Patents Examined by Ronald B. Cox
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Patent number: 4723530Abstract: An ignition device of the capacitor discharge type for small automobiles or two-wheeled vehicles, having an A.C. generator with a converter which transforms the alternating current supplied by a stator coil into direct current, increasing the voltage. Ignition voltage is provided by a charging control which releases the charge stored in a capacitor with the required timing.Type: GrantFiled: May 29, 1986Date of Patent: February 9, 1988Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo KKInventors: Katsuhiro Ouchi, Sumitaka Ogawa, Masayuki Kudo, Nobuo Miura
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Patent number: 4722314Abstract: An apparatus for heating liquid fuel for an internal combustion engine has a heat exchanger equipped with a fileter for removing vapors generated during the heating of the fuel in the heat exchanger. The controller has a finger movable into a passage with a temperature responsive actuator. The hot fuel from the heat exchanger heats the temperature responsive actuator to control the flow of heating fluid to the heat exchanger.Type: GrantFiled: July 2, 1986Date of Patent: February 2, 1988Assignee: Northwest InvestmentsInventor: Daniel B. Martinson
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Patent number: 4722313Abstract: A method is disclosed for detecting an extreme value position of a movable part by means of a position detecting sensor. The method is especially suitable for detecting the idle position of the throttle flap of an internal combustion engine with the aid of a potentiometer. In this method, a stored value (extreme value) corresponding to the extreme position is corrected upon the detection of deviating measured values, provided that the deviating measured values lie within a correction range around the extreme value. The range of movement of the movable part has to lie within the range coverable by the position sensor. After a predetermined number of identical measured values are sensed in the correction range during an operating cycle, such a measured value is stored in memory as the new extreme value. For dynamic adaptation, this next extreme value is modified cyclically, preferably prior to each operating cycle, by a predetermined value away from the outermost position.Type: GrantFiled: December 13, 1985Date of Patent: February 2, 1988Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbHInventors: Rolf Kohler, Gunther Plapp
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Patent number: 4722306Abstract: A valve gear adapted for the four-cycle engine comprises guide portions(s) which is formed on the end surface(s) of crankweb(s) of a crankshaft, and has such a shape folding around the crankshaft with an intersection as to return back to a starting point in two turns; and two interlocking mechanisms provided between the guide portion(s) and the intake and exhaust valves in the engine to open the valves by being guided by the guide portion(s).Type: GrantFiled: May 19, 1986Date of Patent: February 2, 1988Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tetsuzo Fujikawa, Makizo Hirata, Shinichi Tamba, Noriyuki Ueki
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Patent number: 4721084Abstract: Method for controlling an oxygen concentration sensor for sensing an oxygen concentration in an exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine, which sensor includes an oxygen pump element and a heater element, comprises steps for controlling a pump current and a heat current control in response to a result of a detection of engine load. When the engine is operating in a predetermined high load range, the supply of the pump current to the oxygen pump element is stopped, and the heat current to the heater element is reduced when the engine operation in the high load range has continued for more than a predetermined time period. The heater current to the heater element is stopped when the engine load is in a first predetermined load range, and when the engine operation in a second load range which is lighter than the first load range has continued for a predetermined time period.Type: GrantFiled: September 18, 1986Date of Patent: January 26, 1988Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tomohiko Kawanabe, Masahiko Asakura, Minoru Muroya, Katsuhiko Kimura, Noritaka Kushida, Hiroshi Hasebe
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Patent number: 4721090Abstract: A blow-up gas recirculating apparatus for returning blow-by gases from the crankcase of an internal combustion engine to an intake passage thereof includes a shield panel attached to a cylinder head cover in substantially covering relating to a DOHC valve mechanism housed in a cylinder head. A breather chamber is defined between the cylinder head cover and the shield panel and communicates with the interior of the cylinder head and an air intake unit, such as an air cleaner, of the internal combustion engine. The breather chamber comprises first through third breather chamber sections interconnected by constricted passages, While blow-by gases are flowing through the breather chamber, an oil mist can reliably be separated from the blow-by gases.Type: GrantFiled: June 2, 1986Date of Patent: January 26, 1988Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Hisashi Kato
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Patent number: 4721081Abstract: Conventional direct-injection internal combustion engines having a fuel injector with multiple fuel spray orifices will not completely ignite and burn relatively lower-cetane-number alternative fuels such as 100 percent methanol or ethanol. That is because the fuel spray injection pattern, per se, usually cannot carry or propagate a flame to all the injected fuel which is typically made up of individual fuel streams which are separated by sectors of fuel-deficient intake air. The present fuel combustion system (10) includes a multiple-orifice fuel injector (22), a baffle (138) having a concave surface (146), and a fuel ignition-initiating device (22) such as glow plug positioned generally in spaced relation between the fuel injector (22) and the concave surface (146).Type: GrantFiled: June 3, 1986Date of Patent: January 26, 1988Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.Inventors: Ziedonis I. Krauja, Jeffrey J. Krieger, Scott F. Shafer, Craig A. Kroeger
