Patent ID: 7243757

Claim:
An exhaust muffler for a land vehicle comprising: a first entry chamber; an exhaust gas inlet for providing a passage for exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into said first entry chamber; a resonator chamber; a resonator inlet tube for said resonator chamber, said resonator inlet tube for providing a passage from said entry chamber into said resonator chamber; a baffle chamber, said baffle chamber including a front wall and a rear wall; an exhaust gas outlet located in said rear wall of said baffle chamber for providing an exhaust gas passage from said baffle chamber to the exterior environment; a pass-through tube, said pass-through tube for providing an exhaust gas passage from said first entry chamber, through said resonator chamber and into said baffle chamber; a baffle system, said baffle system comprising: a plurality of curved sound reflective baffles positioned in said baffle chamber spaced from said front and rear walls of said baffle chamber for obstructing a direct path for sound to said exhaust gas outlet and scattering sound admitted into said baffle chamber via said pass-through tube about said baffle chamber, whereby interference patterns of reflected sound are produced that lessen the intensity of the sound that exits from said outlet tube along with exhaust gas; said sound reflective baffles comprising a thin non-reentrant curved surface, said thin non-reentrant curved surface defining a concave shape on a first side and a convex shape on a second side, opposite to said first side; some of said thin non-reentrant curved surfaces having said first side facing said rear wall of said baffle chamber and a first side of at least a first adjacent thin non-reentrant curved surface and others of said thin non-reentrant curved surfaces having said second side facing said rear wall of said baffle chamber and a first side facing a first side of at least a second adjacent thin non-reentrant curved surface; and said second sides of said first and second adjacent thin non-reentrant curved surfaces being oriented immediately adjacent to and facing one another.