Techniques for verifying the authenticity of the steel stamped information on an engine pad of a classic automobile and apparatus therefor

• US 20060251288A1
• Filed: 05/06/2005
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Albert R. Grenning
• Original Assignee: Albert R. Grenning
• Inventors: Grenning, Albert R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,738,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition

Abstract

Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a technique and device are described that may allow a user to determine if the engine in a classic or antique automobile is original. The common characteristics of the factory applied markings of known original engines may be identified. All or a portion of an unknown engine may then be compared to those common characteristics to determine if the unknown engine was likely stamped using the same stamping tool as the known original engines.

Claims

1. A method to determine if an engine in an automobile is original, comprising:

collecting an image of at least one factory applied marking of a first known original engine; and

comparing at least one factory applied marking of the engine to at least one factory applied marking of the known original engine to determine if the at least one factory applied marking of the engine is substantially similar to the at least one factory applied marking of the known original engine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting an image of at least one of a factory applied marking of a second known original engine; and

comparing the at least one factory applied marking of the first known original engine to the at least one factory applied marking of the second known original engine to identify at least one common characteristic.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining if the at least one factory marking of the engine is substantially similar to the at least one factory applied marking of the known original engine comprises determining if the at least one factory marking of the engine includes the common characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting an image of at least one of a factory applied marking of a first known original engine includes collecting an image of an assembly code.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein collecting the image of the assembly code includes collecting an assembly code that includes, at least in part, the character “

F”

, “

V”

, “

H”

, “

I”

or “

J”

.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein collecting the image of the assembly code includes collecting an assembly code that includes, at least in part, a pair of characters selected from the group consisting of “

IM”

. “

IQ”

, “

IR”

, “

IF”

, “

IP”

, “

IK”

, “

JC”

, “

JF”

, “

JD”

, “

JG”

, “

JE”

, “

JA”

, “

IU”

, “

JH”

, and “

IT”

.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein collecting the image of the assembly code includes collecting an assembly code from an engine of at least 396 cubic inches in size.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein collecting the image of the assembly code includes collecting an assembly code from an engine from a Chevrolet™

Corvette™

manufactured from 1957 through 1975.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying at least one common characteristic includes identifying a characteristic selected from the group consisting of:

size of characters, style of characters, boldness of characters, junctures between characters, angle of characters, spacing between characters, location of characters, and broach marks.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting an image of at least one factory applied marking of the engine includes collecting an image of an assembly code applied to the engine at the factory where the engine was built.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting an image of at least one factory applied marking of the engine includes collecting an image of at least a portion of a code that represents at least a portion of a vehicle identification number applied at the factory where the automobile was built.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a device selected from the group consisting of:

a personal computer, a digital camera, and a personal digital assistant.

12. An article comprising:

a storage medium having stored thereon at least one image of an engine pad of a known original engine, that, when accessed by a computing platform, allows a user to compare an image of an engine pad of an unknown engine to the at least one image of an engine pad of a known original engine to determine if the unknown engine is an original engine.

13. The article of claim 12, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon a plurality of images of engine pads from a plurality of known original engines.

14. The article of claim 12, wherein the storage medium has stored there on an image of an engine pad that comprises an image of an assembly code.

15. The article of claim 14, where in the storage medium has stored there on an image of an engine pad that comprises an image of an assembly code that includes, at least in part, one of the characters “

F”

, “

V”

, “

H”

, “

I”

or “

J”

.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus if further adapted to compare at least one characteristic of the factory applied marking from the original motor, the characteristic selected from the group consisting of:

size of characters, style of characters, boldness of characters, junctures between characters, angle of characters, spacing between characters, location of characters, and broach marks.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processing unit; and

a storage device to store an image of at least a portion of a factory applied marking from an original motor, wherein the apparatus is adapted to compare a representation of an unknown motor to the image of at least a portion of a factory applied marking from the original motor to provide a confidence factor that the known motor is original.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising an input device to receive the representation of the unknown motor.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the input device is selected from the group consisting of a scanner, a camera, and a memory reader.