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Patent number: 4719888Abstract: In an internal combustion engine, when the opening of a throttle valve is smaller than a relatively small definite value, the feedback of the air-fuel ratio of the engine is controlled so that the air-fuel ratio is brought close to a first target air-fuel ratio. When the opening of the throttle valve is equal to or larger than a relatively small definite value and is smaller than a relatively large definite value, the feedback of the air-fuel ratio of the engine is controlled so that the air-fuel ratio is brought close to a second target air-fuel ratio on the rich side with respect to the first target air-fuel ratio. Further, when the opening of the throttle valve is equal to or larger than the relatively large definite value, the air-fuel ratio of the engine is controlled to be a power fuel increment air-fuel ratio.Type: GrantFiled: May 7, 1985Date of Patent: January 19, 1988Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Nobuyuki Kobayashi, Takashi Hattori, Toshimitsu Ito
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Patent number: 4719891Abstract: In a system having an electronic controller for internal combustion engines, particularly injection engines in which the controller is functionally connected to a plurality of sensors and at least one actuator, the controller is part of an assembly which furthermore comprises a throttle-valve arrangement, an air-mass sensor and a throttle-valve position sensor. In systems with central injection, the injection valve can also be arranged within the assembly. By the compact structural unit thus obtained, cable connections are reduced to a minimum, so that, in their turn, reliability is increased and expense is saved. Furthermore, the arrangement facilitates maintenance and repair.Type: GrantFiled: November 3, 1986Date of Patent: January 19, 1988Assignee: VDO Adolf Schindling AGInventors: Wolfgang Porth, Wolfgang Weibler, Eckhart Kern, Thomas Hannewald, Reiner Weingartner
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Patent number: 4718381Abstract: An apparatus for electrically controlling the spark advance of selected cylinders of a multicylinder engine so that the spark of the selected cylinders is advanced beyond others of the cylinders. For example, the selected cylinders may be advanced beyond normal operational advance to increase combustion chamber temperatures and pressures for a relatively short period so as to clean the surfaces of the combustion chamber. The cylinders which are advanced are changed in sequence or at random so that all of the cylinders are cleaned. The system may also be used to control the spark advance of the cylinders to provide differing advances for the respective cylinders to accommodate differences in operational conditions at the cylinders.Type: GrantFiled: June 2, 1986Date of Patent: January 12, 1988Assignee: John A. McDougalInventors: John A. McDougal, John W. Lennington
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Patent number: 4718386Abstract: A fuel injector comprising an injector body having a cylindrical bore containing a plunger connected to a moving part of an electromagnetic drive system, and is provided with a detector for the plunger displacement the moving part of the drive system being formed by a cylindrical winding positioned in the annular air gap of the magnetic circuit of the drive system.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 1986Date of Patent: January 12, 1988Assignee: Volvo Car B.V.Inventor: Wilhelmus T. M. Gieles
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Patent number: 4718389Abstract: Control signals for triggering the events to be controlled, via at least one output stage (13, 14), are generated in a vehicular computer (11) as a dependent function of the output signals of a sensor (10) coupled to a rotating shaft of the engine, and of further sensors dependent on other operating parameters. At least one sensor-controlled auxiliary control device (17, 18) is provided. The output signals of the auxiliary control devices (17, 18) are transmitted via a switching device (12) to the terminal control stages (13, 14) as an alternative to the output signals of the computer (11). The switching device (12) is preferably embodied as a multiplexer and is controllable by an error decoding stage (19) for decoding and monitoring serial, or parallel, signals of the computer (11) to determine proper function of the computer (11); in case of malfunction of the computer (11), decoding stage (19) causes control of the output stage, or stages (13, 14) from the respective auxiliary control device.Type: GrantFiled: September 24, 1982Date of Patent: January 12, 1988Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbHInventors: Gunther Honig, Uwe Kiencke, Alfred Schulz
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Patent number: 4716876Abstract: A fuel injection control system in which the output of a hot-wire air flow sensor is limited to a maximum value in order to compensate for return blow at low-speed, high-power conditions. However, the maximum value is adjusted for altitude and temperature.Type: GrantFiled: October 22, 1986Date of Patent: January 5, 1988Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Setsuhiro Shimomura, Yukinobu Nishimura
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Patent number: 4715327Abstract: A flow system for an engine-pump assembly utilizes the engine cooling water for heating the engine carburetors to prevent icing thereof and includes a flow indicator providing a visual indication of the condition of the engine's cooling water flow.Type: GrantFiled: May 23, 1986Date of Patent: December 29, 1987Assignee: Hale Fire Pump CompanyInventor: H. Alfred Eberhardt
