All The Claims

1. A dispenser comprising
a) a body comprising a top, a bottom, an outer surface and an inner surface which defines an annular space;
b) an end cap comprising a continuous lateral side with an outer surface and an inner surface, an end cap top having an end cap opening and an end cap bottom with an outer surface and an inner surface, the end cap having a cavity defined by the inner surface of the continuous lateral side and the inner surface of the end cap bottom wherein the end cap top is adjacent to the bottom of the body and the end cap is capable of rotation;
c) a nozzle section comprising
i) a nozzle section body with a nozzle section body bottom, nozzle section body top, a nozzle section body outer surface and a nozzle section body inner surface wherein the nozzle section body is adjacent to the top of the body;
ii) a nozzle element having a base section with a base section inner surface, a nozzle mid section with a mid section inner surface and a tip with a tip opening and a tip inner surface wherein the base section inner surface, mid section inner surface and tip inner surface define a nozzle annular space; and
iii) a sheath having a bottom plate, a middle wall and a top wall wherein the top wall is adjacent to the nozzle section body top and protrudes inwards from the nozzle section body top adjacent to the middle wall, the middle wall is opposed to the nozzle section body inner surface and terminates at the bottom plate which protrudes from the nozzle section body inner surface at some point between the nozzle section body bottom and the nozzle section body top;

d) a brush applicator comprising a brush applicator base and a brush applicator top wherein
i) the brush applicator base has an outer surface and an inner surface which defines a sleeve;
ii) the brush applicator base further has an opening defined by the brush applicator inner surface;
iii) the brush applicator top has a brush applicator top surface having one or more brush protrusions and a pinhole; and
iv) the brush applicator is capable of being secured to or releasably secured to the dispenser such that the pinhole is engaged with the tip of the nozzle element at the tip opening;

e) a cover comprising a cover outer surface, a cover inner surface and a cover top with an inner surface and an outer surface wherein
i) the cover inner surface and inner surface of the cover top define a cavity;
ii) the cover further comprises a cover opening at the end of the cover opposite the cover top;
iii) the inner surface of the cover top comprises a cover protrusion emanating from the cover inner surface into the cavity wherein the cover is capable of being releasably secured over the brush applicator with the cover protrusion engaged with the pinhole, tip opening or combinations thereof; and

f) a means for moving material from the annular space to the brush applicator.
2. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the means for moving material comprises
a) a driving rod comprising a top, a bottom, an inner surface and an outer surface wherein the bottom is inserted into the cavity of the end cap and secured to the end cap;
b) a piston rod comprising screw threads and an engaging block wherein the screw threads are mounted to the inner surface of the driving rod;
c) a ratchet wheel and a securing seat having mutually engaging teeth;
d) a piston located in the annular space which interfaces with the engaging block; and
e) a compression spring.
3. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the inner surface of the body comprises a continuous shelf and the compression spring is mounted to the outer surface of the driving rod between the ratchet wheel and the continuous shelf.
4. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein driving rod is secured to the end cap by polygonal surfaces on the inner surface of the end cap.
5. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the inner surface of the driving rod has screw threads.
6. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the piston rod has a continuous outer protrusion and a center protrusion for engaging the piston.
7. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the securing seat is mounted to the body within the annular space by a securing engagement edge on the inner surface of the body.
8. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the piston is silicone.
9. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the body, the end cap and the cover are substantially in the shape of a cylinder.
10. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the outer surface of the end cap has a continuous protrusion at about the end cap top.
11. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the end cap is made of clear or opaque plastic material.
12. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the body is made of clear or opaque plastic material.
13. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the nozzle section body bottom comprises one or more protrusions.
14. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the base section of the nozzle element has a base section outer wall with a plurality of protrusions.
15. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the brush applicator top is angled.
16. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the brush applicator is silicone.
17. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the cover top comprises one or more holes.
18. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the annular space contains a material.
19. The dispenser of claim 18 wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of tooth gel, tooth paste, mouthwash, tooth whitener, mouth rinse and combinations thereof.
20. The dispenser of claim 18 wherein the material is selected from the group consisting of a cosmetic, a hair treatment composition, a skin treatment composition and combinations thereof.
21. The dispenser of claim 1 which is a portable toothbrush.

