Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8118705 | Vehicle control system and method of controlling vehicle A control system of a vehicle including an engine and an automatic transmission operable to form one of a plurality of gear positions set according to running conditions of the vehicle, and a method of controlling the vehicle are provided. In the control, the rotati... | 02/21/2012 |
| 7440832 | Method and arrangement for controlling actual torque in a land vehicle driveline Method and arrangement for controlling actual torque in a driveline of a land-based motor vehicle. Taking a direct, non-predictive measure of actual torque induced in the driveline of the motor vehicle and ascertaining a magnitude thereof. Ascertaining a magnitude o... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7337046 | Automotive control apparatus and method An apparatus and a method for controlling an automotive vehicle are disclosed, in which a control amount for securing safety of the vehicle and the control amount for achieving a state intended for by the driver of the vehicle are switched in such a manner as to red... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7303505 | Method for controlling rate of change of ratio in a continuously variable transmission A method for controlling a rate of change of speed ratios in a continuously variable transmission (CVT) includes sensing a vehicle speed, sensing an engine speed, and sensing a change in a position of an accelerator pedal. The method includes determining a desired e... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7300381 | Method for managing engine torque during a gear shift in an automatic shift manual transmission A method and system for controlling output torque of an internal combustion engine during a gearshift in an automatic shift manual transmission coupled to the engine is disclosed. The transmission includes a multiplicity of gears and a clutch actuated by a transmiss... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7288046 | Torque converter slip control for multi-displacement engine Prior to transitioning a multiple-displacement engine from a full-displacement engine operating mode to a partial-displacement engine operating mode, a base slip rate of a torque converter coupled to the engine engine is increased by a predetermined slip rate offset... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7285073 | Engine fuel supply control device An engine fuel supply control device is configured to stop supplying fuel to an engine when specific fuel cut-off condition has been met. The timing of the fuel cut-off is delayed depending on an operating state of the vehicle. Preferably, the engine fuel supply con... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7243016 | Single wire dual speed signal system A control system and method for communicating with a transmission includes a transmission input speed sensor that generates an input speed signal. A transmission output speed sensor generates an output speed signal. A power supply supplies a total current to the tra... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7225695 | Universally configurable motor vehicle transmission A motor vehicle transmission (1) which is outfitted with a start-up subassembly (A), a core transmission (B) as well as an output subassembly (C) which are drive-engineering connected with one another and are arranged in a transmission housing to reduce devel... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7219649 | Engine system and method of operating same over multiple engine load ranges A method of operating an engine system should produce relatively low concentrations of various emissions without compromising a desired power output of the system. In order to operate an engine system of the present disclosure, a predetermined total amount of fuel i... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7213574 | Control device for internal combustion engine An engine ECU executes a program including the steps of: detecting a fuel pressure in a high-pressure fuel system (S130) if a lock-up clutch is not in a released state (NO at S100) and if a tip end temperature of an in-cylinder injector is equal to or ... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7189185 | Method for operating a drive train in a motor vehicle In a method for operating a drive train for a motor vehicle including a transmission with a hydraulic torque converter having a converter lockup clutch which can be activated by a working pressure acting on a piston under engine overrun conditions when an increased ... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7146263 | Predictive load management system A predictive load management system is provided. A power source is operable to generate a power output and has a desired operating range. A transmission has a drive member operably engaged with the power source and a driven member. A control system is operable to re... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7121978 | Shift shock system of automatic transmission A shift shock reduction system comprises a first section that causes an engine to produce a normal engine torque in accordance with an existing operation condition of a vehicle; a second section that changes an output rotation of the engine to an output rotation of ... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7096111 | Method for converting a fuel quantity into a torque With a method for converting a fuel quantity (MF) into a torque (TQ) in an internal combustion engine, the efficiency (H) of the internal combustion engine is determined at the current operating point prior to the conversion as the ratio of actual torque (TQ) and ac... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7089102 | Coasting downshift control for automatic transmissions An automatic transmission ratio shift control system and method for a powertrain having an engine and multiple-ratio gearing controlled by friction elements actuated by hydraulic pressure, an electronic controller for establishing torque transitions among the fricti... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7063071 | Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine A device and a method for controlling an internal combustion engine, where a first variable characterizing the pressure in the combustion chamber of at least one cylinder of the internal combustion engine is measured by at least one sensor. A second variable charact... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7044885 | Engine system and method for enabling cylinder deactivation Various systems and methods are disclosed for carrying out combustion in a fuel-cut operation in some or all of the engine cylinders of a vehicle. Further, various subsystems are considered, such as fuel vapor purging, air-fuel ratio control, engine torque control, ... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7006908 | Engine torque control apparatus There is provided an engine torque control apparatus that is comprised of a torque-down amount calculating section to which the throttle valve opening and the engine speed are inputted and which calculates the torque-down amount based on the inputted values, an iner... | 02/28/2006 |
