Did You Know...
...that in the early 1940s GE engineer James Wright was charged with a task of utmost importance to the war effort: develop a cheap substitute for rubber that could be used to produce tires, gas masks and a whole host of military gear. Wright tackled the task diligently -- and wound up inventing Silly Putty.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7976430 | Driver intention detection algorithm for transmission control A system and method for providing TCC control and/or transmission gear shift control by considering the rate of change of the accelerator pedal or throttle position. The method determines whether the rate of change of the throttle position exceeds a predetermined po... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7815543 | Creep control device for vehicle A creep control device for a vehicle having an automatic transmission including a torque converter with a lock-up clutch. The creep control device includes a throttle angle sensor for detecting a throttle angle, a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a running speed o... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7785230 | Variable displacement engine powertrain fuel economy mode A vehicle drive system for adjusting vehicle fuel economy is described. In one example, the vehicle drive system includes an operator interface for adjusting vehicle operation so as to increase or decrease fuel consumption according to a driver preference. ... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7785229 | Variable K-factor torque converter A controllable hydrodynamic torque converter is provided for use within a vehicle having a detectable throttle level, the torque converter comprising a first stator having a first outlet angle and a second stator having a higher second outlet angle. The second stato... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7766792 | Power train structure for hybrid vehicles Disclosed are a power train structure that can operate hybrid vehicles in an electric mode at its startup and/or lower speed stages and a method of operation of the same. ... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7361120 | Control of lock-up clutch A lock-up clutch control device which controls a lock-up clutch (6) provided in a torque converter (5) interposed between an engine (3) and a transmission (4) used with a vehicle, is disclosed. The lock-up clutch control device has a diff... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7357754 | Mechanism and method of controlling an automatic shifting power transmission to effect a first gear launch The present invention provides a mechanism and method of launching a vehicle using a conventional automatic shifting power transmission. By slipping a first gear reaction clutch during a launch, an efficient hydrodynamic fluid drive with a low stall speed may be use... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7340330 | Hybrid type vehicle driving controller, hybrid type vehicle driving control method and its program The invention has an engine maximum torque calculating processor for calculating plural engine maximum torques showing a maximum value of engine torque, and an engine limit torque calculating processor for calculating a minimum value of the respective engine maximum... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7337050 | Method and apparatus for controlling a gear shift in a parallel shaft gear of a motor vehicle The invention relates to a method for controlling a gear shift, especially a pulling upshift in a parallel-shift transmission of a vehicle, said parallel-shift transmission having two transmission branches situated parallel to each other between an output shaft of a... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7328686 | System and method to control cylinder activation and deactivation Engine cylinder reactivation from a fuel-cut state is controlled based on a calculated future engine speed and a minimum allowable engine speed. The future engine speed is calculated based on the current rate of change of engine speed and a duration required to reac... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7316631 | Automatic transmission apparatus An automatic transmission apparatus includes: a torque converter including a pump impeller connected to an engine and a turbine connected to an input shaft of an automatic transmission; an oil pump connected to the pump impeller and to the turbine; and a controlling... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7286922 | Method of and apparatus for transmitting torque in vehicular power trains The magnitude of torque which can be transmitted by a bypass clutch between the housing and the turbine of a torque converter between a prime mover, such as an engine, and an automatic transmission in the power train of a motor vehicle is selectively regulatable by ... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7267633 | Transmission control method for increasing engine idle temperature The state of a fluid coupling in a motor vehicle powertrain is selectively controlled during neutral idle operation of the engine for increasing the engine temperature to a desired level. The fluid coupling includes an input member connected to the engine and an out... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7264574 | Torque converter lockup capacity control device A torque converter lockup capacity control device is configured to conduct coast-time lockup control during coast-running in order to prevent engine stall, shock from occurring in the output shaft of a transmission due to lockup when a driver releases an acceleratio... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7266437 | Temperature dependent trigger control for a traction control system A method a operating a traction control system using a traction controller (30) for an automotive vehicle (10) is provided. A slip target is first determined. Then, an operating temperature turning characteristic or slope of the slip curve may, in comb... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7258650 | Systems and methods for controlling a powertrain A system is provided for controlling the operation of powertrain, including an engine and a torque converter having a torque converter clutch. The system may include a torque governor for controlling a torque output of the engine and a speed governor for controlling... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7252620 | Control of vehicle drive system An air compressor (12b) starts to operate when fuel to an internal combustion engine (1) is cut off and the engine (1) and a transmission (4) are directly engaged. Upon receiving a drive request signal, a controller (21) out... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7238142 | Lock-up capacity control apparatus and method for torque converter In lock-up capacity control apparatus and method for a torque converter, the torque converter is caused to have a converter state in which a relative revolution between input and output elements of the torque converter is free of limitation in a case where a lock-up... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7234577 | Torque converter A torque converter, which can prevent an oil pressure required for shifting a lock-up clutch from being made high, is provided. A converter chamber is formed between an outside circular-plate portion of a front cover and an impeller shell. A lock-up clutch constitut... