1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydraulic pump/motors uniquely arranged on a common shaft, including an apparatus for simultaneously changing the displacement of more than one pump/motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hydraulic pump/motors such as bent-axis piston machines, are used for a variety of applications in numerous industries, including the marine, automotive and aerospace industries. Such pump/motors are commercially available from a number of manufacturers, for example, Bosch Rexroth Corporation, headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
In some applications, such as hydraulic automotive transmissions, it is desirable to have a set of opposing bent-axis piston machines on a common input/output shaft. Conventional assemblies with two or more pump/motor units arranged on a common shaft use one or more sets of bearings in hard contact with drive plates of the pump/motors to bear and transmit axial and radial forces generated by the pump/motors. The forces may then be transferred from the bearings into a common housing for load cancellation. As each pump/motor may generate up to and beyond 10,000 pounds of axial force at its lowest displacement, the bearings experience high loads and friction, reducing the efficiency of the system and life of the bearings. The bearings must therefore be sufficiently large to withstand these loads, adding to the weight and cost of such systems.
Due to these and other limitations, Applicant believes that there is a need for a new and improved system for providing two or more opposing pump/motors on a common shaft. Applicant further believes that there is a need for a system for simultaneously changing the displacement of two or more pump/motors. The present invention provides such systems.
Briefly, the present invention provides an improved system for having a plurality of opposing pump/motor units, and more specifically, bent-axis piston machines, arranged on a common input/output shaft. In one embodiment, the improved apparatus cancels a substantial portion of the axial forces generated by two pump/motors through a common shaft, rather than through bearings, as is done in conventional systems.
In accordance with the present invention, a first pump/motor has a first drive plate assembly rigidly coupled to a shaft, such that the first drive plate assembly is in hard contact with a first end surface of the shaft in a plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the shaft. A second pump/motor is similarly arranged on an opposite side of the shaft, such that a drive plate assembly of the second pump/motor is in hard contact with a second end surface of the shaft, in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft. Given the hard contact between the drive plate assemblies and the shaft, the first and second drive plate assemblies and shaft act as a substantially solid element when under compression resulting from the axial loads generated by the first and second pump/motors, thereby substantially canceling the axial loads through the shaft.
Any small residual axial loads are handled via bearings positioned on the shaft adjacent the drive plate assemblies in such a manner that the drive plate assemblies are in light axial contact only with the bearings. While this may be achieved in a variety of ways, in one embodiment, an annular bearing is located at a predetermined position that is spaced longitudinally from the pump/motor drive plate to form a small gap, the gap being filled by a spacer such as a shim, washer or spring. Given that the pump/motor drive plates are in rigid contact with each other through the common shaft, and are only in secondary, light contact with annular bearings, the vast majority of the axial load generated by each pump/motor is cancelled directly through the common shaft by the axial load of the opposing pump/motor, and only residual axial forces are transmitted to the bearings. As a result, as much as 90% or more of the friction experienced by the bearings in conventional systems is eliminated, and the size of the bearings may be reduced significantly as compared to prior art systems, thereby reducing the weight and cost of the system while increasing its efficiency.
To further reduce the loads on the bearings and increase the efficiency of the system, in one embodiment, the pump/motors are arranged to reduce the radial load carried by the bearings. More particularly, a device is coupled to an intermediate region of the shaft between the two annular bearings to transfer torque from the common input/output shaft to and from a secondary shaft. While this torque transferring device may be any known suitable device, in one embodiment, it is a plurality of gears. As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, when two gears are coupled to transmit torque, they tend to want to separate, thereby generating a separation force in proportion to the torque. In accordance with the present invention, the first and second pump/motors are oriented to ensure that when the pump/motors stroke, they each generate a radial force in a direction that is opposite to that of the separation force generated by the torque transferring device, while being in the same plane as the separation force. By stroking the pump/motors in the same plane but in an opposite direction of the separation force, the radial forces on the bearing are reduced, thereby further reducing friction in the system.
