Celebrity Inventors
Comic actor Danny Kaye received patent D166,807 for the co-design of "Blowout Toy or the Like". It's similar to one of those toys that unravels when you blow into at a birthday party except Kaye's has three blowouts going in different directions, not just one.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6437520 | Electronic ballast with cross-coupled outputs Gas discharge lamps having filaments at each end thereof are operated in groups according to the power applied to separate line inputs to the ballast. The filaments of the lamps in a first group are powered by a first inverter that provides lamp current t... | 08/20/2002 |
| 6333605 | Light modulating electronic ballast A digitally controlled electronic ballast, on command, optically transmits its identification signature or other data by CW modulation of the luminosity of one or more lamps connected to the ballast. The data is transmitted by momentarily interrupting the... | 12/25/2001 |
| 6177769 | Electric Ballast with selective power dissipation A microprocessor controlled ballast includes a single front end and a plurality of inverters separately controlled by a single microprocessor. Lamps are operated in groups according to separate line inputs to the ballast. Total power is reduced to fifty p... | 01/23/2001 |
| 6137239 | Electronic ballast with selective load control A microprocessor controlled ballast includes a single front end and a plurality of inverters separately controlled by a single microprocessor. Lamps are operated in groups according to separate line inputs to the ballast.... | 10/24/2000 |
| 6111365 | Fast starting, surge limited, electronic ballast An electronic ballast includes a zener diode in series with the bulk capacitor of the ballast to provide a charging voltage for a small capacitor that powers a power factor correction circuit within the ballast. A SCR in parallel with the zener diode shut... | 08/29/2000 |
| 6091199 | Heat spreader for electronic ballast An insulating enclosure for an electronic ballast has at least one major surface and a thermally conductive heat spreader at the major surface. The heat spreader is thermally coupled to at least one of the electronic components within the ballast and has ... | 07/18/2000 |
| 6023132 | Electronic ballast deriving auxilliary power from lamp output An ballast includes a variable frequency boost circuit and a driven half-bridge inverter having a series resonant, direct coupled, parallel output. A control circuit includes a variable frequency driver section, a multivibrator section, and a sensing sect... | 02/08/2000 |
| 5982113 | Electronic ballast producing voltage having trapezoidal envelope for instant start lamps An instant start ballast includes a variable frequency boost circuit and a driven half-bridge inverter having a series resonant, direct coupled, parallel output. A control circuit includes a variable frequency driver section, a multivibrator section, and ... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5973455 | Electronic ballast with filament cut-out An electronic ballast for a gas discharge lamp includes an AC to DC converter for changing alternating current at power line voltage to direct current and an inverter powered by the converter and having a series resonant, direct coupled output coupled to ... | 10/26/1999 |
| 5936357 | Electronic ballast that manages switching frequencies for extrinsic purposes A microprocessor controlled, electronic ballast operates a lamp at nominal settings and shifts the operation of the ballast away from nominal settings to reduce interference. The shift is randomized by a test--flip--shift! routine that prevents all ball... | 08/10/1999 |
| 5925990 | Microprocessor controlled electronic ballast An electronic ballast includes an AC to DC converter for power factor correction, a bulk capacitor for storing energy from the converter, and a microprocessor controlled, half-bridge inverter including a series resonant, direct coupled output. Input ports... | 07/20/1999 |
| 5789866 | Electronic ballast with reversely wound filament winding An electronic ballast includes a series resonant inductor and capacitor and a filament winding magnetically coupled to said inductor. The filament winding forms a closed circuit with a filament in a gas discharge lamp, wherein the current induced in the w... | 08/04/1998 |
| 5747941 | Electronic ballast that monitors direct current through lamp filaments An electronic ballast includes an inverter producing pulses having a DC component, an output circuit connecting the filaments of one or more lamps in series, and a control circuit for detecting direct current through the filaments. The control circuit inc... | 05/05/1998 |
| 5539281 | Externally dimmable electronic ballast An electronic ballast includes a converter coupled to a variable frequency inverter and a series resonant, parallel loaded output coupled to the inverter. The frequency of the inverter increases when the supply voltage from the converter decreases. The co... | 07/23/1996 |
| 5500576 | Low height ballast for fluorescent lamps An electronic ballast has a high voltage portion and a low voltage portion. The high voltage portion includes a converter, having a variable frequency boost circuit, and a half-bridge, driven inverter having a series resonant, direct coupled output. The l... | 03/19/1996 |
| 5493181 | Capacitive lamp out detector An electronic ballast includes a boost circuit, a low voltage control circuit, and a driven inverter in a half-bridge, push-pull, series resonant, parallel loaded configuration. The boost circuit includes a low voltage output for powering the control circ... | 02/20/1996 |
| 5461287 | Booster driven inverter ballast employing the output from the inverter to trigger the booster An electronic ballast includes a triggered boost circuit, a driven inverter, and a low voltage signal generator in a a half-bridge, push-pull, series resonant, parallel loaded configuration. The boost circuit is triggered by a voltage from the inverter an... | 10/24/1995 |
| 5440475 | Electronic Ballast with low harmonic distortion Power factor is increased and harmonic distortion is decreased in a boost circuit by varying the current drawn in phase with the ripple voltage from a rectifying bridge. The boost circuit includes a series connected inductor and switching transistor and t... | 08/08/1995 |
| 5396155 | Self-dimming electronic ballast A self-dimming electronic ballast for a gas discharge lamp includes a converter having an unregulated boost circuit coupled to a variable frequency inverter having a series resonant, parallel loaded output. The inverter includes a variable frequency drive... | 03/07/1995 |
