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:
Dec. 03, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 27, 2000
Joseph Russell Smith, Unionville, CT (US);
Gurdev Singh Bains, Wolcott, CT (US);
Paul Michael Jarry, Southington, CT (US);
Carling Technologies, Inc., Plainville, CT (US);
Abstract
A dimmer switch assembly includes a housing for supporting and enclosing the assembly components. A dimmer adjusting element is mounted on the housing and has a movable portion for movement in first and second directions. An elongated flexible triggering member has a first longitudinal end coupled to the movable portion of the dimmer adjusting element and a second longitudinal end provided in a socket defined by the housing. First and second detectors are spaced from and arranged opposite to one another. The elongated member is interposed between the detectors such that movement of the dimmer adjusting element in the first direction flexes the elongated member toward to activate the first detector, and movement of the dimmer adjusting element in the second direction flexes the elongated member toward to activate the second detector. The detectors have signals associated respectively therewith which are generated by the detectors when the detectors are activated by the triggering device. A dimmer control circuit has as inputs the signals from the first and the second detectors for adjusting a dimmer intensity output signal to decrease the intensity of a light source when the first detector is activated, and to increase the intensity of the light source when the second detector is activated.