axis causes one-half of the element to compress and the other to extend. This arrangement is said to be less sensitive to temperature and base strain effects than other configurations.--EEU

5,052,530

43.40.Yq VIBRATION ABSORBING MECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMOBILE AIR CONDITIONING

COMPRESSOR

Seiji Shimazaki, assignor to Sanden Corporation 1 October 1991 (Class 188/379); filed in Japan 28 July 1988

This patent pertains to a particular configuration of a dynamic absorb- er (tuned damper) intended to reduce the vibrations of air conditioning compressors mounted to automotive engines.--EEU

5,054,251

43.40.Yq STRUCTURAL SHOCK ISOLATION SYSTEM

Zoltan A. Kemey, Tempe, Arizona 8 October 1991 {Class 52/167 R); filed 5 February 1991

In this system, resilience (and isolation) is provided by elastomeric layers located between mating surfaces of structural plates. The geometries of the mating surfaces, exemplified by key/keyway arrangements, are such that the plates cannot be pulled apart.--EEU

5,054,320

43.40.Yq PENDULOUS ACCELEROMETER WITH ELECTROSTATIC REBALANCING

Amand Yvon, assignor to Societe d'Applications Generales d'Electri- cite et de Mecanique Sagem

8 October 1991 {Class 73/517 B); filed in France 30 June 1987

This accelerometer, intended for use in projectiles and the like that experience very high accelerations, lends itself to complete integration on a semiconductor substrate. It consists of a plate that is at one edge hinge- supported from a base, and that has its center of gravity relatively near the hinge. Electrodes on both sides of the plates are used to provide an electro- static balancing field and an acceleration signal.--EEU

5,055,759

43.40.Yq SERVO ACCELEROMETER

Norio Miyahara, assignor to Jeco Company 8 October 1991 {Class 318/651); filed in Japan 10 August 1989

The pendular mass in this accelerometer carries a coil and has an opti- cal slot near its tip. A photopotentiometer unit measures the amount of light passing through the slot, and thus determines the deviation of the pendulum from its null position. A control system supplies current to the coil to renull the pendulum.--EEU

5,060,504

43.40.Yq SELF-CALIBRATING ACCELEROMETER

Craig W. White, Leonard W. Behr, and Kevin E. Musser, assignors to Automotive Systems Laboratory

29 October 1991 (Class 73/1 D); filed 27 September 1989

This accelerometer, intended to be made by micromachining, has a sensing mass supported from a frame by a plurality of small beams that act as hinges and incorporate resistors. The resistance of the beam resistors, which varies as the mass is displaced relative to the frame, is measured with the aid of a Wheatstone bridge circu, it. A variable resistor, controlled by a microprocessor, compensates for temperature effects and manufacturing tolerances. The output of the electrical circuit is calibrated periodically by deflecting the sensing mass electrostatically a known amount relative to the frame.--EEU

5,063,781

43.40.Yq FIBER-OPTIC VIBRATION SENSOR

Giuliano Conforti et aL, assignors to Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ri- cerche

12 November 1991 {Class 73/651); filed in Italy 12 August 1988

A cantilever reed serves as the inertial element in this accelerometer.

The reed's instantaneous tip displacement is measured with the aid of two optical fibers terminating in refractive index gradient microlenses. One of these fibers shines a light beam on the tip reed perpendicular to its surface; the other detects light reflected from the tip reed at a fixed angle.--EEU

4,887,692

43.50.Gf NOISE REDUCING DEVICE FOR MARINE

PROPULSION

Hiroaki Outani and Seiji Inoue, assignors to Sanshin Kogyo Kabu- shiki Kaisha

19 December 1989 {Class 181/235); filed in Japan 13 April 1987

The principle in this patent is the use of an acoustic lens over the intake and/or exhaust port (when the exhaust port is above water) as is desirable for reducing back pressure during slow speed or idling operation. The use of such a lens to focus sound onto the absorbing surface of a thickened region of acoustical lining suggests some interesting possibilities for increasing sound absorption, but focusing sound to direct it away from an outboard or inboard marine engine seems of little value.--CHA

4,890,690

43.50.Gf EXHAUST GAS MUFFLER FOR A TWO-

STROKE ENGINE

Hartmut Fischer et aL, assignors to Andreas Stihl 2 January 1990 (Class 181/240); filed in Germany 3 September 1987

This patent is directed toward muffling sound from a two-stroke en- gine for a handheld or portable tool such as a chain saw or the like equipped with a catalyzer for eliminating residual unburned products. A catalyzer can raise the exhaust exit temperature from 600 to 1000 øC and cause a flame, if any unburned fuel remains, when this hot exhaust exits into the atmospheric oxygen supply, especially when the engine speed or load is suddenly changed. The object here is to combine a muffler with means for preventing such ignition. It is a special case illustrating the necessity of considering the unexpected when solving practical acoustical problems.-- CHA

4,895,501

43.50.Gf ROTARY COMPRESSOR WITH VANE POSITIONED TO REDUCE NOISE

Bharat S. Bagepalli, assignor to General Electric Company 23 January 1990 (Class 418/63); filed 22 December 1988

