Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7359632 | Flash apparatus, image capture apparatus having a flash apparatus, and method of controlling a flash apparatus A flash apparatus or an image capture apparatus includes a charging unit, configured to boost a voltage of an electric source and a control unit, configured to calculate the sum of the light emission amount within a predetermined period of time. The control unit red... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7196586 | Oscillator amplifier circuit operable to provide symmetric current limiting and method of same An amplifier circuit operable to provide symmetric current limiting. The amplifier circuit includes a common source amplifier for sourcing a current and receiving an voltage input, a current source, and a current limiting device coupled between the common source amp... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7196915 | Integrated transformer based step-up converter A step-up converter based on an integrated transformer, comprising a self-resonating oscillator circuit that has inductive elements constituted by primary and secondary windings of at least one first transformer, the self-resonating oscillator circuit being powered ... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7164567 | Device for ESD protection of an integrated circuit A device for ESD protection of a high frequency circuit (1) of a semiconductor device comprises first (3) and second (4) p-type and first (6) and second (5) n-type JFET's, wherein the first p-type JFET (3) is connected with ... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7113050 | Integrated circuit with oscillator and electrostatic discharge protection An integrated circuit (IC) with an oscillator and electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in which the parasitic capacitance of the ESD protection circuitry is disassociated from the oscillator circuitry to minimize loading of the tank circuit thereby minimizing de... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7023290 | Temperature-compensated crystal oscillator A temperature-compensated crystal oscillator is provided with an IC (integrated circuit) having a power supply terminal, an output terminal, and an automatic frequency control (AFC) voltage input terminal. In the temperature-compensated crystal oscillator, at least ... | 04/04/2006 |
| 6933797 | Oscillation circuit, electronic apparatus, and timepiece using a potential stabilization circuit with resistive terminations This oscillation circuit includes a crystal oscillator and a main circuit portion connected by a signal path to the crystal oscillator and driven by the crystal oscillator. The main circuit portion is provided with a DC-cutting capacitor that galvanically separates ... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6593823 | Oscillation circuit and electronic circuit, and semiconductor device, timepiece and electronic equipment provided with the same An oscillation circuit including a first electrostatic protection circuit connected between a signal path of the oscillation circuit and a constant-voltage side, and bypassing an electrostatic voltage of a first polarity that intrudes into the signal path... | 07/15/2003 |
| 6320473 | Integrated oscillator circuit apparatus with capacitive coupling for reducing start-up voltage The present invention relates to oscillator circuits for providing periodic signals. The oscillator circuit includes a crystal element having a high Q value and good stability. A high-gain amplifier is used with the crystal element to produce an oscillati... | 11/20/2001 |
| 6181214 | Voltage tolerant oscillator input cell An integrated circuit oscillator input cell has an oscillator input pad, an oscillator feedback pad, a core terminal, an inverter and an electrostatic discharge protection circuit. The inverter has an inverter input, which is coupled to the oscillator inp... | 01/30/2001 |
| 6147564 | Oscillation circuit having electrostatic protective circuit An oscillation circuit including an electrostatic protective circuit connected between a signal path and this constant voltage Vreg. It comprises a first electrostatic protective circuit portion that causes any electrostatic voltage of a first ... | 11/14/2000 |
| 5929715 | Oscillation circuit having electrostatic protective circuit An oscillation circuit is driven at reduced power by a constant voltage Vreg having an absolute value that is lower than that of a power voltage Vss of a main power source. An electrostatic protective circuit provided in this oscilla... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5359300 | Phase locked loop (PLL) having a power supply circuit A phase locked loop PLL circuitry for use in a radio pager. A power source applies a voltage to a charge pump circuit. A power supply control circuit controls the application of the voltage.... | 10/25/1994 |
| 5332979 | Compact radio-frequency power-generator system An RF power-generator system for the frequency range of 2 to 30 MHz and a programmable sinusoidal power output of 0 to 1000 W. The system is constructed of modules (10, 30, 50, 70 and 90) accommodated in a shallow parallelepipedal housing (1) with a capac... | 07/26/1994 |
| 5053727 | Circuit coupling an oscillator to an electrical load A circuit comprising an oscillator having a load coupled thereto by means of at least one voltage-dependent coupling element that exhibits a high impedance at relatively low voltages and low impedance at relatively higher voltages. The voltage-dependent c... | 10/01/1991 |
| 4694224 | Lighting apparatus for an electric discharge lamp A lighting apparatus for an electric discharge lamp includes a lighting ballast capacitor connected in series to an electric dicharge lamp for stabilizing a lighting current to the lamp; a preheating ballast capacitor connected in parallel to the lamp for... | 09/15/1987 |
| 4637265 | Sensor apparatus Sensor apparatus which uses non-contacting, inductance coil sensors to transfer information about a parameter being monitored from a moving member to an indicator mechanically isolated from the moving member. The inductance coil sensors each have a statio... | 01/20/1987 |
| 4564820 | Blocking oscillator converter with controlling logic system A blocking oscillator converter with controlling logic system has an oscillator which, in the active state, blocks control of a switching transistor of the converter, and hence feeding of the electronic apparatus to be supplied by the converter. The oscil... | 01/14/1986 |
| 4189685 | Self-protecting transistor oscillator for treating animal tissues A transistor oscillator circuit wherein the load current applied to animal tissue treatment electrodes is fed back to the transistor. Removal of load is sensed to automatically remove feedback and stop oscillations. A thermistor on one treatment electrode... | 02/19/1980 |
| 4051445 | Inverter converter circuit for maintaining oscillations throughout extreme load variations A magnetically coupled two transistor multivibrator for use with power supplies. In addition to the usual collector driven output transformer, an auxiliary transformer having its secondary winding in series with the transistor base drive circuits is emplo... | 09/27/1977 |
| 4048584 | Input protection circuit for CMOS oscillator A two pin CMOS oscillator includes an improved input protection circuit which includes pairs of back-to-back diodes coupled between the input of an amplifier portion of the oscillator and the two power conductors which energize the oscillator. Provision o... | 09/13/1977 |
| 4005335 | High frequency power source for fluorescent lamps and the like A power source for operating gas discharge lamps and other loads at high frequency, typically utilizing a 115 volt ac source rectified to provide a 150 volt dc input and providing a 20,000 hertz output. An inverter with a transistor current control for pr... | 01/25/1977 |
| 3946280 | Overload protection circuit This invention refers to an overload protection circuit for an oscillatory circuit driving an electro-acoustic converter and more specifically concerns a circuit for automatically inhibiting the oscillatory circuit in the presence of an overload. The over... | 03/23/1976 |
