Smart smoke unit
US6676473B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 1, 2001 |
| Grant date | Jan 13, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 1, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA63H19/14
- WIPO fieldFurniture, games
- WIPO sectorOther fields
Abstract
A smoke generating unit for a model train that varies the rate of smoke produce in response to changes in the load on the model train. The smoke generating unit includes a housing, a smoke element and a motor driven fan. The housing can be formed of two sub-housings. The first sub-housing can contain the smoke generating element and the second housing can contain the fan. The smoke element can be a nickel chromium wire. An insulating gasket can be positioned between the sub-housings to thermally insulate the motorized fan from the heat generating element. The motorized fan is controlled by a microprocessor that can monitor the load on the train and control rotation of the fan to correspond to the load on the engine. The load on the train can be the voltage across the engine of the train or the speed at which the train is moving.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.