ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,326,184, issued on June 10, was assigned to Goerend Transmissions Inc. (Saint Lucas, Iowa).
"Captive clutch for vehicle transmission" was invented by Chase H. Langreck (West Union, Iowa), Allen J. Massman (Calmar, Iowa) and James W. Weissenfluh (Waucoma, Iowa).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A torque converter with a lockup clutch is provided with three oil passageways in and around the input shaft. One of the oil passageways provides oil to and from the converter for locking and unlocking the clutch via a piston. The piston moves away from the front cover of the torque converter to lock or apply the clutch and moves toward the front cover...