Patent ID: 6371450
Filing Date: 2002-04-16
Classification: A61L,Y10S

Abstract:
A battery powered volatile dispenser for dispensing a volatile material, the volatile dispenser comprising:a. a housing having an air inlet, an air outlet, an airflow path therebetween, and a holder for a volatile reservoir for supplying a volatile to be introduced into air flowing in the airflow path; b. a fan adapted to be powered by a battery, power being supplied from the battery to the fan through a switch, the switch having an on position and an off position, the on position allowing power to the fan and the off position cutting off power to the fan, the fan being so located that it propels air through the airflow path and also is unrestrictedly visible to a user of the volatile dispenser; and c. an electrical power cut-off that activates to cut off power to the fan when the battery voltage drops beneath a selected level greater than zero to provide a prominent visual cue of battery depletion, wherein the volatile dispenser is for use with a replaceable volatile reservoir having a known quantity of volatile available for dispensing, wherein the battery voltage level beneath which the electrical power cut-off activates is the battery voltage level remaining after the fan has run sufficiently long to reduce the quantity of volatile in the reservoir to a selected level, so that the cut-off power, which stops operation of the fan, provides the prominent visual cue for volatile depletion to the selected level, wherein the visual cue is the stopped fan, and wherein the switch and the electrical power cut-off are the only mechanisms to cut off power to the fan such that a user knows that fan stoppage only corresponds to the switch being in the off position or the reduction of the quantity of volatile in the reservoir to the selected level.