Exhaust muffler with angularly aligned inlets and outlets

A muffler for an exhaust system of a vehicle, said exhaust system comprising at least one exhaust pipe and at least one tail pipe, said muffler comprising:

• a pair of formed plates disposed in generally face to face relationship, said plates being formed to define an array of tubes therebetween, said array of tubes comprising a plurality of generally parallel tubes in communication with one another, an inlet in communication with said parallel tubes and connectable to the exhaust pipe, and an outlet in communication with said parallel tubes and connectable to the tail pipe, said inlet and outlet being angularly aligned to said parallel tubes of said formed plates to facilitate alignment of said exhaust pipe and said tail pipe adjacent said muffler, at least one of said plates being formed to define perforations therethrough in said array of tubes;
• and at least one external shell formed to define at least one expansion chamber, said external shell being fixedly mounted to one of said internal plates such that the expansion chamber surrounds the perforations of said one of the internal plates.

An exhaust muffler for connection to an exhaust pipe and a tail pipe of a vehicle and for mounting in a selected non rectangular space envelope on a vehicle, said muffler comprising a pair of formed plates disposed in generally face to face relationship, said plates being formed to define an array of tubes including an inlet to the muffler connectable to the exhaust pipe and an outlet from the muffler connectable to the tail pipe, said inlet and said outlet being angularly aligned relative to one another, selected portions of said tubes being formed to define perforations therethrough, said plates being formed to define substantially identical non rectangular peripheries, generally conforming in shape to the non rectangular space envelope in the vehicle, said muffler further comprising at least one external shell securely connected to one of said plates, said external shell being formed to define at least one expansion chamber surrounding said perforations of the tubes adjacent thereto.

An exhaust muffler for connection to at least one exhaust pipe and at least one tail pipe of a vehicle, said muffler comprising a pair of internal plates disposed generally in face to face relationship, said internal plates being formed to define an array of tubes therebetween, said tubes defining at least one inlet connectable to said exhaust pipe and at least one outlet connectable to said tail pipe, a pair of external shells each being formed to define a generally planar peripheral flange and at least one chamber extending from the plane of said peripheral flange, the peripheral flanges of said external shells being connected to one another such that said external shells substantially surround and enclose said internal plates, said external shells further defining at least one inlet and at least one outlet in register with each said respective inlet and outlet of said internal plates, at least one of said inlets and said outlets being angularly aligned to the plane of the connected peripheral flanges, whereby the alignment of said inlet and said outlet is selected in accordance with a desired alignment of the exhaust pipe and tail pipe of the vehicle.