Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Other

Leonard F Kopich

Gino DiPace

James A Steele

A coil spring has a series of short length plastic rollers received on the spring coils so that the rollers engage either a cylinder wall in which the spring works or a rod received through the spring, or both. The rollers act as roller bearings to prevent binding, wear and noise.

Coil spring with guide rollers

A torque strut is pivotally connected about pivot axes at opposite ends thereof between a vehicle and its power train for controlling the pitching of the latter. The torque strut has an elastomeric bushing that is supported for angular movement about one of its pivot axes and has a configuration such as to effect a spring rate acting longitudinally of the strut that varies with angular movement of the bushing. The strut additionally has a drive for automatically angularly moving the bushing to vary the spring rate in response to varying power train operating conditions.

Motor vehicle power train torque strut

A hood releasably attachable to the front end of a video terminal is disclosed as having right angle flanges associated with the rear end of the hood which slidably engage and releasably secure the hood to the video terminal. In one embodiment the hood is fixedly secured to the video terminal, and in a second embodiment the hood is provided with means for adjusting its angular position with respect to the hood to accommodate for different lighting conditions and for users of different heights. The hood employs an elastic member for securing the lower portion of the hood to the video terminal.

Hood for video terminals

A latch mechanism for retaining a sunroof closure panel in a vehicle body roof opening includes a pin projecting from the closure panel and received within a bore of a receptacle mounted on the vehicle body. The pin is bifurcated by a central slot defining a pair of legs. A latch lever is pivoted within a transverse bore in the receptacle and carries a cam member which is received within the slot of the pin and straddled by the legs when the closure panel is lowered into its closed position. Rotation of the latch lever and the cam member forcibly spreads the pin legs into engagement with the bore of the receptacle to latch the sunroof closure panel in the closed position. The pin slot and the cam member may have mating tapers by which an adjustment of the transverse position of the cam member will adjust the extent of forcible spread of the legs to adjust for wear and for manufacturing or assembly variations.

Sunroof latch

A manually operated clutch adjusting mechanism has a worm and gear sector drive connection between the manual pedal and the operating cable. The cable urges the gear sector to rotate about its axis when a clutch adjustment is necessary. Rotation of the sector gear causes linear movement of the worm which is connected to a one-way linear to rotary motion transfer mechanism. The linear movement of the worm results in rotation of the worm and therefore the sector gear. The rotation of the sector gear induced by the worm gear is in the same direction as that urged by the cable and therefore reduces the clutch load on the cable and adjusts the clutch accordingly.

Adjusting mechanism for a manually operated clutch

The hand lever operating mechanism is positioned beside a vehicle seat and remains below the level of the seat upper surface throughout its operating range. It provides an increase in parking brake cable travel without a conventional lever arm increase in radius from the fulcrum. The anchor point of the cable is self-contained in the unit and may be angularly varied to change the ratio through a range of 2:1 to 1:1.

Parking brake actuator mechanism

A seat position control mechanism includes a pair of track members, a detent member secured to one track member and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced recesses, and a second detent member secured to the other track member and having a single recess. A pawl which is manually controlled or controlled by tilting movement of the seat back is engageable with one of the spaced recesses and a single recess to lock the track members to each other. The seat can be adjusted by operating the manual control to release the pawl from a spaced recess while remaining in engagement with the single recess to unlock the track members. Tilting movement of the seat back or use of the manual control moves the pawl out of the single recess while remaining in engagement with the spaced recess. Return of the pawl into engagement with the single recess re-establishes the seat in the initial starting position and locks the track members to each other.

Seat position control mechanism

An independently suspended steering wheel has a hub lock for connecting and disconnecting the steering wheel to a variable length drive axle which includes a universal joint at each end. One hub lock part is connected to a wheel stub shaft journalled in the wheel hub. The other part of the hub lock is connected to a skirt portion of one universal joint which slides in a counterbore of the wheel hub. A spring plunger in the other universal joint normally biases the drive axle to an extended position where the hub lock is disengaged. The hub lock is engaged by a fluid motor incorporated in the wheel hub or an external selector which retracts the drive axle. A pneumatically controlled hydraulic pressure system operates the fluid motor.

Hub locks for independently suspended wheels

A planetary gear differential has a pair of side gears and two pairs of composite planet gears rotatably carried by a rotatable carrier. Each pair of composite planet gears includes meshing impeller gears and drive gears meshing respective side gears. Hydraulic control means for limiting the differential speed of the side gears comprises two closed hydraulic circuits located in the carrier. Each circuit includes a gear pump chamber having the meshing impeller gears of one pair of composite planet gears disposed therein, and a pair of opposed unidirectional restrictions located in conduits leading from opposite radial sides of the gear pump chamber to an inner annular sump common to both circuits.

Hydraulically controlled differential

A four-way pawl clutch has forward and reverse drive pawls pivotally mounted on a cage. The cage carries two indexable phasing rings. One is resiliently coupled to the forward drive pawls by overcenter leaf springs which bias the forward drive pawls toward or away from an engaged position with the clutch drive members depending on the indexed position of the phasing ring. The second phasing ring is resiliently coupled to the reverse drive pawls in a like manner. The two phasing rings may be indexed to provide freewheel, forward drive, reverse drive and lock-up modes of operation. The two phasing rings may be remotely controlled by solenoids or the like. The two phasing rings may also be coupled so that the four-way sprag clutch operates essentially as a two-way dog clutch.

Four way pawl clutch

An engine camshaft drive includes timing belt pulleys which are angularly adjustable on their respective camshafts to provide manual adjustment of the engine valve timing. The arrangement features combination securing and adjusting means in the form of a threaded stud having an eccentric body portion intermediate its ends that coacts with a radially elongated opening in its associated drive sprocket to provide angular adjustment of the sprocket on the camshaft, while the stud also provides means for securing the drive sprocket to the camshaft when the adjustment has been completed.

Variable timing device particularly for engine camshafts

A rotary machine multi-piece apex seal arrangement having two arcuate main body segments with sliding tongue and slot engagement which are biased to pivot in opposite directions to engage an internal peripheral wall of the machine by a single spring that is positioned by a bar sliding on this wall and also having end segments that are wedged against the main body segments by the same spring to engage oppositely facing end walls in the machine.

Growing community of inventors

Madison Heights, MI, United States of America

Leonard F Kopich