A frame for facilitating storage, transport, stacking and organizing garments includes four panels linearly aligned and connected by folds or creases. The rear panel has two flaps extending transversely. The frame is integrated with a shirt when folding such that the front panel positions the front of the shirt on the front of the folded frame. The flaps extend across the front of the shirt and detachably engage to secure the shirt in a semi-rigid state having a cuboid shape. The cuboid shape is maintained by the frame and facilitates stacking, organizing, transport and storage.

An expandable and collapsible enclosure is provided for a garment refreshing appliance. The appliance has at least either a top or a bottom rigid housing structure. The enclosure comprises a wall structure extending substantially an entire height of the enclosure. The wall structure is made of a flexible material. An opening is provided in the wall structure through which garments can be introduced into or removed from the enclosure. A zipper is attached at the opening to selectively open and close the opening. A snap attachment mechanism is located at either or both of the top and a bottom of the wall structure for securing the wall structure to the top and/or bottom rigid housing structures.

A hanger assembly for a garment including a neck opening and a pair of shoulder areas, including: a frame having a pair of lateral ends, each lateral end configured to support one shoulder area of the pair of shoulder areas from inside the garment; and a suspensor, coupled to the frame to transition between a pair of locations along the frame with the pair of locations including a first location generally centered between the pair of ends and a second location closer to a particular lateral end than an other lateral end, the suspensor having a suspending mode wherein the suspensor is located at the first location and an insertion-removal mode in which the suspensor is located at the second location.

A long handled sock donning tool includes a handle portion adapted to be gripped by a user and an opposing sock engaging portion. The sock engagement portion includes first and second flanges spaced from an elongated support by first and second spacers. Each of the flanges include a sock engagement arm for retaining a sock thereon, and an opposing stabilizing arm for supporting the tool during the mounting of the sock onto the tool. First and second rubber sock gripping portions help retain the sock on the tool. Once an upper portion of a sock is folded over the sock gripping portions, a user's foot can be inserted into the sock comfortably without being forced into contact with a hard plastic wall of the tool. Additionally, the tool can be used as a shoe horn by fitting one of the first and second flanges into the heel of a shoe.

A protective coating solution, liquid, gel, or film and a method of using such a material to provide a sterile covering for fingers, hands, arms or other selected skin surface for use as a glove substitute.

A device to aid in conditioning a baseball glove, namely in the formation and/or maintenance of a baseball pocket, typically includes one or more balls, two or more looped straps, and a means for coupling the two or more looped straps to the one or more balls. The one or more balls are placed in a baseball glove proximate a desired location for the baseball pocket, and the two or more looped straps are fed through a slot of the glove interposing an interior of the glove and an exterior of the glove and wrapped around the exterior of the glove to force the ball deeper into the desired location for the baseball pocket and secure the glove around the ball.

The present invention relates to a method and device for display and/or storage of garments or other items of apparel such as skirts, dresses, ties, scarves, hats, jewelery and the like. In particular, the present invention provides a garment hanger comprising at least one rung member, wherein the at least one rung member comprises: first attachment formations disposed on the outer periphery of the rung member and adapted to receive a first portion of a first garment and; second attachment formations disposed within the outer periphery of the rung member and adapted to receive a second portion of a second garment.

A rotating rod in combination with a retractable concave/convex tape creates pairs of folds on a fabric article on a horizontal platform. A machine and method are described. The tape extends outward and downward to hold the article at a first fold location, while the rotating rod moves from below, then over and across the tape, pulling the fabric with it to create a second fold at the farthest motion of the rod. These motions are typically repeated on the other side of the article, then at right angles, created a finished, folded article of a generally rectangular shape.

A garment-hanging accessory includes a strip of material having a first end and a second end; and a clip having an engaging end biased into a normally closed position and openable upon application of pressure upon opposing levers at an opposite end of the clip, the levers connected by a spring secured about a fulcrum point between the levers, each end of the strip of material secured to a respective opposite side of each of the opposing levers, opposite ends of each lever, not secured to either of the ends of the strip of material, co-acting to define a garment engaging end when the clip is in its normally closed position. The unsecured portion of the strip opposite the clip is suspended upon a primary garment hanger.

