US Fed News Service, Including US State News back issues from Monday, March 10:
South African Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Crawl Ball
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Leslie Becker of Gauteng, South Africa, has developed an ornamental design for a crawl ball, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,492 on March 4. The original application was filed on Oct. 30, ...
British Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Heater
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Peter Ross of Stafford, Great Britain, has developed an ornamental design for a heater, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,162 on March 4. The patent has been assigned to Ceramaspeed Ltd., ...
Maryland Inventor Develops Planar Material Destroying Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Charles A. Castronovo of Timonium, Md., has developed a method of destroying a planar material. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "True zero-clearance cutting on a commercial scale is provided via a cutting area including a sacrifice ...
New Jersey Inventors Develop Incoming Call Handling Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Yihsiu Chen and Robert S. Westrich, both of Middletown, N.J., Mark Jeffrey Foladare and Shelley B. Goldman, both of East Brunswick, N.J., Shawn Jean of Morris Plains, N.J., Joan Madden of Morristown, N.J., Shaoqing Q. Wang of Morganville, N.J., Roy Philip Weber of ...
Australian, Irish Inventors Develop Printing Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Kia Silverbrook of Balmain, Australia, and Gregory John McAvoy of Dublin, Ireland, have developed a printing method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of printing from a printhead, whilst minimizing cross-contamination of ink ...
Japanese Inventors Develop Call Detail Recording Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Masahik Murakamio, Sumiyo Okada and Satoshi Okuyama, all from Kawasaki, Japan, Keizo Terawaki, Yoshitaka Ogawa and Masaru Ikeda, all from Shinagawa, Japan, have developed a method for recording call detail. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: ...
Japanese Inventors Develop Data Communication Apparatus
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Yoshihiro Noguchi of Kanagawa, Japan, Genzo Takagi of Saitama, Japan, and Motoyasu Ohno of Tokyo, have developed a data communication apparatus. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "According to the data amount stored in a jitter buffer, ...
Maryland, North Carolina Inventors Develop Virtual Circuit Identification Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Ritesh Ahuja and James da Silva, both of Rockville, Md., Ho-Yen Chang of Raleigh, N.C., and Tyan-Shu Jou of Apex, N.C., have developed a system of virtual circuit identification. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and system of ...
Swiss Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Tea Infuser
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Jorgen Bodum of St. Niklausen, Switzerland, has developed an ornamental design for a tea infuser, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,161 on March 4. The patent has been assigned to Pi-Design ...
German Inventors Develop Telecommunication Network Exchange Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Klaus Pulverer and Patrick Kleiner, both of Munchen, Germany, Mathias Franz of Berlin, Alfred Jugel of Geretsried, Germany, and Norber Lobigt of Darmstadt, Germany, have developed an exchange for a telecommunication network. According to the U.S. Patent & ...
Japanese Inventor Develops Inter-Nodal Data Transfer System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Yasuhiro Ikawa of Tokyo has developed an inter-nodal data transfer system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A plurality of inter-nodal control means are provided at a connection part between an inter-nodal crossbar switch for an ...
Georgia, California Inventors Develop Portable Telephony Device
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Robb Barkley of Marietta, Ga., Mar Bakerk of Alpharetta, Ga., and Douglas F. Bender of Scotts Valley, Calif., have developed a portable telephony device. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) softphone ...
Texas Inventors Develop Internet Caller Identification System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Thomas Le Adamse and Laura Kay Culli, both of Austin, Texas, Michael Albert Machacek of Bulverde, Texas, and Richard Everett Sabinson of San Antonio, Texas, have developed an Internet caller identification system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark ...
California Inventor Develops Broadband Telecommunications System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Joseph Michae Christiel of San Bruno, Calif., has developed a broadband telecommunications system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention is a system for providing virtual connections through an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) ...
California Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Fish Themed Barbecue Grill
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Lowell M. Henry of Redondo Beach, Calif., has developed an ornamental design for a fish themed barbecue grill, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,151 on March 4. The patent has been assigned ...
Texas Inventor Develops Context Subsystems
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Kevin R. Plain of Pflugerville, Texas, has developed context subsystems for system configurations. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Embodiments of the present invention utilize context subsystems to logically group resources according to ...
