Patents Examined by John L. Beres
  • Patent number: 6361051
    Abstract: A cylindrically curved rectangular face seal is provided for a cross-ported barrel type rotary valve member. The seal has a central flow orifice therethrough with an annular raised rib formed about the orifice and extending in a radial direction from the concave inner face of the seal. The opposite edges of the seal extending in an axial direction each have a notch or rib thereon for axial sliding engagement in grooves provided in the valve body. The annular rib about the orifice accommodates dimensional variation in the valve parts to ensure a rotary sliding seal on the rotary valve member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2002
    Assignee: Eaton Coporation
    Inventor: Christopher J. Babin
  • Patent number: 6357764
    Abstract: A corrosion resistant gasket for aircraft, and more particularly to encapsulation of a conductive mesh in a pliable fluorosilicone compound that will not become bonded to mating surfaces and will also migrate upon compression during installation to the threads of attaching hardware utilized between the instrument, antenna, and aircraft structure, thereby reducing corrosion through the attaching hardware, by providing a hermetic seal around the periphery of the envelope of the attached device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2002
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Patrick W. Gaines, Mickey A. Williamson
  • Patent number: 6357756
    Abstract: A balance shaft seal retainer for retaining the front balance shaft seal of an engine oil pump. At least one bolt threaded within one or more apertures of the retainer and into the engine secures the seal retainer on the oil pump housing. The semi-circular cutout at the bottom edge of the retainer effectively holds a semi-circular region of the annular seal in place and permits installation without the need to remove the balance shaft or timing or balance belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2002
    Assignee: Chicago Seal Clamp
    Inventor: Paul T. Matovich
  • Patent number: 6349945
    Abstract: Cylinder head gasket comprising a gasket plate which has at least one metal layer with elastic properties and in which a through opening is formed which is surrounded by a bead-like embossment formed in this metal layer, wherein the bead-like embossment forms an approximately linear, self-contained sealing zone with increased sealing surface pressure when the gasket is fitted and the metal layer is provided with a first coating consisting of a plastic material which has elastic properties on its side forming this sealing zone at least in the area of this sealing zone as well as to both sides of the latter; to improve the sealing capacity of the cylinder head gasket around the said through opening, the metal layer is coated on its side provided with the first coating with a sealing bead closed upon itself, likewise surrounding the through opening and consisting of a plastic material, this bead being arranged on the side of the sealing zone facing away from the through opening as well as at a radial distance fr
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2002
    Assignee: ElringKlinger AG
    Inventors: Frank Schmucker, Peter Schenk
  • Patent number: 6349946
    Abstract: A sealing member to seal the opening in the side wall of a chamber such as a catch basin through which a laterally extending member such as a drain pipe is positioned and connected. The sealing gasket comprises an annular ring having a cylindrical bore to receive such drain pipe for example, an annular groove cut into the annular ring which divides the portions adjacent the groove into a first annual flange on one side of the groove and a second annular flange on the opposite side of the groove. The sealing gasket is made of a flexible compressible material. It is worked into the opening to be sealed by flexing the gasket in such a way as to insert the peripheral edge of the wall surrounding the opening into the annular groove, whereupon one of the annular flanges is in sealing bearing relationship against the outer surface of the wall around the opening and the other annular flange is in sealing bearing relationship against the inner surface thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2002
    Inventor: John K Daugherty
  • Patent number: 6349943
    Abstract: A seal ring that is high in wear resistance and sealability, and less likely to damage an aluminum alloy mating member, and particularly a seal ring having an outer diameter of 20 mm or under and formed with a slit which can be opened easily to be fitted on a shaft. The seal ring is made from a lubricating resin composition containing 50-90 vol % of an aromatic polyether ketone resin, 5-30 vol % of an aromatic polyamide fiber, and 2-30 vol % of tetrafluoroethylene resin. The composition may further contain 2-20 vol % of mica or talc, or 2-30 vol % of a whisker having a Mohs hardness of 3 or over. The seal ring is formed with a slit and has an an outer diameter of 20 mm or under with a bending strain (under ASTM D790) of 3% or over.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2002
    Assignee: NTN Corporation
    Inventors: Takuya Ishii, Kenji Ito
  • Patent number: 6341782
    Abstract: A lubricated hydrostatic seal comprising (a) surface regions having opposing surfaces; (b) a plurality of micropores in one or more of said surfaces having a pore geometry; and (c) a flow of fluid between said surfaces, wherein said flow of fluid past said micropores provides a lifting force between said surfaces. In a preferred embodiment, the opposing surfaces of the surface regions are nominally parallel. Nominally-parallel surfaces are simple to manufacture and are considerably less expensive than the various converging-surface configurations of the prior art. The nominally-parallel surface configuration can also be utilized in both liquid-lubricated and gas-lubricated hydrodynamic seal applications, and in hybrid-seal applications in which both hydrodynamic and hydrostatic lift are generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2002
    Assignee: Surface Technologies LTD
    Inventor: Izhak Etsion
  • Patent number: 6338489
