Bizarre Patents
A fork with timer for providing a cue to a user after an elapsed period of time for indicating that another bite of food using the fork may be taken.
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 |
| 8139333 | Short circuit protection circuit A short circuit protection circuit which readily recovers a relay drive circuit to an output operation state after a short circuit is cancelled while preventing the relay drive circuit from being damaged by a short circuit. The relay drive circuit outputs a drive cu... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8125750 | Street furniture safety device An electrical isolation system specifically adapted for use in street furniture (10) having an electrical supply (24) to working electrical components (20) is described. The system includes an impact sensor (22) located in use within the ... | 02/28/2012 |
| 7961445 | Method of detecting fault extinction during a three-phase autoreclosing cycle in an AC transmission line A new method for three-phase reclosing of transmission lines is disclosed. According this method, after the type of fault is identified and the faulted line is opened for all three phases from both ends, fault extinction is recognized by comparison of amplitudes and... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7911753 | Method and apparatus for detecting and recovering from external electrical disturbances Apparatus and method are described, illustratively in an LVLS master/slave system, for detecting a circuit failure, shutting down the system as if a normal power down function has occurred, but restarting the system. Signals, including power and ground lines are mon... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7889471 | Power supply particularly for a meter-bus A power supply providing current interruption based on the energy from the supply over a sliding window of time is disclosed. The output current from the supply is periodically reestablished. ... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7656628 | Apparatus for providing fault protection in a circuit supplying power to an electronic device Apparatus is provided to limit the current drawn from a power supply output connected to furnish power to a docking station or electronic device, when a fault connects the output to ground or other docking connection. The power supply is disconnected when such fault... | 02/02/2010 |
| 7436290 | Sensor discrimination apparatus, system, and method A first and second node configured to couple to a load. A current source is adapted to drive a first current to the load through at least one of the first and second nodes. A first switch is coupled to the at least one of the first and second nodes. The first switch... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7369921 | Power distribution expert system A power distribution expert system is provided to determine an optimal power distribution configuration, and also to determine an optimal transition path to reach said optimal configuration. An exemplary first set of rules is provided to determine an optimal power d... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7339770 | Electrostatic discharge protection circuit having a ring oscillator timer circuit An electrostatic discharge protection circuit is provided having a first electrically conductive element (such as a current sinking transistor) to couple between a power source and a first node. The first electrically conductive element has a control input terminal.... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7330342 | Safety tester having a high-voltage switching relay protected by an in-line electronic circuit breaker A multiple function safety compliance test instrument includes a high voltage output switching relay protected by a solid state in-line circuit breaker. ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7301468 | Method and apparatus for real time monitoring of an electric furnace heating coil Heating coils used in an electric furnace used to process semiconductor wafers are monitored on a real time basis by sensing the AC current in a power line delivering electrical power to the furnace. The AC current is sensed by a coil positioned around and magnetica... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7280331 | Power reconnect and voltage control In one aspect, a power connect device receives ac line voltage and provides ac load voltage to a load device. In one embodiment, the power connect device includes: a connect panel, a transformer circuit, a high voltage relay, a rectifier, and a voltage protection ci... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7277626 | Illuminated air freshener Disclosed is a novel apparatus and method that combines a nightlight and an air freshener in a single device. The apparatus includes circuitry where a single resistor heats a heating block that heats and releases a volatile aromatic. The resistor also limits the cur... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7271579 | AC signal level detection circuit An AC voltage generated by an AC power source 1 is rectified by a full-wave rectifying circuit 2, which generates a rectified voltage. An internal regulator 33 performs waveform shaping of the rectified voltage. A comparator 42 compares t... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7230813 | Electronic circuit breaker The electronic circuit breaker comprises an input for connection to a power-supply network and an output for connection to a load. Set between the input and the output are a switch and a limitation block which controls the switch to cause at least partial inhibition... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7212391 | Grounded isolation system An system and method are disclosed for isolating and grounding a load device, where grounding only occurs after the voltage(s) on the load device have been reduced to acceptable levels. The system includes power and grounding contacts, a sensing device, and a contro... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7209330 | Reset lockout for circuit interrupting device Resettable circuit interrupting devices, such as GFCI devices, that include a reset lock-out mechanism are provided. The reset lock-out mechanism prevents the resetting of electrical connections between input and output conductors if the circuit interrupting mechani... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7187275 | Method and apparatus for a remote electric power line conductor faulted circuit current, conductor temperature, conductor potential and conductor strain monitoring and alarm system An electric power line characteristic monitoring method that allows automatic conductor circuit fault data logging of average nominal and maximum magnitudes of conductor current, voltage, temperature and strain. Additionally, an alarm is implemented to enunciate a f... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7158358 | PDA with built-in voltage protection A present invention provides a PDA with built-in voltage protection, comprising a main device, a socket, and a voltage protection module. The main device performs necessary data processing. The socket connects to an adapter. The voltage protection module is coupled ... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7148698 | Fuse saving tester for fused circuit In one form, tester for an electrical system, such as for a vehicle, develops repetitively applied, short duration, control current pulses for reducing load current pulses through the electrical system. An operator connects a pair of input contacts across a fuse hol... