Bizarre Patents
A kissing shield comprised of a thin, flexible membrane and a frame or holder.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8102122 | System and apparatus for cathodoluminescent lighting A cathodoluminescent lighting system has a light emitting device having an envelope with a transparent face, a cathode for emitting electrons, an anode with a phosphor layer and a conductor layer. The phosphor layer emits light through the transparent face of the en... | 01/24/2012 |
| 7834553 | System and apparatus for cathodoluminescent lighting A cathodolumineseent lighting system has a light emitting device having an envelope with a transparent face, a cathode for emitting electrons, an anode with a phosphor layer and a conductor layer. The phosphor layer emits light through the transparent face of the en... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7391041 | Germicidal UV reactor and UV lamp A germicidal UV reactor for use in fluid purifiers is provided, in which the UV reactor comprises an UV lamp with an UV transparent primary envelope and also an UV transparent secondary envelope around the primary envelope. The outer surface of the secondary envelop... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7368879 | Pendulum resonant converter and method A resonant switching converter comprising a first pair of series connected switches comprising a high side switch and a low side switch coupled across a DC input voltage, there being a first switched node between the switches; a second pair of series connected switc... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7327100 | Discharge lamp lighting apparatus A discharge lamp lighting apparatus for lighting a discharge lamp having two electrodes includes a first drive circuit, a second drive circuit, and a control circuit. The first drive circuit is connectable to one of the two electrodes to supply a first alternating c... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7282866 | Discharge lamp lighting apparatus The present invention provides a discharge lamp lighting apparatus for lighting a discharge lamp having two electrodes, having: a first drive circuit, a second drive circuit, and a control circuit. The first drive circuit is connectable to one of the two electrodes ... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7277106 | Scanning apparatus having a fluorescent lamp and control method thereof A scanning apparatus having a cold cathode fluorescent lamp includes a central processing unit (CPU) controlling a scan unit to be in one of the stand-by mode, a scan mode and a sleep mode and outputting a PWM signal having a variable duty ratio based on an operatio... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7247998 | Transient detection of end of lamp life condition apparatus and method A sensor system adapted to detect unwanted transients in the primary side of a luminous lamp load driving circuit and effect a change in operation of the driving circuit. A detection circuit is adapted to detect a transient, determine if it is an appropriate end-of-... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7166969 | Drive circuit for illumination unit In case of driving a plurality of lamps with the use of a plurality of output transformers, a difference in the bright-ness of each lamp occurs by a dispersion of characteristics of the output transformers, and an object is to prevent such troubles. For this purpose... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7141939 | Power supply circuit that is stable against sudden load change A power supply circuit for supplying power to a load includes an antenna which receives electric power, a rectifier coupled to the antenna and configured to convert an alternating voltage supplied from the antenna into a direct-current voltage, a voltage step-down c... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7109665 | Three-way dimming CFL ballast A three-way dimming CFL ballast operates at a single high bus voltage while varying switching frequency to control lamp current. The ballast accepts three different light level input switch command positions and an off position to provide three different light outpu... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7081709 | Method and apparatus for lighting a discharge lamp A reliable and efficient circuit for lighting a discharge lamp is described. An inverter accepts a direct current supply voltage and outputs an alternating current lamp voltage to drive the discharge lamp at a relatively high frequency. In one embodiment, the invert... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7064312 | Device for generating electromagnetic waves, method for operating a device of this type and method for modulating the electromagnetic waves to be generated using a device of this type in accordance with data to be transmitted A device is provided for generating electromagnetic waves, in particular for data transfer between a vehicle and a data storage medium, whereby a choke coil (30) is provided between at least one part of an energy supply device (1, 40, 41, 42) and an os... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7034465 | Device for operating discharge lamps by means of a transformer with four windings, and a corresponding method A device for operating a plurality of discharge lamps is to be fashioned cost-effectively. Consequently, two discharge lamps (71, 72) are operated with the aid of one ballast in whose load circuit the heating current for the individual incandescent filaments ... | 04/25/2006 |
