Pocket watch
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This article is about the portable timepiece. For the Dave Grohl album, see Pocketwatch (album).
A gold pocket watch with hunter case and watch chain
A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I. Pocket watches generally have an attached chain to allow them to be secured to a waistcoat, lapel, or belt loop, and to prevent them from being dropped. The chain or ornaments on it is known as a fob. They often have a hinged metal cover to protect the face of the watch; pocketwatches with a fob and cover are often called "fob watches"[citation needed]. Also common are fasteners designed to be put through a buttonhole and worn in a jacket or waistcoat, this sort being frequently associated with and named after train conductors.
An early reference to the pocket watch is in a letter in November 1462 from the Italian clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi to the Marchese di Manta, where he offers him a 'pocket clock' better than that belonging to the Duke of Modena. By the end of the 15th Century, spring-driven clocks appeared in Italy, and in Germany. Peter Henlein, a master locksmith of Nuremberg, was regularly manufacturing pocket watches in England by 1524. Thereafter, pocket watch manufacture spread throughout the rest of Europe as the 16th century progressed. Another early example of a pocket watch measured in minutes was created by the Ottoman watchmaker Meshur Sheyh Dede in 1702.The first American pocket watches with machine made parts was manufactured by Henry Pitkin with his brother in the later 1830s.
Contents
1 Early pocket watches
2 Use in railroading in the United States
3 Types of pocket watches
3.1 Open-face watches
3.2 Hunter-case watches
4 Types of watch movements
4.1 Key-wind, key-set movements
4.2 Crown-wind, crown-set movements
4.3 Crown-wind, lever-set movements
4.4 Crown-wind, pin-set movements
5 Jewelled movements
6 Adjusted movements
7 Watch-chains
8 Decline in popularity
9 Pocket watches in fiction
10 Watch Manufacturers
11 References
Early pocket watches
Antique verge fusee pocketwatch movement, from 1700s.
The watch was first created in the 16th century, initially in spherical (Pomander) or cylindrical cases, when the spring driven clock was invented. These watches were at first quite big and boxy and were worn around the neck. It was not for another century that it became common to wear a watch in a pocket.
Use in railroading in the United States
Main article: Railroad chronometers
The rise of railroading during the last half of the 19th century led to the widespread use of pocket watches. Because of the likelihood of train wrecks and other accidents if all railroad workers did not accurately know the current time, pocket watches became required equipment for all railroad workers.
The first steps toward codified standards for railroad-grade watches were taken in 1887 when the American Railway Association held a meeting to define basic standards for watches. However, it took a disaster to bring about widespread acceptance of stringent standards. A famous train wreck on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in Kipton, Ohio on April 19, 1891 occurred because one of the engineers' watches had stopped for 4 minutes. The railroad officials commissioned Webb C. Ball as their Chief Time Inspector, in order to establish precision standards and a reliable timepiece inspection system for Railroad chronometers. This led to the adoption in 1893 of stringent standards for pocket watches used in railroading. These railroad-grade pocket watches, as they became colloquially known, had to meet the General Railroad Timepiece Standards adopted in 1893 by almost all railroads. These standards read, in part:
"...open faced, size 16 or 18, have a minimum of 17 jewels, adjusted to at least five positions, keep time accurately to within 30 seconds a week, adjusted to temps of 34 °F (1 °C) to 100 °F (38 °C), have a double roller, steel escape wheel, lever set, regulator, winding stem at 12 o'clock, and have bold black Arabic numerals on a white dial, with black hands."
Railroad employees to this day are required to keep their watches on time, and are subject to spot checks by their superiors at any time. Failure to keep their watches on time can lead to disciplinary action, due to the gravely serious safety issues involved.
Additional requirements were adopted in later years in response to additional needs; for example, the adoption of the diesel-electric locomotive led to new standards from the 1940s on specifying that timekeeping accuracy could not be affected by electromagnetic fields.
Types of pocket watches
There are two main styles of pocket watch, the hunter-case pocket watch, and the open-face pocket watch.
Open-face watches
An open-face pocket watch made by the famous Polish watchmaker Franciszek Czapek, circa 1876.
An open-face pocket watch is one with the winding-stem at the top of the dial, above the '12' and with the seconds sub-dial at the 6 o'clock position. As the name suggests, these watches have cases which are without a cover to protect the watch-crystal from any form of damage. All railroad chronometers had to be of the open-face kind.
Hunter-case watches
A hunter-case pocket watch is the kind with a spring-hinged circular metal lid or cover, that closes over the watch-dial and crystal, protecting them from dust, scratches and other damage or debris. The majority of antique and vintage hunter-case watches have the lid-hinges at the 9 o'clock position and the stem, crown and bow of the watch at the 3 o'clock position. Modern hunter-case pocket watches usually have the hinges for the lid at the 6 o'clock position and the stem, crown and bow at the 12 o'clock position, as with open-face watches. In both styles of watch-cases, the sub-seconds dial was always at the 6 o'clock position. A hunter-case pocket watch with a spring-ring chain is pictured at the top of this page.
Types of watch movements
Key-wind, key-set movements
The very first pocket watches, since their creation in the 16th century, up until the third quarter of the 19th century, were of the kind which had key-wind and key-set movements. A watch-key was necessary to wind the watch and also to set the time. This was usually done by opening the caseback and putting the key over the winding-arbor (which was set over the watch's winding-wheel, to wind the mainspring) or by putting the key onto the setting-arbor, which was connected with the minute-wheel and which turned the hands. Some watches of this period had the setting-arbor at the front of the watch so that removing the crystal and bezel was necessary to set the time.
Crown-wind, crown-set movements
Created by Patek-Philippe in the 1850s, the crown-wind, crown-set movement did away with the watch-key which was a necessity for the operation of any pocket watch up to that point. The first crown-wind and crown-set pocket watches were sold during the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and the first owners of these new kinds of watches were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Crown-wind, crown-set movements are the most common type of watch-movement found in both vintage and modern pocket watches.
Crown-wind, lever-set movements
Mandatory for all railroad watches, this kind of pocket watch was set by opening the crystal and pulling out the setting-lever, which was found at either the 10 or 2 o'clock positions. Once the lever was pulled out, the crown could be turned to set the time. The lever was pushed back in and the crystal and bezel were closed over the dial again. This was a secure way of setting the time and there wasn't any chance of an erroneous time because there was not crown that could be left out or forced into its 'up' setting-position to set the watch to an incorrect time.
Crown-wind, pin-set movements
Much like the lever-set movements, these pocket watches had a small pin or knob next to the watch-stem that had to be depressed before turning the crown to set the time and releasing the pin when the correct time had been set.
2009年2月7日星期六
Multicolor Pen
Ballpoint pen
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Retractable ballpoint pen, disassembled and complete
A ballpoint pen (Hungarian: golyóstoll, also eponymously known in British English and Australian English as a biro and pronounced /ˈbaɪroʊ/ bye-roe in Britain and Australia but sometimes /ˈbiːroʊ/ bee-roh" elsewhere, named after its credited, though contested, inventor László Bíró), is a modern writing instrument. While many people attribute credit for the invention to Bíró, recent debate has arisen arguing that a young student at The University of Illinois named Miles Ford actually created a similar invention and often goes without credit. A ballpoint pen has an internal chamber filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a small metal sphere (0.7 mm to 1.2 mm in diameter) of brass, steel or tungsten carbide. The ink dries almost immediately after contact with paper. Inexpensive, reliable and maintenance-free, the ballpoint has replaced the fountain pen as the most popular tool for everyday writing.
Contents
1 History
2 Description
3 Standards
4 Ballpoint pens in everyday life
5 Multi-colored pens
6 Characteristics of ballpoint pens
7 References
8 External links
History
An authentic "birome", made in Argentina by Bíró & Meyne
The manufacture of economical, reliable ballpoint pens resulted from a combination of experimentation, modern chemistry and the precision manufacturing capabilities of 20th century technology. Many patents worldwide are testaments to failed attempts to make these pens commercially viable and widely available. The ballpoint pen went through several failures in design throughout its early stages. It has even been argued that a design by Galileo Galilei (during the 17th century), was that of a ballpoint pen[citation needed].
The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on 30 October 1888, to John J. Loud.The pen had a rotating small steel ball, held in place by a socket. Although the pen could be used to mark rough surfaces such as leather, it proved to be too coarse for letter writing and was not commercially exploited.
In the period between 1902 and 1946, there was intense interest in improving writing instruments, particularly alternatives or improvements to the fountain pen. Slavoljub Eduard Penkala invented a solid-ink fountain pen in 1907, a German inventor named Baum took out a ballpoint patent in 1910, and yet another ballpoint pen device was patented by Van Vechten Riesburg in 1916. In these inventions, the ink was placed in a thin tube whose end was blocked by a tiny ball, held so that it could not slip into the tube or fall out of the pen. The ink clung to the ball, which spun as the pen was drawn across the paper. These proto-ballpoints did not deliver the ink evenly. If the ball socket was too tight, the ink did not reach the paper. If it were too loose, ink flowed past the tip, leaking or making smears. Many inventors tried to fix these problems, but without commercial success.
László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor, was frustrated by the amount of time that he wasted in filling up fountain pens and cleaning up smudged pages, and the sharp tip of his fountain pen often tore his pages of newsprint. Bíró had noticed that the type of ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge free. He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink. Since, when tried, this viscous ink would not flow into a regular fountain pen nib, Bíró, with the help of his brother George, a chemist, began to work on designing new types of pens. Bíró fitted this pen with a tiny ball in its tip that was free to turn in a socket. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated, picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper. Bíró filed a British patent on 15 June 1938.
Miles Ford, a student at The University of Illinois, after being equally frustrated with the way the fountain pen smudged his term papers, employed many of his engineering peers to devise a cleaner way to write. After many errors, Ford and the team of students created what became, in essence, the exact model of Bíró's ballpoint pen. Ford, too busy with college and writing, failed to apply for a patent. The Ford estate does not contend being owed any money, but rather wishes that Ford be included in the discussion of the origins of the ballpoint pen.[citation needed]
Earlier pens leaked or clogged due to improper viscosity of the ink, and depended on gravity to deliver the ink to the ball. Depending on gravity caused difficulties with the flow and required that the pen be held nearly vertically. The Biro pen both pressurized the ink column and used capillary action for ink delivery, solving the flow problems.