In accordance with the present invention, if at least one of the annular bearings is tapered, it is desirable to provide an axial preload to the bearing. This may be achieved by stroking one of the pump/motors to a slightly lower displacement angle than the other pump/motor, and/or providing pump/motors of different size, and stroking them to the same displacement angle.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, a first seal is positioned on the shaft between the first bearing and the first drive plate, and a second seal is positioned between the second bearing and the second drive plate. In addition, the opposing pump/motors are housed in the same housing as the torque transferring device. This common housing is divided by the first and second seals into three regions. The first region contains the first drive plate and its associated pump/motor, the second region contains the torque transferring device and the two annular bearings, and the third region contains the second drive plate and its associated pump/motor. By segregating the bearings and torque transferring device from the pump/motors, it is possible to provide a substantial volume of oil in the first and third regions to, for example, fully lubricate the pump/motors, while providing a substantially smaller volume of oil in the central second region, to, for example, simply splash lubricate the bearings and torque transferring device. As the bearings are no longer immersed in oil, as is typical in conventional systems, drag on the bearings is reduced, again improving the efficiency of the system.
In accordance with the present invention, each of the pump/motors is coupled to an actuator that selectively changes the barrel angle or displacement of the pump/motor, and the system is provided with control means for selectively moving the two pump/motors substantially simultaneously to a selected displacement angle. While the simultaneous movement of the pump/motors may be achieved in a variety of ways, in one embodiment, each actuator is coupled to a hydraulic circuit. While the hydraulic circuit may be structured in a variety of ways, in one embodiment the hydraulic circuit includes a fluid control unit coupled to a hydraulic fluid source, that selectively delivers fluid to opposite sides of a piston coupled to each actuator, to selectively change the position of the actuator and corresponding pump/motor. If desired, the control circuit may have a feedback loop to ensure that the actuators move in unison. In addition and alternatively, the two actuators may be linked mechanically. In embodiments where the actuators are linked mechanically, the actuators and their corresponding pump/motors may be moved substantially simultaneously via electrical, hydraulic or mechanical means, applied directly to one or both actuators and/or to the mechanical link.
In the following description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the present invention may be practiced without these details. In other instances, well-known structures associated with pump/motors, and in particular, bent-axis piston machines, have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring descriptions of the embodiments shown. Although the embodiments of the present invention are described herein, for ease of discussion, as having either a primarily horizontal or primarily vertical orientation, it should be understood that the embodiments of the present invention may be operated at a number of different angles.
Further, while certain embodiments of the present invention are described herein and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/479,844 (the “Parent Application”) in the context of a hydraulic hybrid vehicle, use of the present invention is not limited to hybrid vehicles. For example, the pump/motor assembly of the present invention may be used to generate power to propel a marine vessel, in which case the pump/motors operate as motors to drive a common shaft; and irrigation pumps, in which case a common shaft receives power to operate the pump/motors as pumps.
Applicant notes that
The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do not define or limit the scope or meaning of the claimed invention.
General Overview
In general, the present invention provides a system 10, shown in
In addition to a unique arrangement for canceling axial forces, the present invention provides a unique arrangement for reducing radial loads and drag, further improving the efficiency, life, cost and weight of the system. Furthermore, the invention further provides a system for simultaneously stroking the barrels of each pump/motor 12, 14 to simultaneously change the displacement of the pump/motors.
Axial Load Cancellation
In the embodiment shown in
More particularly, as shown in
The second pump/motor 14 is similarly arranged on an opposite side of the shaft 16, such that a second drive plate assembly 21 having a second drive plate 32 and second pump/motor shaft 25 is coupled to the shaft 16 until a second end surface 48 of shaft 16 makes hard contact with an inner surface 29 of second drive plate 32. As can be seen from the drawings, the hard contact between the drive plates 30, 32 and the first and second end surfaces 23, 48 is in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 19 of the shaft. As will be discussed in greater detail below, axial forces generated by the first and second pump/motors 12, 14 are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft, and radial forces are defined as forces perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft. Given the hard contact between the drive plates and shaft in a plane perpendicular to the axial forces, the first and second drive plates 30, 32 and shaft 16 act as a substantially solid element when under compression resulting from the axial loads generated by the first and second pump/motors 12, 14, thereby substantially canceling the axial loads through the shaft 16.
