Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7886599 | Device for determining acceleration The technical solution provided can be implemented with the help of two miniature vessels and even one miniature vessel filled with the flowing media. It is based on determining the pressures difference in particular points, wherein the pressures caused by the cross... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7856879 | Heater controller having improved start-up for thermal sensor A closed-loop heater control circuit for use with integrated circuit thermal sensing devices, such as thermal accelerometers, is disclosed. The heater control circuit includes a switched-capacitor integrating circuit and a controller or modulator. The switched-capac... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7578188 | Convective accelerometer with “positive” or “negative” inertial mass This invention relates to high precision, fluid-containing, transducer-based accelerometers that are capable of measuring acceleration, inclination, position and velocity by measuring the electronic response of a transducer to fluid flow caused by external accelerat... | 08/25/2009 |
| 7543497 | Electrodynamic accelerometer An apparatus includes: a fluid container; a fluid mixture disposed within the fluid container, the fluid mixture including at least two components having different relative dielectric constants or different relative permeabilities; an imparter for imparting an elect... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7497118 | Sensors for detecting position, inclination to perpendicular, movement and acceleration based on thermodynamic effects and method for operating and for manufacturing said sensors The invention relates to construction principles, operating and manufacturing methods for inertial sensors, i.e., sensors for rapidly detecting movement and acceleration in all degrees of freedom in space, and for separately detecting the position with respect to th... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7469587 | Thermal cell system for measuring acceleration The acceleration measurement system has a first thermal cell optimized in sensitivity and a second thermal cell optimized in passband, which cells are connected to inputs of a servo-control loop including an amplifier presenting gain that varies as a function of inp... | 12/30/2008 |
| 7426862 | Thermal accelerometer with automatic zero control A thermal accelerometer comprising two detector strands having resistivity that is temperature sensitive, a detector member for detecting a temperature difference between the detector strands, a feedback member for establishing temperature equilibrium between the de... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7424826 | Single chip tri-axis accelerometer Single chip 3-axis thermal accelerometer devices include a substrate, at least one cavity etched in the substrate, a fluid disposed in the cavity, a bridge structure suspended over an opening of the cavity, and a plurality of heater elements and temperature sensing ... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7392703 | Z-axis thermal accelerometer A thermal accelerometer device that allows up to three axes of acceleration sensing. The thermal accelerometer includes a substantially planar substrate, a cavity formed in the substrate, a heater element, and at least first and second temperature sensing elements. ... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7360424 | Capacitance-type liquid sensor A capacitance type liquid sensor is disclosed which detects a tilt angle and acceleration of an object using the fact that a liquid surface always keeps itself horizontal. Openings (13, 14) are formed in two sides of a hollow cylindrical closed container (... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7349591 | Pressure compensated optical accelerometer, optical inclinometer and seismic sensor system An optical accelerometer includes means for changing the length of at least one optical fiber in response to acceleration functionally coupled to the at least one optical fiber. The fiber and the means for changing length are enclosed in a pressure compensated housi... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7305881 | Method and circuitry for thermal accelerometer signal conditioning A thermal accelerometer device that provides a compensation for sensitivity variations over temperature. The thermal accelerometer includes signal conditioning circuitry operative to receive analog signals representing a differential temperature is indicative of a s... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7288860 | Magnetic transducer with ferrofluid end bearings An electrical generator includes one or more magnets that move relative to one or more conductors to generate an electrical signal in each conductor. Each magnet has ferrofluid bearings in the vicinity of its opposite ends to provide a low friction interface between... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7191652 | Magnetofluidic accelerometer with partial filling of cavity with magnetic fluid A sensor includes a housing and a magnetic fluid within the housing that incompletely fills the housing. An inertial body is in contact with the magnetic fluid. Displacement of the inertial body relative to the magnetic fluid is indicative of acceleration on the hou... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7116430 | Highly-sensitive displacement-measuring optical device The present invention relates to micron-scale displacement measurement devices. A first embodiment is a device that includes a substrate and a rigid structure suspended above the substrate to form a backside cavity. Formed in the rigid structure is a reflective diff... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7096734 | Thermal accelerometer with reduced sensitivity to external magnetic fields The thermal accelerometer of the invention comprises an enclosure having disposed therein a central filament powered by alternating electric current of zero mean amplitude and having a frequency lying between first and second resonant modes of vibration of the centr... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7080553 | Micro-accelerometer A micro-accelerometer includes first and second closed cavities, into each of which an equal quantity of gas is introduced. A membrane partitions the symmetrical first and second cavities. Temperature sensors are provided within the first and second cavities, respec... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7039927 | Indication device and article incorporating same A disc or like article (10, 115, 119) rotatable by drive means, such as a compact disc for use with a computer, includes indication means (12, 110, 120) which, when the disc is rotated at or above a predetermined angular velocity, provide an indication... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7032682 | Unmanned vehicle for displacing manure An unmanned vehicle for displacing manure in a stable or field which comprises a steering unit for steering the vehicle and a frame. Two wheels and a manure displacing blade which depend from the frame provide the entire support for the vehicle, the vehicle's center... