Electret filter media comprising a nonwoven web of thermoplastic nonconductive microfibers having trapped charge, said charge provided by (1) subjecting the nonwoven web to a corona treatment, followed by (2) impingement of jets of water or a stream of water droplets on the web at a pressure sufficient to provide the web with filtration enhancing electret charge and (3) drying the web. This electret filter media may be used in a respiratory mask to provide extraordinarily good filtration propert...

A method for manufacturing a coated optical fiber including the step of determining a desired temperature operating range of a coated optical fiber having at least one critical limit. The intercoating delamination stresses at the critical limit of said temperature range are determined. A zero-stress temperature region using the critical limit and the delamination stresses is then selected. An optical fiber is provided and the optical fiber is coated with a first polymer coating. The first polyme...

An adhesive tape construction is removable from one or more objects to which it is adhered and which is reusably separable within its construction so that an object can be separated from another and subsequently reconnected with one another. The adhesive tape construction can be used to bond the other opposed surfaces of objects, including rigid objects such as a picture frame to a wall, where no portion of the adhesive tape construction projects from between the objects, and which subsequently ...

The casing of a hearing aid can be acoustically dampened and its receiver is less likely to amplify noise stemming from vibrations of the casing when the casing is lined with a viscoelastic material. The viscoelastic lining can be applied by laying a viscoelastic layer across the rim of the casing and drawing a vacuum at the sound-communicating orifice of the casing until the viscoelastic is drawn tightly against the interior of the casing. A preferred viscoelastic layer has at one surface a sub...

Encapusalated electroluminescent phosphor particles and method for making same. The phosphor particles are encapsulated in a very thin oxide layer to protect them from aging due to moisture intrusion. The particles are encapsulated via a vapor phase hydrolysis reaction of oxide precursor materials at a temperature of between about 25.degree. C. and about 170.degree. C., preferably between about 100.degree. C. and about 150.degree. C. The resultant encapsulated particles exhibit a surprising comb...

A face mask for filtering contaminants from the air. The face mask includes a harness for securing the mask over the nose and mouth of the wearer and a nonwoven fibrous layer attached to the harness. The nonwoven fibrous layer contains at least 40 weight percent thermally bonding fibers, where at least 10 weight percent of the fibers in the nonwoven fibrous layer are bicomponent fibers. The nonwoven fibrous layer is molded in a cup-shaped configuration and has a surface fuzz value of not less th...

1H,lH-perfluorocyclohexylmethyl 2-fluoroacrylate, and homopolymers thereof.

Conformable pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes which comprise a layer of polymeric foam in the backing and may be adhered firmly to a substrate and thereafter removed therefrom after only being stretched at an angle no greater than about 35.degree. from the surface of the substrate. Articles for mounting an object such as a picture to a surface such as a wall comprising a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape of the invention are also described.

A color mapping method is used in transforming colors between color imaging systems. The method includes using forward transformation profiles that characterize the color imaging systems to generate respective sets of device-independent color values for the color imaging systems. Color conversions are calculated by reducing differences between the respective sets of device-independent color values. Based on these color conversions, a color map is constructed that describes a relationship between...

A reflector for reflecting light from an elongate light source into the input end of a light guide having a diameter "D". The light source is inserted through the narrow end of a collimating reflector which has a wide end with a diameter exceeding "D" through which light is emitted into the guide. The wide end of an output reflector circumferentially surrounds the collimating reflector's wide end. The output reflector's narrow end circumferentially surrounds the light guide's input end. The wide...