In 1940 the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, moved to Argentina fleeing Nazi Germany and on June 10, filed another patent, and formed Bíró Pens of Argentina. The pen was sold in Argentina under the Birome brand (portmanteau of Bíró and Meyne), which is how ballpoint pens are still known in that country. László was known in Argentina as Ladislao José Bíró. This new design was licensed by the British, who produced ball point pens for RAF aircrew as the Biro, who found they worked much better than fountain pens at high altitude.
Eversharp, a maker of mechanical pencils teamed up with Eberhard-Faber in May 1945 to license the design for sales in the United States. At about the same time a U.S. businessman saw a Biro pen in a store in Buenos Aires. He purchased several samples and returned to the U.S. to found the Reynolds International Pen Company, producing the Biro design without license as the Reynolds Rocket. He managed to beat Eversharp to market in late 1945; the first ballpoint pens went on sale at Gimbels department store in New York City on 29 October 1945 for US$12.50 each. This pen was widely known as the rocket in the U.S. into the late 1950s.
Similar pens went on sale before the end of the year in England, and by the next year in most of Europe. Cheap disposable instruments were produced by the BIC Corporation with "Bic" as the tradename (pronounced BiK, not Beak); as with 'Hoover' and 'Xerox', the tradename has subsequently passed into general use. With BIC's expanding product range, the original Bic pen design is now termed the Bic Cristal.
Since 1990, Bíró's birthday (the 29th of September) is Inventor's Day in Argentina.
Description
Ballpoint pen rolling over a paper surface, leaving behind a trail of ink.
There are two basic types of ball point pens: disposable and refillable.
Disposable pens are chiefly made of plastic throughout and discarded when the ink is consumed; refillable pens are metal and some plastic and tend to be much higher in price. The refill replaces the entire internal ink reservoir and ball point unit rather than actually refilling it with ink, as it takes special high-speed centrifugation to properly fill a ball point reservoir with the viscous ink. The simplest types of ball point pens have a cap to cover the tip when the pen is not in use, while others have a mechanism for retracting the tip. This mechanism is usually controlled by a button at the top and powered by a spring within the pen apparatus, but other possibilities include a pair of buttons, a screw, or a slide.
Tip of a ballpoint pen highly magnified
Rollerball pens combine the ballpoint design with the use of liquid ink and flow systems from fountain pens;
Space Pens, developed by Fisher in the United States, combine a more viscous than normal ballpoint pen ink with a gas pressurized piston which forces the ink toward the point. This design allows the pen to write even upside down or in zero gravity environments.[4]
Standards
The International Organization for Standardization has published standards for ball point and roller ball pens:
ISO 12756
1998: Drawing and writing instruments -- Ball point pens and roller ball pens -- Vocabulary[5]
ISO 12757-1
1998: Ball point pens and refills -- Part 1: General use
ISO 12757-2
1998: Ball point pens and refills -- Part 2: Documentary use (DOC)
ISO 14145-1
1998: Roller ball pens and refills -- Part 1: General use
ISO 14145-2
1998: Roller ball pens and refills -- Part 2: Documentary use (DOC)
ISO 14145-1938 is when the pen was invented
Cord Organizer
Edward Flatau
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Edward Flatau
Born on
December 27, 1868
Birth place
Płock, Poland
Died on
June 7, 1932
Place of death
Warsaw, Poland
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Edward Flatau
Edward Flatau was a Polish neurologist. His work greatly impacted the developing field of neurology. He established neurobiologic and neuropathological sciences in Poland. He published a human brain atlas in 1894, wrote a fundamental book on migraines (1912), established the localization principle of long fibres in the spinal cord (1893), with Sterling (1911) published an early paper on progressive torsion spasm in children and suggested that the disease has a genetic component.
Contents
1 Education
2 Life and work
2.1 Brain atlas and spinal cord
2.2 Flatau's Law
2.3 Early proponent of neuron theory
2.4 Neurology and early human genetics
2.5 Migraine and headaches
2.6 Contribution to Polish science
3 Bibliography
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Edward Flatau
Born on
December 27, 1868
Birth place
Płock, Poland
Died on
June 7, 1932
Place of death
Warsaw, Poland
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Edward Flatau
Edward Flatau was a Polish neurologist. His work greatly impacted the developing field of neurology. He established neurobiologic and neuropathological sciences in Poland. He published a human brain atlas in 1894, wrote a fundamental book on migraines (1912), established the localization principle of long fibres in the spinal cord (1893), with Sterling (1911) published an early paper on progressive torsion spasm in children and suggested that the disease has a genetic component.
Contents
1 Education
2 Life and work
2.1 Brain atlas and spinal cord
2.2 Flatau's Law
2.3 Early proponent of neuron theory
2.4 Neurology and early human genetics
2.5 Migraine and headaches
2.6 Contribution to Polish science
3 Bibliography
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
Education
He went to medical school at the University of Moscow from 1886, being greatly influenced by the psychiatrist Sergei Sergeievich Korsakoff (1854-1900) and the neurologist Alexis Jakovlevich Kozhevnikof (1836-1902). Flatau became a medical doctor in 1892 and spent the years 1893 to 1899 in Berlin in the laboratories of Emanuel Mendel (1839-1907), Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz (1836-1921), Alfred Goldscheider (1858-1935), and Ernst Viktor von Leyden (1832-1910).
Life and work
First page of Atlas of the human brain and the course of the nerve-fibres (1894)
Brain atlas and spinal cord
In 1894, at the age of 25 he wrote influential Atlas of the human brain and the course of the nerve-fibres which was published in German, English, French, Russian, and in 1896 in Polish, based on long-exposure photographs of fresh brain sections (up to 10 minutes for flat and 30 minutes for uneven surfaces, by means of small diaphragms). The Atlas was published in German, English, Russian, French and Polish. In a review, Sigmund Freud wrote: The plates with their clarity deserve to be called excellent educational material, suitable as an utterly reliable reference. A schematic plate in the beginning gives an overview of our knowledge on the fibre pathways in the CNS, incorporating the accounts of Mendel, Bechterew and Edinger and continuing with the differing views on the structure of nervous tissue of Golgi and Ramo´n y Cajal. The price of the work is minimal if one considers its completeness and beauty. The author and publisher deserve thanks from the medical community for this valuable work.
First page Das Gesetz der excentrischen Lagerung der langen Bahnen im Ruckenmark published in 1897.
Flatau's Law
With the Berlin neurobiologist Johannes Gad he performed experimental work on dogs and criticised Bastian-Bruns Law concerning the loss of function following spinal cord injury (1893).
On the basis of numerous clinical spinal cord surgeries, experiments and subsequent observations he discovered that the "greater the length of the fibres in the spinal cord the closer they are situated to the periphery" (Flatau's Law). He provided evidence for the laminar arrangement of spinal pathways. . He also described the fifth, seventh and eighth cranial nerves, and carefully outlined their nuclei. The paper on this topic Das Gesetz der excentrischen Lagerung der langen Bahnen im Rückenmark was published in 1897. For this work he received Ph.D. in medical sciences in Moscow in 1899 (dissertation "Zakon ekscentriczeskago raspolozenia dlinnych putiej w spinnom mózgu").
Early proponent of neuron theory
In 1895 Flatau became interested in neuron theory recently developed by Ramón y Cajal and Waldeyer and became one of its proponents. In several publications he tried to establish unity between physiology and anatomy of neuron. Together with Alfred Goldscheider he worked on the structure of nerve cells and their changes under mechanical, thermal and toxic influences. They published results of their experiments in 1897 and 1898 in Fortschritte der Medizin and Gazeta Lekarska which were subsequently published as special monograph. They state that the character of changes in neuron cells could provide information about the type of influences acting on them. This work, in which the normal and pathologic anatomy of the Vth, VIIth and VIIIth (cochlear) cranial nerves was included, created much discussion and was adversely criticized by Nissl, who opposed the neuron theory.
Neurology and early human genetics
Flatau and Wladyslaw Sterling in 1911 published an early paper on progressive torsion spasm in children the same year as Ziehen and Oppenheim. Unlike Oppenheim's this paper suggested that the disease has genetic component.
In 1927 Flatau, independently of Emil Redlich in Vienna, described the first cases of encephalomyelitis epidemica disseminata (Flatau-Redlich disease). Flatau was convinced that this illness is caused by virus which was latter confirmed by Mergulis. Flatau described in detail Schilder disease and introduced its name encephalitis periaxialis diffusa.
German edition of 1912 "Die Migrane" - first modern book on migranes.
Migraine and headaches
In 1912 he published in German and Polish the first modern monograph about migraines. This book was reprinted in 2007,[4] 95 years after its original publication, and is still frequently referenced in scientific literature. In a review of the historical background of general aspects of the headaches, Isler and Rose say, "His unique monograph of 1912, Die Migrane, contains a thorougly structured survey of most earlier authors, precise clinical observations, a critical evaluation of pathophysiology, and uncritical opinions on treatment, including arsenic cures."[5]
Contribution to Polish science
By 1899 Flatau had established a name for himself both in Germany and abroad and returned to Poland during that year. Flatau was closely associated with attempts to re-establish Polish science during and after Russian occupation. After return he formed private microscopy laboratory at his apartments in Warsaw and worked in Warsaw hospitals as consultant. In 1911 he established a neurological laboratory in the Warsaw Psychologic Society and he became, in 1913, the first head of the Department of Neurobiology of Warsaw Scientific Society (Warszawskie Towarzystwo Naukowe) and from 1919 head of the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology which was then part of the Warsaw Scientific Society. In 1904 he becomes head of neurology in "Na Czystem" Hospital in Warsaw.
For many years he shared his responsibilities as experimentalist and neurologist between the laboratory and the hospital. He had large private practice. He was influential in establishing Polish medical periodicals "Neurologia Polska" and "Warszawskie Czasopismo Lekarskie". He supported establishment of Neurological and Psychiatry Section of Warsaw Medical Society, had many outstanding students, excellent organizer.
He died in 1932, the same year as two other notable Polish neurologists; Samuel Goldflam and Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski (Polish-French neurologist).
Bibliography
Edward Flatau and Alfred Goldscheider: Normale und pathologische Anatomie der Nervenzellen: auf Grund der neueren Forschungen, Berlin, H. Kornfeld, 1898, 140 pages.
