Bicycle chain wear measuring tools
AssigneeAbbey Bike Tools
InventorJason C. Quade
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device for measuring lateral wear of a bicycle chain includes (a) an elongated rigid plate configured to be grasped in a user's hand, the elongated plate having a first planar broad surface, a long axis and a short axis; (b) a lateral boss extending outwardly from the first planar broad surface adjacent a corner of the plate, the lateral boss configured to support a portion of the chain with the chain extending in the direction of the long axis; and (c) a lateral wear measurement scale disposed on the first planar broad surface at an end of the plate opposite to the corner, the measurement scale extending in the direction of the short axis. In some implementations the device can also be used to measure longitudinal wear of the chain.
Claims18
A device for measuring lateral wear of a bicycle chain having a plurality of links that include rollers, alternating pairs of inner plates and outer plates, and pins extending through the rollers and apertures in the plates, the device comprising:
- an elongated rigid plate configured to be grasped in a user's hand, the elongated plate having a first planar broad surface, a long axis and a short axis;
- a lateral boss extending outwardly from the first planar broad surface adjacent a corner of the plate, the lateral boss configured to support a portion of the chain with the chain extending in the direction of the long axis and at least one of the outer plates lying flat against a surface of the lateral boss, the surface having a depth greater than or equal to a width of the outer plate of the chain and a length greater than or equal to a length of the outer plate of the chain;
- and
- a lateral wear measurement scale disposed on the first planar broad surface at an end of the plate opposite to the corner, the measurement scale extending in the direction of the short axis.
A device for measuring longitudinal wear of a bicycle chain having a plurality of links that include rollers, alternating pairs of inner plates and outer plates, and pins extending through the rollers and apertures in the plates, the device comprising:
- an elongated rigid plate configured to be grasped in a user's hand, the elongated plate having a first planar broad surface, the plate having a first short end and a second short end, a long axis and a short axis;
- a chain prong configured to support one of the rollers of the chain extending from the first broad planar surface at the first short end of the plate;
- a quantitative longitudinal wear measurement scale disposed on a second broad planar surface of the plate opposite to the first broad planar surface at the second short end of the plate;
- a lateral boss extending outwardly from the first planar broad surface at the first short end of the plate, the lateral boss configured to support a portion of the chain with the chain extending in the direction of the long axis and at least one of the outer plates lying flat against a surface of the lateral boss, the surface being configured to support the at least one outer plate of the chain;
- and
- a lateral wear measurement scale disposed on the first planar broad surface at the second short end of the plate, the measurement scale extending in the direction of the short axis.
A method of measuring wear of a bicycle chain, the method comprising:
- providing a chain wear measurement device comprising (a) an elongated rigid plate configured to be grasped in a user's hand, the elongated plate having a first planar broad surface, a long axis and a short axis;
- (b) a lateral boss extending outwardly from the first planar broad surface adjacent a corner of the plate, the lateral boss configured to support a portion of the chain, the chain extending in the direction of the long axis and at least one of the outer plates lying flat against a surface of the lateral boss, the surface having a depth greater than or equal to a width of the outer plate of the chain and a length greater than or equal to a length of the outer plate of the chain;
- and (c) a lateral wear measurement scale disposed on the first planar broad surface at an end of the plate opposite to the corner, the measurement scale extending in the direction of the short axis;
- positioning a bicycle chain on the device with at least one of the outer plates lying flat against the surface of the lateral boss and the chain extending in the direction of the long axis;
- and
- observing the position of the chain relative to the lateral wear measurement scale to determine the degree of lateral wear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.