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:
Mar. 24, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 21, 1997
Andrew F Pinkos, Clarkston, MI (US);
Emil M Shtarkman, Marina Del Rey, CA (US);
TRW Inc., Lyndhurst, OH (US);
Abstract
An apparatus (10) includes a vehicle drive shaft (12), a roller bearing (16) supporting the drive shaft (12) for rotation, and a housing (18) which contains and supports the roller bearing (16) in a vehicle. The roller bearing (16) includes an inner race (34) rotatable within an outer race (36). The apparatus (10) further includes a damper assembly (20) which damps vibrations radially between the roller bearing (16) and the housing (18). The damper assembly (20) defines a closed chamber (150) containing rheological fluid (152), and has a flow-inducing part (80) projecting into the fluid (152). The flow-inducing part (80) of the damper assembly (20) is movable radially within the fluid (152) in response to radial vibrations of the outer bearing race (36).