US 4,507,105 AGranted

Bicycle chainguard

AssigneeHuffy Corporation

InventorsRichard L. Stottmann, Timothy J. Dietz

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Abstract

A bicycle chainguard having a housing shaped to enclose a bicycle chain and sized to extend about the front sprocket and pass rearwardly to the rear sprocket of a bicycle, at least one lug extending sidewardly from the housing having a shank and a head of larger cross-sectional area than the shank, a clamp having a flexible body sized to wrap around a portion of the bicycle frame adjacent the front sprocket and having opposing ends forming recesses so that the ends may be jointed to form a socket to receive the lug therein, and a clip to mount the housing to the upper rear of the frame. The socket preferably is sized to provide sufficient clearance with said lug to permit relative rotational movement therebetween so that the chainguard may be adjusted to be mounted to a variety of bicycle frames. The ends of the clamp may be secured by a screw and nut.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A chainguard for a bicycle or the like comprising:

a substantially channel-shaped housing for enclosing a length of bicycle chain engaging front and rear sprockets of a bicycle, and having a forward end curved to extend about a front sprocket and a rearward end sized to extend from a front sprocket to a rear sprocket;
means for attaching said rearward end to a bicycle frame adjacent a rear sprocket;
lug means extending sidewardly from said housing and positioned on said forward end to be adjacent a down tube and a seatmast of a bicycle frame to which said chainguard is mounted, said lug means including a shank and a substantially disk-shaped head;
clamp means associated with said lug means for retaining said housing to a bicycle frame, each of said clamp means having a continuous, flexible body with opposing ends, each of said ends having a mating surface and an end face such that, when said body is bent to engage said mating ends, said body forms a loop having an inner contour shaped to conform to a profile of a predetermined portion of an associated bicycle frame;
said mating surfaces and end faces of each of said bodies including a recess such that, when said ends of said body are engaged at said mating surfaces, said recesses form a substantially disk-shaped socket sized to enclose and retain said head with sufficient clearance to permit rotational movement of said lug means relative to said clamp about a central axis of said shank;
and
means for joining said ends of said clamp means such that said mating surfaces are engaged.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.