US Patent 6842667 Positive station module locking mechanism for expandable irrigation controller

A modular expandable irrigation controller has controls for manual entry or selection of a watering program and a memory for storing the watering program. A processor executes the stored watering program and controls one or more station modules each including a station module circuit for energizing at least one solenoid actuated valve in accordance with the watering program. The irrigation controller has a plurality of receptacles for each removably receiving a station module and for providing an operative connection to the processor. A manually movable locking member is grasped and moved between UNLOCKED and LOCKED positions to positively secure each station module in a corresponding receptacle.