Any residual axial loads are handled via the bearings 34, 36 positioned on the shaft 16 adjacent the drive plate assemblies 11, 21 in such a manner that the drive plate assemblies are in light contact only with the bearings. While this may be achieved in a variety of ways, in one embodiment, an annular bearing 34 is located at a predetermined position that is spaced longitudinally from the first drive plate assembly 11 to form a first gap 46. The first gap 46 is filled by a spacer 39, such as a shim, washer or spring element. The spring element may be any of a variety of springs, including a gas filled o-ring. Similarly, the second bearing 36 is located at a predetermined position spaced longitudinally from the second drive plate assembly 21 to form a second gap 47, the second gap being filled by a second spacer 4i. In a preferred embodiment, the first and second spacers 39, 41 are just sufficiently thick to contact both their respective bearings and drive plate assemblies.
Given that the drive plate assemblies 11, 21 are in rigid contact with each other through the shaft 16, and are only in secondary, light contact with annular bearings 34, 36, the vast majority of the axial loads generated by the pump/motors 12, 14 are canceled by each other directly through the common shaft 16. As a result, only nominal, residual axial forces are transmitted to the bearings. This is in contrast to prior art systems where hard contact is avoided between the drive plates and a common shaft, the hard contact being achieved in conventional systems between the drive plates and bearings to transmit substantially all of the axial loads through the bearings. Therefore, by substantially reducing the loads on the bearings in accordance with the present invention, the bearings experience a substantial reduction in friction, and the size of the bearings may be reduced significantly, thereby reducing the weight and cost of the system while increasing its efficiency.
While the relative position of the bearings and drive plate assemblies may be achieved in a variety of ways, in one embodiment, as illustrated in
It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that other arrangements of the drive plate assemblies, shaft and bearings may achieve the same benefits as described above, and are within the teachings of the present invention. For example, each drive plate assembly may include a pump/motor shaft that is provided with male splines and received in a female splined end of a center shaft 16, such that the drive plates and shaft are in hard contact with one another.
Alternatively, each pump/motor shaft may have a step or shoulder on it, forming an annular surface in a plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the shaft that is in hard, metal-to-metal contact with any appropriate mating surface provided on the shaft that is also in a plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the shaft. While the first and second end surfaces 23, 48 of shaft 16 may literally be on the far ends of the shaft, the shaft may be flanged at any point along its length to provide an appropriate annular surface in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft to seal against a drive plate assembly, depending on the desired configuration of the apparatus. As long as there is hard contact, either directly or through a metal spacer, between the drive plate assemblies 11, 21 and the shaft 16 in a plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis 19 of the shaft 16, the drive plates 30, 32 of the respective pump/motors 12, 14 are in rigid contact with each other via the shaft 16. By providing this rigid contact between the two pump/motors 12, 14, and providing only light axial contact between pump/motor 12 and bearing 34, and light axial contact between pump/motor 14 and bearing 36, the present invention is utilized and the resulting benefits are reaped. Similarly, although the present invention is shown by coupling a first pump/motor shaft 13 of the first pump/motor 12 and a second pump/motor shaft 25 of a second pump/motor 14 to opposite ends of a common central shaft 16, it will be understood that the shaft elements could be a unitary member or could be in any number of segments. For example, the pump/motor shaft of one pump/motor could extend the length of the assembly and have the drive plate of the second pump/motor coupled to a distal end.
The free body diagram of
When the opposing pump/motors 12, 14 are of the same size and stroked to the same displacement level, the axial force A1 of pump/motor 12 is equal to the axial force B1 of pump/motor 14. Given that the arrangement of the present invention causes the pump/motors 12, 14 and shaft 16 to act as a solid body under compression, axial force A1 generated by pump/motor 12 meets and substantially cancels the relatively equal and opposing axial force B1 generated by pump/motor 14 through shaft 16. This is in contrast to conventional systems that transfer substantially all of the axial forces to the bearings.
Any residual axial forces that are not transmitted through the common drive shaft 16 for direct load cancellation are relatively small and may be transmitted to bearings 34 and 36 without any significant effect on the performance of bearings 34 and 36. Indeed, as is discussed further below, it may be desirable to have a slight residual axial force that acts on bearing 34 and/or 36 for the purpose of preloading one or both bearings to thereby help maintain bearing alignment and durability.
Axial Preload on One or More of the Bearings
Although
One embodiment for maintaining an axial preload on, for example, tapered bearing 36, is to ensure that the adjacent spacer 41 is a spring loading device, such as a gas-filled o-ring. The housing 17, positioned adjacent to the outer race 45 of bearing 36, prevents the bearing from moving axially toward the gear 18. Due to the “stop” provided by the housing 17, the biasing force of the spring loading device 41 will react against the housing 17 and yield a resulting force to axially preload the bearing 36. Alternatively, preloading may be achieved by allowing the drive plate assembly to be in light direct contact with the inner race of the bearing.