Atlas of the human brain, and the course of the nerve-fibres, by Edward Flatau, with a preface by E. Mendel. Berlin, S. Karger, 1894. 25 pages.
Handbuch der Anatomie und vergleichenden Anatomie des Centralnervensystems der Säugetiere. With Louis Jacobsohn (Berlin neurobiologist). Berlin, S. Karger, 1899.
Handbuch der pathologischen Anatomie des Nervensystems. With L. Jacobsohn, Karl Anders Petrén (1868-1927) and Lazar Salomowitch Minor (1855-1942). Berlin, 1903-1904.
Tumeurs de la moelle épinicre et de la colonne vertebrale, Paris, 1910, 175 pages.
Migrena. La migraine. Warszawa, Nakladem Towarzystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego, 1912, vi, 313 pages. Series title: Wydawnictwa Towarzystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego. III.- Wydzial nauk matematycznych i przyrodniczych. In Polish.
Die Migräne. Berlin, J. Springer, 1912. Series title: Monographien aus dem Gesamtgebiete der Neurologie und Psychiatrie, Hft. 2.
Ernst Julius Remak and E. Flatau: Neuritis und Polyneuritis. 2 parts. Wien, A. Hölder, 1899-1900. In Carl Wilhelm Hermann Nothnagel (1841-1905), et al, publisher: Handbuch der speciellen Pathologie und Therapie. IX, Bd. 3, Abt. 3-4. (24 volumes, Vienna, 1894-1905). Flatau wrote the parts on anatomy and pathological anatomy.
Accessory Clip
Nintendo 64 accessories
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This is a list of accessories for the Nintendo 64 video game console.
Accessories
First party accessories
A Nintendo 64 controller.
Nintendo 64 controller — an 'm'-shaped controller with 10 buttons (A, B, C-Up, C-Down, C-Left, C-Right, L, R, Z, and Start), one analog stick in the center, a digital directional pad on the left hand side, and an extension port on the bottom. Initially available in seven colors (gray, yellow, green, red, blue, purple, and black) and later in transparent versions of said colors (except gray). The N64 pad's analog stick is notorious for becoming very worn. Also, the analog stick would become uncalibrated if not centered properly when the system was booted up; if the stick was not centered, the game would calibrate with a zero of the altered position. Because this may not be discovered until the player enters the game, a universal software recentering method is printed in every manual (simultaneously pressing the L, R, and START buttons). Early titles such as Wonder Project J2 would lose calibration if the player moved the cursor while accessing the Controller Pak save.
A Nintendo-brand Controller Pak.
Controller Pak — a memory card that is plugged into the controller and allowed the player to save game progress and configuration. The original models from Nintendo offered 256 KB battery backed SRAM, split into 123 pages with a limitation of 16 save files, but third party models had much more, often in the form of 4 selectable memory bank of 256KB. The number of pages that a game occupied varied (sometimes, it used the entire card). A Controller Pak was initially useful or even necessary for the earlier N64 games. Over time, the Controller Pak lost ground to the convenience of a battery backed SRAM (or EEPROM) found in some cartridges. Games by Konami often required the Controller Pak for saves, even though the games could have easily contained three or more save-slots (such as in the case of Quest 64).
Jumper Pak — a filler that plugged into the console's memory expansion port. It serves no functional purpose other than to terminate the RAMBUS bus in the absence of the Expansion Pak. This is functionally equivalent to a continuity RIMM in a RAMBUS motherboard filling the unused RIMM sockets until the user upgrades. Early Nintendo 64 consoles (prior to the Expansion Pak's release) come with the Jumper Pak included and already installed. Jumper Paks were not sold individually in stores and could only be ordered individually through Nintendo's online store.
The 4 MB memory Expansion Pak.
Expansion Pak — a memory expansion that plugged into the console's memory expansion port. It contained 4 MB of RAM. Some of the games to support this accessory are Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage, Gauntlet Legends, Hybrid Heaven, Pokémon Stadium 2, Resident Evil 2, Road Rash 64, Shadow Man, Star Wars: Episode I Racer, and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, San Francisco Rush 2049, and South Park. Only a handful of games such as Rare's Donkey Kong 64, the single-player mode of Rare's Perfect Dark, the multi-player mode of Blizzard's Starcraft 64 and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask required it for play. Supporting games usually offered higher video resolutions or higher textures and/or higher color depth. For example, the Nintendo 64 all-remade version of Quake 2 features higher color depth but not a higher resolution when using the Expansion Pak. The Expansion Pak was shipped with some games and also available separately.
A blue Nintendo 64 controller with the Rumble Pak inserted.
Rumble Pak — an accessory powered by two AAA batteries that plugged into the controller and vibrated during game play. It was released in 1997 alongside Star Fox 64.
The Transfer Pak.
Transfer Pak — an accessory that plugged into the controller and allowed the Nintendo 64 to transfer data between Game Boy and N64 games. Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2 are games that rely heavily on the Transfer Pak. Both Mario Golf and Mario Tennis also made use of it. Rare's Perfect Dark was initially going to be compatible with the Transfer Pak in order to use pictures taken with the Game Boy Camera in the game, but this function was scrapped, and the Transfer Pak was usable only in combination with the Game Boy Color version of Perfect Dark for unlocking bonuses.
The Wide-Boy 64 CGB / AGB — a series of adapters similar to the Super Game Boy that was able to play Game Boy games; however, it was only released to the developers and the press. Third party adapters allowed regular consumers to do the same.
The N64 Disk Drive.
S-Video Cable — provides a better quality picture than composite RCA cables via the MultiAV port. The cable is identical to and compatible with earlier SNES and later Gamecube S-Video cables.
64DD — The official N64 Disk Drive attachment was a commercial failure and was consequently never released outside of Japan. It featured networking capabilities similar to the SNES Satellaview.
The VRU (Voice Recognition Unit).
VRU (Voice Recognition Unit) — This device has only two compatible games Densha de Go! 64 and Hey You, Pikachu! each avalible with this accessory packed in or available separately in the case of 'Densha de Go! 64' because it was not required for gameplay, while it was required to play 'Hey You, Pikachu!'. It consisted of a ballast that connects into controller port 4 of the system, a microphone, a yellow foam cover for the microphone and a clip for clipping the microphone to the controller. Players would hold the L or Z button on the controller and talk to Pikachu. One major drawback is the fact that the VRU is only calibrated to high pitched voices like that of a child as stated in the manual, so older children and adults will have problems issuing commands.
Dance Pad (Japan only) — a dance pad packaged separately that is needed to play Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Dancing Museum.
Cleaning Kit – Nintendo released a first party cleaning kit for the Nintendo 64. It contained everything required to clean the connectors of the control deck, controllers, game paks, Rumble Paks and Controller Paks.
RF Switch and RF Modulator — This accessory set allows the Nintendo 64 and model 2 SNES (redesigned after the launch of the N64) to hook up to the television through RF. It was primarily intended for customers with older televisions that lack AV cable support. Since the Nintendo 64 and model 2 SNES lack built-in RF compatibility, the modulator acts as a special adapter that plugs into the Nintendo 64's AV port to give the Nintendo 64 RF compatibility. The RF switch itself is identical in every way to the RF switches released for Nintendo's prior systems (the NES and the SNES) and can be interchanged if needed. This identical set was later re-released for the GameCube to also give it RF compatibility, and additionally, the connectivity cables intended for the GameCube will fit the N64.
Euro Connector Plug — a special connection plug that fits into the back of a European television which have a 16 pin input, manufactured by Nintendo, packaged with it were the A/V cables.
12-Game Storage Case — a black rectangular container built of wood, with a plastic drawer with one row of slots designed for Nintendo 64 games. Official cases have the Nintendo 64 sticker on the drawer.
24-Game Storage Case — a black rectangular container built of wood, with a plastic drawer with two rows of slots designed for Nintendo 64 games. Official cases have the Nintendo 64 sticker on the drawer.
Messenger Bag — a black bag, made to carry on the left side of the body. It is branded on the front with the Nintendo 64 logo and name. It comes with zippered compartments on the outside and inside and with mesh pockets. It can only hold a few games and a controller.
Traveling Case — a black bag, with the Nintendo 64 name stitched on the front. Two plastic buckles on the front keeps the bag closed. It is made to carry the Nintendo 64 system with controllers, games, and accessories.
Backpack — a standard black backpack with the Nintendo 64 logo on the top. There is a zippered compartment on the front.
35 mm Camera — a basic 35 mm camera, complete with a timer and flash. Official cameras have a Nintendo 64 logo on the front. It comes in different colors, such as blue and orange.
Third party accessories
Bio Sensor — An ear-clip that plugs into the Controller Pak slot of the N64 controller to measure the user's heart rate. Released only in Japan and compatible only with Tetris 64 where it will slow down or speed up the game depending on how fast the player's heart is beating.
Dex Drive — Made by Interact, allowed the player to upload data from their memory cards and either store the files on your computer, or send via the internet.
GameShark — A cheat device made by Interact in two versions. The first version had a LED display that would count down 5 seconds upon turning the system on. The period in the display would be lit while playing to show that the unit was functioning. There is a slot on the back of the unit for an expansion card that was never made. The second version (known as the 'Pro' series, versions 3.2 and up) had a SCSI or parallel port on the back for connecting to a computer for downloads. It also featured a cheat search function. Version 3.2 had a similar LED display as the earlier versions. This feature was removed in version 3.3. GameShark cards (or Action Replay cards in Europe) could be used to access content that would normally be inaccessible if a game is played normally without the card. The most famous N64 game for hidden content was Goldeneye 007 for its citadel rumours.
SharkWire Online — An Interact Game Shark with modem and PC style serial port for keyboards. Allowed emailing and Game Shark updates through the now discontinued sharkwire.com dial-in service.
GB Hunter — Like the Super Game Boy, connects to the N64's cartridge slot and requires a N64 boot cartridge plugged into its back, and allows you to play Game Boy games on it, without the game's sound; instead GB Hunter's theme is played over and over during the game.
High Rez Pack — Mad Catz' less-expensive version of the Expansion Pak. There were reports of overheating due to inadequate cooling/venting, and the unit suffered from poor build quality.[citation needed]
N64 Passport — Adapter and cheat device allowing players to play games from different regions on their model N64, with a few exceptions.
