Author: claimsbot

What is claimed is:

1. A hand-operated lifting and transporting device, comprising:
a wheel assembly having a wheel;
a right lateral arm pivotally secured to said wheel assembly;
a left lateral arm pivotally secured to said wheel assembly;
a bale-engaging member secured to said wheel assembly oriented to engage a bale of plant material; and
bale-engaging members attached to each respective right lateral arm and left lateral arm, each bale-engaging member being oriented to engage a bale of plant material.
2. The hand-operated device of claim 1 wherein said bale-engaging member secured to said wheel assembly is oriented rearward of said wheel.
3. The hand-operated device of claim 2 wherein said bale-engaging member of said wheel assembly is at least one spike.
4. The hand-operated device of claim 1 wherein said right lateral arm and said left lateral arm extend rearward from said wheel and are substantially parallel to each other.
5. The hand-operated device of claim 4 wherein said bale-engaging member secured to said left lateral arm is oriented toward said right lateral arm and wherein said bale-engaging member secured to said right lateral arm is oriented toward said left lateral arm.
6. The hand-operated device of claim 5 wherein said bale-engaging member of said left lateral arm is at least one spike and wherein said bale-engaging member of said right lateral arm is at least one spike.
7. The hand-operated device of claim 1 further comprising a linkage mechanism connecting said left lateral arm to said wheel assembly and further comprising a linkage mechanism connecting said right lateral arm to said wheel assembly.
8. The hand-operated device of claim 7 wherein said linkage mechanism of said left lateral arm and said linkage mechanism of said right lateral arm are each tie rods.
9. The hand-operated device of claim 7 wherein said linkage mechanism of said left lateral arm and said linkage mechanism of said left lateral arm are each spring-loaded members.
10. A hand-operated bale lifting and transporting device, comprising:
a wheel assembly having a wheel;
a lateral arm assembly connected to said wheel assembly;
a right lateral arm connected to said lateral arm assembly;
a left lateral arm connected to said lateral arm assembly;
a bale-engaging member connected to said wheel assembly;
a bale-engaging member connected to said right lateral arm, said bale-engaging member being oriented in the direction of said left lateral arm; and
a bale-engaging member connected to said left lateral arm, said bale-engaging member being oriented in the direction of said right lateral arm.
11. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 10 wherein said right lateral arm is pivotally connected to said lateral arm assembly and wherein said left lateral arm is pivotally connected to said lateral arm assembly.
12. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 11 further comprising a linkage mechanism interconnecting said right lateral arm to said lateral arm assembly and further comprising a linkage mechanism interconnecting said left lateral arm to said lateral arm assembly.
13. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 12 wherein said linkage mechanism of said right lateral arm is a tie rod and wherein said linkage mechanism of said left lateral arm is a tie rod.
14. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 12 wherein said linkage mechanism of said right lateral arm is a spring-biased member and wherein said linkage mechanism of said left lateral arm is a spring-biased member.
15. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 13 wherein said lateral arm assembly is pivotally connected to said wheel assembly to articulate therewith.
16. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 10 wherein said bale-engaging member connected to said wheel assembly is oriented rearward of said wheel.
17. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 16 wherein said bale-engaging member connected to said right lateral arm is at least one spike and wherein said bale-engaging member connected to said left lateral arm is at least one spike.
18. The hand-operated bale lifting device of claim 10 further comprising a right lateral arm extension connected to said right lateral arm and further comprising a left lateral arm extension connected to said left lateral arm.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. A method for generating a pulse train, comprising the steps of:
providing a frequency modulated signal; and
impinging the signal on a dispersive element, said dispersive element being adapted to compress the signal in time.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dispersive element is a fiber Bragg grating.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dispersive element is single mode fiber.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the fiber has a length of at least about 40 km.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the fiber has a length of at least about 60 km.
6. The method of claim 3, wherein the fiber has a length of at least about 80 km.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal has a single longitudinal mode.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal is generated by a laser equipped with a reflective element, and wherein the signal is frequency modulated by applying a current across the mirror.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the current modulates the center wavelength of the reflective element by way of carrier induced index changes.
