...that the Slinky toy was the result of a failed attempt by engineer Richard James to produce an antivibration device for ship instruments? His goal was to develop a spring that would instantaneously counterbalance the wave motion that rocks a ship at sea. Instead, he developed the Slinky.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8054087 | Low-power direct current detector Provided is a low-power direct current detector. The low-power direct current detector includes a main current source circuit generating an ultra-low current, a limitation circuit limiting the current generated by the main current source circuit to lower than a pres... | 11/08/2011 |
| 7312509 | Digital temperature sensing device using temperature depending characteristic of contact resistance A digital temperature sensing device uses temperature depending characteristic of contact resistance of a MOS transistor and a self-refresh driving device adjusts its self-refresh period depending on temperature using the digital temperature sensing device. The self... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7276915 | Electrical service monitoring system A system and method that allows a consumer to monitor the electrical power usage in a residence is disclosed. The electrical use may be monitored at the service level, the circuit level, or at the group level. The electrical usage is communicated to a power monitori... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7212012 | Method of and system for regulating output voltage A method of and system for regulating voltage supplied by a local power supply to a remote load includes sensing a low frequency portion of the output voltage at the remote load, locally sensing a high frequency portion of the output voltage produced by the local po... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7202676 | Source measure circuit A circuit for alternatively controlling a current through a device and permitting measurement of a voltage across the device or controlling a voltage across the device and permitting measurement of a current through the device includes a sense impedance in series co... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7183871 | Bi-directional access point An improved bi-directional access point includes an impedance boosting section in conjunction with an interface section to a bi-directional communication path. The impedance boosting section incorporates a transformer tap output that couples to an access connection ... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7129712 | Attofarad capacitance measurement An electrical circuit for determining a capacitance is described. The electrical circuit includes a first device, a rectifying circuit and a feedback circuit. The first device has a first terminal and a second terminal. The first device has a first unknown capacitan... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7119547 | Testing apparatus A testing apparatus includes a first power supply unit and first and second coaxial cables. The first power supply supplies current to a device under test. The first coaxial cable includes a first internal conductor and a first external conductor. The second coaxial... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7102531 | Remote controller for television/video recorder having a function of measuring body fat and body fat meter A remote controller for a television/video recorder having a function of measuring a body fat includes a display section for displaying a measurement of the body fat and a message questioning whether or not a user to be examined carries a specific medical device suc... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7084640 | Operating and evaluation circuit of an insect sensor An operating and evaluation circuit of an insect sensor is provided, which has a resistor that is dependent on insect infestation, whereby the circuit during stimulation via a transponder generates a current flow through the resistor, detects a change in the resisto... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7068050 | Moisture and density detector (MDD) A Moisture and Density Detector (MDD) provides a method and apparatus to determine the moisture content and/or density, as well as presence and location of anomalies, and/or wood type of any dielectric material for various purposes. This device is very useful in det... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7053598 | Structure for detecting plug/unplug status of phone-jacks by single bit generated by a resistor network The scheme for detecting the plug-in status by using single bit generated by a network with serial resistors, comprising a plurality of jacks having a spring switch, wherein the number of the plurality of jacks can be selected depending on the demand and a plurality... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7053506 | Power converter control for automatic maximum power point tracking The invention concerns a method and a circuit for maximum power point tracking of a variable power source from a comparison of an image of the power (P) supplied by the power source, the circuit comprising two elements (14, 31) providing different propagating... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7009368 | Voltage booster circuit having back-up circuit and battery voltage boosting method In a voltage booster circuit, a switching transistor turns on and off a flow of an electric current in a booster coil thereby to boost a voltage supplied form a d.c. power source. A back-up circuit is connected to the booster coil to store the boosted voltage as an ... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6906533 | TV remote control unit with body fat measurement function When measuring body fat through use of a TV remote control unit, the body of a person to be subjected to body fat measurement is brought into contact with current application electrodes and voltage measurement electrodes, which are subjected to application of a sinu... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6844739 | Maximum power point tracking method and device The output current value of a direct-current power source obtained by low-frequency, minute modulation of the input voltage of a switching converter is detected in a circuit having an amplification factor switching function that switches the amplification factor bet... | 01/18/2005 |
| 6462560 | Sensor analyzer with reduced low frequency noise A circuit includes an integrator arranged to integrate input signals over a predetermined sample period based on the cycle period of a power source signal. A delay is coupled to the integrator and is responsive to the end of a sample period to delay start... | 10/08/2002 |
| 6348802 | Device for enhancing contact checking A device for increasing the sensitivity of a testing instrument in determining the presence of an electronic component, such as a miniature ceramic chip capacitor, at the test station before beginning the test procedure, including a signal booster having ... | 02/19/2002 |
