A lock for a piano tuning pin comprises a metal collar having a set screw for attachment to a desired pin. A plurality of heavy spring wire arms extend substantially radially outward from the ring to engage adjacent pins and prevent the selected pin from rotating under the influence of the stressed piano wire. The foregoing abstract is not to be taken either as a complete exposition or as a limitation of the present invention. In order to understand the full nature and extent of the technical di...

Production of very pure butanediol-1,4 by separating in column 1 crude butanediol into a fraction A containing butanediol and lower boiling components and a fraction B containing higher boiling components, separating fraction A in column 2 into an overhead and a bottoms product consisting of very pure butanediol and separating fraction B in column 3 into butanediol of lower purity and components of higher boiling point.

.alpha.,.beta.-Unsaturated carboxylic acids which have been prepared by catalytic oxidation of the corresponding olefins bearing terminal double bonds or the corresponding .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated aldehydes with oxygen or oxygen-containing gases, and by-products formed in this reaction may be removed from their aqueous solutions by azeotropic distillation using hydrophobic solvents which boil at higher temperatures than the carboxylic acids and which do not form azeotropes with the substances ...

In an illustrative embodiment, the invention discloses a computer system in which an arbitrary set of graphical images can be used to navigate through a musical score. The musical score may be read through by a user while listening to the music and pointing to a corresponding position in the music. To this end, tracking information may be stored with image as a time-place mapping. In navigation through the musical score, the mapping may be used inversely to calculate musical time from a place po...

There is provided a warp knitting machine for diagonally laying warp threads with thread guides that circulate around a continuous pathway. The warp threads are taken from spools located on a fixed creel and are led through a fixed thread feed arrangement located above the circulating path. The frame is rotatable about a perpendicular turning axis in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the thread guides. These rotations have the same circuit times. In this way it is possible to ...

Disclosed is a system and method to deliver a multimedia presentation of an audio file to a computing device for display to a user and further to allow the user to play a musical instrument in conjunction with the multimedia presentation. In response to a user selecting a musical piece at the computing device, a server transmits a session file associated with the musical piece to the computing device through a computer network. The session file includes an audio file and multimedia data such tha...

Methods and instruments are provided for performing spinal disc space preparation and implant insertion in minimally invasive procedures. The instruments include cutting instruments and implant insertion instruments adapted for insertion through a minimally invasive access portal to a spinal disc space. The proximal portions of the instruments are adapted to facilitate viewing through a proximal end opening of the access portal with the instruments positioned through the access portal while also...

Anhydrous or substantially anhydrous formic acid is obtained by hydrolysis of methyl formate, in a process wherein (a) methyl formate is hydrolyzed, (b) the methanol and excess methyl formate are distilled from the hydrolysis mixture obtained, (c) the bottom product of distillation (b), consisting of formic acid and water, is extracted, in a liquid-liquid extraction, with an extractant which in the main takes up the formic acid, (d) the resulting extract phase, consisting of formic acid, the ext...

Music selection systems and methods are disclosed. An adaptive set of songs is selected based on implicit feedback from a user. A random set of songs is also selected. A playlist selection module creates a playlist that includes songs from the adaptive set and the random set in a ratio determined by a surprise factor provided by a user. The playlist may also begin with a sure set of songs that are known to be enjoyed by the user.

In the process for the purification of crude acrolein which comprises feeding crude acrolein containing at least water as an impurity and an extraction agent into a distillation column, condensing the vapor phase anhydrous acrolein formed at the head of the column, recycling part of the condensate into the column as reflux, withdrawing that part of the condensate not recycled as end-product, withdrawing from the base of the column, a liquid phase consisting essentially of a mixture of extraction...