Sun Electric Corporation

Jesse W Wagoner

Keith A Kreft

Michael F Lynn

John A Marten

Alan E Rossetti

Donald Legler

An apparatus and corresponding method for detecting steering or front-end alignment defects in a vehicle, such as an automobile, having a steering wheel steerably connected to dirigible front wheels. Each side of the vehicle being tested is restrained from sideward motion by a retaining brace having a force transducer mounted therein. A roller mounted in a support floor rotates or allows the rotation of each of the front wheels of the vehicle. While the front wheels are rotated, the steering wheel of the vehicle is turned from center position through a relatively small angle of rotational to the right and then to the left (or vice versa). An angle indicating device measures the angles of steering wheel rotation. While the steering wheel is maintained momentarily at each of the respective angles of rotation, a rotating-force measuring device, such as a torque wrench, is used to measure the force exerted on the steering wheel and the force transducers, in cooperation with a readout device, are used to determine the force exerted on the respective retainers. All force values thus obtained are then mathematically compared to determine if a steering or front-end alignment defect exists in the vehicle.

Vehicle steering and front-end alignment defect detector

An improved automated engine diagnosing device employing a digital data processor and a cathode ray tube monitor for displaying individual engine cylinder numbers in separate association with correlated values of exhaust gas emissions pollutants. Engine timing data associated with the time of firing of individual cylinders of the engine being tested synchronizes select cylinder firing inhibition for orderly accumulating gas emissions data generated from an exhaust probe placed in the tail pipe of the automobile under test. An automatic sequential firing inhibition and a manually selectable firing inhibition permits dual modes of data acquisition for developing pollutant data to be utilized by the processor for generating the analysis display on the cathode ray tube monitor.

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Dundee, IL, United States of America

Jesse W Wagoner