Hunter Industries Incorporated

Denso Corporation

S. C. Johnson Son, Inc.

Hughes-avicom International, Inc.

Richard C Stange

Kok Huat Chong

Steven B Cook

Thomas C Kadien

David M Hurrle

Edward L Paas

Christopher M Shearin

Donald M Sheetz, Iii

Tony Ornelas

H Fisk Johnson, Iii

Phil Rhoton

Brian Rentschler

Raju Thomas

Konrad E Nierich

Irrigation controller with reversible operator controls

An irrigation controller comprises actuable controls, a memory to store the watering program, and one or more displays. The actuable controls and display are incorporated into a removable face pack that is mounted to an interior door of the irrigation controller. The face pack can be easily moved from a first position on the front side of the interior door to a second position on the back side of the interior door and the face pack automatically senses its position. When the face pack is in the first position, the actuable controls and display are configured for operating information. When the face pack is in the second position, the wiring hook up area of the irrigation controller is exposed and the actuable controls and display are configured for diagnostics.

A modular irrigation controller has a robust ground path with high conductivity that can accommodate lightning induced power surges on field valve wires and common wires that are connected to a plurality of station modules. Sensitive electronic components in the station modules are thereby protected from damage. The robust ground path extends from conductors on circuit boards within the station modules through captive mounting screws to a metallic backplane and then through metallic grounding brackets within a pedestal enclosing the modules and the backplane. The grounding brackets are in turn grounded to both an earth ground stake and to a ground wire associated with the incoming one hundred and ten volt AC power.

Irrigation controller with robust ground path

An irrigation device includes a chamber having a peripheral wall made of a material susceptible to damage from the expansion of water in an interior of the chamber during freezing. A freeze member is located in the chamber and is made of a compressible material. The freeze member is configured to allow unfrozen water to pass through the chamber and to accommodate expansion of the water during freezing to prevent cracking or other damage to the peripheral wall.

Irrigation device with freeze member

Evapotranspiration module for an irrigation controller

Vibratory shavers are provided having a battery powered DC motor, which when energized rotates a weight eccentrically mounted to a motor shaft. The rotating weight imparts vibratory motion in the shaver housing and thereby a razor cartridge attached to the head of the shaver. The housing is specially designed so that the shaver head will move more front to back than side to side. This can be achieved (a) with the shaver housing having a wider aspect than a front to back aspect; (b) by thickening the side walls of the neck of the shaver relative to the front and back walls of the neck; and (c) by appropriately positioning and designing braces of varied thicknesses. The housing of the shaver may be permanently sealed and provided with a battery that may be recharged via induction. Alternatively, a cap can be provided to provide access to a replaceable battery.

Vibratory shaver

A battery for a portable phone is formed with a rectangular battery part and a curved flange part. The battery is held into place in the portable phone by bottom connections including nubs and a jagged portion with surfaces that constrain the battery to move in a plane. The battery is placed into the phone nub side first. Then, the battery is pivoted while the nubs are still engaged, to bring the contacts into position and then the battery is clipped into place.

Battery packaging system

A telephone is provided including (a) a housing defining an ear speaker, a microphone opening and a keypad, (b) a flip cover constructed to cover a portion of the housing, the flip cover being rotatably mounted on the housing to pivot between a closed position and an open position, and (c) a hinge assembly providing the rotatable mounting of the flip cover on the housing. The hinge assembly includes a hinge member retained within the housing, and a pair of hinge pins rotatably engaged at opposite ends of the hinge member and extending outwardly from the housing through apertures in the housing. The hinge pins are received by pin-receiving portions of the flip cover, and the pin-receiving portions are constructed so that rotation of the flip cover between the open and closed positions rotates the hinge pins. The housing includes a portion constructed to cause the flip cover to disengage from the housing, without damage to the flip cover, when the flip cover is rotated beyond its normal open position.

Telephone having a keypad cover

A removable passenger control unit (20) is detachably latched in position in a recess in the arm (12) of a passenger seat by means of a rotatable C-shaped pawl (40) that is mounted on a support arm (54) that projects into a recess (48,50,52) in an end of the passenger control unit. The legs (70,72) of the pawl straddle the support arm, and one leg (72) is threadedly engaged with a cap screw (60) that is rotatable and slidable in an aperture at the end of the support arm. The other leg (70) of the C-shaped pawl (40) has an aperture that receives an enlarged head (62) of the cap screw. The arrangement allows the pawl to be rotated between latched and unlatched positions and to be shifted axially of the cap screw by rotation of the cap screw. The capture of an upper leg (70) of the C-shaped pawl by the enlarged head (62) of the cap screw resists tilting moments exerted by engagement of the pawl with a panel edge ( 18) of the passenger seat. The pawl is captured by its cap screw (60) and support arm (54) by the threaded engagement of one pawl leg with the cap screw.

Growing community of inventors

Oceanside, CA, United States of America

Richard C Stange