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7235036 | Lockup control apparatus and method for vehicular torque converter In a lockup control apparatus and method for a vehicular torque converter, the torque converter is controlled to be under a steady-state lockup state by a lockup clutch during a steady-state traveling state, and the torque converter is controlled to be under a coast... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7234578 | Torque converter A lock-up clutch controlling device includes a three-dimensional back pressure map, a sensor, and a lock-up pressure controlling unit. The map allows a back pressure of a lock-up piston to be determined from a rotational speed of an engine, an oil temperature, and a... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7220216 | Lock-up clutch control device A lock-up clutch control device for controlling a lock-up clutch mechanism provided to a torque converter is including an estimator means for estimating a contact timing of a friction material included in the lock-up clutch mechanism during a driven state based on a... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7219000 | Speed control for an electrically variable transmission A multi-mode hybrid transmission has speed control provided via an open loop model derived as a function of preselected transmission accelerations and controlled and uncontrolled transmission torques. Motor torques are selected as the controlled torques and other pr... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7214165 | Method of automatically flushing debris from an electrically-operated hydraulic valve The normal control of an electrically-activated hydraulic valve armature is overridden to automatically and periodically open the armature for flushing out debris that has accumulated between the armature and a seat that the armature is designed to engage. The valve... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7211027 | Vehicle control apparatus operable during shifting of transmission An apparatus for controlling an automotive vehicle including an engine and an automatic transmission. The apparatus is operable upon generation of an engine-output control command requiring an output of the engine during a shift-up action of the transmission initiat... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7195581 | Power transmission device having a torque converter with a lockup clutch and lockup control method for torque converter A controller (5) performs open loop control of the engaging state of a lockup clutch (2) through a switching mechanism (3, 4) when a torque converter (1) transitions from a first state in which the lockup clutch (2) is disengaged t... | 03/27/2007 |
| 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 |
| 7189188 | Transmission control device In an automatic transmission including a forward clutch and a lockup clutch of a torque converter which are provided on a driving-power transmitting path between an engine and a driving wheel, a vehicle driving condition is classified into a plurality of regions and... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7188017 | Method and apparatus for controlling a transfer case clutch to improve vehicle handling In a motor vehicle driveline having an automatic transmission driveably connected to a transfer case whose output is continually connected to a first output, a clutch, selectively engaged in response to a control signal, driveably connects a second output to the fir... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7128686 | Method and apparatus for synchronized PTO control in a motor vehicle powertrain One or more friction devices of a transmission coupled to an engine through a fluid coupling are used during engine neutral idle operation to control the state of the fluid coupling for synchronous engagement and disengagement of a PTO input gear with a transmission... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7099762 | Powertrain of a motor vehicle and method for controlling said powertrain The power train (1) includes a controlled drive source (3), a clutch (6), an automatically shifting transmission (7) and a data transmission device (2). The power train contains an additional drive source (12) and is fitted ... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7090614 | Automatic transmission and method for determining hydraulic pressure characteristics value for automatic transmission An automatic transmission includes a plurality of frictional engagement elements for constructing plural shift stages with combinations of engagement and disengagement thereof, a control portion for controlling the engagement and the disengagement of the frictional ... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7085640 | Lockup control of torque converter A tightening force of a lockup clutch (2) exerted between a pump impeller (1a) connected to an engine (21) and a turbine runner (1b) connected to an automatic transmission (23) is controlled by a controller (5)... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7077783 | Method and device for operating a clutch A method and device for operating a clutch between an internal combustion engine and at least one driven wheel of a vehicle, a torque being transmitted between the internal combustion engine and the driven wheel by pressing the clutch together via an application for... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7077253 | Torque converter A hydrokinetic torque converter, particularly for use in the power train of a motor vehicle, has a housing which can receive torque from the prime mover of the vehicle and drives a pump adapted to rotate a turbine on the input shaft of the change-speed transmission.... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7074148 | Hydraulic controller of power transmission device A hydraulic controller of a power transmission device is equipped with a transmission for changing a rotation speed of motor power input from a motor and outputting the motor power; a forward/backward change-over mechanism provided between an input shaft, where the ... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7044279 | Hydrodynamic torque converter To achieve precise control of a clutch arranged inside a converter housing (1) and which connects the converter housing (1) to a pump impeller wheel (3), the converter's internal pressure, which acts on a piston (9) of the actuation devic... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7037239 | Slip control method for a clutch A method for automatically adjusting slip in an automatic friction clutch arranged between an engine and a gearbox of a motor vehicle. The clutch has a clutch-adjusting positioning drive which adjusts the clutch to a position which is defined by a position set-point... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7028821 | System and method for controlling hydraulic pressure of automatic transmission including lockup control valve A system for controlling a hydraulic pressure of an automatic transmission includes a torque converter having a lockup clutch for direct coupling between an engine and the transmission, a lockup solenoid valve for providing a signal pressure for controlling engageme... | 04/18/2006 |
| 7011603 | Fluid pressure control device for lock-up mechanism A fluid pressure control device including a torque converter that is placed between a output shaft of an engine and an input shaft of a transmission, a mechanical oil pump that is driven by the output shaft, a clutch that directly engages the output shaft and the in... | 03/14/2006 |
