The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 16, 1990
Filed:
Feb. 24, 1988
Marcellus S Merrill, Denver, CO (US);
Richard E Kiefer, Boulder, CO (US);
Merrill Engineering Laboratories, Inc., Englewood, CO (US);
Abstract
The present invention discloses apparatus and method for centering the steering wheel of a vehicle prior to alignment of the vehicle wheels using a wheel aligner. A portion of the apparatus is mounted to the vehicle steering wheel for sensing deviation in the position of the steering wheel from a centered position. This portion of the apparatus can be mounted on vehicle steering wheels having different configurations and can wirelessly transmit signals corresponding to the deviations. The apparatus can be used with differently configured steering wheels by virtue of a linked cam assembly in which rotation of either of a pair of cams causes rotation of the other cam in an opposite direction of equal magnitude. In operation, the deviation in the position of the steering wheel from a centered position with a pre-selected tolerance is determined. When the deviation is greater than the pre-selected tolerance, alignment of the vehicle wheels by the wheel aligner is prevented.