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 process for preparing a polydiene, the process comprising the step of:
polymerizing conjugated diene monomer in the presence of a dihydrocarbyl ether, where said step of polymerizing takes place within a polymerization mixture that includes less than 20% by weight of organic solvent based on the total weight of the polymerization mixture, and where said step of polymerizing employs a lanthanide-based catalyst system that includes the combination of or reaction product of ingredients including (a) a lanthanide compound, (b) an aluminoxane, (c) an organoaluminum compound other than an aluminoxane, and (d) a bromine-containing compound selected from the group consisting of elemental bromine, bromine-containing mixed halogens, and organic bromides, to thereby produce a polydiene having a cis-1,4 linkage content in excess of 99%.
2. The process of claim 1, where the dihydrocarbyl ether is defined by the formula R\u2014O\u2014R, where each R is independently a hydrocarbyl group or substituted hydrocarbyl group selected from the group consisting of alkyl, cycloalkyl, substituted cycloalkyl, alkenyl, and cycloalkenyl groups.
3. The process of claim 2, where the dihydrocarbyl ether is selected from the group consisting of dimethyl ether, diethyl ether, di-n-propyl ether, diisopropyl ether, di-n-butyl ether, diisobutyl ether, di-t-butyl ether, di-n-pentyl ether, diisopentyl ether, dineopentyl ether, di-n-hexyl ether, di-n-heptyl ether, di-2-ethylhexyl ether, di-n-octyl ether, di-n-nonyl ether, di-n-decyl ether, and dibenzyl ether.
4. The process of claim 3, where the dihydrocarbyl ether is selected from the group consisting of dimethyl ether, diethyl ether, di-n-propyl ether, diisopropyl ether, di-n-butyl ether, diisobutyl ether, di-t-butyl ether, di-n-pentyl ether, diisopentyl ether, dineopentyl ether, di-n-hexyl ether, di-n-heptyl ether, di-2-ethylhexyl ether, di-n-octyl ether, di-n-nonyl ether, and di-n-decyl ether.
5. The process of claim 2, where the organoaluminum compound other than an aluminoxane is defined by the formula AlRnX3-n, where each R, which may be the same or different, is a mono-valent organic group that is attached to the aluminum atom via a carbon atom, where each X, which may be the same or different, is a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a carboxylate group, an alkoxide group, or an aryloxide group, and where n is an integer of 1 to 3.
6. The process of claim 1, where the organic bromides are defined by the formula R4-xCBrx, where x is an integer from 1 to 4, and each R is individually selected from the group consisting of a monovalent organic group, a hydrogen atom, and a halogen atom.
7. The process of claim 2, where the bromine-containing compound is an organic bromide selected from the group consisting of brominated hydrocarbons, acyl bromides, and brominated carboxylic esters.
8. The process of claim 2, where the lanthanide-based catalyst system includes the combination of or reaction product of ingredients including the lanthanide compound, the aluminoxane, the organoaluminum compound other than an aluminoxane, the bromine-containing compound, and an iodine-containing compound.
9. The process of claim 8, where the iodine-containing compound is selected from the group consisting of elemental iodine, iodine-containing mixed halogens, hydrogen iodide, organic iodides, inorganic iodides, metallic iodides, and organometallic iodides.
10. The process of claim 2, where the molar ratio of the aluminoxane to the lanthanide compound is from about 5:1 to about 1000:1, the molar ratio of the organoaluminum compound other than an aluminoxane to the lanthanide compound is from about 1:1 to about 200:1, the molar ratio of the bromine-containing compound to the lanthanide compound is from about 0.5:1 to about 20:1, and the molar ratio of the dihydrocarbyl ether to the lanthanide compound is from about 0.5:1 to about 1000:1.
11. The process of claim 8, where the molar ratio of iodine atoms in the iodine-containing compounds to bromine atoms in the bromine-containing compounds is from about 0.1:1 to about 10:1.
12. The process of claim 2, where said step of polymerizing takes place within a polymerization mixture that is substantially devoid of organic solvent.