A garment stored, transported, and displayed as a soft wedge. A triangular prism is transformed from flat fabric pieces by flexible fasteners and a method of folding. Sleeves and other delicate decorations and components are protected from damage by folding into a self enclosed polyhedron defined by two triangles and three trapezoid faces without pins, straps, ribbons, cans, cylinders, bags, boxes, or bands.

An apparatus used to store and/or display garments, such as brassieres, is provided. The device includes a first semispherical cup, a second semispherical cup, and a connecting member. The connecting member is used to interconnect the first and second cups. The connecting member allows for the spacing between the first and second cups to be adjusted. Also provided are methods of using the apparatus to store and/or display garments.

The present invention discloses a device for hanging clothes, comprising an engaging portion and a deformable elongate member, the elongate member comprising a connection mechanism such that the elongate member can be deformed back upon itself and connected to itself to form a loop.

A garment separator assembly is disclosed that includes at least two separators for maintaining even spacing between a plurality of clothing hangers on a clothing rod. The separators are spaced a distance apart that allows only a single clothing hanger to fit therebetween. Each separator includes a first member defining a first half of the separator and a second member hingedly coupled to the first member and defining an opposing second half of the separator. The second member, together with the first member, define a first inner-surface circumference and a second inner-surface circumference, wherein the second inner-surface circumference is adjacent the first inner-surface circumference. The first inner-surface circumference is larger than the second inner-surface circumference and both are sized and shaped to mate with clothing rods of various sizes and shapes.

A garment folding apparatus includes a planar center panel having a length and a width, the width being less than the length. The center panel is configured to fold in a lengthwise direction. The apparatus further includes a planar left side panel joined by a hinge to the center panel. The apparatus further includes a planar right side panel joined by a hinge to the center panel on a side opposite to the left side panel. The left side panel and the right side panel each comprise raised handle portions on an outer edge thereof. When the left side panel and the right side panel are folded onto the center panel, the handle portions fit into corresponding notches formed in side edges of the second portion of the center panel and corresponding notches formed in inner side edges of the left side panel and the right side panel.

A friction reducing element for a hanging device includes a roller configured for positioning on an upper portion of a hook and a tubular elastomeric sleeve stretch-fitted over an outer surface of the roller. The roller is provided with a contoured outer surface and the sleeve is made from a thermoset elastomer such that the friction reducing element facilitates positioning of the hanging device, along a clothing rod. Use of the thermoset elastomer also prevents premature development of areas of deformation on the friction reducing element over time. The friction reducing element may be assembled into an upper portion of a hook for a clothes hanger, or other similar hanging device.

A stackable garment hanger is configured to stack vertically, with successive hangers being positioned in an undulating, back-and-forth manner. At least a portion of each garment hanger nests within the outline of the next garment hanger in a vertical stack of identical garment hangers. The front and back garment hangers may be substantially mirror images of each other. The garment hanger includes at least one pair of binding slots extending therethrough and separated by a predetermined distance that coincides with the up-and-down, undulating offset distance between each adjacent, nested and stacked garment hanger. In this manner, a coaxial opening or continuous channel is formed through the alternating, successive alignment of an upper slot an adjacent lower slot, a further adjacent upper slot, and so forth.

A pre-threaded and knotted needle with a length of thread knotted though the eye of the needle and a connection securing the ends of the thread and a sleeve securing a bundle of the thread so that the thread is not tangled until it is released and ready for use The thread is bundle is formed by wrapping it into a bundle and securing a sleeve around the bundle of the thread so that the thread is not tangled until it is released and ready for use. The bundle is released for use by pulling on the needle and the end of the thread to release the bundle of thread.

A biochar generator may include a pyrolysis chamber, a heater connected to the pyrolysis chamber and a biochar collection chamber in communication with the pyrolysis chamber. A biochar collection chamber sensor may sense a composition of the biochar collected in the biochar collection chamber to define a sensed composition of the biochar. A controller in electrical communication with the biochar collection chamber sensor may utilize the sensed composition of the biochar to dynamically alter conditions in the pyrolysis chamber to alter the composition of the biochar.