In a rotary compressor, the slot for the sliding vane is designed with a tilt. This is so that the lateral force component exerted against the vane (by the eccentrically moving roller and the high-pressure gas combined) during

20½

SH•FTED _l • /•'O VANE ' !F•172

2280 J. Acoust. $oc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 4, Pt. 1, October 1992 Patent Reviews 2280

Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.105.215.146 On: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 21:28:14

the pressure portion of the cycle is minimized. It also minimizes the noise created by the frictional sliding motion of the vane, as it is pressed against the restraining wall of the slot during the high pressure discharge of gas from the pump.--CHA

cured before attachment to the underlying brake shoe. Modifications are described including attachment means comprising rivets or cement, and utilizing an interlayer of damping material in thin strips or a continuous sheet.--CHA

5,082,240

43.50.Gf QUIET WATER VALVE

James W. Richmond, assignor to Emerson Electric Company 21 January 1992 (Class 251/120); filed 12 December 1990

œ1ectrically activated valves, used in appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerator ice-makers, and washing machines, generally use a flexible flow-control washer backed by a rigid support which in combination pro- vide a flow regulation that accommodates a range of water supply pressures to give a substantially constant flow rate. They tend to be noisy at certain pressures (and quiet at others) especially so if water is gassy. The present valve reduces such noise by decelerating the water motion as soon as it leaves the flow control orifice and prevents outgassing in the fiow.--CHA

5,082,241

43.50.Gf ANTINOISE BAFFLE FOR SCREW TYPE

VALVES WITH CERAMIC DISK SEALS

Alessio Orlandi, assignor to Galastron S. r. I. 21 January 1992 (Class 251/127); filed in Italy 24 April 1990

Flow of water through valvular parts always causes turbulence and resulting noise, sometimes louder than acceptable limits. Previous designs use barriers, but they obstructed passages and restricted flow. The present system uses an antinoise baffle which can be fitted to screw type valves without reducing flow capacity, in combination with parts already in the

5,027,687

43.55.Ka SOUND FIELD CONTROL DEVICE

Masayuki Iwamatsu, assignor to Yamaha Corporation 2 July 1991 (Class 84/600); filed in Japan 27 January 1987

Sound field processor 36 creates four auxiliary audio signals for loud- speakers 4-7 in the four corners of a listening room to add appropriate acoustical effects to the stereophonic sound from loudspeakers 2 and 3. The processor 36 receives the combined source signal (left and right), and creates the sound field effect tones for the four channels through the action

14 16 18 20 22

TUNER I I TUNER I IPLAYERI IPLAYERI IPLAYERI

.38 36.• FIEL

IX I.II " .... ' ' t'-•-• IIAuD,O'••-•.tLt3 J• t' '3 .'0 •FRO• m6•) • III I

/ •ONITOR Ill LOUDSPEAKER 2MAIN LOUDSPEAKER III (R•gHT)

6(REAR 7(REAR • • • '

of a convolution operation circuit controlled by a selected program from an ROM. The programs provide for simulating the size, initial time delay, liveness, reverberation time, and level of different types of room environ- ments.--DWM

25

2O

14a

15

valve, and using no adhesives or added fasteners or altering the existing structure. It is applicable to opening/closing rotation types of either a quarter- or half-rotation, and guarantees delivery even when water carries dirt.•CHA

5,083,643

43.50.Gf NOISE ABATING BRAKE SHOE

Alan R. Hummel and David L. Swadley, assignors to Abex Corpora- tion

28 January 1992 (Class 188/251); filed 25 September 1990

A brake block, mounted on a brake shoe for providing frictional drag when pressed against a brake drum, comprises an elastometric sound- damping composition including cashew nut-shell resin, phenolic, glass fi- bers, rock wool, and other materials, mixed, extruded, formed, and heat-

5,105,822

43.66.Sr APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF

PERFORMING HIGH FREQUENCY AUDIOMETRY

Kenneth N. Stevens, David M. Green, and Robert A. Berkovitz, as- signors to Sensimetrics Corporation

21 April 1992 {Class 128/746); filed 16 February 1988

A test signal from a sound source is delivered through a tube fitted into the ear canal. A calibrated microphone in the tube, near the entrance to the ear canal, measures both the incoming sound and also that reflected from the eardrum. There is sufficient absorption in the tube system to attenuate the reflected wave before it reaches the sound source and produces another reflection. By means of a processor unit, the calibration function is calculat-

26

•.• 281 //f•. •,30

•12o ,zz c•• • ',4 ed by transmitting a broad frequency spectrum acoustic pulse into the ear canal, measuring the sound pressure of the transmitted and reflected pulses and removing from the spectrum the destructive interference effects be- tween the pulses. From the resultant, the sound-pressure level at the apical end of the eardrum can be calculated by the processor.--SFL

2281 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 4, Pt. 1, October 1992 Patent Reviews 2281

Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.105.215.146 On: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 21:28:14