Memory Card Comfort by Speed-Link — A sort of Controller Pak with four separate memory areas, and 123 pages each, selectable via a small switch.
Battery-free Rumble Paks — Late in the N64's run, a few third-party companies made Rumble Paks that, instead of requiring batteries to work, drew power from the system. Curiously, it was possible to modify an official Rumble Pak using basic soldering in order to make it powered by the console.
Retrieved from
Cap Pen
Fountain pen
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)
A fountain pen is a pen that contains a reservoir of water-based liquid ink. If it uses ink cartridges instead of having a built-in ink reservoir, it is often called cartridge pen. From the reservoir or the ink cartridge, the ink is drawn through a feed to the nib and then to the paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action, so most fountain pens require no pressure to write.
Filling the built-in reservoir with ink usually involves operating an internal mechanism which sucks ink from a bottle through the nib into the reservoir. These mechanisms are typically pistons or rubber sacs. Cartridge pens are filled by simply replacing the empty ink cartridge with a new factory-filled one.
These Parker Duofolds from the 1920s used the Lucky Curve feed system and self-filled using a "button filler". They were quite long; nearly 7 inches long when posted.
Contents
1 History
2 Nibs
3 Filling mechanisms
4 Cartridges
5 Fountain pens today
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
History
The earliest historical record of a reservoir pen dates back to the 10th century. In 953, Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib via gravity and capillary action. As recorded by Qadi al-Nu'man al-Tamimi (d. 974) in his Kitdb al-Majalis wa 'l-musayardt, al-Mu’izz commissioned the construction of the pen instructing:
‘We wish to construct a pen which can be used for writing without having recourse to an ink-holder and whose ink will be contained inside it. A person can fill it with ink and write whatever he likes. The writer can put it in his sleeve or anywhere he wishes and it will not stain nor will any drop of ink leak out of it. The ink will flow only when there is an intention to write. We are unaware of anyone previously ever constructing (a pen such as this) and an indication of ‘penetrating wisdom’ to whoever contemplates it and realises its exact significance and purpose’. I exclaimed, ‘Is this possible?’ He replied, ‘It is possible if God so wills’.
In his Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae (1636), German inventor Daniel Schwenter described a pen made from two quills. One quill served as a reservoir for ink inside the other quill. The ink was sealed inside the quill with cork. Ink was squeezed through a small hole to the writing point. Progress in developing a reliable pen was slow, however, into the mid-19th century. That slow pace of progress was due to a very imperfect understanding of the role that air pressure played in the operation of the pens and because most inks were highly corrosive and full of sedimentary inclusions. The Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru received a French patent for the invention of the first fountain pen with a replacable ink cartridge on May 25, 1827. The design of the pen allowed for smooth writing without unwanted dripping or scratching. Starting in the 1850s there was a steadily accelerating stream of fountain pen patents and pens in production. It was only after three key inventions were in place, however, that the fountain pen became a widely popular writing instrument. Those inventions were the iridium-tipped gold nib, hard rubber, and free-flowing ink.
M. Klein and Henry W. Wynne received US patent #68445 in 1867 for an ink chamber and delivery system in the handle of the fountain pen.
The first fountain pens making use of all these key ingredients appeared in the 1850s. In the 1870s Duncan MacKinnon, a Canadian living in New York City, and Alonzo T. Cross of Providence, Rhode Island created stylographic pens with a hollow, tubular nib and a wire acting as a valve. Stylographic pens are now used mostly for drafting and technical drawing but were very popular in the decade beginning in 1875. It was in the 1880s that the era of the mass-produced fountain pen finally began. The dominant American producers in this pioneer era were Waterman and Wirt, based in New York City and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, respectively. Waterman soon outstripped Wirt, along with the many companies that sprang up to fill the new and growing fountain pen market, and remained the market leader up until the early 1920s.
At this time fountain pens were almost all filled by unscrewing a portion of the hollow barrel or holder and inserting the ink by means of an eyedropper. This was a slow and messy system. Additionally, fountain pens tended to leak inside their caps and at the joint where the barrel opened for filling. Now that the materials problems had been overcome and the flow of ink while writing had been regulated, the next problems to be solved were the creation of a simple, convenient self-filler and the problem of leakage. Self-fillers began to come into their own around the turn of the century; the most successful of these was probably the Conklin crescent-filler, followed by A. A. Waterman's twist-filler. The tipping point, however, was the runaway success of Walter A. Sheaffer's lever-filler, introduced in 1912, paralleled by Parker's roughly contemporary button-filler.
Details of Waterman 42 Safety Pen: note the variation in materials (both red and black rubbers) and retracting nibs.
Meanwhile many inventors turned their attention to the problem of leakage. Some of the earliest solutions to this problem came in the form of a "safety" pen with a retractable point that allowed the ink reservoir to be corked like a bottle. The most successful of these came from F.C. Brown of the Caw's Pen and Ink Co. and from Morris W. Moore of Boston. In 1907 Waterman began marketing a safety pen of its own that soon became the most widely distributed such pen. For pens with nonretractable nibs, the adoption of screw-on caps with inner caps that sealed around the nib by bearing against the front of the section effectively solved the leakage problem (such pens were also marketed as "safety pens", as with the Parker Jack Knife Safety and the Swan Safety Screw-Cap).
Waterman pens, including fountain model, made for Air France's Concorde
In Europe, the German supplies company which came to be known as Pelikan and was started in 1838, first introduced their pen in 1929, based upon the acquisition of patents for solid-ink fountain pens from the factory of Slavoljub Penkala from Croatia (patented 1907, in mass production since 1911), and the patent of the Hungarian Theodor Kovacs for the modern piston filler by 1925.
The decades that followed saw many technological innovations in the manufacture of fountain pens. Celluloid gradually replaced hard rubber, which enabled production in a much wider range of colors and designs. At the same time, manufacturers experimented with new filling systems. The inter-war period saw the introduction of some of the most notable models, such as the Parker Duofold and Vacumatic, Sheaffer's Lifetime Balance series, and the Pelikan 100.
During the 1940s and 1950s, fountain pens retained their dominance: early ballpoint pens were expensive, prone to leaks and had irregular inkflow, while the fountain pen continued to benefit from the combination of mass production and craftsmanship. This period saw the launch of innovative models such as the Parker 51, the Sheaffer Snorkel and the Eversharp Skyline, while the Esterbrook J series of lever-fill models with interchangeable steel nibs offered inexpensive reliability to the masses.
By the 1960s, refinements in ballpoint pen production gradually ensured its dominance over the fountain pen for casual use. Although cartridge-filler fountain pens are still in common use in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and are widely used by young students in most private schools in England and at least one private school in Scotland,a few modern manufacturers (especially Montblanc and Pelikan) now depict the fountain pen as a collectible item or a status symbol, rather than an everyday writing tool. Despite this, a majority of modern fountain pen users use fountain pens as their primary writing instruments over ballpoint and rollerball pens for reasons related to writing comfort, expressive penmanship, aesthetics, history and heritage.
Nibs
Fountain pen nib labeled "IRIDIUM POINT GERMANY"
The modern fountain pen nib may be traced back to the original iridium-tipped gold dip pen nibs of the 1830s. Today, nibs are usually made of stainless steel or gold, with the most popular gold content being 14 karat and 18 karat. Gold is considered the optimum metal for its flexibility and its resistance to corrosion, though gold's corrosion resistance is less of an issue than in the past due to better stainless steel alloys and less corrosive inks. Gold nibs are tipped with a hard, wear-resistant alloy that typically uses metals from the platinum group. The tipping material is often called "iridium," but there are few if any penmakers that still use tipping alloys containing the metal. Steel nibs may also have harder tips; those with un-tipped steel points will wear more rapidly due to abrasion by the paper.
Detail of a Visconti stainless steel nib and feed.
The nib usually has one slit cut down its center, to convey the ink down the nib by capillary action, as well as a "breather hole" of varying shape to promote the exchange of air for ink in the pen's reservoir. The breather hole also acts as a stress relieving point, preventing the nib from cracking longitudinally from the end of the slit from repeated flexing during use. The whole nib narrows to a point where the ink is transferred to the paper. Broad calligraphy pens may have several slits in the nib to increase ink flow and help distribute it evenly across the broad point. Nibs divided into three 'tines' are commonly known as 'music' nibs, as their line which can be varied from broad to fine is suited for writing musical scores.
Although the most common nibs end in a round point of various sizes (fine, medium, broad), various other nib shapes are available. Examples of this are oblique, reverse oblique, stub, italic and 360 degree nibs.
Mabie Todd Swan flexible 14k nib.
Fountain pens dating from the first half of the 20th century are more likely to have flexible nibs, suited to the favored handwriting styles of the period (eg: Copperplate and Spencerian Script). By the 1940s, writing preferences had shifted towards stiffer nibs that could withstand the greater pressure required for writing through copy paper to create duplicate documents. Furthermore, competition between the major pen brands such as Parker and Waterman, and the introduction of lifetime guarantees meant that flexible nibs could no longer be supported profitably. In countries where this rivalry was not present to the same degree, for example the UK and Germany, flexible nibs are more common. Nowadays, stiff nibs are the norm as people exchange between fountain pens and other writing modes. These more closely emulate the ballpoint pens modern users are experienced with, but are often described as feeling like "writing with a nail" by those who prefer the feel of a more flexible nib. (Nibs, especially more flexible nibs, can be easily damaged by ballpoint users who write with excessive pressure. Ideally, a fountain pen's nib glides across the paper using the ink as a lubricant, and requires no pressure.)
An apparent common denominator of good quality nibs—as long as they have been used appropriately—is that they are long lasting, often lasting longer than the lifetime of the original owner. Many vintage pens with decades-old nibs can still be used today.
Hooded nib
Other Styles of Nibs - Other styles of fountain pen nibs include Hooded Nibs (Examples of hooded nibs are Parker 51, Parker 61, or the current (2007) Parker 100, Hero 329), Inlaid Nibs (e.g., Sheaffer Targa or Valor) or Integral Nib (Parker T-1), which may also be ground to have different writing characteristics.
Filling mechanisms
A squeeze filler
The reservoirs of the earliest fountain pens were mostly filled by eyedropper. This was a relatively awkward and messy process: consequently very few eyedropper-filling pens are made today. However, the absence of complicated mechanisms meant that an eyedropper-filler could hold much more ink than could a self-filling pen of comparable size.
