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!
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 |
| 7324876 | System for remotely controlling energy distribution at local sites A power management system and associated method includes provision of local wireless energy control units at remote sites for controlling power delivery to customer loads, and a central station with a wireless transmitter for broadcasting commands to the wireless en... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7317375 | Adjustable safety switch A switch device includes a body with a switch member pivotably engaged with a top opening of the body and a first terminal and a second terminal respectively extend through two slots in a bottom of the body. A connection member is fixedly connected to an inside of t... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7312687 | Protective switch for protecting a circuit A protective switch for protecting a circuit includes an operating element or rocker switch, contact connections projecting from a housing, a contact spring electrically connected to a first contact connection and having a free end covering a second contact connecti... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7307506 | Safety switches A switch includes a switch member and an extension and a push rod respectively extended from two ends of an underside of the switch member. A bi-metallic contact plate has a first end fixed to one of two terminals and a contact portion splits from the contact plate.... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7304560 | Safety switches A safety switch includes a switch member and a push rod is pivotably connected to an inside of the switch member. A biasing member pushes the push rod toward a stop rod extending from the inside of the switch member. A bi-metallic contact plate has a first end fixed... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7283031 | Circuit breaker A breaker has a first conducting strip and a second conducting strip respectively mounted on a lower end of a shell; a first terminal mounted on the second conducting strip; a bimetal strip securely provided on a first conducting strip; a second terminal mounted on ... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7265652 | Controllable electronic switch A controllable electronic switch for, e.g., controlling power distribution comprises a deformable member such as a bimetal arm that can be deformed to break an electrical path. The deformable member may be anchored at one end and in controllable contact with an elec... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7248140 | Adjustable safety switch A switch device includes a body with switch pivotably connected to a top thereof and two terminals extend through an underside of the body. A first contact point is connected to one of the terminals and a bi-metallic plate has a first end fixed to the other terminal... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7236082 | Circuit breaker structure An improved structure of a circuit breaker is provided which comprises a housing, a rocker-switch, a push-shaft, a pull-shaft, a bimetallic strip, and other parts. There are three terminals under the rocker-switch inside the housing. A bimetallic strip embedded in a... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7071809 | Thermal fuse containing bimetallic sensing element A non-resetable, bimetallic thermal switch. The bimetallic thermal switch includes a bimetallic element, first and second electrical contacts, and a component for electrically connecting and disconnecting the first and second electrical contacts based on movement of... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7026906 | Circuit breaker A circuit breaker has a housing in which two conductive plates, a bimetallic strip and a swing plate with a U-shaped notch are retained, wherein a switch is mounted at the top of the housing. Each conductive plate has an end protruding from a bottom of the body. The... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6992559 | Overload protection switch An overload protection switch has a conductor interconnecting the first primary leg and a second primary leg so that when current passes through the switch, the current not only raises the temperature of the bi-metal plate, but also raises the temperature of the con... | 01/31/2006 |
| 6876290 | Switch structure with overload protection A switch includes a casing and first and second conductive blades. A conductive strip made of a material that bends when subject to a temperature rise is fixed to the first blade and has a free end. A conductive plate is arranged inside the casing and in electrical ... | 04/05/2005 |
| 6867672 | Switching device comprising a latching mechanism A switching device includes a latching mechanism and is cheap to produce and easy to assemble. To this end, the construction is essentially formed from a three-part modular unit including metallic material, and has a spring which supports the back-latching of the la... | 03/15/2005 |
| 6788186 | Activation mechanism for switch devices A switch device includes a casing and a push member movably connected to a top of the casing. A path is defined in the casing and a guide pin is pivotably connected to the push member wherein the guide pin includes an insertion which is movably engaged with the path... | 09/07/2004 |
| 6744628 | Multi-positionable power distribution unit A multi-directional power distribution unit (PDU) provides flexibility in the configuration of a computer system, disk drive array or other enclosure. The power distribution unit may be installed in one orientation for a power feed having a first configuration (e.g.... | 06/01/2004 |
| 6741157 | Electrical switch with circuit breaker An electric switch having a circuit breaker includes a manually operable actuator that moves one contact between a first and a second position. A bimetal member moves another contact between a first and a second position in response to an electric current above a gi... | 05/25/2004 |
| 6734779 | Switch structure with overload protection A switch includes a casing having a bottom to which first and second conductive blades are mounted. The second blade has a top edge forming a notch for receiving a see saw plat and allowing seesawing of the seesaw plate. A conductive strip made of a material that be... | 05/11/2004 |
| 6714116 | Circuit breaker switch A circuit breaker switch is disclosed, including a rocker, an actuator, and a dielectric separator element. The rocker is positionable between a first on position and a second off position. The actuator element is coupled to the rocker such that it causes a first el... | 03/30/2004 |