| 6943395 | Phase random access memory with high density A phase random access memory including a plurality of access transistors, each access transistor including a drain region, and a phase-changeable film shared by the plurality of access transistors. The phase-changeable film is connected to a bitline through a first ... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6914556 | Method and apparatus for magnetron coherence A pulsed magnetron is caused to emit a series of RF energy pulses which are phase coherent with an injection signal by supplying the magnetron with a pedestal pulse during low-power signal injection. The pedestal being of a magnitude and duration such that the slow-... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6784821 | Synchronizing circuits and methods for parallel path analog-to-digital converters An Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converter includes signal paths that are responsive to an analog input signal, to generate a multi-bit digital signal. A respective signal path includes a comparator. A synchronizing circuit is responsive to a clock signal and outputs of t... | 08/31/2004 |
| 6750469 | Phase change nonvolatile storage device and drive circuit In a phase-change nonvolatile storage device using a phase-change material as storage cells, which is improved to overcome a basic problem involved in conventional devices of this type and reliably, easily operable as a storage device, the pre-record state of a stor... | 06/15/2004 |
| 6603275 | Electronic starter for fluorescent lamps An electronic starter for fluorescent lamp has a preheating circuit for controlling the preheating of the fluorescent tube and a power switch and locking circuit for cutting off the current to the preheating circuit. The power switch and locking circuit m... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6169369 | Low cost, precision electronic starter Provided is a lighting circuit (10, 100, 160) which includes a line voltage source 12 used to supply a full wave signal 72 to circuit 10. A ballast 14 is connected to the line voltage source 12, and a lamp 16. Further included in the circuit (10, 100, 160... | 01/02/2001 |
| 6140771 | Method and device for detecting the rectification effect that occurs in a gas discharge lamp Method for detecting the rectification effect in at least one gas discharge lamp (10) and electronic ballast for operating at least one gas discharge lamp, which recognises the appearance of the rectification effect in the gas discharge lamp (10). In orde... | 10/31/2000 |
| 6051930 | Extended wire connector for starting compact fluorescent lamp system A compact fluorescent lamp system includes a housing. An external base connector is mounted in the housing. The external base connector receives electrical power from an external source. A ballast unit is secured within the housing and electrically connec... | 04/18/2000 |
| 6043615 | Flashing and dimming fluorescent lamps for a gaming device A method and apparatus for signaling promotional operation of a gaming device using existing fluorescent illumination lamps. An illumination lamp on a gaming device is operated continuously during normal operation, then flashed to signal promotional opera... | 03/28/2000 |
| 5998812 | Amplifying-gate thyristor with an increased hold current An amplifying-gate thyristor having an increased integrated circuit includes a main thyristor and an amplifying thyristor. The amplifying thyristor is of the gate turnoff-type. The main thyristor and the amplifying thyristor are such that the amplifying t... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5936356 | Fluorescent lamp flashing circuit and control A fluorescent lamp flashing circuit is comprised of a fluorescent lamp to which an alternating supply voltage source is connected through a series connected loading reactance device which provides current limiting. The heaters of the fluorescent lamp are ... | 08/10/1999 |
| 5854542 | Flashing and diming fluorescent lamps for a gaming device A method and apparatus for signaling promotional operation of a gaming device using existing fluorescent illumination lamps. An illumination lamp on a gaming device is operated continuously during normal operation, then flashed to signal promotional opera... | 12/29/1998 |
