Patents by Inventor Akira Obayashi

Akira Obayashi 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).

  • Publication number: 20170232917
    Abstract: A vehicle bumper beam including an outer member, and an inner member such that a pair of second standing walls of the inner member are configured to be tilted at a tilt angle of 20° or less so as to open outward and symmetrically in the vertical direction as the second standing walls extend farther away from an inner member second projecting wall, and a pair of first standing walls of the outer member are configured to be tilted at substantially the same angle as the tilt angle of the second standing walls so as to open outward and symmetrically in the vertical direction as the first standing walls extend farther away from a first projecting wall.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2015
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Applicant: TOYODA IRON WORKS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takeshi NAKAYAMA, Akira OBAYASHI
  • Patent number: 9598118
    Abstract: A vehicle floor brace has a tubular body formed by rounding a sheet metal material, and a pair of attachment portions made of the sheet metal material and formed integrally with the tubular body at both ends in a longitudinal direction of the tubular body, and the vehicle floor brace is fixedly attached to an underside of a floor panel of a vehicle via the attachment portions to reinforce the floor panel, each of the attachment portions being configured to include a flat portion having an attachment surface to be attached to the floor panel, and a pair of reinforcing flanges formed by bending both side portions of the flat portion at right angles so that the side portions extend downward to an opposite side from the attachment surface and so that the attachment portion has a dish-shaped section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: TOYODA IRON WORKS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Toriyama, Akira Obayashi, Nobuhiro Ando, Keisuke Kamiya
  • Publication number: 20170029033
    Abstract: A tubular reinforcement for a vehicle including a tubular portion having a sheet metal rolled to have closed edges, and an integral attachment portion formed from the same sheet metal, the attachment portion extending longitudinally from a tubular portion end and having a planar attachment base. The attachment base is raised to bring forward the contact surface, forming a peripheral wall. The tubular reinforcement is disposed in the vehicle so that an attachment base contact surface closely contacts a mounting location in the vehicle. The attachment portion lateral edges have lateral flanges on the peripheral wall opposite sides extending along with the peripheral wall toward the contact surface plane. The peripheral wall and the lateral flanges form turnback portions on both sides of the attachment base, each turnback portions defining a concavity recessed from the contact surface and having a U- or J-shaped section perpendicular to a tubular portion centerline.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2014
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Applicant: TOYODA IRON WORKS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuaki KITAGUCHI, Akira OBAYASHI, Makoto NAKANISHI, Takeshi NAKAYAMA
  • Publication number: 20160159405
    Abstract: A vehicle floor brace has a tubular body formed by rounding a sheet metal material, and a pair of attachment portions made of the sheet metal material and formed integrally with the tubular body at both ends in a longitudinal direction of the tubular body, and the vehicle floor brace is fixedly attached to an underside of a floor panel of a vehicle via the attachment portions to reinforce the floor panel, each of the attachment portions being configured to include a flat portion having an attachment surface to be attached to the floor panel, and a pair of reinforcing flanges formed by bending both side portions of the flat portion at right angles so that the side portions extend downward to an opposite side from the attachment surface and so that the attachment portion has a dish-shaped section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2014
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Applicant: TOYODA IRON WORKS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi TORIYAMA, Akira OBAYASHI, Nobuhiro ANDO, Keisuke KAMIYA
  • Patent number: 8122988
