Patents by Inventor Georg Grafenstein

Georg Grafenstein 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: 5492338
    Abstract: In an elastic seal 6 for sealing a part passing through a motor vehicle body opening 3, e.g., a steering gear 2 or a steering column of a motor vehicle, a sealing lip 6 connected to a holding part 8 is designed as a hollow bead 5 whose free end 7 is fixed in a detachable manner to the holding part 8.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 20, 1996
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Georg Grafenstein
  • Patent number: 4865149
    Abstract: A rack and pinion steering system, especially for motor vehicles, has a toothed rack that can be axially displaced in a steering gear housing, a pinion driven by the steering wheel and actuating the toothed rack, and a spring-loaded pressure part supported in the steering gear housing which serves to generate a certain pressure between the toothed rack and the pinion. Measures to raise the coefficient of friction which come into frictional contact with each other--in each case only in the region corresponding to straight-ahead driving--are provided on one or more surfaces of the steering system. As a result of such measures to increase the coefficient of friction at certain friction points in the steering system relating to straight-ahead motion of the vehicle, it is a simple matter to achieve an increase in steering torque in the center region of the steering system without the need for geometrical changes to the steering system or an increase in the pressure between the toothed rack and the pinion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1987
    Date of Patent: September 12, 1989
    Inventors: Wolfgang Rohrbach, Georg Grafenstein, Wilhelm Beer, Burghardt Kiy, Eugen Monetha