Patents Examined by Jeffrey Woller
  • Patent number: 5997108
    Abstract: A process for controlling the speed of a vehicle travelling on a slope is disclosed. The vehicle is equipped with an electronic system which, through active brake intervention, adjusts the speed of the vehicle to a predetermined constant hill descent speed upon actuation of a hill descent control mode. The process comprises generating in the electronic system a continuously variable desired speed, and upon actuation of said hill descent control mode, the desired speed is continuously adjusted until it is equal to the predetermined constant hill descent speed. While the desired speed is being adjusted, the vehicle speed is continuously adjusted through active brake intervention until it is equal to the desired speed, so that after a transition period, the vehicle speed is equal to the predetermined constant hill descent speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1999
    Assignee: Wabco GmbH
    Inventors: Heiko Claussen, Jurgen Eickhoff
  • Patent number: 5996747
    Abstract: The device comprises a cylinder (1) which is divided in two variable volume chambers (3,4) by a piston (2,2'), which has conduits (5,5') for the passage of a fluid from one chamber to the other, and spring means (15) for pushing the piston in a predetermined direction, tending to cause a pressure increase in one of the chambers; the piston is mounted on a rod formed of two aligned rod elements (7,8), with means (9) for bringing closer and separating their adjacent extremities; it comprises means for providing a controlled fluid leak through the conduits (5,5') of the piston, said means consisting of a groove (25) provided in the piston (2') or washers (12,13) which can be deformed due to the existence of an undercut (33) in one of the rod elements. It provides for the automatic return of the seat and/or the back of the seat to a predetermined position when the passenger leaves the seat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1999
    Inventor: Juan Singla Casayas
  • Patent number: 5992951
    Abstract: An anti-lock brake control system capable of performing optimal control of braking hydraulic pressure in a motor vehicle having four wheels while preventing brake application from being released by setting an optimal pseudo vehicle speed by effectively making use of the wheel speeds of four wheels in arithmetic determination of a pseudo vehicle speed on a wheel basis. The anti-lock brake control system includes wheel speed detector (101a to 101d) for detecting rotation speeds of four wheels, respectively, reference wheel speed arithmetic calculators (102a to 102d) for setting limits on the wheel speed of the wheels in consideration of positional relations of the wheels relative to one wheel of concern to thereby determine a reference wheel speed, and pseudo vehicle speed arithmetic calculators (103a to 103d) for arithmetically determining the pseudo vehicle speed on the basis of the reference wheel speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1999
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kasiha
    Inventors: Yasuo Naito, Chiaki Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 5992948
    Abstract: A high pressure accumulator is disclosed which includes a housing having walls defining a chamber and a piston residing in the chamber. The piston is comprised of polyphenylene sulfide and preferably includes a head portion and wall portions extending away from the head portion. The wall portions preferably include outer and inner surfaces which are oblique. Preferably the polyphenylene sulfide includes glass fibers and minerals and is formed using injection molding techniques. The material composition of the piston and its geometrical definition give it the ability to operate when exposed to the brake fluid and when exposed to operating pressures is the range of 100 bars.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1999
    Assignee: ITT Manufacturing Enterprises Inc.
    Inventor: Padmanab Lakshman Gowda
  • Patent number: 5988607
    Abstract: A self-pumping hydropneumatic strut with an internal level control, especially for automobiles, has a power cylinder. The power cylinder is under the pressure of at least one gas pad acting as a spring. The gas pad is placed in a high-pressure chamber, which high-pressure chamber is filled with damping agents. The power cylinder is divided into two working chambers by a working piston. The working piston is carried by a hollow piston rod and is equipped with valves. A piston pump is driven by the spring motion and transports oil from a low-pressure chamber into the working chamber. The working chamber is connected to the high-pressure chamber. The piston pump includes a pump chamber formed by the hollow piston rod and a pump rod that is connected to the power cylinder. The damping agent in the pump chamber can be pressure-impacted by a driving element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Assignee: Fichtel & Sachs AG
    Inventor: Hubert Beck
  • Patent number: 5988774
    Abstract: A hydraulic brake system for a vehicle with an anti-lock arrangement operable by wheel brake pressures are individually variable in front wheel brakes and rear wheel brakes, connected to diagonal brake circuits, of a four-wheeled vehicle, in order to reduce or eliminate a threat of wheel locking. The anti-lock arrangement has at least one return pump per brake circuit. The anti-lock arrangement is equipped with a total of four electrically controllable valves. In each of the brake circuits I, II there is one first valve between the master cylinder and a front wheel brake and one second valve between the master cylinder and the rear wheel brake. All the valves are embodied as normally open valves and are electrically closable. Inlets of each of the return pumps communicate directly with the respective front wheel brakes and indirectly with the rear wheel brakes through throttles. Check valves that open toward the inlets of the return pumps are provided in series with the throttles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Wolf-Dieter Jonner, Guenter Wolff, Werner Wilde, Michael Tischer, Juergen Breitenbacher, Gerhard Wetzel, Rainer Heinsohn, Andreas Klug, Hermann Kaess, Peter Zeiner, Klaus Schmidt, Harald Ott
