International Business Machines Corporation

William G Golden

David D Saperstein

Robert J Bellar

Heinrich E Hunziker

Mattanjah S De Vries

Ashok Vats

A limit switch device for a boat lift includes a lower gear connected to and rotated by a drive shaft of the boat lift, and an interengaged upper gear operatively connected to an electronics module of the limit switch. The interengaged gears are enclosed within a gear housing that is sufficiently narrow to restrict the gears from laterally disengaging one another. The limit switch electronics module is mounted above the drive shaft and disposed interiorly of the gear mechanism. The module does not protrude beyond the frame bearing blocks that rotatably support the drive shaft and winder of the boat lift.

Boat lift limit switch

Airborne contaminants within a substantially sealed enclosure are detected and measured, in situ, without interrupting the operation of moving parts within the enclosure. At least one infrared (IR)-transparent attenuated total reflection (ATR) element, such as an optical fiber, optical fiber bundle, or ATR crystal, is disposed in the enclosure to collect or react with contaminants. An IR source is optically coupled to one part of the element, and an IR detector is optically coupled to another part of the element. The source and detector, in combination, respond to changes in intensity at the wavelengths of the IR radiation transmitted by the element to identify the contaminants and quantities thereof that settle on the element or compounds that have formed thereon. The source may be a continuous source (such as a black body) and the detector an IR spectrometer. Or, the source may be a diode laser and the detector an IR radiation detector. The sealed enclosure may be the housing of a head-disk assembly of a disk file. Atlernatively, the apparatus may include an IR-transparent ATR element disposed within the housing and an IR spectrometer optically coupled to a radiation output surface of the element for sensing emission emerging from the element. One end of the element may be reflection coated to increase the radiation output.

Surface contamination detection using infrared-transparent fibers or

A method and apparatus for simultaneously recording multiple Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) signals using an interferometer. The analog signals are coupled to switching means which is operable in response to a first control signal for synchronizing the operation of the interferometer and the control circuits and a second control signal for defining data acquisition intervals to direct the sampled data of the analog input signals over a circuit path including Sample and Hold and Analog to Digital Conversion circuits to a processor for storing the digital data corresponding to the analog input signals. The switching means is operated so that samples of the analog input signals are taken in sequence and stored in sequential storage locations in interleaved fashion. The processor is operable under program control to access the digital data so that all data samples for the same input signals are separated to produce an interferogram for each of the input signals. These interferograms can then be Fourier Transformed to produce spectra in the usual manner.

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Morgan Hill, CA, United States of America

William G Golden