1. A tape recording device for performing operations of position movement, reading, and writing on a tape medium back and forth in a longitudinal direction of the tape medium, and receiving a series of commands from an upper-layer device, the series of commands including mixed read and write commands and giving a plurality of the read commands from a first read command, a second read command, . . . an m-th read command, and an n-th read command, in this order, the tape recording device comprising:
a buffer for temporarily storing therein data related to the reading and an additional writing;
a tape for recording thereon the data stored in the buffer;
a reading and writing head for reading data from the tape into the buffer and writing the data from the buffer onto the tape;
control means for reading data from a designated position of the tape and storing the data in the buffer in response to a reading command, and for writing the data stored in the buffer onto the tape from a written data end position thereof in response to an additional writing command; and
a non-volatile memory for storing therein data stored in the buffer in response to an additional writing command,
wherein the control means further,
upon receipt of the additional writing command, stores the data stored in the buffer into the non-volatile memory from a written data end position,
returns a completion notification of the additional writing command to the upper-layer device when the data in the buffer is written in the non-volatile memory, and
if such a predetermined criterion as to minimize a movement distance by which the tape travels relative to the head is satisfied, moves to a tape writing position where the data held in the non-volatile memory is to be written and additionally writes the data onto the tape from the tape writing position in the course of moving from an end position on the tape of reading data for the m-th read command to a start position on the tape of reading data for the n-th read command after reception of the additional writing command.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the criterion is satisfied if the data end position of the tape at which the data is to be written exists within the movement distance.
3. The device of claim 2, wherein the criterion is satisfied if a direction of the moving is the same as a direction of writing from the tape writing position and if a tape writing position after new writing in the tape exists within the movement distance.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein when receiving a command for rewinding or unloading a cartridge, the control means in operation of writes all the data stored in the non-volatile memory onto the tape from the written data end position if such a predetermined criterion as to minimize a movement distance by which the tape travels relative to the head is satisfied.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein when the non-volatile memory is filled up, the control means writes all the data stored in the non-volatile memory onto the tape from the written data end position if such a predetermined criterion as to minimize a movement distance by which the tape travels relative to the head is satisfied.
6. The device of claim 1, wherein after having returned a completion notification of the additional writing command, the control means does not return the completion notification of the additional writing command if such a predetermined criterion as to minimize a movement distance by which the tape travels relative to the head is satisfied.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein the control means executes the writing from the non-volatile memory onto the written data end position of the tape via the buffer.
8. The device of claim 1, wherein
as a premise of the reading and writing commands, the control means receives a moving command from the higher-layer device so that the moving to the designated position of the tape is performed, and
the head is positioned at the written data end position on the tape or the written end position in memory in response to the moving command.
9. The device of claim 1, wherein
the additional writing command includes a synchronization operation, and
the control means writes the data stored in the buffer onto the tape or the non-volatile memory by using the synchronization operation.
10. The device of claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory is a flash memory having a predetermined capacity.
11. The device of claim 10, wherein the flash memory has a capacity of 100 megabytes or more.
12. The device of claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory is a preparatory track area in the same tape of a cartridge.
13. A method for writing to a tape recording device, wherein the tape recording device receives a series of commands from an upper-layer device and comprises a buffer for temporarily storing data related to reading and an additional writing, a tape for recording the data stored in the buffer, a reading and writing head for reading data from the tape into the buffer and writing the data from the buffer onto the tape, and control means for reading data from a designated position of the tape and storing the data in the buffer in response to a reading command and writing the data stored in the buffer onto the tape from a written data end position (EOD) in response to an additional writing command, the method comprising:
upon receipt of the additional writing command, storing the data stored in the buffer into a non-volatile memory from a written data end position in memory;
returning a completion notification of the additional writing command to the upper-layer device when the data in the buffer is written in the non-volatile memory; and
if such a predetermined criterion as to minimize a movement distance by which the tape travels relative to the head is satisfied, moving to a tape writing position where the data stored in the non-volatile memory is to be written and additionally writing the data onto the tape from the tape writing position in the course of moving from an end position on the tape of reading data for a m-th Read to a start position on the tape of reading data for an n-th Read after the data is stored in the non-volatile memory.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the criterion is satisfied if the data end position of the tape at which the data is to be written exists within the movement distance.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the criterion is satisfied if a direction of the moving is the same as a direction of writing from the tape writing position and if a tape writing position after new writing in the tape exists within the movement distance.
16. A computer program product for writing to a tape recording device, wherein the tape recording device receives a series of commands from an upper-layer device and comprises a buffer for temporarily storing data related to reading and an additional writing, a tape for recording the data stored in the buffer, a reading and writing head for reading data from the tape into the buffer and writing the data from the buffer onto the tape, and control means for reading data from a designated position of the tape and storing the data in the buffer in response to a reading command and writing the data stored in the buffer onto the tape from a written data end position (EOD) in response to an additional writing command, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:
a first executable portion for, upon receipt of the additional writing command, storing the data stored in the buffer into a non-volatile memory from a written data end position in memory;
a second executable portion for returning a completion notification of the additional writing command to the upper-layer device when the data in the buffer is written in the non-volatile memory; and
a third executable portion for, if such a predetermined criterion as to minimize a movement distance by which the tape travels relative to the head is satisfied, moving to a tape writing position where the data stored in the non-volatile memory is to be written and additionally writing the data onto the tape from the tape writing position in the course of moving from an end position on the tape of reading data for a m-th Read to a start position on the tape of reading data for an n-th Read after the data is stored in the non-volatile memory.
17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the criterion is satisfied if the data end position of the tape at which the data is to be written exists within the movement distance.
18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the criterion is satisfied if a direction of the moving is the same as a direction of writing from the tape writing position and if a tape writing position after new writing in the tape exists within the movement distance.

