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:
Sep. 03, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2000
Jerzy Dziedzic, Milford, MI (US);
Wojciech Janczak, Commerce, MI (US);
Edscha North America, Southfield, MI (US);
Abstract
A torque-limiting slip mechanism for a spare tire carrier includes a camshaft with a plurality of mating surfaces and differently shaped intermediate segments, a tire carrier drive with an inner pocket circumscribed by an interior wall, and a plurality of free-floating arcuate spring elements having a central body and ends that are compressed between the mating surfaces of camshaft and the interior wall. The central body engages the camshaft and the free ends engage the interior wall. In practice the spring elements are automatically centered with respect to their mating surface before a torque is applied. When the torque is greater than the pre-determined torque, however, each spring element deforms elastically as it selectively engages mating surfaces and intermediate segments so that the camshaft rotates with respect to the carrier drive.