Nortron Corporation

Autotron Equipment Corporation

Donald R Sherman

Donald B Curchod

Arthur K Arnold

Hoyt H Nelson

Albert L Mitchell

Richard A Mitchell

A transducer mount for wheel balancing machines of the type having a rotatively driven shaft on which a wheel/tire assembly is mounted. There are two spaced apart bearing blocks that have bearings in which the shaft is supported. The bearing blocks are mounted within a square passageway formed by a rigid structural member. The bearing blocks are dimensioned so that there is a gap between their respective peripheries and the walls forming the passageway. A passive support member extends between the passageway and each of the bearing blocks. An active support also extends between the passageway and each of the bearing blocks, the active spacer including a piezoelectric element which generates a voltage representative of the imbalanced forces in the wheel/tire assembly.

Transducer mount for wheel balancing machines

A transducer mount for a wheel balancer having a shaft and a drive belt which approaches the shaft from a given direction. A bearing block for the end of the shaft adjacent the drive belt is supported by a passive mount aligned with the given direction and an active mount spaced from the passive mount so that vibrations in the belt drive produce no moments about the passive mount that are sensed by the active mount. The wheel/tire assembly is attached to the end of the shaft remote from the belt drive, and there is a bearing block adjacent the wheel/tire assembly which is supported by an active mount and a passive mount that are spaced from one another by a distance greater than the space between the active mount and the passive mount for the bearing block adjacent the belt drive, thereby to increase the amplitude of forces applied to the active mount that is spaced farther from the wheel/tire assembly.

Wheel balancer transducer mount with improved signal to noise ratio

An information sensing system as used in sensing unbalanced forces acting upon a rotating wheel being balanced is characterized by means for generating a correction factor associated with each wheel balancing operation and determined by feeding a known signal through a given circuit and comparing the output received with the output expected. The correction factor can then be applied to the sensed signals fed through the same circuit. The frequency of the known signal and other signals are both derived from the same source such as the rate of rotation of the wheel.

Self-calibrating data collection system for dynamic wheel balancing

A read-out system and method for a wheel balancing machine employs means for determining the minimum angular displacement between a 'balance point' on the wheel and a predetermined reference for a stationary portion of the machine using a first scale of displacement and means for converting the minimum angular displacement from the first scale to a second scale. Using the second scale for indicating the balance point enhances the sensitivity of the display means at the balance point. A method is carried out for indicating alignment between the balance point where weight is to be added to an unbalanced wheel to balance same and a predetermined reference position for the machine.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Donald R Sherman