Automatic transmission valve body cleaning accessory

A template for use in cleaning a valve body assembly for an automatic transmission has hydraulic passageways, at least one spring-loaded valve, and fasteners for the valve. A solid sheet has a perimeter having a lip and protrusions extending from it and covering and protecting the spring-loaded valve and the fastener means for the valve of the assembly. The template has a cut-out interior portion which exposes the hydraulic passageways for the cleaning thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an accessory for use in the cleaning of 
valve body assemblies of automatic transmissions. More particularly, the 
invention relates to a template for expediting the cleaning of valve body 
assemblies of automatic transmissions. 
2. The Prior Art 
When an automobile transmission has to be rebuilt, it is removed from the 
automobile and the cover plate is taken off the valve body, exposing all 
the passageways. In those passageways are mounted different spring-loaded 
valves that are held in place by clips or other devices. When the valve 
body is washed or sprayed, the high pressure cleaning fluid used can 
damage or dislodge the valves or the clips that hold the valves in place. 
In order to prevent this, it is necessary to disassemble the entire valve 
body assembly before cleaning a transmission. 
Prior proposals have been suggested to overcome these and related problems, 
and examples of these prior proposals are as follows. 
Stokes, U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,507 discloses a valve assembling apparatus for 
maintaining the rings of a multi-ring-type compressor valve assembly in 
place. The apparatus of Stokes consists of a plurality of spacing elements 
at a predetermined distance from each other. The entire valve assembly 
sits within such apparatus, thus allowing the spacing elements to fit 
within the concentric rings of the compressor valve assembly while 
maintaining the position of the springs and other internal elements that 
must be precisely placed before closing the valve assembly. 
Elder U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,843 teaches the use of a net to hold dishes in 
place to be cleaned within a conventional dishwasher. Daum et al., U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,718,441, shows an apparatus for cleaning decorator tips used in 
pastry and cake decorating. 
Eckert et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,012, relates to cleaning flat electronic 
chips, and Bostic U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,080, relates to a stamp-soaking 
unit. 
The principal object of the invention is to provide an accessory for use in 
the cleaning of valve body assemblies of automatic transmissions. 
An object of the invention is to provide an accessory which assists in 
cleaning valve body assemblies of automatic transmissions with efficiency, 
effectiveness and reliability. 
Another object of the invention is to provide an accessory for enabling 
much more rapid and inexpensive cleaning of valve body assemblies of 
automatic transmissions than is now possible. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with the invention, a template is used to clean a valve body 
assembly of an automatic transmission of a vehicle, such as, for example, 
an automotive vehicle. The template comprises a solid sheet having a 
perimeter having a lip extending from the perimeter. The lip has 
protrusions for covering and protecting the spring-loaded valve and the 
fastening means for the valve of the assembly. The template has a cut-out 
portion defined by the lip and the cut-out interior portion exposes the 
hydraulic passageways for cleaning thereof. 
In accordance with the invention, a method of cleaning a valve body 
assembly for an automatic transmission having a cover, hydraulic 
passageways, spring-loaded valves and fastening means for the valves, the 
valve body assembly for the automatic transmission having a perimeter 
containing the spring-loaded valves and the fastening means for the 
valves, the perimeter having a width and a shape and the valve body 
assembly having an interior portion contained within the perimeter, the 
interior portion containing the hydraulic passageways, comprises the steps 
of removing the cover of the automatic transmission to expose the 
hydraulic passageways, the spring-loaded valves and the fastening means 
for the valves contained of the automatic transmission. The perimeter of 
the valve body assembly is measured to determine the width and the shape 
thereof. A template having the width and the shape of the perimeter is 
formed. The template is placed on the perimeter of the valve body assembly 
in a manner whereby the spring-loaded valves and the fastening means for 
the valves are covered and concealed, while simultaneously exposing the 
interior portion of the valve body assembly containing the hydraulic 
passageways. Finally, the hydraulic passageways are cleaned by applying a 
cleaning medium to the interior portion of the valve body assembly and 
applying the cleaning medium to the template, whereby the template 
protects the spring-loaded valves and the fastening means from the 
cleaning medium.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
In FIGS. 1 and 2, a template 2 is utilized, in accordance with the 
invention, with a valve body assembly 10 for an automatic transmission 
having hydraulic passageways 12, spring-loaded valves 14 having springs 15 
and fasteners 16 for these valves during the cleaning of this assembly. 
First, the cover (not shown in the FIGS.) of the automatic transmission is 
removed to expose the hydraulic passageways 12, the spring-loaded valves 
14 and the fasteners 16 for the valves of said automatic transmission. The 
hydraulic passageways 12 are shown in detail in FIG. 1, but are omitted 
from FIG. 2, in the interest of clarity of illustration. 