    Abstract: A mechanical seal including a slide ring and a counter-ring that are axially preloaded against each other along sealing surfaces through the application of spring tension. These surfaces contact each other in a manner that permits the sealing surfaces to rotate relative to each other. The slide ring and a housing, which is arranged in a rotatably fixed manner relative to slide ring, are each sealingly allocated to one end face of a bellows extending in the axial direction. One of the end faces of bellows is allocated nonadherently, with force-locking and/or form-locking, to slide ring, and the other end face of bellows is allocated nonadherently, with force-locking and/or form-locking, to housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2002
    Assignee: Firma Carl Freudenberg
    Inventor: Kenji Nakano
  • Patent number: 6332626
    Abstract: This invention is a multi use tow bar for towing one vehicle behind the other, which is very simple in design in that it consists of a single (segmented) shaft which is rigidly attached to the rear of the towing vehicle (with a single component attachment device), a simple vertically rotating joint, and a rearward long shaft segment which is attached to the center of the front of the towed vehicle by a single coupler/ball. This tow bar is suitable for a broad range of situations where one vehicle tows another vehicle on a continuing basis and ease of attachment and disattachment of the two vehicles is important.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2001
    Inventor: J. Stephen Morrill
  • Patent number: 6331006
    Abstract: A plurality of brush seal segments are disposed in a groove of a component fixed against rotation and project into sealing relation with a rotating component. The brush seal segments are each comprised of a pair of plates having a plurality of brush bristles therebetween, the plates and bristles being secured along the outer arcuate face of the segments by a weld bead. The opposite ends of the bristles form the seal with the rotary component. Each brush seal segments is disposed in a groove with generous clearance between a hook on the segment and a flange on the fixed component. A spring between the fixed component and arcuate outer face of the brush seal segment biases the segment in a radial direction. The end of the spring has a pair of tabs spaced axially from one another for reception in a pair of axially spaced recesses to retain the spring against circumferential movement while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of the weld joint without loss of securement of the bristles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2001
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Frederick G. Baily, Lawrence E. Rentz, Klaus M. Retzlaff, Norman A. Turnquist
  • Patent number: 6328313
    Abstract: A gasket comprises a thin plate to be arranged between confronting surfaces of a cylinder block and a cylinder head. The thin plate has attached with adhesives susceptible to plastic deformation at areas where the thin plate comes in mating with the confronting surfaces. The adhesives come in adhesion with the confronting surfaces to restrain relative displacement that might occur constantly between the mating surfaces of the plate and the confronting surfaces. This contributes to keeping the gasket stiff. The adhesives of plastic deformation property are arranged along peripheries of cylinder bore holes at the areas where the thin plate comes in mating with the confronting surfaces. The adhesives, when have come in adhesion with the confronting surfaces, not only establish the reliable head-to-block sealing, but also restrain the displacement that might occurs constantly between the mating surfaces, in favor of plastic deformation of the adhesives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2001
    Assignee: Nippon Gasket Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Minoru Teranishi, Takao Kinoshita
  • Patent number: 6325379
    Abstract: A shaft assembly includes a housing having a bore formed therein. A shaft is disposed rotatably in the housing and within the bore. A seal assembly extends between the shaft and a circumferential surface of the bore and includes a first annular seal member rotationally fixed to one of the shaft and the housing and extending therefrom to engage the other of the shaft and the housing. One or more annular seal members extend at least partially between the bore and the shaft to form a labyrinth between areas external and internal to the shaft assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2001
    Assignee: Reliance Electric Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Robert J. Rapp
  • Patent number: 6322085
    Abstract: An apparatus (10) includes a bearing (24) linking first and second vehicle parts (12, 14) for movement relative to each other, and a boot seal (30) protecting the bearing (24). The boot seal (30) is a tube of heat shrinkable thermoplastic material. The tube (30) has a first end portion (34) shrunken against the first vehicle part (12), a second end portion (42) shrunken against the second vehicle part (14), and a flexible intermediate portion (44) which is deflectable between the opposite end portions (34, 40) upon movement of the vehicle parts (12, 14) relative to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2001
    Assignee: TRW Inc.
    Inventors: Jon W. Martin, Xinhua He
  • Patent number: 6322081
    Abstract: A circumferential seal for sealing between a rotating shaft and a stationary housing circumscribing the shaft. The seal comprises a stator mounted to said housing and having a radially inward facing carbon portion and a rotor with a ceramic sealing member having a radially outward facing surface in rubbing contact with said carbon portion. The rotor also includes a metal clamping means for mounting the ceramic sealing member to the shaft. The clamping means includes an axial flexible clamping member, and a radial flexible clamping member that together clamp onto a mounting flange of the ceramic sealing member when exposed to the compressive force of a lockup assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2001
    Assignee: Ceramic Engineering Consulting, Inc.
