Patents by Inventor Kevin Mark McClendon

Kevin Mark McClendon has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5802848
    Abstract: A motor vehicle hydraulic system including a power steering pump, a reservoir, a steering assist fluid motor, and a second fluid motor for a radiator cooling fan. A flow control valve remote from the power steering pump divides the total fluid flow from the power steering pump into a high flow branch and a low flow branch. Fluid circulates in the low flow branch at a substantially constant flow rate for a proportional control valve for the steering assist fluid motor and returns to the reservoir through an unrestricted tubular boss on the reservoir. Fluid in the high flow branch issues as a jet stream from a nozzle on the reservoir into a venturi passage submerged in fluid in the reservoir. The venturi passage is connected to an inlet port of the power steering pump. The jet stream aspirates fluid from the reservoir into the venturi passage. The kinetic energy of the jet stream is converted into superatmospheric pressure at the inlet port of the power steering pump to suppress cavitation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1998
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Kevin Mark McClendon, James Leroy Davison, Robert Edward Beyerlein, Tom Cheuk-In Wong, Allan Lee Dickinson, Albert Cheuk-Yin Wong, Carl David Tarum, James Michael Shea, David Fredrick Hammerbacher