Timer and power control system
First Claim
1. A twenty-four hour repeat cycle home lighting timer system comprising:
- a lighting device;
a timer power input terminal;
a load device-connecting terminal;
power switch means coupled between said timer power input and load device-connecting terminals;
means connecting said load device-connecting terminal to said lighting device;
said power switch being operable to circuit closing and opening conditions which respectively effect coupling and de-coupling of said load device-connecting terminal to and from said lighting device;
manually operable light turn-on and turn-off means operable successively to light turn-on and turn-off conditions which respectively normally operate said power switch means to said circuit closing and circuit opening conditions;
manually responsive timer condition setting means settable to at least timer-off and timer-on and reset conditions;
storage means having respective storage locations assigned to various successive time intervals over a twenty-four hour programming period and in which light turn-on and turn-off markers can be respectively placed or retained;
synchronous timing and storage location accessing means for continuously synchronously accessing the storage locations containing the markers for the various time intervals involved; and
control means responsive first to the setting of said setting means from said reset to either said turn-on or turn-off condition and then to the operation of said manually operable light turn-on and turn-off means only during the first twenty-four hour programming period for storing or retaining said turn-on and turn-off markers under control of said accessing means in appropriate storage locations of said storage means only during the first twenty-four hour programming period so that the timer system is programmed to effect automatic control of said lighting device in accordance with the actual normal pattern of operation of said manually operable turn-on and turn-off means only during such period, and means for operating said power switch means in accordance with the synchronously accessed markers in said storage locations of said storage means when said setting means is in said timer-on condition and for preventing control of said power switch means by said marker when said setting means is in said timer-off condition.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A timer system includes a power switch operable to power circuit closing and opening conditions, timing means for identifying various timing segments over a 24-hour period and marker storage means having respective power turn on and off marker storage locations assigned to the time intervals encompassing a 24-hour period. An on-off push button or other on-off control operates the power switch and may act as an aid in setting the markers in the storage means. The timer system may also include a rotatable present time setting dial, also adjustable to different positions representing the different time intervals, and a manually operable timer on-off setting member. For real time programming, control means respond to normal operation of the on-off control during a first 24-hour period, initially to set said markers in the storage locations. For fast programming, the control means responds to the successive advancement of said dial from a present time setting through said various positions and the selective operation of the push button or other on-off control to set the markers in the storage locations assigned to the time interval involved, which markers automatically control the operation of the power switch when the timer on-off setting member is in its timer-on position, except when overriden by operation of the on-off control.
82 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A twenty-four hour repeat cycle home lighting timer system comprising:
- a lighting device;
a timer power input terminal;
a load device-connecting terminal;
power switch means coupled between said timer power input and load device-connecting terminals;
means connecting said load device-connecting terminal to said lighting device;
said power switch being operable to circuit closing and opening conditions which respectively effect coupling and de-coupling of said load device-connecting terminal to and from said lighting device;
manually operable light turn-on and turn-off means operable successively to light turn-on and turn-off conditions which respectively normally operate said power switch means to said circuit closing and circuit opening conditions;
manually responsive timer condition setting means settable to at least timer-off and timer-on and reset conditions;
storage means having respective storage locations assigned to various successive time intervals over a twenty-four hour programming period and in which light turn-on and turn-off markers can be respectively placed or retained;
synchronous timing and storage location accessing means for continuously synchronously accessing the storage locations containing the markers for the various time intervals involved; and
control means responsive first to the setting of said setting means from said reset to either said turn-on or turn-off condition and then to the operation of said manually operable light turn-on and turn-off means only during the first twenty-four hour programming period for storing or retaining said turn-on and turn-off markers under control of said accessing means in appropriate storage locations of said storage means only during the first twenty-four hour programming period so that the timer system is programmed to effect automatic control of said lighting device in accordance with the actual normal pattern of operation of said manually operable turn-on and turn-off means only during such period, and means for operating said power switch means in accordance with the synchronously accessed markers in said storage locations of said storage means when said setting means is in said timer-on condition and for preventing control of said power switch means by said marker when said setting means is in said timer-off condition. - View Dependent Claims (9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 31, 35)
- a lighting device;
-
2. A repeat cycle timer comprising:
- power input terminals;
a load device connecting terminals;
power switch means coupled between said power input and load device connecting terminals and operable to power circuit closing and opening conditions which respectively effect connection and disconnection of said power input and load device connecting terminals;
manually operable power turn-on and turn-off means operable to power turn-on and turn-off conditions which respectively normally operate said power switch means to said power circuit closing and circuit opening conditions;
manually responsive timer condition setting means settable to at least timer-off, timer-on and reset conditions;
storage means having respective storage locations assigned to various successive time intervals over a given programming period and in which power turn-on and turn-off markers can be respectively placed;
