Power supply for a compact-arc lamp

Claim 1

A SELF-STARTING POWER SUPPLY CIRCUIT FOR IGNITING A COMPACT-ARC LAMP COMPRISING A POWER TRANSFORMER HAVING A HIGH VOLTAGE SECONDARY, A SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER CONNECTED IN SERIES WITH THE PRIMARY OF THE TRANSFORMER DIRECTLY ACROSS AN ALTERNATING CURRENT SOURCE AND HAVING A CONTROL ELECTRODE, A SOURCE OF D.C. SUPPLY VOLTAGE OF SUFFICIENT MAGNITUDE TO SUSTAIN AN ARC IN THE LAMP BUT SUBSTANTIALLY SMALLER THAN THE VOLTAGE OF THE ALTERNATING CURRENT SOURCE, MEANS INCLUDING A FIRST DIODE, A FIRST RESISTOR, AND ONE WINDING OF A RADIO FREQUENCY TRANSFORMER IN SERIES CONNECTING THE LAMP ACROSS THE D.C. SOURCE, A STORAGE CAPACITOR CONNECTED ACROSS THE D.C. SOURCE THROUGH THE FIRST DIODE, MEANS INCLUDING A SECOND DIODE AND A SECOND RESISTOR IN SERIES CONNECTING THE STORAGE CAPACITOR ACROSS THE ALTERNATING CURRENT SOURCE, MEANS INCLUDING A SERIES CAPACITOR FOR CONNECTING THE SECONDARY OF THE POWER TRANSFORMER ACROSS THE PRIMARY OF THE RADIO FREQUENCY TRANSFORMER, A SPARK GAP RADIO FREQUENCY GENERATOR CONNECTED ACROSS THE SECONDARY OF THE POWER TRANSFORMER, AND MEANS INCLUDING A ZENER DIODE CONNECTING THE CONTROL ELECTRODE OF THE SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER TO ONE END OF THE STORAGE CAPACITOR FOR TURNING ON THE SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER WHEN THE STORAGE CAPACITOR IS CHARGED TO THE PEAK VOLTAGE OF THE ALTERNATING CURRENT SOURCE.