Abstract: An apparatus for determining the spring rate of a torsion bar for an automotive vehicle includes a frame having two channels which cross between the ends of the frame. Each channel is configured to receive a torsion bar—one when a bar is to be twisted clockwise and the other when a bar is to be twisted counterclockwise. Mounted on the frame at its head end is an adjustable pneumatic cylinder having a piston which exerts a torque on the torsion bar through a long torque arm. At the tail end of the frame is a measuring unit against which a short torque arm that is connected to the opposite end of the bar bears, thus resisting the torque applied by the pneumatic cylinder and registering a force derived from the torque. A key engages the piston of the pneumatic cylinder to hold it in a predetermined extended position and the piston can be set to extend no farther than that position as well, all so that a known deflection corresponds to a force measured by the display.

Abstract: An apparatus for determining the spring rate of a torsion bar for an automotive vehicle includes a frame having two channels which cross between the ends of the frame. Each channel is configured to receive a torsion bar—one when a bar is to be twisted clockwise and the other when a bar is to be twisted counterclockwise. Mounted on the frame at its head end is an adjustable pneumatic cylinder having a piston which exerts a torque on the torsion bar through a long torque arm. At the tail end of the frame is a measuring unit against which a short torque arm that is connected to the opposite end of the bar bears, thus resisting the torque applied by the pneumatic cylinder and registering a force derived from the torque. A key engages the piston of the pneumatic cylinder to hold it in a predetermined extended position and the piston can be set to extend no farther than that position as well, all so that a known deflection corresponds to a force measured by the display.

Abstract: In an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft and a cranking motor for turning the crankshaft to start the engine, a coupler is attached to the crankshaft and serves as a carrier for a ring gear that is engaged by the cranking motor. The coupler, in effect, disconnects the ring gear from the crankshaft when the crankshaft is operating under its own power, so that the crankshaft is not encumbered by the inertia of the ring gear and thus will accelerate quite rapidly. The coupler includes a hub, which is attached to the crankshaft and is provided with outwardly opening notches, and also includes a drive ring which surrounds the hub, such that it is capable of rotating with respect to the hub. A flexplate is attached to the drive ring, and the ring gear is in turn attached to the flexplate.

Abstract: A clutch for an automotive vehicle has a driving member which is connected to the crankshaft of the vehicle engine, and a driven member which is keyed, by means of a spline, to the input shaft of the vehicle transmission, there being a spring at the end of the shaft for urging the second member toward the transmission. The first member includes a mounting ring and an end ring, as well as posts extended between the two rings. The end ring contains cutouts arranged in two rows around the shaft and a groove separating the rows. The second member has a hub against which the spring bears and a larger transfer ring at one end of the hub. The transfer ring in turn has lugs arranged in two rows around its periphery, and these lugs are configured to slide into the cutouts in the end ring of the driving member under the force exerted by the spring.