Patents by Inventor Alfred Schnabel

Alfred Schnabel 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: 7506715
    Abstract: A safety device for a motor vehicle including a front-end structure, a front bulkhead, which separates the front-end structure from an interior, and a brake apparatus fixed to the front bulkhead and including a brake cylinder, the brake cylinder includes a device for pivoting the brake apparatus, which device, in the event of a vehicle crash, interacts with structural elements disposed in the front-end structure. The safety of a driver present in the motor vehicle may be increased. The device for pivoting the brake apparatus includes a fastening portion and a slide portion with a slide plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Daimler AG
    Inventors: Reinhard Averdiek, Dietmar Breitling, Ferdinand Gaiser, Joachim Herre, Uwe Krempels, Richard Krueger, Bengt Larsson, Christoph Mueller, Michael Piesche, Klaus Riehle, Axel Schmidt, Alfred Schnabel
  • Publication number: 20080296918
    Abstract: A motor vehicle shell structure has longitudinal side members which extend from a wheel arch along the outer shell structure in the direction of travel and a bumper arrangement arranged in front of the wheel arch in the direction of travel and having a cross member and an energy absorbing element. A safety device for a motor vehicle shell structure which increases the safety of vehicle occupants is achieved by arranging the energy absorbing element is arranged on the cross member at the height of the wheel arch so that it extends between the cross member and the wheel arch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2004
    Publication date: December 4, 2008
    Inventors: Christoph Mueller, Jochen Ruf, Josef Sailer, Alfred Schnabel
  • Publication number: 20070051550
    Abstract: A safety device for a motor vehicle including a front-end structure, a front bulkhead, which separates the front-end structure from an interior, and a brake apparatus fixed to the front bulkhead and including a brake cylinder, the brake cylinder includes a device for pivoting the brake apparatus, which device, in the event of a vehicle crash, interacts with structural elements disposed in the front-end structure. The safety of a driver present in the motor vehicle may be increased. The device for pivoting the brake apparatus includes a fastening portion and a slide portion with a slide plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2004
    Publication date: March 8, 2007
    Inventors: Reinhard Averdiek, Dietmar Breitling, Ferdinand Gaiser, Joachim Herre, Uwe Krempels, Richard Krueger, Bengt Larsson, Christoph Mueller, Michael Piesche, Klaus Riehle, Axel Schmidt, Alfred Schnabel
  • Publication number: 20060091700
    Abstract: In order to increase the safety of vehicle occupants, in particular in order to reduce the stresses acting in a vehicle deceleration in the event of an impact, a force-transmission element (1) having two different levels is provided for an engine compartment. According to the invention this force-transmission element is incorporated into the force path which is initiated by the impact and it can be shifted from one level to another according to the position of the engine in the engine compartment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2003
    Publication date: May 4, 2006
    Inventors: Juergen Decker, Joachim Herre, Hans-Juergen Mau, Matthias Nohr, Lutz Ristow, Alfred Schnabel
  • Patent number: 6808039
    Abstract: A front end of a motor vehicle, e.g., a passenger vehicle, having two longitudinal members, extending essentially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and an integral member on which a drive unit of the motor vehicle is mounted. The integral member has, on each side of the vehicle, a base member which extends essentially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and is fastened in each case by a front supporting pillar and by a rear supporting pillar to one of the longitudinal members. Each longitudinal member being of deformable configuration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle at least between the supporting pillars. In order to improve the deformation behavior of the front end, each base member is fastened exclusively via its front supporting pillar and its rear supporting pillar at the bottom to associated longitudinal members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2004
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
    Inventors: Arno Roehringer, Alfred Schnabel, Rodolfo Schoeneburg
  • Publication number: 20030075907
    Abstract: In a method for restraining vehicle occupants in which the loads on the vehicle occupants are reduced during the restraining process, a method for restraining vehicle occupants by dissipating kinetic energy provides that firstly a possible accident is sensed and then a force which acts in the direction of the impact is applied to the vehicle occupant at the latest at the time of the first contact between the vehicle and the obstacle, the force being set over the entire braking distance so that a constant acceleration acts on the vehicle occupant so that the dissipation of the kinetic energy occurs uniformly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2002
    Publication date: April 24, 2003
    Inventors: Karl-Heinz Baumann, Lutz Quarg, Alfred Schnabel
  • Publication number: 20030075377
    Abstract: A front end of a motor vehicle, e.g., a passenger vehicle, having two longitudinal members extending essentially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and having an integral member on which a drive unit of the motor vehicle is mounted and which has, on each side of the vehicle, a base member which extends essentially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and is fastened in each case by a front supporting pillar and by a rear supporting pillar at the bottom to one of the longitudinal members, each longitudinal member being of deformable configuration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle at least between the supporting pillars.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2002
    Publication date: April 24, 2003
    Inventors: Arno Roehringer, Alfred Schnabel, Rodolfo Schoeneburg
  • Patent number: 6269900
    Abstract: A front-end structure for a passenger motor vehicle has a front end region, in the direction of travel, of the brake servo unit which is assigned at least one mechanical forced guidance apparatus. The latter is fixed on at least one body-shell part. In a vehicle impact, the apparatus engages with at least one movement component in the vertical direction of the vehicle, from bottom to top, on the end region of the brake servo unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
    Inventors: Frank Adams, Eberhard Benz, Joachim Herre, Josef Sailer, Alfred Schnabel
  • Patent number: 5782136
    Abstract: A steering column for a motor vehicle comprises struts as a support of the steering column tube on vehicle parts. At least one of these struts extends in the transverse direction of the vehicle. On at least one transversely extending strut, at least one separating point is constructed by way of which, in the event of a crash load, the strut can be divided into mutually separated strut parts. During a crash, an unfavorable movement of the steering column tube is therefore prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1998
    Assignee: Mercedes-Benz AG
    Inventors: Thomas Witkovsky, Alfred Schnabel, Rolf Zimmerman
  • Patent number: 5778732
    Abstract: A safety arrangement in the leg room of a motor vehicle has a strut of a suspension for the tube of a safety steering column hanging down from a cross member into the leg room. A crash-caused bending of the strut is connected with a raising of the forward steering column tube end. A pedal assembly is arranged laterally next to the strut on a front wall of the vehicle body bounding the leg room in the front. In order to prevent an erection of the steering column tube caused by a shock impulse in the event of a crash of the motor vehicle with a rearward displacement of the pedal assembly, at least one laterally supporting deflecting device is arranged on the pedal assembly and/or on the strut, by way of which the pedal assembly is guided past the strut.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1998
    Assignee: Mercedes-Benz AG
    Inventors: Helmut Patzelt, Eberhard Klemm, Norbert Wessels, Alfred Schnabel
  • Patent number: 5752718
    Abstract: A forward structure of a motor vehicle has a cross member which connects the two A-columns with one another and which is used for fixing a steering column and a knee restraint. A strut is fixed on the forward structure and extends from the cross member to a transmission tunnel extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. At least two mutually overlapping strut sections of the strut have a connection area which, under a load during a crash and after overcoming a force threshold, can be elongated in a longitudinal direction while absorbing energy. A force limiting device is provided in the connection area of the strut sections in the force transmission path. Consequently, after the force threshold is exceeded, an energy reduction is achieved during a predetermined lengthening path of the connecting strut and at a constant force level so that a yielding of the impact-loaded knee restraint together with the cross member takes place with a force-limited resistance along a predetermined path distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1998
    Assignee: Mercedes-Benz AG
    Inventors: Alfred Schnabel, Helmut Patzelt, Thomas Witkovsky