Washington Inventors Develop Markup Language Data Mappings Management
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Kelly J. Lynch, Ramakrishnan Natarajan and Marise Chan, all from Redmond, Wash., Chad Rothschiller of Edmonds, Wash., Juha Niemisto of Mercer Island, Wash., Thibaut Vial of Seattle, have developed a markup language data mappings management. An abstract of the ...
California Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Arching Top Cookware Handle
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Robert A Rae of Danville, Calif., has developed an ornamental design for an arching top cookware handle, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,159 on March 4. The patent has been assigned to ...
Washington Inventors Develop User Payment Accounts Usage Restricting System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Arnold N. Blinn of Clyde Hill, Wash., and Joseph N. Coco of Redmond, Wash., have developed a system for restricting the usage of payment accounts. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A user's ability to spend and/or receive funds for payment ...
California Inventors Develop Graphical User Interface for Web Search
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Kevin Ellis and Jennifer Crakow, both of San Francisco, Christina Wodtke of Palo Alto, Calif., and Qi Lu of Saratoga, Calif., have developed a graphical user interface for web search. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "There is provided a ...
New Jersey Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Knife Handle
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Jordan Schmidt of Westwood, N.J., has developed an ornamental design for a knife handle, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,160 on March 4. The original application was filed on May 31, 2007, ...
California Inventors Develop Multitier Topology Map
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Johan Casier, Krishna Garimella and Shashank Joshi, all from San Jose, Calif., Yan Or of San Ramon, Calif., Umesh Bellur of Sunnyvale, Calif., John Koper of San Francisco, Girard Chandler of Los Altos, Calif., Vinu Sundaresan of Fremont, Calif., have developed a ...
Ohio, Massachusetts Inventors Develop Ornamental Design for Trivet
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Sheldon H. Goodman of Solon, Ohio, and Robert L. Blackadar of Natick, Mass., have developed an ornamental design for a trivet, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. D563,156 on March 4. The patent ...
Japanese Inventors Develop Hydrophobic Silica Fine Powder
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Yoshiharu Konya and Koichiro Watanabe, both of Annaka, Japan, and Susumu Ueno of Takefu, Japan, have developed a hydrophobic organic solvent making method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A hydrophobic silica fine powder is prepared by ...
Italian Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Kitchen Appliance
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Carlo Rosa of Lecco, Italy, has developed an ornamental design for a kitchen appliance for cooking foods, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,152 on March 4. The patent has been assigned to ...
Japanese Inventors Develop Hydrocarbons Reformation Process
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Akira Takahashi, Nobuhiko Mori and Toshiyuki Nakamura, all from Nagoya, Japan, have developed a hydrocarbons reformation process. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A process is provided for reforming a hydrocarbon with carbon dioxide using ...
California Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Soccer Ball Themed Barbecue Grill
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Lowell M. Henry of Redondo Beach, Calif., has developed an ornamental design for soccer ball themed barbecue grill, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,149 on March 4. The patent has been ...
California Inventors Develop Ornamental Design for Blender with Dispenser
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Scott Patrick Comstock of LaCanada, Calif., and Kurt Joseph Comstock of Sylmar, Calif., have developed an ornamental design for a blender with a dispenser, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. D563,154 on ...
Missouri Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Utensil Handle Portion
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Mark G. Collins of St. Ann, Mo., has developed an ornamental design for a handle portion for a utensil, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,158 on March 4. The original application was filed ...
U.S., Canadian Inventors Develop Financial Transactions Management Software
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Jeffrey A. Langston of Palo Alto, Calif., David McMurtry of Los Altos, Calif., Raymond P. Trounday of Daly City, Calif., Andrew D. Holmes of Edmonton, Canada, Lee Horigan of Toronto, and Sylvain Tremblay of Beaumont, Canada, have developed a multiple exchange rate ...
Illinois Inventors Develop Employee Stock Options Hedging Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Colleen Sullivan and Joseph Klein, both of Chicago, and Joseph Kelly of Seattle, have developed an employee stock options hedging method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An efficient process, from both a regulatory and tax perspective, ...
German Inventor Develops User Interface with Data Display Elements
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Axel Spriestersbach of Karlsruhe, Germany, has developed a user interface with data display elements. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A user interface including data display elements and a data selection element corresponding to each ...
Swiss Inventor Develops Ornamental Design for Electric Coffee Mill
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Jorgen Bodum of Meggen, Switzerland, has developed an ornamental design for an electric coffee mill, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventor was issued U.S. Patent No. D563,153 on March 4. The patent has been assigned to ...
