Patents by Inventor Ralph Gerbeth

Ralph Gerbeth 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).

  • Apparatus for hardening a cylindrical bearing on a shaft by means of induction heating utilizing an elastic element
    Patent number: 7145115
    Abstract: An apparatus for hardening cylindrical bearing locations on a shaft, in particular a crankshaft, in which transition radii to the adjacent shaft parts are of undercut design, is provided with a heating unit, which is connected to a power supply, and with an inductor. The inductor has two heating conductor arms, which are arranged at a distance from one another and each run in the peripheral direction of the bearing location that is to be hardened. Each of the two heating conductor arms is provided with an inner bearing-surface hardening branch and two outer radius hardening branches, the bearing-surface hardening branch in each case being mechanically connected to the radius hardening branches by current-carrying elements which bear the radius hardening branches. The mechanical connection is sufficiently elastic for the radius hardening branches to be displaceable relative to the bearing-surface hardening branch in the axial direction of the shaft that is to be hardened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2006
    Assignee: Maschinenfabrik Alfing Kessler GmbH
    Inventors: Andreas Zahn, Ralph Gerbeth
  • Process and apparatus for hardening cylindrical bearing locations on a shaft
    Publication number: 20060027569
    Abstract: An apparatus for hardening cylindrical bearing locations on a shaft, in particular a crankshaft, in which transition radii to the adjacent shaft parts are of undercut design, is provided with a heating unit, which is connected to a power supply, and with an inductor. The inductor has two heating conductor arms, which are arranged at a distance from one another and each run in the peripheral direction of the bearing location that is to be hardened. Each of the two heating conductor arms is provided with an inner bearing-surface hardening branch and two outer radius hardening branches, the bearing-surface hardening branch in each case being mechanically connected to the radius hardening branches by current-carrying elements which bear the radius hardening branches. The mechanical connection is sufficiently elastic for the radius hardening branches to be displaceable relative to the bearing-surface hardening branch in the axial direction of the shaft that is to be hardened.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2004
    Publication date: February 9, 2006
    Inventors: Andreas Zahn, Ralph Gerbeth