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US 5,669,352 AGranted
Throttle control device, system, and method
AssigneeNone recorded
InventorWilliam E. Mitchell
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNone recorded
InventorWilliam E. Mitchell
Estimating the term…
An air/fuel control apparatus mounted on a racing automobile engine delivers fuel to the engine. A valve therein controls the flow of fuel to the engine, irrespective of the position of the accelerator foot pedal, and the valve is connected to a throttle linkage linking the pedal to the valve. The valve includes a double acting pneumatic cylinder means with a slidable piston therein. A movable shaft extends through both ends of a cylindrical housing, and moves with the piston. One first end of the shaft is coupled to the valve so that slidable movement of the piston opens and closes the valve to increase and decrease, respectively, flow of fuel to the carburetor of the engine. A cable rod connects the housing to the pedal so that movement of the pedal causes the housing to move with respect to the piston therein. A solenoid valve delivers gas under pressure selectively to one side of the piston to either increase or decrease fuel flow to the engine while at also controlling the rate of gas exhaustion from the opposite side of the piston to control the rate of movement of the piston, thereby to control the acceleration or deceleration of the engine. A second end of the shaft extends out from the opposite end of the housing and has an adjustable limiting member to limit of movement of the shaft in one direction by the limiting member contacting the housing.
In an air/fuel control system for an automobile including an engine, an,air/fuel means mounted on the engine for delivering fuel and air to said engine, a throttle valve means in said air/fuel means for controlling the flow of air and fuel to the engine, an accelerator pedal, and throttle cable rod means for linking said accelerator pedal to said throttle valve means comprising:
An air/fuel control system for an automobile in a drag race, wherein the automobile includes an engine, said air/fuel control system comprising a throttle control system communicating with a carburetor of the engine and the accelerator pedal of the automobile throttle control system, said throttle control system attached to the carburetor at one end for selectively and closing the flow of air/fuel therethrough at predetermined times during a race, said throttle control system including a double action bypass means for bypassing the force of a cable connecting the accelerator pedal to the carburetor,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
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Characterised by non-mechanical control linkages, e.g. fluid control linkages or by control linkages with power drive or assistance: of the…
Arrangements; Control features; Details thereof: with means for correcting throttle position, e.g. throttle cable of variable length
Arrangements; Control features; Details thereof: in which movement is transmitted through a vacuum motor
Controlling combustion engines
Term ended 3 Apr 2016 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
The present invention relates to a throttle valve control system for use with an internal combustion engine, and more particularly, to such a system for automatically reducing the opening of a carburetor throttle valve of the engine of a drag race vehicle for some percentage of the total duration of time in the race.
In sanctioned drag racing there are certain classes in which the goal of the drag racer is to run a distance as close as possible to a predetermined time. For example, the distance is generally 1320 feet while the predetermined time may be 8.90 seconds. Running the distance in less time than the predetermined time disqualifies the racer. It is standard practice for these cars to race with the highest possible acceleration and the highest top speed. The car can cover the distance in a time considerably less than the predetermined time. Some type of throttle valve limiting device customarily is used to slow the car to the predetermined time of the class of the car. When the race begins, the car is under full acceleration. Some distance after the race has begun, the throttle limiting device is engaged thereby reducing throttle position for some percentage of the total duration of the time of the race to slow the vehicle down or merely to reduce the rate of acceleration, then the throttle is reopened for the balance of the race.
A throttle cable or rod typically attaches the accelerator pedal to the throttle valve in the carburetor. A variety of prior art devices have been interposed between the accelerator pedal and the throttle valve or attached to the throttle valve to selectively alter the effective length of the throttle cable or otherwise alter the position of the throttle valve to effect the desired control. Gilligan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,020, teaches the use of a single acting hydraulic cylinder to extend the effective length of the throttle cable thereby slowing a vehicle whenever a speed sensor detects excessive speed. Corbi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,741, illustrates the use of a preset throttle release based on the use of an auxiliary throttle cable with an electromagnet release device used to maximize traction at the start of a drag race. This is a manual control device which permits presetting. Current acceleration control practice generally uses some type of pneumatic cylinder driven by a supply of compressed air or compressed gas such as carbon dioxide. For example, a currently available DRT Progressive Throttle Controller uses a double-acting single ended rod carbon dioxide driven pneumatic cylinder controlled by a solenoid valve. Grant, U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,948, teaches the use of an externally adjustable single-acting single ended cylinder driven by carbon dioxide to automatically alter the effective length of the throttle cable during a drag race.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of drag race vehicle showing throttle control device position;
FIG. 2 is a side view of various components of the throttle control system;
FIG. 3 is a side view crossection of the cylinder of the DRT prior art system;
FIG. 1 shows the front end of a drag race vehicle 2 with the hood partially open to reveal the cylinder subsystem 1 of the present invention attached to the throttle cable 3. FIG. 2 shows a side view of various parts of the throttle control system. The cylinder subsystem 1 is attached to the carburetor 5 at one end and to the throttle cable 3 on top. The throttle cable 3 goes through the fire wall 4 and terminates at the accelerator pedal 6. The carburetor 5 is mounted on engine 7.
A key feature of the present invention is the use of a double-acting pneumatic cylinder with a double-ended piston rod as the cylinder subsystem 1.
Similar to the throttle control device of the present invention, the DRT prior art device shown in FIG. 3 uses a double-acting cylinder 10 with a single-ended rod 14. Moreover, the prior art device of Grant U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,948 shown in FIG. 4 uses a single-acting cylinder 21 with a single-ended rod 34. The cylinder of the DRT prior art device has an outer diameter of approximately 0.9 inches. In contrast, the double action cylinder 10 of the present invention has an outer diameter of 1.1 inches to increase the volume therein to move the throttle position within carburetor 5.