Abstract: A balanced vane type hydraulic pump has a thrust plate and a pressure plate which cooperate with a cam ring, rotor and vanes to provide a plurality of pump chambers. During pump operation, fluid trapped under the vanes flows from under the vanes at the discharge port, as the vane recedes, to under the vanes at the inlet port to assist vane extension and improve pump priming. The undervane fluid passes through grooves in both plates with the groove in the pressure plate being in communication with the discharge flow of the pump. The grooves incorporate restrictions to the undervane fluid flow between the discharge and inlet positions of the vanes with the restriction in the thrust plate permitting more fluid flow than the restriction in the pressure plate to ensure that most of the fluid will pass through the rotor under the vanes in the inlet position to assist in vane extension.

Abstract: An automotive engine cooling fan assembly including asymmetrical plastic fan blades and a torsion bar interconnecting each blade to the hub of the assembly, the asymmetrical blades responding to both aerodynamic and centrifugal forces to reduce the pitch thereof at high fan speeds, the entire fan blade subassembly being rotated as a result of the twisting of the torsion bar.