A waste strip-removing apparatus for use with a ripsaw that saws an incoming board into one or more usable boards and removes the opposite side edges, which become two waste strips that must be removed and transported to a different destination from that to which the usable board(s) is (are) transported. The apparatus includes two air-blasting units each having one or more air nozzles assigned to each waste strip. The air-blasting units are positioned with respect to a lateral direction by a positioning mechanism so that air directed from the nozzles impinges on the waste strips and moves them laterally away from the usable board(s). The positioning mechanism can include a linear motor having two forcers movable along a platen and respectively attached to air-blasting units.

A table tool includes a table which carries a power tool. The table includes table base and a table top. The table top includes a central table top portion fixed to the table base. The central table top portion of the table top includes a left perimeter, a right perimeter, and a rear perimeter. A first table top extension is configured to be selectively coupled to the table on the left perimeter, and the right perimeter of the central table top portion with the first table top extension slideable relative to the central table top portion. A second table top extension is configured to be selectively coupled to the left perimeter, the right perimeter, and the rear perimeter of the central table top portion with the second table top extension fixed relative to the central table top portion.

A method for detecting the three-dimensional structure of a log comprises the operating steps of: making the log (2) rotate axially, leaving it free to translate during the rotation;during said rotation repeating the step of detecting the relative surface structure of the log (2) at least at one log surface portion (13), so that the relative surface structure of substantially all of the points of at least the log (2) lateral surface is detected at least once; andcombining the relative surface structures detected to reconstruct an overall surface structure for at least the log (2) lateral surface,the detection steps being carried out in such a way that each detection step result shares at least several points with at least one other detection step result, while the step of combining the relative surface structures is carried out in such a way that the shared points are made to coincide with each other.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a power tool includes a housing having a first opening formed therein with a motor being contained within the housing. The tool includes a device for sharpening a writing implement. The sharpening device is at least partially contained within the housing and accessible through the first opening which permits the writing implement to be inserted into the sharpening device. The sharpening device is operatively connected to the motor such that operation of the motor drives the sharpening device.

The present invention is a material forming apparatus that includes a piece of material that is a piece of laminated wood, a cover sheet made of plastic material, a flexible bed, a plurality of bed arms and a plurality of drive gears. The material forming apparatus also includes a numerical digital display, a plurality of roller clamps, one or more cranks with a grasping knob and a plurality of pivoting arms that are rotated by rotation of the drive gears and move the bed arms to force the flexible bed and the piece of material into a desired arc radius.

Methods are described for mechanically scraping surfaces of boards, such as flooring boards, to impart random-looking scraped profiles therein. An apparatus for mechanically scraping boards to form the scraped board products also is described. A board, such as a flooring board, having a random-looking scraped appearance that includes overlapping multiple scrape patterns is described. Boards, such as flooring boards, having a simulated rustic or distressed appearance made with the methods and apparatus also are described.

An apparatus and method for spooling wire or cable from a reel assembly. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises an inner flange assembly and an outer flange assembly. The inner flange assembly is capable of freely rotating relative to the outer flange assembly for spooling wire from any surface. In another embodiment, wire is spooled from a reel assembly comprising an inner flange assembly and an outer flange assembly.

A wire electric discharge machining apparatus according to embodiments includes a wire electrode, a wire supplying unit that supplies the wire electrode, a collecting motor that collects the wire electrode at a predetermined speed, a tension motor that controls a tension of the wire electrode between the wire supplying unit and the collecting motor, a speed calculating unit that calculates a traveling speed of the wire electrode at a predetermined time interval, a speed storing unit that stores the traveling speed calculated by the speed calculating unit, a differential speed calculating unit that calculates a differential speed between a current traveling speed output from the speed calculating unit and a past traveling speed stored in the speed storing unit, and a breakage detecting unit that detects breakage of the wire electrode by comparing the differential speed with a predetermined threshold.

A roll sheet supporting apparatus includes a pair of rotation shafts which are respectively fitted into end portions of the hollow portion of the core tube and configured to support the roll sheet rotatably and capable of being drawn out, an engaging member movable between a projecting position and a retracting position, wherein the engaging member projects from an outer circumferential surface of the each rotation shaft abutting on the core tube to engage with the core tube at the projecting position and retracts inward from the outer circumferential surface of the each rotation shaft at the retracting position, and an engaging member moving unit configured to move the engaging member between the projecting position and the retracting position.

