A system and method by which an orthodontic appliance is automatically designed and manufactured from digital lower jaw and tooth shape data of a patient provides for preferably scanning a model of the patient's mouth to produce two or three dimensional images and digitizing contours and selected points. A computer is programmed to construct archforms and calculate finish positions of the teeth, then to design an appliance, preferably including archwires and brackets, to move the teeth to the ca...

A method of placing and routing elements of a semiconductor integrated circuit picks out a signal net, a driver of the signal net, and load cells driven by the driver among the elements of the integrated circuit, places the driver at a first position, defines a first range based on the first position, determines a second position in the first range, defines a second range based on the second position, and collectively places the load cells of a predetermined number in the second range. Namely, t...

This invention relates to a system including an autopilot, with a simulator, for a fluid borne vehicle, and, in particular, to such a system including novel means to compute, in real time, and for depth keeping, and pitch keeping, purposes, any change of, or `out-of-trim`, heave force, and any change of, or `out-of-trim`, pitching moment, acting on the vehicle. For simplicity the general term out-of-trim forces is used when both are referred to.

The optical object discriminating device includes a light projecting part which applies light, which is emitted from a semiconductor light emitting element, to a measuring object which is an object to be measured, and a light receiving part which receives reflected light reflected by the measuring object. Between the light receiving part and the measuring object is placed a polarization-state selector part which permits polarized light of a specified polarization direction to pass therethrough. ...

A dental treatment installation comprises a plurality of dental treatment instruments, a plurality of tools having different operating parameters and replaceably mountable in the instruments, and a main control device arranged to be supplied with the operating parameters of a selected instrument and optionally with further operating parameters, and to compute therefrom the operating point for the drive of the selected instrument and also the working data of the selected tool. The main control de...

An encoder is disclosed for providing an accurate digital representation of the altitude of an aircraft vehicle by comparing an output signal from a pressure transducer which is a function of the barometric pressure at the altitude of the vehicle with an internally generated waveform which represents a curve of altitude vs. barometric pressure on its X--Y axis. The waveform is generated by a closed loop having an integrator circuit for providing the waveform, a comparator, a filter, a voltage co...

Device for fixing a fuel assembly to the lower core plate of a nuclear reactor, comprising a fastening element (23) fixed to the lower core plate (18), in the central part of the opening (19) in this plate (18) corresponding to the assembly, an expandable sleeve fixed to the lower end (3) of the assembly in its central part, a guide tube (10) passing through the assembly in its central part in the axial direction, a rod (25) mounted for sliding movement in the tube (10) and fixed to an oval lock...

Custom orthodontic brackets are provided for supporting an orthodontic archwire at custom positions and inclinations on the teeth of a patient. The preferred brackets each include a bracket base mountable on a tooth and a support extending therefrom for supporting an archwire, preferably in a slot of the custom inclination, depth and preferably curvature with respect to the mounting surface of the bracket base to the tooth. In the preferred embodiment, the brackets are formed by mounting blanks ...

A simulation method of jaw movement comprising: a superimposing process step of reading dentition configuration data and jaw movement data, calculating a coordinate transformation matrix for matching a coordinate system of the dentition configuration data with a coordinate system in a jaw movement basic state in the jaw movement data, and transforming the dentition configuration data to coordinates on the coordinate system in the jaw movement basic state to obtain superimposed dentition configur...

The prefabricated structural unit disclosed herein includes a metal frame or skeleton formed of a plurality of steel studs or channels welded into a shaped unitary frame having the general exterior configuration of the structural unit. Asbestos-cement panels or sheets are permanently secured to the exterior of the frame which are joined and sealed by an adhesive to form a continuous monolithic exterior surface. The exterior surface is then finished by coating the surface with a cementitious matr...