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7026826 | Vector sensor device and calibration method A sensor includes a piezoelectric hydrophone and at least one accelerometer. In calibration mode, the hydrophone is connected to a source of a known electrical signal and outputs a mechanical/acoustic signal that the accelerometer detects. Comparison of the known el... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7019445 | Process for fabricating hollow electroactive devices A process for fabricating a ceramic electroactive transducer of a predetermined shape is disclosed. The process comprises the steps of providing a suitably shaped core having an outer surface, attaching a first conductor to the outer surface of the core, coating an ... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7012543 | Rearview mirror assembly incorporating accessories An interior rearview mirror system for use in a vehicle includes a mirror support assembly for attachment to the interior of a vehicle. The mirror support assembly comprises a first electronic accessory such as an imaging sensor. A reflective mirror element is dispo... | 03/14/2006 |
| 7009310 | Autonomous power source An autonomous power source comprises a power harvester mounted on a movable structure. The power harvester includes a coil, a magnet, and a low-friction ferrofluidic bearing in contact with the magnet, arranged such that the magnet and coil move with respect to each... | 03/07/2006 |
| 7006001 | Speech-emitting celebration device A speech or phrase emitting celebration device, in the nature of a piñata, includes a longitudinal axial channel within which is placed a complementally sized integrated circuit (“IC”) including a library of pre-programmed voice chips having phrases selected by... | 02/28/2006 |
| 6917131 | Transverse mechanical translator with ferrofluid support A mechanical translator includes at least one magnet that is disposed on a substrate to carry a load and has a magnetic axis generally transverse to the substrate, establishing a magnetic field with maximum external density adjacent the substrate. An ultra low frict... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6851317 | Device for measuring horizontal acceleration The device for measuring horizontal acceleration consisting of two similar hermetically sealed vessels containing liquid and provided with the pressure sensors connected to the differential scheme. The determination of the accelerations is done in terms of these sen... | 02/08/2005 |
| 6795752 | Thermal convection accelerometer with closed-loop heater control An integrated convective accelerometer device. The device includes a thermal acceleration sensor having a thermopile and a heater element; control circuitry for providing closed-loop control of the thermopile common-mode voltage; an instrumentation amplifier; clock ... | 09/21/2004 |
| 6722199 | Sensor for detecting a rotational movement or an angular acceleration A sensor for detecting a rotational movement or an angular acceleration has at least one heating element and at least one sensor element and a fluid surrounding the heating element and the sensor element, the heating element producing in the fluid a convection flow ... | 04/20/2004 |
| 6679117 | Ionization contact potential difference gyroscope An ionization contact potential difference gyroscope including a housing enclosing a first and second electrode with a gas, further including an ionization source capable of providing ions from the gas, and a contact potential difference measurement circu... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6666088 | Accelerometer without proof mass An accelerometer has a substrate with a cavity therein, a heater extending over the cavity, and a pair of temperature sensitive elements each spaced apart from the heater a distance of 75-400 microns also extending over the cavity. On passing an electrica... | 12/23/2003 |
| 6453745 | Sensor device for the 3-dimensional measurement of an attitude or acceleration The invention relates to a sensor device for measuring attitude, acceleration or gravitational field and its gradient components. The device includes a spherical cavity (3) which contains a sensor substance in the form of a fluid or some other inertial ma... | 09/24/2002 |
| 6382025 | Rotational rate sensor A rate sensor for angular/rotational acceleration includes a housing defining a fluid cavity essentially completely filled with an electrolyte fluid. Within the housing, such as a toroid, ions in the fluid are swept during movement from an excitation elec... | 05/07/2002 |
| 6276206 | Acceleration sensor for detecting inertia forces The invention relates to an acceleration sensor for detecting inertia forces, in which several separable and non-miscible media are stored in a receptacle and from at least one interphase between the media. Differentiation agents are provided to distingui... | 08/21/2001 |
| 6225896 | Panic stop, deceleration warning system An emergency-stop warning unit and a method for the control thereof, serve for reducing the severity and chance of rear-end collisions. The invention utilizes a deceleration or collision impact sensor and vehicle electric power-source to turn on the white... | 05/01/2001 |
| 6220095 | Sensor for measuring yaw, pitch or roll movements A sensor for measurement of yawing motion, pitching or rolling motion, particularly as suited for use in motor vehicle control systems, contains an annular hollow object (1, 2, 4) in which a magnetic fluid (MF) is located. The magnetic fluid is set into r... | 04/24/2001 |
| 6182509 | Accelerometer without proof mass An accelerometer having a substrate with a cavity therein, a heater extending over the cavity, a pair of temperature sensitive elements extending over the cavity equidistant from the heater, and an electrical conductor couplable to an external power sourc... | 02/06/2001 |
| 6009752 | Yaw rate detector and method for detecting yaw rate A yaw rate detector and method of detecting yaw rate. The detector includes a sensor surrounded by a uniformly distributed gel-like material. The gel-like material is retained in a certain shape by a pair of parallel surfaces. The pressure of the gel-like... | 01/04/2000 |
| 5970794 | Shock sensor A shock sensor detects shocks from all directions in a plane. A coil produces a magnetic field. A magnetic fluid is sealed in a closed container located in the magnetic field. A magnetoresistive effect element is also is located in the magnetic field and ... | 10/26/1999 |
| 5908987 | Sensor employing a sliding ferrofluid mass in a coated, non-wetting, housing A ferrofluid sensor assembly includes a closed housing containing a movable inductance core material that is isolated from the inner walls of the housing by an isolating material. The isolating material forms a layer between the inductance core material a... | 06/01/1999 |
| 5835077 | Computer control device A computer control device which provides spacial information to a computer or electronic game by sensing the linear acceleration or tilt angle of the control device. The computer control device includes an accelerometer having an enclosure containing a fl... | 11/10/1998 |
