Joseph M Vitale

US Patent:

60451866, Apr 4, 2000

Filed:

Dec 4, 1998

Appl. No.:

9/206180

Inventors:

Timothy R. Butt - Plymouth MI
Kurt A. Siebold - Dearborn Heights MI
Joseph P. Vitale - South Lyon MI
Vasudeva Murthy - Ann Arbor MI
Christopher E. Woon - Farmington Hills MI

Assignee:

Johnson Controls Technology Company - Plymouth MI

International Classification:

B60N 242
B60R 2100

US Classification:

297296

Abstract:

A back frame for a vehicle seat assembly having an upright frame member capable of supporting compressive and tensile loading and a secondary, tensile load carrying member capable only of supporting significant loads in tension. The tensile load carrying member is attached to the upright frame member at the upper end of the back frame and extends downward behind the upright frame member and is attached to a base at the lower end of the back frame. The upright frame member is also attached to the base at the lower end of the back frame. The result is a triangular truss formed by the upright frame member, the tensile load carrying member and the base. During a frontal vehicle collision forward loading applied to the back frame results in a tensile load in the tensile load carrying member which reduces the bending loading in the upright frame member thus providing a significant increase in the forward load carrying capability of the back frame with only a slight increase in the back frame weight as compared to conventional seat assembly back frames not having a tensile load carrying member.

US Patent:

61096903, Aug 29, 2000

Filed:

Dec 18, 1998

Appl. No.:

9/216658

Inventors:

Wei-Pin Wu - Canton MI
John J. Flannery - Fenton MI
Robert H. Dietze - Brighton MI
Joseph P. Vitale - South Lyon MI
Mark A. Pattok - Canton MI
Jeffrey A. Lindberg - Southgate MI
Robert M. Healy - Garden City MI

Assignee:

Johnson Controls Technology Company - Plymouth MI

International Classification:

B60N 242

US Classification:

29721613

Abstract:

A vehicle seat assembly having a seat back which pivots during a rear impact vehicle collision in Such a manner that the upper end of the seat back rotates foreword. The pivoting seat back includes a releasable latch mechanism to hold the seat back frame fixed in a predetermined position about a pivot axis. The latch mechanism is releasable by inertia forces in response to a rear vehicle collision, to release the latch member and free the seat back frame for rotation about the pivot axis.

US Patent:

62943898, Sep 25, 2001

Filed:

Nov 1, 1999

Appl. No.:

9/431374

Inventors:

Joseph Anthony Vitale - Shelby Township MI
Richard William Gushman - Rochester Hills MI

Assignee:

General Motors Corporation - Detroit MI

International Classification:

G01M 1500
G01M 2726

US Classification:

436 57

Abstract:

An apparatus and method by which tracer compounds and combustion products in the exhaust of an internal combustion engine are more completely combusted, so that oil consumption of the engine can be more precisely and concurrently measured on a real-time basis using tunable diode laser spectroscopy. The apparatus includes a furnace capable of completely burning nonradioactive stable organobromo compounds and combustion products within the exhaust gas of the engine, without being reactive with the compounds or the resulting tracer gas or isotopic specie of the compounds. The furnace generally has at least one passage through which the exhaust gas passes. The wall surfaces of the passage are formed of a material with a high concentration of titanium, such that the exhaust gas is substantially limited to contact with the high-Ti material while within the furnace. Turbulent flow is preferably induced in the exhaust gas within the passage, while the gas is heated to a temperature sufficient to combust the compound and yield the desired tracer isotopic specie.