Australian Inventors Develop Ornamental Design for Foldable Lunch Box Liner
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Yvonne Wyllie and Margaret Van Velzen, both of South Penrith, Australia, have developed an ornamental design for a foldable lunch box liner, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. D563,155 on March ...
Florida Inventor Develops Business-To-Business Relationships
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Lee A. Near of Oviedo, Fla., has developed a customer extranet portal. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "According to one embodiment of the invention, a computerized method of providing information to a customer in the power industry ...
Massachusetts, New Hampshire Inventors Develop Cancer Treatment Compounds
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Milind Rajopadhye of Westford, Mass., John A. Barrett of Groton, Mass., Alan P. Carpenter Jr. of Carlisle, Mass., Edward H. Cheesman of Lunenberg, Mass., and Thomas D. Harris of Salem, N.H., have developed a cancer diagnosis compound. According to a ...
Illinois Inventors Develop Electronic Trading Derivatives Computer Network
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- William R. Erwin, Michael Quattrocki and Frank Stone, all from Chicago, Neal Brady and Noah Carey, both of Evanston, Ill., Mark Thornburgh of West Chicago, Ill., and John Gilmore of Burr Ridge, Ill., have developed a computer network for electronically trading ...
New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts Inventors Develop Side Impact Sensor System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- David S. Breed of Boonton Township, N.J., Vittorio Castelli of Yorkstown Heights, N.Y., and Anthony S. Pruszenski, Jr. of Newburyport, Mass., have developed side impact crash sensors for vehicle. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Side ...
Washington Inventor Develops Email Messages Routing Methods
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Eric Horvitz of Kirkland, Wash., has developed email messages routing methods. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The routing of prioritized documents such as email messages is disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method ...
Japanese Inventor Develops Payment Management System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Mikio Iwase of Tokyo has developed a payment managing method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the invention relates to a "method for managing a payment between a lessor and a lessee using a network. The method includes the steps of: ...
U.S., French Inventors Develop Ornamental Design for Oval Container Lid
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Nicolas Bouveret of Mirabel, Calif., and Jean-Pierre Lacroix of Bois d'Amont, France, have developed an ornamental design for an oval container lid, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office announced. The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. D563,157 on March ...
Georgia Inventors Develop Insurance Model Production Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Alexander Eydeland and Daniel J. Mahoney, both of Atlanta, and David B. MacKenzie of Roswell, Ga., have developed an insurance model producing method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for producing an insurance model includes the ...
California, Texas Inventors Develop Audio Coding System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Matthew Conrad Fellers and Mark Stuart Vinton, both of San Francisco, Grant Allen Davidson of Burlingame, Calif., and Michael Mead Truman of Missouri City, Texas, have developed an audio coding system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A ...
California Inventors Develop Wireless Temperature Monitoring System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Christopher Gregory Malone of Loomis, Calif., and Thane Michael Larson of Roseville, Calif., have developed a wireless temperature monitoring system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of monitoring an electronics system comprises ...
California Inventors Develop Sales Enhancement Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Reiner Kraft of Gilroy, Calif., and Joann Ruvolo of San Jose, Calif., have developed sales enhancing method using e-commerce. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Sales associated with service providers is increased using an opportunistic ...
Spanish Inventor Develops Quality Software Management Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- David Perez Corral of Sant Cugat del Valles, Spain, has developed a quality software management method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A quality management framework system and method for operating a quality plan in a product ...
Wisconsin Inventors Develop Rules-Based Scheduling Tickets System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Carl D. Dvorak and Sumit S. Rana, both of Madison, Wis., have developed a rules-based scheduling tickets system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the invention relates to a "system to allow self-scheduling of appointments via an electronic ...
Florida Inventors Develop Liquid Hydrogen Production Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Nazim Muradov and Ali T. Raissi, both of Melbourne, Fla., and Cunping Huang of Cocoa, Fla., have developed a liquid hydrogen production process. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Processes, methods, systems and devices for zero emission ...
Australian Inventors Develop Medical Claim Assessment Model
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Paul Beinat, Barry Hornery, Graham Bartholomew and Nic Townsend, all from Sydney, Australia, have developed a method of assessing workers' compensation insurance claims. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for modeling medical ...
