle, the breaking of glass or any other relevant parameters. The alarm control may include false alarm prevention features as appropriate and alarm indication output logic circuitry of conventional design and operation. The alarm control may operate a number of output devices, which may additionally or alternatively receive control outputs directly from sensor 82 or via actuation delay 90. The output devices may include one and more of the following: an ignition interlock 100, which prevents starting of the vehicle when the gear lever lock is locked, vehicle operation interlock apparatus 102 which prevents operation of the vehicle when the gear lever lock is locked and which may include a valve on the fuel line or a switch on the high voltage power supply to the spark plugs. Additionally, the alarm control apparatus may operate audio and/or visual alarms 104, such as lights, sirens, automatic dial attempted theft reporting apparatus and the like, to provide an output indication of attempted theft. Suitable wiring may be provided to enable communication between the various elements of the circuitry of Fig. 8. Alternatively one or more communication links may employ wireless communications such as infrared or radio communications. It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims which follow:	A retrofittable vehicle anti-theft system comprising: a gear shift lock (14) having a locking element (32, 46, 48) for engaging the gear shift lever,characterized in that the gear shift lock (14) further comprises a sensor (82) which senses locking of the locking element (32) in the lock, the anti-theft system comprises an ancillary anti-theft device which is armed by a signal from the sensor (82) indicating locking of the locking element into the gear shift lock (14) and is disarmed by a signal from the sensor (82) indicating removal of the locking element (32) from the gear shift lock. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said ancillary vehicle anti-theft device comprises at least one of the following group of devices: audio alarm, visual alarm, vehicle operation prevention means, intrusion detection apparatus and vehicle motion detection apparatus. A system according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said ancillary vehicle anti-theft device comprises electronic circuitry (80) located within a housing of the gear shift lock. A system according to claim 3, characterized in that said electronic circuitry (80) communicates with other elements of the ancillary vehicle anti-theft device by means of wireless communication means. A system according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said gear shift lock comprises: a housing which is retrofittably fixable to a vehicle chassis; a lock assembly mounted in the housing assembly and arranged for operative arrangement with the lock element, the lock assembly having a cylinder face for insertion of a key, said cylinder face lying upwardly in a plane angled between the horizontal and vertical directions with respect to the vehicle chassis. A vehicle, characterized in that it comprises an anti-theft system according to one of claims 1 to 5. A vehicle according to claim 6, characterized in that said ancillary vehicle anti-theft device is actuated following a predetermined delay. A method for preventing vehicle theft including the steps of retrofitting a gear shift lock and an ancillary vehicle theft prevention device in operative engagement with a vehicle and locking the gear shift lock (14), characterized by the steps of sensing insertion of a lock yoke (32) into the gear shift lock, whereupon the ancillary anti-theft device is armed automatically, and sensing removal of the lock yoke (32) from the gear shift lock, whereupon the ancillary anti-theft device is disarmed automatically.	MUL T LOCK LTD; MUL-T-LOCK LTD.	EIZEN NOACH; EIZEN, NOACH
EP-0489272-B1	489,272	EP	B1	EN	19,950,405	1,992	20,100,220	new	F16H48	B60K17	B60K17, F16H48	B60K 17/16, F16H 1/40	Floating ring gear and differential gear assembly	A ring gear (50) is provided with a plurality of substantially evenly circumferentially spaced posts (10) that extend radially inwardly and are adapted to carry rotary differential pinion gears (12) whose teeth are adapted to meshingly engage the teeth of side gears (18) and (18') respectively secured to the ends of axially aligned spaced- apart axle shafts (20) and (20') to provide a motor vehicle differential gear assembly (100) that enables ring gear (50) to float relative axle shafts (20) and (20') in the space therebetween.	INTRODUCTION This invention relates generally to a vehicular differential ring gear and gear assembly for transferring rotational torque between a rotary driver member such as a pinion gear driven by the output shaft of a change gear transmission and a pair of rotary driven members such as paired wheel axle shafts and more particularly to a ring gear and a differential gear assembly using a ring gear that is adapted to be supported by differential pinion gears meshed with side gears respectively rotatably supported in an axle housing and adapted to be secured to the wheel axle shafts and to float relative thereto as the side gears are caused to rotate in response to rotation of the ring gear. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONRing gears have been used for many years in motor vehicle differential gear assemblies to transfer rotational torque between a rotary driver member such as the output shaft of a change gear transmission and a pair of rotary driven members such as a pair of substantially axially aligned spaced-apart axle shafts journaled for rotation and having a wheel mounted on their respective outboard ends. FR-A-475 958 shows an example of a motor vehicle differential gear assembly corresponding to the preambles of claims 1 and 2. This gear assembly includes two side gears which are integral with the inner end of two corresponding axle shafts. The axle shafts are journaled within the gear housing by means of ball bearings. Each of the axle shafts is provided with a coaxially aligned blind bore extending from the midpoint of the casing. These blind bores provide bearings for a star-shaped support member. The support member is provided with two support pins which are rotationally journaled in the blind bores of the adjacent axle shafts. The support member carries the ring gear which meshingly engages a driving pinion. Furthermore, the support member mounts the differential gears. Due to this arrangement the ring gear of the differential assembly is supported by the support member which in turn is mounted in the blind bores. Another arrangement of a differential gear assembly is shown in FR-A-2 114 558. The ring gear of this assembly is provided with a ball race such that the ring gear is directly mounted in the differential gear housing which carries the outer ball race. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a ring gear for use with a motor vehicle differential gear assembly that is adapted to float relative a pair of side gears secured to driven members being rotated by the ring gear. It is another object of this invention to provide a ring gear and a motor vehicle differential gear assembly using a ring gear that is simple and economical to manufacture and that advantageously reduces the number of components heretofore used in vehicle differentials employing ring gears in addition to being adapted to float relative the differential housing and the side gears secured to the driven members and thus lessen the precise alignment heretofor required for the ring gear. These objects are achieved by a vehicle differential gear assembly and ring gear according to claims 1 and 2 respectively. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIGURE 1 is a central cross-sectional side view of a prior art differential gear assembly; FIGURE 2 is a front view of a ring gear 50 of the invention; FIGURE 3 is a partial central cross-sectional side view taken along view line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; and FIGURE 4 is a partially sectioned top view of an embodiment of a differential gear assembly 100 of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF SOME PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSThe prior art differential gear assembly 30 shown in FIGURE 1 is of the type hereinbefore described requiring numerous components and a much larger housing to enclose them. Assembly 30 is operative to transfer rotary torque from a pinion gear 32 driven by a rotary output shaft 34 of a change gear transmission to a ring gear 36 having teeth meshingly engaged with teeth on ring gear 36. Ring gear 36 is secured to a frame 38 that is journaled for rotation relative housing 42 by means of bearings 40. As such, ring gear 36 and frame 38 rotate coaxially about axle shaft 48 that has an end gear 43 secured to its inboard end by suitable means such as splines. It can thus readily be seen from FIGURE 1 that prior art differential gear assemblies required precise and costly alignment between the ring gear and the differential housing. Axle shaft 48 is spaced-apart from and substantially axially aligned with axle shaft 48' which has an end gear 43' secured to its inboard end in facing relationship to end gear 43. Axle shafts 48 and 48' have a common central rotational axis C₂ that is substantially prependicular to central rotational axis C₁ of pinion gear 32. End gears 43 and 43' are meshingly engaged with at least two equi-circumferentially spaced differential pinion gears 44 that are rotably mounted on frame 38 by means of pins 46. Rotation of frame 38 by ring gears 36 causes differential pinion gears 44 to rotate about axis C₂ and in turn cause end gears 43 and 43' to rotate axle shafts 48and 48' about axis C₂ respectively. As can be seen in FIGURE 1, axle shaft 48' is journaled for rotation relative housing 42 by means of bearings 40' and both axle shafts 48 and 48' can be removed from housing 42 with relative ease due to the splined securement with their respective end gears but that precise alignment between ring gear 36 and frame 38 and between differential pinion gears 44 and end gears 43 and 43' is essential. The ring gear and differential gear assembly of the invention hereinafter described with respect to FIGURE 2,3 and 4 enable the elimination of frame 38 and the bolts required to secure it to ring gear 36 as well as pins 46 in addition to enabling a substantial reduction in the size of housing 42 due to the absence of frame 38 and in addition to enabling the ring gear to float relative the housing and the end gears secured to the axle shafts. FIGURE 2 shows ring gear 50 of the invention that is adapted to float in the motor vehicle differential gear assembly shown in FIGURE 4. Ring gear 50 has a generally annular configuration having a substantially circular outer periphery 4 and a substantially circular inner periphery 6. As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, ring gear 50 has a plurality of substantially evenly circumferentially spaced teeth 8 extending away from the side thereof between outer periphery 4 and inner periphery 6. Teeth 8 are preferably spiral bevel or hypoid type teeth having a curved tooth path profile as shown in FIGURE 2 to enhance smooth engagement with the teeth of pinion gear 16 shown in FIGURE 2 which is also preferably provided with curved teeth for promoting smooth continuous mesh with teeth 8 of ring gear 50. The use of spiral bevel or hypoid teeth in vehicle differential gear assemblies to enhance smooth transfer of torque is well known to those skilled in the art and is not therefore reviewed here in detail. In contrast to prior art type ring gears hereinbefore described, ring gear 50 is provided with at least two and preferably four substantially equi-circumferentially spaced posts 10 (only two referenced) that extend radially inwardly from inner periphery 6 and may be integral therewith or secured thereto by welding or other suitable securement means or may themselves be mounted so that they are rotatable and differential pinion gears 12 are either fixedly secured thereto or rotatably mounted thereupon. A differential pinion gear 12 is rotatably mounted on each post 10 (only one shown in FIGURE 2). Differential pinion gears 12 have diametrically opposed teeth operative to simultaneously meshingly engage with the teeth of side gears 18 and 18' hereinafter described with respect to differential gear assembly 100 of FIGURE 4. In FIGURE 4, a rotary driver member such as output shaft 14 of a vehicle change gear transmission is received through an opening in a housing 11 and suitably journaled for rotation. Shaft 14 has a pinion gear 16 secured to its end having a central rotational axis referenced by C₁ . Central rotational axis C₂ of ring gear 50 is substantially perpendicular to axis C₁ and the teeth of both ring gear 50 and pinion gear 16 are adapted to meshingly engage so that ring gear 50 rotates in response to rotation of pinion gear 16. Housing 11 preferably includes an adjustable screw 13 that is adapted to prevent deflection of the teeth of ring gear 50 away from the teeth of pinion gear 16 to insure meshed engagement therebetween. Ring gear 50 is disposed in the space between the ends of substantially axially aligned wheel axle shafts 20 and 20' that also have axis C₂ as their common central rotational axis. Side gears 18 and 18' are secured to the spaced-apart facing ends of axle shafts 20 and 20' respectively by suitable securement means such as splines (not shown) and are journaled for rotation therewith. The teeth of side gears 18 and 18' are adapted to meshingly engage with the teeth of differential pinion gears 12 with the combination adapted to provide support for ring gear 50 in the space between the ends of axle shafts 20 and 20' as well as to enable ring gear 50 to rotate axle shafts 20 and 20' as it is rotated by pinion gear 16 in addition to enabling ring gear 50 to float within the space between the ends of axle shafts 20 and 20' since it is not fixedly journaled for rotation on housing 11 and thus reducing the precise alignment characteristically required between such components in the past.	A vehicular differential gear assembly (100) for transferring rotational torque between a pinion gear (16) rotatably driven by a driver member (14) and a pair of substantially axially aligned spaced-apart rotary driven members (20,20') that are respectively journaled for rotation and have a central rotational axis (C₂) disposed in substantial perpendicular relationship to the pinion gear central rotational axis (C₁) and have a side gear (18,18') secured respectively thereto having their teeth in facing relationship to each other across the space between the driven members, (20,20') said assembly (100) comprising: a ring gear (50) disposed in the space between the side gears, said ring gear having an annular configuration defined between an inner periphery and an outer periphery thereof and having a central rotational axis (C₁) in substantial perpendicular relationship to the pinion gear central rotational axis, said ring gear (50) having a plurality of substantially equi-circumferentially spaced teeth (8) that are disposed between the inner and outer periphery thereof and face towards one of the side gears (18,18') and are meshingly engagable with the pinion gear teeth so as to enable the ring gear to be rotatably driven thereby, and differential pinion gears (12), each of said gears having diametrically opposed teeth that simultaneously meshingly engage the teeth of both side gears (18,18'), characterised in that said ring gear has at least two equi-circumferentially spaced posts (10) extending radially inwardly from the inner periphery thereof, a differential pinion gear (12) being mounted on each post (10), and being adapted in combination therewith to provide support for the ring gear and enable the ring gear to float as the differential pinion gears (12) rotate the side gears in response to rotation of the ring gear (50) by the pinion gear (16). A ring gear (50) for transferring rotational torque between a pinion gear (16) rotatably driven by a vehicular driver member (14) and a pair of substantially axially aligned spaced-apart rotary driven members (20,20') that are respectively journaled for rotation and have a central rotational axis (C₂) disposed in substantial perpendicular relationship to the pinion gear central rotational axis (C₁) and have a side gear (18,18') secured respectively thereto having their teeth in facing relationship to each other across the space between the driven members (20,20'), said ring gear (50) adapted to be disposed in the space between the side gears (18,18') and having an annular configuration defined between an inner periphery and an outer periphery thereof and having a plurality of substantially equi-circumferentially spaced teeth (8) that are disposed between the inner and outer periphery thereof and are adapted to face towards one of the side gears (18,18') and to meshingly engage with the pinion gear teeth so as to enable the ring gear to be rotatably driven thereby, characterised in that said ring gear (50) has at least two equi-circumferentially spaced posts (10) extending radially inwardly from the inner periphery thereof, said posts adapted to respectively carry a differential pinion gear (12) mounted thereon having diametrically opposed teeth that are adapted simultaneously to meshingly engage the teeth of both side gears and, in combination therewith, to provide support for the ring gear and enable the ring gear to float as the differential pinion gears (12) rotate the side gears (18,18') in response to rotation of the ring gear (50) by the pinion gear (16). The assembly (100) of claim 1 wherein the ring gear (50) has four of the posts (10) that extend radially inwardly from the inner periphery thereof and respectively have the differential pinion gear (12) mounted thereon. The assembly (100) of claim 1 wherein the ring gear teeth are spiral bevel teeth. The assembly (100) of claim 1 wherein the ring gear teeth are hypoid teeth. The ring gear (50) of claim 2 having four of the posts (10) that extend radially inwardly from the inner periphery thereof for mounting the differential pinion gear (12) mounted thereon. The ring gear (50) of claim 2 wherein the ring gear teeth are spiral bevel teeth. The ring gear (50) of claim 2 wherein the ring gear teeth are hypoid teeth.	EATON CORP; EATON CORPORATION	LONG JAMES R; LONG, JAMES RANDALL
