Patent ID: 7207313

Claim:
An air induction control apparatus for an internal combustion engine, said apparatus comprising: a throttle valve supported by a throttle shaft rotatably within an intake air passage to control the quantity of intake air flowing through the intake air passage; an actuator adapted to produce an output which is transmitted to the throttle shaft through a gear to rotate the throttle shaft for opening and closing said throttle valve selectively between a fully closed position and a fully opened position, the gear being joined to the throttle shaft; a middle position hold stopper defining a middle position at which said throttle valve is held between the fully opened and closed positions when said actuator outputs substantially no torque; an opener member joined with the gear so that the output of said actuator transmitted to the gear rotates said opener member together with the gear and the throttle shaft; and a spring including a first and a second winding and a third spring portion formed by a connection of the first and second windings, an end of the first winding opposite the third spring portion engaging a stopper formed on a throttle body so as to produce a first spring pressure which urges the third spring portion in a first rotational direction in which said throttle valve is rotated from the fully opened position to the middle position, an end of the second winding opposite the third spring portion engaging said opener member so as to produce a second spring pressure which urges said opener member in a second rotational direction in which said throttle valve is rotated from the fully closed position to the middle position when said actuator produces substantially no output, thereby holding said throttle valve at the middle position.