A cup-shaped filtering face-piece respirator 10 that includes a harness 14 and a mask body 12 that has a multi-layer filtering structure 16. The mask body 12 includes at least one dart 60 permanently bonded in the filtering structure 16, the dart 60 tapering from a center plane 32 of the mask body 12 to a side edge of the mask body. The dart 60 inhibits collapse of the cup-shaped form of the respirator 10.

Expanded metal sheets are used to produce tubular filters. The expanded metal sheet has a multiplicity of rows of openings arranged to reduce nesting when the sheet is rolled on itself. In particular, the pitch between the rows of openings, the sizes of the openings, or both the pitch between the rows of openings and the sizes of the openings are varied to reduce nesting when the expanded metal sheet is rolled on itself. The filters can include external circumferential grooves, rounded corners produced by a point loading process, textured surfaces between openings, and/or torturous internal paths produced by non-perforated areas of an expanded metal sheet. The expanded metal sheet can be composed of carbon steel coated with a material having a higher heat conductivity, e.g., tin. Among other things, the filters can be used in automobile airbag inflators to capture slag and absorb heat produced by the inflator's explosive charge.

A gaseous emissions treatment component is made by extruding a green ceramic mix through a die to form an extrusion having a honeycomb substrate with elongate cells extending its length and with the cells bounded by walls dividing adjacent cells from one another. Molten metal for use in induction heating of the component is placed in selected cells and is solidified by cooling.

A system for filtering water in a spa that provides safety and greater filtration. The system may include a filter secured to a core. The core may include first and second cages with a plurality of openings allowing water to freely pass through the filter and core while preventing larger objects from passing through. The first cage may provide an orientation feature to position the filter in one direction. The second cage may hold mineral cartridges. The core may be secured to a fitting that is secured to the suction line of a spa via a ratchet like engagement feature. The fitting and core prevent back out of the core unless manually overriding the arm on the core which engages fins on the fitting. The filter may be removed and replaced while the core remains in place providing safety to the user. A cap secures the whole assembly into place.

A filtering face-piece respirator 10 that includes a harness 14 and a mask body 12 that has a multi-layer filtering structure 16. The respirator includes a cushioning member 64 positioned proximate the nose area of the mask body 12, enveloped by a layer of the filtering structure 16. The cushioning member 64 is a compressible material and may be elastic. The cushioning member 64 can be positioned directly opposite of a nose clip 56.

An apparatus for manufacturing filters and inserting the filters into single dose capsules for preparing beverages comprises a punching and forming device for punching material portions from a sheet material and forming the material portions to assume the form of a beaker-shaped filters, an insertion device arranged in a distance of the punching and forming device along a work flow direction for inserting the formed filters into the capsules, a first transport device (175, 176) for accepting a plurality of formed filters from the punching and forming device and transporting the accepted filters to the insertion device, a second transport device (177) for accepting a plurality of formed filters from the punching and forming device and transporting the accepted filters to the insertion device. The first transport device (175, 176) and the second transport device (177) are movable with respect to each other.

A coffee filter includes a metallic member having a flat portion in which tapered exit regions are formed that extend from the bottom of the flat portion to vertices interior to the flat portion. The flat portion is provided with a hole uniformity enhancement region between the top of the flat portion and the exit region vertices that are interior to the flat portion. The top of the flat portion is micro-machined to remove a part of the hole uniformity enhancement region to a predetermined depth into the hole uniformity enhancement region. Holes are formed in the top of the flat portion extending from the micro-machined top of the flat portion through the hole uniformity enhancement region to the vertices of the tapered exit regions. The predetermined depth of the micro-machined top of the flat portion is selected to prevent the micro-machined top of the flat portion from meeting the tapered exit regions to promote and maintain uniformity of the holes.

A filtering face-piece respirator 10 having a mask body 12 formed of a filtering structure 16. The mask body 12 has at least one transversely extending stiffening member 50, formed by an s-shaped or tri-fold pleat permanently connected, such as by welding. The at least one stiffening member 50 increases the integrity of the mask body 12, when in the opened cup-shaped configuration, inhibiting collapse of the mask body, due to, for example, increased pressure drop across the mask body 12 due to dirty or moisture laden air.

A cup-shaped filtering face-piece respirator 10 that includes a harness 14 and a mask body 12 that has a multi-layer filtering structure 16. The mask body 12 includes at least one dart 60 permanently bonded in the filtering structure 16, the dart 60 tapering from a center plane 32 of the mask body 12 to a side edge of the mask body. The dart 60 inhibits collapse of the cup-shaped form of the respirator 10.

A coffee filter qualification system receives user-specified filter criteria relating to acceptable attributes for a plurality of apertures included in a liquid brewing filter. A light source illuminates the apertures of the liquid brewing filter and a machine vision camera images the apertures of the filter. A filter qualification information handling system (IHS) determines if the liquid brewing filter meets the predefined user-specified filter criteria. The filter qualification IHS accepts the liquid brewing filter if the filter meets the filter criteria, and otherwise rejects the filter. The filter criteria may include the total cumulative area of the apertures, individual aperture area, aperture count and aperture acircularity information.