EP-0489273-B1	489,273	EP	B1	EN	19,950,712	1,992	20,100,220	new	H02P7	H02K5, A47L15	H02K5, H02P23	H02P 23/00L, H02K 5/124	Drive system for a water pump with rotatable sealing arrangement	Drive system for a water pump unit (7, 8) driven by the shaft of a reversible motor (4) through a partition wall, about said shaft (5) being mounted a first sealing ring (14) fixed to said wall (13), and a second sealing ring (15) rotatably driven by the shaft and forming a rotatable water-tight sealing arrangement (6) with the first ring (14). The system comprises control means (19, 22) capable of normally actuating the motor according to a preset programme, and means (19, 20, 26) to make the motor temporarily oscillate at a predetermined frequency (f), with a sequence of rotations in alternate directions, in case the two sealing rings (14, 15) are stuck together. The oscillation of the rotatable unit associated with the rotor (5) causes the two sealing rings to mutually separate.	The present invention relates to a drive system for at least a water pump driven by a reversible electric motor with the interposition of a rotatable sealing arrangement. It is common practice, for example in dishwashing machines, to use at least one water pump driven by a reversible motor, preferably an asynchronous motor, whose drive shaft sealingly extends across the casing of the pump. In dishwashing machines, in particular, the water seal is usually formed by a ceramic ring, fixed on a partition wall between the pump and the motor, and a graphite ring which cooperates with the ceramic ring and is rotated by the drive shaft. More particularly, the graphite ring is mounted about the drive shaft on the side of the partition wall communicating with the pump, and is connected to the shaft through resilient biasing means which usually include a pressure spring and a shaped rubber ring, or the like. The pressure spring surrounds the rubber ring, that in turn is keyed about the drive shaft, and keeps the graphite ring axially pressed against the ceramic ring, to which the rotational movement of the drive shaft is discharged thanks to the friction exerted by an embossed edge of the rubber ring which is interposed between the spring and the graphite ring. Basically, the rotatable water-tight seal is formed between the slidingly cooperating surfaces of the ceramic ring and the graphite ring, which to this aim are made with a high degree of finishing. However, it is known that the two ceramic and graphite rings may easily stick together (that is, a high starting friction may occur between the mutually cooperating surfaces), sometimes to such an extent as to prevent rotation of the asynchronous motor, which can be damaged by overheating. Such sticking may easily occur, mainly in a dishwasher, due to the following reasons, for instance: deposit of dirt and/or limestone particles on the sealing rings; scaling of the sealing rings, caused by salt used for regeneration of the water softener; drying-up of the sealing rings after prolonged inoperative periods of the machine; excessive axial pressure exerted by the spring. Arrangements are known, as disclosed for instance in DE-B-1061425, to increase the starting torque of an electric motor; however, these arrangements relate to the use of a synchronous motor to rotationally drive a reduced load. More particularly, in order to compensate for the low starting torque of the synchronous motor, the driven shaft is coupled with the driving shaft by means of a transmission system which enables the driving shaft to idle by an angle which is smaller than 360°. These prior art arrangements are of course substantially ineffective, for example when - as in the above-mentioned case - they are used in a dishwashing machine, wherein a remarkable starting torque may be required to enable the pump to start up correctly when sticking occurs in the rotatable sealing arrangement. Thus, it is a general scope of this invention to provide a drive system for a water pump associated with a rotatable sealing arrangement, the drive system being capable of substantially ensuring correct starting of the pump even if the sealing arrangement is subject to sticking. More particularly, it is a scope of this invention to provide a drive system of the type mentioned above through which a reversible asynchronous drive motor can drive the impeller of the pump overcoming any possible high starting friction occurring in correspondence of the rotatable sealing arrangement. According to the invention, these scopes are attained in a drive system for a water pump embodying the features of the appended claims. The characteristics and advantages of the invention shall become more apparent from the following description, given solely as a non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 diagrammatically shows a partial longitudinal section of a motor-operated pump unit forming part of the drive system according to this invention; Figure 2 shows an enlarged portion of the pump unit as in Figure 1, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 shows a block-diagram of a preferred embodiment of the drive system according to the invention. The embodiment illustrated as an example in Figures 1 and 2 relates to an automatic dishwashing machine provided with a pump unit of the kind disclosed in US-A-4 799 855. In particular, the dishwashing machine includes a reversible asynchronous motor 4 whose driving shaft 5 is connected with a centrifugal circulating pump 7 and a peripheral outflow drain pump 8 through a water-tight sealing arrangement 6. As an alternative, of course, the shaft 5 may drive only one of the pumps 7, 8, as the case may be. The pumps 7 and 8 are arranged in a known way to respectively supply a wash-water circuit and a water drain circuit (not shown) of the dishwashing machine and are alternately operated when the driving shaft 5 rotates in a first or a second direction, respectively. The impellers 9 and 10 of the two pumps are keyed on the driving shaft 5 and are housed in relevant chambers 11 and 12 which are separated from the motor 4 by at least one partition wall, generally illustrated at 13 in Figures 1 and 2, in correspondence of which the sealing arrangement 6 is provided. More particularly, the sealing arrangement 6 comprises a ceramic ring 14, or the like, which is fixed onto the partition wall 13 and in which the shaft 5 extends in a freely rotatable way. The sealing arrangement further comprises, on the side of the partition wall 13 communicating with the pump unit, a graphite ring 15, or the like, which is freely mounted about the shaft 5 and coaxial with a pressure spring, preferably a garter spring, 16. An end portion of the spring 16 is rotatably integral with the graphite ring 15, whereas the opposite end portion of the spring is fixed to the driving shaft 5 through the impeller 10, for example. Hence, the spring 16 has the double function to resiliently transmit the rotational movement of shaft 5 to the graphite ring 15 and to keep this latter axially pushed against the ceramic ring 14, the two rings thus forming a rotatable water-tight sealing arrangement. Preferably, the sealing arrangement 6 further comprises a thin bellows 17 made of rubber, or similar material, surrounding the pressure spring 16 and having an end portion 17a fitted to the periphery of the graphite ring 15. In this connection, the end portion 17a of the bellows is clamped into a corresponding groove provided in a support annular frame 28 which is mounted onto the periphery of the graphite ring 15 with the interposition of an elastic ring 29. The opposite end portion of the bellows 17 is formed with a substantially circular wall 17b which is sealingly mounted on the driving shaft 5, rotatably integral therewith, through an embossed portion 17c that may be provided with metal stiffening elements, known per se. Thanks to the resiliency of its material, its structure configurated as shown in Figure 2 and the thinness of its walls, the bellows 17 is particularly flexible, to such an extent that it in practice does not provide any angular constraint for the graphite ring 15, at least within small angles (e.g., smaller than 10°). Thus, according to an aspect of the invention the ring 15 of the rotatable sealing arrangement is substantially connected with the driving shaft 5, for rotating therewith, only by means of the spring 16. As is known, the mutually cooperating surfaces of the ceramic ring 14 and graphite ring 15 are arranged to relatively rotate with respect to one another with a friction coefficient which is negligible under normal operating conditions, but can have a remarkably high value under anomalous operating conditions, as already stated. With reference to Figure 3, the asynchronous motor 4 is connected to a power supply source 18 via an inverter 19 including for instance a phase-shift capacitor and a switch, preferably an electronic switch, which is normally in the open position shown in Figure 3. The inverter 19 has a control input 21 driven by a corresponding output of a timing control device 22 which is associated with the programmer (not shown) of the dishwashing machine. The timing control device 22 may for instance comprise a Motorola 6804 or 6805 microprocessor or, as an alternative, a Texas Instrument NE555 timing integrated circuit. The programmer (and accordingly the control device 22) is arranged in a traditional manner to control operation of the main operative components of the dishwashing machine, not shown for the sake of simplicity. In particular, the control device 22 is capable of driving the input 21 of inverter 19 with a first control signal (e.g., a pulse signal) which according to the pre-set programme causes the inverter 19 to repeatedly switch in a timed way for performing respective phases of rotation of the motor 4 in one and/or the opposite directions. As set forth above, in the present embodiment these phases of rotation in either direction correspond to washing phases and water drain phases, respectively, which are included in the general programme of operation of the dishwashing machine. The control device 22 is arranged to output the said first control signal when an enabling signal (e.g., a logic level 1 ) occurs at a drive input 23 thereof. The input 23 of the control device is connected with a corresponding output of a threshold stage 20 of the commutation type, the latter being also provided with a second output 25 and an input 24. Preferably, the threshold stage 20 includes a well known integrating current detector; more particularly, it may for instance comprise a RC integrator arranged to drive a Philips HEF4013 Dual Flip-Flop through a Motorola LM393 double comparator. The input 24 of the threshold stage 20 is driven by the current absorbed by the motor 4, or anyway by a quantity which is proportional to that current. In a per se known manner, the threshold stage 20 is capable of alternately generating the said enabling signal at either the first output 23 or the second output 25 when said monitored quantity at its input 24 is respectively lower or higher than a predetermined threshold value for a given time period T (a few seconds, for example). Bearing in mind the general dimensioning of the whole system, such a threshold value may readily be calculated by those skilled in the art to correspond to a value of the current absorbed by the motor 4 beyond which the motor is under anomalous, substantially locked-rotor conditions. According to an aspect of the present invention, the output 25 of the threshold stage 20 is connected to a corresponding input of a generator device 26 having an output 27 connected with the control input 21 of the inverter 19. The generator device 26 is preferably in the form of a multivibrator, for instance including a Texas Instrument 4060 or 4098 integrated circuit, which in response to the occurrence of said enabling signal at input 25 is adapted to generate at output 27 a second control signal lasting a predetermined time period T1 > T of approx. 10 sec, for example. Furthermore, the multivibrator 26 is arranged to be reset in a known manner when the enabling signal at its input 25 ceases. Said second control signal may be in the form of a substantially square wave having a predetermined frequency f. Thus, when the inverter 19 is fed at input 21 with the control signal generated by multivibrator 26 it cyclically switches, at a frequency which is equal to said predetermined frequency f, to actuate motor 4 with alternating directions of rotation. The operation of the drive system as in Figure 3 is apparent. When the motor 4 is to be started to perform a phase of actuation of either pump 7, 8 the control device 22 drives input 21 of inverter 19 with the first control signal, so that the motor is supplied by the inverter to rotate in a corresponding direction. Under normal operating conditions, that is, when no substantial sticking occurs between the two rings 14, 15 of the rotatable sealing arrangement, an even small starting torque of the asynchronous motor 4 is sufficient to bring into rotation the whole rotatable unit including the rotor 5 of the motor, the impellers 9, 10 of the pumps, the sealing ring 15 with spring 16, and the bellows 17 as well. In particular, motor 4 has a low current absorption, so the threshold stage 20 keeps generating at output 23 the enabling signal which enables the control device 22 to drive inverter 19 in a traditional manner, as is determined by the programmer of the machine. However, if the two rings 14, 15 of the rotatable sealing arrangement are substantially stuck together the rotor 5 is substantially locked, so the current absorbed by motor 4 has a value which is higher than the threshold value of stage 20. After said time period T, therefore, the threshold stage 20 generates said enabling signal at its output 25, instead of output 23. As a consequence, the control device 22 is turned off and the inverter 19 is driven by the control signal from multivibrator 26, so that during a time period T1 the motor 4 is cyclically operated with alternating directions of rotation - as already stated - which cause a torsional oscillation of the spring-biased rotatable unit associated with the driving shaft 5. Thanks to the resilience of the spring 16, such an oscillation may occur by small angles (smaller than 10°) even if the sealing ring 15 is stuck together with the sealing ring 14 of the rotatable sealing arrangement. This is because the spring 16 transmits the torsional vibrations of the driving shaft 5 - at the said frequency f - to the sealing ring 15; this causes the two sealing rings 14, 15 of the rotatable sealing arrangement to mutually separate. This substantially ensures, therefore, the driving shaft 5 to be free to rotate again (in either direction) after the time period T1, so that the current absorption of motor 4 decays to a value which is lower than the threshold value of stage 20. Accordingly, after a further time period T (which is negligible) the threshold stage 20 generates the enabling signal at output 23 again; multivibrator 26 is then turned off and reset, while the control device 22 can control operation of motor 4 again, as determined by the programmer of the machine. The whole drive system is therefore advantageously self-controlled, that is to say, it can automatically intervene in case of any possible sticking occurring on the rotatable sealing arrangement 6, in order to restore correct operation thereof as soon as the anomalous conditions cease. According to another aspect of the invention, in order to further improve the effectiveness of the drive system the frequency f of said torsional vibrations preferably has a value which is correlated to the main mechanical characteristics of the drive system, namely the modulus of elasticity E of the spring 16, the radius R and length L of the wire forming the spring, and the moment of inertia I of the rotatable unit. In practice, insofar as small angles of rotation are concerned, one can roughly assume that such a moment of inertia I is only determined by the mass of the rotor of motor 4, so it is a datum readily available to a man skilled in the art. More particularly, according to the Invention frequency f preferably has a value adapted to bring substantially into resonance the rotatable (oscillating, in this phase) unit resiliently connected with the sealing ring 15 through the spring 16. It should be apparent that in this way even a motor 4 having a limited starting torque can transmit remarkable mechanical stresses to the ring 15, so as to effectively separate it from the fixed sealing ring 14. It should be born in mind that, thanks to the fact that for small angles of rotation the graphite ring 15 is connected with the driving shaft 5 solely through the spring 16, any friction in correspondence of the rotatable unit is substantially negligible even when the rotatable sealing arrangement is under sticking conditions. Hence, the rotatable unit will be substantially under resonance conditions when the frequency f of the control signal generated by the multivibrator 26 as in Figure 3 (and therefore the frequency of the afore-mentioned oscillations) has a value which can be expressed by the following simplified formula: f ≃ [1/(π·R²)] · L/(π·I·E). It was experimentally proved that in a motor-pump system for dishwashers with standard general dimensioning the mutual separation of the two rings 14, 15 of the rotatable sealing arrangement is particularly effective, within a time period T1, when the frequency f of the vibrations has a relatively high value, ranging between 1 and 50 Hz. It should be apparent that a high frequency f causes the driving shaft 5 to oscillate by small angles. Obviously, the drive system described above may undergo a number of modifications without departing from the scope of the invention. For instance, the sealing rings 14, 15 may be made of a different appropriate material, or the complementary water-tight seal consisting of the flexible bellows 17 may have a different structure. Of course, even the electric motor 4 may be of a different type. Anyway, the drive system according to the present invention may comprise one or more pumps, as stated before, which can be utilized in different appliances, as the case may be.	Drive system comprising at least a water pump (7, 8) driven by the shaft (5) of a reversible electric motor (4) through at least a partition wall (13), about said shaft (5) being mounted a first sealing ring (14) which is fixed to said wall, and a second sealing ring (15) capable of being rotated by the shaft (5) and forming a rotatable water-tight sealing arrangement with the first ring (14), said motor (4) being supplied through inverter means (19) having a control input (21) arranged to be driven by a first control signal to actuate said motor (4) in a first and/or a second directions of rotation according to a preset programme, said first control signal being generated by a control device (22) when the latter receives an enabling signal, characterized in that said control input (21) of the inverter means (19) is further arranged to be driven by a second control signal having a predetermined frequency to cause said motor (4) to oscillate at said predetermined frequency with a sequence of rotations in alternate directions, said second control signal being generated by a generator device (26), for a given time period (T1), when said enabling signal is applied to the generator device, detector means (20) being provided to monitor a quantity which is proportional to the current absorbed by said motor (4) and to supply said enabling signal to either said control device (22) or said generator device (26), respectively, when said quantity is respectively lower or higher than a predetermined threshold value. Drive system according to claim 1, wherein said second sealing ring is axially pressed against said first sealing ring by resilient biasing means mounted about said shaft, characterized in that said second sealing ring (15) is arranged to be rotated by said shaft (5) substantially through said resilient means (16) only, the latter having opposite end portions which are fixed to said second ring and said shaft, respectively. Drive system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said shaft forms part of a spring-biased rotatable unit the mass of which is substantially determined by the rotor of said motor, characterized in that the predetermined frequency of said second control signal has such a value (f) as to bring substantially into resonance said spring-biased rotatable unit. Drive system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said predetermined frequency has a value (f) ranging between 1 and 50 Hz. Drive system according to claim 2, characterized in that it further comprises a flexible, water-tight sealing bellows (17) surrounding said resilient biasing means (16) and having a first end portion (17a) fitted to the periphery of said second ring (15), and a second end portion (17b, 17c) fixed to said shaft (5).	ZANUSSI ELETTRODOMESTICI; ZANUSSI ELETTRODOMESTICI S.P.A.	MILOCCO CLAUDIO; MILOCCO, CLAUDIO
