Did You Know...
...that Thomas Edison's patent application on his phonograph was approved by the Patent Office in just seven weeks? In contrast, it took Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, 30 years to obtain his patent -- finally awarded in 1988!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7786412 | Pressure relief for current limiter A current-limiting device is provided with pressure relief facilities that are responsive to relieve internal pressures during operation of the current limiter. In a specific arrangement, the pressure relief arrangement includes a passage that is opened upon operati... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7368832 | Circuit and fault tolerant assembly including such circuit A circuit is provided that provides for the same power characteristics to an assembly of electrical resistive elements wired in parallel as to the assembly as wired in series. An input power source provides electrical resistive power to a plurality of load elements,... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7368686 | Apparatus and methods for operating an electric appliance An electric cooking appliance is provided. The electric cooking appliance includes a plurality of surface heating elements and a plurality of sensors configured to monitor an operational status of a corresponding surface heating element. The electric cooking applian... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7358666 | System and method for sealing high intensity discharge lamps In accordance with certain embodiments, the present technique includes a system for sealing a lamp including a thermal shield and a thermally susceptible enclosure disposed adjacent the thermal shield. The thermal shield has a first receptacle adapted to receive a f... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7332692 | Redundant control circuit for hot melt adhesive assembly heater circuits and temperature sensors A redundant control circuit comprises a pair of heater circuits for heating a hot melt adhesive hose assembly to a predetermined temperature level, and a pair of temperature sensors which are used to sense the temperature of the hot melt adhesive hose assembly and t... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7304270 | Integrated warmer drawer and warmer zone controls A range for heating foods having a body comprising a top surface, a first chamber located within the range, a second chamber located within the range, multiple heating elements arranged on the top surface for cooking food, an upper and lower heating element arranged... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7256372 | Fluid-heating apparatus, circuit for heating a fluid, and method of operating the same A fluid-heating apparatus for heating a fluid and method of operating the same. The fluid-heating apparatus includes a heating element for heating a fluid surrounding the heating element and a control circuit connected to the heating element and connectable to a pow... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7236692 | Spa heater system and methods for controlling A spa system comprises an electrically powered heater. The electrically powered heater comprises a heating element capable of drawing a rated current when switched on to an AC line voltage. An electronic control system is programmed to control the heating element to... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7223947 | Domestic appliance and heating structure for a domestic appliance An electric heating structure of a domestic appliance includes at least one first electric heating track (23) having a positive temperature coefficient and at least one additional electric heating track (27, 28). A control structure (22, 25, 29)... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7214910 | On-chip power supply regulator and temperature control system An on-chip temperature control system includes a temperature sensor, which monitors a temperature of a chip, and a hysteresis comparator which checks whether the temperature is in an acceptable range. A reference adjustment circuit is responsive to the hysteresis co... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7202449 | Brewing machine power management system and method A power management system for managing the power supplied to a plurality of warming elements in a brewing machine, so as to conform to pre-set power safety requirements. ... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7190893 | Fluid heater with low porosity thermal mass A fluid heater apparatus and method of making same includes a low porosity material, thermally conductive mass. A heat source is disposed in the thermally conductive mass for imparting heat to the mass. Fluid in a flow path through the mass absorbs heat from the mas... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7109448 | Control system for cooking appliance employing radiant cooking A cooking appliance includes a heating system which is preferably capable of combining radiant, convection, microwave and conduction heating techniques to perform a cooking operation. The cooking appliance includes a convection fan and at least one heating element. ... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7096935 | Vehicle power supply control apparatus A power supply control for a vehicle includes air-conditioning electric devices and other electric devices. In the power supply control operation, current target power that is necessary for the specific electric device is calculated based on a precedent target power... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7091456 | Aircraft hot water supply system An aircraft hot water supply system (10) comprising a group of water-use stations (14a–14f) each including a hot water line having a heater (40a–40f) which heats water at a heating rate dependent upo... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7076324 | Directionless rotary encoder control system for a household appliance An embodiment of the present invention uses an on-board microcontroller of a household appliance to receive signals from a directionless encoder attached to a knob for receiving user input and processing the signals from the direction encoder according to a control ... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7041940 | Power management systems and methods A cooking platform includes at least one surface heating element having a first power consumption level and an oven located under the surface heating element. The oven includes a first heating element having a second power consumption level and a second heating elem... | 05/09/2006 |
| 6998584 | System for output power control on electric heater drive Methods and systems are provided for controlling the output power to DC electric heater elements to reduce the input current ripple and to fine-tune the output power to meet the fine-tuning percentage requirement. In one embodiment, a method is performed for control... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6989514 | System and method for controlling temperature control elements that are used to alter liquid temperature A system for controlling temperature control elements used to alter temperatures of a liquid comprises a temperature sensor, a first temperature control element, a second temperature control element, and logic. The temperature sensor is configured to sense temperatu... | 01/24/2006 |
