Bizarre Patents
Pet Toilet-Like Water Disk and Food Storage
One pet-friendly inventor patented "a device for watering pets, e.g., a dog or cat." The device, he helpfully noted, "has the general shape of a toilet."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7845369 | Volumetric-controlled smart valve A volumetric metering smart valve shuts down automatically when a certain amount of liquid has passed through the valve. This valve has a water wheel which is rotated by the liquid and which drives a disc via a gear train. If the flowing amount exceeds a preset limi... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7403839 | Water shut-off system A moisture monitoring and control system comprising: 1) a plurality of moisture sensors; 2) one or more local or remote control stations capable of monitoring and controlling each of the individual elements of the moisture monitoring and control system; 3) at least ... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7325781 | Automatic bathroom flushers with modular design A bathroom flusher includes a flusher body, a valve assembly, an electronic control system, and a flusher cover. The flusher body includes an inlet and an outlet, and is designed to accommodate the valve assembly that controls water flow between the inlet and the ou... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7311523 | Method of timing hand washing A hand washing device and method encouraging hand washing includes a display panel, a message “WASH UP with Soap and Water. Get rid of germs in only 15 seconds.” and may have one of a variety of timing means to time the wash cycle or the user may use an ordinary... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7293583 | “Countdown Timer” automatic water limiting supply shut off safety valve flo-control system An electronically controlled electro-mechanical device designed to limit a finite amount of water per flush to a tank reservoir of the common household toilet, or tank-less toilet or urinal, providing positive shutoff of water flow and anti-siphon backflow preventio... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7232111 | Control arrangement for an automatic residential faucet A hands-free faucet comprises a spout, a valve, a position sensitive device, and a logical control. The position sensitive device is positioned on the user's side of the spout, and has a trigger zone and an extended zone, each defined in part by a distance range fro... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7210498 | “Toilet king” automatic water limiting supply shut off safety valve flo-control A geared mechanical device designed to limit a finite amount of water per flush to a tank reservoir of the common household toilet, providing positive shutoff of flow and anti-siphon back flow prevention. The toilet is flushed, the actuator lever opens the flo-contr... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7204270 | Automated water shut-off valve A device includes a housing that has a plurality of monolithically formed walls, wherein selected walls are provided with inlet and outlet ports respectively. The housing includes a coupling in fluid communication with the inlet and outlet ports, a mechanism for det... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7188822 | Enclosures for automatic bathroom flushers A bathroom flusher includes a flusher body, a valve assembly, an electronic control system, and a flusher cover. The flusher body includes an inlet and an outlet, and is designed to accommodate the valve assembly that controls water flow between the inlet and the ou... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7177725 | System for the monitor and control of rest rooms The present invention is directed to a rest room control system including one or more sensors configured to monitor or control a function associated with the rest room. The system also includes a controller operably coupled to the one or more sensors, and configured... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7156363 | Bathroom flushers with novel sensors and controllers A bathroom flusher (10) includes a body having an inlet (12) in communication with a supply line and an outlet (16) in communication with a flush conduit, a valve assembly in the body positioned to close water flow between the inlet and the outl... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7117893 | Automatic fuel shutoff An apparatus for use with an outdoor gas grill and a natural gas source. The apparatus allows an individual to have a “backup mechanism” which automatically shuts off the natural gas source after a specified amount of time, should an individual forget to turn it... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7093606 | Liquid fertilizer injector system for lawn sprinkler systems and irrigation systems A liquid fertilizer injector system attached to a water source by a water source has an inlet line to input the water from the water source line into the liquid fertilizer injector system. The system's components include a holding tank to receive the water from the ... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7077148 | Redundant valve system The redundant valve system 10 of the preferred embodiments includes a first valve unit 12, a second valve unit 14, a third valve unit 16, a first diagnostic device 18, a second diagnostic device 20, and a control unit 22 | 07/18/2006 |
| 7069941 | Electronic faucets for long-term operation An electronic faucet (10) mounted on a countertop (12) includes a housing, at least one fluid inlet line (24a, 24b) extending into the housing, a fluid outlet (46) from the housing, a solenoid (142, 143) for op... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7063103 | System for converting manually-operated flush valves Disclosed is a method and system for converting or retrofitting manually-operated flush valves. A conversion system for converting an installed manually-operated flush valve includes a power module, a control module, and a driver module mechanically coupled to a man... | 06/20/2006 |
| 6992258 | Switching device for gas operated appliance A combination timer and controller for a gas-operated appliance, such as a pizza oven, is provided. The combination includes a rotatable control shaft having a first end connectible to a gas valve and a control knob attachable to a second end of the control shaft. A... | 01/31/2006 |
| 6973936 | Fluid injection system A fluid injection system controls the distribution of fluid from a supply line to a selected well at an adjustable rate. A fluid barrier divides a cylinder into first and second chambers. A multi-position valve comprises a first position for passing fluid from the s... | 12/13/2005 |