EP-0489275-B1	489,275	EP	B1	EN	19,960,117	1,992	20,100,220	new	B25C1	B25D1	B25C1, B27F7	B25C 1/00B	Nail driving tool	The invention relates to a nail driving tool comprising a magazine (9) for the accommodation of nails (10), especially in the form of nail strips or coils, and comprising a nail transporting unit associated to the nail magazine (9) and passing the nails (10) one by one through a lateral inlet opening (2) into a drive-out channel (3) for being forced out, for example, pneumatically, and with a magnet (4) being provided in the area of the drive-out channel (3), retaining at least the respectively last nail (10₁) of a nail strip or coil, once the same is ready for being forced out, within the drive-out channel (3) until commencement of the drive-out operation, wherein the magnet (4) is located on the side of the drive-out channel (3) opposite the inlet opening (2) and/or a retaining spring (8).	The present invention relates to a nail driving tool according to the pre-characterising portion of claim 1. The pre-characterising portion of claim 1 is based on the disclosure of the document US-A-4 389 012. It is known in the art from DE-A-3 901 043 to provide a nail driving tool comprising a magazine for the accommodation of nails, in particular, in the form of nail strips, and comprising a nail transport unit associated to the magazine, passing the nails one by one through a lateral inlet opening into a drive-out channel for being forced out, for example, in pneumatical manner, with a spring being provided in the vicinity of the path of transport for the nails in the area of the inlet opening which is intended to keep down the nail strip. For that purpose, the spring is located above a guide plate, exerting pressure on the nail heads from the top and acting as a pressure spring. It has proved that the last and final nail of a nail strip is thereby not retained adequately or for a sufficient length of time, for which reason, occasionally, it inadvertently slips from the nozzle of the nail driving tool. For, once the transport unit is retracted, the nail strip, temporarily, has no force of contact so that the last nail of the preceding nail strip is likely to drop inadvertently into the drive-out channel. It has further been proposed in US-A-3 596 821 to provide a fastener-driving tool with an infeed guide magnet. This magnet can be replaced by means for locating each fastener in driving position within the infeed guide bore. The locating means comprises a spring-loaded ball detent which is urged to a normal position within the infeed guide bore to engage under the head of each fastener entering the bore. The US-A-4 389 012 discloses a nail driving tool being provided with an escapement mechanism. The escapement mechanism is provided with an escapement member being operated by means of a feed piston received within a feed cylinder. During a drive stroke of the driver blade, the opposite side of the piston is subjected to pressure by way of a passage. During a return stroke of the driver blade, the passage is vented and the pressure in passage returns the piston to the static position. The escapement member is attached to the feed piston. As a result, the escape member moves together with the piston in a synchronized or timed relationship with respect to movement of the driver blade. During a drive stroke of the driver blade the stop member retracts from the feed path and the separator member enters the feed path. In addition, the separator member includes a cam surface for positively advancing the first nail along the recess towards the drive position. In order to urge an advancing fastener into the proper orientation, the separator member is provided with a resilient bumper in the form of a spring biased pin. The pin is slidably received in a recess in the separator member and is urged by a spring so that normally the nose of the pin projects outwardly from the cam surface. Advancement of the first nail of the row of nails contained in the magazine assembly is positively accomplished by the escapement mechanism. Therefore US-A-4 389 012 discloses an escapement mechanism being actively operated by means of a feed piston, wherein the escape mechanism consists of numerous, complicated components and serves the purpose to positively accomplish the advancement of the first nail of the row of nails contained in the magazine assembly. It is an object of the present invention to provide a nail driving tool of the type defined in the pre-characterising portion of claim 1, wherein the disadvantages involved with the prior art are avoided and wherein the nail is prevented from inadvertently dropping into the drive-out channel. This problem is solved by a nail driving tool as set out in claim 1. To achieve the optimum nail position within the drive-out channel, the magnet, preferably, is located at the level of the nail head of the nail to be respectively forced out. An early wear of the magnet can be avoided in that, on the side thereof facing the drive-out channel, it is provided with a protective layer. In a simple configuration, the magnet is disposed in a depression of the tool nozzle extending in a direction substantially radial to the drive-out channel. The depression may be of a blind hole type accessible from the outside, with the bottom wall thereof, forming the protective layer for the magnet. The strength of the protective layer may, for example, be in the order of 1 mm. Moreover, the positioning of the nail to be forced out, within the nail drive-out channel, can be favourably influenced in that the magnet, on the front side thereof facing the drive-out channel, has a concave shape conforming to the surface of the drive-out channel. As a result of this the forcing out of the nail in no way will be affected through the magnet. Further objects, features, advantages and fields of application of the invention will become clear from the following description of one form of embodiment with reference to the drawing. The single Figure schematically shows a nail driving tool incorporating the invention in the area of transition from the nail magazine to the nozzle thereof. The nail driving tool 1 exhibits a magazine 9 (not shown in detail) for the accommodation of nails 10 in the form of nail strips or coils. Associated to the nail magazine 9 is a nail transport unit (not shown either) moving the nails 10 one by one (from the right to the left in the drawing) through a lateral inlet opening 2 into a drive-out channel 3 for being forced out, for example, pneumatically, by means of a driver 11. Provided in the area of the drive-out channel 3 is a magnet 4 retaining at least the last nail 10₁ of a nail strip or coil in the drive-out channel 3, once the same is ready for being forced out of the drive-out channel 3, until commencement of the drive-out operation. Magnet 4 is located on the side of the drive-out channel 3 opposite the inlet opening 2. Magnet 4 is approximately at the level of the nail head 12₁ of the nail 10₁ to be respective forced out. On the side facing the drive-out channel 3, magnet 4 is covered by a protective layer 5 formed by the bottom wall of a depression 6 of the tool nozzle in the form of a blind hole. The protective layer 5 has a strength in the order of 1 mm. Moreover, located at the end of the guiding path 7 for the nails 10 leading from the nail magazine 9 into the opening 2 - apart from the a known per se clamping spring 13 acting from the top on the nail strip - is, addition to or in place of the magnet 4, a retaining spring 8 of a configuration such that the last nail 10₁ only under the push pressure of the transport unit will get into the drive-out channel 3. Hence, spring 8 can be operative both in combination with the magnet 4 or by itself. The magnet 4 and/or the retaining spring 8 will prevent the respectively last nail 10₁ from inadvertently dropping into the drive-out channel 3.	A nail driving tool comprising a magazine (9) for the accommodation of nails (10), especially in the form of nail strips or coils, and comprising a nail transporting unit associated to the nail magazine (9), moving the nails one by one through a lateral inlet opening (2) into a drive-out channel (3) for being forced out, for example, pneumatically with a magnet (4) being located on the side of the channel (3) opposite the inlet opening (2), retaining the last nail (10₁) of a nail strip or coil, once the same is ready for being forced out, within the drive-out channel (3), until commencement of the drive-out operation, characterized by a retaining spring (8) being of a configuration such that the last nail (10₁) is moved into the drive-out channel (3) only under the push pressure of the transport means, whereby the last nail (10₁) of a nail strip is reliably guided into the drive-out channel (3), the retaining spring (8) being mounted with one proximal end upon said magazine (9), the opposite free end thereof being engaged with a nail (10₂) which is disposed immediately upstream of the last nail (10₁) in the guiding path (7). A nail driving tool according to claim 1, characterized in that the magnet (4) is located at the level of the nail head (12₁) of the nail (10₁) to be forced out. A nail driving tool according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the magnet (4), on the side thereof facing the drive-out channel (3), is provided with a protective layer (5). A nail driving tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the magnet (4) is disposed in a depression (6) of the tool nozzle extending in a direction substantially radial to the drive-out channel (3). A nail driving tool according to claim 4, characterized in that the depression (6) forms an externally accessible blind hole the bottom wall of which form the protective layer (5) for the magnet (4). A nail driving tool according to claim 5, characterized in that the strength of the protective layer (5) is about 1 mm. A nail driving tool according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the magnet (4) on the front side thereof facing drive-out channel (3) exhibits a concave form conforming to the surface of the drive-out channel (3).	ITW BEFESTIGUNGSSYSTEME; ITW BEFESTIGUNGSSYSTEME GMBH	HARTMANN GERHART C O KEIL SCHA; SCHAEFER MANFRED C O KEIL SCHA; SCHNEIDER ALFRED C O KEIL SCHA; TACKE HORST C O KEIL SCHAAFHAU; HARTMANN, GERHART, C/O KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; SCHAEFER, MANFRED, C/O KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; SCHNEIDER, ALFRED, C/O KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; TACKE, HORST, C/O KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; Hartmann, Gerhart, c/o KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; Schäfer, Manfred, c/o KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; Schneider, Alfred, c/o KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN; Tacke, Horst, c/o KEIL & SCHAAFHAUSEN
EP-0489282-B1	489,282	EP	B1	EN	19,961,204	1,992	20,100,220	new	F42B5	null	F42B5	F42B 5/045	Telescopic ammunition cartridge	A cased telescoped ammunition with a perforated forward control tube (12) in which the main propellant gas and flame front ignites a propellant (34) surrounding the tube through the perforations. Seals (36) form annular segments of consolidated propellant surrounding the tube separated from each other and the main propellant charge. These seals prevent gas and flame front propagation from the main or rearmost charge of propellant, except through the control tube perforations (30) or ports which have been passed by the obturator.	Background of the InventionThe present invention generally relates to cased telescoped ammunition employing a forward control tube, and more particularly to an improved ammunition of this type which prevents premature pressure build-up in the control tube. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, conventional prior art cased telescoped ammunition employs a rear control tube. New proposals have been made to use a forward control tube in a cased telescoped ammunition. While potentially advantageous, applicants' have identified certain problems in use of a forward control tube for cased telescoped ammunition when used in conjunction with a saddle-type sabot as opposed to a puller-type sabot. A forward control tube should be perforated to prevent a build-up of an excessive pressure differential across the tube when used in conjunction with a saddle-type sabot as opposed to a puller-type sabot. There is a limit to how thick a tube can be made and still be practically useful. Tubes with a thickness in the practical range would not survive without such perforations. A problem arises because gas from ignited propellant surrounding the control tube passes through these perforations into the control tube before the obturator can move forward to seal off the saddle of the sabot from the control-tube chamber. The front scoop of sabot optimally designed for its primary functions would distort under the pressure generated. Strengthening the front scoop would add parasitic weight to the round and porting the front scoop would result in a loss of pressure across the sabot and resultant loss in available energy for the sub-projectile at the muzzle. A cased telescoped ammunition round for a fin stabilized projectile is known from U.S. patent no. 4,858,533. In this round a cylindrical core tube is positioned within the casing. The projectile and its sabot are positioned within a core tube. The space between core tube and casing is filled with the main charge. An igniter is located in the rear seal of the casing and when ignited, ignites the booster charge located within the core tube between sabot and rear seal. Ignition ports in the core tube permit the ignition products of the booster charge to ignite the main charge when the sabot moves a predetermined distance through the core tube. Summary of the InventionAn object of this invention is the provision of a cased telescoped ammunition with a perforated forward control tube in which propellant gas does not enter the control tube ahead of the obturator. This object is achieved in a cased telescoped ammunition comprising the elements of the preamble of claim 1, and being characterized by the elements and features listed in the characterized part of claim 1. Further embodiments may be taken from the subclaims 2-4. Briefly, this invention contemplates the provision of a cased telescoped ammunition with a perforated forward control tube, in which the main propellant gas and flame front ignites the propellant surrounding the tube through the control tube perforations after the obturator passes the perforations. Seals form annular segments of consolidated propellant surrounding the tube separated from each other and the main propellant charge. These seals limit the ignition path of the propellant surrounding the tube to the control tube perforations or ports which have been passed by the obturator. Description of the DrawingsThe foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a view, partial in section, of a cased telescoped ammunition with a forward control tube in accordance with the teachings of this invention. FIG. 2 is a series of views labeled FIG. 2A through FIG. 2D illustrating the sequential ignition of propellant segments along the control tube as the obturator moves through the tube. Description of a Preferred Embodiment of the InventionReferring now to FIG. 1, a cased telescoped ammunition in accordance with the teachings of this invention comprises an outer cylindrical casing 10 and coaxially disposed a forward control tube 12. The forward control tube 12 houses a sub-projectile 13 which is supported in the tube by a sabot 14. An obturator ring 16 is secured in a conventional manner to a rear portion 18 of the sabot 14. The casing 10 has a front end piece 15 and an aft end piece 17. The front end of the control tube 12 is co-terminal with the front end of the end piece 15 and the tube extends rearwardly so that its aft end is roughly a little beyond the midpoint of the casing. A main propellant 20 (e.g., a granular propellant) fills the casing 10 aft of the sabot saddle. A primer 21 in combination with an igniter 22 in a cylindrical housing 24 secured to the aft end piece 17 ignite the main propellant 20. Perforations or ports 30 in the tube 12 extend about its circumference and along its length. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the ports are arranged in groups (labeled A, B, and C in the drawing). The groups of ports are separated by regions free of ports. Surrounding the control tube is a consolidated propellant 34 formed into discrete segments labeled A, B, C and by annular gas and flame front interrupter seals 36 made of a suitable material such as polyethylene. The seals prevent transmission of combustion of gas and flame fronts to the propellant 34 except via ports 30. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, an annular segment 40 surrounding the aft end of the control tube is comprised of a suitable erosion inhibitor with seals 36 on either side. Referring now to FIG. 2 in operation initially the primer 21 ignites the igniter 22 which ignites the main propellant 20 (FIG. 2A). The pressure from ignition of this rear charge acts first against the erosion inhibitor 40 which is sandwiched between two seals 36. This load is absorbed by the stack of consolidated propellant grains 34 which transmit little or no radial pressure to the outer surface of the control tube 12. As the projectile, sabot, obturator assembly moves along the control tube (FIGS. 2B and 2C) the obturator passes groups of ports A and B in sequence. The front of the main propellant gas and flame moving down the control tube in back of the obturator ignites the propellant segments A and then B adjacent each group of ports as the obturator passes the group. As the propellant segments are sequentially ignited via the ports, the propellant gas from the ignited segment tends to equalize the pressure between the inside and outside of the control tube. The combustion product gases flow inward through the same ports used to ignite the segments. The seals 36 may be driven aft after segment ignition, providing an additional flow path for propellant gas. FIG. 2D shows the round as the sabot leaves the control tube and segment 34C is ignited. While the specific embodiment of this invention thus far disclosed herein contemplates the use of the same propellant type in each segment A, B, and C, it should be noted that different propellant types may be used for one or more of the segments. For example, a first burning propellant at the front and slower at rear to provide greater energy with a specified peak pressure. This allows programmed ignition and control of the build-up of pressure as a result of propellant ignition.	A cased telescoped ammunition comprising in combination: an outer cylindrical casing (10) having an open front end; a control tube (12) mounted in said casing (10) with an annular space between said casing and said tube, said control tube casing extending from a front end disposed substantially conterminous with the front end of said casing to an aft end; a projectile (12), sabot (14) and obturator (16) assembly mounted in said control tube (12) along a longitudinal axis of said tube with said obturator located adjacent said aft tube end; a first propellant (20) in said casing aft of said aft tube end; (34) a second propellant (34) in said annular space; characterized by: means (36) for separating said second propellant into a plurality of segments (34A,B,C), said separation means (36) preventing transmission of ignition products between adjacent segments; and a plurality of ports (30) in said control tube (12) disposed between said aft tube end and said front tube end, wherein said plurality of ports are arranged in a plurality of groups separated by regions free of ports, whereby each segment (34A,B,C) of said second propellant is ignited sequentially by a gas and flame front generated by ignition of said first propellant (20) and communicated sequentially to said segments through said groups of ports (30) as said assembly moves through said control tube. A cased telescoped ammunition as in claim 1 wherein said means for separating said second propellant comprises an annular ring (36). A cased telescoped ammunition as in claim 1 or claim 2, further including a segment filled with an erosion inhibiter (40) adjacent said aft tube end. A cased telescoped ammunition as in claim 1 or claim 3 wherein said segments (34A) adjacent said aft tube end contain a slower burning propellant than said segments (34C) adjacent said front end.	ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS INC; ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS INC.	BRODEN DAVIS E; WARREN JOHN B; BRODEN, DAVIS E.; WARREN, JOHN B.