After the eyedropper-filler era, came the first generation of mass-produced self-fillers, almost all using a rubber sac to hold the ink. The sac was compressed and then released by various mechanisms to fill the pen.
The Conklin crescent filler, introduced c. 1901, was one of the first mass-produced self-filling pen designs. The crescent filling system employs an arch-shaped crescent attached to a rigid metal pressure bar, with the crescent portion protruding from the pen through a slot and the pressure bar inside the barrel. A second component, a C-shaped hard rubber ring, is located between the crescent and the barrel. Ordinarily, the ring blocks the crescent from pushing down. To fill the pen, one simply turns the ring around the barrel until the crescent matches up to the hole in the ring, allowing one to push down the crescent and squeeze the internal sac.
Following the crescent filler came a series of systems of increasing complexity, reaching their apogee in the Sheaffer Snorkel, introduced in 1953. With the advent of the modern plastic ink cartridge in the early 1950s, though, most of these systems were phased out in favour of convenience (but reduced capacity).
Screw-mechanism piston-fillers were made as early as the 1820s, but the mechanism's modern popularity begins with the original Pelikan of 1929, based upon a Croatian patent. The basic idea is simple: turn a knob at the end of the pen, and a screw mechanism draws a piston up the barrel, sucking in ink. While the capacity of these pens was less than that of the better sac systems and eyedropper pens, they were easier to fill. Their limited capacity is due to size of the piston unit: some of the earlier models had to dedicate as much as half of the pen length to the mechanism. The advent of telescoping pistons has improved this.
The Touchdown Filler was introduced by Sheaffer in 1949. It was advertised as an “Exclusive Pneumatic Down-stroke Filler.” To fill it, a knob at the end of the barrel is unscrewed and the attached plunger is drawn out to its full length. The nib is immersed in ink, the plunger is pushed in, compressing and then releasing the ink sac by means of air pressure. The nib is kept in the ink for approximately 10 seconds to allow the reservoir to fill.
A capillary filling system was introduced by Parker in 1956. There were no moving parts: the ink reservoir within the barrel was open at the upper end, but contained a tightly rolled length of slotted, flexible plastic. To fill, the barrel was unscrewed, the exposed open end of the reservoir was placed in ink and the interstices of the plastic sheet and slots initiated capillary action, drawing up and retaining the ink. The outside of the reservoir was coated with a repellent compound which released excess ink as it was withdrawn. Ink was transferred through a further capillary tube to the nib. No method of flushing the device was offered, and because of problems from clogging with dried and hardened ink production was eventually stopped.
Around the turn of the 21st Century, Pelikan introduced a filling system involving a valve in the blind end of the pen, which mates with a specially designed ink bottle. Thus docked, ink is then squeezed into the pen barrel (which, lacking any mechanism other than the valve itself, has nearly the capacity of an eyedropper-fill pen of the same size). This system has so far shown up only in their "Level" line, and seems to have been less than a complete success commercially.
Today, most pens use either a piston filler or a cartridge; many pens can use a converter, a device which has the same fitting as the pen's cartridge, but has a filling mechanism and a reservoir attached to it. This enables a pen to either fill from cartridges, or from a bottle of ink
Notebook Stickers
Neopets
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the company of Neopets, see Neopets, Inc..
Neopets
Screenshot of the Neopets homepage on 10 September, 2008.
Developer(s)
Neopets, Inc.
Publisher(s)
Neopets Inc.; Viacom Inc
Designer(s)
Adam Powell
Platform(s)
Cross-platform
Release date(s)
15 November 1999
Genre(s)
Fantasy, Digital pet
Mode(s)
Single-player with multiplayer interaction.
Media
Web browser
System requirements
Web browser with Adobe Flash Player plugin. Adobe Shockwave and 3D Life Player (both optional)
Input methods
Keyboard, mouse
Neopets (originally NeoPets) is a virtual pet website launched by Adam Powell and Donna Williams on 15 November 1999.[1] Six months after the web site was launched, Adam Powell and Donna Williams successfully sold a majority share to a consortium of investors led by Doug Dohring. On 20 June 2005, Viacom bought Neopets, Inc. for $160 million (USD).[2]
Neopets is based around the virtual pets that inhabit the virtual world of Neopia. Visitors can create an account and take care of up to four virtual pets, buying them food, toys, clothes, and other accessories using a virtual currency called Neopoints. Neopoints can be earned through playing games, investing in the game's stock market, trading, and winning contests. Users can explore the world of Neopia with their Neopets and interact with each other through the NeoBoards, NeoMail, guilds, and Key Quest.
Neopets also operates a pay-to-play version known as Neopets Premium, which offers additional features and benefits for a monthly fee of $7.99 (USD). Neopets, Inc. produces and sells a wide variety of Neopets merchandise, such as plushies, stickers, notebooks, three video games and a trading card game. While the site has been praised for being "gentle" and educational, several issues such as immersive advertising and gambling-based games have garnered criticism.
Contents[hide]
1 History
2 Gameplay
3 Site content
3.1 Games
3.2 Exclusive content
4 Community
5 Immersive advertising
6 Reception
7 Merchandise
8 References
9 External links
History
See also: Neopets, Inc.
Neopets was conceived by Adam Powell while studying at the University of Nottingham in 1997. Powell left and started UK-based advertising company Shout! Advertising in 1996, which grew to be the third largest click-through program on the Internet by 1999. He also co-founded Netmagic, an online banner advertising design and sales firm and Powlex Ltd., a web site design firm. Donna Williams was a marketing manager for Shout! Advertising from September 1997 to July 1999 responsible for internet advertising, sales and services, graphic and web design. He and Williams started creating the site in September 1999 and launched it two months later on 15 November 1999. Powell was responsible for the programming and database, and Williams the web design and art. The site grew by word of mouth and by Christmas of 1999, they received 600,000 page views daily and sought investment to cover the high cost of running the site.The same month, Doug Dohring was introduced to the creators of the site and, along with other investors, bought a majority share in January of the following year. Neopets, Inc. was created in February 2000 and began business in April. The website made profit from the first paying customers for an advertising method trademarked as "immersive advertising", touted as "an evolutionary step forward in the traditional marketing practice of product placement" in television and film
Media conglomerate Viacom bought Neopets, Inc. on 20 June 2005 for $160 million and planned to focus more on banner ads instead of immersive advertising.On the first day of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Altador Cup started as an annual international online gaming event and had 10.4 million participants the first year. The entire Neopets site was revamped on 27 April 2007, referred to as Neopets 2.0 in the Neopets FAQ. On 17 July 2007, the NC Mall was launched in a partnership with Korean gaming company Nexon Corporation. The next day, Viacom announced on their website that by the end of 2008, Neopets would be changing their company name, not the site name itself, to NeoStudios, "which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming experiences online, while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones." Yet that did not happen and the name of the site has not been changed.
After the changes in ownership, the site still retained its British English spellings.To date, since August 2003, the site has been translated into ten other written languages: Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Dutch and French. However, Neopets announced on 1 January 2009 that the Italian, Japanese, and Korean areas of the site would no longer be updated.
Gameplay
Neopets is set in the themed lands of the fictional world of Neopia, which has its own calendar and timezone running concurrent with the real-world Pacific Time.It also has its own economy and stock market based around the Neopoint. Players earn Neopoints through various means including playing games and selling items. Once earned, they can be invested or used to buy various goods and services.
A customizable Neohome
Users are free to choose their own path in the world of Neopia, from collecting things to battling against other users. Visitors can create a free account. A user then creates a Neopet and chooses its unique name, physical characteristics, and personality and may own up to four per account. A newly created pet comes with randomly rolled stats used for battling in the Battledome. Players need to feed and care for their Neopets when they grow hungry or get sick, although they will not die if they are neglected.New users start out with a newbie pack of various items that introduce a basic feature of the site, such as food for feeding a pet. They can get more items for their Neopets by earning Neopoints, the site's currency, through various activities including playing games and selling items.
Users can interact with their Neopets by reading books to them, caring for them, and playing with them. This will make their mood better. They can train their Neopets to be fighters in the Battledome against other player's Neopets or non-player characters. Wearable items, such as certain clothing, can be used to customize a Neopet. Players can build a customizable Neohome for their Neopets, furnish them, and buy extensions that reflect the socioeconomic quality of the house.
Players can collect certain virtual items and display them in a gallery or album. In addition to items, players can also collect trophies, avatars, and site themes, although there is no function to display the latter two.
Users found breaking the rules set in the Terms and Conditions may have their account suspended, a temporary block of your account, or "frozen", which is permanent.
Site content
The content of the site is updated almost on a daily basis with the addition of new games and items, weekly content, and other things. In addition to the site content updated by Neopets, players also contribute user-generated content to the site.Player contributions come in the form of prescreened submissions and readily editable content that is automatically filtered, such as the site's weekly electronic newspaper The Neopian Times and their own user lookup, respectively.
Games
There are many active games from which users can earn Neopoints and awards. Before 22 November 2006 the games were divided into three categories: Puzzle, Action, and Luck/Chance. After that date the Games Room was reconfigured and now games are divided into many more categories. Various games and activities include Flash and Shockwave games, PHP games, 3D Life Player games, contests and spotlights, and quests to retrieve items.
Neopoints can be earned from playing games, most of which have a set maximum of earnings or playtime. Players may also earn trophies for their trophy cabinet from games if they score high enough for the Hi-Score Tables, which are reset on the first day of each month. Challenges may be made against other players or random players in a "World Challenge" for a prize piece for certain Flash games. A monthly competition also exists for multiplayer PHP games with four week-long elimination rounds.
Neopets offers several different contests and spotlights, where winners are chosen by judges on the Neopets staff or voted on by members of the Neopets community. Contests include several formats, such as writing a story, making a short animated film or drawing a picture of their Neopet. Spotlights showcase what users have done with customizable content. Winners also receive a trophy and a reward, which varies with the contest or spotlight.