The valve body assembly 10 of the automatic transmission has a perimeter 18 
which contains the spring-loaded valves 14 and the fasteners 16 of the 
valves. The perimeter 18 has a width W and a shape S (FIG. 2). The 
perimeter 18 is measured to determine its width W and shape S. 
The perimeter 18 of the valve body assembly 10 has an interior portion 20 
which contains the hydraulic passageways 12. The template 2 is formed with 
a width W and a shape S corresponding to the dimensions of the perimeter 
18. The template 2 has a perimeter 18a and cut-out interior portion 20a 
(FIG. 2), and is placed on the perimeter 18. The template 2 has a lip 19 
having specifically located protrusions 19a to cover and to protect each 
of the spring-loaded valves 14 and the fasteners 16 for the valves, while 
simultaneously exposing the interior portion 20 of the valve body assembly 
10 containing the hydraulic passageways 12. Each protrusion 19a resembles 
a solid projection extending integrally with the lip 19 into the cut-out 
interior portion 20a of the template 2. The total number of protrusions 
19a corresponds to the total number of valves 14 and fasteners 16 to be 
protected. 
The hydraulic passageways 12 are cleaned by applying cleaning means of any 
suitable type, such as, for example, a cleaning fluid to the interior 
portion of the valve body assembly 10 and to the template 2, but 
preventing said cleaning means from contacting the perimeter 18, via said 
template, in order to protect the spring-loaded valves 14 and the 
fasteners 16 from said cleaning means. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the template 2 is preferably fastened to the perimeter 
18 by bolt type fasteners 21 and corresponding wing nuts 21a, which bolts 
fit through correspondingly aligned openings through said template and 
through said perimeter 18. 
Forming the template 2 involves providing a solid workpiece 24. The 
workpiece 24 is of indefinite length 1 and indefinite width w, said length 
being greater than the length L of the perimeter 18, and said width being 
greater than the width W of said perimeter (FIG. 2). Preferably, the 
workpiece is initially made of any suitable known translucent material, 
such as, for example, clear paper, transparent plastic, or the like, so 
that it may be seen where to mark around the edge to lay out the perimeter 
18a and the interior portion 20a. 
The workpiece 24 is then cut down to substantially conform to the perimeter 
18 length L and said perimeter width W. Last, enough of the inner part of 
the workpiece 24 is removed to expose the interior portion 20 of the valve 
body assembly 10. The resultant template 2 can be used to produce a final 
metal template that is of high-enough temperature strength and impact 
resistance to be placed on the valve body assembly. The final template 2 
is of any suitable known material, such as, for example, a strong, 
lightweight, corrosion-resistant metal, such as, for example, aluminum, or 
magnesium. The cleaning means can be high pressure steam, or boiling water 
under pressure. 
When a valve body assembly is uncovered for maintenance, all the internally 
positioned elements and valves are exposed. This includes the hydraulic 
passageways, spring-loaded valves and their fasteners. The protrusions 19a 
of the template 2 fit over the valves and fasteners and protect and 
prevent said valves and fasteners from dislodging during cleaning and 
maintenance of the transmission. Since each model of vehicle uses a 
different transmission design, a different template 2 is required for each 
different model. The template 2 is designed to permit the cleaning of the 
plurality of hydraulic passageways which enable the automatic transmission 
to shift gears, depending on different hydraulic pressures and the valves 
involved, while simultaneously protecting the valves and fasteners from 
the cleaning means or fluid. 
In order to make different templates for the different valve body 
assemblies of different makes of cars, the necessary measurements made are 
based on the open-faced valve body assembly for a specific make and model 
vehicle. It is necessary that the template fit over the valve body 
assembly 10. The template 2 is temporarily bolted into place using the 
bolts 21 and the wing nuts 21a and is therefore held snugly on the face of 
the valve body assembly 10 via said bolts, which are fitted into four bolt 
holes at the corners of said template and said nuts. The template 2 covers 
the critical elements of the valve body assembly 10, such as spring-loaded 
valves, or clips, or other loose parts that might be otherwise dislodged 
or damaged while said valve body assembly is being cleaned. Accordingly, 
it is not necessary to try to disassemble the entire valve body assembly 
10, which is a time-consuming and tedious job, before cleaning the 
assembly. Instead, one can merely spray the combination of the valve body 
assembly 10 and the template 2 with high-pressure cleaning means or fluid 
and said template covers parts which need not be cleaned and protects said 
parts from cleaning. 
After cleaning, the template 2 is removed from the face of the valve body 
assembly 10 and said valve body assembly is re-covered and remounted in 
the transmission of the vehicle. The transmission is then reinstalled in 
the vehicle. 
While only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shown and 
described, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may 
be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the 
invention as defined in the appended claims.