10. A method for frequency modulating the optical carrier in a laser, comprising the steps of:
providing a laser equipped with a distributed Bragg reflector and having an optical carrier;
impinging the optical carrier on the distributed Bragg reflector; and
rapidly tuning the distributed Bragg reflector so as to modulate the frequency of the optical carrier.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the reflector is tuned by applying a high frequency current signal thereto.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the current signal has a frequency of at least 0.5 GHz.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein the optical signal is frequency modulated with a modulation index of about 50.
14. An apparatus for producing a frequency modulated signal, comprising:
a rapidly tunable laser; and
a passive dispersive element in optical communication with said laser;
wherein said dispersive element comprises (i) a fiber Bragg grating, and (ii) a circulator.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the dispersive element is at the output of said laser.
16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the laser comprises a cavity, and wherein the dispersive element is disposed inside of said cavity.
17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising an electronic signal generator adapted to modulate the frequency of the laser.
18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the laser is equipped with a mirror, and wherein the electronic signal generator is adapted to drive the mirror.
19. A method for conducting high speed optical sampling for AD conversion, using the apparatus of claim 14.
20. A method for optimizing the peak intensity of a non-linear optical signal, comprising the steps of:
generating a modulation signal using the apparatus of claim 14; and
tailoring the dispersive element to the modulation signal.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the modulation signal is a sawtooth wave.
22. The method of claim 14, wherein the dispersive element is a sinusoidally chirped fiber Bragg grating.
23. A method for optimizing the peak intensity of a non-linear optical signal, comprising the steps of:
generating a modulation signal using the apparatus of claim 14; and
tailoring the modulation signal to the dispersive element.
24. The method of claim 14, wherein the modulation signal is a sawtooth wave.
25. An optical communications system comprising the apparatus of claim 14.
26. An apparatus for producing a frequency modulated signal, comprising:
a signal source adapted to generate a frequency modified signal; and
a passive dispersive element in optical communication with said source;
wherein the dispersive element comprises (i) a fiber Bragg grating, and (ii) a circulator.
27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the signal is frequency modified by way of a current induced change in the index of refraction on a reflective element contained therein
28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the signal source is a single mode signal source.
29. A method for producing a pulse train, comprising the steps of:
providing a source of a frequency modified optical signal;
providing a dispersive element; and
directing the signal into the dispersive element;
wherein the source is a frequency modified laser, and wherein the dispersive element is a long fiber Bragg grating.
30. The method of claim 29, wherein the source is a single mode signal source.

1. A conductive particle, comprising:
a base particle consisting of a metal;
a seed particle formed on a surface of the base particle; and
a first metal layer formed on the base particle,
wherein the first metal layer includes a protrusion surrounding the seed particle, and
wherein the first metal layer comprises any one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Co, Cu, Sn and alloys including two or more thereof;
wherein the seed particle comprises any one transition metal selected from the group consisting of Pd, Cu, Ru, Pt, Ag, Co and alloys including two or more thereof,
wherein the protrusion has a height of 5 to 20 nm.
2. The conductive particle of claim 1, wherein the base particle is a spherical particle having an average particle size of 0.01 to 1,000 \u03bcm.
3. The conductive particle of claim 1, wherein the base particle consists of Cu or Ni.
4. The conductive particle of claim 1, wherein the first metal layer includes Ag.
5. A conductive particle, comprising:
a base particle consisting of Cu or Ni;
a first metal layer formed on the base particle;
a seed particle formed on a surface of the first metal layer; and
a second metal layer formed on the first metal layer,
wherein the second metal layer includes a protrusion surrounding the seed particle, and
wherein the first metal layer and the second metal layer are each the same or different and independently comprises any one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Co, Cu, Sn and alloys including two or more thereof,
wherein each of the seed particles comprises any one transition metal selected from the group consisting of Pd, Cu, Ru, Pt, Ag, Co and alloys including two or more thereof,
wherein the protrusion has a height of 5 to 20 nm.
6. The conductive particle of claim 5, wherein the base particle is a spherical particle consisting of Cu or Ni and having an average particle size of 0.01 to 1,000 \u03bcm.
7. The conductive particle of claim 5, wherein the first metal layer has a thickness of 10 to 100 nm.
8. An electronic device, comprising a conductive pattern including the conductive particle of claim 1.
9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the conductive pattern is an electrode pattern of a solar cell, a printed circuit, a flexible circuit board, a touch screen panel, a display or an RFID.
