Ford Motor Company Limited

Dennis W Rhee

Colm Peter Boran

Adrian Madau

Michael James Lynch

Robert J Vrabel

Sidney R Fletcher

Michael R Seeger

Paul E Andrepont, Jr

John C Saussele

David J Bauch

John H Taylor

A supercharger system for an internal combustion engine in a vehicle driveline that includes a catalytic converter for oxidizing undesirable exhaust gas emissions including a single, dual-purpose air pump for establishing combustion airflow for the engine as well as for the catalytic converter including an automatic control valve system having an electronic microprocessor that monitors varying engine operating conditions for establishing optimum airflow for fuel combustion purposes and for oxidizing exhaust gas emissions throughout a range of operating conditions for the engine, the system including a variable ratio mechanical drive between the engine and the air pump.

Supercharged engine with variable ratio drive supercharger

A plurality of first accelerometers are positioned forward of the passenger compartment and interconnected between vehicular ground and an airbag ignitor. At least one second accelerometer is positioned with the passenger compartment and electrically connected in series between the airbag ignitor and a reserve source of electrical power thereby providing a first firing path. Electronic circuitry positioned within the passenger compartment and connected to the airbag ignitor provides a second firing path through the ignitor to a passenger compartment ground independent of the vehicular ground which the first accelerometers are connected. This second conductive path is provided for a predetermined or dwell time in response to actuation by any of the first accelerometers. The electrical circuitry also includes prefiltering circuitry.

Airbag triggering system

The watchdog timer circuit which performs both the power-up initialization and program resetting function to an associated microprocessor utilizing a single astable multivibrator circuit with a single pair of complementary transistors and a single capacitor to affect timing and regenerative feedback between the transistors.

Watchdog circuit for use with a microprocessor

Method and apparatus for periodically checking the critical resistance value of an airbag igniter ('squib') component and determining if the resistance exceeds a predetermined maximum value.

Airbag electrical igniter readiness detector

An anti-theft system for sensing the removal of an ignition lock assembly from its housing utilizing a grounding switch within the housing that is biased to disconnect an electrical path when the ignition switch is forcibly removed. An associated circuit provides continuous monitoring of the conduction path within the housing when the ignition switch it turned off.

Anti-theft system

An electronic amplifier control switch for controlled operation of a power amplifier connected to the output of an audio signal generating device and having an associated electronic equalizer/attentuator switching circuit that is switchable between its two modes by a manually settable switch.

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Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States of America

Dennis W Rhee