Federal-mogul World Wide, Inc.

Federal-mogul Corporation

Karina Havard

James D Lykowski

Warran Boyd Lineton

Robert D Freeman

Robert Freeman

A spark plug assembly () includes a center electrode () having a high performance metal sleeve () attached at its sparking end. The sleeve () is fitted to a tenon on the end of the center electrode () and fixed in place by a weld line () produced by laser beam pulses (). The weld line () is applied by overlapping a plurality of spaced-apart beads in a single, continuous circumscribing line. The sleeve () is permitted to expand and contract under the influence of thermal cycling without constraint except for the fixation weld line (). Therefore, the sleeve () does not experience stress build-ups resulting from differing rates of thermal expansion relative to the center electrode (), which is preferably made from a nickel or other composition dissimilar to that of the high performance metal sleeve (). Various ground electrode () configurations are possible.

Spark plug with welded sleeve on electrode

A sparkplug having ground and center electrodes that include a firing tip formed from a noble metal or noble metal alloy by reflowing of a noble metal preform. The present invention also includes a method of manufacturing a metal electrode having an ignition tip for an ignition device, including forming a metal electrode having a firing tip portion; applying a noble metal preform to the firing tip portion; and reflowing the noble metal preform to form a noble metal firing tip.

Growing community of inventors

Toledo, OH, United States of America

Karina Havard