Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Processes
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-10
2001-05-22
Maust, Timothy L. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Processes
C141S004000, C141S005000, C141S007000, C141S008000, C141S061000, C141S065000, C141S095000, C141S098000, C141S326000, C141S382000, C220S237000, C138S090000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234215
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to apparatus for testing and filling a cooling system of a motor vehicle with coolant.
Periodically, it is necessary to replace the coolant in the cooling system for a motor vehicle engine. For this purpose, a stopcock has been provided at the bottom of the radiator. In order to drain the system, the stopcock is opened and a cap at the top of the radiator is removed to allow air to enter the system braking a vacuum which would otherwise prevent the flow of old spent coolant through the stopcock.
Years ago a service technician draining the radiator simply allowed the spent coolant to flow to a floor drain in the garage from which it entered the municipal sewer system. With increased concerns about harming the environment, such dumping of coolant chemicals, which often contain heavy metals, into a sewer system has been prohibited. Now the service technician must place a pan beneath the stopcock in which to catch the coolant draining from the engine. The technician must then pour the coolant into a suitable container for proper disposal according to environmental protection regulations. The recovered coolant alternatively may be delivered to a recycling center which removes the contaminants and sells the cleansed coolant.
After the spent coolant is removed from the motor vehicle, the cooling system has to be filled with new coolant. This is accomplished by closing the stopcock and pouring the new coolant into the filler neck at the top of the engine that was opened by removal of the radiator cap. When the mechanic is working on the cooling system, often the drained coolant is placed back into the system, if the coolant is relatively fresh and uncontaminated.
Simply pouring the coolant into the filler opening is relatively time consuming and prone to coolant being spilled onto the floor of the garage. In addition, this process may not completely fill the cooling system with new coolant, as air which entered during the draining stage becomes trapped with in cavities in upper sections of the engine during refilling. Therefore, the engine often has to be operated for a period of time to flush the air into the upper part of the radiator from which the air can be replaced later with more coolant added to the system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an apparatus for rapidly filling a motor vehicle cooling system with coolant.
That apparatus includes a service cap for attachment to the filler neck of the radiator. The service cap comprises a body, a collar, a resilient sleeve and a compression tube. The body has a passage there through and has external threads on an exterior surface. The collar is threaded onto the external threads of the body and has a first aperture. The resilient sleeve abuts the collar and has a second aperture. A head at one end of the compression tube abuts the sleeve with the compression tube extending through the first and second apertures. Another end of the compression tube is secured in the passage of the body. Movement of the collar on the threads of the body draws the compression tube through the collar and compresses the sleeve against the collar. This action produces outward expansion of the sleeve which seals the cap to the inside of the radiator filler neck.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a valve is connected to the passage in the body to control flow of air and coolant through the passage. A pressure gauge also can be connected to the passage in the body.
The present cap is used to evacuate air from the cooling system by a vacuum source connected to the valve. The vacuum source can constitute a venturi assembly with a suction port connected to the valve, a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. A muffler may be connected to the fluid outlet. After the evacuation of air, a source of coolant is connected to the valve with the coolant being drawn into the cooling system by the previously created vacuum.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2855003 (1958-10-01), Thaxton
patent: 3054427 (1962-09-01), Bonnette
patent: 4298040 (1981-11-01), Pohan
patent: 5573045 (1996-11-01), Akazawa
patent: 5649574 (1997-07-01), Turcotte et al.
Bell Boyd & Lloyd LLC
Maust Timothy L.
UView Ultraviolet Systems, Inc.
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