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:
Feb. 24, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 21, 1996
Applicant:
Inventors:
Chi-Mou Ni, Troy, MI (US);
Charles J Bruggemann, Rochester Hills, MI (US);
Assignee:
General Motors Corporation, Detroit, MI (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B23P / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
294211 ; 29523 ; 228155 ;
Abstract
A vehicle space frame is built up piece by piece into an initial or rough frame, consisting of standard, cylindrical metal tubes welded to matching cylindrical plugs of hollow, nodal joints. All weld seams are circular and, therefore, easily and quickly formed, and the initial frame need be formed only with the accuracy that plugging the ends of the tubes into the joints will achieve. The entire interior of the initial frame is then clamped between a large pair of dies with mating cavities, and hydroformed to provide a final frame with the desired non cylindrical cross section and accurate, final shape and form.