| 5999002 | Contact check for remote sensed measurement A contact resistance check circuit and method for verifying that a sufficient electrical connection is established between a source and a sense lead of a Kelvin connection. The circuit includes a microprocessor for driving a transformer that is connected ... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5977777 | Device in a motor vehicle for transmitting signals generated by means of a sensor A device in a motor vehicle, with which signals which are generated by a sensor and represent a physical magnitude are transmitted on signal lines. The device includes a voltage divider which is composed of the sensor and at least two impedances which are... | 11/02/1999 |
| 5886530 | Test contact connection checking method and circuit A contact resistance check circuit and method for verifying that a sufficient electrical connection is established between a source and a sense lead of a Kelvin connection. The circuit includes a microprocessor for driving a transformer that is connected ... | 03/23/1999 |
| 5786698 | Transducer Bootstrapping apparatus An apparatus for bootstrapping an amplifier of a capacitive displacement transducer. The apparatus replaces a transformer with two capacitors and two resistors configured to provide biased supply voltages to the positive and negative power supply connecti... | 07/28/1998 |
| 5684407 | Electronic circuit packaged with a position sensor A voltage follower is incorporated within a molded electrical connector interface of a position sensor in a way that does not detract from the dimensions or the performance of the finished sensor. The incorporation of the voltage follower into the housing... | 11/04/1997 |
| 5677476 | Sensor and transmitter with multiple outputs A measuring transmitter assembly using the same lines for power input and for output signals and using a single power supply, has a first power input and signal output loop coupled to the power supply, a second power input and signal output loop coupled t... | 10/14/1997 |
| 5644617 | Method and apparatus for testing cables Apparatus and method for testing lines. The apparatus is particularly useful for testing lines in a switched network, such as might be used to electronically route telephone and computer data lines to various offices in an office building. The apparatus i... | 07/01/1997 |
| 5635845 | Detection of cross-linking in pre-cure stage polymeric materials by measuring their resistance A method for detecting extent of cross-linking of a high impedance polymer material during a pre-cure state, the method including: placing an insulated ground plane adjacent to the polymer material and substantially parallel to a sensor; applying a test s... | 06/03/1997 |
| 5566572 | Circuitry to minimize stray capacitance effects in a capacitive liquid level measurement device A time varying excitation current (413) is provided to one side of a capacitive sensor (417), and two signal paths (420,430) are provided between the other side of the capacitive sensor (417) and signal conditioning circuitry (412), each signal path diffe... | 10/22/1996 |
| 5489888 | Sensor system for contactless distance measuring A sensor system is disclosed for the contactless measuring of the distance between a sensor body and an object. The sensor body contains an identification resistor, the resistance value of which can be interrogated by a control unit which is connected to ... | 02/06/1996 |
| 5463323 | Impedance meter An impedance meter is not adversely affected by errors originating from changes in characteristics of measurement cables under measurement conditions such as in an environmental test wherein an element to be measured is remote and high and wide measuremen... | 10/31/1995 |
| 5279145 | Heater control device for an air-fuel ratio sensor A heater control device for an air-fuel ratio sensor which comprises: an air-fuel ratio sensor comprising a sensor element which detects an air-fuel ratio state of exhaust gas of an engine, and a heater which heats the sensor elements; a heater current fl... | 01/18/1994 |
| 5278513 | Continuous condition sensing system A probe developing an admittance with a material whose condition is to be continuously measured is capacitively coupled with a variable frequency oscillator, preferably one having a digital output stage, for generating a variable frequency signal having a... | 01/11/1994 |
| 5182519 | Heater control device for an air-fuel ratio sensor A heater control device for an air-fuel ratio sensor which comprises: an air-fuel ratio sensor comprising a sensor element which detects an air-fuel ratio state of exhaust gas of an engine, and a heater which heats the sensor elements; a heater current fl... | 01/26/1993 |
| 5166625 | Automatic device for measuring the noise level of electronic components Automatic device for measuring the noise level of electronic components. This device comprises selection means (20) to which are connected the components and which are able to select one of these components, measuring means (28) able to determine the nois... | 11/24/1992 |
| 5083080 | High frequency signal measuring equipment with cabled detecting and signal companding A signal detector includes a signal input section, a detector, and a converter. The signal input section inputs a high frequency signal to be measured. The detector detects the high frequency signal to be measured input by the signal input section. The co... | 01/21/1992 |
| 5045797 | Continuous condition sensing system determining liquid level by admittance measurement A probe developing an admittance with a material whose condition is to be continuously measured is capacitively coupled with a variable frequency oscillator, preferably one having a digital output stage, for generating a variable frequency signal having a... | 09/03/1991 |
| 5001436 | Device for measuring the water content of a substrate, in particular the skin The device comprises: a high frequency alternating voltage generator the output of which is connected to a sensor probe 5 which is to be applied to a substrate to be measured, an amplifier the input of which is connected to the sensor probe, and a detecto... | 03/19/1991 |
| 4950998 | Continuous condition sensing system A probe developing an admittance with a material whose condition is to be continuously measured is capacitively coupled with a variable frequency oscillator, preferably one having a digital output stage, for generating a variable frequency signal having a... | 08/21/1990 |
| 4841229 | Method of and circuit for ohmmeter calibration The calibrator of an ohmmeter is compensated to eliminate any error as a result of the resistance of leads interconnecting terminals of the ohmmeter and a reference resistance to which the ohmmeter is connected during calibration. In accordance with one a... | 06/20/1989 |
| 4823071 | Capacitive measuring system for measuring the distance between two relatively movable parts A capacitive measuring system for measuring the distance between two relatively movable parts based on measurement of capacitative charge comprising a measuring sensor which forms one plate of the capacitor whose gap is to be measured. With the position o... | 04/18/1989 |
| 4820973 | Impedance measuring system The amount of liquid dielectric fuel in a tank is monitored with a capacitor including first and second electrodes immersed in the fuel. The fuel level determines the capacitance between the electrodes. Contaminants in the fuel are reflected as a shunt re... | 04/11/1989 |