In yet another embodiment for maintaining an axial preload on a tapered bearing 36, the pump/motors 12, 14 are of the same size, however they are stroked to a slightly different displacement angle. It will be understood that each pump/motor 12, 14 generates its largest axial load at its lowest displacement, namely at 0°. At this lowest displacement, each pump/motor may generate a load up to and beyond 10,000 pounds of force. The radial load is zero at a displacement angle of 0°. As the displacement angle increases, the radial load increases and the axial load decreases, the axial and radial components being substantially equal when the displacement angle of the pump/motor is at 45°. When pump/motor 14 is stroked to a slightly lower displacement angle than pump/motor 12, this also results in an axial force relationship where pump/motor 14 generates a slightly higher axial force, such as that of force H1 shown in
As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, for each of the axial preloading embodiments described above, a bushing (not shown) may be positioned adjacent to the bearing 36 to prevent extrusion of the bearing in the event that the axial load provided by each pump/motor 12, 14 or 12, 15 is ever reversed.
Radial Load Reduction
In one embodiment, to further reduce the loads on the bearings and increase the efficiency of the system, the pump/motors 12, 14 are arranged to reduce the radial load carried by the bearings 34, 36. More particularly, as discussed previously, a torque transferring device 20 is coupled to an intermediate region of the shaft 16 between the two annular bearings 34, 36 to transfer torque between the common shaft 16 and a secondary shaft 24. While this torque transferring device may be any known suitable device such as a chain or belt, in one embodiment, it is a plurality of gears, as illustrated in the drawings.
As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, when a mechanical device, such as gears 18 and 22, are used to transmit torque, either to shaft 16 from secondary shaft 24 or vice versa, the gears tend to want to separate, thereby generating a separation force in proportion to the torque being transferred. In accordance with the present invention, the first and second pump/motors 12, 14 are oriented to ensure that when the pump/motors stroke, they each generate a radial force in a direction that is opposite to that of the separation force generated by the torque transferring device and transmitted to the bearings 34, 36. By stroking the pump/motors in the same plane but in an opposite direction of the separation force, the net radial load on the bearings 34, 36 is reduced, thereby further reducing friction in the system.
The free body diagram of
A=B; A1=B1; A2=B2; C=D; E=A2−½C; and F=B2−½C
Where C is a separation force acting on gear 18 and D is an equal and opposite separation force acting on gear 22. Bearings 35 and 37 provided on the secondary shaft 24, each bear half of the load generated by separation force D. In contrast however, because radial forces A2 and B2 are greater than and opposed to the force of one-half C, the separation force C that is similarly transmitted to bearings 34 and 36, respectively, does not further load bearings 34, 36, but serves to unload them. In this arrangement, the bearing load, and hence the amount of force that is transmitted to the housing 17 for load cancellation, is represented by the formula A2−½C for bearing 34, and B2−½C for bearing 36.
Thus, instead of transmitting all of the system's radial loads via bearings 34, 36 to a common housing 17, as is done in the prior art, the separation force C generated by the present invention partially reduces the radial load on bearings 34, 36. By reducing the radial load on bearings 34, 36, the present invention allows for the use of smaller bearings than would otherwise be needed with prior art arrangements.
Shared Bearings
In addition to the advantages discussed above, the embodiment shown in
In another embodiment, where only one pump/motor is used, and the single pump/motor is integrated into a gearbox/differential in a manner similar to that of the integrated opposing pump/motors 12, 14 shown in
Reduced Bearing Drag
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
Since respective pump/motors 12 and 14 require hydraulic fluid in order to operate, the first and third regions 52, 56 of the common housing 17 may be substantially filled with fluid. However, the housing's second region 54, which contains bearings 34 and 36, and gears 18 and 22, is similar to a conventional gearbox. In conventional gear box designs, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art, a minimal amount of oil is provided at the bottom of the gearbox case, and the rotation of the gears within the gearbox causes the oil to splash lubricate the inner components of the box. In one embodiment, as gear 22 rotates within the second region 54, oil is gathered within the teeth of gear 22 and, due to the momentum created by the gear's rotation, the oil is finely dispersed within the second region 54 to splash lubricate the entire gear reduction assembly 20, and bearings 34 and 36. In this manner, bearings 34 and 36 remain lubricated without being exposed to the higher volume of oil contained within regions 52 and 56. As a result, they are subjected to less drag and the overall system operates more efficiently.