synchronous timing and storage location accessing means for accessing said storage locations during said time intervals and automatically repeating the same at the end of each access cycle; and
control means responsive first to the operation of said setting means from said reset to either said timer-on or timer-off condition and then to the operation of said power turn-on and turn-off means only during said programming period for storing or retaining said turn-on and turn-off markers under control of said accessing means in appropriate storage locations of said storage means, so that the timer system is programmed to effect automatic control over power circuits in accordance with the actual normal pattern of operation of said power turn-on and turn-off means only during such period, and means for operating said power switch means in accordance with the synchronously accessed markers in said storage locations of said storage means when said setting means is in said timer-on condition and for preventing control of said power switch means by said markers in said storage means when said setting means is in said timer-off condition. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16)
- power input terminals;
-
10. A timer comprising:
- a power input terminal;
a load device connecting terminal;
power switch means coupled between said power input and load device connecting terminals and operable to power circuit closing and opening conditions which respectively effect connection and disconnection of said power input and load device connecting terminals;
manually operable power turn-on and turn-off means operable successively to power turn-on and turn-off conditions which are respectively normally to operate said switch means to said power circuit closing and circuit opening conditions;
manually responsive timer condition setting means settable to at least reset, timer-off and timer-on conditions;
timing means for identifying various time intervals over a twenty-four hour period starting with a given present time;
storage means having respective storage locations assigned to said time intervals and in which power turn-on and turn-off markers can be respectively stored or maintained;
synchronous timing and storage location accessing means for accessing said storage locations synchronously during said time intervals; and
control means responsive to the operation of said manually operable power turn-on and turn-off means only during an initial programming period for storing or retaining said turn-on and turn-off markers under control of said accessing means in appropriate locations of said storage means, means responsive to the markers in said storage locations of said storage means when said setting means is set to said timer-on condition for effecting the automatic operation of said power switch means to said power circuit closing and opening conditions in accordance with the markers in the storage locations of said storage means, means responsive to the operation of said manually operable turn-on and turn-off means for changing the condition of said power switch means whether or not said timer setting means is set to said timer-on or timer-off condition, and means, when said setting means is in the timer-on condition and said power switch means is left in a condition opposite to the condition called for by the marker in a storage location for the current time interval, for enabling a marker in a storage location for a following time interval calling for a change in the condition of said power switch means to control the power switch means only after at least one marker in a storage location for a following current time interval has corresponded to the actual circuit opening or closing condition of the power switch means, and said control means further including means responsive to the setting of said timer condition setting means to said reset condition for removing all of the markers stored in said storage means, said turn-on and turn-off markers previously set into the storage locations for a twenty-four hour programming period remaining in such storage means until the system is reset. - View Dependent Claims (14)
- a power input terminal;
-
17. A timer and power control system comprising:
- a pair of AC input terminals to be connected to a commercial source of AC voltage;
a pair of load device connecting terminals to be connected to a device to be either controlled automatically by the timer and power control system or by a manually operable control of the load device which manually operable control when successively operated successively opens and closes a device switch in series with the load device, the series circuit of the load device and switch to be connected across said load device connecting terminals;
means for connecting one of said load device connecting terminals to one of said AC input terminals;
a power switch having load terminals connected between the other load device connecting terminal and other AC input terminal, said power switch having a control terminal which when receiving a control signal operates the power switch in a load current conducting condition, said power switch being in a non-conducting condition in the absence of said control signal;
storage means in which are to be stored or retained data for various time intervals over a twenty-four hour period during which said power switch is to be either in its load current conducting or non-conducting condition;
manually responsive condition setting means operable to at least a timer-on condition;
voltage sensing means responsive to the change in voltage conditions across said load terminals of said power switch which conditions are a zero voltage when the manually operable control of said load device opens the associated device switch and a useable voltage when the latter switch is closed and the power switch is in a conducting or non-conducting condition;
control signal generating means responsive to the setting of said timer condition setting means to its timer-on condition for feeding said control signal to said control terminal of said power switch when the storage means indicates that the power switch should be in a load current conducting condition during a given time interval, said control signal generating means being responsive to the change in the voltage conditions across the load terminals of said power switch as sensed by said voltage sensing means resulting from the successive opening and re-closing operations of said switch of said load device by causing said control signal generating means to alternately initiate and determine the feeding of a control signal to the control terminal of said power switch, whereby succesive operations of said manually operable control of said load device will change the state of conduction of said power switch. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
- a pair of AC input terminals to be connected to a commercial source of AC voltage;
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24. A timer comprising:
- power input terminal;
a load device connecting terminal;
power switch means coupled between said power input and load device connecting terminals and operable to power circuit closing and opening conditions which respectively effect connection and disconnection of said power input and load device connecting terminals;