  • Patent number: 5984057
    Abstract: A rotary damper has an inner member located within an outer member and an annular seal between the members enclosing a fluid-filled space bounded in part by mutually adjacent faces of the members. A viscous damping force is thereby generated by relative rotation of the members. The seal has a radially inner rim in sliding engagement with the inner member. A resilient flexible retainer held by the outer member bears on the seal inner rim, flexure of the retainer providing a predetermined axial sealing pressure on the rim. The seal includes a diaphragm portion exposed to atmospheric pressure and deformable to accommodate thermal expansion of the fluid in the sealed space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Assignee: Kinetrol Limited
    Inventor: John Valentine Nash
  • Patent number: 5979883
    Abstract: A liquid filled vibration isolating mount has a rigid tubular fitting defining an interior fitting cavity, an upper opening and a lower opening. A vibration isolating base body formed of elastic material is fitted in the upper opening of the rigid tubular fitting. A diaphragm seals the lower opening of the rigid tubular fitting and a partition is disposed in the interior fitting cavity of the rigid tubular fitting between the vibration isolating base body and the diaphragm to divide the interior fitting cavity into a first liquid chamber and a second liquid chamber. The first liquid chamber has a first liquid chamber wall formed at least in part by the vibration isolating base body, the partition and the rigid tubular fitting. The second liquid chamber has a second liquid chamber wall formed at least in part by the diaphragm and the partition. The partition defines an orifice communicating the first and the second liquid chambers with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Mizutani, Motoo Kunihiro
  • Patent number: 5971116
    Abstract: An active, hydraulic suspension system for a wheeled vehicle is disclosed. The system utilizes an on-board damper controller, a damper having a pair of telescoping tubes and a motor-adjusted hydraulic channel, a position and direction sensor to achieve comprehensive control over dampening performance. The rider is allowed to change the damping performance by selecting a control map which dictates the damping force applied based on the position, direction of motion, and velocity of one tube relative to the other. The system continuously varies the amount of dampening in real time in response to the terrain conditions, as determined by a sensor. A processor in the damper controller accepts the sensor input and outputs motor control signals based on information existent in the control map. The motor adjusts the flow of a viscous liquid through the hydraulic channel of the damper in accordance with the control signals received from the damper controller to achieve the desired damping performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: Cannondale Corporation
    Inventor: Joseph A. Franklin
  • Patent number: 5967499
    Abstract: A nestable box spring foundation includes support modules each formed of a single length of wire defining a top base, a bottom base, and four straight legs. The top base is welded to a wire grid assembly and includes two upper wire segments each having a straight wire portion and respective first and second curved end portions, each upper wire segment lying in a first plane with the straight wire portions lying in angularly converging mirror image relation to each other, each upper wire segment being spaced from one another with first end portions thereof lying closer together than second end portions thereof. The bottom base includes two straight lower wire segments lying in parallel relation to and in a second plane with one another and a straight cross wire segment fixedly intersecting orthogonally the lower wire segments proximate first ends thereof, with the first plane being parallel with the second plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co.
    Inventors: Kevin Noel McCraw, Benjamin Lewis Ray, Darryl Wayne Whitson
  • Patent number: 5964325
    Abstract: An improved bushing assembly for the inboard end of a brake cam shaft is provided with a bushing which establishes a grease flow pathway within the bushing assembly. Grease enters a cavity formed from a pair of housing halves which contain the bushing through a grease zerk which is directly connected to a first radial hole in the bushing, so the fresh grease injected goes directly to the grease reservoir between the bushing and the shaft. Flow channels provided in the bushing interior surface guide the grease around the shaft to a second radial hole which is diametrically opposite the first radial hole. A seal on the shaft restricts grease flow outwardly from the bushing along the shaft. Grease may be purged through the second radial hole to an annular space between the bushing and the interior surfaces of the housing halves, from which the grease may exit the housing around the periphery of a window in one of the housing halves through which the grease zerk passes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1999
    Assignee: Dana Corporation
    Inventors: Kent Eugene Davison, Martin G. Blessing