EP-0489285-B1	489,285	EP	B1	EN	19,970,219	1,992	20,100,220	new	G06F3	null	G11B19, G06F3	G06F 3/06D, G11B 19/02	External memory control device	An external memory control device, which is capable of reducing the time required for processing the writing and reading of data for the storage areas of an external memory device. The external memory control device includes a smallest sector number register and a largest sector number register which stores the smallest and the largest sector numbers, respectively, within a processing range that is designated by the track of a processing request signal from the central processing unit. A processing range detecting part detects whether the sector number read from the designated track is within the processing range, and means which stores, when the sector number read first from the designated track is within the processing range. The following sector number in the sector number register. Stores the smallest sector number when the sector number is outside the processing region and generates a discrimination signal which is turned on when the sector number read out and the sector number which is the stored contents of the sector number register coincide, and updates the stored contents of the sector number register to the next sector number. In this external memory control device, if the sector number read from the designated track is within the processing range, the processing start from the next sector, so that the holding of the operation until the arrival of the smallest sector number is no longer needed, and the time required for processing per track can be reduced.	Field of the InventionThe present invention relates to a control device which controls an external memory device of a computer system, and more particularly, to a control device of this kind which stores a minimum unit write or read data in a unit storage area together with identification information. Description of the Prior ArtA control device which controls an external memory device is provided between a host system, namely, a CPU and the external memory device, and performs the control for writing of a data to the external memory device, reading of a data from the external memory device, and the like under the control of the host system. In a magnetic disk device which is a representative external memory device, a unit storage area on a magnetic disk for storing a smallest unit of write or read data is called a sector, and identification information proper to a sector and a smallest unit data are stored in the sector. Identification information is constituted of a head number which specifies a magnetic head that is capable of accessing the storage surface to which the sectors belong, a track number which specifies each track on the storage surface, and a sector number given to a large number of sectors contained in each of the tracks. In writing or reading a data of the smallest unit (referred to as a unit data hereinafter), a magnetic disk control device first selects the magnetic head and the track corresponding to a sector designated by the host system, and instructs the magnetic disk device so as to read the sector identification information from the designated sector by driving the magnetic head to the selected track. The magnetic disk control device discriminates whether or not the sector number among the sector identification information that was read out coincide with the sector number designated by the host system, and carries out a processing such as write or read of a unit data to the sector if they coincide with each other and controls the magnetic disk device so as to read the identification information of the adjacent sector if they do not coincide. In the magnetic disk device, write or read of a unit data is ordinarily carried out for a plurality of sectors of at least one track by one request for processing. In the prior art magnetic disk control device, first, the sector number of the starting point of a processing such as writing or reading (referred to as a processing hereinafter) for the track is stored in a first register and the number of sectors to be processed or the sector number of the completion point of the processing is stored in a second register. If the sector number that is read out and the stored contents of the first register, that is, the sector number of the starting point of the processing is found to be coincident with each other upon comparison, the magnetic disk device is controlled so as to read the sector number of the next sector after performing the processing for that sector, and the stored contents of the first register is updated to the sector number of the next sector. Further, if the stored contents of the second register is the number of sectors of the objects to be processed, the number is decremented by one. If the sector number that is read out does not coincide with the stored contents of the first register, the magnetic disk device is controlled so as to read the sector number of the next sector without performing the processing for that sector. When after repetition of a series of the above-mentioned control the number of sectors of the objects to be processed which is the stored contents of the second register becomes zero (or if the stored contents of the second register is the sector number of the sector at which the processing is completed, when this sector number coincides with the sector number that is read out), the sector number that is read out signifies the sector number of the sector at which the processing is completed, so that the processing for this sector is performed, completing the processings for the track to which these sectors belong. Since in the prior art magnetic disk device as described in the above the processing will not be carried out until the stored contents of the first register, namely, the sector number of the processing starting point agrees with the sector number that is read out, the state in which there occurs no processing will persists until the sector number of the starting point of the processing which is the stored contents of the first register is read out even if the sector number read out first is the sector number of the sector of the object to be processed. For example, suppose that each track consists of 16 sectors which run from sector number (0) to sector number (15), the sector numbers of the objects to be processed are from (2) to (9), and the magnetic head is situated immediately in front of the sector number (6). Further, suppose that sector number (2) is stored in the first register. As the reading of the sector numbers starts the first sector number that will be read is (6) so that the coincidence with the sector number (2) stored in the first register will not be obtained. Accordingly, the processing for sector (6) will not take place, and the sector number (7) of the next sector will be read out. However, this sector number (7) neither coincides with the sector number (2) so that no processing will take place, and it will proceed to read the sector number of the following sector. In this manner, the state with no processing will persist for the sectors with sector numbers (8), (9), ..., (15), (0), and (1), and the processing will take place for the first time when the sector number (2) turns up. As in the above, in the prior art external memory control device, there will persist the state in which no processing for the sector of the current position of the head will take place even if the head is situated at a sector which is one of the objects to be processed, so that it will take longer time for completion of the processing of one track. The external memory devices for which control similar to the aforementioned magnetic disk control device applies include the flexible disk memory device and the optical disk memory device besides the magnetic disk device. U.S. patent 4,494,157 discloses an information read-out apparatus which reduces effective weight time and shortens access time, when information recorded on a magnetic disk is read out. When a sector on the magnetic disk on which a magnetic head is currently positioned is between a start address and an end address, information behind the current sector is buffered and the sequence of the buffered information is rearranged as required and read out so that overlapped read-out of the previously read information from the magnetic disk is prevented to shorten the access time. The current sector address is compared to the start address and the end address to process the information. U.S. patent 4,918,651 discloses a method and architecture for reading data from a track on a data disk with no latency in initiation of the data transfer due to sector alignment. Sector identification bytes are compared for track identification while sector number is written for storage in a table look-up with a buffer address for storage of the data. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONSummary of the InventionAn external memory control device according to the present invention is disclosed in claim 1. Claims 2 to 8 disclose further embodiments of the present invention. An external memory control device includes a smallest sector number register and a largest sector number which store the smallest and the largest sector numbers, respectively, among the sector numbers belonging to one track designated by a processing request signal from the host system, a processing range detection part which detects whether the sector number read from the track belongs to the sector numbers within the processing range designated by the processing request signal based on the stored contents of these two registers, a sector processing discrimination part which generates a discrimination signal that is turned off when the sector number from the track is judged, based on the output of the processing range detection part and the contents of the two registers, to belong to the processing range and is the first sector number read from the track and is turned on when it is the second or a subsequent sector number to be read out, and is turned off when it is outside the processing range, and a processing completion control part which generates a processing completion signal when the sector signal read out is the sector number of the sector which is the last processing for the track. The external memory control device controls the external memory device so as to read the sector number of the next sector without carrying out the processing for the sector corresponding to the discrimination signal when the discrimination signal is turned off, to carry out the processing for the corresponding sector when the discrimination signal is turned on, then to proceed to read the next sector number, to carry out the processing for the sector corresponding to a processing completion signal in response to the generation of the processing completion signal, and to stop the reading of the sector number that follow. The sector processing discrimination part includes the selector number registers and a comparator, and when the sector number read from the track of the R/W designation of the processing request signal is a sector number within the processing rand and further is the number of sector read first from the track, the discrimination part stores the number of sector to be read next in the sector number register, and when the read sector number is the sector number read in the second or later time, updates the stored contents of the register to the sector number to be read next, moreover, when the sector number reaches the largest sector number, stores the smallest sector number in the register, finally when the sector number read from the track and the stored contents of the register are found to be coincident upon comparison in the comparator, generates a discrimination signal which is turned on. Moreover, the processing completion control part includes a processing residual register and a zero detection circuit, and the control part stores the total number of the sectors within the processing range before reading the sector number from the track of the R/W designation of the processing request signal, decrements the stored contents of the register by one whenever the discrimination signal is turned on, and the zero detection circuit generates the processing completion signal when the stored contents of the register becomes zero. Furthermore, the processing completion control part includes a processing completion sector number register, and when the sector number read out first from the track of the signal R/W designation is the sector number within the processing range, the control part stores the sector number as it is in the register, when it is a sector number outside the processing range, stores the largest sector number in the register, and when the sector number read out coincides with the stored contents of the register, generates a processing completion signal. As described in the above, in the external memory control device, when the sector number read out from the R/W designation track of the processing request signal is within the processing range designated by the signal, the processing will be started from the sector having the next sector number. Therefore, there is no need to hold the processing until the sector with the smallest sector number of the processing range, as was the case in the prior art control device, so that the time required for processing one track can be reduced. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe above-mentioned and other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will become more apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 is a block diagram for an example of a part of the magnetic disk control drive according to the prior art; FIG. 2 is a block diagram for another example of the same part as that shown in FIG. 1 of the magnetic disk control device according to the prior art; FIG. 3 is a plan view of the magnetic disk for describing the operation of the magnetic disk control device shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a block diagram for a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a plan view for the magnetic disk for describing the operation of the first embodiment; FIG. 6 is a block diagram for a second embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 7 is a block diagram for a third embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONReferring to FIG. 1 which shows the block diagram for a portion of the prior art magnetic disk control device, this magnetic disk control device has a serial/ parallel converter 3, a sector processing discrimination part 5b, a processing completion control part 6, and a processing control part 7. The serial/parallel converter 3 is inserted between the magnetic disk control device shown in the figure and a magnetic disk device (not shown), and converts the sector numbers or the unit data that are transferred between them so as to be bit serial on the side of the magnetic disk device and to be bit parallel on the side of the magnetic disk control device. The sector processing discrimination part 5b includes a selector 52 which selects the smallest sector number ADmin among a series of sectors contained in a track designated by a processing request signal R/W from a host system during the period prior to the reading (in the reset state R) from the track and, after the elapse of the period for the reset state, selects and outputs the incremented sector number, a sector number register 54a which fetches the sector number from the selector 52 in response to a discrimination signal ACJ and outputs it, a comparator 55 which compares a sector number ADr which is an output read from the track supplied through the serial/parallel converter 3 and the sector number from the sector number register 54a and generates a discrimination signal ACJ which is turned on when both numbers coincide, and an adder 56 which outputs a sector number obtained by incrementing the sector number output by the sector number register 54a by one unit of the reading interval (for example, it is 1 if the adjacent sectors are sequentially read in continuous fashion, and it is 2 if every other sector is read). As described in the above, in this sector processing discrimination part 5b, the smallest sector number among a large number of sector numbers that belong to a track is stored in the sector number register 54a prior to the reading of the first sector number of the track, and the discrimination signal ACJ is turned on when the smallest sector number coincides with the sector number ADr, by which the contents of the sector number register 54a is updated. In other words, the sector processing discrimination part 5b outputs a discrimination signal ACJ by turning it on when the sector number read becomes equal to the smallest sector number ADmin and updates the stored contents of the sector number register 54a to the next sector number, and thereafter, the turning on of the discrimination signal ACJ and the updating of the stored contents of the register 54a are repeated whenever the sector number read out coincides with the sector number from the register 54a, and the discrimination signal ACJ is kept in the off-state and the stored contents of the register 54a are also left as they are. The processing completion control part 6 has a substrator 61 which computes and outputs the sector number within the processing range of a track from the smallest sector number ADmin and the largest sector number ADmax designated by the processing request signal R/W from the host system, a selector 62 which selects the sector number from the subtractor 61 in the reset state (R) and selects the decremented sector number otherwise, a processing residual register 63 which fetches to store and outputs the sector number from the selector 62 whenever the reset state and the discrimination signal ACJ are in the on-state, a subtractor 64 which outputs the sector number from the register 63 decremented by 1 , and a zero detection circuit 65 which generates a processing completion signal END by detecting that the sector number from the register 63 is zero. As in the above, the processing completion control part 6 stores the sector number within the processing range of the processing request signal R/W in the processing residual register 63, decrements the sector number every time when the discrimination signal ACJ is in the on-state, generates a processing completion signal END when the sector number goes to zero, and detects by this that the processing for one track is completed. The processing control part 7 receives the processing request signal R/W, the discrimination signal ACJ and the processing completion signal END, and when the discrimination signal ACJ corresponding to the sector number read from the track is in the off-state, it proceeds to read the sector number of the next sector without performing the processing for the sector with that sector number, and performs the processing for the sector with that sector number and reads the sector number of the next sector when the discrimination signal ACJ is in the on-state. This operation is repeated thereafter, and subsequent to the execution of the processing for the sector with the sector number corresponding to a processing completion signal END in response to the generation of a processing completion signal END, the reading of sector numbers for the ensuing sectors is stopped. This completes the processing for one track. As in the above, the magnetic disk device controlled by this magnetic disk control device starts to carry out the processing for the sector with a sector number read from the track of R/W designation of the processing request signal when the sector number read coincides with the smallest sector number within the processing range designated by R/W of the same signal, and thereafter carries out sequentially the processing for each sector and when the sector number reaches the largest value within the processing range, the processing for that sector is completed. This completion indicates none other than the completion of the processing for one track. Next, referring to FIG. 2 which shows another example of the magnetic disk controls device of the prior art, this example is identical to the example shown in FIG. 1 except for a part of a processing completion control part 6b, so that the components common to FIG. 1 are assigned common reference numerals to omit further detailed explanation. The processing completion control part 6b has a processing completion sector address register 68 which stores the largest sector number ADmax within the processing range of the track of the processing request signal R/W designation during the reset state (R) period and outputs it later, and a comparator 69 which generates a processing completion signal END in response to the coincidence of the largest sector number from the register 68 and the sector number of the read