Electrical wiring fault detector including circuit means to vary the brilliance of selected lamp indicators

Claim 1

WIRING TESTING APPARATUS FOR TESTING THE REAR INTERCONNECTION WIRING BETWEEN AN ARRAY OF PLUG-IN RECEPTACLES EACH HAVING A PLURALITY OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING POINTS, EACH POINT SO DISPOSED AS TO APPEAR AT BOTH THE REAR AND FRONT OF SAID RECEPTACLES COMPRISING, CONNECTOR MEANS FOR INSERTION IN MATING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PLUG-IN RECEPTACLES AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING POINTS CORRESPONDING TO THE PLURALITY OF POINTS IN SAID PLUG-IN RECEPTACLES AND SO ARRANGED THAT WHEN IN SAID RELATIONSHIP, EACH POINT OF THE CONNECTOR MEANS IS IN ELECTRICAL CONTACT WITH THE FRONT OF EACH CORRESPONDING POINT OF THE PLUG-IN RECEPTACLES, AN ARRAY OF POWER SENSITIVE LAMPS OF A TYPE CAPABLE OF VARYING IN BRILLANCE IN PROPORTION TO THE POWER DISSIPATED THEREIN AND HAVING A FIRST LEAD OF EACH LAMP ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO A CORRESPONDING ONE OF THE PLURALITY OF SAID POINTS IN SAID CONNECTOR MEANS AND A SECOND LEAD OF EACH LAMP CONNECTED TO A LAMP COMMON POINT, SELECTOR SWITCH BANKS HAVING A PLURALITY OF POINTS EACH OF WHICH IS ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO A CORRESPONDING ONE OF THE PLURALITY OF POINTS IN SAID CONNECTOR MEANS TOGETHER WITH SAID FIRST LAMP LEADS, FORMING THEREBY TWO PARALLEL ELECTRICAL PATHS, THE FIRST A LOCAL COMPLETE SHORT PATH FROM EACH POINT OF THE SELECTOR SWITCH BANKS THROUGH THE ONE LAMP CONNECTED THERETO, AND THE SECOND A CONDITIONALLY COMPLETE AND MORE EXTENSIVE LONG PATH FROM THE SAME POINT OF THE SELECTOR SWITCH BANKS THROUGH THE CONNECTION TO A CORRESPONDING POINT IN SAID CONNECTOR MEANS, A FURTHER CONDITIONAL ELECTRICAL PATH OF AT LEAST ONE CONDUCTOR BETWEEN POINTS OF THE PLUG-IN RECEPTACLE COMPRISING THE TESTED WIRING CONNECTED THERETO, AT LEAST ONE OF THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE CONNECTOR MEANS AND THE SELECTOR SWITCH BANKS CORRESPONDING TO THE TESTED WIRING CONNECTION ASSIGNMENTS AND THENCE THROUGH AT LEAST ONE OTHER CORRESPONDING LAMP CONNECTED THERETO, A SELCTOR SWITCH MEANS INCLUDING ARMATURE DRIVE MEANS SO ARRANGED AS TO SEQUENTIALLY CONNECT ELECTRICALLY TO EACH ONE OF SAID PLURALITY OF POINTS ON SAID SELECTOR SWITCH BANKS, A POWER SUPPLY CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID SELECTOR SWITCH ARMATURE AND SAID LAMP COMMON POINT, SAID POWER SUPPLY PROVIDING TWO VOLTAGE COMPONENTS SUPERIMPOSED ON ITS OUTPUT, THE FIRST BEING OF A FREQUENCY LOW ENOUGH TO CAUSE THE RELATIVE REACTIVE IMPEDANCES PRESENTED TO IT BY THE SHORTEST PATH AS COMPARED TO ANY OTHER PATH TO BE NEGLIGIBLE, AND THE SECOND BEING OF A FREQUENCY HIGH ENOUGH TO CAUSE THE RELATIVE IMPEDANCES PRESENTED TO IT BY THE SHORTEST PATH AS COMPARED TO ANY OTHER PATH TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT SUCH THAT ANY LAMP ILLUMINATED BY THE COMBINATION OF THE TWO VOLTAGE COMPONENTS THROUGH THE SHORTEST PATH WOULD BE VISIBLY BRIGHTER THAN OTHER LAMPS ILLUMINATED THROUGH THE LONGER PATHS, A LIGHT TRANSMITTING PANEL HAVING A PLURALITY OF GROUPS OF MARKINGS THEREON, EACH GROUP SEPARATELY DISTINGUISHABLE FROM THE OTHER GROUPS AND SO POSITIONED AS TO BE PROXIMATELY IN FRONT OF THE LAMP PANEL WITH EACH SAID GROUP IN TURN COINCIDENT WITH A CORRESPONDING PATTERN OF PROPERLY ILLUMINATED LAMPS.