Gas pump alert warning system
OwnerReese E. Williamsinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for warning that a fuel line nozzle should be removed from a gas tank, by: determining that a fuel pump nozzle has been tilted from its resting position in a pump cradle to a refueling position where it has been inserted into a gas tank tube; and then determining that fueling through the fuel line has stopped by detecting vibration of the fuel pump nozzle when the fuel line shuts off; and then activating an alert system including a warning light and an audible sound if the fuel pump nozzle has not been removed from the gas tank tube and returned to the pump cradle after a predetermined period of time. The system can also wirelessly transmit fuel line use data to a remote computer.
Claims11
A monitoring system for a fuel line, comprising:
- a housing dimensioned to be mounted at a distal end of a fuel line;
- a tilt sensing mechanism in the housing;
- a vibration sensing mechanism in the housing;
- a microcontroller in the housing, wherein the microcontroller is configured to:
- (a) receive data from the tilt sensing mechanism to detect tilting of the housing, and
- (b) receive data from the vibration sensing mechanism to detect vibration of the housing;
- an alert system comprising at least one warning light or at least one speaker mounted on the housing;
- and
- a power supply in the housing for powering the microcontroller and the alert system, and
- wherein the alert system is activated by the microcontroller when the microcontroller has determined that the housing has been tilted by a predetermined angle for a predetermined period of time after the vibration sensing mechanism has detected vibration of the housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.