Conaty Controls Patented Invention



Conaty Controls, Inc.

U.S. PTO DISCLOSURE DOCUMENT PROGRAM

Inventor(s): Teresa Conaty Tiernan, Centredale, Rhode Island

Title: Combined Fuel Level Monitor and Thermostat

In New England and Atlantic states areas, heating is often provided by using a tank of heating oil or a liquefied petroleum product; heating is also often provided by piped natural gas and electricity. Tanks for heating oil and liquefied petroleum products (e.g.,LPG,liquefied propane gas; typically a pressurized tank) have a dip stick a gauge, or other device for determining the amount of fuel remaining in the tank. The fuel from the tank is fed to a furnace for heating, typically, air or water circulated throughout the sleeping, living, and/or working quarters and metered on an as needed basis controlled by one or more thermostats in those quarters.

It is often the case with the elderly, handicapped, or others physically restricted in movement that they reside on a single floor and cannot easily determine the amount of fuel in the tank because reading the dipstick or gauge requires one to leave the floor and go out to the tank.

Accordingly, the principal object of this invention is to facilitate determining the amount of fuel remaining in the tank. This is accomplished by integrating or combining an indicator for the amount of fuel in the tank with a device commonly found on the floor in which a person resides, the most preferable device being a thermostat. The preferred exemplary combination of a thermostat and a heating oil tank level indicator allows the person to set the desired indoor heating level while simultaneously monitoring the oil level for adjusting the desired temperature and/or for ordering more fuel from the supplier. The device should be provided with a low fuel level alarm. Also, the integrated/ combined level indicator should function even in the absence of electrical power, and so should be combined with a battery back-up (for continuos or intermittent sending and receiving of level signals, including remotely by radio frequency or light (e.g., fiber optic IR) Transmission) or should have non-electrical (e.g., vacuum, mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, etc.) signal transaction means.

COMBINED FUEL LEVEL MONITOR AND THERMOSTAT

This invention was patented on 9/7/99 & 11/4/2003
by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Patents:
# 5,947,372
# 6,641,055
Inventor: Teresa Conaty Tiernan
How To Contact Me:

Conaty Controls, Inc.
Attn: T. Tiernan
32 Gainer Ave.
Centredale, RI 02911

E-Mail: Trayz101@conatycontrols.com
Fax: (401) 232-1801
Mobile Phone: (401) 465-2800