Patents by Inventor Thomas Riess

Thomas Riess 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: 7264103
    Abstract: A release device for a friction clutch includes a guide tube, a sliding sleeve mounted on the guide tube, and a release bearing mounted coaxially to the sliding sleeve, the bearing including a first bearing race, rolling elements, and a rotating second bearing race. The second bearing race supports a connecting element, which establishes the working connection between the release bearing and the ends of spring tongues of a diaphragm spring, which serves as the actuating element of the friction clutch. The connecting element has a receiving section, which holds the ends of the diaphragm spring tongues and can shift position in the radial direction in opposition to a restoring force, and a retaining section for the second bearing race. Radial is placement of the ends of the diaphragm spring tongues which occurs upon axial actuation of the releasing device can be absorbed by the connecting element with essentially no friction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2007
    Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
    Inventor: Thomas Riess
  • Publication number: 20050236250
    Abstract: A release device for a friction clutch of a motor vehicle with a guide tube, a sliding sleeve mounted on the guide tube with freedom to slide in the axial direction, and a release bearing mounted coaxially to the sliding sleeve, the bearing including a first bearing race, rolling elements, and a rotating second bearing race. The second bearing race supports a connecting element, which establishes the working connection between the release bearing and the ends of the spring tongues of the diaphragm spring, which serves as the actuating element of the friction clutch. The connecting element has a receiving section, which holds the ends of the diaphragm spring tongues and can shift position in the radial direction in opposition to a restoring force, and a retaining section for the second bearing race. As a result, the radial displacement of the ends of the diaphragm spring tongues which occurs upon axial actuation of the releasing device can be absorbed by the connecting element with essentially no friction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2005
    Publication date: October 27, 2005
    Inventor: Thomas Riess
  • Patent number: 6942084
    Abstract: A release mechanism for actuating a friction clutch between an internal combustion engine and a transmission of a motor vehicle that is designed for concentric assembly on a guide sleeve mounted on a transmission shaft in order to bear against a release spring of the friction clutch where the guide sleeve and the friction clutch each having a respective center axis. The release mechanism includes a clutch release bearing. The release mechanism also includes a first device for compensating for at least one of a tilt between the center axes and wobbling eccentricity of the release spring where the first device includes a spherical surface between the release bearing and the guide sleeve, and a second device for compensating for offset between the center axes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2005
    Assignee: ZF Sachs AG
    Inventors: Thomas Riess, Karl Müller, Kurt Lindner, Martin Geiger
  • Publication number: 20030226735
    Abstract: A release mechanism for actuating a friction clutch between an internal combustion engine and a transmission of a motor vehicle that is designed for concentric assembly on a guide sleeve mounted on a transmission shaft in order to bear against a release spring of the friction clutch where the guide sleeve and the friction clutch each having a respective center axis, includes a clutch release bearing. The clutch release bearing includes an inner ring, an outer ring, and a sliding sleeve connected with one of the inner ring and outer ring for axial movement with respect to the guide sleeve. The release mechanism also includes a first device for compensating for at least one of a tilt between the center axes and wobbling eccentricity of the release spring where the first device includes a spherical surface between the release bearing and the guide sleeve, and a second device for compensating for offset between the center axes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2003
    Publication date: December 11, 2003
    Applicant: ZF Sachs AG
    Inventors: Thomas Riess, Karl Muller, Kurt Lindner, Martin Geiger
  • Patent number: 6454314
    Abstract: An elastomeric seal seals a pipe which is held in a push-in part of a plug-in coupling relative to a cylindrical interior surface of a housing of the plug-in coupling, into which the push-in part is pushed together with the pipe. The seal is in prestressed contact with the interior surface of the housing via an outward-facing annular lip and with the pipe via a radially inward-facing annular lip. The elastomeric seal is connectable by positive fitting to the push-in part, this positive fit being lockable by the assembly of the pipe to form a non-releasable connection, the pipe having a cylindrical and uninterrupted exterior circumference in the region of the seal. The joint between the seal and the push-in part is simple to assemble and is lockable by the insertion of the pipe. The connection of the seal to the push-in part may be additionally secured, with certain changes of diameter, by compression of the web-shaped connection between them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2002
    Assignee: Mannesmann Sachs AG
    Inventors: Wolfgang Grosspietsch, Olaf Pagels, Martin Otto, Volker Stampf, Thomas Riess, Dieter Gebauer, Angelika Ebert
  • Patent number: 6250201