A paper transport system for transporting a web in a printing system includes a stationary bar positioned such that the web slides over a portion of an exterior surface of the bar, a rotatable source roller for supplying unused cover material, and a rotatable take-up roller for receiving used cover material. Cover material extends between the source roller and the take-up roller and is disposed over the portion of the exterior surface of the bar that the web slides over. A locking mechanism can be used to maintain tension in the cover material.

A hose deployment and retrieval system is described that includes a modular reel assembly. The modular reel assembly includes a reel having a hub around which a hose may be wound and a wheel assembly on either side of the hub and spaced to accept the hose there between. The reel assembly also includes an axle in the center of the hub around which the hub can spin and a base holding the axle. A deployment fork assembly includes a reel assembly mount for engaging with the modular reel assembly and a drive mechanism to spin the reel when the deployment fork assembly is engaged with the modular reel assembly, wherein the deployment fork assembly is adapted to mount to a vehicle.

A method and device for winding a rotor or a stator (2), of a rotary electrical machine, having a series of teeth (21) which are delimited by notches (22). In each notch there are inserted M continuous electric wires (3) constituting a turn; M being equal to 1 or more, characterised in that n×M wires (3) are wound simultaneously in a number n of notches (22), n corresponding to the number of phases and being ≧2. The assembly of the M wires (3) constituting a phase, being inserted in a single notch (22). The device for winding has at least two carriages (4, 5), with a series of teeth, delimited by n notches (40, 50). And, likewise corresponding to the winding, each set of M continuous electric wires (3) constituting a turn, is characterised in that M×n wires (3) are inserted simultaneously in the extension of the n notches (22) of the rotary electrical machine in the n notches (40, 50) in the respective carriages (4, 5). All of the M×n wires (3) are bent together at least twice by bending the carriages (4, 5) relative to one another, and all of the M×n wires (3) thus bent are folded back in the following successive n1 notches (22) of the rotary electrical machine.

To provide a medium storing and advancing apparatus for inhibiting rotation of a drum when tapes are completely rewound from the drum. The apparatus includes reels supplying and winding up the tapes, a drum winding up the tapes supplied from the reels or rewinding wound-up tapes to supply the tapes to the reels, and an inhibiting mechanism inhibiting further rotation of the drum in a direction of rewinding the tapes when the drum completely rewinds the tapes, whereby the inhibiting mechanism inhibits the rotation of the drum.

A fishing line reeling apparatus for loading a spool of fishing line about a reel of a fishing pole includes a clamp capable of being anchored to a ledge of an existing support surface, and a bracket attached to the clamp wherein the bracket has a dowel capable of rotatably receiving and suspending the existing spool of fishing line above the existing support surface. An arm is located subjacent to the dowel and statically mated to the bracket. The arm has an eyelet attached to a distal end thereof such the fishing line is downwardly guided from the spool and urged along a longitudinal length of the arm prior to passing through the eyelet.

The present invention provides a technique which can disassemble a mandrel having a substantially cylindrical shape and being dividable into a plurality of segments, easily and efficiently. The disassembling method comprises, in the mandrel adhesively attached with a composite material structure on an outer peripheral surface thereof, a rotation step of rotating the pair of support rings along with the mandrel to position a segment which is a detached target to an uppermost portion; and a segment detaching step of detaching the segment which is the detached target positioned at the uppermost portion, from the pair of support rings; wherein in the segment detaching step, the segment which is the detached target is moved in a vertically downward direction to a position inside of the mandrel, between the pair of support rings, and is carried out from between the pair of support rings.

A sheet conveyance unit for transporting a sheet unreeled from a roll of paper includes a roll holder including a pair of supporters to support both axial end portions of the roll, movable in an axial direction of the roll, a pair of first conveyance rollers, a pair of second conveyance rollers, a tensioner to tension the sheet, disposed between the first conveyance rollers and the second conveyance rollers, and a tension adjustment unit. The tensioner includes a contact plate to press against the sheet, extending over an entire width of the sheet and pivotably supported on a casing of the sheet conveyance unit. The tension adjustment unit changes the tension of the sheet by adjusting a force to press the contact plate against the sheet and includes a first adjuster to change the tension of the sheet in conjunction with the interval between the supporters.

A filament winding apparatus prevents a fiber bundle supplied to a liner from interfering with other fiber bundles and fiber supplying guides. First and second guide units include a plurality of fiber supplying guides arranged radially and extending and contracting in a direction approximately perpendicular to a liner central axis. When a fiber bundle supplied from a first supplying guide of the first guide unit crosses between a second supplying guide of the second guide unit and the liner, the distance from the second supplying guide to the liner central axis is made larger than the distance from the first supplying guide to the liner central axis, and in the reverse case, the distance from the first supplying guide to the liner central axis is made larger than the distance from the second supplying guide to the liner central axis.

