Did You Know...
...that while attempting to develop a super strong glue, 3M employee Spencer Silver accidentally developed a glue that was so weak it would barely hold two pieces of paper together? However, his colleague Art Fry needed the glue. Fry sang with his church choir and marked the pages of his hymnal with small scraps of paper that often fell out. He used Silver's glue to hold the papers in place. Today we call this invention Post-it Notes.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7349132 | Image reading apparatus An image reading unit according to the present invention includes a lamp to incorporate a change in temperature conditions to the emitting light amount, the lamp capable of illuminating an reading object with a light of a predetermined intensity, an image signal gen... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7339322 | Apparatus and methods for making spectroscopic measurements of cathode fall in fluorescent lamps Apparatus and methods are disclosed for measuring cathode fall within a fluorescent lamp that contains an electrode and a gas. A level of cathode fall associated with the electrode may be identified based on an intensity and wavelength of radiation emitted by the ga... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7323877 | Apparatus and methods for making spectroscopic measurements of cathode fall in fluorescent lamps Apparatus and methods are disclosed for measuring cathode fall within a fluorescent lamp that contains an electrode and a gas. A level of cathode fall associated with the electrode may be identified based on an intensity and wavelength of radiation emitted by the ga... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7279851 | Systems and methods for fault protection in a balancing transformer An apparatus and methods for balancing current in multiple negative impedance gas discharge lamp loads. Embodiments advantageously include balancing transformer configurations that are relatively cost-effective, reliable, efficient, and good performing. Embodiments ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7259519 | Apparatus and methods for making capacitive measurements of cathode fall in fluorescent lamps Apparatus and methods for measuring cathode fall in fluorescent lamps are disclosed. Together with measurements of cathode temperature, such measurements of cathode fall may inform a determination of cathode heater voltage as a function of discharge current (i.e., a... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7256546 | Metal halide lamp chemistries with magnesium and indium A metal halide fill for a discharge lamp is provided that is comprised of mercury and a mixture of metal halide salts which includes magnesium iodide as a full or partial replacement for calcium iodide. The replacement of at least some of the calcium iodide improves... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7256638 | Series active filtering power line conditioner The apparatus includes a series active continuous time voltage regulator operating in conjunction with a alternating current power source and one or more loads. The alternating current power source is a voltage source that induces currents at a first end of the appa... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7245075 | Dimmable metal halide HID lamp with good color consistency Metal halide lighting with good color during dimming may be obtained. An appropriate balance of commonly used metal halides (NaI, DyI3, CeI3, CaI2, TlI) is dosed in the lamp. No mercury is used. A higher than typical xenon fill press... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7183714 | Ballast with relamping circuitry An apparatus for detecting the reconnection of a lamp filament to an electronic ballast driving a fluorescent lamp. A control circuit controls an inverter circuit to providing power to a filament control circuit. The filament control circuit preheats and powers the ... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7141933 | Systems and methods for a transformer configuration for driving multiple gas discharge tubes in parallel An apparatus and methods for balancing current in multiple negative impedance gas discharge lamp loads. Embodiments advantageously include balancing transformer configurations that are relatively cost-effective, reliable, efficient, and good performing. Embodiments ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7116055 | Apparatus and methods for making spectroscopic measurements of cathode fall in fluorescent lamps Apparatus and methods are disclosed for measuring cathode fall within a fluorescent lamp that contains an electrode and a gas. A level of cathode fall associated with the electrode may be identified based on an intensity and wavelength of radiation emitted by the ga... | 10/03/2006 |
| 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 |
| 6943498 | High intensity discharge lamp and high intensity discharge lamp system using the same To provide a high-efficiency and long-life high intensity discharge lamp that is obtained by a configuration in which a neon gas or a neon-based gaseous mixture is filled as a starting-assistance rare gas for an alumina ceramic arc tube, and a filling pressure is se... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6114809 | Planar fluorescent lamp with starter and heater circuit A planar fluorescent lamp having a resistive trace and optically transmissive cover electrodes is described. In one embodiment, the lamp includes an insulative lamp body with the transparent cover electrodes supported by the lamp cover. The resistive trac... | 09/05/2000 |
| 5907222 | High efficiency backlighting system for rear illumination of electronic display devices A fluorescent cavity backlight system that provides a high efficiency light source suitable for rear illumination of transmissive electronic display devices. The inventive fluorescent cavity backlight system can be adapted to a wide variety of flat panel ... | 05/25/1999 |
| 5726534 | Preheat current control circuit based upon the number of lamps detected A feedback control system of ballast which has function to detect the number of lamp and is applied to an integrated circuit to control the ballast for a fluorescent lamp etc, and provides the ballast with the feedback control system which can detect the ... | 03/10/1998 |
| 5604409 | Electronic lighting controller An electronic circuit for converting AC or DC input current to pulsating DC, then to high frequency AC. The DC input is used for aircraft applications, or in emergency situations. The circuit operates over a wide range of input voltages and frequencies, i... | 02/18/1997 |