    Abstract: A throttle device for use with a hydraulic adjustment devices that have an input cylinder and an output cylinder and a hydraulic line filled with fluid connecting the output cylinder and the input cylinder, is arranged in the hydraulic line for establishing various throttle resistances to the flow of the fluid in both flow directions through the hydraulic line. The throttle device includes a disk with at least one boring and/or at least one passage channel. The disk moves back and forth, as the fluid flows, in both flow directions, and thereby strikes against a first stop in one direction and against a second stop in the other direction. The throttle device in the form of a disk in the movement space which is a transition from the hydraulic line to the supply line of the cylinder in its diameter, with a stop disk secured in the hydraulic line forming the second stop is economically advantageous. The disk that acts as the valve is distinguished by its low cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2001
    Assignee: Mannesmann Sachs AG
    Inventors: Olaf Pagels, Angelika Ebert, Boleslaw Tulaczko, Thomas Riess, Wolfgang Grosspietsch, Klaus Krappmann
  • Patent number: 6209882
    Abstract: A lip seal for sealing cylindrical surfaces of a cylindrical housing and a axially movable piston within the housing includes an annularly arranged supporting bead on its outer diameter to improve its tilting behavior around a central axis running annularly through the center of the lip seal. A first sealing lip of the lip seal forms a seal on the cylindrical surface of the housing and a second sealing lip forms a seal on the cylindrical surface of the piston. The supporting bead, in the installed state, forms a contact seal in the cylindrical part of the housing. Together with the contact seals of the first sealing lip and the second sealing lip, the supporting bead lends stability against tilting to the lip seal. Advantageously, a good sealing quality of the lip seal is maintained during an increased number of load changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Mannesmann Sachs AG
    Inventor: Thomas Riess
  • Patent number: 6029979
    Abstract: A sealing arrangement for providing a seal between a component and a cylinder in which the component is inserted includes a sealing ring supported in the axial direction in a circumferential slot on the component. The sealing ring has at least one static and one dynamic sealing lip. The sealing lips rest radially on corresponding sealing surfaces of the component and the cylinder. To reduce the noise generated during movement of the component in the cylinder, the geometrical shape of at least of one of the sealing lips is asymmetrical in the axial and/or radial direction with respect to a longitudinal axis of the component or a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the component, or cavities are distributed around a circumference of a base body portion of the sealing ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 29, 2000
    Assignee: Mannesmann Sachs AG
    Inventors: Wolfgang Grosspietsch, Thomas Otto, Gottfried Mader, Olaf Pagels, Thomas Riess, Volker Stampf
  • Patent number: 5988340
    Abstract: This invention relates to a seal between two components which two components can move relative to one another. The seal can be used in particular for hydraulic, pneumatic or hydropneumatic systems, whereby at least one elastic seal element interacts with a running surface. Preferably, this seal is used between a piston-shaped part and a cylinder-shaped part. In any case, the running surface, which running surface is mobile relative to the gasket, is provided with depressions. The depressions in the running surface, which running surface interacts with the gasket, form a cross-hatched pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Assignee: Fichtel & Sachs AG
    Inventor: Thomas Riess
  • Patent number: 5960922
    Abstract: A cylinder for pressure media, in particular a hydraulic master or slave cylinder in motor vehicles, having a bleed element which can be screwed into an aperture in the cylinder casing and which bleed element is sealed against the casing. The bleed element is functionally connected in the vicinity of that end inserted in the casing to a round sealing element, which is pressed axially against a shoulder in the aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Fichtel & Sachs AG
    Inventors: Thomas Riess, Olaf Pagels, Boleslaw Tulaczko, Wolfgang Grosspietsch
  • Patent number: 5860502
    Abstract: A detachable plug-type connector, in particular for the connection of a pressure line to a hydraulic cylinder with a pin-shaped inner part, which pin-shaped inner part can be inserted in a boring of an outer part. Between the outer part and the inner part there is a seal. The seal sits in the boring of the outer part, and in front of the seal there is a securing element which limits the axial travel of the seal in the extraction direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 19, 1999
    Assignee: Fichtel & Sachs AG
    Inventors: Wolfgang Grosspietsch, Volker Stampf, Alfred Eusemann, Thomas Riess
  • Patent number: 5597309
    Abstract: A method for the treatment of gait problems associated with Parkinson's Disease in a subject involves the use of virtual cues which are delivered to the subject in a spatial orientation and at rate which enable the initiation and sustainment of ambulation, as well as the suppression of dyskinesia associated with medication. In one embodiment, a mulfiplexed head up display is used to provide the cues to the subject's field of vision without obscuring the real world. In another embodiment, light emitting diodes fastened to eye glasses are used to deliver the virtual cues to the subject's field of view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 1994
    Date of Patent: January 28, 1997
    Inventor: Thomas Riess