A web rewinding apparatus having a mandrel cupping assembly for releaseably engaging unsupported ends of a plurality of mandrels is disclosed. Each of the plurality of mandrels extends generally parallel to the web winding turret assembly axis. Each of the mandrels is driven in a closed mandrel path about the web winding turret assembly axis. The mandrel cupping assembly comprises a cupping arm turret having a cupping arm turret central axis, a mandrel cup cooperatively associated with each mandrel of the plurality of mandrels, at least three motion limiting devices disposed upon the cupping arms, and a first actuator.

The wire winding apparatus includes: a wire feeding member provided to a supporting member so as to be operable, for feeding a wire; a lock mechanism capable of inhibiting an operation of the wire feeding member; a winding mechanism for rotating a core about an axis thereof to wind the wire fed from the wire feeding member around the outer circumference of the core; a feed mechanism for moving the supporting member in an axial direction of the core in synchronization with the winding performed by the winding mechanism; a proximity sensor for detecting a movement amount of the wire feeding member with respect to the supporting member; and a control section for controlling an operation of the feed mechanism to adjust a movement amount of the supporting member moved by the feed mechanism based on a detection output from the proximity sensor.

A media spindle apparatus for supporting a media roll having media to be delivered to a printing apparatus. The apparatus includes a spindle configured to support the roll. The spindle defines an axial direction about which the roll rotates relative to the printing apparatus to deliver the media to the printing apparatus. A guide member is supported by the spindle and guides the media to the printing apparatus. The guide member is positionable in a first configuration in which a securing mechanism is disengaged and the guide member is translatable substantially in the axial direction relative to the spindle. The guide member is pivotable about the axial direction relative to the spindle to move to a second configuration and thereby engage the securing mechanism to inhibit the guide member from translating in the axial direction relative to the spindle and pivoting from the second configuration to the first configuration.

A filament winding apparatus prevents a fiber bundle supplied to a liner from interfering with other fiber bundles and fiber supplying guides. First and second guide units include a plurality of fiber supplying guides arranged radially and extending and contracting in a direction approximately perpendicular to a liner central axis. When a fiber bundle supplied from a first supplying guide of the first guide unit crosses between a second supplying guide of the second guide unit and the liner, the distance from the second supplying guide to the liner central axis is made larger than the distance from the first supplying guide to the liner central axis, and in the reverse case, the distance from the first supplying guide to the liner central axis is made larger than the distance from the second supplying guide to the liner central axis.

A method and apparatus are described for creating a pass marker in a field. During planting, planting of seed is stopped and started on pass marker rows differently than on adjacent rows to create a visible offset to assist a harvester or applicator to find and drive down the right row to prevent skips and overlaps.

Methods for fumigating soil include providing a fumigant including at least one volatile substance into or onto soil and applying over the soil a multilayer polymeric film to form a vapor barrier between the fumigant-treated soil and the atmosphere to at least partially contain the fumigant. The multilayer film includes at least one barrier layer comprising at least one vinylidene chloride polymer and protecting layers on each side of the barrier layer. The multilayer film preferably has at least one UV protecting layer and optionally at least one reflective layer.

A method and apparatus for automating some of the tasks that heretofore required operator action at headland turns or similar events are provided. The present invention automates operation of lift assist wheels and/or gull wings, such as those found on a stack-fold implement, based on the position of the tractor hitch to which the implement is coupled. An operator may control the position of the implement, such as at a headland turn, by raising and lowering the tractor hitch using a remote control. The invention enables the planter to compare the tractor hitch position relative to an implement position and control operation of the implement accordingly without additional user inputs.

A seed metering assembly for a farm implement has a meter roller that can be accessed and removed in a relatively quick manner. The seed metering assembly includes a fluted meter roller that is segmented into a number of discrete fluted sections. Each fluted section has an associated flow control member that is selectively operable to impede the flow of granular material from a seed hopper to its corresponding section of the fluted meter roller.

A seed metering assembly for a farm implement has a meter roller that can be accessed and removed in a relatively quick manner. The seed metering assembly includes a fluted meter roller that is segmented into a number of discrete fluted sections. Each fluted section has an associated flow control member that is selectively operable to impede the flow of granular material from a seed hopper to its corresponding section of the fluted meter roller.