In Australia, a cross-promotion with McDonald's where McDonald's promoted Neopets plushies in their Happy Meals and Neopets featured McDonald's-related content led to a controversy with Neopets' luck/chance games in October 2004. A story on the Australian tabloid television show Today Tonight featured a nine-year-old boy who claimed that the site requires one to gamble in order to receive enough Neopoints to feed one's Neopet or else it would be sent to the Pound. While this is factually incorrect (gambling is not required, nor are pets ever sent to an orphanage if they are not fed), it is true that the website has a number of games of chance that are directly based on real-life games such as blackjack and lottery scratchcards. In 2004, Neopets prohibited users under the age of 13 from playing most games that involve gambling because of the boy mentioned above.
Snap Clips
Lead (tack)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about livestock equipment. For leads used on small animals, see Leash. For the young children's horse show class, see Leadline.
Lead clipped to a horse's halter
A lead shank applied under the chin. (note: Image has been reversed)
A lead, lead line and lead rope (USA) or head collar rope (UK),[1] is used to lead an animal such as a horse. Usually, it is attached to a halter. The lead may be integral to the halter or, more often, separate. When separate, it is attached to the halter with a heavy clip or snap so that it can be added or removed as needed. A lead shank or lead chain refers to a lead line with a chain attached that is used in a variety of ways to safely control possibly difficult or dangerous horses if they will not respond to a regular lead.
Contents
1 Variations
2 Use
3 Safety in leading
4 Tying
5 Use of a shank
5.1 Chain shank attachments
6 References
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about livestock equipment. For leads used on small animals, see Leash. For the young children's horse show class, see Leadline.
Lead clipped to a horse's halter
A lead shank applied under the chin. (note: Image has been reversed)
A lead, lead line and lead rope (USA) or head collar rope (UK),[1] is used to lead an animal such as a horse. Usually, it is attached to a halter. The lead may be integral to the halter or, more often, separate. When separate, it is attached to the halter with a heavy clip or snap so that it can be added or removed as needed. A lead shank or lead chain refers to a lead line with a chain attached that is used in a variety of ways to safely control possibly difficult or dangerous horses if they will not respond to a regular lead.
Contents
1 Variations
2 Use
3 Safety in leading
4 Tying
5 Use of a shank
5.1 Chain shank attachments
6 References
Variations
A lead can be made from a variety of materials, including cotton, horsehair (woven or braided hair, usually from a horse's tail), leather, nylon or other synthetic materials. Lead ropes, as the name implies, are round and made of various types of rope, usually between 5/8 and 3/4 inch (about 2 cm) in diameter.Lead lines are usually flat webbing or leather, and are generally .75 to 1 inch (1.9 to 2.5 cm) wide, though may be narrower for show use. Flat lines are less bulky and more comfortable in the hand for leading and animal, but may lack adequate strength for tying.
A lead most often attaches to the halter with a sturdy snap. In some cases, the lead is tied or spliced permanently to the halter. A lead for a horse usually is in the range of 9 to 12 feet (2.7 to 3.7 m) long, but longer and shorter lengths are seen.
The lead shank consists of a lead, usually a flat line, with a chain end, or, less often, thin nylon or rope. The chain end ranges from 18 to 30 inches (46 to 76 cm) long and has a snap or clip on the end that attaches to the halter, and a ring on the other end that is attached to the lead line.Some lead lines are permanently sewn to the chain shank, others have buckles or clips allowing the chain to be removed. Lead shanks are usually used on potentially difficult or dangerous horses, such as stallions or those that, for various reasons, will not respond to a regular lead. They are also commonly seen on in-hand horses of all ages and sexes at some horse shows, as the chain shank can also be used to transmit commands quickly but inobtrusively, encouraging a prompt response from the horse.
For aesthetic purposes, the lead may be the same color as the halter, and sometimes even made of the same materials.
Use
Leads are used to lead, hold, or tie an animal or string of animals. A horse may be led by a person on the ground, sometimes called "led in-hand," or may be led by a rider mounted on another horse, a process called "ponying." A string of animals refers to animals tied to one another by their leads, whether led in hand or from another horse. Pack horses are often worked in strings on the trail. Horses in other disciplines, such as Polo ponies, may be conditioned in strings.
Safety in leading
Horse led from the side, excess lead rope folded and held, not wrapped around the hand
By tradition, the handler leads a horse from the horse's left ("near") side, though situations may arise when a horse needs to be led from the right ("off") side. In some areas, particularly in the American west, the handler may be in front of the horse while leading, though this technique does place the handler at risk due to not being able to see what the horse is doing.
When leading a horse, the handler usually holds a single thickness of the lead with the right hand, while carrying the gathered slack of the lead in the left. The excess line is usually gathered in loops; wrapping or coiling the lead around the hand is dangerous, the handler can be injured or dragged if the horse pulls away, tightening the lead around the hand.
When used to lead a horse in hand, the materials used in a lead, particularly synthetics, may put a handler at risk of a rope burn should the horse pull the lead from the handler. Some handlers wear gloves while leading a horse.
Tying
A lead rope tied to a fencepost with a safety knot known as a "figure 8" halter hitch.
Lead ropes may be used to tie up animals. Common methods of tying off a lead include the halter hitch and a subset of other loop knots, collectively known among equestrians as safety knots and quick release knots. If the animal begins to panic, a person can pull the working end to quickly release the knot before it becomes too tight to untie quickly. The purpose of such a knot is to be easy to untie even when under significant tension. However, some animals do learn to untie themselves and may require the loose end of the rope to be passed through the slipped loop to prevent this occurrence, or be tied with alternative methods of restraint.
Flat lead shanks and thin diameter ropes generally lack the strength to securely tie a large animal such as a horse or cow, but may be more comfortable in a person's hand for leading. Ropes of a thick diameter (3/4 in or more) and high tensile strength generally are adequate to tie a large animal that resists being tied; thinner and/or weaker leads generally will break if significant tension is put on them. A common point of failure is the snap fastener used to attach the lead to the halter (see Panic snap).
An animal that panics and attempts to escape while tied with a lead can cause itself serious injury or damage the objects to which it is tied. When an animal is left unattended or if a safety knot is improperly tied and cannot be released, views differ as to whether a lead rope should be made strong enough not to break under tension, or if it should have safety elements that allow it to give way when tension reaches a certain point in order to minimize potential injury. Some people carry a very sharp knife in a belt holster or boot or keep a sharp knife in a convenient location in order to a lead in case of emergency. In other cases, particularly on leads used to restrain an animal in a horse trailer, a panic snap may be used, though releasing the snap while under extreme tension also may put a handler at some risk of injury.
Use of a shank
A lead shank applied through the mouth. Generally not show legal in the United States
A lead shank applied around the nose.
Shank over the gums.
Hard jerks on a lead shank can frighten a horse, damage the head, or cause a horse to rear. Light, short tugs are generally enough to get the attention of a horse. The chain should only come into action when pulled, not when hanging loosely. The handler does not hold the chain itself, as it can hurt the handler's hands should the horse pull back or move its head quickly.
Chain shank attachments
Over the nose: The shank is run through the left ring of the halter (on the side of the face), wrapped once around the noseband of the halter, threaded through the right side nose ring of the halter, and attached on the upper right ring of the halter (near the ears of the horse). If not attached to the upper right ring, the halter can slide into the horse's eye when the shank is applied. When pressure is applied, the shank puts pressure on the nose of the horse, encouraging the animal to lower its head or become more aware of the handler's signals. If the shank is used harshly, the handler can damage the horse's nose. An alternative use is to take the chain around and under the chin, and attached back to itself. This covers more of the horse's face, giving more control.
Under the chin: the shank is run through the lower left ring of the halter, under the chin, through the lower right ring of the halter, and attached either back to itself or to the upper right ring. This tends to make a horse raise his head, but also has a stronger disciplinary effect.
Chain through mouth: The chain is run through the left lower ring, through the mouth, through the right lower ring, and attached to the upper right ring. This is quite severe and can damage the mouth if used harshly.
Chain over gum: similar to the chain through the mouth, except the chain is rested on the upper gum of the horse's mouth, under the upper lip. The most severe attachment, may cause bleeding if the horse resists.
A lead can be made from a variety of materials, including cotton, horsehair (woven or braided hair, usually from a horse's tail), leather, nylon or other synthetic materials. Lead ropes, as the name implies, are round and made of various types of rope, usually between 5/8 and 3/4 inch (about 2 cm) in diameter.Lead lines are usually flat webbing or leather, and are generally .75 to 1 inch (1.9 to 2.5 cm) wide, though may be narrower for show use. Flat lines are less bulky and more comfortable in the hand for leading and animal, but may lack adequate strength for tying.
A lead most often attaches to the halter with a sturdy snap. In some cases, the lead is tied or spliced permanently to the halter. A lead for a horse usually is in the range of 9 to 12 feet (2.7 to 3.7 m) long, but longer and shorter lengths are seen.
The lead shank consists of a lead, usually a flat line, with a chain end, or, less often, thin nylon or rope. The chain end ranges from 18 to 30 inches (46 to 76 cm) long and has a snap or clip on the end that attaches to the halter, and a ring on the other end that is attached to the lead line.Some lead lines are permanently sewn to the chain shank, others have buckles or clips allowing the chain to be removed. Lead shanks are usually used on potentially difficult or dangerous horses, such as stallions or those that, for various reasons, will not respond to a regular lead. They are also commonly seen on in-hand horses of all ages and sexes at some horse shows, as the chain shank can also be used to transmit commands quickly but inobtrusively, encouraging a prompt response from the horse.
For aesthetic purposes, the lead may be the same color as the halter, and sometimes even made of the same materials.
Use
Leads are used to lead, hold, or tie an animal or string of animals. A horse may be led by a person on the ground, sometimes called "led in-hand," or may be led by a rider mounted on another horse, a process called "ponying." A string of animals refers to animals tied to one another by their leads, whether led in hand or from another horse. Pack horses are often worked in strings on the trail. Horses in other disciplines, such as Polo ponies, may be conditioned in strings.
Safety in leading
Horse led from the side, excess lead rope folded and held, not wrapped around the hand
By tradition, the handler leads a horse from the horse's left ("near") side, though situations may arise when a horse needs to be led from the right ("off") side. In some areas, particularly in the American west, the handler may be in front of the horse while leading, though this technique does place the handler at risk due to not being able to see what the horse is doing.
When leading a horse, the handler usually holds a single thickness of the lead with the right hand, while carrying the gathered slack of the lead in the left. The excess line is usually gathered in loops; wrapping or coiling the lead around the hand is dangerous, the handler can be injured or dragged if the horse pulls away, tightening the lead around the hand.