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Patent number: 4715342Abstract: A first maximum ignition timing table storing a plurality of degrees of ignition timing each producing a maximum engine torque dependent on engine speed with low-octane gasoline without occurring the knock, and a second maximum ignition timing table storing a plurality of degrees of ignition timing each producing a maximum engine torque dependent on engine speed with high-octane gasoline without occurring the knock are provided. A first ignition timing and a second ignition timing are provided from the first and second maximum ignition timing tables in accordance with engine speed, and a correcting quantity having a value within the difference between the first and second ignition timings is obtained. An ignition timing is obtained by using the correcting quantity.Type: GrantFiled: December 26, 1985Date of Patent: December 29, 1987Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Masaaki Nagai
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Method of and device for automatically adjusting the ignition timing of a controlled ignition engine
Patent number: 4715341Abstract: The method comprises detecting, during the combustion phase in at least one engine cylinder, the angular position of the crankshaft at which the value of the ratio of the volume of burnt gases to the overall gas volume in the cylinder reaches a preselected value, and adjusting the ignition timing to make said detected position of the crankshaft coincide with a predetermined position. The method also includes detecting for all cycles of operation the flame front in all the cylinders of the engine. The number of signals delivered by one of the detectors are counted for a specified number of cycles of operation of the engine and the average value of the change in angular position of the crankshaft during which time said signals are counted is determined. Accordingly, depending upon whether the number of signals counted in another cylinder falls below or above the count in the first cylinder, a corresponding reference signal is produced for controlling ignition timing.Type: GrantFiled: October 6, 1981Date of Patent: December 29, 1987Assignee: Institut Francais du PetroleInventors: Andre Douaud, Joseph Rialan -
Patent number: 4714064Abstract: The disclosure is directed to a control device for an internal combustion engine for a motor vehicle such as an automobile or the like, having a control valve disposed in a by-pass passage for opening and shutting the by-pass passage which communicates the upstream side and the downstream side of an intake passage by by-passing a throttle valve, in which the engine speed in idling operating condition is controlled to a target speed. This control device is characterized in that the ignition timing is rather advanced than ordinary idling ignition timing during a certain period from the instance when the engine has entered into the idling operating condition after having received a signal detecting the idling operating condition of the engine.Type: GrantFiled: April 23, 1986Date of Patent: December 22, 1987Assignee: Mazda Motor CorporationInventor: Shigeki Imazu
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Patent number: 4713733Abstract: A cigar lighter assemblage for mounting through an opening of a vehicle dashboard from the front thereof, including a tubular socket having an opening for receiving an ignitor plug, a light-conducting bushing surrounding the socket and constituting a bezel therefor, and a lamp-holder carried by the bushing. There are cooperable structures on the bushing and holder for slidably mounting the latter on the bushing, and enabling it to move between an extended position and a retracted position. The lamp holder has a projection for engagement with the panel, which functions to shift the holder from its extended position to its retracted position as the bushing is being frontally inserted in the panel. An especially simple arrangement results, characterized by both manufacturing economy and ease of assembly.Type: GrantFiled: March 25, 1987Date of Patent: December 15, 1987Assignee: Casco Products CorporationInventors: Edward J. Fitz, Dominic Pesapane
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Patent number: 4711213Abstract: A knock control system for an internal combustion engine has a knock discrimination level. If an output signal from a knock sensor is higher than the knock discrimination level, then the knock control system determines that the engine is subjected to knock and retards the ignition timing. If the knock sensor output signal is lower than the knock discrimination level, i.e., if no knock or detonation is detected over a prescribed period of time, then the ignition timing is advanced. The knock discrimination level is corrected such that a probability that the maximum value of the knock sensor output signal will exceed the knock discrimination level is greater in a knock control range than outside of a knock control range.Type: GrantFiled: April 10, 1986Date of Patent: December 8, 1987Assignee: Nippondenso Co., Ltd.Inventors: Koji Sakakibara, Hiroshi Haraguchi
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Patent number: 4709681Abstract: A device for injection of a two-phase mixture composed of fuel and carrier air into intake pipes associated with the individual cylinders of a multi-cylinder, mixture-compressing combustion engine, the device having carrier air apportioning means which apportions a carrier air current, branched off the intake manifold and conveyed by an air pump, to the injection lines associated separately with the individual cylinders of the combustion engine, a fuel injection valve is provided which injects the fuel by way of separate injection nozzles into the individual injection lines, the carrier air apportioning means is provided with a carrier air collecting space formed in a housing containing the injection valve, the collecting space surrounding the injection valve in annular manner and communicating, on the one hand, with the air pump and, on the other hand, with the injection lines, a carrier air reservoir is provided between the carrier air collecting space and the injection lines, which surrounds the injectionType: GrantFiled: February 19, 1987Date of Patent: December 1, 1987Assignee: Volkswagen AGInventor: Tomas Rozsas