| 5517082 | Traveling wave tube heating coil power supply with varying frequency AC current limiting means A power supply for supplying the heating coils of a tube (WR), in particular a traveling-wave tube, wherein a transformer (Tr) and an inverter (S1, S2) are provided in the heating circuit of the tube (WR), and the frequency of the AC current is reduced fr... | 05/14/1996 |
| 5498930 | Method of dimensioning and operating a low pressure discharge lamp In a method of dimensioning and operating by A.C. or D.C. at a predetermined external heater power a low pressure discharge lamp, particularly a fluorescent lamp having two electrodes between which the discharge is formed, at least one of the electrodes b... | 03/12/1996 |
| 5463278 | Method and apparatus for random frequency of tube filament current Radiated emission is reduced in a vacuum fluorescent tube having a pulsed filament current in a variable frequency range above audible frequencies. A driver circuit produces a fixed width pulse of filament current when triggered by a random frequency gene... | 10/31/1995 |
| 5451841 | Soft start of lamp filament A method is provided in which a relatively cold lamp filament may be turned on for a brief period of time, then turned off, then turned on again, then off again, and this process repeated for successively longer periods of on time, until eventually the fi... | 09/19/1995 |
| 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 |
| 5367223 | Fluoresent lamp current level controller A method and apparatus for automatically adjusting the light intensity output of a fluorescent lamp of a document scanner. The fluorescent lamp current level control apparatus comprises preheating circuitry for applying low voltage pulses of alternating p... | 11/22/1994 |
| 5347197 | Display device having a display tube including a cold cathode and a current mirror drive circuit for the cold cathode A display device having a display tube including a cold cathode, for example a PN emitter (PNE), has the terminals of the PN emitter (PNE) coupled between first terminals of a first (CR1) and a second (CR2) current mirror. The first current repeater (CR1)... | 09/13/1994 |
| 5256939 | Magnetic electronic fluorescent lamp ballast A magnetic-type ballast powers an F40/T12 four foot fluorescent lamp from a regular 120 Volt/60 Hz power line by way of a main inductor. A power factor correction capacitor is connected in series with an auxiliary inductor of relatively small inductance v... | 10/26/1993 |
| 5247228 | Fluorescent lamp ballast adaptor An adaptor circuit used to enable stable, flicker-free operation of T8-type fluorescent lamps in a lighting fixture which already has a standard two-lamp, series-sequence, 40 watt, rapid-start type ballast installed therein. The adaptor circuit contains a... | 09/21/1993 |
| 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 |
| 5175470 | Fluorescent lamp electrode disconnect arrangement A fluorescent lamp system including a switch for each electrode of the lamp system wherein each switch is operable in response to the voltage across its associated lamp after its associated lamp turns on to interrupt the connection of an associated electr... | 12/29/1992 |
| 5099178 | Method and system for controlling the brightness of a vacuum fluorescent display A method and system for providing a wide range of variable brightness levels for a vacuum fluorescent (VF) display by changing the duty cycle of the driving signal beyond the limits of normal driving techniques by varying the frequency as well as the on-t... | 03/24/1992 |
| 5066929 | Circuit for producing four indications on a bicolor light emitting diode having two leads A circuit for producing four indications on a bicolor light emitting diode (LED) includes a ring oscillator, with two inputs controlling inverters of opposite phase. By enabling or disabling these inverters, either, both, or neither dies of the LED are en... | 11/19/1991 |
| 5063328 | Energy saving circuit for discharge tubes Circuits for increasing the efficiency of fluorescent tubes by openings one side of all of the filament circuits of the tubes in response to flow of plasma current. The circuits may be employed in conjunction with the circuits of Lucetta U.S. Pat. No. 3,9... | 11/05/1991 |
| 5032765 | Operating system for fluorescent lamp array A lighting arrangement comprises: a) an array of plural pairs of series-connected fluorescent lamps, with each lamp pair: i) adapted to be powered from 30 kHz/240 Volt by way of a high-Q series-resonant L-C circuit, ii) receiving cathode heating by way of... | 07/16/1991 |
| 4954749 | Fluorescent lamp electrode disconnect method and arrangement for practicing the method A fluorescent lamp system including a relay whose coil is connected across the secondary of the transformer of the system and whose contacts interrupt the connection of the electrodes of the lamp system to their associated heater windings after lamp turn ... | 09/04/1990 |
| 4947086 | System for lighting fluorescent lamps A system for lighting fluorescent lamps, includes a plurality of fluorescent lamps, a transformer for generating filament voltage and a starting voltage for the fluorescent lamps, a switching circuit for sequentially and periodically opening and closing a... | 08/07/1990 |
| 4914354 | Reactor-type ballast circuit An improved, more energy efficient reactor-type ballasting circuit for fluorescent lamps includes an inductive ballasting coil for directly applying an AC line voltage to the cathodes of a lamp without an intermediate autotransformer and also includes a g... | 04/03/1990 |
| 4900986 | Ballast circuit for starting fluorescent lamps An improved ballast circuit for fluorescent lamps includes an electronic bilateral triggering device and a capacitor connected in series combination across the secondary winding output terminals of a ballasting transformer and in shunt with the fluorescen... | 02/13/1990 |
| 4896078 | Distributed ballasting system for sun tanning apparatus A ballasting system for powering an array of multiple parallel-oriented fluorescent lamps in a sun tanning apparatus comprises and an electronic frequency converter adapted to convert ordinary 60 Hz power line voltage into a 350 Volt/30 Hz sinusoidal volt... | 01/23/1990 |
| 4862035 | Fluorescent lamp unit having plural separate tubes and particular arrangement of circuit elements A fluorescent lamp unit comprising a self-contained assembly intended for use in replacement for a conventional incandescent filament lamp comprises two U-shaped fluorescent tubes (54, 55), each provided with filaments (56, 57) at respective ends of the a... | 08/29/1989 |
| 4847536 | Power reducer for fluorescent lamps An attachment is provided for connection in fluorescent lamp circuits for reducing power consumption. The attachment is particularly designed for use with fluorescent lamp circuits having an encapsulated ballast including a transformer and capacitance. Th... | 07/11/1989 |