The present invention is directed to a hopper for a seed metering system that has a series of individualized and independently controlled metering units. The hopper has a plurality of discharge openings that can be selectively opened and closed to expose an opening to a respective one of the plurality of metering units. Each seed metering unit is selectively driven by a common drive member, such as a drive shaft. When a seed metering unit is engaged with the drive member, the unit will meter granular material. On the other hand, when the seed metering unit is not engaged with the drive member, the metering unit will not meter granular material. Hence, the present invention provides a seed metering apparatus that provides effective sectional control.

Agricultural seed planting systems are provided. In some aspects, the system includes a processing unit, a frame, a furrow opener coupled to the frame for opening a furrow in soil, and a sensor in communication with the processing unit and adapted to sense a characteristic associated with seed planting. The sensor may generate a signal associated with the sensed characteristic and the processing unit may receive the signal. In some aspects, the sensed characteristic may be either a soil characteristic or a seed characteristic. Information associated with the sensed characteristic can be saved in memory for future use and to assist with more effective planting in the future.

A seeding machine, such as a row crop planter, is described which is adapted to switch between two or more seed varieties as the machine traverses a field. The control system uses a programmed quantity of seed representing a number of seeds in the seed meter that need to be substantially consumed once the flow of a first seed variety is stopped before introducing a second seed variety to minimize seed mixing. The seed quantity can be determined by a calibration process or published from the manufacturer or third parties. The seed quantity can also be part of a seeding prescription that includes assignment of where each seed variety is to be planted in a field. The seed quantity and the distance traveled to empty the meter can be used to optimize the planting operation including the machine direction which can also be part of the prescription.

A seed research plot planter includes a rotating seed plate for picking up and transporting seeds from a seed chamber to a release point, and a sensor that detects the rotational position of the seed plate. A distance measuring device measures a distance traveled by the planter. A controller uses a first signal from the sensor and a second signal from the distance measuring device to control a sequence of operations of the planter based on the rotational position of the seed plate and the location of the planter within the field. A field layout system is provided for creating a plot field layout having a desired number of ranges, a desired number of planter passes, and desired parameters for each plot within the field. The field layout system allows different plot lengths and seed populations to be input for individual plots within the same planter pass through the field.

A seeding machine, such as a row crop planter, is described which is adapted to switch between two or more seed varieties as the machine traverses a field. The control system uses a programmed quantity of seed representing a number of seeds in the seed meter that need to be substantially consumed once the flow of a first seed variety is stopped before introducing a second seed variety to minimize seed mixing. The seed quantity can be determined by a calibration process or published from the manufacturer or third parties. The seed quantity can also be part of a seeding prescription that includes assignment of where each seed variety is to be planted in a field. The seed quantity and the distance traveled to empty the meter can be used to optimize the planting operation including the machine direction which can also be part of the prescription.

The seed distribution tower of an air seeder has a distribution head that splits a single, primary stream of conveying air and seeds into a plurality of secondary streams for delivery to openers that deposit the seeds into the ground as the seeder advances. The outlets through which the secondary streams exit the head are constructed as modules that can be individually installed and replaced without disassembling the entire head. Shut-off valves and/or flow sensors may or may not be incorporated into certain or all of the modules to provide optimum user flexibility.

A method and system enables sectional control for an air seeding system of a farm implement by exposing a main header, or selected ports of the main header, to a purging air flow when product flow through the selected ports is stopped. A plenum of air is fluidly coupled to the main header and provides a purging air flow to any exit port of the main header that has been shut off from product flow. Valves are used to selectively flow couple the exit ports of the main header to the product flow and to the purging air flow.

A seed tube guard for agricultural planters is cast from a high-chrome cast-iron alloy or manufactured from other wear-resistant material. The seed tube guard has right and left wear surfaces for engaging inner surfaces of a pair of opener discs. A fluid delivery channel is integrated within the body of the seed tube guard with an exit in the bottom surface for delivering fluid into a seed furrow ahead of a seed tube.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates a side elevation view of a single row unit (10) of a conventional row crop planter such as the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,438,006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. As is well known in the art, the row units (10) are mounted in spaced relation along the length of a transverse toolbar (12) by a parallel linkage (14), comprised of upper and lower parallel arms (16, 18) pivotally mounted at their forward ends to the transverse toolbar (12) and at their rearward end to the row unit frame (20).

