Snap-On Technologies, Inc.

Fmc Corporation

Snap-On Deutschland Holding Gmbh

John C Brennan

George Michael Gill

Jean De Bellefeuille

Alan David Casby

Ju Zheng

Gary L Sandusky

Steven W Rogers

James L Dale, Jr

Patrick O'Mahony

Michael L Baird

Michael J Kling, Iii

Patrick Brendan O'Mahony

Patrick O'Mahoney

Paul Conheady

Helen Lowe

A method and an apparatus for scanning a vehicle wheel, wherein a location on the wheel is sensed by means of a light beam emitted by a light source and is reflected to a position-sensitive receiver. The spacing of the sensed location relative to a reference location is measured from the directions of the emitted beam and the reflected beam. The light source and the position-sensitive receiver are synchronously pivoted about a common axis by means of a rotary drive including a stepping motor for successive measurement steps. A rotary angle sensor supplies signals proportional to the rotary position of the stepping motor to an evaluation system.

Method and apparatus for optically scanning a vehicle wheel

An improved computerized automotive service equipment system has a number of novel features. The system causes the initiation of a servicing routine upon the detection of particular stimuli from the sensors. The novel system also places instructional output on the output device simultaneously with an output representative of a vehicle diagnostic state. Object oriented programming techniques are utilized to allow an automotive servicing application to be easily and conveniently updated. The automotive service equipment system is constructed so that replacement of the sensor hardware only requires the replacement of a single software object or collection of objects instead of the rewriting of the entire application. In the novel system, the operator/technician can program the sequence in which the automotive service routine will proceed. The system has other novel features as well.

Computerized automotive service system

The present invention is directed to computerized vehicle servicing and diagnostic systems that communicate with or access remotely located computers via the Internet that have pre-stored data or utilize pre-store data and parameters. The present system provides a navigational framework with two modules, the Menu Mode (random) and the Wizard Mode (sequential). The Menu Mode provides direct access to any required process and Wizard Mode provides a flexible control of process sequences and allows for user modification.

A wheel alignment apparatus comprising eight sensors for measuring the toe angles of the wheels of a vehicle and a computer for calculating toe angle information from any six companion sensors and for comparing the toe angle information calculated using the six sensors with the toe angle information calculated using at least the remaining two sensors to determine if the wheel alignment apparatus is in calibration.

Eight sensor wheel aligner

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Carrigrohane, Ireland

John C Brennan