...that power steering was invented by independent inventor Francis W. Davis? As chief engineer in the 1920s of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, he saw how hard it was to steer heavy vehicles. So that he would be able to keep the profits from his future invention, Davis left his job, rented a small engineering shop in Waltham, Mass., and developed a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering.
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| Application No. | Application Title | Issue Date |
| 20110221372 | Windshield wiper control system The present invention relates to a low-cost windshield wiper control system which can be readily incorporated into existing vehicle systems, particularly into an operator-accessible windshield wiper control unit assembly (100). The windshield wiper control assemb... | 09/15/2011 |
| 20110084641 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING WIPER OF VEHICLE Provided is an apparatus and method for automatically controlling a wiper of a vehicle, the apparatus including a light emitting means to output one or more optical signals to an inside of a front glass of the vehicle, a light receiving means to receive the optical sign... | 04/14/2011 |
| 20110031921 | RAIN SENSOR During rain, including a light source (5) for radiating light such that the light is transmitted through a vehicle window (2), a light receiving element (6) for sensing an optical signal when the light radiated from the light source (5) is re... | 02/10/2011 |
| 20100308763 | MOTOR DRIVE APPARATUS A motor drive apparatus for driving a motor in a normal rotation direction or a reverse rotation direction in accordance with a state of operation of an operation switch has a first semiconductor switching device that switches ON/OFF state based on a normal rotation ins... | 12/09/2010 |
| 20090134830 | Apparatus and Method for Controlling Vehicular Wiper A wiper controlling apparatus capable of discriminating between a signal change at the time of a wiper blade passage and that at the time of a raindrop impact so as to allow a wiper control promptly responding to the change in the condition of the sensing surface is pro... | 05/28/2009 |
| 20090066285 | FRONT/REAR WIPER ALGORITHM A wiper system for a vehicle includes a first wiper assembly, a second wiper assembly spaced apart from the first wiper assembly, and a controller in communication with at least one of the first wiper assembly and the second wiper assembly. The controller controls at le... | 03/12/2009 |
| 20090055026 | Integrated Motor Controller with Direct Networking Capability The present invention provides methods and apparatuses for controlling an environmental system with an adjustable speed motor from environmental information received through a network A network controller receives differential environmental information through the netwo... | 02/26/2009 |
| 20080222827 | Rain sensor embedded on printed circuit board A system and/or method for sensing the presence of moisture (e.g., rain) and/or other material(s) on a window such as a vehicle window (e.g., vehicle windshield, sunroof or backlite). In certain example embodiments, a plurality of sensing capacitors are supported by a w... | 09/18/2008 |
| 20080211679 | Wiper Control Method and Wiper Control Device A wiper control method and a wiper control device which can stabilize wiping rhythm of a wiper while ensuring required wiping and smoothly respond to change of a rainfall situation are provided. An adhesion cycle of a raindrop adhering on a detection surface is detected... | 09/04/2008 |
| 20080157704 | Raindrop detecting device and method of selecting wiping mode for vehicle A raindrop detecting device for detecting a raindrop amount on a windshield of a vehicle and selecting a wiping mode of a wiper based on the detected raindrop amount includes a controller for lowering the wiping mode when the detected raindrop amount is kept to be small... | 07/03/2008 |
| 20080150463 | WINDSHIELD WIPER CONTROL APPARATUS Windshield wiper control apparatus comprises one or more door-open sensors and electronic control circuitry operative to terminate or slow down the operation of the windshield wipers if the door associated with that sensor is opened. The apparatus may further include an... | 06/26/2008 |
| 20080136358 | Vehicle panel control system A system includes a controller and a sensor. The controller transmits a panel control signal to a motor for the motor to move a movable panel of a vehicle along a path between opened and closed positions while the motor receives power from a power source. The motor rece... | 06/12/2008 |
| 20080136361 | Raindrop detecting device and method of determining raindrop amount A raindrop detecting device includes a raindrop sensor, and a controller. The raindrop sensor is disposed in a wiping area of a wiper blade on a front windshield, and outputs a detection signal regarding a raindrop amount. The controller activates the wiper blade based ... | 06/12/2008 |
| 20080100137 | INTELLIGENT WIPER CONTROL SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE Disclosed herein is an intelligent wiper control system for a vehicle. A rain sensor unit controls the speed of wipers based on the amount of rain. An electronic control unit analyzes the input signal of the input unit. An output unit controls the output integrated circ... | 05/01/2008 |
| 20080030159 | Raindrop quantity sensing apparatus and wiper control system having the same A change computing arrangement computing an amount of change in a measured value of a measurement signal of a raindrop sensor in a raindrop quantity sensing execution time period that is a time period, during which a wiper blade moves outside of a sensing range of the r... | 02/07/2008 |
| 20080028563 | Raindrop quantity sensing apparatus and wiper control system A a raindrop sensor outputs a measurement signal, which corresponds to a quantity of raindrops in a predetermined sensing range in a wiping range on a windshield. A prohibited time period setting arrangement sets a time period, during which a wiper blade is predicted to... | 02/07/2008 |
