Patents by Inventor Thomas Schonenberg

Thomas Schonenberg 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).

  • Publication number: 20060049639
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is a vehicle door including a vehicle door latch (1) with a housing (2, 3) and with at least one additional assembly (4) According to the invention, the additional assembly (4) is connected to the housing (2, 3) of the vehicle door latch (1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2003
    Publication date: March 9, 2006
    Inventors: Johannes-Theodor Menke, Ulrich Nass, Gerhard Zimmerman, Carsten Baumchen, Michael Herrmann, Andreas Kasper, Stefan Armbruster, Jorg Axmann, Christian Johiel, Jurgen Kill, Thomas Schonenberg
  • Patent number: 5876087
    Abstract: A motor vehicle has a body provided with at least one generally horizontal rail having a bent end portion and along which a sliding door is displaceable between a closed position in against the body and an open position out from the body. A sliding-door assembly has a door drive on the body including a flexible toothed belt extending along the rail and having an end and a link assembly fixed to the door, riding along the rail, connected to the belt end, and engaged in the bent end portion of the rail in the closed position of the door. A guide extends along the rail and laterally confines the belt so an actuator on the body can displacing the belt in one sense and thereby tension the belt and move the door in one direction and displace the belt in the opposite sense and thereby longitudinally compress the belt and move the door in the opposite direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Kiekert AG
    Inventors: Frank Kleefeldt, Damien Labonde, Johannes-Theodor Menke, Stefan Armbruster, Thomas Schonenberg
  • Patent number: 5836639
    Abstract: A motor vehicle has a body, a door movable on the body between a closed position and an open position, an electric power source mounted in the body, and a latch having interengageable parts on the vehicle body and on the door engageable in a latched position to retain the door in the closed position, and an electrical actuator energizable to put the latch in an unlatched position. A drive on the body connected to the door is energizable from the source for moving the door between the open and closed positions and a battery is provided in the door separate from the body-mounted power source. An electronic controller in the door powered by the battery is connected to the latch actuator for operating same to unlatch the door and to a transmitter for transmitting a signal indicating the position of the door and of the latch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Kiekert AG
    Inventors: Frank Kleefeldt, Damien Labonde, Johannes-Theodor Menke, Stefan Armbruster, Thomas Schonenberg
  • Patent number: 5808375
    Abstract: An electrical control system for an automotive vehicle can be switched to a service facility operating mode in which locks for the glove compartment, a storage console and the trunk can be inactivated in their closed position while other electrically-operated vehicle locks remain operable by actuators of the control system to prevent access to personal belongings by service personnel. Restoration to the normal operating mode can be effected automatically upon lapse of a time period programmed into the central unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1998
    Assignee: Kiekert AG
    Inventors: Stefan Armbruster, Bettina Gottwald nee Heinze, Achim Jahrsetz, Wilfried Ostermann, Thomas Schonenberg, Fred Welskopf
  • Patent number: 5785364
    Abstract: A motor-vehicle door latch has a door-mounted fork displaceable between an open and a fully latched position and through an intermediate semilatched position and a body-mounted door bolt engageable with the fork and retainable thereby only in the semilatched and fully latched positions. A door-mounted pawl can pivot about a pawl axis between a holding position engaging and retaining the fork in the fully latched and semilatched positions and a freeing position permitting the fork to move freely between its positions. A controller is connected to a servomotor in turn coupled to the door bolt for displacing same between an outer and an inner position so that, when the bolt is engaged with the fork in the fully latched position, movement of the bolt into the inner position pulls a door carrying the latch tightly closed. A switch lever can pivot about the pawl axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1998
    Assignee: Kiekert AG
    Inventors: Frank Kleefeldt, Damien Labonde, Johannes-Theodor Menke, Stefan Armbruster, Thomas Schonenberg