An atmosphere furnace including a plurality of divided furnace units, work transfer devices connecting the adjacent divided furnace units and those for the divided furnace units at both ends of the furnace. Each transfer device includes a tubular connecting frame and a work transfer member housed therein and the work transfer member has a work housing space in it. The work transfer member is rotatable, receives at a first position the work from outside or from an adjacent divided furnace unit in...

In the invention, the atmosphere in a process chamber is conditioned using a primary pump, a secondary pump, speed control means for controlling the speed of the primary pump, and at least first gas analyzer means adapted for analyzing the extracted gases upstream from the primary pump and for producing first analysis signals. First signal processing means control the pumping speed as a function of the first analysis signals, so as to determine the variation in the pressure inside the process ch...

A method and system for acoustically sounding the lower atmosphere involves the transmitting of an acoustic chirp and the processing of returned echoes and interference using wavelet and matched filter techniques. A single transmitter and four receivers may be used, with receivers located equidistant from the transmitter on the cardinal points of the compass. N, S, E, & W inputs are digitized and input to a wavelet filter (50) together with the transmitter chip signal (R or D) for the attenuatio...

A controlled atmosphere incubator having an interior chamber surrounded by a heated water jacket. A glass access door of the chamber is directly heated by a clear, electrically conductive coating. The door is sealed against the perimeter of the opening by a readily replaceable gasket and is field reversible due to unique hinge mounting assemblies. An easily accessed blower assembly is located within the chamber and includes a HEPA filter readily replaceable by the user from within the chamber. A...

A printed circuit board soldering process where a number of pockets containing solder are filled to overflowing with solder and then raised to immerse the terminals to be soldered. The solder pot and the pockets are protected by an atmosphere of hot inert gas introduced under a cover plate which has openings, corresponding to the location of the terminals, through which the pockets pass.

Installation for analyzing the level of at least one element, from at least two initial gas sources (S.sub.1, S.sub.2, . . . ) in a sampling procedure, using at least one analyzer (A.sub.1, A.sub.2, . . . ) capable of analyzing the element, including: at least two sources (S.sub.1, S.sub.2, . . . ) of initial gases to be analyzed; at least two tapping lines (L.sub.p1, L.sub.p2, . . . ), each line being connected in its upstream part to one of the initial gas sources, and in its downstream part t...

A method for heating and/or melting a charge such as aluminum in a furnace using heat generated by combustion to radiatively heat the charge through a layer of protective gas wherein combustion reaction products generated by the combustion are exhausted from a lower level within the furnace, and, during melting, the protective gas layer has a higher upper boundary than during a subsequent heating period, enabling reduced NO.sub.x generation, lower fuel and oxygen consumption and reduced refracto...

A method and apparatus for selectively detecting the presence and concentration of a constituent in a gas sample, such as for example the presence of the vapors emitted by explosives and drugs in the atmosphere. A sample flow is drawn through a switching device into a detector and the output of the detector is correlated with the operation of the switching device. The switching device is actuated at periodic intervals between first and second conditions. In the first condition the switching devi...

Foamed plastic food containers are prepared for contact with food by exchanging the air in the interstices of the foam for a packaging gas prior to using the containers for packaging of food.

A modified atmosphere packaging method creates a modified atmosphere in a package including an inner package and an outer package. The inner package is composed at least partially of a polymeric material substantially permeable to oxygen, while the outer package is composed of a polymeric material substantially impermeable to oxygen. After a food product such as raw meat is placed within the inner package, the inner package is flushed with a desired mixture of gases to substantially remove oxyge...