A tube manufacturing system is provided that is capable of manufacturing tube structures that are on the nanoscale and larger. The system provides for control as to the structure and atomic makeup of the feed sheet material used and provides motive force to the sheet material being used to continuously advance the sheet material through the various system components. After the tube structures are formed, they may be used in providing a source material for manufacturing macroscopic objects thus increasing the level of performance and capabilities of such objects due to the engineered properties of the tube structures formed within this system and method of manufacturing. Processes for manufacturing of nanotubes are also disclosed, as are nanotubes manufactured by the processes and system of the invention.

A method of additive manufacturing of a component includes cutting a plurality of sheets, each sheet corresponding to a respective cross-section of the component, tack welding the sheets to one another to form a stack, arranging the stack in a mold, and spark plasma sintering the tack-welded stack of sheets to reduce vacancies and dislocations between adjacent sheets of the stack.

An equipment is disclosed for attaching an optical fiber to a reel, the equipment including a tape supply station configured to cut and supply pieces of tape, an attachment device having a frame with a collector for collecting a piece of tape from the tape supply station for attaching the optical fiber to the reel, an actuator for moving the attachment device and for pressing the collector, having the piece of tape, against the optical fiber and the reel in order to attach the optical fiber to the reel, and a cutter for cutting the optical fiber. Such an equipment can be advantageous as manual labour can be excluded from the process of attaching an optical fiber to a reel.

A laser cuts overlapping ribbons of acoustic material into acoustic devices. An automatically controlled manipulator includes an end effector having groups of placement tools for simultaneously placing multiple acoustic devices in a cellular core. The placement tools include mandrels provided with vacuum pickups for picking up and holding the acoustic devices during transport to the core. A vision system aligns the placement tools with the cells of the core. The end effector includes a thermal radiation device for bonding the acoustic devices to the core.

A method and apparatus for preparing a plurality of coated binder units are disclosed. A coated binder is divided into a plurality of coated binder units by applying a pair of dividing elements to the coated binder and applying a welding element.

The apparatus includes an operating unit, which can be a welding unit for welding a closing film to an edge zone of a containing element or a separating unit for separating containing elements from portions of sheet material. The apparatus includes a control unit programmed to enable the operating unit to selectively process a continuous strip of containing elements or discrete groups of containing elements.

The present invention is directed to a door facing blank having a first major surface with a design element formed therein, and an opposite second major surface. At least three longitudinally extending spaced stile receiving areas are disposed on the second major surface. Two of the stile receiving areas define a first width, and three of the stile receiving areas define a second width greater than the first width. The door facing blank may be trimmed to form a door facing having a selected width. A method of forming a door facing blank, and a mold press for forming a door facing blank are also disclosed.

A portable device for attaching a connector to an optical fiber, the optical fiber having an end, the device comprising means for receiving the optical fiber at the end of the optical fiber; and a connector station for autonomously attaching the connector to the optical fiber.

Apparatus and methods for fulfillment of patient prescription orders by adapting a standard or stock container pre-filled with medication or the like for use as a patient-specific container through precise application of patient-specific information to the pre-filled container. Precise placement of the patient-specific information to the pre-filled container enables pharmacy management to fully utilize valuable information provided with the pre-filled container, thereby improving the quality of service to the patient while making the process of prescription order fulfillment more efficient. In general, preferred embodiments comprise control apparatus and information-application apparatus. In embodiments, the information-application apparatus is adapted to place a patient-specific label on the container. Preferred forms of the information-application apparatus include a label printer and a positioner. The preferred printer applies patient-specific information on a label. The preferred positioner orients the pre-filled container to receive the label from the printer such that information provided with the container is available for use.

Apparatus and methods for fulfillment of patient prescription orders by adapting a standard or stock container pre-filled with medication or the like for use as a patient-specific container through precise application of patient-specific information to the pre-filled container. Precise placement of the patient-specific information to the pre-filled container enables pharmacy management to fully utilize valuable information provided with the pre-filled container, thereby improving the quality of service to the patient while making the process of prescription order fulfillment more efficient. In general, preferred embodiments comprise control apparatus and information-application apparatus. In embodiments, the information-application apparatus is adapted to place a patient-specific label on the container. Preferred forms of the information-application apparatus include a label printer and a positioner. The preferred printer applies patient-specific information on a label. The preferred positioner orients the pre-filled container to receive the label from the printer such that information provided with the container is available for use.