Patent · US Expired

Alternating lamp flashing system with lamp failure indicator

US4096470A · kind A · utility

3Cited by
8References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 21, 1977
Grant dateJun 20, 1978
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 21, 1997

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG07C5/0825
  • WIPO fieldControl
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A system for alternately flashing two groups of signal lamps, as commonly employed for emergency and police vehicles, school buses, or the like, is provided with a lamp failure indicating circuit comprising two separate relay coils connected, respectively, as parts of current load lines to the lamp groups so that each coil normally will act through a contactor to energize a pilot circuit, thus causing a pilot lamp to be lighted so frequently when all the signal lamps are functional that the pilot lamp appears to be steadily illuminated; yet a relay coil will not so act, and the pilot lamp then will flash intermittantly to indicate a lamp outage, when a signal lamp on the load line of either coil does not function. In one embodiment, each relay coil has a contactor of its own in a separate branch of the pilot lamp circuit; in another, the two relay coils act alternately to displace a common contactor in the pilot lamp circuit.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.