output supplied by the serial/parallel converter 3. Except for the above-mentioned point the structure of the present example is the same as that of the sample shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 3 which actually shows the operation of the processing for the sectors on a magnetic disk by means of the prior art magnetic disk control devices shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, magnetic disk 100 contains a plurality of tracks 101 where these tracks are each subdivided into 16 sectors having sector numbers from (0) to (15). Assume that a magnetic head selected according to the R/W designation of a processing request signal from the host system is moved to a predetermined track 101, and is located in the initial state before the read of the sector number at a position immediately in front of the sector number 6 (position of SHP in FIG. 3). Further, assume that the sectors of the object for processing are from sector number (2) to sector number (9) (namely, the processing range is from sector (2) sector (9)), and that the processing for these sectors is carried out sequentially. As may be clear from the above description, the sector number (2) is stored under these conditions in the sector number register 54a. With the start of read of the sector numbers of the track 101, the sector number to be read first is (6) so that the result of comparison by the comparator 55 is noncoincidence, and the discrimination signal ACJ remains in the off-state. As a result, the processing for the sector with sector number (6) is not carried out, and the sector number (7) is read out. Since neither the sector number (7) coincide with the stored contents of the sector number register 54a, that is, the sector number (2) so that the discrimination signal ACJ remains in the off-state, and the processing for the number (7) is nor carried out and the sector number (8) of the next sector is read out. As in the above, the state with no processing persists up to the sectors with sector number (1), namely, for the sectors from sector number (6) to sector number (1). When sector number (2) is read, it coincides with the sector number (2) that is stored in the selector number register 54a so that the processing for the sector with number (2) is carried out. At the same time, the stored contents of the register 54a, namely, the sector number (2) is updated to (3). On the other hand, the sector number (3) of the next sector is read and these sector numbers are compared in the comparator 55. In this way, the processing for sectors up to the sector number (8) is completed and the sector number (9) is stored in the register 54a. On the other hand, when the sector number (9) is read, the processing completion control part 6 or 6b generates a processing completion signal END, the processing for the track 101 is completed with the completion of the processing for the sector with the section number (9). As in the above, in the magnetic disk control device according to the prior art, despite the fact that the magnetic head is situated at a sector position within the processing range of the processing request signal R/W designation, the state with no processing for these sectors and as a result, the time required for processing one track is increased. Next, referring to FIG. 4 which shows the principal part of the first embodiment of the present invention, the magnetic disk control device according to the present embodiment is constituted of a smallest sector number register 1 which stores the smallest sector number corresponding to the sector of the starting point of processing for one track designated by the processing request signal R/W from the CPU, a largest sector number register 2 which stores the largest sector number corresponding to the sector of the completion point of the same processing as in the above, a serial/parallel converter 3, a processing range detection part 4, a sector processing discrimination part 5, a processing completion control part 6 and a processing control part 7. As is clear from the constitution shown in the figure, the present embodiment differs from the prior art magnetic disk control device shown in FIG. 1 in that there are added the smallest sector number register 1, the largest sector number register 2 and the processing range detection part 4, and in the internal constitution of the sector processing discrimination part 5. The smallest sector number register 1 and the largest sector number register 2 stores the smallest sector number and the largest sector number, respectively, among a large number of sectors within the processing range of one track. The processing range detection part 4 compares the sector number ADr read from the track of the R/W designation of the signal supplied by the serial/parallel converter 3 with the smallest and the largest sector numbers from the smallest sector number register 1 and the largest sector number, respectively, and identify whether the sector number ADr is a sector number within the processing range. Such a processing range detection part 4 can easily be realized by the combination of a comparator which compares the magnitude of the sector numbers and a logic gate. The sector processing discrimination part 5 includes an adder 51 which adds one unit (ordinarily one) of the sector reading interval to the sector number ADr that is read out, a sector number register 54 which fetches to store the supplied sector number at the time of reading the first sector number of a track (timing pulse 1R) and at other times fetches to store and outputs the sector number in response to the on-state of the discrimination signal ACJ, a second adder 56 which outputs a sector number obtained by incrementing the sector number from the sector number register 54 by one unit of the sector read interval, a first selector 52 which selects the sector number from the first adder 51 at the time of reading of the first sector number (1R) of the track and at other times selects and outputs the incremented sector number from the second adder 56, a comparator 58 which compares the largest sector number from the largest sector number register 2 and the sector number from the sector number register 54 and detects whether these sector numbers coincides with each other, a flip-flop 57 which goes to the reset state when the result of comparison of the initial state and the comparator 58 coincides and goes to the set state when it is judged by the detection part 4 that the sector number ADr that is read is within the processing range, a second selector 53 which selects the sector number from the selector 52 when the flip-flop 57 is in the set state and selects the sector number from the smallest sector number register 1 when the flip-flop is in the reset state and supplies it to the sector number register 54, and a comparator 55 which compares the sector number ADr that is read and the sector number from the sector number register 54 and generates a discrimination signal ACJ which goes to the on-state when they coincide and goes to the off-state when they do not coincide. The serial/parallel converter 3, the processing completion control part 6, and the process control part 7 are identical to those of the prior art shown in FIG. 1 so that the description about them will be omitted. Next, referring to FIG. 5 showing a plan view analogous to FIG. 3, a trace 101 of a magnetic disk 100 are segmented into 16 sectors with sector numbers from (0) to (15), and it will be assumed that the sectors (2) through (9) are designated as a processing object. In order to describe first the case where the sector number ADr read out first from the track 100 is within the processing range designated by R/W of a processing request signal it will be assumed that the magnetic head position SHP in the initial state is located at a position immediately in front of the sector with sector number (6). When it is detected that the sector number ADr read out first from the W/R designation track is located within the processing range, the flip-flop 57 goes to the set state and the selector 53 selects the output of the selector 52, the selector 52 selects the output of the adder 51, and the sector number register 54 updates its storage contents. Accordingly, the sector number (7) following the sector number read first ((6) in FIG. 5 which manner will be analogous hereinafter) is stored in the sector number register 54. For the sector number (6) which was read first, the sector number register 54 changes from the state where nothing is stored to the state where the sector number (7) is stored, the result of comparison in the comparator 55 is noncoincidence so that the discrimination signal ACJ remains the off-state. Since no processing is given for the sector with the sector number (6), the next sector number (7) will be read out. Since the sector number (7) that is read out next coincides with the stored contents of the sector number register 54, the discrimination signal ACJ is turned on, the processing for the sector with the sector number (7) is carried out by the processing control part 7, and the next sector number (8) is read out. At the same time, the stored contents of the sector number register 54 is updated by the discrimination signal ACJ to the sector number (8). When the stored contents of the sector number register 54 is updated to sector number (9) which is the largest sector number within the processing range after repetition of the operation analogous to what is described in the above, the flip-flop 57 is brought to the reset state by the comparator 58, and the selector 53 selects the output of the smallest sector number register 1, that is, the smallest sector number within the processing range. As the sector number (9) is read out and the discrimination signal ACJ is turned on, the storage contents of the sector number register 54 is updated to the smallest sector number (2). After the processing for the sector with the sector number (9), the sector number that is read out is (10) so that the discrimination signal ACJ is turned off, and the reading for the next sector number is carried out without processing for the sector with the sector number (10). At this time, the stored contents of the sector number register 54 is not updated. Thereafter, similar operation is repeated, and reading of the sector number alone is carried out until the sector number (1) is arrived at. When the sector number (2) is read, the discrimination signal is turned on, and the sector number (3) is read out after giving the processing for the sector with the sector number (2). At the same time, the flip-flop 57 is brought to the set state by the processing range detection part 4, and the stored contents of the sector number register 54 is updated to (3) via the adder 56, the selectors 52 and 53. Thereafter, similar operation will be repeated. On the other hand, the sector number which is the storage contents of the processing residual register 63 is reduced every time when the discrimination signal ACJ is turned on, and when the discrimination signal ACJ is turned on upon reading of the sector number (6), the sector number which is the storage contents of the processing residual register 63 becomes zero. The zero detection circuit 65 which responds to this situation outputs a processing completion signal END, and after carrying out the processing for the sector with the sector number (6) the processing control part 7 ceases reading the sector number chat follow. With the above-mentioned operation all the processing for the sectors within the processing range of the track designated by R/W of the processing request signal is ended, completing the processing for the track. If the first read sector number ADr is outside the range of processing ((14), for example), the flip-flop 57 is brought to the reset state by the processing range detection part 4, the output of the smallest sector number register, namely, the smallest sector number (2) is selected by the selector 53, and the result is stored in the sector number register 54. Thereafter, reading of the sector number alone takes place until the sector number (2) is read out. The operation following the read of the sector number (2) is the same as the aforementioned operation for the sectors within the processing range. When the largest sector number (9) is reached, there is generated a processing completion signal END is issued, and the processing for one track is completed with the ending of the processing for the sector with the sector number (9). As described in the above, in the present embodiment, if the sector number read first from a track designated by R/W of a processing request signal falls within the processing range of R/W designation of the request signal, the processing is started from the sector following the read sector, so that it is possible to shorten the time requried for processing the sectors in the track. It should be mentioned that the reason for arranging to start the processing from the sector following the sector read out first is that, at the time of transmission of the sector number read out to the comparator 55, there is not yet stored the desired sector number in the sector number register 54. Next, referring to FIG. 6 showing the second embodiment of the present invention, the sector processing discrimination part 5a combines the two adders 51 and 56 in the first embodiment into a single adder 51, the sector number first read from the track designated by the signal R/W or the output of the sector number register 54 is supplied to the adder 51 according to the selection by the selector 52, and supplies the output of the adder 51 to the selective input on the set (S) side of the selector 53. Other parts of the operation are the same as in the first embodiment. Namely, the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except for the fact that the function of the adder 56 is let to be served by the adder 51 so that further description will be omitted. The second embodiment is more advantageous than the first embodiment in that its circuit constitution can be simplified. Referring to FIG. 7 which shows the third embodiment of the present invention, this third embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except for the constitution of a processing completion control part 6a, so that the description that follows is limited to that of the control part 6a, omitting the description about the remaining parts. The processing completion control part 6a includes a processing completion sector number register 68 which fetches to store and outputs the sector number ADr read out first from the track designated by the R/W signal, an AND type logic circuit 66 which outputs a signal which is turned on when the detection part 4 recognizes that the sector number read out first falls within the processing range designated by a R/W signal, a selector 67 which selects the sector number that was read out first when the output signal of the logic circuit 66 is in the on-state and selects the largest sector number from the largest sector number register 2 and sends the selected result to the processing completion sector number register 68, and a comparator 69 which issues a processing completion signal END when the sector number ADr and the sector number from the processing completion sector number register 68 are coincident with each other. In the third embodiment, if the sector number read out first from the track designated by the R/W signal falls within the processing range designated by the R/W signal, the sector number is stored at the timing of reading the first sector number in the processing completion sector number register 68. For the sector with the first read sector number, no processing is carried out (analogous to the first and the second embodiments). Thereafter, the operation similar to that of the first embodiment is repeated, and when the sector number read out first is read again, a processing completion signal END is output from the comparator 69 to give the processing for the sector with that sector number, by which the processing for one track is completed. When the sector number that is read first falls outside of the processing range, the largest sector number within the processing range is stored in the processing completion sector number register 68. Since the operation thereafter is similar to the example of the prior art magnetic disk control cevice shown in FIG. 2 so that a further description will be omitted. The third embodiment is more advantageous than the first embodiment in that it is possible to simplify the processing completion control part. Further, in the third embodiment, it is possible to replace the sector processing discrimination part 5 with the sector processing discrimination part 5a (FIG. 6) of the second embodiment. The aforementioned three embodiments are given in the form of a magnetic disk control device which controls the magnetic disk, but the external memory control device according to the present invention is also applicable to the external memory devices using different storage medium so long as the data constitution is common, such as a flexible disk device and an optical disk device.	An external memory control device which controls an external memory device so as to carry out processings such as read or write of data for every unit amount of said data for storage areas designated by processing request signals in said external memory device in response to said processing request signals from a central processing unit, whereby said external memory device is a memory device which has a large number of concentric storage tracks each being subdivided into a plurality of unit storage areas that can store unit amounts of said data on the surface of a circular platelike storage medium, and said designation of said storage area is carried out by means of specification of said storage track and said unit storage areas that correspond to the starting point and the completion point of said processing to the track, the external memory control device comprising: a first (1) and a second (2) registers which respectively store the smallest identification number and the largest identification number among the identification numbers of said unit storage areas belonging to a designated track that are designated by said processing request signal; processing range discriminating means (4) which discriminates whether the identification number read out from said designated track is a unit storage area contained in the processing range designated by said processing request signal; said external memory control device being characterized in that it further comprises: unit storage area discriminating means (5) which generates in response to the processing range discriminating means a discrimination signal (ACJ) which is turned off when said identification number read from said designated track is an identification number of a unit storage area contained in said processing range and is the identification number read first from the designated track, turned on when said identification number is an identification number of a unit storage area contained in said processing range and is an identification number read out by second or subsequent reading from the designated track, and turned off when said identification number is an identification number of a unit storage area which is not contained in said processing range; processing completion control means (6) which generates a processing completion signal (END) when said identification number read out from said designated track in response to the unit storage area discriminating means (5) is an identification number of a unit storage area which is the object of the last processing among the unit storage areas within said processing range; and terminating means (7) which starts the reading of the identification number of the unit storage areas that belong to said designated track in response to said processing request signal, reads the identification number of the following unit storage area without carrying out the processing for the unit storage area corresponding to the discrimination signal (ACJ) when said discrimination signal (ACJ) is in the off-state, reads out the identification number of the following unit storage area after carrying out the processing for the unit storage area corresponding to the discrimination signal (ACJ) and carries out the processing for the unit storage area of the processing completion signal in response to said processing completion signal, then terminates the read of the subsequent identification numbers. An external memory control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said external memory device is a magnetic disk device. An external memory control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said unit storage discriminating means (5) comprises an identification number register (54) which stores the identification number that is read next, when