| 6952524 | Fluid heater temperature balancing apparatus A fluid heater apparatus supplies heat to wash fluid via a flow path in a thermally conductive body. A heat source is disposed in the thermally conductive body for imparting heat to the body. Fluid flowing through the thermally conductive body in a flow path envelop... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6946626 | State controller apparatus A state control apparatus includes a calculator for calculating adjustment amounts for adjusting a plurality of end effecting devices on the basis of preset values and measured amounts measured by a plurality of meters. The measured amounts indicate respective state... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6927369 | Heating device having a flexible heating body A heating system having an electrical heating conductor arrangement which is integrated into a flexible heating body that can be connected to a supply voltage by a connecting cable and has a first conductor and an adjacent second conductor, placed in series with the... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6912357 | Fluid heater A fluid heater apparatus supplies heat to wash fluid via a continuous, labyrinthian flow path in a thermally conductive body. A heat source is disposed in the thermally conductive body for imparting heat to the body. Fluid flowing through the thermally conductive bo... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6905201 | Solid phase change ink melter assembly and phase change ink image producing machine having same A solid phase change ink melter assembly is provided in a phase change ink image producing machine. The solid phase change ink melter assembly includes (a) a melter housing having walls defining a melting chamber; and (b) a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) hea... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6881932 | High reliability heater modules An improved air data sensing probe de-icing system that provides for dramatically increased reliability and lifespan, utilizing solid-state heating elements that are electrically connected in parallel and having inherent temperature control, where each of the heatin... | 04/19/2005 |
| 6875961 | Method and means for controlling electrical distribution Apparatus for controlling heating of a liquid or liquid stream including electrical equipment operated in conjunction with such heating; a device or devices for monitoring the voltage level of electrical power supplied to such equipment; and a control or controls fo... | 04/05/2005 |
| 6849830 | Apparatus and method of rapidly and evenly heating a packaged food product The invention relates to a method for vending food products in food outlets. The method includes the steps of providing a heating cavity having thermal conductive heating surfaces; placing a container including the food product into the heating cavity, the container... | 02/01/2005 |
| 6841761 | Nominal voltage identification system for electric resistance U.S. Ser. No. 2002009312A cooking appliance having an electric resistance heater is connected to a multiple phase external power source and includes a system for compensating for whether the cooktop is connected to 240V split phase system wherein the two phases are ... | 01/11/2005 |
| 6831257 | Control system for multiple heating towers a method for heating liquids and distributing operating wear amongst a plurality of heating towers The present invention is a system that automatically controls the selection, start-up and operation of primary and secondary heating towers chosen from an array of heating towers having varying physical and thermal sizes. The automatic control is implemented via a p... | 12/14/2004 |
| 6806446 | Power management controls for electric appliances A power management system comprises a microprocessor and a current flow sensor in electrical communication therewith. The current flow sensor measures the amount of electrical current available to the building as well as the actual current flowing through the buildi... | 10/19/2004 |
| 6794618 | Method for electrical heating of furnaces for heat treatment of metallic workpieces In order to refine a method for electric heating of furnaces for heat treating metallic workpieces, especially vacuum furnaces usable for plasma carburizing or nitriding, in which the heater elements of a furnace are supplied with a heating voltage that is generated... | 09/21/2004 |
| 6777652 | Programmable oven with broiler temperature interlock The oven includes a lower electrical heating element which is located below a support member. Two laterally spaced apart upper electrical heating elements are supported above the support member and the food to be cooked. An electrical system is provided for supplyin... | 08/17/2004 |
| 6740854 | Device for satellites including power supply means and associated with heating means A device for satellites is associated with heaters that are turned on when the device is turned off and turned off when the device is turned on. The device includes a power supply, a system for turning the device on and off and a system for turning the heaters on an... | 05/25/2004 |
| 6730884 | Protective circuit for electrical heating element The present invention provides an electrical circuit that measures the ground current due to insulation leakage in electrical heating elements. The circuit uses a CT to measure the current being supplied to at least one of a plurality of electrical heating elements.... | 05/04/2004 |
| 6713729 | Electric load control system and vehicle air-conditioning system having the same In a vehicle air-conditioning system, a supply of electric power to a first electric heater and a supply of electric power to a second electric heater are duty controlled at the same duty ratio in such a manner that the supply of the electric power to the second ele... | 03/30/2004 |
| 6700101 | Power management system in electrical cooking appliances A power management system in electrical cooking appliances having at least two electrical heating elements wherein the power level of the elements can be set by a user but not exceed a predetermined power level. The power management system being able to c... | 03/02/2004 |
| 6680464 | Electrofusion joining control device A piping system that includes a plurality of pipe made of thermoplastic material, a coupling and an arrangement for securing the pipe to the coupling. The coupling is configured so that either a fusable seal or mechanical seal can be used with the couplin... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6670584 | Spa electric heater system using multiple spa heaters A process of electrically heating a spa having electrically operated devices connected to the spa, such as one or more water pumps, lights, and at least two heaters, in an environment in which there is not enough current to operate all spa devices simulta... | 12/30/2003 |
| 6492629 | Electrical heating devices and resettable fuses A heating element (10) having a first bus wire (12) and a second bus wire (14) and a plurality of flexible heating wires (16) which are connected between the first and second bus wires (12, 14), the flexible heating wires (16) which are connected between ... | 12/10/2002 |
| 6483081 | In-line cure furnace and method for using the same A system and method for thermal curing of substrates are provided. In one example, a pair of vertical furnace tubes are configured with a hot plate positioned between the lower regions of the furnace tubes and connected to each tube by a passageway. A coo... | 11/19/2002 |