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7102863 | Electrostatic breakdown preventing circuit for semiconductor device An electrostatic breakdown preventing circuit has first and second conductive lines, a diode, a power clamp circuit and first and second capacitors. The first and second conductive lines are connected to a first potential source and a second potential source, respec... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7079369 | Active power/ground ESD trigger An ESD protective triggering circuit for a triggering circuit for a solid state ESD protective device. The arrangement is to provide a controlled current to the protective device that triggers the device so that the device snaps-back and additionally the triggering ... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7072163 | Method and apparatus for a remote electric power line conductor faulted circuit current monitoring system An electric power line characteristic apparatus and monitoring method allows automatic conductor current data logging of maximum current magnitudes and data storage for later retrieval in a remote electric power line conductor faulted circuit current monitoring syst... | 07/04/2006 |
| 6922322 | High side reverse and overvoltage transient protection A high side reverse voltage and overvoltage protection circuit configuration comprising: a first switching device in operable communication with a transient protected voltage source; a second switching device in operable communication and in series with the first sw... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6907321 | Fault control and restoration in a multi-feed power network The present invention relates to a control system for automatically reconnecting power to customers in a distribution automation multi-feed power network on a fault disconnecting customers in the network. This invention provides the simple switching architecture wit... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6768620 | Adaptive reclosing method using variable dead time control algorithm in power transmission line Disclosed in an adaptive reclosing method using a variable dead time control algorithm in a power transmission line. The method is used to remove faults induced by a circuit breaker being operated by a protective relay and to reclose the circuit breaker after a dead... | 07/27/2004 |
| 6747458 | Method for monitoring the ground potential of a rectifier drive A method for ground potential monitoring of a rectifier drive, having a capacitor which is connected with a voltage source via a switching device. The method including applying a test voltage between a connector of a capacitor of a rectifier drive and a mass or grou... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6683768 | Circuit topology for protecting vulnerable micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) and electronic relay devices The present invention discloses systems and methods for protecting electronic devices (switching and non-switching) such as micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices and solid state relays due to lightning exposure or electrical power surges. An over... | 01/27/2004 |
| 6674625 | Lightning protection systems A lightning protection system including a monitoring system (10) for detecting dangerous atmospheric conditions within specific geographic zones, a transmission system (12) for sending control codes, and multiple circuit connection/disconnection devices (... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6667869 | Power control system and method for illumination array A power control system and method controls power supplied from a power source to a resistive load, such as a LED illumination array, to prevent the load from exceeding a high temperature limit. The power control system and method generates a pulse train t... | 12/23/2003 |
| 6651036 | RMS-to-DC converter with fault detection and recovery A circuit that provides the root-mean-square (RMS) value of an input signal and that detects and independently recovers from an output fault condition is provided. The circuit includes reconfigurable circuitry that changes from normal operating mode to fa... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6539287 | Distribution control system capable of isolating fault section without using time limited sequential shift function A distribution control system includes in each of feeder terminal units a controller that updates a value in a latest current value storage area of a memory, every time a current value is detected at a sampling interval. If a distribution line fault takes... | 03/25/2003 |
| 6532424 | Electrical fault detection circuit with dual-mode power supply An arcing fault protection assembly and a corresponding method determine whether arcing is present in electrical circuits. The assembly powers-up quickly without dissipating excessive heat while power is being supplied to the assembly. The assembly compri... | 03/11/2003 |
| 6507470 | Method and arrangement for shortening the recovery time of a line driver To shorten the recovery time of a line driver (1) after an overvoltage on its output terminal (3), a current generating device (5) senses a voltage difference between the output voltage of the line driver (1) and its supply voltage (UB) plus a threshold v... | 01/14/2003 |
| 6424510 | ESD structure for IC with over-voltage capability at pad in steady-state The present invention provides an ESD structure that can tolerate voltages at the I/O pin, or pad, higher than the voltage allowed for such technology. More particularly, the present invention provides an electrostatic discharge integrated circuit having ... | 07/23/2002 |
| 6417579 | Electrical system with security battery disconnection A starter circuit for a motor vehicle includes a circuit breaker responsive to a crash senor for disconnecting the starter circuit. A bypass switch is provided, which responds to a control circuit to provide power to the starter circuit following activati... | 07/09/2002 |
| 6349023 | Power control system for illumination array A power control system, which serves to protect a dissipative/resistive load from exceeding a predetermined temperature limit. The power control system accurately models the temperature of the load and enforces a cooling period to reduce the temperature o... | 02/19/2002 |
| 6154081 | Load circuit having extended reverse voltage protection An improved reverse voltage protection circuit that protects sensitive electronic devices from damage due to both reversed battery connections and source voltage interruptions. An N-channel protection FET is inversely connected between the negative termin... | 11/28/2000 |
| 6150792 | Phase monitor A phase monitor for a short-circuited asynchronous three-phase motor comprises a first and a second sensing unit, both of which are connected to a supply voltage line to the motor in order to sense the voltage conditions on the line, and a control switch ... | 11/21/2000 |
| 6147616 | Automatic power interruption and re-supply relay for an electric power line The present invention provides a digital automatic power interruption and re-supply relay for performing detection and comparing operation to inform a state of an accident with voice and numerals and automatically operating a connected relay to interrupt ... | 11/14/2000 |