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 vehicle operation pedal apparatus including an elongate hollow pedal arm disposed in an up-down direction of a vehicle and provided with a pedal sheet that is disposed at a lower end portion of the hollow pedal arm and that is depressed toward a vehicle front side, the vehicle operation pedal apparatus transmitting a pedal operating force applied to the hollow pedal arm to an output member that is connected to the hollow pedal arm so as to be pivotable relative to the hollow pedal arm,
the hollow pedal arm is being formed of a pair of a front half and a rear half each having a U-shaped section, which are two members split along an up-down longitudinal direction and located respectively on front and rear sides with respect to the vehicle, and the halves being combined with each other so that opening sides face each other to join side end portions located on respective sides in a vehicle-width direction, thereby forming a hollow tubular shape;
the vehicle operation pedal apparatus comprising a plate-shaped connection plate having a connecting portion connected to the output member so as to be pivotable relative to the output member and fixed integrally with the hollow pedal arm;
in the front half and the rear half, a slit-shaped first through-hole and a slit-shaped second through-hole being formed, respectively; and
the connection plate being passed through the hollow pedal arm in a vehicle front-rear direction through the first through-hole and the second through-hole.
2. The vehicle operation pedal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hollow pedal arm is obtained by combining the rear half and the front half with each other such that a pair of side end portions of the rear half are overlapped with and joined to outer sides of a pair of side end portions of the front half, respectively.
3. The vehicle operation pedal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
both end portions of the connection plate including the connecting portion projecting outwardly from the hollow pedal arm are fixed integrally with the hollow pedal arm by welding, respectively.
4. The vehicle operation pedal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the connection plate is partially inserted into the first through-hole, and fixed integrally with the hollow pedal arm by welding in a state where the connecting portion is projected from the first through-hole toward the vehicle front side; and
a pressing load for pushing the output member toward the vehicle front side is applied by the pedal operating force to the output member connected to the connection plate.
5. The vehicle operation pedal apparatus according to claim 4, wherein
both end portions of the connection plate including the connecting portion projecting outwardly from the hollow pedal arm are fixed integrally with the hollow pedal arm by welding, respectively.
6. The vehicle operation pedal apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
a projection projecting in a longitudinal direction of the second through-hole is formed at a portion of the connection plate, which is located in a hollow of the hollow pedal arm.
7. The vehicle operation pedal apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
a projection projecting in a longitudinal direction of the first through-hole is formed at a portion of the connecting portion of the connection plate, which projects outwardly from the first through-hole.