Patents by Inventor Neil Ainsworth

Neil Ainsworth 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: 10774781
    Abstract: A steel piston with anti-coking design features is provided. The piston includes an upper crown portion and a lower crown portion forming an outer cooling gallery therebetween. The outer cooling gallery is substantially closed except for an oil inlet, oil outlet, and optional oil passage(s) to a central cooling gallery. According to one embodiment, at least one anti-coking insert is disposed in the outer cooling gallery and sized to prevent escaping through the oil inlet or the oil outlet. For example, the insert(s) can comprise a helical coil, a plurality of steel balls, coil springs, or chips formed of polymer with abrasive filler. Alternatively, an outer gallery floor to the outer cooling gallery includes a plurality of anti-coking openings disposed sequentially in decreasing spaced relation from one another, or anti-coking openings with varying lengths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Tenneco, Inc.
    Inventors: Miguel Azevedo, Warran Boyd Lineton, Geoffrey Neil Ainsworth
  • Patent number: 10731598
    Abstract: A vehicle internal combustion piston and method of construction thereof are provided. The piston includes piston body extending along a central longitudinal axis, having an upper combustion wall forming an upper combustion surface and an undercrown surface opposite the upper combustion surface. An annular ring belt region depends from the upper combustion surface, a pair of skirt panels depend from the ring belt region, and a pair of pin bosses depend from the undercrown surface to provide laterally spaced pin bores aligned along a pin bore axis for receipt of a wrist pin. The undercrown surface forms a central undercrown region, and a portion of either an open outer cooling gallery, a sealed outer cooling gallery, or an outer galleryless region. A coating including copper is applied to hot spots along the undercrown surface to mitigate the hot spots provide a more uniform temperature along the undercrown surface during operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Tenneco Inc.
    Inventors: Warran Boyd Lineton, Miguel Azevedo, Thomas Egerer, Gregory Salenbien, Neil Ainsworth
  • Publication number: 20200123998
    Abstract: A vehicle internal combustion piston and method of construction thereof are provided. The piston includes piston body extending along a central longitudinal axis, having an upper combustion wall forming an upper combustion surface and an undercrown surface opposite the upper combustion surface. An annular ring belt region depends from the upper combustion surface, a pair of skirt panels depend from the ring belt region, and a pair of pin bosses depend from the undercrown surface to provide laterally spaced pin bores aligned along a pin bore axis for receipt of a wrist pin. The undercrown surface forms a central undercrown region, and a portion of either an open outer cooling gallery, a sealed outer cooling gallery, or an outer galleryless region. A coating including copper is applied to hot spots along the undercrown surface to mitigate the hot spots provide a more uniform temperature along the undercrown surface during operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Inventors: Warran Boyd Lineton, Miguel Azevedo, Thomas Egerer, Gregory Salenbien, Neil Ainsworth
  • Publication number: 20180209375
    Abstract: A steel piston with anti-coking design features is provided. The piston includes an upper crown portion and a lower crown portion forming an outer cooling gallery therebetween. The outer cooling gallery is substantially closed except for an oil inlet, oil outlet, and optional oil passage(s) to a central cooling gallery. According to one embodiment, at least one anti-coking insert is disposed in the outer cooling gallery and sized to prevent escaping through the oil inlet or the oil outlet. For example, the insert(s) can comprise a helical coil, a plurality of steel balls, coil springs, or chips formed of polymer with abrasive filler. Alternatively, an outer gallery floor to the outer cooling gallery includes a plurality of anti-coking openings disposed sequentially in decreasing spaced relation from one another, or anti-coking openings with varying lengths.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2017
    Publication date: July 26, 2018
    Inventors: MIGUEL AZEVEDO, WARRAN BOYD LINETON, GEOFFREY NEIL AINSWORTH