When used to lead a horse in hand, the materials used in a lead, particularly synthetics, may put a handler at risk of a rope burn should the horse pull the lead from the handler. Some handlers wear gloves while leading a horse.
Tying
A lead rope tied to a fencepost with a safety knot known as a "figure 8" halter hitch.
Lead ropes may be used to tie up animals. Common methods of tying off a lead include the halter hitch and a subset of other loop knots, collectively known among equestrians as safety knots and quick release knots. If the animal begins to panic, a person can pull the working end to quickly release the knot before it becomes too tight to untie quickly. The purpose of such a knot is to be easy to untie even when under significant tension. However, some animals do learn to untie themselves and may require the loose end of the rope to be passed through the slipped loop to prevent this occurrence, or be tied with alternative methods of restraint.
Flat lead shanks and thin diameter ropes generally lack the strength to securely tie a large animal such as a horse or cow, but may be more comfortable in a person's hand for leading. Ropes of a thick diameter (3/4 in or more) and high tensile strength generally are adequate to tie a large animal that resists being tied; thinner and/or weaker leads generally will break if significant tension is put on them. A common point of failure is the snap fastener used to attach the lead to the halter (see Panic snap).
An animal that panics and attempts to escape while tied with a lead can cause itself serious injury or damage the objects to which it is tied. When an animal is left unattended or if a safety knot is improperly tied and cannot be released, views differ as to whether a lead rope should be made strong enough not to break under tension, or if it should have safety elements that allow it to give way when tension reaches a certain point in order to minimize potential injury. Some people carry a very sharp knife in a belt holster or boot or keep a sharp knife in a convenient location in order to a lead in case of emergency. In other cases, particularly on leads used to restrain an animal in a horse trailer, a panic snap may be used, though releasing the snap while under extreme tension also may put a handler at some risk of injury.
Use of a shank
A lead shank applied through the mouth. Generally not show legal in the United States
A lead shank applied around the nose.
Shank over the gums.
Hard jerks on a lead shank can frighten a horse, damage the head, or cause a horse to rear. Light, short tugs are generally enough to get the attention of a horse. The chain should only come into action when pulled, not when hanging loosely. The handler does not hold the chain itself, as it can hurt the handler's hands should the horse pull back or move its head quickly.
Chain shank attachments
Over the nose: The shank is run through the left ring of the halter (on the side of the face), wrapped once around the noseband of the halter, threaded through the right side nose ring of the halter, and attached on the upper right ring of the halter (near the ears of the horse). If not attached to the upper right ring, the halter can slide into the horse's eye when the shank is applied. When pressure is applied, the shank puts pressure on the nose of the horse, encouraging the animal to lower its head or become more aware of the handler's signals. If the shank is used harshly, the handler can damage the horse's nose. An alternative use is to take the chain around and under the chin, and attached back to itself. This covers more of the horse's face, giving more control.
Under the chin: the shank is run through the lower left ring of the halter, under the chin, through the lower right ring of the halter, and attached either back to itself or to the upper right ring. This tends to make a horse raise his head, but also has a stronger disciplinary effect.
Chain through mouth: The chain is run through the left lower ring, through the mouth, through the right lower ring, and attached to the upper right ring. This is quite severe and can damage the mouth if used harshly.
Chain over gum: similar to the chain through the mouth, except the chain is rested on the upper gum of the horse's mouth, under the upper lip. The most severe attachment, may cause bleeding if the horse resists.
Sticker Album
Monster in My Pocket
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Monster in My Pocket is a media franchise developed by Morrison Entertainment Group, headed by Joe Morrison and John Weems (two former senior executives at Mattel).
The focus is on monsters and legendary creatures from religion, mythology, literary fantasy, science fiction, cryptids and other anomalous phenomena. Monster in My Pocket produced trading cards, comic books, books, toys, a board game, a video game, and an animated special, along with music, clothing, kites, stickers, and various other items.
The line proved controversial for various reasons and many changes were implemented that took it away from its original mythmaking focus, though it has since reemerged with the original idea intact. It is not to be confused with Pocket Monsters, the Japanese name for Pokémon (which was the planned name for the franchise).
Contents
1 Toys
2 Monster in My Pocket in other media
3 More details about individual monsters
4 Known Monster in My Pocket items
4.1 2006
5 Credits
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Toys
Monster in My Pocket is best known as a toy-line released by Matchbox in 1990. It consists of small, soft plastic figures representing monsters, and later other tangentially-related characters.
In its first run, there were eleven series released, the third being the rarest. There were over 200 monsters in the collection, most of which were assigned a point value. Among the highest valued monsters were the Etruscan deity Charun (100 points) and among the least being the Invisible Man (5 points). Initially, the high point value was 25, which was elevated to 30 for the second (49–72) and third series (73–96); the fourth, "Super Scary", series (97–120) introduced the 100 point monsters. The third series does not appear to have been formally released, though portions of it were released as premiums through Shreddies, Bob's Big Boy, Pizza Hut, and Konami. Indeed, Monster Mailer #1, the Monster in My Pocket Collector's Club newsletter, refers to the fourth series as "Series III", in spite of a gap in numbering. They were initially solid-colored, though later series would gradually add more painted colors, until they became fully colored under the auspices of new toy makers Corinthian Marketing and Vivid Imaginations.
A board game was also released by Decipher Limited, which used the action figures as playing pieces. The game involved using the monsters to fight battles in terrains where they had different strengths—New York, Tundra, Volcano, and Swamp. This should not be confused with the Monster Clash action game made by Matchbox—a board game/playset combo in which glow in the dark rubber balls were launched from catapults as part of the game. Other toys included Super Scary Howlers representing Vampire, The Monster, Swamp Beast, and Werewolf, a Monster Mountain display case with custom labels for series 1, a Monster Pouch fanny pack, Battle Cards featuring The Beast and Witch, and a Haunted House playset, which was probably never released, although it was shown at Toy Fair 1992.
The line proved more popular in the United Kingdom and continental Europe than in the United States where it was originally developed. It ran into difficulty in United Kingdom with its large population of Hindus, as the divinities Kālī, Ganesha, Hanuman, and Yama, were all depicted as "monsters" resulting in great offense, including a public outcry by the Vishva Hindu Parishad[1]. Except for the minor deity, Yama, god of death, these were removed from the line in United Kingdom. After the fourth series, which contained Hanuman and Yama, was released, they decided to play it safe and provided follow-up series: Super Creepies, 24 comical (punning) aberrations of real insects and arachnids created by "Dr. Zechariah Wolfram" with point values up to 250, Dinosaurs, released in both regular and "Secret Skeleton" format, and 16 Space Aliens that were essentially original. The point values went up even further, as high as 500. A second series of 24 dinosaurs is even rarer than series 3. In some markets, such as Argentina, the dinosaurs were released as Dinosaur in My Pocket. Many of these were not released outside of Europe. The Dinosaurs appear to have been released in the U.S. only through premium distribution by Hardee's, and these were not the standard figures that were sold in stores.
The Monster Wrestlers in My Pocket debuted in United Kingdom in 1994, no longer produced by Matchbox, but by Corinthian Marketing. The first nine, including Tony the Tiger as a coach, were released in Kellogg's Frosties cereal. The numbering was restarted, the high point value was returned to 100, and the coaches and referees, save for the 100 point "Tony the Coach", were the first monsters designated with 0 points. Frosties also did a nine-monster series of Monster Sports Stars in My Pocket, including "Tony the Referee", which were made of much harder plastic and had no point values. Seventeen Monster Ninja Warriors in My Pocket were produced in 1996 by Vivid Imaginations, some of which came with vehicles and accessories. These also caught on with the Pog fad, in addition to being the first Monster in My Pocket figures with removable weapons. The figures that were not made by Matchbox were painted in full colors and came in only a few variations, rather than previously coming in multiple solid or tri-tone colors.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Monster in My Pocket is a media franchise developed by Morrison Entertainment Group, headed by Joe Morrison and John Weems (two former senior executives at Mattel).
The focus is on monsters and legendary creatures from religion, mythology, literary fantasy, science fiction, cryptids and other anomalous phenomena. Monster in My Pocket produced trading cards, comic books, books, toys, a board game, a video game, and an animated special, along with music, clothing, kites, stickers, and various other items.
The line proved controversial for various reasons and many changes were implemented that took it away from its original mythmaking focus, though it has since reemerged with the original idea intact. It is not to be confused with Pocket Monsters, the Japanese name for Pokémon (which was the planned name for the franchise).
Contents
1 Toys
2 Monster in My Pocket in other media
3 More details about individual monsters
4 Known Monster in My Pocket items
4.1 2006
5 Credits
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Toys
Monster in My Pocket is best known as a toy-line released by Matchbox in 1990. It consists of small, soft plastic figures representing monsters, and later other tangentially-related characters.
In its first run, there were eleven series released, the third being the rarest. There were over 200 monsters in the collection, most of which were assigned a point value. Among the highest valued monsters were the Etruscan deity Charun (100 points) and among the least being the Invisible Man (5 points). Initially, the high point value was 25, which was elevated to 30 for the second (49–72) and third series (73–96); the fourth, "Super Scary", series (97–120) introduced the 100 point monsters. The third series does not appear to have been formally released, though portions of it were released as premiums through Shreddies, Bob's Big Boy, Pizza Hut, and Konami. Indeed, Monster Mailer #1, the Monster in My Pocket Collector's Club newsletter, refers to the fourth series as "Series III", in spite of a gap in numbering. They were initially solid-colored, though later series would gradually add more painted colors, until they became fully colored under the auspices of new toy makers Corinthian Marketing and Vivid Imaginations.
A board game was also released by Decipher Limited, which used the action figures as playing pieces. The game involved using the monsters to fight battles in terrains where they had different strengths—New York, Tundra, Volcano, and Swamp. This should not be confused with the Monster Clash action game made by Matchbox—a board game/playset combo in which glow in the dark rubber balls were launched from catapults as part of the game. Other toys included Super Scary Howlers representing Vampire, The Monster, Swamp Beast, and Werewolf, a Monster Mountain display case with custom labels for series 1, a Monster Pouch fanny pack, Battle Cards featuring The Beast and Witch, and a Haunted House playset, which was probably never released, although it was shown at Toy Fair 1992.
