Space-saving hoist for tank manholes

Working platform and collapsible basket facilitate entry of men with equipment into the overhead manhole of a deep tank. A winch and pulley rigging hold the basket which is suspended in the manhole. The basket is suspended at three points without the rig impinging on the area of the manhole

Liquid immersion apparatus for minute articles

Apparatus is disclosed for immersing minute integrated circuit chips in an etching solution in manufacturing integrated circuits during research and development. The apparatus includes a holder, having a handle and basket support for carrying a removable unitary basket and lid structure where fluid flow-through passages are formed, and wherein graduated openings in the handle provide for adjustably supporting the basket in a breaker at a desired level

Real Effects of Movements in Nominal Exchange Rates: Application to the Asian Crisis

This paper analyzes the ad hoc decision of three Asian countries to peg their currency to the U.S. dollar prior to the Asian crisis. It uses the Sjaastad model to estimate the optimal basket weights for Thailand, Korea, and Singapore. The analysis in this paper differs from the optimal basket research since we are not searching for an ad hoc optimal basket; rather, the basket is the solution to the problem. For Thailand and Korea, the correct weights of the dollar in the basket are estimated to be 44 and 65 percent, respectively, which differ significantly from the actual weight of 100 percent for the U.S. dollar in their currency basket prior to the 1997 Asian crisis. Singapore, with a weight of 85 percent for the U.S. currency, is closer to a dollar peg, and therefore was less affected by the large depreciation of the European currencies and the yen toward the dollar that occurred prior to the Asian exchange rate crisis. Besides the fact that Singapore had better economic fundamentals prior to the crisis, the fact that the optimal basket for that country is closer to a dollar peg is an additional reason why its economy was less severely hit by the crisis.optimum currency area, Asian crisis, exchange rate basket, currency peg

Optimal Currency Basket Pegs for Developing and Emerging Economies

The exchange rate arrangement represents an important policy choice for emerging and transitional economies as they strive to become stable and market-driven. A wide variety of arrangements have emerged, ranging from currency boards, basket-currency pegs and single-currency pegs to floating rates. Recently the IMF has recommended that, if the exchange value of a currency is to be pegged, it is better to peg to a basket of currencies rather than a single currency. Nonetheless, there has been little theoretical research on the management and optimal design of basket-peg arrangements. In this paper we extend the small-country macroeconomic model of Turnovsky to show that an optimally designed basket-peg arrangement can minimize the variance in domestic consumer prices as well as the variance of foreign reserves. The model highlights the importance of the money and bond markets and, therefore, the importance of various interest rate channels. Additionally we show that a trade-weighted currency basket is not only suboptimal, it is at odds with increasing capital market integration. Further our solutions illustrate that the optimal weights will evolve as the domestic economy integrates with the global market for goods and services, and financial instruments