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:
May. 15, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 17, 2000
Michael Gericke, Schomberg, CA;
Tesma International Inc., Concord, CA;
Abstract
A fuel refilling assembly for receiving a filling nozzle to open and close a filler neck of a fuel tank. The refilling assembly has a housing attached to the filler neck to receive the filling nozzle. A valve body is mounted to the housing and moves between seated and unseated positions to equalize the pressure within the filler neck, a filler pipe and the fuel tank. The refilling assembly is characterized by a first flap pivotally mounted to the housing and engaging the valve body for automatically moving the valve body from the seated position to the unseated position. The first flap is pivoted when the filling nozzle is partially inserted within the filler neck. Once the valve body is disengaged, any pressurized fuel vapors within the filler neck, filler pipe and fuel tank are vented to the atmosphere. The venting occurs before the filling nozzle opens the filler neck which ensures a safe filling operation.