Patents Examined by Lynne E. Browne
  • Patent number: 6575500
    Abstract: A device for connecting a pipe socket, a tubular mounting part or a fitting (3) to a pipe (10), especially a water pipe. The inventive device comprises a connecting part (7). A first end (7a) of the connecting part is to be connected to a pipe (10) by a press connection, and a second end (7b) of the connecting part is to be connected to the pipe socket, mounting part or fitting (3). The second end (7b) of the connecting part (7) forms a plug-connection with a receiving part (4) of the pipe socket, the tubular mounting part or the fitting (3). After the press-connection is provided, the connecting part (7) is merely plugged in to connect a pipe (10), for example, to a mounting part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2003
    Assignee: Geberit Technik AG
    Inventor: Hansruedi Wili
  • Patent number: 6499905
    Abstract: An apparatus for a pop-up display structure that provides a hub structure that is divided into two sections that are held together by a thumbscrew. The two sections define internal channels in the hub for capturing guide pins attached to the tubes such that the tubes pivot about the guide pins and rotate about the hub through slots in the hub. The thumbscrew provides for removal of tubes from the hub structure without the use of tools and therefore provides for changes on the fly for reconfiguring the structure or for replacing broken tubes. The thumbscrew also provides a mounting structure for the channel bar that attaches to the pop-up structure. The channel bar is capable of folding into three sections and is capable of folding compactly without regard to the sequence of the folds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2002
    Inventor: Edmond J. Boer
  • Patent number: 6386593
    Abstract: A dual-plane sealing configuration for a fluid-tight conduit connection that incorporates additional sealing areas and minimizes assembly misalignment. A gasket is mounted around a conduit, sandwiched between an end-form block and a receiver, and compressed therebetween using a fastener fitted through the end-form block and threaded into the receiver. The gasket has a formed pilot that pilots around the conduit and is sandwiched between the conduit and a chamfer in the receiver to establish a secondary seal. The gasket incorporates features such as a fold-over tab and a non-uniform embossment to counteract the cantilever behavior of the conduit connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2002
    Assignee: Automotive Fluid Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert J. Slais, Johnny R. Blankenship, Chhotubhai N. Patel
  • Patent number: 6296572
    Abstract: A power transmission mechanism for power-transmittably coupling a rotating unit of a compressor (11) composed of a drive shaft (17), a rotating support (23) and a swash plate (27) with an engine (62), comprising a pulley (56) and an armature (58), both of which constitute a first rotating body provided on a side of the engine, a hub (57), which serve as a second rotating body coupled to the drive shaft of the compressor, and a spring (64), which serves as an elastic means for coupling the first and second rotating bodies. A spring constant of the spring (64) is set such that a resonant frequency (fR) determined by the spring constant and a sum of a moment of inertia of the rotating unit of the compressor and a moment of inertia of the second rotating body as dominant factors is made smaller than a minimum frequency (f1) of torque variation produced on the compressor and more preferably smaller than a minimum frequency (f2) of torque variation produced on the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho
    Inventors: Kazuya Kimura, Akifumi Uryu, Masahiko Okada, Tomonari Kato
  • Patent number: 6165074
    Abstract: A torsional vibration damper includes a main damper arrangement with side disks which are fixedly connected to one another by welding to a flange ring and connected to an input part of the vibration damper. The side disks are coupled in a torsionally elastic manner with a central disk by first spring elements. The central disk is connected to the output part. A predamper arrangement is arranged axially to the side of the main damper arrangement and includes first and second predamper components which are coupled with one another in a torsionally elastic manner by second spring elements. The output part has a radially projecting projection which runs circumferentially at least partially and is arranged between the second predamper component and the main damper arrangement and fixes the main damper arrangement axially.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2000
    Assignee: Mannesmann Sachs AG
    Inventors: Alfred Schraut, Helmuth Weissenberger, Karl Hubert, Richard Knoblach