    Inventors: M Rifat Ullah, Michael F. O'Brien, Fred Fuller, Gary Boyd
  • Patent number: 6318727
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for maintaining a fluid seal with a moving substrate. The apparatus includes an enclosure and a cap. The enclosure has a first surface and a second surface with the first surface being in sealing contact with the moving substrate. The cap seals off the second surface of the enclosure. The cap is secured to the enclosure at at least two spaced apart locations and has a non-secured portion that is capable of deflecting independently of the enclosure. The apparatus further includes means for introducing a pressurized fluid into the enclosure. The pressurized fluid creates a net force on the enclosure of zero and a force on the cap which causes a portion of the cap to deflect. The deflection of the cap allows the first surface of the enclosure to remain in sealing contact with the moving substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2001
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventor: Frank Stephen Hada
  • Patent number: 6315296
    Abstract: A unitary sleeve lip seal can be used to provide permanently lubricated sealed bearings in severe service conditions such as the track pins of track-driven vehicles and agricultural equipment. The seal has a labyrinthine exclusion path and multiple dust lips contacting the sleeve in addition to the main sealing lip. A garter spring encircling the main sealing lip may enable the seal to operate at moderately elevated pressures. The sleeve has a radial flange at the outermost end. Elastomeric lips extend between the sleeve flange and a faceplate that terminates the outside end of the seal housing. The seal is packed with water-resistant grease and can, when installed in association with grease-packed bearings can create a permanently lubricated bearing/shaft assembly that requires no re-greasing. Resilient coatings both protect the sleeve and case and also improve leak resistance, especially when the seal is retrofitted onto shafts that have been damaged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Assignee: Transcom, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael R. Oldenburg
  • Patent number: 6299176
    Abstract: A pipe sealing gasket is shown which is designed to be received within a groove provided within a socket end of a thermoplastic pipe. The gasket includes a ring shaped body which, when viewed in cross-section includes a leading nose region and a radially inwardly slanting primary sealing surface which forms a lip seal for engaging a mating spigot end during insertion, the primary sealing surface being joined to a secondary sealing surface by an intermediate circumferential groove region, the secondary sealing surface comprising a planar circumferential region which terminates in an inside corner of the gasket, the inside corner being connected to an outermost wall region of the gasket by an exterior gasket surface, the outermost wall region of the gasket being connected to the nose region of the gasket by vertical step which joins a uniformly sloping external gasket surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2001
    Assignee: S&B Technical Products
    Inventors: Samuel Guzowski, Bradford G. Corbett, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6296254
    Abstract: A seal assembly for a mechanical seal includes a rotatable shaft with at least one mechanical seal disposed about the shaft, the seal having a rotatable face coupled to the shaft and a stationary face, wherein the respective faces of the seal are in contact with one another, and a chamber for holding a cooling fluid, disposed about the shaft and in communication with the faces of the seal, and a closed loop fluid path disposed about the outer diameter of the shaft, preferably or in a non linear manner, in fluid communication with the chamber, for circulating fluid about the seal faces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: Flowserve Management Company
    Inventor: Lionel Allan Young
  • Patent number: 6290233
    Abstract: A sealing apparatus which is disposed between the media side and the bearing side and adapted to hermetically seal members rotating concentrically relative to each other, wherein a passageway having in a U-shaped cross section is formed by an outer shielding member on the media side, an outer shielding member on the bearing side and an inner shielding member, the end portion of which is inserted into the cavity between the outer shielding members. The end portion of the inner shielding member has a T-shape or L-shape. A magnet is arranged at either the inner shielding member or the outer shielding member. A ferrofluid is retained in the cavity by the surrounding magnet. An oil repellent material may be coated on the surface of the inner shielding member except for a portion extending into the cavity and an adhered portion on its inner diameter side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2001
    Inventors: Akira Yamamura, Hirohisa Ishizaki, Heiichi Unozawa
  • Patent number: 6286839
    Abstract: A ring seal contains a core made from an elastic organic polymer and a metal jacket having a U-shaped sectional shape, which jacket surrounds the core to prevent transfer of a substance generated from the core into the sealed space. The seal of the present invention does not release a foreign material into the sealed space, nor does it require a great force for clamping. Accordingly, it is useful as a vacuum seal that achieves miniaturization and reduced weight of a vacuum apparatus. In particular, by making the sectional shape of the metal jacket a U shape, the core can be easily detached and attached for fitting after forming the jacket, and the inside of the jacket can be washed easily.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2001
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Cable Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takayoshi Mitsui, Takahiro Kariya