    Abstract: A vehicular cooling device supporting apparatus has a radiator support lower 14 formed with a plurality of support-side connecting portions 32 and 34 for altering connecting positions to radiator support sides 16 and 18. This enables a layout position of a radiator main body 20 to be altered depending on size of an engine to use component parts in common. Placing the radiator main body 20 in a rearward position when the engine is small in size can suppresses damage to the radiator main body 20 upon collision of a vehicle at a low vehicle speed. In this case, it is suffice for the connecting positions of the radiator support lower 14 to the radiator support sides 16 and 18 to be altered in a vehicle fore and aft direction. Thus, the cooling device supporting apparatus can be constructed simply at the low cost with a minimum number of component parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: Toyoda Iron Works Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Obayashi, Akiyoshi Kato
  • Patent number: 7942223
    Abstract: A vehicular radiator supporting apparatus 10 has a pair of radiator support sides 16 and 18 connected to a radiator support upper 12 to be pivoted about a predetermined pivot axis O. To the pair of radiator support sides 16 and 18, a pair of abutting brackets 34 and 36 are integrally fixed at positions corresponding to a height of the bumper reinforcement 54, and they are connected to a pair of vehicle-body side brackets 38 and 40. When applied with a load exceeding a predetermined value and acting rearward of the vehicle, the pair of abutting brackets 34 and 36 are pivoted about the pivot axis O integrally with the pair of radiator support sides 16 and 18 to be displaced rearward of the vehicle. Thus, the vehicular radiator supporting apparatus 10 itself in addition to the radiator main body 20 is prevented from being damaged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Toyoda Iron Works Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Obayashi, Akiyoshi Kato
  • Patent number: 7815247
    Abstract: Deformation by camber recovery etc. due to non-uniform residual stress is suppressed, and occurrence of crack and burr is suppressed by improving press forming property of a roof side T-shaped portion, so that a reinforcing member having a predetermined shape accuracy is manufactured easily and inexpensively by pressing. A reinforcing member (12) is constructed by three members, i.e. an upper member (20), a lower member (22) and a central member (24). A tensile strength of the upper member (20) is selected lower than that of the central member (24), and is higher than that of the lower member (22). In comparison to a case where the upper member (20) and the central member (24) are constructed integrally by an ultra-high tensile steel plate, fluctuation of internally generated residual stress is made small. Shape accuracy is thereby improved by the reduced deforming amount due to camber recovery etc., thus press forming being facilitated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: Toyoda Iron Works Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Akira Obayashi
  • Publication number: 20100166912
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional cheese-like foods prepared by using soymilk and production method thereof, such as necessity for soymilk in a special composition with its oils and sugars removed and elongation of the production period until completion for aging by molding. The present invention relates to a method of producing a cheese-like food, comprising the steps of preparing a curd by fermenting soymilk with a lactic bacterium having protease activity, heating the curd, and filtering the curd.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2007
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Inventors: Tamotsu Furumai, Ryuji Yoshida, Atsushi Hayashi, Akira Obayashi, Takashi Shimada
  • Publication number: 20090266634
    Abstract: A vehicular radiator supporting apparatus 10 has a pair of radiator support sides 16 and 18 connected to a radiator support upper 12 to be pivoted about a predetermined pivot axis O. To the pair of radiator support sides 16 and 18, a pair of abutting brackets 34 and 36 are integrally fixed at positions corresponding to a height of the bumper reinforcement 54, and they are connected to a pair of vehicle-body side brackets 38 and 40. When applied with a load exceeding a predetermined value and acting rearward of the vehicle, the pair of abutting brackets 34 and 36 are pivoted about the pivot axis O integrally with the pair of radiator support sides 16 and 18 to be displaced rearward of the vehicle. Thus, the vehicular radiator supporting apparatus 10 itself in addition to the radiator main body 20 is prevented from being damaged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2009
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Inventors: Akira OBAYASHI, Akiyoshi KATO
  • Publication number: 20090266633