said identification number read from said designated track is an identification number of a unit storage area which is contained in said processing range and is the first identification number read from the track; means for updating the identification number which is the stored contents of said identification number register (54) to the identification number of the unit storage area following the identification number at a predetermined timing, when the identification number read from said designated track is an identification number of a unit storage area within said processing range and is an identification number read out in a second or later reading from the track; means for storing at a predetermined timing the smallest identification number of the identification numbers in the identification number register, when the identification number which is the stored contents of said identification number register (54) is the largest identification number among the identification numbers of the unit storage areas contained in said processing range; and a comparator (55) which generates said discrimination signal (ACJ) which is turned on when said identification number read from said designated track and the identification number which is the stored contents of the said identification number register (54) are found to be coincident upon comparison. An external memory control device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said smallest identification number is arranged to be stored in said identification number register (54) in the initial state prior to the reading of said identification number from said designated track. An external memory control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said processing completion means (6) comprises a processing residual register (63) which stores the total number of the unit storage areas contained in said processing range in the initial state prior to the reading of said identification number from said designated track, means (64) for decrementing said total number by count one every time when said discrimination signal is turned on, and zero detection means (65) which generates said processing completion signal when said total number which is the stored contents of said processing residual register (63) becomes zero. An external memory control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said processing completion control means (65) comprises a processing completion identification number register (68) which stores the identification number when the identification number read from said designated track is an identification number of a unit storage area that is contained within said processing range and stores the largest identification number among the identification numbers of the unit storage areas contained within said processing range when the identification number is outside of the processing range, and means (69) which generates said processing completion signal when the identification number read from said designated track and the identification number which is the stored contents of the register (68) are found coincident with each other upon comparison. An external memory control device as claimed in claim 3, said unit storage area discriminating part (5) comprises: a first adder (51) which adds count one to the identification number read from said designated track; an identification number register (54) which stores and outputs said identification number read from said designated track at predetermined timings; a second adder (56) which adds count one to the identification number which is the stored contents of the identification number register; a first comparator (58) which compares the identification number which is the stored contents of said largest identification number register (2) and the identification number which is the stored contents of said identification number register (54); a flip-flop (57) which goes to the reset state in said initial state or when the output of said first comparator (58) shows the noncoincidence of the two identification numbers that are its objects of comparison and goes to the set state when the output of said processing range discriminating means (4) shows that it is an identification number within said processing range; a first selector (52) which selects the identification number from said first adder (51) only when said identification number is the identification number read first from said designated track and selects the identification number from said second adder (56) in other times and outputs the selected result; a second selector (53) which selects the identification number which is the stored contents of said smallest identification register (1) when said flip-flop (57) is in said reset state and selects the identification number from said first selector (52) when said flip-flop (57) is in said set state and supplies the selected result to said identification number register (54); and a second comparator (55) which outputs said discrimination signal (ACJ) which is turned on when the identification number read from said designated track and the identification number which is the stored contents of said identification register (54) are found coincident upon comparison. An external memory control device as claimed in claim 7 further comprising a unit storage area discriminating part (5a) wherein said first and said second adders are combined into one adder (51), said first selector (52) is constituted of circuit means which selects the identification number of said unit storage area only when said identification number is the identification number read first from said designated track and selects the identification number which is the stored contents of said identification number register (54) in other times and outputs the result to the adder (51), and supplies the output of said first adder (51) to the input end on the selected side when said flip-flop (57) of said second selector (53) is in the set state.	NIPPON ELECTRIC CO; NEC CORPORATION	ISHIKAWA YUTAKA; SATO NOBORU; ISHIKAWA, YUTAKA; SATO, NOBORU; Ishikawa, Yutaka, c/o NEC Corporation; Sato, Noboru, c/o NEC Corporation
EP-0489291-B1	489,291	EP	B1	EN	19,950,201	1,992	20,100,220	new	H02H7	null	H02H7, H01F6	H02H 7/00C	Superconducting magnet system with inductive quench heaters	A superconducting magnet coil is protected from local damage due to quenching by inductively driven heaters formed by heater strips (51, 53; 55, 57) embedded in the coil and connected in closed loops. A cold bypass diode (77) shunting the coil winding commutates current out of the magnet when the voltage drop across the region of the coil which has gone normal exceeds the forward bias of the diode. This change in coil current induces sufficient current in the heater loops (63, 65) to cause the entire coil (5) to go normal for uniform dissipation of stored energy throughout the magnet.	This invention relates to superconducting magnet systems with provisions for protecting the magnet when a section quenches or goes normal. More particularly, it relates to such systems having heaters which uniformly cause the entire coil to go normal for dissipation of the stored energy throughout the coil. In superconducting magnets, there are small regions of the superconducting winding, such as soldered or welded splice joints between superconducting cables, areas subject to frictional heating or excessive strain, and others, which may become normal conductors during magnet operation. That is, in such regions, the conductors become resistive rather than superconductors, and resistive power loss is generated by the passage of current. Generally, the superconductors are designed such that any small, local, normal , region will not grow in volume beyond a certain size or begin to propagate along the winding but, rather, will recover to the superconducting state. However, in certain events, such a region may begin to grow in volume and/or propagate, with ever increasing resistive power losses. Such an event is frequently referred to as a coil quench , and quench detection systems are provided for detecting such events. It is very important to detect such regions quickly so that measures can be taken to protect the magnet, which will most likely result in dumping the energy stored in the coil. This energy must be distributed relatively uniformly throughout the magnet, and not in some small region, to minimize the peak temperature developed in the magnet and the possibility of damage to the winding. One type of superconducting magnet is the magnet being developed for the superconducting supercollider (SSC). The SSC uses thousands of superconducting dipole magnets to direct two beams of protons in closed loops or rings. Groups of about 400 SSC dipoles are powered by a common DC power supply. Dipole magnets in each group are organized into cells of ten or twelve magnets which are energized by common buses. The cells are further divided into half-cells. Each half-cell also includes a quadruple magnet which focuses the proton beam. The presently conceived quench system for the SSC magnet is an active system, that is the magnets are not assumed to be self-protecting, but devices external to the magnet are activated during a quench to protect and bypass a quenching magnet. This active system combines a fast quench bypass circuit and a slow current extraction system. The slow current extraction system consists of dump resistors and high power electronic and mechanical switches which are inserted into the magnet circuit following the detection of a quench. The quench detection system consists of voltage taps at the terminals of each magnet. The fast quench bypass system consists of cold-to-warm leads, external bypass cables and warm diodes which shunt the half-cell containing the quenching magnet. Strip heaters are embedded inside the coils to distribute and enhance the quenching resistance, causing the stored energy to be more uniformly distributed throughout the magnet mass. Upon detection of a magnet quench, all the heaters in the magnets comprising a half-cell are energized using capacitor banks and electronic switches. The magnet current commutates into the warm bypass diodes and then begins to decay as the dump resistors are switched into the circuit. The current bypass system as now conceived uses two heavily stabilized superconducting buses located in the cold mass, just outside and extending the entire length of the iron in the magnets. Each half-cell of magnets is protected by independent bypass circuits outside the cryostat, with leads connecting to the positive and negative power buses in the magnets. The basic bypass switch consists of two warm diodes connected in series. If, for any reason, the voltage drop across a half-cell begins to exceed about one volt, current will begin to commutate into the diodes. This scheme requires the use of two safety leads at every quadruple location on both rings to connect the warm diodes to the superconducting magnet bus. These leads must penetrate the several barriers within the cryostat in which the magnets are contained. Helium vapor-cooled leads are proposed for these warm diodes for rapid recovery after a quench and to minimize heat leak. Heat sinks are required for the warm diodes since they are expected to absorb the energy deposited during one bypass event without overheating and failure. Eight quench heater power supplies are used for each magnet cell with four of the supplies being redundant. Hundreds of these power supplies are needed for the SSC. While these power supplies, each of which contain a large energy storage capacitor, are not particularly expensive, their sheer number is relevant to the reliability of the active quenching system because of their potential for false triggering or failure to trigger when required. All of these power supplies must be fully charged waiting for a trigger signal throughout the duration of SSC beam operations, that is, starting with beam acceleration and lasting until residual beam dump. It is the primary object of this invention to provide a superconducting magnet system with improved protection against a quench, which eliminates the need for hundreds of quench heater power supplies together with the required monitoring, control and triggering circuitry. These and other objects are realized by the invention which is directed to a superconducting magnet system having protection against quench events which includes inductive heaters comprising elongated closed loop heater members adjacent to the magnet coils. The system further includes diodes, preferably cold diodes contained within the cryostat, connected across the magnet coils. Since the cold diodes do not require penetrations through the cryostat, each magnet coil can be separately shunted by a diode. The closed loop formed by each of the elongated heater members is oriented such that a change in the magnetic flux generated by the magnet induces current in the heater loop. The diodes have a forward drop which is exceeded by a voltage produced across the magnet coil by a quench event. Thus, a quench event causes the bypassing diode to conduct thereby shunting current from the winding of the magnet. This commutation of current out of the magnet causes a change in the flux which induces current in the heaters sufficient to cause the remainder of the magnet to go normal, thereby dissipating the stored energy throughout the magnet. A pair of independent inductive heaters is provided for each magnet coil for redundancy. It is also an object of the invention to provide such a system which eliminates the need for warm diodes and the vapor cooled leads required with these diodes for penetrating the multiple layered cryostat. It is a further object of the invention to provide such a system in which each magnet is separately protected from a quench. It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a system wherein there is redundancy in the separate protection for each magnet. A full understanding of the invention can be gained from the following description of the preferred embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a portion of a superconducting supercollider incorporating the invention. Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section through one of the magnets of the SSC of Figure 1. Figure 3 is an enlargement of the cold mass assembly shown in the cross-section of Figure 2. Figure 4 is an isometric diagram schematically illustrating the inductive heaters which form part of the invention. Figures 5A and 5B placed side by side illustrate a schematic circuit diagram of a cell of the SSC of Figure 1 in accordance with the invention. Figure 6 is a schematic circuit diagram of an alternate embodiment of an inductive heater in accordance with the invention. Figure 7 is a fragmentary exploded view of a portion of Figure 3 in enlarged scale illustrating the details of the heaters in accordance with the invention. The invention will be described as applied to a superconducting supercollider; however, it will become evident to those skilled in the art that the invention has application to other superconducting magnet systems. Referring to Figure 1, the superconducting supercollider (SSC) 1 defines a closed path 3 for a beam of protons. In the curved sections of the closed path 3, the SSC includes a series of magnets such as 5a through 5l serially connected through bellows 7. The magnets 5a through 5l are dipoles which generate a field to deflect the protons along the desired path 3. (For simplicity, the quadruple magnets are not illustrated.) The desired path 3 is many miles long and several thousand of the magnets 5a through 5l, each of which are about 52 feet long, are required to define the curved sections of the path. The curvature is exaggerated in Figure 1 for purposes of illustration. Figure 2 is a cross-section through one of the dipole magnets 5. A multilayered cryostat 9 includes a vacuum vessel 11. Inside the vacuum vessel is an 80°K shield 13 which is cooled by liquid nitrogen supplied through a pipe 15, a 20°K shield 17 inside the 80°K shield 13 is cooled by 20°K helium circulated through the pipe 19. A cold mass assembly 21 is supported inside the 20°K shield 17 of the cryostat 9 on a post 23. Liquid helium at 4.35°K is circulated through the cold mass assembly, as will be discussed. The 4.35°K helium liquid is returned through the pipe 25 and the 4.35°K helium gas is returned through pipe 27 both of which are inside the 20°K shield 17. The cold mass assembly 21 is shown in enlarged scale in Figure 3. The cold mass assembly 21 includes a stainless steel shell 29 inside of which is a two-piece yoke 31. The yoke has axially extending helium ports 33 through which 4.35°K liquid helium is circulated and heater holes 35 through which electric heaters extend for magnet warm-up during shutdown of the SSC. Inside the low carbon steel yoke 31 is a magnetically permeable collar 37 which can be for instance a material such as Nitronic-40. Collar 37 supports the winding of the dipole magnetic coil 39. The magnetic coil 39 includes upper and lower outer windings 41 and 43 respectively and upper and lower inner windings 45 and 47 all connected in series. The magnetic coil surrounds a beam tube 49 through which the proton beam passes. The magnetic dipole coil 39 generates a uniform vertical magnetic field across the beam tube 49 with the strength of the field regulated to induce the desired curvature of the proton beam at the attained energy level of the beam. Heater strips 51, 53, 55 and 57 are attached to the two halves of the upper and lower outer windings of the magnetic coil 39, respectively. As shown in Figure 4, the heater strips 51, 53, 55 and 57 extend longitudinally along the full length of the magnetic coil indicated schematically at 39. The heater strips 51 and 53 are joined at opposite ends by conductors 59 to form a closed loop. Similarly, the heater strips 55 and 57 are connected in series by the conductor 61. Thus, two separate independent heater loops 63 and 65, are provided for each magnet coil 39. Figures 5A and 5B illustrate schematically a circuit diagram for the cell of magnets 67 comprising the magnets 5a through 5l. (For simplicity, the quadruple magnets are not shown.) A DC power supply 69 provides current to about 400 of the magnets 5 over a pair of parallel buses 71 and 73. The magnets 5a-5c and 5j-5l are connected in series by the bus 71, while the remaining magnets in the cell, 5d-5i, are connected in series by the bus 73. The buses 71 and 73 are connected in series at the end 75. As can be seen, each of the magnets 5a through 5l is provided with independent heater loops 63a through 63l and 65a-l which require no external power sources. Each of the magnets 5a-l is shunted by a cold diode 77a-77l. By cold diode, it is meant that the diodes 77 are contained in the cold region inside the cryostat 9. Thus, no penetrations through the cryostat 9 are required as in the case of warm diodes. As previously discussed, the heater strips 51, 53, 55 and 57 in accordance with the invention, are powered by magnetic induction. While at full current, each magnet 5a through 5l stores in excess of one megajoule; it is only necessary to transfer a small fraction of this energy to the quench heater strips during the first 25-50 ms. following quench initiation, in the range of about 0.01%-0.05% distributed uniformly, to quench the entire magnet and assure uniform energy deposition of the full one megajoule. At initiation of a magnetic quench in one of the magnets 5a-5l, the voltage across the terminals of that magnet will increase very rapidly. The cold quench bypass diode 77 shunting that magnet will begin to carry current when the magnet terminal voltage exceeds the diode forward voltage drop; that is, current will begin to commutate out of the magnet and into the diode, and the magnet current will begin to decay, with a time constant on the order of 50-500 ms. The forward drop of a diode operating at 4.35°K is about 2.5-5 volts. However, as current passes through the diode, the diode heats and its forward drop will fall to about 0.7 to 1.0 volts causing the magnet current to commutate to the diode. The dipole field of the magnet 5 will decay in accordance with the current and this change in flux with time will induce a voltage in the strip heater loops 63 and 65 embedded in the magnet windings. Current will begin to flow in the strip heater loops 63 and 65, in such a direction as to establish a magnetic field which opposes the decaying dipole field. The instantaneous current will have exactly the same value everywhere along the strip heater loop. It should be noted that both the resistance of the heater loops 63 and 65 and the induced current in these loops are functions of time. The strip heater resistance is a function of temperature, and the temperature increases with time as energy is deposited in the heater. The heater current is a complex function