Patents by Inventor Ulrich Seiffert

Ulrich Seiffert 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: 5094192
    Abstract: A safety arrangement is provided to protect an internal combustion engine from excessive temperatures in case of an abnormality in its circulating cooling system. In response to failure of an electrical coolant pump, the safety arrangement generates signals for retarding the ignition and/or reducing the fuel injection and/or limiting the charge so as to limit the load and/or the speed of the internal combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 1991
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1992
    Assignee: Volkswagen AG
    Inventors: Ulrich Seiffert, Hans-Peter Jaekel
  • Patent number: 4454789
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided for restarting and re-engaging an internal combustion engine in a vehicle in which the engine is disengaged from the transmission and turned off when the vehicle is coasting. The engine is coupled to an automatic transmission which includes a hydraulic pump driven by the transmission input shaft that supplies fluid to the control elements of the transmission. Means are provided for actuating a starter motor to start the engine and drive the hydraulic pump, thereby powering the control elements to re-engage the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1984
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Lothar Kaspar, Ulrich Seiffert
  • Patent number: 4256331
    Abstract: A passive safety belt arrangement for a vehicle includes a safety belt articulately connected to a slide. The slide is acted on by a slide-positioning device so as to move it in a guide fastened to the frame of the vehicle in the region of a door opening next to a seat. The slide is driven between an off position in which the safety belt is raised away from the body of a passenger in the seat and a restraining position in which the belt contacts the passenger's body. The belt is locked in the restraining position by a swiveling locking pawl acted upon by a spring so as to urge it into engagement with the slide. A cam-like projection on the locking pawl is contacted during a permissible movement of the slide by the slide-positioning devices so as to swivel the locking pawl out of engagement with the slide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: March 17, 1981
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk AG
    Inventors: Wilfried Schwanz, Ulrich Seiffert
  • Patent number: 4249756
    Abstract: A passive safety belt arrangement for vehicles includes a motor and an actuating element that is strong in tension and compression. This element is driven in either of its longitudinal directions so as to propel a traveler attached to one end of the belt along a track on the body of the frame of the vehicle between a release position and a restraint position. A control system for the motor has at least two limit switches assigned to the two extreme positions of the traveler. One of the switches assigned to the release position is arranged so that it is actuable by a stud at the end of the actuating element which is away from the end holding the traveler.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 1979
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1981
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wilfried Schwanz, Ulrich Seiffert
  • Patent number: 4227426
    Abstract: A device for driving a flexible wire having a helical coil therearound along its length comprises a hollow shaft adapted to receive the wire and a motor for rotating the hollow shaft in either direction about its longitudinal axis. The shaft has a projection extending into the interior of the hollow shaft and adapted to engage the wire in the gap between adjacent turns of the helical coil. Upon rotation of the shaft and thereby the projection, the wire is driven longitudinally through the hollow shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: October 14, 1980
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wilfried Schwanz, Ulrich Seiffert
  • Patent number: 4225155
    Abstract: An improved automobile safety device of the type having a shoulder safety belt extending diagonally across the upper body of a passenger and connected to a slide displaceable in a guide attached to the automobile frame. The belt is attached to the slide by a belt lock rigidly fastened to the slide, which assumes a spatially defined position when the slide is in the passenger-restraining position. An electric switch having an actuating element for effecting either a first switching state or a second switching state is attached to the vehicle body and positioned such that the belt lock engages the actuating element only when the slide is in the restraining position. The switch assumes the first switching state when the belt lock and slide are in the restraining position, and assumes the second switching state when the lock and slide are moved away from the restraining position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1978
    Date of Patent: September 30, 1980
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ulrich Seiffert, Wilfried Schwanz
  • Patent number: 4098525
    Abstract: A safety device for a vehicle steering wheel is designed to provide increased protection against injury in the event the driver's head strikes the steering wheel on the occurrence of a collision. Increased protection against a head injury is provided by an impact energy dissipating member which provides increased energy dissipation upon impact by a relatively small object, such as the driver's head, as compared to prior devices which protected merely against impact by the entire body. The dissipating member includes first and second hollow bodies arranged one within the other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1976
    Date of Patent: July 4, 1978
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wilfried Schwanz, Ulrich Seiffert, Peter Beher, Hannu Paitula
  • Patent number: 3997190
    Abstract: A safety arrangement for motor vehicles includes a safety belt for retaining a vehicle occupant on a seat. A predetermined length of belt is released if the vehicle receives an impact resulting in a tension in the safety belt that exceeds a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 1973
    Date of Patent: December 14, 1976
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ulrich Seiffert, Burckhard Struwe, Hannu Paitula, Gunnar Borenius
  • Patent number: 3984128
    Abstract: A safety device for a passenger in an automobile comprises a shoulder safety belt extending diagonally across the passenger's body and an energy absorbing impact element located on the vehicle frame adjacent the passenger's knees. The impact element includes two M-shaped sheet metal members arranged one above the other and symmetrical about a plane passing between the members. The legs of each M-shaped member afford two parallel, spaced-apart plates and one face of one of the plates is presented to the passenger's knees. The portion of each M-shaped member intermediate the legs affords a plastically deformable connection between the plates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1975
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1976
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Klaus Oehm, Ulrich Seiffert, Burckhard Struwe
  • Patent number: 3951430
    Abstract: The invention concerns an improvement in vehicle safety apparatus for sharply retracting a predetermined length of belt at the moment of an impending collision in order to draw the safety belt up firmly against the body of a passenger seated in the vehicle. In a vehicle safety belt take-up device of the type having an intermediate lug holding the safety belt and connected by means of a connecting rod to a piston arranged within a cylinder provided with a propellant charge for applying the belt retracting force when released in response to an actuating sensor, the improvement comprises a stationary backstop for stopping the retracting movement of the intermediate lug, and a locking device for locking the intermediate lug in place after the lug has retracted the belt a predetermined distance against the stationary backstop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1975
    Date of Patent: April 20, 1976
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wilfried Schwanz, Ulrich Seiffert
  • Patent number: 3931988
    Abstract: A safety device for a passenger in an automobile comprises a shoulder safety belt extending diagonally across the passenger's body and an energy absorbing impact element located on the vehicle frame adjacent the passenger's knees. The impact element includes two M-shaped sheet metal members arranged one above the other and symmetrical about a plane passing between the members. The legs of each M-shaped member afford two parallel, spaced-apart plates and one face of one of the plates is presented to the passenger's knees. The portion of each M-shaped member intermediate the legs affords a plastically deformable connection between the plates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1973
    Date of Patent: January 13, 1976
    Assignee: Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Klaus Oehm, Ulrich Seiffert, Burckhard Struwe, Ernst Fiala, Andreas Bauer, Ruediger Weissner, Wilfried Schwanz