A process for the controlled gasification of a carbonaceous feedstock includes pyrolizing the feedstock by conveying the feedstock through a retort surrounded by a plurality of successive heating chambers each comprising an axially adjustable chamber separation wall and each operated at a predetermined temperature, wherein a predetermined dwell time of the feedstock in each of the plurality of successive heating chambers is controlled by a conveyance rate of the feedstock through the retort and a position of each of the axially adjustable chamber separation walls to produce a gas product and a solid product. The gas product includes methane and noxious chemicals and the solid product includes carbon, and the pyrolizing step is controlled using feedback related to constituents of the gas product.

There is described a system and method for recycling carbon-containing material, in particular tires and plastics materials. The system includes a heating arrangement for anaerobically heating carbon containing material to produce carbon-containing gases. A condensing arrangement is also used to condense a proportion of the carbon-containing gases to provide condensed gases and non-condensed gases. In addition, a recirculating arrangement is provided for recirculating the non-condensed gases into the heating arrangement. Further systems and methods for pre- and post-processing of the carbon-containing material are also disclosed and products of the systems and methods are also described.

Described is an apparatus and method for recovery of energy and by-products from automobile and truck tires. The tires are heated in an oxygen poor environment, and the off gases are condensed to recover a liquid oil product and compressible natural gas. The tires are reduces to ash and steel, both of which can be feed streams for other processes. The apparatus includes a condenser with cooled plates, and oil recovery structures.

The present invention provides a microwave assisted flash pyrolysis system to carry out microwave assisted flash pyrolysis in an industrial scale. The microwave assisted flash pyrolysis system comprises at least one microwave generator; a chamber comprises: at least one feedstock inlet, at least one baffle plate, a microwave-transparent rotating window, and at least one microwave inlet, at least one wet gas outlet, and at least one dry end product outlet. The present invention also provides a method using the same system to carry out microwave assisted flash pyrolysis.

This invention relates to a system for obtaining hydrocarbons from organic or inorganic solid waste, wherein said system comprises: an inlet chamber, within which is a mixer assembly which mixes and conveys the waste through said chamber, which is also at ambient temperature, thus avoiding any thermal shock to the solid waste for processing; a dehydration chamber with a mixing assembly therein, and the upper part of this chamber contains an expansion chamber for promoting more efficient molecular breakdown; the thermal breakdown is carried out in two reactors which are operated at different temperatures, the first thermal disassociation reactor which has inside a mixer unit, and which in its upper part houses an expansion chamber, the second thermal breakdown reactor, therein has a mixer unit, and in the upper portion thereof houses an expansion chamber and at the top end thereof a vertical expansion tower; wherein the thermolytic steam is homogenized, a separator of heavy hydrocarbons, which does not require an additional cooling system, a multiple valve determines the temperature and oxygen content of the vapors and conveys them to the expansion tower in order to optimize the production of hydrocarbons, and to obtain a liquid hydrocarbon with high heating value.

Method for fast pyrolysis of lignocellulose including: mechanically comminuting the lignocellulose to lignocellulose particles; at least one of completely drying and preheating the lignocellulose particles; mixing the lignocellulose particles with heat transfer particles so as to provide a mixture; heating the heat transfer particles, prior to the mixing, to a temperature between 500° C. and 650° C.; and heating, in a pyrolysis reactor with oxygen excluded, the lignocellulose particles using the heat transfer particles so as to establish a temperature between 400° C. and 600° C. for 1 to 50 seconds and so as to react the lignocellulose particles so as to provide pyrolysis coke, pyrolysis condensate, and pyrolysis gas.

The invention relates to a method of positioning service equipment of a coal-charging larry cart at charging ports of a coke oven, wherein a rail-guided larry cart is moved on the roof of a coke oven and is positioned at locations known by a machine control system and corresponding to charging ports in the oven roof in order to charge the oven chambers, and wherein then at least one piece of service equipment of the coal-charging larry cart is guided to the charging ports by horizontal biaxial positioning movements. According to the invention, an optical measurement method is used after each positioning of the larry cart to detect the coordinates of at least one marking that is applied to the oven roof and that has a fixed relationship with the center axis of a charging port within a measurement field that is predefined by the measurement method and to compare them with reference values that are stored in the machine control system for the marking. The deviations between the measured coordinates and the coordinates stored in the machine control system are determined for both axial directions. Differential values are then taken into account as correction values during the positioning movement of the piece of service equipment. The subject matter of the invention is furthermore formed by an apparatus for carrying out the described method.