of time; it depends on the self-inductance of the heater loops, the mutual inductance of the heater loop with the dipole windings, the rate of change of current in the dipole magnetic winding, and the time varying resistance of the heater loop. Based on work to date in which certain approximations have been made, it is expected that a sufficient quantity of energy can be inductively transferred from the dipole magnet windings to the strip heaters during the first 0.1 to 0.25 of the time constant of the decaying current in the dipole after quench initiation to quench the entire magnet relatively uniformly. Consideration must be given to whether the induction heaters of the invention could respond adequately to the development within a magnet of a small, locked-in normal region, that is, a small region which quenches but the quench neither grows larger nor propagates away from its initiation point; yet the temperature of this normal region increases rapidly to the point where the winding is damaged. Consider a one meter long section of a coil winding which quenches at a magnet current of 2 kA. At a temperature of 10°K, the resistance of the dipole superconducting cable is about 0.40 micro-ohms per centimeter (zero field), and the voltage drop across this normal region is about 80 mV. This voltage level is probably not easily detectable at the magnetic voltage taps, and will not cause current to commutate out of the magnet to the cold bypass diode. However, the cable will continue to heat. At room temperature, its resistance is about 26 micro-ohms per cm, with a resulting voltage drop of 5.2 volts within the one meter section. However, as discussed above, the cold diode will begin to conduct at about 2.5-5 volts forward drop, and as the diode heats its forward drop will fall to about 0.7-1.0 volts causing the magnet current to commutate to the diode. Thus, a locked-in normal zone only one meter long will certainly be detectable well before its temperature reaches 300°K, causing commutation of the magnet current to the bypass diode and inductive activation of the quench heaters. Another issue to be considered is the availability of suitable high power silicon diodes, and survivability of such diodes at liquid helium temperatures and the radiation environment of the SSC, and for the projected 30-year operating life of the SSC. Properties of high current silicon diodes operating at liquid helium temperatures are well known and are ideally suited for this application. The diode forward voltage drop, which is on the order of 2.5 V at 4.4°K is high enough to prevent diode conduction during magnet current ramp-up and routine SSC operation, yet low enough to protect a quenching magnet. In addition, the reverse voltage rating is high enough to prevent reverse breakdown during magnetic current dump (ramp-down). The primary effect of diode operation at 4.4°K is to increase the diode forward voltage drop as discussed from about 0.7 volts to about 2.5 volts. As current begins to flow through the bypass diode following a magnet quench, the diode heats and forward drop decreases, thus causing more of the current to commutate into the diode. The diode thus acts as a reasonably fast switch to shunt a quenching magnet; however, the energy stored in the magnet is still dissipated in the magnet. An investigation has found that available silicon power diodes, such as for instance, the Brown-Boveri DS6000 rated at Ifrms = 14,200 A, Vrrm = 200 V, are expected to experience no systematic failure due to radiation damage over the projected 30-year operating life time of the SSC. Consideration has also been given to the amount of energy that will be deposited in the magnet by the inductively driven quench heater strips during current ramp-up. Since the current ramp-up rate is expected to be only 6 A/s, the rate of change of flux during ramp-up should be at least three orders of magnitude less than the negative rate of change in flux during a magnet quench. Since the magnet temperature remains at 4.4°K during ramp-up, quench heater strip resistivity remains low, helping to minimize the amount of energy deposited. Thus, current ramp-up does not appear to present a problem. If it does, a cold diode 79 could be inserted in the heater loops, such as the loop 63 comprising the heater strips 51 and 53 as shown in Figure 6, polarized to block current flow during ramp-up but still allowing current to flow in the opposite direction for decreasing coil current. Figure 7 illustrates a coil quadrant showing the placement of the heater strips adjacent to the coil windings. The heater strips such as the strip 53 are sandwiched between layers 81 of insulating material, such as for instance, Kapton, and placed against the outer surface of the outer coils which is covered by another layer of insulation 83 which may be for instance, Teflon. A strip 85 of insulating material such as again Kapton, fills the gap adjacent to the heater strip. A stainless steel shoe 87 prevents puckering of the Kapton during collaring of the coil assembly. As mentioned previously, the amount of heat deposited by the heater strips such as 53, is a complex function of the resistivity and the induced current both of which vary with time. Typically, a heater strip may be made of thin stainless steel or other alloy or metal sheet, 0.001 to 0.025 inches thick, either uniformly solid or with certain portions of the sheet cut away to effectively increase the resistive path length. Certain portions of the strip may be coated with copper or aluminum to effectively lower the resistivity where only minimal heating is desired.	A superconducting magnet system comprising: a superconducting magnet assembly having magnet coil means (5); and a cryostat (9) in which said superconducting magnet assembly is contained and cooled to a superconducting temperature by a cryogenic fluid said superconducting magnet system characterized by; heater means (63, 65) comprising elongated closed loop heater members extending along said magnet coil means and oriented such that a change in magnetic flux in said magnet coil means induces current in said heater members; and bypass diode means (77a-l) connected across said magnet coil means (5) and commutating current out of said magnet coil means in response to a voltage drop across the magnet coil means resulting from a quench within the magnet coil means to produce a change in magnetic flux in the magnet coil means of a magnitude to induce current in said heater members sufficient to heat a substantial portion of the magnet coil means to a temperature above said superconducting temperature. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said bypass diode means (77) is contained entirely within said cryostat (9). The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said heater means (77) comprises at least two independent elongated closed loop heater members extending along said magnet coil means (5). The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said heater members (63, 65) comprise a pair of strips (51, 53; 55, 57) of non-superconducting material extending generally along the length of said magnet coil means (5) and conductors (59, 61) at the ends of said strips connecting said strips into a closed loop. The system of claim 4 further characterized in that said heater means (63, 65) comprises at least two heater members each comprising a pair of strips (51, 53; 55, 57) of non-superconducting material extending generally along the length of the magnet coil means (5) and conductors (59, 61) at the end of the strips of each pair connecting each said pair of strips into independent closed loops. The system of claim 5 further characterized in that said bypass diode (77) is contained entirely within said cryostat (9). The system of claim 4 further characterized by a blocking diode (79) in said closed loop formed by said strips (51, 53; 55, 57) and said conductors (59, 61), said blocking diode (79) being polarized to block current during ramp-up of current into the magnetic coil means (5) and for passing current induced in said heater means by commutation by said bypass diode (77) of current from the magnet coil means. The system of claim 1 further characterized in that said magnet assembly includes a plurality of serially connected superconducting magnets (5a-5l) each having a magnetic coil means, wherein said heater means (63, 65) comprises elongated closed loop heater members extending along each magnet coil means, and wherein said bypass diode means (77a-77l) includes a bypass diode connected across each preselected number magnet coils. The system of claim 8 further characterized in that said preselected number of magnet coils is one. The system of claim 9 further characterized in that said bypass diode (77) is contained entirely within said cryostat (9).	WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP; WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION	LOWRY JERALD FRANK; LOWRY, JERALD FRANK
EP-0489295-B1	489,295	EP	B1	EN	19,980,610	1,992	20,100,220	new	G01N21	G02F1, G01R31	G02F1, G01N21, G01M11	G01N 21/956A, S01N21:95G	Liquid crystal panel inspection method	The present invention makes it possible for unskilled to inspect the total surface of a liquid crystal panel accurately in short time. It is defined that a liquid crystal panel can be divided into a single part which is a constituent, isolable, and an inspectable area, and that the single part to be unit area of image which is defined as a pattern to be inspected. Before the inspection, a unit area of an image without defect is selected from a liquid crystal panel to be inspected. The upper limit reference pattern and the lower limit reference pattern are generated by giving the maximal brightness in a convolution and adding the predetermined brightness and by giving the minimal brightness in the convolution and subtracting the predetermined brightness, respectively, to each pixel of the convolution. Comparing a brightness of each pixel of the upper limit and the lower limit reference pattern with a brightness of a pixel of a pattern to be inspected corresponding to it, the liquid crystal panel to be inspected is judged to be up to standard when more than a predetermined number of pixels are within the range between the upper limit and the lower limit brightness of the reference pattern.	FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to an inspection method for a liquid crystal panel used for a display device of a computer or the like.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONWhen liquid crystal panels are manufactured, several percent of defective products occurs. Conventionally, the defective products are found out by eye-inspection. First, observing the luminousness of the surface of a panel energized, the defective parts are roughly found out. Next, observing each part of a defective liquid crystal panel in detail, it is inspected where the defective parts are and how the parts are defective.Such eye-inspection is, however, very difficult. It takes several hours to inspect one liquid crystal panel, even for one skilled in the inspection. Document JP-A-1 191 048 discloses an inspection method for a liquid crystal plate wherein a section to be inspected is compared with a master element. The result of the inspection is obtained by a shape matching between the inspected section and the master element. The inspection method for automatic inspection of an IC may be applicable to inspection of liquid crystal. This method is one of a pattern matching method, in such an IC image is compared with a blueprint. Since the parts on the liquid crystal has a thickness and is rather three-dimensional, the edge of the parts appears as shadowy lines, differently from the flat surface of an IC. The input apparatus for the image of a liquid crystal is adjusted not to take the shadowy lines, however a part of the lines may be inputted due to optical aberration and light condition. In such an image, it is impossible to find out defective parts without fail by comparing the parts with a template.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal panel inspection method, by which it is possible for the unskilled person inspect in a short time.This object is achieved by a method comprising the steps set out in claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are defined in claims 2-7. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFig. 1 shows the method for the judgment of whether a liquid crystal panel to be inspected is defectless or not.Fig. 2 shows the pattern with the allowable range.Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of an apparatus used for the inspection method of this invention.PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTIONHereinafter, the present invention is described referring to the attached drawings.Fig. 3 shows an apparatus used for the present invention. A liquid crystal panel 11 is located inside of a support frame 12 and fixed on the frame 12 with bolts 13. Support frame 12 is movably mounted on a pair of rails 15 located on a movable plate 14. A cylinder device 16 is fixed on the end of the movable plate 14, whose piston rod 17 is connected with the support frame 12. Movable plate 14 is movably mounted on a pair of rails 22 located on fixed plate 21. Similar to the movable plate 14, the fixed plate 21 is provided with a cylinder device 23 at one end whose piston rod 24 is connected with the movable plate 14.Support frame 12 is moved parallel to the movable plate 14 by controlling the cylinder device 16, and the movable plate 14 moves parallel to the fixed plate 21 by controlling the cylinder device 23. Cylinder devices 16 and 23 are driven by drive circuits 25 and 26, respectively, so as to move the piston rods 17 and 24 forward or backward. Drive circuits 25 and 26 are controlled by a control circuit 27.A microscope 31 is supported by a fixed frame (not shown) above the liquid crystal panel 11. Each pattern is inputted through the microscope 31, as described later. The image of this pattern is inputted to image processing system 32 and various processings are performed therein. Image processing system 32 is controlled by computer 33.A light source 34, such as a stroboscope, is provided for light-ing the support frame 12 from above. It is fixed to and movable with the support frame 12. The light source 34 is driven by a drive circuit 35 which is controlled by control circuit 27.Firstly, Fig. 1 will be described here. Fig. 1 shows the process to judge whether a liquid crystal panel is defective or not by comparing a pattern to be inspected with a reference pattern.On step 101, the reference pattern of the panel to be inspected is determined. A liquid crystal panel can be divided into single parts, each of which is a constituent, isolable, and an inspectable area. The term pattern as used here means the single part as a unit area of image of the liquid crystal panel. Numerous cells constitute a liquid crystal panel, wherein a definite number of cells form the unit area. The reference pattern is determined by selecting a pattern which belongs to the group with the maximal number of similar characteristics, among a plurality of patterns extracted at random.On step 102, the reference pattern is inputted by a microscope and so forth and the mean brightness is calculated. On step 103, the mean brightness is adjusted to 128 by adding to or subtracting from the brightness of each pixel even if the actual mean brightness is, for example, 100 or 150, which makes it possible to inspect the brightness of a pattern to be inspected with the upper limit and the lower limit range. The value of 128 is the middle value of brightnesses shown with 256 levels.On step 104, the predetermined value is added to subtracted from the adjusted reference brightness pattern in order to determine the range of brightness. The patterns obtained are determined to be the upper limit brightness pattern and the lower limit brightness pattern, respectively, and a pattern between them is called the pattern within the allowable range (Fig. 2). When the pattern to be inspected is within the allowable range, the liquid crystal panel to be inspected is judged to be up to standard, that is, to be defectless.However, the accurate brightness of a pattern to be inspected cannot be calculated if the location of it is not exact to input it by the microscope or the like. In such a case, the pattern to be inspected can be judged to be defective even when it is within the allowable range, and vice versa, it can be judged to be up to standard when it is outside the allowable range. In order to prevent this swelling is performed to the upper limit brightness pattern on step 105. Here, swelling is the processing step to give the maximal brightness in a 3x3 convolution to the center pixel. This processing step absorbs the difference of one pixel above, below, right-hand neighbor and left-hand neighbor of the centre pixel of the pattern. In the same way, shrinking is performed to the pattern on the lower limit brightness. On shrinking, a 3x3 convolution can absorb the difference of one pixel in the same way as swelling. By performing such a processing, it is possible to avoid the error of calculation of the brightness caused by the difference of the location upon inputting a pattern to be inspected.On step 106, after inputting a pattern to be inspected by a micro-scope or the like, the brightness of it is calculated. On step 107, the value same as for the reference pattern is added to or subtracted from each pixel of the pattern to be inspected.On step 108, the pattern to be inspected which is adjusted on step 107 is measured to see if it is within the allowable range or not. When it is within the allowable range, it is judged to be up to standard on step 109. On the other hand, when it exceeds the upper limit value or is below the lower limit value, the pattern to be inspected is judged to be defective.As mentioned above, with the present invention it is possible for the unskilled person to inspect the total surface of a liquid crystal panel accurately within a short time.	An inspection method for inspecting a liquid crystal panel which can be divided into single parts which are constituent, isolable and inspectable areas, said single part being defined to be a unit area of image one of which is defined as a pattern to be inspected, for judging whether it is defective or not by comparing said pattern to be inspected with a reference pattern recorded beforehand comprising the steps of: i) Selecting a unit area of image having no defect from the liquid crystal panel as a reference pattern before the inspection of the pattern to be inspected;ii) Calculating the mean brightness value of the reference pattern;iii) Adjusting the mean brightness value of said reference pattern to the mid-point of the brightness range by adding or subtracting a suitable brightness value to or from the brightness value of each pixel of the reference pattern to obtain an adjusted reference pattern;iv) Generating an upper limit reference pattern and a lower limit reference pattern by adding said suitable value and by subtracting said suitable value respectively, to/from the brightness value of each pixel of said adjusted reference pattern; v) Comparing the brightness value of each pixel of the upper limit and the lower limit reference pattern with the brightness value of a corresponding pixel of the pattern to be inspected;vi) Judging said liquid crystal panel to be inspected to be up to the standard when the brightness value of more than a predetermined number of pixels is within the range between the brightness values of said upper limit and said lower limit reference patterns.An inspection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said unit area of image comprises a definite number of cells.An inspection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said liquid crystal panel comprises a group of patterns with similar characteristics.An inspecting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said adjusted mean brightness value is adjusted to be 128.An inspection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein swelling is performed for said upper limit brightness pattern.An inspection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein shrinking is performed for said lower limit brightness pattern.An inspection method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said suitable value same as for said reference pattern is added to or subtracted from each pixel of the pattern to be inspected.	SHARP KK; YOZAN INC; SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA; YOZAN INC.	HIIRO KAORU; KUMAGAI RYOHEI; OOSAKA MANABU; SHIMIZU HARUMI; TAKAHASHI TOORU; HIIRO, KAORU; KUMAGAI, RYOHEI; OOSAKA, MANABU; SHIMIZU, HARUMI; TAKAHASHI, TOORU; Hiiro, Kaoru, c/o Ezel Inc.; KUMAGAI, RYOHEI, C/O EZEL INC.; Oosaka, Manabu, c/o Ezel Inc.; Shimizu, Harumi, c/o Ezel Inc.; Takahashi, Tooru, c/o Ezel Inc.
