Caterpillar Inc.

Caterpillar Tractor Co.

Gerald D Hardy

John P Hoffman

Larry Ellis Kendrick

Stephen W Rector

Lowell E Johnson

James G Starling

Eugene Alan Plouzek

Robert E Hefner

Ronald C Erickson

Richard E Spring

Donald J Schwingel

Irving Bright

Dennis K Greene

An apparatus is adapted to assess the performance of a vehicle's powertrain. A microcomputer collects sensor data indicative of the rotational velocity of an output shaft and a transmission input shaft and of the pressure of a directional clutch and a speed clutch. The microcomputer calculates a set of powertrain parameters based on the collected sensor data and produces an error signal in response to predetermined conditions of the powertrain parameters.

Powertrain performance assessment system

Implement draft control devices are typically utilized on agricultural vehicles such as tractors and on other earthworking type vehicles. Advantageously, such control systems should respond quickly to changing soil conditions, while remaining stable so that the hitch and implement systems do not oscillate or are not changed in a rapid or erratic fashion. The instant embodiment of a draft control system includes a control system that receives hitch position control signals and engine acceleration signals, and controllably modifies the hitch position control signals in response to the rate of acceleration and deceleration of the engine. By utilizing engine acceleration and deceleration rates as opposed to mere changes in engine speed, the system is able to respond quickly to needed changes in implement depth while remaining stable during operation.

Draft control apparatus and method

Agricultural vehicles have heretofore lacked an adaptive implement hitch control and have correspondingly suffered from poor controllability of the hitch when the mass of the implement is varied significantly. The apparatus employs a sensor connected to and movable with the hitch such that a variable magnitude electrical signal is delivered which corresponds to the instantaneous hitch position. This signal is electronically differentiated to produce a signal indicative of actual hitch velocity. The hitch position and velocity signals are both used as feedback signals to close the control loop of the control and thereby provide an adaptive hitch velocity control.

Apparatus for selectively positioning movable work element with

A drive assembly having a shroud structure for providing a low friction covering of securing elements which, in projecting from a rotation portion of the drive assembly, would otherwise cause a power and efficiency loss as the result of a friction drag produced in movement of the projecting elements through a body of lubricating and cooling fluid. The shroud structure is secured to the rotating element by securing structure received in recesses in the shroud to further effectively minimize friction drag losses.

Bolt head shroud

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Metamora, IL, United States of America

Gerald D Hardy