| 5838110 | Apparatus and method for starting and controlling a fluorescent tube A starter unit for a fluorescent tube includes in parallel across two terminals, first and second main thyristors head-to-tail connected and a zener protection diode. The gate of the first thyristor is connected to one of the terminals through a resistor ... | 11/17/1998 |
| 5736817 | Preheating and starting circuit and method for a fluorescent lamp The cathodes of a fluorescent lamp are preheating and the medium between the cathodes is ignited into a plasma by heating the cathodes for a predetermined warm-up time period by conducting current from a supply power source through the cathodes for a cond... | 04/07/1998 |
| 5675220 | Power supply for vehicular neon light A circuit for use in providing high voltage power to a neon bulb positioned on the vehicle utilizing the vehicle DC battery as the power source. The circuit includes an invertor, a transformer, and a rectifier. The invertor receives low voltage DC from th... | 10/07/1997 |
| 5616992 | Electronic starter circuit for fluorescent lamp An electronic starter for a fluorescent lamp comprises a power switch, controlled at its gate by a gate-control circuit and an auxiliary supply circuit that gives the necessary logic supply voltage to the gate-control circuit on a terminal of a capacitor.... | 04/01/1997 |
| 5610477 | Low breakdown voltage gas discharge device and methods of manufacture and operation A low breakdown voltage gas discharge device includes an envelope filled with an appropriately selected working substance. Two main electrodes are sealed in a vacuum-tight manner inside the envelope, and are separated by a predetermined distance. A supple... | 03/11/1997 |
| 5606224 | Protection circuit for fluorescent lamps operating at failure mode A circuit for protecting fluorescent lamps connected to high frequency electronic ballasts has a detecting bridge connected to the fluorescent lamps, an output of the detecting bridge varying linearly with the highest voltage across the fluorescent lamps,... | 02/25/1997 |
| 5583395 | Fluorescent device having a fluorescent starter which precisely controls heating time and absolute synchronism of fire point A new fluorescent device including an electronic fluorescent starter, a phase leading capacitor, a ballast, a bridge rectifier, a fluorescent lamp, a brightness compensation circuit, and a control circuit, the electronic fluorescent starter consisting of ... | 12/10/1996 |
| 5568018 | Fluorescent light ballast circuit An improved fluorescent light ballast circuit extends the on/off life of a florescent lamp within a lighting circuit having a pair of series connected fluorescent lamps. The ballast circuit includes a DC pulse generation circuit, filtering and voltage reg... | 10/22/1996 |
| 5493336 | Picture tube screen device having waiting state function For preserving and, thus, for extending the useful life of a picture tube of a picture tube screen device having a waiting state function. The filament current of the picture tube in the waiting state of the picture tube screen device is reduced by at lea... | 02/20/1996 |
| 5440204 | Gas discharge lamp lighting system with phase synchronized gating of d.c. electrode voltage The present invention relates to a gas discharge lamp lighting system in which a voltage source is provided for supplying an a.c. voltage across the lamp electrodes and, further, a source of stored d.c. voltage which is gated to the electrodes in synchron... | 08/08/1995 |
| 5436527 | Circuit for operating a fluorescent lamp In a circuit for operating a fluorescent lamp with controllable luminance, with the fluorescent lamp comprising a discharge path and heater coils, the discharge path is connected through a transformer to a controllable alternating current source. The curr... | 07/25/1995 |
| 5387849 | Lamp ballast system characterized by a power factor correction of greater than or equal to 90% A ballast circuit for a fluorescent lamp including a magnetic choke electrically connected between the lamp and a power supply and an electronic starter circuit electrically coupled across said lamp, which ballast circuit is configured to provide a power ... | 02/07/1995 |
| 5243258 | Fluorescent lamp electrode disconnect arrangement A fluorescent lamp system including a ballast with primary and secondary windings and a switch for each of the plurality of electrodes of the lamp system. Each switch is operable in response to the voltage across its associated lamp after its associated l... | 09/07/1993 |
| 5208511 | Fluorescent lamp electrode disconnect arrangement A fluorescent lamp system including a ballast with primary and secondary windings and a switch for each electrode of the lamp system. Each switch is operable in response to the voltage across its associated lamp after its associated lamp turns on to inter... | 05/04/1993 |
