An asparagus harvester includes a chassis movable over a bed of growing asparagus. Spears above a selected height are severed at the ground by a severing assembly. A conveyor receives from a pick-up apparatus and conveys away the severed asparagus spears to bin. In one embodiment, counter-rotating rollers of the pick-up apparatus have interfering members configured to disable the severed asparagus spears when being engaged and lifted by and between them from passing outwardly from between their trailing ends. In another embodiment, a partition in the bin cooperates with it to define a confined volume open to receive severed asparagus spears from the conveyor. A drive assembly actuates to displace the bin relative to the partition to increase the confined volume to enable it to accept more severed asparagus spears each time a sensor senses severed asparagus spears at a fill level of the confined volume.

A two-way or four-way water faucet dispenses near-boiling water on demand but has a safety interlock. A control valve assembly is attached to the faucet. The interlock uses two disks pressed into contact, each having a single projecting sector. One disk is fixed to the valve body. The other disk, fixed to the handle, slides against the first. The disks must be pulled apart by sliding the handle while it is being turned to superimpose the sectors and turn the control valve, connecting the faucet to the vented near-boiling water supply. A reed switch inside the fixed sector is activated by a magnet inside the rotatable sector and activates a near-boiling water pump.

A butterfly valve has a rod connected to a DD motor and disposed along a direction orthogonal to a flow path, and a butterfly valve body that is linked to the rod and that opens and closes the flow path due to the rod being rotated by the DD motor, wherein a linking body center of gravity, which is the center of gravity of a rotating liking body having at least the rod and the butterfly valve body as constituent members, is positioned on an axial line of a rotating shaft of the DD motor.

A valve device includes: valves configured to control a flow of processing gases supplied to a process vessel; a housing in which first flow paths through which the processing gases flow are formed; a heat diffuser configured to cover the housing and diffuse heat of the housing; a heating part configured to cover the housing covered with the heat diffuser and heat the housing via the heat diffuser; a supply configured to supply a coolant to a second flow path formed between the housing and the heat diffuser; and a controller configure to control the heating part to heat the housing to a first temperature when a predetermined process is performed on a target substrate, and before a start of a cleaning process of the process vessel, control the heating part to stop heating of the housing and control the supply to supply the coolant to the second flow path.

A vacuum valve includes a valve plate that covers an exhaust port of a vacuum chamber, and a poppet type actuator that drives the valve plate in an axial direction orthogonal to a surface of the vacuum chamber on which the exhaust port is provided. The actuator includes a shaft that is connected to the valve plate, a drive unit that is disposed side by side with the shaft in a radial direction of the shaft and includes a ball screw shaft and a drive source that rotates the ball screw shaft, and a connection part that connects the ball screw shaft and the shaft and moves in the axial direction together with the shaft to a position where the valve plate covers the exhaust port.

A vacuum bellows hot valve with durability and drivability not impaired by increased temperature and voltage of a heating device while having a simple, compact structure, the valve also allowing temperature control with high accuracy. In the vacuum bellows hot valve, a stem is provided inside a valve box with an inflow port and an outflow port so as to freely ascend and descend, a bellows is elastically provided to a valve body provided at a lower end of the stem and on an outer circumferential side of the stem, a cylindrical ceramic heater is arranged between an inner circumference of the bellows and an outer circumference of the stem, and a temperature measuring part of a thermocouple for control is arranged at a position close to the valve body.

A butterfly valve includes a drive unit and a valve unit that are coupled to each other. The drive unit includes a hollow part in which a rod is inserted between a DD motor and an end portion of the drive unit on a coupling side to the valve unit. In the hollow part, a cylindrical magnetic member is placed coaxially with the rod to cover the outer peripheral surface of the rod. A magnetic fluid is filled in a void between the outer peripheral surface of the magnetic member and the inner peripheral surface of the hollow part. The rod is made of a non-magnetic corrosion-resistant alloy.

Various internally heated valves are disclosed. The internally heated valve can include a heater sleeve within a valve body. The heater sleeve can be electrically heated. The heater sleeve can heat fluid passing through the valve body.

A chromatography valve for use in fluid analysis and chromatography applications is provided. The valve includes a first body having passages extending therethrough and opening on a flat face of the first body at respective passage ports. The valve also includes a second body engaged with the first body in a sealed relationship, whereby one of the first and second bodies is movable relative to the other one between two or more positions for controlling fluid circulation through the passages. The second body includes at least one cartridge receiving cavity for receiving at least one cartridge removably provided therein. The cartridge has channel(s) for channeling fluid of pairs of the passage ports, depending on the position of the first body relative to the second body, thereby channeling fluid through selected ones of the passages via the at least one channel. A method of operating the valve is also provided.

An asparagus harvester includes a chassis movable over a bed of growing asparagus. Spears above a selected height are severed at the ground by a severing assembly. A conveyor receives from a pick-up apparatus and conveys away asparagus spears severed by the severing assembly. The severing assembly includes a severing blade carried by a plunger mounted in a pneumatic cylinder. Conduits couple the pneumatic cylinder to a source of air under pressure through a valve unit operable for actuating the pneumatic cylinder to repeatedly fire and withdraw the plunger for repeatedly moving the severing blade back-and-forth along a stroke path between a raised set position and a lowered severing position proximate to the ground. A heater mounted proximate to the valve unit is configured to sufficiently heat the valve unit to enable the valve unit to operate in the presence of an ambient temperature sufficiently low to impair its operation.