Patents by Inventor Franco Maioli

Franco Maioli 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: 6131293
    Abstract: A universal self-centering device for heads or sensors for checking the trim of the wheel assemblies of motor vehicles in general, comprising a contoured plate, which is provided with a central hub for supporting a head which is adapted to acquire the trim data of a wheel assembly of a motor vehicle; with a circumferential plurality of radial slots, with which respective double-acting grip claws are slidingly associated, the claws being adapted to engage, from the inside and from the outside, the bead retaining rim of a wheel; and a grip unit, which is adapted to fasten onto the tire mounted on the wheel and comprises a common actuation element, which is placed at the center of the plate and is kinematically coupled to the claws so as to make them slide along the slots with a simultaneous mutual approach or spacing motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2000
    Assignee: Femas S.r.l.
    Inventors: Franco Maioli, Gino Ferrari
  • Patent number: 6074118
    Abstract: A device for automatically locking a wheel onto a front end of a balancing machine shaft includes a hollow profiled body provided with a frontal member on which the rim of the wheel to be balanced bears. The profiled body acts as a housing for a slider positioned coaxial to the shaft and extends beyond the bearing member where it presents a threaded portion arranged to receive a ring nut for locking said wheel rim. The housing is intended to be connected to a pressurized fluid source in such a manner that the slider is able to slide between a withdrawn locking position in which the ring nut urges the wheel rim against the bearing member, and an advanced release position in which the ring nut is disengaged from the wheel rim.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2000
    Assignee: FEMAS S.R.L.
    Inventors: Gino Ferrari, Franco Maioli
  • Patent number: 5886258
    Abstract: An apparatus for fitting, with perfect axial alignment, motor vehicle wheels of any size on the horizontal shaft of a machine, typically a wheel balancing machine, comprises two mutually facing and superimposed jaws which are moved so as to perform a mutual approach and spacing motion, by means of which they engage the tire of the wheel to be checked and/or that has already been checked and respectively disengage from the tire; a vertical motion, by means of which the jaws move between a lowered position, in which they can receive the wheel to be checked and remove the checked wheel, and a raised position, in which the jaws are arranged in a mirror-symmetrical manner with respect to the balancing shaft; and a horizontal back-and-forth motion, parallel to the balancing shaft, between a retracted position, in which the jaws support the wheel so that it is axially aligned with the shaft and arranged in front of its free end, and an extracted position, in which the jaws support the wheel so that it is axially ali
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1999
    Assignee: FEMAS s.r.l.
    Inventors: Franco Maioli, Gino Ferrari
  • Patent number: 5773719
    Abstract: A fixture for locking motorcycle wheels onto the shaft of balancing machines having a spindle coaxial to the shaft for supporting the wheel to be balanced, and members for making the shaft and the wheel rotationally rigid. The fixture includes a diametrical entrainment arm to be fixed to the end of the balancing shaft, and wheel clamping members provided by a body pivoted in the manner of a rocker element to each of the ends of the entrainment arm. The body having clamping members at one end, and at its opposite end a counter-weight is arranged such that, under the action of centrifugal force, the body increases its clamping action on the wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 30, 1998
    Assignee: Femas, S.R.L.
    Inventors: Gino Ferrari, Franco Maioli
  • Patent number: 5664898
    Abstract: The locking ring includes a body having an axis and a hole along the axis. The body receives a shaft in the hole. The body includes a cavity, a first passageway communicating with the cavity, and a locking mechanism for releasably locking the body to a portion of the shaft disposed in the hole. The locking ring further includes a piston member having a piston head and a piston rod connected to the piston head. The piston head is disposed in the cavity, and the piston rod projects from the cavity in a direction parallel to the axis. The piston member moves relative to the body when pressure is supplied to the cavity via the first passageway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 9, 1997
    Assignee: Femas S.R.L.
    Inventors: Gino Ferrari, Franco Maioli