A method and apparatus for pyrolytic destruction of polymer products including whole vehicle vulcanised rubber tires is disclosed. The apparatus 111 has a reaction chamber 153 into which a tire can be placed, and immersed for pyrolytic decomposition in a molten alloy of zinc with a minor proportion of aluminium. The apparatus 111 has a heated reservoir 155 in which the alloy is maintained in a molten state, and from where it can be transferred to the reaction chamber 153 to immerse the tire. Fluid hydrocarbon byproducts are drawn off for condensation and recovery, and solid zinc sulphides are also recovered. Where steel belted tires are processed, carbon and steel residues are also recovered.

A system, method and configuration for recovering turpentine during the manufacturing of wood chips, wood pellets or other substances that may include turpentine. In general, a turpentine recovery system is used to capture turpentine from exhaust of a dryer as wood chips are being dried. Advantageously, application of the various techniques disclosed herein can result in the recovery of turpentine that can then be sold to generate revenue and, may contribute to a reduction in the capital and operation costs for emission controls for the dryer exhaust.

A biomass pyrolysis process is provided in which biomass feedstock is mixed with a heat carrier. The heat carrier at least partly comprises char. The ratio by weight of biomass to char is in the range 1:1 to 1:20. The process may be carried out by in a screw/auger pyrolysis reactor in which the solid feedstock components are conveyed along the reactor by a first screw. A second screw conveys at least a portion of the solid products of the biomass pyrolysis back to a heat transfer medium input port. Thus, the heat transfer medium includes char from the biomass pyrolysis.

A method for disposing electrical and electronic equipment comprising plastic and metal components, the method comprising: melt processing the equipment and/or comminuted parts thereof to form a melt processed product; transferring the melt processed product into a vessel and heating the product using far infrared radiation such that it liberates volatile hydrocarbons and leaves behind non-volatile residue comprising metal; and collecting one or both of the volatile hydrocarbons and the non-volatile residue for subsequent use.

Pyrolysis fuels and methods for processing pyrolysis fuel are provided. In one embodiment, a method of processing pyrolysis fuel converts biomass to pyrolysis fuel including pyrolysis oil and char particles. Also, the method includes resizing a portion of the char particles so that substantially all resized char particles have a largest dimension no greater than about 5 microns.

A method for compacting coal in a manner suitable for coke oven chambers is described. The coal is initially compressed by means of a suitable compressing device into one or more coal cakes, and the obtained coal cakes are divided into compacted products by a cutting device. The compacted products are stacked on top of the each other such that they can be loaded into a coke oven chamber for coking. The compacted products enable the coke oven chambers to be loaded in a precise and a coal loss-free manner. The coal compacted products are easy to store.

A method for producing individual compacts made of coke and suitable for coke oven chambers by dividing a coal cake in a non-mechanical manner, wherein the coal cake is produced by a compression method according to the prior art and the coal cake is divided by non-mechanical, energy-supplying media, and the non-mechanical media supplying shearing energy are, for example, a laser beam, a high-pressure water jet, an abrasive-solid jet, an ultrasonic beam, a compressed-air jet, or a gas jet. By using the method, coal compacts can be produced from coal cakes without forming dust, without wearing out cutting tools, and with high precision.

The device and method are provided to increase anhydrosugars yield during pyrolysis of biomass. This increase is achieved by injection of a liquid or gas into the vapor stream of any pyrolysis reactor prior to the reactor condensers. A second feature of our technology is the utilization of sonication, microwave excitation, or shear mixing of the biomass to increase the acid catalyst rate for demineralization or removal of hemicellulose prior to pyrolysis. The increased reactivity of these treatments reduces reaction time as well as the required amount of catalyst to less than half of that otherwise required. A fractional condensation system employed by our pyrolysis reactor is another feature of our technology. This system condenses bio-oil pyrolysis vapors to various desired fractions by differential temperature manipulation of individual condensers comprising a condenser chain.

