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. 14, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 01, 2001
Nicholas J. Colarelli, III, Creve Coeur, MO (US);
Michael W. Douglas, St. Peters, MO (US);
Paul Daniel Parker, Kirkwood, MO (US);
Hunter Engineering Company, Bridgeton, MO (US);
Abstract
A wheel balancer is provided that includes a shaft adapted for receiving a wheel/tire assembly, the shaft having a longitudinal axis and being rotatable about the axis so as to rotate a wheel/tire assembly removably mounted thereon, a rotation sensor for measuring rotation of the shaft about its longitudinal axis and a vibration sensor operatively connected to the shaft for measuring vibrations resulting from imbalance in the wheel/tire assembly. A motor operatively connected to the shaft for rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis to rotate the wheel/tire assembly is also included. The wheel balancer further includes a control circuit for controlling the application of current to the motor to rotate the wheel/tire assembly at a plurality of sustainable speeds. The control circuit may also be adapted for determining from vibrations measured by the vibration sensor at least one weight placement position on the wheel/tire assembly to correct the vibrations. In that embodiment, a manually operable input device is included to set a desired speed of rotation of the wheel/tire assembly, the control circuit being responsive to the input device to cause the motor to rotate the wheel/tire assembly at the desired speed, whereby a user can input a desired speed and balancer tests the wheel/tire assembly at that speed.