10. A method of manufacturing a conductive particle, comprising the steps of:
reacting a base particle consisting of a metal with a transition metal compound solution to form a seed particle on a surface of the base particle; and
reacting a first metal compound solution with the base particle provided with the seed particle to form a first metal layer including a protrusion surrounding the seed particle,
wherein the first metal compound solution includes: a first metal compound comprising any one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Co, Cu, Sn and alloys including two or more thereof; and a solvent,
wherein the protrusion has a height of 5 to 20 nm.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the base particle consists of Cu or Ni, and is a spherical particle having an average particle size of 0.01 to 1,000 \u03bcm.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the transition metal compound solution includes: a transition metal compound comprising any one transition metal selected from the group consisting of Pd, Cu, Ru, Pt, Ag, Co and alloys including two or more thereof; and a solvent.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the transition metal compound solution has a concentration of 0.01 to 50 gL.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the solvent is an aliphatic amine of 6 to 22 carbon atoms having a linear or branched structure or an unsaturated amine of 6 to 22 carbon atoms having a linear or branched structure.
15. The method of claim 10, wherein the first metal compound is a silver compound.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first metal compound comprises at least one silver compound selected from the group consisting of silver diacetate, silver cyclohexanebutyrate, silver 2-ethylhexanoate, silver neodecanoate and silver acetylacetonate.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein an amount of the silver compound in the first metal compound solution is 0.1 to 30 wt %.
18. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of reacting the first metal compound solution with the base particle provided with the seed particle is performed at a temperature at which the first metal compound is thermally decomposed or higher.
19. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of reacting the first metal compound solution with the base particle provided with the seed particle is performed using at least one reductant selected from the group consisting of an ascorbic acid compound, a hydrazine compound, a hydroquinone compound, a boron compound, and a phosphoric acid compound.
20. A method of manufacturing a conductive particle, comprising the steps of:
reacting a base particle consisting of a metal with a first metal compound solution to form a first metal layer on a surface of the base particle;
reacting a transition metal compound solution with the base particle provided with the first metal layer to form a seed particle on a surface of the metal layer; and
reacting a second metal compound with the base particle provided with the seed particle to form a second metal layer including a protrusion surrounding the seed particle on the first metal layer,
wherein the second metal compound solution includes: a second metal compound comprising any one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Co, Cu, Sn and alloys including two or more thereof; and a solvent, and
wherein the first metal compound solution includes: a first metal compound comprising any one metal selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Co, Cu, Sn and alloys including two or more thereof; and a solvent,
wherein the protrusion has a height of 5 to 20 nm.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first metal compound is a silver compound.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first metal compound comprises at least one silver compound selected from the group consisting of silver diacetate, silver cyclohexanebutyrate, silver 2-ethylhexanoate, silver neodecanoate and silver acetylacetonate.
23. The method of claim 21, wherein an amount of the silver compound in the first metal compound solution is 0.1 to 30 wt %.
24. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of reacting the first metal compound solution with the base particle is performed at a temperature at which the second metal compound is thermally decomposed or higher.
25. An electronic device, comprising a conductive pattern including the conductive particle of claim 5.
26. The electronic device of claim 25, wherein the conductive pattern is an electrode pattern of a solar cell, a printed circuit, a flexible circuit board, a touch screen panel, a display or an RFID.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A material for use in a thermal printing application, said material comprising:
a substrate;
a pigmented ink layer;
a thermal ink layer between said pigmented ink layer and said substrate;
wherein said thermal ink layer appears invisible prior to application of heat thereto and produces an image of a first color upon application of heat thereto; and
wherein said pigmented ink layer comprises at least one portion including a visible second color, said visible second color being translucent such that upon application of heat to said thermal ink layer, said image is visible through said pigmented ink layer.
2. The material of claim 1, wherein said pigmented ink layer comprises a plurality of portions, each portion including said visible second color.
3. The material of claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises at least one of a plastic, metal, or polymer.
4. The material of claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises at least one of film, fabric, or a foil.
5. The material of claim 1, wherein said substrate is paper.
6. The material of claim wherein said substrate is an adhesive label.
7. The material of claim 1, wherein said substrate is a printable poster.
8. The material of claim 1, wherein said substrate is printable cash-register paper.