[Gerhard Wieland, Klaus Steckenreuter, Wolfgang Gernand, Helmut Simgen] DEX Darmstadt The invention relates to opening aids for an ampul which is closed by upper and lower plastic membranes. The opening aids are funnel-shaped sleeves, one of which contains a membrane welded to one of the plastic membranes closing the ampul, and the other of which includes a plastic punch for rupturing the upper membrane.

[Alain Leveque, Richard Fitoussi] FRX Courbevoie Rare earth and cobalt values are separated and recovered from residue materials containing them, e.g., the waste residues from the production of samarium/cobalt magnets, by (a) dissolving such residues with nitric acid, (b) liquid/liquid extracting the resulting aqueous nitric phase with an organic phase including at least one water-insoluble organic extractant having at least one primary, secondary, tertiary or quaternary amine function, whereby the rare earth values are transferred into the organic phase, and (c) recovering the rare earth values from the organic phase.

[John R. Rowlette] PA Harrisburg A method directed to a system for splitting, imaging and focusing a pulsing laser beam, such as from an excimer laser, onto a workpiece to improve the subsequent metal plating of such workpiece. A preferred technique of laser assisted plating is a system for laser ablating a plurality of contact areas on electrical terminals, where the areas are covered by ablatable resist. The preferred system comprises a carrier strip having a plurality of electrical terminals mounted thereon; a pulsed laser for directing radiation at the carrier strip; a hologram mounted in the radiation path between the laser and the carrier strip for splitting the radiation from the laser into a plurality of radiation beams directed towards the plurality of contact areas; and mechanism for synchronizing the movement of the carrier strip with the pulsing of the laser so that a respective one of the plurality of outgoing beams ablates the resist over a respective one of the contacts as the contact areas move past the hologram.

[Nargis A. Mahmud] NH Nashua Disclosed is a non-crosslinked copolymer composition, for use in developing an electrophotographic latent image, comprising a styrenic compound, methylmethacrylate, and a soft comonomer. The soft comonomer has the general formula: wherein R.sub.1 is a hydrogen or methyl group, and R.sub.2 may be a ethyl, butyl, n-butyl, iso-butyl, ethyl-hexyl, propyl, octyl, lauryl or stearyl group. The softening range of this copolymer is 2 to 15 Celcius temperature units broader than comparable non-crosslinked copolymers which do not contain methyl methacrylate.

[You Seung Kim, Sang Woo Park, Jea Cheol Kim] KRX Seoul Nitrobenzoyl-3-cyclopropylaminoacrylates are prepared by two stage reaction: (a) The first stage is the synthesis of nitrobenzoyl-3-alkoxyacrylates from nitrobenzoylester compound and alkylorthoformate in organic acid solvent. (b) The second stage is the synthesis of nitrobenzoyl-3-cyclo propylamino acrylate from nitrobenzoyl-3-alkoxyacrylates and cyclopropylamine.

[Roger L. Taigen] OK Altus 3609 Ranch Rd. East 73521 A weightlifting belt including an elongated belt body adapted to encircle the abdominal region. A heavy duty webbing backup element extends over a major portion of the length of the belt body, and a lumbar support pad is secured to the center of the belt body. Strips of self-gripping fastener material are secured to opposite sides of the belt body adjacent its opposite ends, and form a first closure subassembly of a double closure system. A holding strap is secured to, and projects from, one end of the belt body, and is extendable through a buckle spaced along the belt body from the opposite end thereof. The holding strap carries self-gripping material positioned to engage an additional strip of such material carried between the ends of the belt body. This provides the second closure subassembly of the double closure system.

[James Wood] OH Marysville 22122 U.S. Rte. 33 43040 A signalling system is used in conjunction with a mailbox, a newpaper tube or the like to signal the arrival of mail, a newpaper or the like. The system is highly visible in bright sunlight and is also visible at night and includes a ball that is held in an upper location adjacent to the mailbox and is released as soon as the door is opened to drop downwardly. Two serially connected switches couple a light bulb to a power source, with one of the switches being manually operated and the other switch being operated when the ball drops into its lower position.

[Robert O'Donovan, Robert Ippolito] NY Commack A child carrier assembly for a bicycle is provided. The child carrier assembly of the invention includes a seat assembly for retaining the child, a frame assembly for supporting the seat assembly on the bicycle behind the bicycle seat, and an assembly for strapping the child in a seat assembly. The carrier assembly also includes a head supporting assembly for supporting the head of the child when the child is carried in the carrier. The assembly of the invention can be removed from the bicycle without the use of any tools.

[Shigenori Kohno, Kenji Tsujita] JPX Tokyo A carrier for use in a developer for electro-photography, which comprises a core material and provided thereon in order, an intermediate resin layer and a layer for controlling triboelectric chargeability, said resin containing as a repeating unit a fluorinated alkylmethakrylarte unit, and a developer for electrophotography using the carrier and a positively chargeable toner is disclosed.

[Chung-En Zah] NJ Livingston The effective reflectivity of angled antireflection-coated facets of a traveling-wave laser amplifier is significantly reduced by flaring the waveguiding portion of the amplifier in the immediate vicinity of the facets. In this way, low-reflectivity facets are achieved with simple low-cost antireflection coatings, thereby providing economical amplifiers characterized by wide bandwidth and high output saturation power.