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.
Claims20
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.
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;
- and
- a microcontroller in the housing, wherein the microcontroller is configured to receive data from the tilt sensing mechanism to detect tilting of the housing;
- a data recording system in the microprocessor, wherein the data recording system logs information from the tilt sensing mechanism to record the number of times that the housing has been tilted and then returned to an original position;
- a data transmission system for transmitting the information logged by the data recording system;
- and
- a power supply in the housing for powering the microcontroller.
A method of warning that a fuel line nozzle should be removed from a gas tank, comprising:
- determining that a fuel pump nozzle has been tilted from a first position to a second position;
- determining that fueling through a fuel line has stopped by detecting vibration of the fuel pump nozzle;
- waiting for a predetermined period of time;
- and then
- activating an alert system if the fuel pump nozzle has not tilted from the second position back to the first position.
A method of recording fuel line usage, comprising:
- (a) mounting a monitoring system at a distal end of a fuel line, the monitoring system comprising:
- a housing;
- a tilt sensing mechanism in the housing;
- a microcontroller in the housing, wherein the microcontroller is configured to receive data from the tilt sensing mechanism to detect tilting of the housing;
- and
- a power supply in the housing for powering the tilt sensing mechanism and the microcontroller;
- a data recording system in the microcontroller, wherein the data recording system logs information from the tilt sensing mechanism to record the number of times that the housing has been tilted and then returned to an original position;
- and
- a data transmission system for transmitting the information logged by the data recording system;
- (b) repeatedly tilting the housing from a first position to a second position and then back into the first position;
- (c) logging the number of times that the housing has been tilted from the first position to the second position and then back into the first position;
- and then
- (d) wirelessly transmitting the logged tilt data to a remote computer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.