Patent ID: 6921112

Claim:
An exhaust-vibration decoupling connector comprising: an inlet tube extended downstream from a decoupler inlet to proximate an upstream portion of a damper fixture; an outlet tube extended upstream from a decoupler outlet to proximate a downstream portion of the damper fixture; the damper fixture being proximate midway between the decoupler inlet and the decoupler outlet; a vibration damper positioned removably in the damper fixture; a bellows having an upstream bellows attachment proximate the decoupler inlet; the bellows having a downstream bellows attachment proximate the decoupler outlet; the bellows having a bellows inside perimeter that is positioned radially outward predeterminedly from a radially outside perimeter of the vibration damper; the bellows inside perimeter including inside peripheries of undulations of the bellows; a flex cover having an upstream flex attachment proximate the decoupler inlet; the flex cover having a downstream flex attachment proximate the decoupler outlet; the flex cover having a cover inside perimeter that is positioned proximate a bellows outside perimeter; a shield sleeve having a shield attachment proximate the decoupler outlet; the shield sleeve having a shield inside perimeter that is positioned radially outward predeterminedly from a radially outside perimeter of the flex cover; the inlet tube is circumferential with an inside periphery and an outside periphery; the outlet tube is circumferential with an inside periphery and an outside periphery; the inside periphery and the outside periphery of the inlet tube are predeterminedly smaller than the inside periphery and the outside periphery of the outlet tube; the damper fixture includes an inlet-tube step extended radially inward to a damper seat having an axial downstream extension of the inlet tube; the damper fixture includes an outlet-tube step extended radially inward to predeterminedly proximate an outside periphery of the damper seat; the inlet-tube step includes a first side of the damper fixture; the outlet-tube step includes a second side of the damper fixture; the vibration damper includes a spring-side damper having a helical spring in a circumferential channel with a first wall adjacent to the inlet-tube step and a second wall adjacent to the outlet-tube step; the circumferential channel is arcuate intermediate the first wall and the second wall; and the first wall and the second wall have inside peripheries proximate the outside periphery of the damper seat.