Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Jeffrey Leo Minner

Karl Paul Kroetsch

Frank J Farkas

A radiator tank of the type that has a perimeter foot clinched into a U shaped header plate channel to compress an elastomer seal is improved with a means to help assure that portions of the gasket that are displaced from beneath the foot at installation either do not create leak paths, or create leak paths that are static and easier to detect. Integrally molded discrete ribs above the bottom of the perimeter foot extend out and over the inner surface of the header plate, in a location where they can engage and pinch displaced portions of the gasket down against the header plate. Leaks are thereby either prevented, or, at least, the displaced and pinched down section of the gasket is held fast and prevented from moving in and out of the crevice between the tank foot and the channel under the influence of negative to positive pressure variations in the coolant. This makes leak detection easier, because the leak is static and consistent.

Heat exchanger sealed tank and header assembly with gasket displacement

A draincock assembly for a radiator tank of the type that has a drain tube opening into a cylindrical valve body surface across a sharp aperture, with an O-ring seal on a movable valve member that is pulled back and forth across the aperture as the valve opens and closes. A guiding web is molded across the center of the aperture, running in the axial direction. As the O-ring moves, it's otherwise unsupported section is supported and guided by the web. The O-ring is prevented from bulging out and being cut by the edge of the aperture.

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Lockport, NY, United States of America

Jeffrey Leo Minner