A new pacemaker, Polarity, offers a solution to an old dilemma. Using a new method to sense spontaneous heart activity, the more flexible and long-lived type of unipolar lead can now be used in the atrium as well. ”This is an important step forward, especially for children who need a pacemaker,” says the manufacturer, Pacesetter.

The large German shipyard in Wismar is the first in the world to build supertankers under cover. The ships are built in an indoor dry dock with an accordion-type door claimed to be the biggest in the world.The door is 64 metres high, 72 metres wide, weighs 280 tonnes and can handle wind forces up to 150 km/h. Several leading door manufacturers competed to win the prestige order.

Several new NMT 450 network services, estimated to be active in various countries starting 1997, will be supported by the new Benefon Sigma Gold NMT 450i mobile phone which is being introduced by the Finnish Benefon Oy.  As soon as the new system features are implemented into the network, the phone will give access to functions like number and name presentation of the person calling, indication of any waiting messages, and simplified international dialing. Further features are a 1250 mAh NiMH standard battery, allowing up to three hours of talk time and up to five days in standby position, and an in-built silent vibrating alert function in the phone.

A fully-automatic refuelling system is today’s and tomorrow’s answer to yesterday’s manual filling stations. ‘In the past, people didn’t place as high a value on time-saving, environmental consciousness, or safety as we do today. Modern people demand a high standard of service. So these factors are the starting point for the development of the world’s first full-automatic refuelling system in service’, explained Anders Dahlquist, Marketing Manager of Autofill Europe AB. The Swedish technical development company is now launching the new refuelling system in various European countries. A German oil company has definitely decided to test the system and orders have already been received from several European oil companies, as well as from American Shell.

Demand for strength in vehicle radiators is increasing throughout the world, as is demand for environmentally-friendly production processes. The brazing technology developed for the manufacture of recoverable copper/brass radiators by Outokumpu Copper Strips is therefore increasingly sought-after, especially in South-East Asia. This environmentally-friendly method requires only moderate investment in new production plant.

A range of cabinets for convenient installation of electric, electronic and telecommunication equipment is now being introduced by Finnish Fibox, one of the world's biggest plastic enclosure manufacturers. The range supplements the company's existing some 350 standard enclosures. The new cabinets are manufactured in 13 sizes and of plastic materials such as polycarbonate (PC), ABS and chemically resistant fibreglass reinforced polyester (GRP). A special feature of the Fibox CAB PC/ABS and CAB P range is the hinged internal swing-out door to facilitate easy and safe mounting of push buttons, displays and switches.

Two new kinds of thin ginger snaps—or ‘ginger thins’— are now being introduced on the North American market: lemon and chocolate mint. Newly designed packaging for the 150-gram series has also been launched, as well as 400-gram cans featuring Swedish floral and folklore decorations. Annas Pepparkakor is the company behind the new marketing campaign. The company annually exports about 700 metric tons of ginger thins, and is reported to be the world’s biggest producer of ginger snap products.

Interference and overloading problems caused by harmonic frequencies can be eliminated by using ABB Control's harmonic filters. Harmonics cause overheating, damage and power losses in apparatus; generate electromagnetic fields; and decrease the quality of current, causing malfunctions. The solution is the ABB THF (Third Harmonic Filter), which removes third harmonics from the network.

Filter presses, which separate solids from liquids and compress them into "cakes", need constant operator attention to ensure complete cake removal from the filter plates. A new Automatic Cake Discharge Detection System (ACDDS) from US manufacturer JWI Inc. minimizes this problem and can, according to the company, lower operator costs by as much as 80 percent.