Although the Figures show the use of gears 18, 22, and illustrate spur-type gears, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that a number of torque transferring coupling devices, as well a number of different types of gears may be used to transmit torque between pump/motors 12, 14 and the drive shaft 24. For example, instead of a gear, a chain or a belt may be used as a means of transferring torque to the secondary shaft 24. Further, in cases where a gear is used, alternate gear sets, such as a helical gear arrangement, may also be employed.
Common Actuation of Both Pump/Motors Through Single Hydraulic Control Valve
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, shown in
The barrels 62, 64 are also coupled to a respective first and second actuator arm 66, 68. When the actuator arm 66 is moved downwardly from the zero displacement position shown in
For the embodiments shown in
The hydraulic subsystem 70 includes a first hydraulic piston 78 coupled to or integrally formed with actuator arm 66, and a second hydraulic piston 80 coupled to or integrally formed with actuator arm 68. The first piston 78 resides within a first hydraulic chamber 74 and divides the first chamber into upper and lower hydraulic fluid regions 74a and 74b. Likewise, the second piston 80 resides within a second hydraulic chamber 76 and divides the second chamber into upper and lower hydraulic fluid regions 76a and 76b. As the lower regions 74b and 76b are filled with hydraulic fluid, as shown in
As is to be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the hydraulic pistons 78, 80 may also be positioned to provide a zero displacement level when the pistons 78, 80 are at their bottom-most position and/or some middle level position. However, if a zero displacement level is obtained due to a top or bottom-most position of pistons 78, 80, certain design advantages can result, as is explained further below.
To move from the zero displacement position shown in
In one embodiment, a solenoid control valve 86 is used to deliver high-pressure fluid into and out of hydraulic chambers 74 and 76, and one or more electronic control units (ECU) are used to control the solenoid control valve 86. For ease of discussion, the term “ECU,” as used herein, may include more than one electronic control unit. As is known to those of ordinary skill in the art, a number of other systems may also be used to deliver high-pressure fluid to chambers 74 and 76. Since solenoid control valves are known to those of ordinary skill in the art, the operation of the solenoid control valve 86 is not detailed herein, but its integration and use with hydraulic subsystem 70 is described.
In this example, the zero-displacement level of pump/motors 12, 14, shown in
In addition, as pistons 78 and 80 are moved upwardly, any fluid in upper region 74a is displaced by piston 78 via an upper fluid line 98a into a high-pressure fluid line 96, and any fluid in upper region 76a is also displaced by piston 80 into fluid line 96. In one embodiment, fluid displaced into the high-pressure line 96 is returned to the high-pressure fluid source, as shown in
As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the spool alignments and fluid line positions shown in
In the present embodiment, when it is desired to increase the displacement of pump/motors 12, 14, from the position of zero displacement shown in
In obtaining the maximum displacement level of pump/motors 12, 14, the downward movement of actuator arm 68 causes the lever arm 104 to further bias spring 89 upwardly, thus requiring more solenoid force to keep spool opening 91 aligned with port openings 92 and 94. As a result, the ECU issues an appropriate command to provide the voltage needed to keep spool opening 91 aligned with port openings 92 and 94 until the commanded displacement is achieved. To maintain the maximum displacement of pump/motors 12, 14, the ECU continues to issue the appropriate amount of voltage needed to keep spool opening 91 aligned with port openings 92 and 94.