The method produces a hydrocarbonaceous fluid (a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, or in other words a mixture of hydrocarbons which is liquid at ambient room temperature and atmospheric pressure), which functionally is a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, from a feed of waste plastic. The method can comprise the steps of: (step 1) melting a feed of substantially solid waste plastic in an aerobic atmosphere (for instance, air) whereby a waste-plastic melt is produced; (step 2) distilling at least a portion of the waste-plastic melt whereby a hydrocarbonaceous distillate is produced; and (step 3) collecting the hydrocarbonaceous distillate. That distillate is generally referred to above as a condensate. The method can include the step of comminuting the feed of substantially solid waste plastic into pieces substantially no greater than about 1.5 cm2 prior to step 1. The method can also include the step of adding an effective amount of a cracking catalyst to the waste plastic prior to step 2.

A disposal method for entirely recycling solid refuse includes the following steps: sorting, crushing, drying, pressing with high pressure to shaped articles, producing charcoal from combustible refuse in high temperature and firing incombustible refuse in high temperature, at last cooling high temperature articles to obtain solid fuel with various shapes and bricks or board used for building. The method achieves entirely recycling house refuse, especial solid refuse. The method recycles solid refuse to obtain fuel and building material with economic value. The method is simple and its processing cost is low.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing charcoal. It is characterized in that: first hot gases are generated by at least one heating means; its first gases are mixed with second gases in order to form a gas mixture; this mixture is sent into a charge of wood in order to generate therein a pyrolysis front; an overpressure is created between the upstream end and the downstream end of the charge so as to force this front to pass through it in one direction, namely from the upstream end to the downstream end; and third gases are recovered downstream of the charge, at least a first portion of said third gases, in the form of a stream of said second gases, is conveyed by a conveying means. The invention also relates to a device for implementing this method.

A method for processing biomass to produce biofuel includes decomposing lignocellulosic material into byproduct polymers that include lignin, decomposing the lignin into targeted chemical fragments, and chemically converting the targeted chemical fragments into a biofuel.

A styrene monomer reclamation process and system is described. The styrene monomer reclamation process includes providing a waste plastic. The waste plastic includes styrenic polymers. The waste plastic is formed into polymer particles. At least a portion of the polymer particles are dissolved in a solvent to form a polymer stream. The dissolved polymer particles are depolymerized to form a styrene monomer stream.

The present technology describes apparatus, systems, and methods for the thermal decomposition of carbonaceous feedstocks through continuous pyrolysis. A reciprocating reactor is described that includes an inner reactor pipe and an outer reactor pipe. The outer reactor pipe has a first portion that surrounds the inner reactor pipe forming an annulus space, and a second portion that extends beyond the inner reactor pipe and forms a turnaround zone. The inner reactor pipe defines an inner reactor zone that produces partially reacted carbonaceous feedstock, and the annulus space defines an outer reactor zone that produces product gases and solids.

A method for processing plastic waste, in particular polyolefins, and a device for processing plastic waste, in particular polyolefins, are used especially in the industrial utilization of plastic waste. The method consists in that a primarily refined charge after being fed into a reactor (6) is fluidized and cracked during forced progressive-rotational movement coinciding with heating. A gas-steam fraction obtained during a utilization process is continuously guided out to a cooling system whereas impurities are periodically guided out from the reactor (6) to a waste tank (22).

A process for heat treatment of a solid, with a coolant solid, in which a stage for mixing the solid with the pre-heated coolant solid is carried out, with the coolant solid being a solid hydrocarbon. The solid hydrocarbon is ground, before the mixing stage with the solid, to obtain a solid hydrocarbon powder with a grain size of between 20 μm and 300 μm. The solid is ground, before the mixing stage with the coolant solid, to obtain solid pellets with a thickness of between 1 mm and 30 mm, a width of between 1 mm and 40 mm, and a length of between 1 mm and 100 mm. The mixing is carried out at a temperature of between 80° C. and 700° C.

A method for reducing the coking time in the oven area near the door or end wall and for improving coke quality and situation of emissions by compensating for radiation losses through coke oven chamber doors and end walls is described. This compensation is accomplished by varying the height of the coal cake in the environment of the frontal coke oven chamber doors. The variation is achieved both by increasing or decreasing the coal cake over part of the length or over the entire length of the coke oven chamber door. The reduction in the height of the coal cake can be generated by omission of coal or coal compacts, the increase in height can be accomplished by stacking of coal and pressing or adding of coal compacts, with it also being envisaged to omit the pressing cycle so as to obtain a recess with a lower coal cake density which also has less heat radiation.