| 6937930 | Transmission control system An apparatus controls a vehicle having an engine including a throttle having a throttle position sensor, the throttle being adjustable to vary the speed of the vehicle, a transmission having an input shaft, an output shaft, and drive means there between providing a ... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6863047 | Method of controlling engine speed during performance shift A method and system of automatically controlling engine speed of a vehicle in a turn employs an engine control system (10) to determine an optimal engine speed for the turn and an actual engine speed as sensed by an engine speed sensor (38). Engine con... | 03/08/2005 |
| 6843752 | Torque converter slip control for displacement on demand A torque smoothing system for a displacement on demand engine includes an engine having a plurality of cylinders and a torque converter. A controller adjusts a slip rate of the torque converter to a first rate and deactivates one or more of the cylinders. The contro... | 01/18/2005 |
| 6740005 | Shift control apparatus of automatic transmission of motor vehicle A shift control apparatus of an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle to which torque is transmitted from an engine via a fluid coupling device is provided. In the automatic transmission including a plurality of hydraulically operated friction elements, a clutch... | 05/25/2004 |
| 6709363 | Engine restart and vehicle start control apparatus in transmission unit A transmission unit is composed of an engine E, a torque converter TC, and an automatic transmission TM. The engine restart and vehicle start control apparatus comprises an electromagnetic valve capable of calculating the pump impeller suction torque of the torque c... | 03/23/2004 |
| 6679806 | Soft shift system and method A system and method for the soft shift of a transmission connecting a power source to a well stimulation pump through a transmission. When it is desired to change gear ratios in the transmission, the transmission is caused to enter a torque converter mode... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6648795 | Transmission system for vehicle Vehicle automatic transmission system having input shaft drive gears, output shaft driven gears meshing with the drive gears, a torque converter disposed between an engine crankshaft and the input shaft, synchromesh mechanisms for synchronously engaging t... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6623401 | Combustion control apparatus for internal combustion engine A combustion control apparatus for an internal combustion engine that switches combustion modes at the proper timing. At the time of switching from a stratified-charge combustion mode to a homogeneous-charge combustion mode, the angle of an EGR valve is c... | 09/23/2003 |
| 6549839 | Vehicle drive system A controller 10 calculates a target drive force based on an accelerator pedal operation amount and a vehicle speed. A speed ratio for calculating a target engine torque is calculated based on the state of the transmission 2. The target engine torque is ca... | 04/15/2003 |
| 6544142 | Transmission system for vehicle An automatic transmission system for a vehicle having a plurality of drive gears mounted on an input shaft, a plurality of driven gears mounted on an output shaft and meshing with the drive gears, a torque converter disposed between a crankshaft of an eng... | 04/08/2003 |
| 6471620 | Control method for automatic transmission In a control method for an automatic transmission, it is first determined if the automatic transmission is in a fourth speed and the vehicle is being driven in a power off state, then a damper clutch operation slip control signal is output when the vehicl... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6440038 | Method and system for managing torque of a drivetrain A system is disclosed for implementing a technique for managing torque of a drivetrain. The drivetrain includes an air intake passage having a throttle valve, an internal combustion engine having an output shaft, a transmission having an output shaft, and... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6259986 | Method for controlling an internal combustion engine A method is presented for controlling powertrain torque by minimizing the error between the actual powertrain torque (as read by the torque sensor) and the desired powertrain torque (as requested by the vehicle driver). Since torque sensors are known to d... | 07/10/2001 |
| 6165102 | System for controlling output torque characteristics of an internal combustion engine A system for controlling output torque characteristics of an internal combustion engine includes a control computer operable to control the output power/torque of the engine that is coupled to a transmission through a torque converter. The system is opera... | 12/26/2000 |
| 5928111 | Fuel cut-off and fuel-supply recovery control system for internal combustion engine coupled to an automatic power transmission with a lock-up torque converter A fuel cut-off and fuel-supply recovery control system for an internal combustion engine coupled to an automatic power transmission with a lock-up torque converter having a lock-up device operable at either one of an open converter state and a locked-up s... | 07/27/1999 |
| 5924959 | Device for controlling an automatic transmission and an engine for vehicles A device for controlling an automatic transmission and an engine for vehicles expanding a range of direct drive to improve fuel efficiency and decreasing the shock due to the transmission of torque at the time of acceleration or deceleration. The device c... | 07/20/1999 |
| 5580331 | Control device and method for automatic transmission In an attempt to accomplish an object to absorb a driving torque difference caused by a difference in a change gear ratio between before and after shifting and to reduce a shift shock, adopted is such a constitution that target driving torque characterist... | 12/03/1996 |
| 5562567 | Shift torque management A motor vehicle having an automatic transmission coupled to an internal combustion engine includes computer based control of powertrain functions including engine torque management and ratio change controls. Shift pressure is scheduled off of the total to... | 10/08/1996 |
| 5403245 | Control device for vehicular engine having an automatic transmission and its control method A control device for a vehicular engine having an automatic transmission comprising: an inner cylinder pressure sensor for detecting a pressure in a combustion chamber of an engine; means for detecting an output of the inner cylinder pressure sensor at a ... | 04/04/1995 |
| 5065645 | Power transmission device A power transmission device, in particular for a Diesel motor car is disclosed which comprises a hydraulic transmission and a mechanical transmission connected in series, the latter having low- and high-speed clutches, where in place of a direct drive clu... | 11/19/1991 |
| 5036728 | Engine control system for vehicle with automatic transmission An engine control system for a vehicle having an automatic transmission in which the gear-shifting is automatically done on the basis of a predetermined shift pattern comprises an engine output control system for controlling the output power of the engine... | 08/06/1991 |