If an alternative goal is to position the pump/motors 12, 14 from the zero displacement position shown in
When it is desired to decrease the displacement of pump/motors 12, 14, or to bring and/or maintain the displacement of the pump/motors 12, 14 to a level of zero displacement, the ECU simply issues a command to reduce the voltage that may be acting on pin 88 so that a downward solenoid force on the pin is appropriately reduced. As a result, the biasing force of spring 89 causes the axial position of pin 88 and spool 90 to move upwardly, such that the spool opening 91 is aligned with port openings 92 and 102, as shown in
As is known to one of ordinary skill in the art, the amount of fluid that is allowed to travel through spool 90 with respect to the embodiments shown in
As stated above, a mechanical link assures synchronized movement between the two arms when the hydraulic system 70 is activated to move the actuator arms 66 and 68 either upwardly or downwardly. As is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the mechanical link may be coupled to the actuator arms 66 and 68 in a number of ways, e.g., lever arms, cables/pulleys, and gear means. One such method, shown generally in
To allow the shaft 72 to travel with the movement of actuator arms 66, 68, a first and a second rack 120, 122 (shown in
While one embodiment for simultaneously changing the barrel angle of two pump/motors is described in detail above, and illustrated in the figures, it will be understood that several modifications may be made while still falling within the scope of the invention of providing control means for selectively moving two pump/motors substantially simultaneously to a selected displacement angle. For example, while the system may employ a hydraulic circuit and a single fluid control valve, the system may also employ multiple hydraulic circuits and/or control valves, the control valves and hydraulic circuits being selectively actuated by control means, such as an electronic control unit. While the control unit may take various forms, in one embodiment, as shown in
Furthermore, while the system may couple both actuators to a hydraulic circuit and mechanical link, in an alternative embodiment, the hydraulic circuit acts on only one of the two actuators, the second actuator following movement of the first actuator solely by the mechanical link.
Common Actuation of Both Pump/Motors Through Mechanical Means Only
In yet a further embodiment for simultaneously changing the displacement of two or more bent-axis piston machines, the displacement level of pump/motors 12,14 is changed without the use of hydraulics. Instead, a mechanical actuator assembly 610 is used, powered, for example, by a mechanical power source, such as an electric motor or an internal combustion engine (ICE). One embodiment of a mechanical actuator assembly 610 is shown in
In this example, the mechanical link is a shaft 672. A respective first and second pinion gear 606, 608 is mounted on either side of the shaft 672, and a power source is used to rotate the shaft 672 in a fixed position. As the shaft 672 is rotated, pinion gears 606 and 608 also rotate and, depending on the direction in which the shaft 672 is rotated, actuator arms 666 and 668 travel either upwardly or downwardly. For example, as the actuator arms 666 and 668 travel upwardly, the pump/motor displacement is decreased, and as the actuator arms 666 and 668 travel downwardly, the pump/motor displacement is increased. Because hydraulic hardware is not needed to actuate arms 666 and 668, this embodiment provides a relatively inexpensive means of changing the displacement level of two or more pump/motors at substantially the same rate. As is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, numerous other mechanical linkages may also be employed.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/620,726, filed Jul. 15, 2003, now pending. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/620,726 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/479,844, filed Jan. 10, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,080, issued Apr. 13, 2004. These applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2875701 | Ebert | Mar 1959 | A |
2956407 | Grabow | Oct 1960 | A |
2967395 | Foerster | Jan 1961 | A |
3065700 | Blenkle | Nov 1962 | A |
3081647 | Blenkle | Mar 1963 | A |
3142964 | Oswald et al. | Aug 1964 | A |
3442181 | Olderaan | May 1969 | A |
3587404 | Kratzenberg | Jun 1971 | A |
3602105 | Slusher | Aug 1971 | A |
3656408 | Fox | Apr 1972 | A |
3760692 | Molly | Sep 1973 | A |
3775981 | Molly | Dec 1973 | A |
3888083 | Tone | Jun 1975 | A |
3898811 | Seaberg | Aug 1975 | A |
3900075 | Chichester et al. | Aug 1975 | A |
3960284 | Carpenter | Jun 1976 | A |
3978937 | Chichester et al. | Sep 1976 | A |
3999466 | Aschke | Dec 1976 | A |
4018052 | Laussermair | Apr 1977 | A |
4075843 | Leker | Feb 1978 | A |
4098083 | Carman | Jul 1978 | A |
4098144 | Besel et al. | Jul 1978 | A |
4129102 | van der Lely | Dec 1978 | A |
4223532 | Shiber | Sep 1980 | A |
4252508 | Forster | Feb 1981 | A |