A method of microcontact printing comprises (a) providing an elastomeric stamp comprising a printing surface inked with an ink comprising surface-functionalizing molecules, (b) treating the inked printing surface of the stamp with solvent, and (c) contacting the treated inked printing surface of the stamp to a surface of a substrate. The printing surface of the stamp comprises a first relief pattern, or the surface of the substrate comprises a second relief pattern, or both of the surfaces comprise the relief patterns, and a pattern of surface-functionalizing molecules is transferred to the substrate according to one or both of the relief patterns.

An apparatus for producing proof prints on which the correctness of page impositions can be checked comprises a stand configured to receive a roll of paper. A first printer and a second printer are provided for printing pages on the front side and the rear side, respectively, of a paper web fed from the paper roll. An optical sensor is arranged between the first printer and the second printer. The optical sensor is configured to detect the position of an alignment mark which has been printed by the first printer on the front side of the paper. A control unit modifies the spatial relationship between the rear side of the paper and what is printed on the rear side of the paper depending on the detected position of the alignment mark. This can be accomplished either by electronically modifying the second pages as such, or by mechanically modifying the paper position with respect to a printing head contained in the second printer.

A method for determining optical density is disclosed. A first measurement is taken on a white area of a substrate (402). A second measurement is taken on an area of the substrate printed with ink (404). A relative optical density of the ink is determined using the first and second measurements (406).

The invention relates to a marking and/or scanning head comprising a plurality of receiving spaces in which individual marking and/or sensing devices can be arranged for marking and/or scanning an object, wherein the receiving spaces are arranged in at least two sub-arrays, wherein at least one sub-array is movable and/or rotatable with regard to at least one other sub-array. The invention further relates to a marking and/or scanning apparatus and a method for operating a marking and/or scanning head or apparatus.

A method for controlling register settings of a printing press, includes rotating imaging cylinders of a first print unit and a second print unit, located downstream of the first print unit in a movement direction of a print medium, at a rotational speed to print an image on the print medium. The method includes of changing a length of the print image to a pre-determined length. The method further includes changing a register setting of the imaging cylinder of the second print unit based on the predetermined change in length of the print image to avoid misalignment of the print image printed by the first and the second print units on the print medium. Changing the register setting is dependent on a length of a section of the print medium between the first and the second print units. A device for controlling register settings of a printing press is also disclosed.

A digital sheet-fed printing method includes providing one cycle of printing to print on a series of sheets of paper whose number is equal to the least common multiple of respective numbers of allocated positions; producing a reference signal on the basis of which an image in each color is printed on the sheet of paper; detecting with an image detection sensor means a mutual out of register between images in different colors printed on each sheet of paper in the series, furnishing the printing control means with a detection signal for each sheet of paper from the image detection sensor, and correcting the timing at which each image is printed on each sheet of paper in one cycle of printing so that timings to print the images in different colors on each sheet of paper coincide with one another; and printing images in the different colors.

A paintball or other gelatin capsule has a printed image applied to its shell before encapsulation using a gelatin ribbon printing machine. The printing machine includes a motor driven cylindrical casting drum, a cylindrical print roll having a pattern formed on and around its outer periphery, said print roll being positioned relative to said casting drum so that said gelatin ribbon is sandwiched in between and in contact with both said casting drum and said print roll and so that the print roll is rotary driven by said casting drum solely through frictional contact with the gelatin ribbon. A rotary ink roller is in contact with the print roll to drives the ink roller solely through frictional contact between said print roll the inking roller. A doctor blade is configured to scrape excess ink from said inking roller. A method of printing on a gelatin capsule is also provided.

A light receiving section 27b receives a measurement beam, which is cast from a light projection section 27a and partially blocked by cream solder 19 scraped up by a squeegee 16, whereby a sensor 27 measures a one-dimensional size of a predetermined region of a cross sectional profile of the cream solder 19 as a cross sectional paste length and takes the cross sectional paste length as an index for an amount of residual cream solder 19. The amount of residual cream solder 19 can be numerically grasped at all times, so that versatility and accuracy in detecting the amount of residual cream solder 19 can be assured.