Other

Centigram Corporation

Foresight, Inc.

Iben Browning

Robert E McClure

Carl L Berney

Robert G Chapman, Jr

L John Postas

George Glaser

John D Madden

The subject matter of the invention described herein is a cleaning device employing both ultrasonic and heat cleaning techniques and a method of cleaning an object utilizing techniques possible with the apparatus of the invention. The cleaning device includes a housing which receives a container for holding the object to be cleaned as well as a cleaning media. The housing defines a well which receives the container and the well is filled with water to partially surround the container. Heating elements raise the temperature of the cleaning media to at least 65.degree. C. Independent means generate ultrasonic waves which are transmitted through the container wall to the object being cleaned. Sequential timing means first operates the ultrasonic wave generating means followed by the heating means. In this manner, particulate matter may be removed from the object to be cleaned by the ultrasonic waves including pulsating currents which are induced by the ultrasonic waves. The object is then pasteurized using heat without baking foreign particulate matter onto the object. The currents set up by the ultrasonic waves will also cause circulation within the container and appropriate filter means is utilized in the path of the currents to filter out foreign particulate matter. The method includes the steps of subjecting a cleaning media holding an object to be cleaned to ultrasonic waves over a period of time sufficient to loosen and remove solid material together with circulating cleaning media and filtering the circulating media to filter out loosed particles followed by heating of the cleaning media to pasteurization temperature.

Ultrasonic cleaning method

Ultrasonic cleaning method and apparatus

An optical projection system which in one implementation reflects illumination from a source off of an electro-optic imaging member in the shape of a plate. The imaging member in the preferred embodiment is an electro-optic ceramic plate, such as PLZT, which is substantially transparent to visible light when not affected by an electric field or electron beam. The imaging member is bonded to the front face-plate of a cathode-ray tube which includes an electron beam generator, a controller for modulatng the intensity of the electron beam with an image and a raster scan generator for scanning the beam across the front face of the tube. At spots where the electron beam strikes the electro-optic plate, the opalescence of the spot is changed in accordance with the scattering effect of the crystal and in dependence upon the intensity of the beam thereby writing a physical nonvolatile image in the imaging member. The imaging member has a transparent electrode on its front face, and an opposing electrode on the back face of the plate. The electrode on the back face of the plate is formed of a multiplicity of strip-like elements which are arranged in substantially parallel rows in the form of a raster. The strip-like elements are mirrored to reflect the illumination of the source and transparent to the electron beam to allow writing of the image in the imaging material. The image formed in areas of the plate is remanent until erased. The application of a voltage between the face electrode and one of the back electrode elements erases the image written by the electron beam scannings for that particular strip.

Optical projection system

An apparatus and method wherein speech or other signals are sampled during a time slice of approximately 1/30 second and spectrum analysis is performed on the samples, producing measures of amplitude in several frequency bands with each frequency band being characterized by a binary digit indicating the presence or absence of significant amplitude. The binary digits are collectively referred to as a sonogram. Sonograms for several time slices are then concatenated, randomized and decoded using an n-tuple technique to produce a pattern corresponding to the current speech signal. This pattern is learned by superimposing it on an existing vocabulary entry and is subsequently recognized if it is sufficiently similar to one vocabulary entry and different from all others.

Continuous speech recognition apparatus

Apparatus for the ultrasonic cleaning and sterilization of soft contact lenses and fenestrated hard contact lenses at a temperature that is low relative to that of pasturization is disclosed. A transducer element is electrically connected to a source of oscillating current to produce mechanical oscillating motion. A capsule is provided which is adapted to contain a biologically inert solution in which the soft contact lenses are immersed and the capsule is then hermetically sealed but not pressurized. Apparatus is provided for demountably connecting the capsule to the transducer element so that a continuous spanwise mechanical coupling is provided from the transducer to this surface of the capsule. A tuner element may be interposed in the connecting apparatus. The lower surface of the capsule is vibrated at a preselected ultrasonic frequency to induce ultrasonic waves in the solution in the capsule and to heat the solution in a controlled manner to clean and sterilize the soft contact lenses therein. The solution in the capsule is sterilized as well, giving rise to alternative uses of the instant invention.

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Sandia Park, NM, United States of America

Iben Browning