EP-0489301-B1	489,301	EP	B1	EN	19,960,508	1,992	20,100,220	new	G11B27	G11B27	G11B27, H04N5	G11B 27/031, G11B 27/34, G11B 27/32C, H04N 5/14S	Moving picture managing device	In a moving picture managing device, a boundary sensor (4) senses the boundary between a cut of the input moving picture consisting of a plurality of frames and another cut on the basis of the difference in the number of blocks at the time of encoding the moving picture for a frame between the frame and an adjacent frame. Based on the boundaries sensed at the boundary sensor (4), the moving picture is filed in cuts. The moving picture is processed so as to be stored in a memory (3) in a tree structure fashion in which the moving picture is composed of scenes and a plurality of cuts, each scene consisting of cuts. The filing is managed in cuts under the tree structure.	This invention relates to a moving picture managing device capable of performing the electronic input, display, storage, editing, and retrieval of moving pictures. With the recent spread of VTRs and video movies, moving pictures have been one of the most popular media. As more and more moving pictures are recorded to storage media such as videocassettes, it is increasingly difficult to manage them. At present, there is no choice but to inefficiently to retrieve stored moving pictures using the label of each cassette. Since videocassettes are basically sequential access media, to locate a desired scene in a videocassette for retrieval or editing, it is necessary to repeat the fast-forward and the fast-rewind transport while watching the tape counter until the desired portion is reached. Therefore, it is difficult not only to find out the necessary scene or cut, but also to edit tape in scenes or cuts. Furthermore, cut-by-cut filing is too heavy a burden for the user. GB-A-2 189 037 discloses a videotape editing system in which when a videotape is generated from a cinematographic film, a consecutive code on each frame of the film is detected by the video camera having a change detector. Discontinuities of the frame count are stored so as to obtain a listing of information regarding the edit points of the film. The document PATTERN RECOGNITION Vol. 17 No. 1 1984 Great Britain, pages 29-43; H,. Tamura et al: Image database systems discloses a tree-structure for storing data within an image database. It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of difficulty in finding out the necessary scene or cut and editing tape in scenes or cuts and of forcing the user to do unreasonably troublesome cut-by-cut filing, by providing a moving picture managing device that manages moving pictures by storing them in a tree structure fashion in which a moving picture is composed of scenes and cuts, assures not only easy retrieval of necessary scenes and cuts but also easy editing on a scene or cut basis, and even provides automatic cut-by-cut filing to ease the user's burden. The foregoing object is accomplished by providing a moving picture managing device comprising the features of claim 1. With this arrangement, each cut boundary is sensed on the basis of the amount of change in the number of blocks at the time of encoding a moving picture for a frame between adjacent frames. Based on the sensed cut boundaries, the moving picture is divided into single-cut files, each cut consisting of a plurality of frames, and these single-cut files are stored in storage means. The stored single-cut files are read from the storage means for display. Seeing what is displayed on the screen, the operator is allowed to specify the partition of adjacent scenes, each consisting of a plurality of cuts. According to this invention, a moving picture is stored in the storage means in the form of a tree structure of scenes and cuts. With this method, moving pictures can be managed by storing them in the form of a tree structure of scenes and cuts, which provides easy retrieval of necessary scenes and cuts as well as easy editing on a scene or cut basis. Additionally, cut-by-cut filing can be performed automatically, thereby easing a burden on the user. This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the construction of a moving picture managing device according to the present invention; Fig. 2 shows a format of moving pictures to be processed by the moving picture managing device according to the present invention; Fig. 3 is a block diagram for the cut boundary sensing section of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a block diagram for the encoder of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a block diagram for the boundary sensor of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is an explanatory view for the operation of the boundary sensor of Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a block diagram for the video interface of Fig. 1; Fig. 8 illustrates how a moving picture is formed with respect to time; Fig. 9 is a tree structure diagram of the scenes and cuts constituting a moving picture; Fig. 10 shows the structure of a single-cut file; and Fig. 11 depicts a picture on the display in the moving picture managing device according to the present invention. An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail, referring to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a block diagram for a moving picture managing device according to the present invention. The moving picture managing device is composed of: a CPU 1 for performing various controls; a CRT display device 2 for displaying moving pictures and information on moving picture management; a memory 3 for storing the control program for the CPU 1, pictures to be displayed on the CRT display device 2, and others; a boundary sensing section 4 for receiving a series of moving pictures made up of a plurality of cuts and sensing cut boundaries; a magnetic disk device 11 for handling a magnetic disk (HD) 5 that stores a series of moving pictures or single-cut files consisting of a plurality of frames segmented at the boundary sensing section 4; a video interface 6 for receiving an NTSC (National Television System Committee) signal from a video camera 7, VTR 8, or the like and converting it into a format suitable for the present moving picture managing device; the video camera 7 or VRT 8 connected to the video interface 6; and a mouse (or a keyboard) serving as input means. Connected to a bus 9 are the CPU 1, memory 3, boundary sensing section 4, video interface 6, mouse 10, and magnetic disk device 11, of which the CPU 1 controls the other components. In place of the magnetic disk 5, other types of storage medium may be used. For example, an optical disk (OD) or a remote file by way of a network may be used. An example of a format of moving pictures used in the embodiment is shown in Fig. 2. A pixel is represented by density of 8 bits and chromaticity (I, Q) of 4 bits each and 640 × 512 pixels constitute a frame and 30 frames are processed in a second. The boundary sensing section 4 carries out operation in blocks that are obtained by dividing 640 × 512 pixels into blocks of 8 × 8 pixels. The boundary sensing section 4, as shown in Fig. 3, is composed of: an encoder 41 for encoding the input picture through the intraframe comparison of sensing the presence or absence of movements by comparing a frame with the previous frame in blocks or the interframe comparison of sensing the presence or absence of movements by comparing the adjacent frames in terms of the number of blocks encoded, which causes smaller errors; a boundary sensor 42 for sensing the cut boundaries of consecutive frames by using the intraframe flag/interframe flag supplied from the encoder 41; and a decoder 43 for decoding the encoded moving pictures. Moving picture information encoded at the encoder 41 is segmented into cuts at the boundaries sensed by the boundary sensor 42, and these cuts, with a cut as a file, are stored in the magnetic disk 5. The decoder 43 decodes a file stored in the magnetic disk 5 when it is displayed. The encoder 41, as shown in Fig. 4, is made up of an intraframe/interframe judging unit 411, an orthogonal transform unit 412, a quantization unit 413, an inverse quantization unit 414, an inverse orthogonal transform unit 415, a frame memory 416, a loop filter 417, an encoder 418, a subtracter 410, selector switches 408 and 409, and an adder 407. The intraframe/interframe judging unit 411 predicts for a frame the amount of change in the moving picture motion between the input block and the block undergone motion compensation using a retrieved motion vector and, when the prediction error is large, continues the prediction between the input block and the block already present in the frame. When the prediction error is large, then the selector switches 409 and 408 will be switched to the upper position to deliver the picture of the input block as it is to the orthogonal transform unit 412 via the selector switch 409. When the prediction error is small, then the selector switches 409 and 408 will be changed to the lower position, so that the block or blocks of the immediately preceding picture from the loop filter 417 is or are subtracted from the input block of a moving picture at the subtracter 410 and then the resulting picture is supplied to the orthogonal transform unit 412. The orthogonal transform unit 412 performs a two-dimensional orthogonal transform (DCT) on the picture sup plied from the selector switch 409. The quantization unit 413 quantizes the result of orthogonal transform at the orthogonal transform unit 412. The inverse quantization unit 414 carries out the inverse quantization in order to perform the motion compensation of the coefficient of 8 × 8 pixels after quantization by the quantization unit 413. The inverse orthogonal transform unit 415 decodes the data from the inverse quantization unit 414 by inverse orthogonal transform. The frame memory 416 stores the added picture (the immediately preceding picture) from the adder 407, the picture being obtained by adding the decoded data from the inverse orthogonal transform unit 415 to the picture supplied via the loop filter 417 and selector switch 408 from the frame memory 416 at the adder 407. The loop filter 417 is used to reduce quantization errors. The encoder 418 supplies codes according to the block specification by the intraframe/interframe judging unit 411, the quantization index for conversion coefficient and the instruction from the quantization unit 413, the motion vector from the frame memory 416, and the loop on/off instruction from the loop filter 417. With this configuration, the intraframe/interframe judging unit 411 predicts for a frame the amount of change in the moving picture motion between the input block and the intraframe block undergone motion compensation using a retrieved motion vector. When the prediction error is large, the selector switches 409 and 408 will be switched to the upper position, whereas when it is small, they will be switched to the lower position. Therefore, with a large prediction error, the picture of the input block is supplied as it is via the selector switch 409 to the orthogonal transform unit 412, which performs a two-dimensional orthogonal transform (DCT). Then, the orthogonally transformed data is quantized at the quantization unit 413 and is supplied to the encoder 418. The quantized data from the quantization unit 413 is decoded at the inverse quantization unit 414 and inverse orthogonal transform unit 415 and then is supplied to the adder 407. The adder 407 adds the decoded picture from the inverse orthogonal transform unit 415 to the immediately preceding picture from the frame memory 416 and the resulting picture updates the contents of the frame memory 416. The encoder 418 supplies codes according to the specification of blocks in the intraframe/interframe by the intraframe/interframe judging unit 411, the quantization index for conversion coefficient and the instruction from the quantization unit 413, the motion vector from the frame memory 416, and the loop filter on/off instruction from the loop filter 417. The way of dividing a moving picture composed of a series of frames into cuts will now be explained. Since there is a great similarity between continuous frames within a cut, interframe encoding has smaller prediction errors, requiring the decreased number of blocks to undergo intraframe encoding. Conversely, a correlation between the last frame of a cut and the first frame of the next cut is much less strong, so that intraframe encoding is more preferable, which locally increases the number of blocks undergone intraframe encoding. In this way, a series of moving pictures is segmented into individual cuts. The boundary sensor 42, as shown in Fig. 5, is made up of an adder 421, a comparator 422, FF circuits 423 through 426, and logic gates 427 through 434. The adder 421, which is initialized to zero by the frame end signal (or the frame start signal) from the CPU 1, checks each block to see if the flag from the encoder 41 is that of intraframe or interframe, and increases by 1 when it is an intraframe flag, while remaining unchanged when it is an interframe flag. The comparator 422 compares the number of blocks encoded for a frame with the threshold value previously given by the CPU 1 and when the number of blocks is larger, supplies a flag indicating that there was a change (or a presence-of-change flag). The FF circuits 423 through 426, which constitute a four-stage circuit and latch the presence-of-change flag from the comparator 422 with the timing of the frame end signal from the CPU 1, hold information on the presence or absence of changes in the last four frames. The logic gates 427 through 434 made up a logic circuit that determines that a cut boundary is sensed when the flags indicating the presence or absence of changes in five consecutive frames are in the order of <absence, presence, absence, , (* may be either presence or absence)> or <absence, presence, presence, absence, > or <absence, presence, presence, presence, absence>. With this arrangement, the adder 421 is initialized to zero for each frame with the timing of the frame end signal from the CPU 1. When the flag sent from the encoder 41 for each block is that of an intraframe block, the adder 421 increases by 1 and supplies the result to the comparator 422. When the comparator 422 determines that the contents of addition from the adder 421, or the number of blocks encoded for a frame, is larger than the specified threshold value, it supplies a presence-of-change flag to the FF circuit 423. The FF circuits 423 through 426, with the timing of the frame end signal form the CPU 1, latch the presence-of-change flag in sequence to hold information on the presence or absence of changes in the last four frames. When the contents of the latched data in the FF circuits 423 through 426 are one of <absence, presence, absence, , >, <absence, presence, presence, absence, >, and <absence, presence, presence, presence, absence>, logical operation by the logic gates 427 through 434 determines that a cut boundary has been sensed and the logic gate 428 produces a boundary flag. That is, this logic circuit determines the existence of a cut boundary when a presence of change continues over three consecutive three frames or less with the preceding and the following absence. An example of judgment is shown in Fig. 6. The number of frames are indicated on the abscissa axis and the number of blocks encoded for each frame on the ordinate axis. It is assumed that the number of blocks encoded has changed as shown in the figure. Because peak 1 has a portion higher than the threshold value for only one frame with the preceding and following frames remaining unchanged, the boundary sensor 42 of Fig. 5 judges that a boundary is sensed. As a result, the first frame to the frame immediately before peak 1 are segmented as cut 1 and stored as a file. Similarly, peak 2 is also judged for a boundary, so that the frames from peak 1 to just before peak 2 are segmented as cut 2. On the other hand, peak 3 has more than three consecutive frames with the presence of change, so that it is not judged to be a boundary. In this way, an object moving in front of the lens of the video camera 7 or a sudden, large movement of the video camera is not erroneously judged to be a cut boundary, which provides good segmentation. In the embodiment, a portion where an absence of change lasts for one or more frames, a presence of change for three or less consecutive frames, and an absence of change for one or more frames in that order is judged to be the boundary of peak 1. By modifying the FF circuit and logic gates of Fig. 5, it is also possible to make the same judgment when an absence of change lasts for Tf or more consecutive frames, a presence of change for Tw or more consecutive frames, and an absence of change for Ta or more consecutive frames in that order. Because the decoder 43 has the same construction as that of the encoder 41, the encoder 41 may be constructed so as to act as both encoder and decoder, in which case the decoder 43 is unnecessary. The video interface 6, as shown in Fig. 7, is composed of an A/D converter 61 and a format converter 62. The A/D converter 61 converts an NTSC signal from the video camera 7, VTR 8, or the like into a digital signal. The format converter 62 converts the digitized NTSC signal from the A/D converter 61 into the format shown in Fig. 2. The input signal may be of another type such as the high definition television type instead of the NTSC type. In this case, the format should be converted so as to be compatible with the resolution of the type used. Alternatively, the input signal may be converted into the format of the present embodiment beforehand at another system and supplied via a network or in the form of FD (floppy disk). The operation of the device thus constructed will now be explained. First, the entry of data from the video cassette in the video camera 7 or VTR 8 into the magnetic disk 5 is specified at the mouse 10 or keyboard. Frames of moving pictures are then supplied from the video camera 7 or VTR 8 via the video interface 6 and bus 9 to the boundary sensing section 4. The boundary sensing section 4 encodes the received moving pictures and at the same time, senses cut boundaries. After this processing, a cut consisting of a plurality of frames is stored as a file on a magnetic disk 5 in the magnetic disk device 11. In this case, as shown in Fig. 10, the magnetic disk 5 stores the name of a moving picture, cut number, cut length (in seconds), and moving-picture information consisting of a cut of encoded frames, the cut number being given serially in the cutting order. The operator specifies the reading of the picture entered in the magnetic disk 5 from the mouse 10 or keyboard. Then, the CPU 1 sequentially reads out only the first frame of each cut, under the corresponding name of a moving picture, and displays them on the CRT display device 2. Seeing what is displayed on the screen, the operator judges whether each cut has the proper end and specifies the end for a scene (a series of consecutive cuts united in terms of meaning and time). The CPU 1 assigns the scene number to each cut on the magnetic disk 5 and at the same time, replaces the cut numbers with the serial numbers of scenes. When the operator judges that the cuts have the wrong ends, the CPU 1 is caused to enter the preceding and following cuts on the magnetic disk 5 as one cut. Therefore, on the magnetic disk 5, the individual scenes and cuts for a series of moving pictures are constructed as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, and are entered in the form of a tree structure in which a plurality of scenes, each consisting of a plurality of cuts, constitute a series of moving pictures. As shown in Fig. 10, the parent cut, the daughter cuts, and the addresses of the parent cut and daughter cuts specified by the operator from the mouse 10 or keyboard are entered for each cut in the single-cut memory area of the magnetic disk 5. In the single-cut memory area of the magnetic disk 5, the pictures of the first frame and an intermediate frame are entered as the moving picture encoded for a representative frame. The picture for the representative frame is used during fast-forward transport. The CPU 1 may form a picture of a tree structure or a hierarchy structure (refer to Fig. 9) for a series of moving pictures and then enter it onto the magnetic disk 5, with the picture being associated with the cuts of the moving pictures. When the operator specifies an operation such as picture editing and the name of moving picture from the mouse 10 and keyboard, then a picture representing the tree structure or hierarchy structure corresponding to the name of moving picture will be read out of the magnetic disk 5 and, as shown in Fig. 11, be displayed in the window 21 of the CRT display device 2. What is displayed in the window 21 is a structure where a moving picture is classified into scenes and cuts, each being indicated by a particular icon. In this situation, when the operator specifies the regeneration of a particular icon from the mouse 10 or keyboard, another window 22 will be opened and the scene or cut indicated by the icon will be read from the magnetic disk 5 and displayed in the window 22. As noted above, the boundaries of cuts of the input moving picture are sensed on the basis of the amount of change between frames, and based on the sensed boundaries, the moving picture is divided into single-cut files, each consisting of a plurality of frames. Those single-cut files are stored in the magnetic disk. The picture for each stored single-cut file is read out of the magnetic file for display. Seeing the displayed picture, the operator specifies the end of a scene consisting of cuts from the mouse or keyboard. According to this specification, one moving picture is stored in the magnetic disk in the form of a hierarchy structure of scenes and cuts. In this way, it is possible to manage moving pictures by storing each moving picture in the magnetic disk in the form of a hierarchy structure of scenes and cuts, and easily find out the necessary scenes and cuts. In addition, a moving picture can be easily edited in scenes or cuts and even automatically segmented in cuts, which alleviates the user's burden.	A moving picture managing device comprising: input means (6) for inputting a moving picture, sensing means (4) for sensing the boundary between a cut of the input moving picture consisting of a plurality of frames and another cut, said sensing being carried out in accordance with an amount of change sensed by comparing a frame with the previous frame, said frames being encoded in blocks, and the number of blocks encoded in adjacent frames specifying the amount of change, storage means (5) for storing in cuts the moving picture sensed by said sensing means; output means (2) connected to said storage means (5) for supplying the moving picture in cuts read from said storage means (5); specifying means (10) for specifying the partition between a scene made up of a plurality of cuts of the moving picture supplied from said output means (2) and another scene; and processing means (1) for, according to the specification by said specifying means (10), storing one moving picture in a tree structure fashion in which the moving picture is composed of one scene and a plurality of cuts. The moving picture managing device according to claim 1, characterized in that said sensing means (4) determines that the boundary is sensed when for one side of adjacent frames consists of consecutive frames each of which has the number of encoded blocks less than a specified value and larger than a threshold value. The moving picture managing device according to claim 1, characterized in that said sensing means (4) contains encoding means (41) for receiving and encoding a moving picture and a boundary sensor (42) connected to said encoding means (41), which, receiving either an intraframe flag or an interframe flag from said encoding means (41), supplies a boundary sense flag depending on the presence or absence of a flag indicating a threshold value is exceeded.	TOSHIBA KK; KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA	SAITO AKIRA; SAITO, AKIRA; Saito, Akira, c/o Intellectual Property Div.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.