Simple thread queue design pattern jdk1.4

I need to control the amount of concurrent thread's runnin开发者_JAVA技巧g. I think I need to use a thread pool? Is there a design pattern for this ? I'm using JDK1.4

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There were lots of new classes added into the java.util.concurrent packages in JDK 5 and 6.

If you can't upgrade, I'd recommend looking for Doug Lea's concurrent JAR and seeing what it offers.