An agricultural implement includes a storage tank, a pump positioned below a bottom portion of the storage tank, and a control system disposed above the bottom portion of the storage tank. The storage tank is configured to hold a flowable agricultural product. The pump is configured to direct the flowable agricultural product out of the storage tank. The one or more controls are configured to control application of the flowable agricultural product.

A no-till apparatus for application of herbicide and fertilizer, soil preparation, and seeding of a cover crop in a standing crop has inter-row assemblies configured to pass along inter-row areas between adjacent row lines of standing crop plants. Each assembly includes a fertilizer applicator, a no-till soil preparation element, a cover crop seed applicator, and a post-seeding element.

An agricultural implement includes a frame assembly configured to support a storage tank. The frame assembly includes a pair of longitudinal beams positioned on opposite lateral sides of the storage tank, and multiple cross members extending between the pair of longitudinal beams. A substantially flat upper surface of each cross member is secured to a lower surface of each longitudinal beam, and each cross member is configured to support the storage tank via contact between the substantially flat upper surface of the cross member and a substantially flat lower surface of the storage tank such that the substantially flat lower surface of the storage tank is positioned vertically below an upper surface of each longitudinal beam.

A tool bar mounting assembly for an agricultural implement. One agricultural implement includes a first tool bar assembly having a tool bar and a plurality of row units coupled to the tool bar and configured to deliver flowable agricultural product to a field. The agricultural implement also includes a frame assembly coupled to the first tool bar assembly. The frame assembly includes a mounting assembly having a mechanical linkage. The mechanical linkage is configured to removably couple the first tool bar assembly to the frame assembly via a plurality of fasteners. The frame assembly is configured to provide structural support to the first tool bar assembly. The mechanical linkage of mounting assembly is configured to removably couple a second tool bar assembly having a different configuration than the first tool bar assembly to the frame assembly via the plurality of fasteners.

An aqueous fluid treatment method and system is provided which preferably uses a 3 step electro-chemical oxidation process to remove organic contaminates from water. A high surface area electro-chemical reaction cell can be employed to remove organic particles and precipitate hardness salts from the aqueous solution. Several 3-phase spark arcs generated mixed oxidants and acoustic cavitations to remove dissolved organic compounds and oxidize organic metal compounds in the next step. Finally, a dielectric discharge in aqueous foam is used to eliminate recalcitrant organic compounds such as, but not limited to, polychlorinated aromatics, disinfectants, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals before release to environment or recycled.

Disclosed are apparatus and method for decontaminating and sterilizing chemical and biological agents, which can efficiently decontaminate and sterilize high precision electronic devices, communication devices, computers or inside of vehicles and air planes contaminated with chemical and biological agent by using mixture of non-thermal atmospheric pressure air plasma and oxidizing peroxide vapor. The apparatus according to the present invention comprises a decontamination and sterilization chamber 10; a first fluid supplying line L1 and a second fluid supplying line L2, which are installed in the form of closed circuit between the inlet 11 and outlet 12 of the decontamination and sterilization chamber 10; a peroxide vapor supplier which is installed on the first fluid supplying line; and a non-thermal atmospheric pressure air plasma reactor 70 which is installed on the second fluid supplying line L2.

A contacting-type conductivity sensor includes an electrically-insulative plastic body and a plurality of electrodes. The plurality of conductive electrodes is disposed in the plastic body. Each electrode is constructed of plastic and fused with the electrically-insulative plastic body. A method of manufacturing the conductivity sensor is provided along with a single-use bioreactor employing the sensor.

A hard bias (HB) structure for longitudinally biasing a free layer in a MR sensor is disclosed that includes a mildly etched seed layer and a hard bias (HB) layer on the etched seed layer. The HB layer may contain one or more HB sub-layers stacked on a lower sub-layer which contacts the etched seed layer. Each HB sub-layer is mildly etched before depositing another HB sub-layer thereon. The etch may be performed in an IBD chamber and creates a higher concentration of nucleation sites on the etched surface thereby promoting a smaller HB average grain size than would be realized with no etch treatments. A smaller HB average grain size is responsible for increasing Hcr in a CoPt HB layer to as high as 2500 to 3000 Oe. Higher Hcr is achieved without changing the seed layer or HB material and without changing the thickness of the aforementioned layers.