manually operable power turn-on and turn-off means;
manually operable timer condition setting means settable to at least timer-on, timer-off and reset conditions;
storage means having respective storage locations assigned to various time intervals over a twenty-four hour period and in which power turn-on and turn-off markers can be respectively stored or retained, said storage means being a continuously marker recirculating shift register with shifting storage locations for the markers; and
control means including programming means responsive to said power turn-on and turn-off means for storing or retaining said turn-on and turn-off markers in appropriate ones of the storage locations of said shift register during a first twenty-four hour period, said turn-on and turn-off markers thereafter continuing synchronously to recirculate in the shift register until the shift register is reset, means responsive to said markers stored or retained in said storage locations of said storage means when said manually operable timer condition setting means is set to said timer-on condition for effecting the automatic operation of said power switch means to said power circuit closing and opening conditions in accordance with the markers stored or retained in the storage locations of said storage means, means responsive to the operation of said manually operable turn-on and turn-off means for changing the condition of said power switch means whether or not said timer setting means is set to said timer-on or timer-off condition, and means, when said setting means is in the timer-on condition and said power switch means is left in a condition opposite to the condition called for by the marker in a storage location for the current time interval, for enabling a marker in a storage location for a following time interval calling for a change in the condition of said power switch means to control the power switch means only after at least one marker in a storage location for a following current time interval has corresponded to the actual circuit opening or closing condition of the power switch means, and means responsive to the setting of said timer condition setting means to said reset condition for removing all of the markers set in said shift register. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
- power input terminal;
-
28. In a timer comprising a timer power input terminal;
- a load device connecting terminal;
power switch means coupled between said power input and load device connecting terminals and operable to power circuit closing and opening conditions which respectively effect connection and disconnection of said power input and load device connecting terminals;
the improvement in programmable means for automatically controlling the feeding of signals to said power switch means to operate the same between said power circuit closing and opening conditions, said programmable means comprising;
storage means having respective storage locations assigned to various time intervals over a twenty-four hour period during which intervals said power switch means can be operated to either one of said conditions and in which storage locations there can be stored power turn-on or power turn-off markers, manually operable marker setting means operable to turn-on marker and turn-off marker setting conditions for generating marker setting or retaining signals which effect the placement or retension in a selected storage location in said storage means of a turn-on or turn-off marker, storage location selection means including a manually operable time interval setting member operable to discrete positions from a present time setting to other discrete positions representing all of said time intervals in a twenty-four hour period, permanently visible indicia along said time interval setting member to identify each of said timing intervals over a twenty-four hour period which each discrete position of said manually operable time interval setting member represents, means responsive to the advancement of said time interval setting member to each discrete position by generating a storage location accessing signal, means responsive to each storage location accessing signal to select a different storage location to record or maintain a marker therein which corresponds to the marker called for by the operated condition of said manually operable marker setting means, and control means including a repeat cycle synchronous storage location accessing and marker readout means for continuously operating said power switch means in accordance with the markers in the storage locations assigned to the timing intervals involved. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 32, 33, 34)
- a load device connecting terminal;
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36. A timer comprising:
- an enclosure assembly fitting over and in a wall switch opening which usually contains a toggle on-off switch and operating arm therefor, said enclosure assembly including a rear housing and a conventional switch plate overlying said rear housing and having a toggle on-off switch operating arm-receiving slot and at least a pair of screw-receiving openings of which at least one is free of any screws;
indicating means on said rear housing visible through said one opening;
electric circuitry in said rear housing, said circuitry including a pair of power input terminals, a pair of load device connecting terminals, power switch means coupled between said power input and load device connecting terminals and operable to power circuit closing and opening conditions which respectively effect connection and disconnection of said power input and load device connecting terminals;
manually engageable means exposed on the front side of said switch plate and operable to programming conditions;
means for connecting said manually engageable means through said switch plate slot with programming means forming part of said circuitry; and
said circuitry further including control means including program-receiving means responsive to the operation of said manually engageable means during an initial programming period for establishing power switch turn-on and turn-off intervals in accordance with the operation of said manually engageable means, and means for effecting the automatic operation of said power switch means to said power circuit closing and opening conditions in accordance with the program set into said program-receiving means during a programming period, and said circuitry further including means for operating said indicating means so as to indicate a given condition of operation of said timer. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
- an enclosure assembly fitting over and in a wall switch opening which usually contains a toggle on-off switch and operating arm therefor, said enclosure assembly including a rear housing and a conventional switch plate overlying said rear housing and having a toggle on-off switch operating arm-receiving slot and at least a pair of screw-receiving openings of which at least one is free of any screws;
Specification