| 6962162 | Method for operating a multi family/commercial plumbing system A method for operating a multi-family/commercial plumbing system includes sensing an event and recording for each sensed event at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of date, day of the week, start time, duration of the event, water flow, water te... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6962168 | Capacitive touch on/off control for an automatic residential faucet A capacitive touch-controlled automatic faucet comprises: a spout, a magnetically latching valve, a proximity sensor, a handle, a capacitive touch-control, and a logical control. The proximity sensor is sensitive to motion of objects within a detection zone of the p... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6948512 | Flushing attachment for hydrant A device and method for automatically flushing hydrants. The device is installed externally to an existing hydrant. The device comprises a nipple having an internally threaded collar for attaching the device to a hydrant outlet, a valve, a control for automatically ... | 09/27/2005 |
| 6938637 | Emergency gas and electricity shutoff apparatus and control system A gas meter installation including gas supply plumbing and point of use plumbing will have a gas meter therebetween. A valve can be installed with the gas meter for shutting off the flow of gas to the point of use. This valve is preferably a gate valve mounted with ... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6932277 | Sprinkler valve wiring apparatus and method A sprinkler valve wiring apparatus and method are provided. An irrigation system has a plurality of valves designed to be electrically activated by a control unit. Valve wires extend from the valves to a junction unit. Control unit wires extend from the control unit... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6917857 | Magnetically overridden flow control device A flow control device. The flow control device comprises a valve; an actuator operably connected to and positioning the valve and a controller operably connected to the actuator and providing control signals thereto. An external signal provides control input to the ... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6916219 | Remote sampling system An automated system for periodically sampling water bodies, such as lakes, and delivering the test results to a remote computer using a communication system. In particular, the system has a variable buoyancy profiler with a dynamic buoyancy compensator responding ap... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6837271 | Liquid flow control valve A liquid flow control valve has a valve body 10 in which is mounted a valve member 41 moveable between valve open and closed positions. A turbine 15 senses liquid flow through the valve body 10 and generates electrical pulses which are co... | 01/04/2005 |
| 6820635 | Flushing attachment for hydrant A device and method for automatically flushing hydrants. The device is installed externally to an existing hydrant. The device comprises a nipple having an internally threaded collar for attaching the device to a hydrant outlet, a valve, a control for automatically ... | 11/23/2004 |
| 6772562 | Building perimeter fire suppressing system A building perimeter fire suppressing system for preventing brush and forest fires from engulfing building structure. The building perimeter fire suppressing system includes a water source; and also includes a plurality of pipelines having a plurality of water outle... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6763845 | Water freeze prevention device An automatic water freeze prevention device having a first valve, second valve and third valve that cooperate to fill or drain a water utilization device according to pre-selected temperature conditions. These three valves are driven to their respective open/closed ... | 07/20/2004 |
| 6745996 | Alternating pressure valve system An alternating pressure valve system is provided comprising a blower with an air intake and an air outlet; a rotor valve assembly connected to the air outlet from the blower where the rotor valve assembly comprising: a housing with an air intake, a first air outlet,... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6701951 | Manual to electronic automatic valve conversion apparatus A device and method to implement the device, to automatically adjust a single valve or a plurality of valves including turning the valve(s) on and off. The device includes a motor drive assembly, a mounting method, and a control method. Each component is ... | 03/09/2004 |
| 6694997 | Enhanced and remote meter reading with vibration actuated valve An automatically actuated regulation system for a natural gas pipeline having flow control unit, a vibration sensor, a gas flow meter, a trigger unit, and a microprocessor. The microprocessor actuates the flow control unit when two conditions are met. Fir... | 02/24/2004 |
| 6675826 | Automatic flood prevention system A flood prevention system includes a double-latching solenoid valve that shuts off a water supply line in response to a moisture sensor detecting a leak in a plumbing system. The double-latching feature provides the solenoid's plunger with two positions o... | 01/13/2004 |
| 6655408 | Tunable ramp rate circuit for a mass flow controller A method and apparatus for stabilizing startup gas flow through an MFC supplying reactant gases to a semiconductor system, wherein the method includes receiving a gas setpoint in a tunable activation circuit, determining a desired valve control voltage co... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6543066 | Washing water supply apparatus A washing water supply apparatus 1 for supplying washing water to a toilet has valve members A and B opening/closing an opening leading to the toilet from a washing water source, cam members 8 and 9 opening/closing the valve members A and B directly, and ... | 04/08/2003 |
| 6543480 | Laundry faucet valve and timer control A valve for controlling a flow of water to an appliance comprises a valve assembly having a pair of inlets for coupling to a water supply and a pair of outlets for supplying water to the appliance. A valve mechanism is coupled to the valve assembly to con... | 04/08/2003 |
| 6535827 | Method and apparatus for detecting and isolating a rupture in fluid distribution system Rupture path logic methods of detecting, locating and isolating ruptures within a fluid piping system are disclosed, wherein a rupture within a piping system can be detected and isolated based solely upon local pressure and flow rate measurements at indiv... | 03/18/2003 |
| 6453938 | Warm drinking water conduit system The invention relates to a warm drinking water conduit system, with at least one drinking water heater/storage tank for warm drinking water, with a fresh water supply conduit for supplying cold drinking water into the tank and with a heat exchanger connec... | 09/24/2002 |
| 6453215 | Irrigation controller An irrigation controller in one embodiment comprising a microprocessor for controlling a plurality of watering zones of an irrigation system, a keyboard for enabling an inputting of commands relating to watering programs, a display for displaying informat... | 09/17/2002 |
| 6450200 | Flow control of process gas in semiconductor manufacturing A flow control system and method for controlling batchwise delivery of process gas for semiconductor manufacturing are disclosed, wherein the flow control system is operable in a flow mode for delivery of a batch of process gas in a delivery period of tim... | 09/17/2002 |
