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:
Aug. 26, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 03, 2002
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 and method of mounting a wheel/tire assembly on a wheel balancer are provided. The wheel balancer 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 axis, a vibration sensor operatively connected to the shaft for measuring vibrations from imbalance in the wheel/tire assembly and a motor operatively connected to the shaft for rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis, thereby rotating the wheel/tire assembly. A control circuit and manual input are also included. The control circuit controls the application of power to the motor. The manual input is for requesting the wheel/tire assembly mounting mode, the control circuit being responsive to a request for mounting mode to control the application of power to the motor such as to facilitate mounting of the wheel/tire assembly on the shaft. The method of mounting a wheel/tire assembly on a wheel balancer includes rotating the motor under control of the control circuit at a relatively slow, tire mounting speed, manually placing a wing nut on the threaded portion of the shaft and holding the wing nut in place on the shaft as the shaft rotates, so as to move the wing nut along the threaded shaft.