| 6707368 | Manually trippable circuit breaker A circuit breaker includes a nonconductive housing, a first breaker contact within said housing, and a trigger element having a second breaker contact located within said housing. The trigger element is thermally activated to separate the first and second breaker co... | 03/16/2004 |
| 6703917 | Resettable fuse/circuit interrupter with visual fault indication A circuit interrupter device protects a load circuit from excessive, or overloading levels of current, provides a visual indication of circuit overload and open circuit, and can be reset. A multi-metallic heat reactive strip is snapped by an overload curr... | 03/09/2004 |
| 6674033 | Press button type safety switch A press button type safety switch is constructed to include a switching mechanism for switching the circuit between on/off positions, a spring-supported press button, a push member pivoted to the spring-supported press button and controlled by the spring-... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6664884 | Dual-circuit switch structure with overload protection A switch includes a casing inside which two electrically isolated circuits are arranged. Each circuit includes first and second conductive blades fixed inside the casing. A conductive strip made of a material that bends when subject to a temperature rise ... | 12/16/2003 |
| 6642832 | ARC responsive thermal circuit breaker A circuit breaker (10) has a current carrying bimetallic element (18) which bends upon self-heating and upon being subjected to a selected overload current transfers motion to a connecting plate (32) which displaces a latch surface (42b) from a catch (34a... | 11/04/2003 |
| 6590489 | Circuit breaker for protecting electric circuits in road vehicles A circuit breaker for protecting electrical circuits, particularly in motor vehicles, includes a flat housing, which comprises an insulating material and has two adjacent flat plugs. A bimetal that is embodied as a snap-action element and is fixed to a fl... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6570460 | Voltage-tunable oscillator with dielectric resonator including a ferroelectric ceramic material A voltage-controlled oscillator including a dielectric resonator having a ferroelectric ceramic material placed between two metallized surfaces and biased by an electric field created by a difference in potential applied between the two surfaces as a func... | 05/27/2003 |
| 6535377 | Power distribution unit for electrical devices A power distribution unit (PDU) for supplying power to at least one electrical device (APP1-APP12), comprises at least one distribution point (P) for the power supply, and at least one female outlet (J1-J12) on its accessible side. The outlet is adapted t... | 03/18/2003 |
| 6472971 | Circuit breaker A circuit breaker includes main circuit contact shoes disposed in a circuit breaker case and urged by a contact spring, a contact opening and closing mechanism located above the contact shoes and including an opening and closing lever, a toggle link, an o... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6417756 | Push-button switch with overload protection and automatic reset A push-button switch with overload protection and automatic reset is disclosed. The switch comprises a housing, a conducting unit, and an actuating unit. The conducting unit comprises several terminals, a normal-opened first conducting leaf and a thermall... | 07/09/2002 |
| 5742219 | Switchable circuit breaker A switchable circuit breaker having a housing, stationary and moveable contacts, a switching member for actuating the contacts to assume a first condition in which the contacts are open and a second condition in which the contacts are closed, and a breake... | 04/21/1998 |
| 5633618 | Fuseless plug with safety circuit breaker A fuseless plug with an overload safety circuit breaker having a thermal reactive spring leaf and an electric conductive sheet. When in normal use, the thermal reactive spring leaf and the electric conductive sheet are electrically connected by contacting... | 05/27/1997 |
| 5157370 | Trip free thermostat A manually resettable trip free thermostat that has simple construction and a pivotable stationary contact arm that enables the thermostat to be reset while maintaining the contacts in an open condition.... | 10/20/1992 |
| 5003282 | Trip free/reset free manual reset A thermostat having an electrically insulating housing and a push button extending therein through a bottom wall thereof. Two normally closed contacts, one fixed and the other on a movable carrier with a projection are disposed within the housing. A sprin... | 03/26/1991 |
| 4833439 | Unitary switch and circuit breaker A unitary switch and circuit breaker (10) includes a switch circuit (14, 16, 22, 24, 26, 56, 57, 58) with first and second contacts (28, 30), the switch circuit (14, 16, 22, 24, 26, 56, 57, 58) being actuable to assume a first condition (FIG. 4) in which ... | 05/23/1989 |
| 4635020 | Thermal-type over load relay A thermal-type over load relay having an improved contact operating mechanism whereby testing of the operation of the relay is made easy, malfunctions due to mechanical shock or the like are substantially eliminated, and the overall size of the relay is r... | 01/06/1987 |
| 4510479 | PC-board mounted thermal breaker A PC-board mounted thermal breaker that opens with a snap action is disclosed. A bimetallic element, connected to the load terminal of the thermal breaker, rests on an insulated sawtooth surface when the breaker is in the closed position. A contact blade,... | 04/09/1985 |
| 4363016 | Circuit breaker A circuit breaker with an electrical insulator slide interposable between two generally convex contacts thereof and a rocker button rotatably trap mounted on a protrusion extending from the inside wall of the case which interacts wtih pivot points at one ... | 12/07/1982 |
| 4325046 | Circuit breaker A current activated actuator formed from a flat sheet of metal has diverging legs mounted in a base, the legs extending from an upper portion of the actuator. A snap action element is mounted on the upper portion and is located between spaced apart contac... | 04/13/1982 |
| 4157523 | Bimetal overload relay A U-shaped heater unit is surrounded by a U-shaped bimetal, the legs of which move in response to temperature variations. The motion of the bimetal is conveyed through a wall by a slidable pin which acts to rotate an L-shaped compensator element. This rot... | 06/05/1979 |
| 4068203 | Bimetallic circuit breaker A bimetallic circuit breaker with an electrical insulating slide interposed between the contacts thereof in the contacts open position in which the terminals, the bimetallic element, the insulator slide, the button (connected to the slide) and the spring ... | 01/10/1978 |