Japanese Inventors Develop Customer Personalized Product Production System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Hiroshi Takami, Teruyo Katsuno, Koji Sugiyama, Naohito Asai and Toshihide Fujikawa, all from Nagoya, Japan, Eiichi Ito of Kasugai, Japan, and Shinji Kobayashi of Toukai, Japan, have developed a customer personalized product ordering method. According to the U.S ....
New York Inventor Develops Speech Recognition Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Ellen M. Eide of Mt. Kisco, N.Y., has developed a speech recognition using discriminant features. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the invention relates to "Methods and arrangements for representing the speech waveform in terms of a set of ...
Massachusetts Inventors Develop Acoustic Classification Methods
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Dabien Liu of Belmont, Mass., and Francis G. Kubala of Boston, have developed a speech recognition system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A speech recognition system receives an audio signal and detects various features of the audio ...
Georgia Inventor Develops Text-To-Speech Applications
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Anita Hogans Simpson of Decatur, Ga., has developed text-to-speech applications. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for phonetically screening predetermined character strings. The apparatus includes a text-to-speech module, and ...
Nebraska Inventors Develop Purchasing Card Fraud Detection Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Julie A. Geschwender and Michele Murphy-Houser, both of Omaha, Neb., have developed a purchasing card fraud detecting method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the invention relates to a "method and system for detecting purchasing card ...
British Inventors Develop Speech Processing System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Jason Peter Andrew Charlesworth of Surrey, Great Britain, and Jebu Jacob Rajan of Bracknell, Great Britain, have developed a speech processing system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the invention relates to a "system for allowing a user ...
Japanese Inventors Develop Railway Vehicle-Facility Intra Communication System
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Setsuo Arita, Yuji Ichinose, Daisuke Shinma, Naoyuki Yamada, Hiroyuki Akiyama and Shigenobu Yanai, all from Tokyo, have developed a railway vehicle-facility intra communication system. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A communication ...
NEW FAMILY FUN- THE JUKEBOX JUNCTION THEATER PULLING INTO THE CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO
Mar 10, 2008 ... The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development issued the following news release: There's new family fun pulling into the Chattanooga Choo Choo in April that will include two new great musical/comedy productions. In the Jukebox Junction Theater, guests will be entertained with the comedy ...
OZONE ADVISORY IN SUBLETTE COUNTY
Mar 10, 2008 ... The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality issued the following news release: The Air Quality Division (AQD) of Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), in conjunction with the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH), is issuing an ozone advisory for Monday, March 10, 2008, ...
Esterline Mason Wins $42,533 Contract
Mar 10, 2008 ... RICHMOND, Va., March 10 -- The Defense Logistic Agency has awarded a $42,533 contract to Esterline Mason Co., Sylmar, Calif., for aircraft control wheels. The contract was awarded by the agency's Defense Supply Center, Richmond, Va. For more information ...
Japanese Inventor Develops Text Sentence Comparison Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Shaoming Liu of Kanagawa, Japan, has developed a text sentence comparison method. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A text sentence comparison method includes converting a first text sentence and a second text sentence into a first R tree ...
U.S., British Inventors Develop Programmable Logic Device
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Steven Perry, Alasdair Scott and Philippe Marti, all from High Wycombe, Great Britain, Gregor Nixon of Bicester, Great Britain, and Ziad Abu-Lebdeh of San Jose, Calif., have developed a programmable logic device (PLD). According to the U.S. Patent & ...
Virginia Inventors Develop Audio Signals Processing Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Michael A. Vaudrey and William R. Saunders, both of Blacksburg, Va., have developed a method for processing audio signals. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems provide an audio/visual output to each of a plurality of listeners in a ...
Colorado Inventors Develop Hardware Devices Emulation Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Joshua R. Engel, Stephen D. Hanna and John T. Varga, all from Longmont, Colo., have developed an emulation of hardware devices. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Device emulation implemented in programmable circuits. In one aspect, an ...
Taiwanese Inventor Develops Signal-Synthesizing Method
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Gin-Der Wu of Taipei, Taiwan, has developed a signal-synthesizing method. According to a description of the invention, released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention relates to a signal-synthesizing method, and more particularly, ...
California Inventors Develop Magnetic Field Reduction Resistive Heat Element
Mar 10, 2008 ... ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 10 -- Kevin B. Peck, Noel H. Johnson and Jim Sanches, all from Sonora, Calif., and Pontus K. H. Nilsson of Oakdale, Calif., have developed a resistive heat element. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Heating element assemblies, heating furnaces ...