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:
Oct. 19, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 18, 1998
William P Tanguay, Downers Grove, IL (US);
Ranco Inc. of Delware, Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
A battery operable dangerous condition warning device adapted to issue an alarm when a sensed dangerous condition exceeds a predetermined status incorporates a monitoring device circuit including: a processor, a dangerous condition sensor, a horn, a battery condition monitoring procedure cooperating with the processor to periodically check the integrity of the battery for detecting a first battery integrity condition in which battery failure can be expected after a relatively long period and a second battery integrity condition in which battery failure is imminent. The circuit further implements an audio low battery warning generator adapted to drive the horn to issue a distinctive audio warning (e.g., a single pulse of about 10 milliseconds duration each minute) in response to the detection of both the first and second battery integrity conditions A manually-actuable switch coupled to the processor permits inhibiting drive to the horn for a predetermined period if the first battery integrity condition is detected; however, actuation of the switch after the second battery integrity condition has been detected is prevented from temporarily inhibiting the drive to the horn. A visual battery condition indicator may also be provided to identify which of a plurality of dangerous condition warning devices in a given installation is experiencing the failing battery.