| 20070267993 | METHOD FOR DETECTING RAIN ON A WINDSCREEN A method for detecting raindrops on a windscreen, which uses a camera, which is fitted inside the vehicle opposite the windscreen and which is focused at infinite. The method comprises steps of acquiring images by a camera through the windscreen, camera preferably focus... | 11/22/2007 |
| 20070210737 | Window convenience and security system A window convenience and security system operates to change the position of a window or door in a structure in response to control information such as detected weather conditions, detected hazardous airborne particles, presence of people, stored time schedules, signals ... | 09/13/2007 |
| 20070188122 | Rain sensing automatic power windows A control system and method for closing a window on an unattended vehicle includes a window actuator coupled to the window and adapted to move the window. An occupant detection system generates an occupant signal. A rain sensor generates a rain signal. A window obstruct... | 08/16/2007 |
| 20070157721 | Rain sensor with sigma-delta modulation and/or footprinting comparison(s) A system and/or method for sensing the presence of moisture (e.g., rain) and/or other material(s) on a window such as a vehicle window (e.g., vehicle windshield, sunroof or backlite). In certain example embodiments of the invention, at least one sensing capacitor is sup... | 07/12/2007 |
| 20070157720 | Rain sensor with fractal capacitor(s) A system and/or method for sensing the presence of moisture (e.g., rain) and/or other material(s) on a window such as a vehicle window (e.g., vehicle windshield, sunroof or backlite). In certain example embodiments of the invention, at least one sensing capacitor is sup... | 07/12/2007 |
| 20070132417 | Wiper control method and wiper control device A wiper control method and a wiper control device are provided which can smoothly respond to rapid change of a rainfall situation at passage of a rainfall shutoff environment such as a tunnel. A wiping state control part 42 determines entry of a vehicle into the ... | 06/14/2007 |
| 20070085504 | Method and device for controlling wiper A wiper control method and a wiper control device which adjusts a wiping determining condition for determining the wiping state of a wiper according to a driving scene are provided. The driving scene is determined based on comprehensive situation determination from vehi... | 04/19/2007 |
| 20070007923 | Automatic storm shutter control The present invention provides wireless and direct wired methods and devices for automatically closing electrically-driven roll-down storm shutters in the presence of rain on one or more rain sensors. ... | 01/11/2007 |
| 20060202654 | Wiper controller for controlling windshield wiper A wiper controller includes: a sensor for detecting a waterdrop on a windshield; a wiper for wiping the windshield; and control means for controlling operation of the wiper. The control means monitors a waterdrop reflection when the sensor detects the waterdrop. The wat... | 09/14/2006 |
| 20060145645 | Power control apparatus for motor A power control apparatus for a motor is disclosed. The power control apparatus includes: a moisture sensor for detecting moisture soaking into a housing including the motor; and a switching unit which is switched by an output signal of the moisture sensor, and switches... | 07/06/2006 |
| 20060130877 | Automatic snow removal wiper system A wiping system for use on a vehicle window comprises a window wiper assembly positioned proximate the window, a first sensor for detecting the presence of moisture on the window and a second sensor for detecting if the vehicle has been remotely started. A controller is... | 06/22/2006 |
| 20060055354 | Automatic vehicle wiper system An automatic vehicle wiper system including a wiper, a speed sensor which measures vehicle speed, a rainfall measuring device which measures amount of rainfall during predetermined intervals, a calculating device which calculates a wiping action frequency of the wiper a... | 03/16/2006 |
| 20060006826 | Wiper control system A wiper control system for detecting an amount of raindrops landed on a windshield of a vehicle and driving a wipe operation of a wiper to wipe the landed raindrops. The wiper control system includes raindrop sensing means, average landed raindrop amount calculation mea... | 01/12/2006 |
| 20050285557 | Rain detection system and method for controlling the same A rain detection system generates an operation signal for operating a wiper system on a window based on a detected window condition. The rain detection system includes a detection means for intermittently detecting an amount of liquid on the window, a calculation means ... | 12/29/2005 |
| 20050174082 | Wiper control apparatus and method for automatic vehicular wiping The wiper control apparatus comprises a precipitation detector, a surrounding state detector and a wiper controller. The precipitation detector detects a precipitation condition at a position where the vehicle is. The surrounding state detector detects an exit of the ve... | 08/11/2005 |
| 20050162116 | Method for controlling wiper and wiper controller There are provided a wiper control method and a wiper control device in which unnecessary wiping operation is not performed. When a fixed amount of water passing through a detection area 4, the water being carried by the wiping operation of a wiper 5b | 07/28/2005 |
| 20050046372 | Wiper control system for a vehicle and a method thereof A wiper control system is provided which comprises a rain droplet detector, a multiplexer, a count register, and a wiper control unit. The rain droplet detector has a plurality of switches that are configured to be electrically connected by rain droplets, and each switc... | 03/03/2005 |
| 20050007054 | Windshield wiper system activated by sensing rainwater A windshield wiper system activated by sensing rainwater via a rain sensor placed inside the wiping pattern when a multifunction switch lever is in automatic mode. A rain sensor module activates a relay for low speeds and/or a relay for high speeds depending on the dete... | 01/13/2005 |