The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 09, 1978
Filed:
Oct. 14, 1975
Lon E Bell, Altadena, CA (US);
Technar, Inc., Arcadia, CA (US);
Abstract
A thermally operated actuator useful as a relay, flasher, circuit breaker, or the like, in which a bimetal element is movable by heating and cooling in response to an electrical resistance heater and/or current passing through the bimetal element. In one form of the invention ambient compensation is achieved by rigidly clamping one end of the bimetal element to provide a cantilever support, and providing a support at the other end that either clamps or pivotally engages the bimetal element and longitudinally compresses the element, causing the element to buckle into a curved configuration. Heat is applied selectively to the bimetal element adjacent either end to produce a snap action change in the shape of the element between two fixed positions. In an alternative form of the invention, two parallel bimetal elements are linked together to provide ambient compensation while still providing the snap action change in shape in response to selectively applied heat.