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:
Oct. 22, 1991
Filed:
Aug. 07, 1989
Larry Eccleston, Marshall, MI (US);
Barry G Austin, Marshall, MI (US);
Tekonsha Engineering Company, Tekonsha, MI (US);
Abstract
A freely-flexing cantilever-type inertial sensor is suspended from one end so that its other end may move in response to inertial forces, for example, as a result of braking in a towing vehicle. The pendulum blade is secured to a rigid support structure in a manner whereby the opposite sides of the pendulum, which is preferably of multiple-layer construction and is elastically-deformable, may freely shift longitudinally with respect to one another upon lateral flexure of the pendulum in response to inertial forces. Preferably, this is accomplished by utilizing an adhesive connection directly between the rigid support and the adjacent side of the pendulum, whereby only that layer closest to the support is directly secured to it. The support for the pendulum preferably includes a self-hinge by which the position of the pendulum-supporting portion may be changed with respect to that of a base portion, in order to current for non-verticality in the actual operating environment. The base preferably provides integral mounts for optical components which monitor the inertially-induced pendulum flexure, and the optical axis is preferably coincident with the pivot axis of the self-hinge. The pendulum blade is preferably a short, generally rigid member which is sufficiently stiff to have deflection of less than about 0.050 inches when subjected to inertial focres of about 1 G.