    Abstract: A vehicular cooling device supporting apparatus has a radiator support lower 14 formed with a plurality of support-side connecting portions 32 and 34 for altering connecting positions to radiator support sides 16 and 18. This enables a layout position of a radiator main body 20 to be altered depending on size of an engine to use component parts in common. Placing the radiator main body 20 in a rearward position when the engine is small in size can suppresses damage to the radiator main body 20 upon collision of a vehicle at a low vehicle speed. In this case, it is suffice for the connecting positions of the radiator support lower 14 to the radiator support sides 16 and 18 to be altered in a vehicle fore and aft direction. Thus, the cooling device supporting apparatus can be constructed simply at the low cost with a minimum number of component parts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2009
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Inventors: Akira Obayashi, Akiyoshi Kato
  • Patent number: 7559998
    Abstract: A hot press-formed member having stable strength and toughness is manufactured from a high strength steel sheet by hot press forming. In the cooling stage during hot press forming, the cooling rate is at least the critical cooling rate until the Ms point is reached and it is then in the range of 25-150° C./s in the temperature range from the Ms point to 200° C. The Vickers hardness of the hot pressed member is less than the value of (maximum quenching hardness—10) and at least the value of (maximum quenching hardness—100).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignees: Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyoda Iron Works Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshinobu Nishibata, Masahiro Nakata, Shuntaro Sudo, Akira Obayashi, Masanobu Ichikawa
  • Publication number: 20080315628
    Abstract: Deformation by camber recovery etc. due to non-uniform residual stress is suppressed, and occurrence of crack and burr is suppressed by improving press forming property of a roof side T-shaped portion, so that a reinforcing member having a predetermined shape accuracy is manufactured easily and inexpensively by pressing. A reinforcing member (12) is constructed by three members, i.e. an upper member (20), a lower member (22) and a central member (24). A tensile strength of the upper member (20) is selected lower than that of the central member (24), and is higher than that of the lower member (22). In comparison to a case where the upper member (20) and the central member (24) are constructed integrally by an ultra-high tensile steel plate, fluctuation of internally generated residual stress is made small. Shape accuracy is thereby improved by the reduced deforming amount due to camber recovery etc., thus press forming being facilitated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2008
    Publication date: December 25, 2008
    Inventor: Akira Obayashi
  • Patent number: 7399535
    Abstract: A hot press-formed article having improved corrosion resistance and coating adhesion when coated is obtained by hot press forming of a zinc-based plated steel material. It has a zinc-based plating layer comprising an iron-zinc solid solution phase and atop it a zinc oxide layer. The average thickness of the zinc oxide layer which is the outermost layer is at most 2 ?m. A hot press-formed article having a good appearance and excellent corrosion resistance, coating adhesion, post-coating corrosion resistance, and weldability has a layer (2) consisting essentially of an iron-zinc solid solution phase atop a base material steel sheet (1). It also has a zinc oxide layer (3) with an average thickness of at most 5 ?m as an uppermost layer, but it does not have a substantial amount of an iron-zinc intermetallic compound phase. The total amount of Al contained in the iron-zinc solid solution layer (2) and the zinc oxide layer (3) is at most 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2008
    Assignees: Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd., Toyota Jodosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyoda Iron Works Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukihiro Yoshikawa, Kazuhito Imai, Kunihiro Fukui, Tamotsu Toki, Shuntaro Sudo, Akira Obayashi, Masanobu Ichikawa
  • Publication number: 20060185774
    Abstract: A hot press-formed member having stable strength and toughness is manufactured from a high strength steel sheet by hot press forming. In the cooling stage during hot press forming, the cooling rate is at least the critical cooling rate until the Ms point is reached and it is then in the range of 25-150° C./s in the temperature range from the Ms point to 200° C. The Vickers hardness of the hot pressed member is less than the value of (maximum quenching hardness ?10) and at east the value of (maximum quenching hardness ?100).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2005
    Publication date: August 24, 2006