4271725 | Takao et al. | Jun 1981 | A |
4285303 | Leach | Aug 1981 | A |
4297086 | McGowan | Oct 1981 | A |
4355506 | Leonard | Oct 1982 | A |
4487108 | McLuen | Dec 1984 | A |
4495768 | Valavaara | Jan 1985 | A |
4561250 | Aoyagi et al. | Dec 1985 | A |
4669267 | Greenhow | Jun 1987 | A |
4747266 | Cadeé | May 1988 | A |
4763472 | McGowan | Aug 1988 | A |
4770084 | Miwa et al. | Sep 1988 | A |
4813234 | Nikolaus | Mar 1989 | A |
4872394 | Nakagawa et al. | Oct 1989 | A |
4888949 | Rogers | Dec 1989 | A |
4896564 | Eickmann | Jan 1990 | A |
5085053 | Hayashi et al. | Feb 1992 | A |
5269142 | Atake | Dec 1993 | A |
5403244 | Tankersley et al. | Apr 1995 | A |
5406794 | Litz | Apr 1995 | A |
5423183 | Folsom | Jun 1995 | A |
5435794 | Mori et al. | Jul 1995 | A |
5495912 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Mar 1996 | A |
5505527 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Apr 1996 | A |
5507144 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Apr 1996 | A |
5549087 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Aug 1996 | A |
5562079 | Gray, Jr. | Oct 1996 | A |
5579640 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Dec 1996 | A |
5599163 | Heath et al. | Feb 1997 | A |
5609131 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Mar 1997 | A |
5611300 | Gray, Jr. | Mar 1997 | A |
5617823 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Apr 1997 | A |
5625204 | Kao et al. | Apr 1997 | A |
5634526 | Johnson | Jun 1997 | A |
5647249 | Okada et al. | Jul 1997 | A |
5752417 | Okada et al. | May 1998 | A |
5768955 | Hauser | Jun 1998 | A |
5802851 | Krantz | Sep 1998 | A |
5827148 | Seto et al. | Oct 1998 | A |
5845732 | Taniguchi et al. | Dec 1998 | A |
5887674 | Gray, Jr. | Mar 1999 | A |
5967927 | Imamura et al. | Oct 1999 | A |
5971092 | Walker | Oct 1999 | A |
6107761 | Seto et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6151990 | Johnson et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6152846 | Schreier et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6170524 | Gray, Jr. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6186126 | Gray, Jr. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6189493 | Gray, Jr. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6202416 | Gray, Jr. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6213727 | Kawaguchi | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6216462 | Gray, Jr. | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6260468 | Ryken et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6272950 | Braun et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6283009 | Hayashi et al. | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6301888 | Gray, Jr. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6301891 | Gray, Jr. | Oct 2001 | B2 |
6358174 | Folsom et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6375592 | Takahashi et al. | Apr 2002 | B1 |
6413181 | Okada | Jul 2002 | B2 |
6415607 | Gray, Jr. | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6499549 | Mizon et al. | Dec 2002 | B2 |
6575872 | Gluck et al. | Jun 2003 | B2 |
6589128 | Bowen | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6626785 | Pollman | Sep 2003 | B2 |
6626787 | Porter | Sep 2003 | B2 |
6628021 | Shinohara et al. | Sep 2003 | B2 |
6719080 | Gray, Jr. | Apr 2004 | B1 |
20020094909 | Gluck et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020173398 | Arnold et al. | Nov 2002 | A1 |
20030192402 | Arnold et al. | Oct 2003 | A1 |
20030207733 | Ishimaru et al. | Nov 2003 | A1 |
20040011031 | Gray, Jr. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040058770 | Ishii | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040149506 | Sakikawa et al. | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040172939 | Abend et al. | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040173089 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040178635 | Gray, Jr. | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040251067 | Gray, Jr. et al. | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20050119084 | Ishii et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050176549 | Okada | Aug 2005 | A1 |
20050217262 | Takada et al. | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20060021813 | Gray | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060026957 | Hauser et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060070376 | Okada | Apr 2006 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
325587 | Dec 1957 | CH |
1 528 469 | Apr 1971 | DE |
2 101 963 | Jul 1972 | DE |
26 49 127 | May 1978 | DE |
0 417 820 | Jun 1991 | EP |
1 092 870 | Apr 2001 | EP |
1 114 948 | Jul 2001 | EP |
992334 | May 1965 | GB |
1178256 | Jan 1970 | GB |
2001-47287 | Feb 2001 | JP |
WO 0151870 | Jul 2001 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20050207921 A1 | Sep 2005 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 10620726 | Jul 2003 | US |
Child | 11130893 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 09479844 | Jan 2000 | US |
Child | 10620726 | US |