Patent ID: 7089898

Claim:
A valve timing control device of an internal combustion engine, comprising: a rotational member that is to be driven by a crankshaft of the engine; a camshaft having thereon cam lobes for operating engine valves; a housing provided by one of the rotational member and the camshaft, the housing having hydraulic chambers defined therein; a vane member provided by the other of the rotational member and the camshaft and rotatably received in the housing, the vane member having vanes each being received in one of the hydraulic chambers to divide the same into a retarding chamber and an advancing chamber, the vane member being rotatable between the most retarded position and the most advanced position over a center position therebetween; a hydraulic circuit constructed to selectively feed a hydraulic pressure to the retarding and advancing chambers to turn the vane member in a retarding or advancing direction relative to the housing; an oil pump driven by the engine for producing the hydraulic pressure; first and second projectable members each being held by one of the housing and the vane member and biased to project toward the other of the housing and the vane member; a first engaging portion that, when engaged with the first projectable member, restricts a rotational movement of the vane member from the center position in the advancing direction and permits a rotational movement of the same by a given degree from the center position in the retarding direction; a second engaging portion that, when engaged with the second projectable member, restricts a rotation movement of the vane member from the center position in the retarding direction and permits a rotational movement of the same by a given degree from the center position in the advancing direction; a first disengaging mechanism that cancels the engagement of the first projectable member with the first engaging portion when hydraulically actuated; a second disengaging mechanism that cancels the engagement of the second projectable member with the second engaging portion when hydraulically actuated; and a control means that is configured to carry out: feeding one of the retarding and advancing chambers with a hydraulic pressure upon starting of the engine; actuating one of the first and second disengaging mechanisms to cancel the engagement of one of the first and second projectable members with the corresponding one of the first and second engaging portions; feeding the other of the retarding and advancing chambers with a hydraulic pressure thereby to turn the vane member in the housing within a range determined by each of the first and second engaging portions; and actuating, while the vane member is under the rotational movement within the range, the other of the first and second disengaging mechanisms to cancel the engagement of the other of the first and second projectable members with the corresponding one of the first and second engaging portions.