Adjustable coolant thermostat housing

• US 9,903,258 B1
• Filed: 01/22/2015
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James Kevin Tillman
• Original Assignee: James Kevin Tillman
• Inventors: Tillman, James Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Moubry, Grant
• Assistant Examiner(s): Diaz, Miguel A
• Application Number:
  US14/602,501
• Time in Patent Office: 1,132 Days
• Field of Search: 236 99 K
• CPC Class Codes: F01P 7/167 by adjusting the pre-set temperature according to engine parameters, e.g. engine load, engine speed
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/022 the sensing element being placed within a regulating fluid flow

Abstract

An adjustable coolant thermostat housing has a threaded adjustment shaft (15) that when turned moves it'"'"'s mating surface with the wax body rod (14) farther from or closer to the thermostat wax body (8) which determines at what temperature the thermostat valve (10) opens or closes. This embodiment allows an individual to adjust what the operating temperature of the engine coolant is ultimately set to. Instead of a preset, nonadjustable thermostat, my embodiment allows a range of coolant temperatures to be chosen. The coolant temperature could also be remotely adjusted using one of the other embodiments.

Claims

1. An adjustable coolant thermostat for an automobile engine which allows an automotive coolant temperature to be adjusted up or down as desired, the adjustable coolant thermostat comprising:

a thermostat housing including at least one mounting element to be mounted on the automobile engine, a coolant hose connection, and a cylindrical thermostat housing pedestal that defines a space which houses a thermostat wax body rod of a round thermostat valve and a threaded adjustment shaft, wherein the cylindrical thermostat housing pedestal, the thermostat wax body rod and the threaded adjustment shaft are assembled so as to be concentric with each other;

wherein the thermostat wax body rod is arranged to abut a lower end of the threaded shaft inside of the cylindrical thermostat housing pedestal to actuate the round thermostat valve by lifting the valve from a valve seat of the thermostat housing;

wherein the threaded adjustment shaft includes an adjustment shaft knob located at a distal upper end of the threaded adjustment shaft exterior to the thermostat housing to turn the threaded adjustment shaft and thereby control the displacement of the thermostat wax body rod within the cylindrical thermostat housing pedestal to provide coolant temperature adjustment; and

a cap pressed onto a lower end of the thermostat housing pedestal and that retains a sealing element therebetween, wherein the cap and sealing element provide a passage that maintains a position of the thermostat wax body rod in the thermostat housing pedestal so as to allow for abutment of the thermostat wax body rod with the threaded shaft therein.

2. The adjustable coolant thermostat for an automobile engine of claim 1 further comprising:

a wax body rod limiter within the housing pedestal including a threaded bore wherein the threaded shaft is inserted by screwing said shaft into said bore, and a wax body rod limiting bore having a larger diameter than the threaded bore to limit a maximum displacement of the thermostat wax body rod within the thermostat housing pedestal, thus limiting the maximum coolant temperature to prevent exceeding a predetermined safe temperature level.

3. The adjustable coolant thermostat for an automobile engine of claim 1, wherein the threaded adjustment shaft further comprises:

a locking nut adjacent the adjustment shaft knob at a lower portion thereof, and a tapered spacer adjacent to a lower portion of the adjustment shaft knob to prevent the locking nut from interfering with the thermostat housing.

4. The adjustable coolant thermostat for an automobile engine of claim 1, wherein the sealing element is an O-ring type seal.

5. The adjustable coolant thermostat for an automobile engine of claim 1, wherein the cap is made of steel and is sized so as to provide a tight friction attachment to stay positioned on the lower end of the thermostat housing pedestal.

6. The adjustable coolant thermostat of claim 1, wherein the thermostat housing is made of aluminum and the thermostat housing pedestal is formed by at least one of machining and molding to provide the space which houses the thermostat wax body rod and the threaded adjustment shaft.