An alignment film forming apparatus and a method are provided to form an alignment film for a liquid crystal in a single process of simultaneously executing a film deposition process of ion beam sputtering and an alignment process. The method greatly restricts the size of a substrate. An alignment film forming apparatus includes a target disposed on a top surface side of a substrate and having a sputtering surface defining a sharp angle to the top surface of the substrate, a transfer table that transfers the substrate in a predetermined direction, and an ion source disposed on the top surface side of the substrate in such a way that an ion beam is irradiated on the sputtering surface of the target. An ion beam reflected at the sputtering surface is irradiated on a sputtering film formed on the substrate. The apparatus includes a mask disposed in such a way as to cover a part of the top surface of the substrate on an upstream side of a position where the sputtering film is formed, and a temperature regulator which regulates the temperature of the target.

A reactive sputtering apparatus includes a chamber, a substrate holder provided in the chamber, a target holder which is provided in the chamber and configured to hold a target, a deposition shield plate which is provided in the chamber so as to form a sputtering space between the target holder and the substrate holder, and prevents a sputter particle from adhering to an inner wall of the chamber, a reactive gas introduction pipe configured to introduce a reactive gas into the sputtering space, an inert gas introduction port which introduces an inert gas into a space that falls outside the sputtering space and within the chamber, and a shielding member which prevents a sputter particle from the target mounted on the target holder from adhering to an introduction port of the reactive gas introduction pipe upon sputtering.

Provided is a nonmagnetic material particle dispersed ferromagnetic material sputtering target comprising a material including nonmagnetic material particles dispersed in a ferromagnetic material. The nonmagnetic material particle dispersed ferromagnetic material sputtering target is characterized in that all particles of the nonmagnetic material with a structure observed on the material in its polished face have a shape and size that are smaller than all imaginary circles having a radius of 2 μm formed around an arbitrary point within the nonmagnetic material particles, or that have at least two contact points or intersection points between the imaginary circles and the interface of the ferromagnetic material and the nonmagnetic material. The nonmagnetic material particle dispersed ferromagnetic material sputtering target is advantageous in that, in the formation of a film by sputtering, the influence of heating or the like on a substrate can be reduced, high-speed deposition by DC sputtering is possible, the film thickness can be regulated to be thin, the generation of particles (dust) or nodules can be reduced during sputtering, the variation in quality can be reduced to improve the mass productivity, fine crystal grains and high density can be realized, and the nonmagnetic material particle dispersed ferromagnetic material sputtering target is particularly best suited for use as a magnetic recording layer.

A sputtering target with low generation of particles in which oxides, carbides, nitrides, borides, intermetallic compounds, carbonitrides, and other substances without ductility exist in a matrix phase made of a highly ductile substance at a volume ratio of 1 to 50%, wherein a highly ductile and conductive metal coating layer is formed on an outermost surface of the target. Provided are a sputtering target capable of improving the target surface in which numerous substances without ductility exist and preventing or inhibiting the generation of nodules and particles during sputtering, and a method of producing such a sputtering target.

Provided is an inorganic-particle-dispersed sputtering target in which inorganic particles are dispersed in a Co base material, wherein the inorganic particles have an electric resistivity of 1×101 Ω·m or less and the volume ratio of the inorganic particles in the target is 50% or less. The sputtering target thus adjusted is advantageous in that, when sputtering is performed using a magnetron sputtering device comprising a DC power source, the inorganic particles are less charged, and arcing occurs less frequently. Accordingly, by using the sputtering target of the present invention, the occurrence of particles attributable to the arcing reduces, and a significant effect of improving the yield in forming a thin film is obtained.

Provided is a sputtering apparatus which deposits a metal catalyst on an amorphous silicon layer at an extremely low concentration in order to crystallize amorphous silicon, and particularly minimizes non-uniformity of the metal catalyst caused by a pre-sputtering process without reducing process efficiency. This sputtering apparatus improves the uniformity of the metal catalyst deposited on the amorphous silicon layer at an extremely low concentration. The sputtering apparatus includes a process chamber having first and second regions, a metal target located inside the process chamber, a target transfer unit moving the metal target and having a first shield for controlling a traveling direction of a metal catalyst discharged from the metal target, and a substrate holder disposed in the second region to be capable of facing the metal target. A distance difference between a linear distance, which is a distance between a substrate loaded on the substrate holder and the metal target, and a length of the first shield is less than 3 cm.

A sensor cartridge for supplying a sensor is used. The sensor cartridge includes a casing within which the plurality of sensors can be arranged, and that allows a sample to be introduced to a sensor located at a preset location, and a connection structure. The connection structure electrically connects an external device and a sensor electrode of the sensor located at the preset location. The casing is formed so as to be held by the external device when the external device and the sensor electrode of the sensor are electrically connected via the connection structure.