    Inventors: Toshinobu Nishibata, Masahiro Nakata, Shuntaro Suda, Akira Obayashi, Masanobu Ichikawa
  • Publication number: 20060121305
    Abstract: A hot press-formed article having improved corrosion resistance and coating adhesion when coated is obtained by hot press forming of a zinc-based plated steel material. It has a zinc-based plating layer comprising an iron-zinc solid solution phase and atop it a zinc oxide layer. The average thickness of the zinc oxide layer which is the outermost layer is at most 2 ?m. A hot press-formed article having a good appearance and excellent corrosion resistance, coating adhesion, post-coating corrosion resistance, and weldability has a layer (2) consisting essentially of an iron-zinc solid solution phase atop a base material steel sheet (1). It also has a zinc oxide layer (3) with an average thickness of at most 5 ?m as an uppermost layer, but it does not have a substantial amount of an iron-zinc intermetallic compound phase. The total amount of Al contained in the iron-zinc solid solution layer (2) and the zinc oxide layer (3) is at most 0.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2005
    Publication date: June 8, 2006
    Inventors: Yukihiro Yoshikawa, Kazuhito Imai, Kunihiro Fukui, Tamotsu Toki, Shuntaro Sudo, Akira Obayashi, Masanobu Ichikawa
  • Patent number: 5026645
    Abstract: SP6 bacteriophage RNA polymerase is produced by cultivating a new microorganism (particularly new strains of Escherichia coli) harboring a plasmid that carries SP6 bacteriophage RNA polymerase gene and recovering SP6 bacteriophage RNA polymerase from the culture broth. SP6 bacteriophage RNA polymerase gene is provided as are new microorganisms harboring a plasmid that carries SP6 bacteriophage RNA polymerase gene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 1987
    Date of Patent: June 25, 1991
    Assignee: Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirokazu Kotani, Nobutsugu Hiraoka, Akira Obayashi
  • Patent number: 5018301
    Abstract: Method of cultivating mushrooms in a culture medium containing aluminum or a particular aluminum compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1989
    Date of Patent: May 28, 1991
    Assignee: Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Kusakabe, Hitoshi Maruyama, Yukita Kawano, Susumu Matsui, Tsutomu Taniguchi, Akira Obayashi
  • Patent number: 4975533
    Abstract: A method for the fluorescent labelling of a sugar or a sugar chain by labelling the reducing end of the sugar or sugar chain with a fluorescent substance, wherein the improvement comprises first forming a Schiff base by reacting the surgar or sugar chain with the fluorescent substance in the presence of an acid which is substantially free from water, and second, reducing said Schiff base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1988
    Date of Patent: December 4, 1990
    Assignee: Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiro Kondo, Ikunoshin Kato, Akira Obayashi, Sumihiro Hase
  • Patent number: 4954445
    Abstract: NAD(P)H oxidase is disclosed having the following enzymological properties:(1) ActionIt oxidizes NADH or NADPH in the presence of oxygen to form NAD or NAD and hydrogen peroxide.NAD(P)H+H.sup.+ +O.sub.2 .fwdarw.NAD(P).sup.+ +H.sub.2 O.sub.2(2) Substrate specificityIt acts upon NADH and NADPH.(3) Optimum pHIts optimum pH lies in the range of about 9 to 10.Also disclosed is a process for producing the NAD(P)H oxidase and a method for determining the quantity of substrate or enzyme activity in a sample solution by utilizing a reaction system forming NADH or NADPH.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 1987
    Date of Patent: September 4, 1990
    Assignee: Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshio Yoshihama, Asuka Kagaya, Susumu Matsui, Akira Obayashi
  • Patent number: 4940837
    Abstract: The invention provides novel strains of Basidiomycetes and more particularly, novel strains of Lyophyllum ulmarium. The novel strains are characterized by having a cap which is not concave when the fruiting body has matured. A process is provided comprising inoculation of Lyophyllum ulmarium with a cap which is not concave when the fruiting body has matured on a medium to form the fruiting body.Also provided is a method comprising the mating of Lyophyllum ulmarium Lu 1-8 with other Lyophyllum ulmarium and the harvesting of Lyophyllum ulmarium with a cap which is not concave when the fruiting body has matured in a term of cultivation up to harvest of the fruiting body that does not exceed 100 days.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 1987
    Date of Patent: July 10, 1990
    Assignee: Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukita Kawano, Katsuhiko Kusakabe, Hitoshi Maruyama, Susumu Matsui, Tsutomu Taniguchi, Akira Obayashi