The line proved more popular in the United Kingdom and continental Europe than in the United States where it was originally developed. It ran into difficulty in United Kingdom with its large population of Hindus, as the divinities Kālī, Ganesha, Hanuman, and Yama, were all depicted as "monsters" resulting in great offense, including a public outcry by the Vishva Hindu Parishad[1]. Except for the minor deity, Yama, god of death, these were removed from the line in United Kingdom. After the fourth series, which contained Hanuman and Yama, was released, they decided to play it safe and provided follow-up series: Super Creepies, 24 comical (punning) aberrations of real insects and arachnids created by "Dr. Zechariah Wolfram" with point values up to 250, Dinosaurs, released in both regular and "Secret Skeleton" format, and 16 Space Aliens that were essentially original. The point values went up even further, as high as 500. A second series of 24 dinosaurs is even rarer than series 3. In some markets, such as Argentina, the dinosaurs were released as Dinosaur in My Pocket. Many of these were not released outside of Europe. The Dinosaurs appear to have been released in the U.S. only through premium distribution by Hardee's, and these were not the standard figures that were sold in stores.
The Monster Wrestlers in My Pocket debuted in United Kingdom in 1994, no longer produced by Matchbox, but by Corinthian Marketing. The first nine, including Tony the Tiger as a coach, were released in Kellogg's Frosties cereal. The numbering was restarted, the high point value was returned to 100, and the coaches and referees, save for the 100 point "Tony the Coach", were the first monsters designated with 0 points. Frosties also did a nine-monster series of Monster Sports Stars in My Pocket, including "Tony the Referee", which were made of much harder plastic and had no point values. Seventeen Monster Ninja Warriors in My Pocket were produced in 1996 by Vivid Imaginations, some of which came with vehicles and accessories. These also caught on with the Pog fad, in addition to being the first Monster in My Pocket figures with removable weapons. The figures that were not made by Matchbox were painted in full colors and came in only a few variations, rather than previously coming in multiple solid or tri-tone colors.
Paper Fastener
Stapler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)
A standard office stapler
A stapler is a mechanical device that joins together sheets of paper or other similar materials by driving a thin metal staple through the sheets and folding over the ends to secure the paper. Staplers are widely used in government, business, offices and schools.
Contents
1 History
2 Methods
3 Surgical use
4 See also
5 References
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)
A standard office stapler
A stapler is a mechanical device that joins together sheets of paper or other similar materials by driving a thin metal staple through the sheets and folding over the ends to secure the paper. Staplers are widely used in government, business, offices and schools.
Contents
1 History
2 Methods
3 Surgical use
4 See also
5 References
History
The first stapler was believed to be handmade in the 18th century in France for King Louis XV of France. Each staple was inscribed with the insignia of the royal court, as required.[1] The growing uses of paper in the 19th century created a demand for an efficient paper fastener.[2] On August 7, 1866, the Novelty Paper Fastener was patented by the Patent Novelty Mfg Co. It allowed a single staple to be loaded and was used to mainly bind papers or books, but also carpet, furniture or boxes. Staples for the fastener were manufactured by the P.N. Mfg Co. in several sizes: 3/16 inches, ¼ inches, 3/8 inches, and ½ inches.
In 1866, George W. McGill was awarded U.S. patent no. 56,587 for a small, bendable brass paper fastener which was the precursor to the modern staple. In 1867, he received U.S. patent no. 67,665 for a press to insert the fastener into paper. He showed his invention at the 1867 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and continued to work on these and other various paper fasteners through the 1880s. In 1868 a patent was also taken out for a stapler in England by C.H. Gould. On February 18, 1879, patent nº 212,316 was given for the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press. This device weighed over two and a half pounds and was able to load a single 1/2 inch wide wire staple at a time and drive it through several sheets of paper.
In the early 1900s, several devices were developed and patented that punched and folded papers to attach them to each other without a metallic clip. One early example is the Clipless Stand Machine (made in Newton, Iowa), which was sold from 1909 into the 1920s. It cut a tongue in the paper that was folded back and tucked in to hold the papers together. Bump's New Model Paper Fastener used a similar cutting and weaving technology.
Methods
Stanley Bostitch Stapler
Exploded view
Permanent fastening is used for permanently binding items by driving the staple through and bending over the staple inwards to clinch it. Most modern staplers have a metal attachment that can be rotated to choose between inward stapling and outward stapling (in reference to the way the staple is folded). Clinches can be standard, squiggled, flat, or rounded with completely adjacent to the paper in order to stack documents more neatly.
A staple remover is a device that can remove staples fastened in this manner, by using a pair of interlocking curved claws that slide under the staple's bent-over ends and bend them back out.
Tacking is used for fastening objects to bulletin boards or walls. In order to use a stapler for tacking, the base hinge must allow the base to be folded out of the way so that staples can be driven directly into an object without use of the anvil. Heavy-duty tacking with larger staples, as in the case of affixing posters to a utility pole or wooden fence, is done using a staple gun.
Pinning is used to temporarily bind documents or other items, often cloth or clothing, for sewing. In order to pin using a stapler, the anvil must be shifted so that the staple bends outwards instead of inwards. The staple binds the item with relative security, but can be easily removed by pulling the staple along the plane of the paper. This method varies between staplers, as some anvils need to be simply pushed forward to allow pinning, while others must be rotated. Some staplers implement pinning by bending one leg of the staple inwards, while bending the other outwards. Some modern staplers, though, do not include support for pinning.
Saddle staplers have an inverted "V"-shaped saddle for stapling pre-fold sheets to make booklets.
Stapleless staplers are often presented as a more environmentally friendly means of stapling, and operate by punching out a small flap of paper and weaving it through a notch. Although invented first in 1910, the stapleless stapler has only recently acquired popularity.
Surgical use
Surgical staplers are used as substitutes for sutures. These do not resemble standard staplers as they have no "jaw" or plate to bend the staple into shape. They may be used to close the skin, or during surgical anastomosis. Surgical staples are commonly preshaped into a "M". Pressing the stapler into the skin and applying pressure onto the handle bends the staple through the skin and into the fascia until the two ends almost meet in the middle forming a rectangle.
Staplers are commonly used intra-operatively during bowel resections in colorectal surgery. Often these staplers have an integral knife, so as the staples are deployed the knife cuts through the bowel, maintaining the aseptic field within the abdominal cavity. The staples, made from surgical steel, are typically supplied in disposable, pre-filled, pre-sterilized cartridges.
The first stapler was believed to be handmade in the 18th century in France for King Louis XV of France. Each staple was inscribed with the insignia of the royal court, as required.[1] The growing uses of paper in the 19th century created a demand for an efficient paper fastener.[2] On August 7, 1866, the Novelty Paper Fastener was patented by the Patent Novelty Mfg Co. It allowed a single staple to be loaded and was used to mainly bind papers or books, but also carpet, furniture or boxes. Staples for the fastener were manufactured by the P.N. Mfg Co. in several sizes: 3/16 inches, ¼ inches, 3/8 inches, and ½ inches.
In 1866, George W. McGill was awarded U.S. patent no. 56,587 for a small, bendable brass paper fastener which was the precursor to the modern staple. In 1867, he received U.S. patent no. 67,665 for a press to insert the fastener into paper. He showed his invention at the 1867 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and continued to work on these and other various paper fasteners through the 1880s. In 1868 a patent was also taken out for a stapler in England by C.H. Gould. On February 18, 1879, patent nº 212,316 was given for the McGill Single-Stroke Staple Press. This device weighed over two and a half pounds and was able to load a single 1/2 inch wide wire staple at a time and drive it through several sheets of paper.
In the early 1900s, several devices were developed and patented that punched and folded papers to attach them to each other without a metallic clip. One early example is the Clipless Stand Machine (made in Newton, Iowa), which was sold from 1909 into the 1920s. It cut a tongue in the paper that was folded back and tucked in to hold the papers together. Bump's New Model Paper Fastener used a similar cutting and weaving technology.
Methods
Stanley Bostitch Stapler
Exploded view
Permanent fastening is used for permanently binding items by driving the staple through and bending over the staple inwards to clinch it. Most modern staplers have a metal attachment that can be rotated to choose between inward stapling and outward stapling (in reference to the way the staple is folded). Clinches can be standard, squiggled, flat, or rounded with completely adjacent to the paper in order to stack documents more neatly.
A staple remover is a device that can remove staples fastened in this manner, by using a pair of interlocking curved claws that slide under the staple's bent-over ends and bend them back out.
Tacking is used for fastening objects to bulletin boards or walls. In order to use a stapler for tacking, the base hinge must allow the base to be folded out of the way so that staples can be driven directly into an object without use of the anvil. Heavy-duty tacking with larger staples, as in the case of affixing posters to a utility pole or wooden fence, is done using a staple gun.
Pinning is used to temporarily bind documents or other items, often cloth or clothing, for sewing. In order to pin using a stapler, the anvil must be shifted so that the staple bends outwards instead of inwards. The staple binds the item with relative security, but can be easily removed by pulling the staple along the plane of the paper. This method varies between staplers, as some anvils need to be simply pushed forward to allow pinning, while others must be rotated. Some staplers implement pinning by bending one leg of the staple inwards, while bending the other outwards. Some modern staplers, though, do not include support for pinning.
Saddle staplers have an inverted "V"-shaped saddle for stapling pre-fold sheets to make booklets.
Stapleless staplers are often presented as a more environmentally friendly means of stapling, and operate by punching out a small flap of paper and weaving it through a notch. Although invented first in 1910, the stapleless stapler has only recently acquired popularity.
Surgical use
Surgical staplers are used as substitutes for sutures. These do not resemble standard staplers as they have no "jaw" or plate to bend the staple into shape. They may be used to close the skin, or during surgical anastomosis. Surgical staples are commonly preshaped into a "M". Pressing the stapler into the skin and applying pressure onto the handle bends the staple through the skin and into the fascia until the two ends almost meet in the middle forming a rectangle.
Staplers are commonly used intra-operatively during bowel resections in colorectal surgery. Often these staplers have an integral knife, so as the staples are deployed the knife cuts through the bowel, maintaining the aseptic field within the abdominal cavity. The staples, made from surgical steel, are typically supplied in disposable, pre-filled, pre-sterilized cartridges.
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