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US 4,889,354 AGranted
Eccentrically operating speed-variating means for bicycle
OwnerMaz Weninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A variable speed adjuster for a bicycle includes: a driving disk secured to a bike hub or spokes having a plurality of radial slots formed in the driving disk, a collar secured with a chain wheel driven by a driving chain of a bike pedal having a plurality of sliding blocks slidably engaged in an annular groove formed in the collar each sliding block formed with a sliding roller protruding inwardly to slidably engage each radial slot in the driving disk and an eccentric plate rotatably secured with the collar and fixed on the axle of a bike wheel, wherein the eccentric plate is adjustably biased to allow the collar and the chain wheel to be eccentric to the axle, thereby resulting in a variation of drive ratio of running speed of a bike wheel.
Claims7
A speed variating means for bicycle comprising:
- a driving disk secured to a hub or spokes of a bike wheel having a plurality of radial slots formed in said disk;
- a sliding roller carrier means having a plurality of sliding blocks slidably formed in an annular groove of said carrier means, each sliding block having a sliding roller protruding inwardly to slidably engage each said radial slot in said driving disk and having a clutching means operatively coupling said sliding block with said carrier means;
- a chain wheel secured with said carrier means and driven by a driving chain operated by a bike pedal for driving said carrier means;
- and
- a variable speed adjusting means having an eccentric plate rotatably secured with said carrier means and eccentrically biased with respect to the axle by slidably moving the sliding rollers in said radial slots for adjusting a transmission radius between the driving chain and the axle for variating a bike speed;
- said sliding roller carrier means including:
- a collar secured with the chain wheel having an outer annular groove, a plurality of sliding blocks slidably engaged with said outer annular groove each block having a sliding roller protruding inwardly to slidably engage each said radial slot in said driving disk, and an inner annular groove for rotatably engaging a plurality of coupling rollers formed on said eccentric plate of said variable speed adjusting means, said roller carrier means and said chain wheel being concentric to a center of said eccentric plate;
- said sliding block being formed with a wedge portion tapered rearwardly or counter-clockwise if the chain wheel is driven clockwise to form a pair of rear acute-angle portions at a tapered end of the wedge portion and a pair of front obtuse-angle portions at an opposite end of the wedge portion proximate to the sliding roller secured on said sliding block;
- the improvement which comprises:
- said clutching means including at least a pair of clutching rollers retained on a supporting frame movably held on said wedge portion, and a tensioning spring normally tensioning said clutching rollers rearwardly towards the acute-angle portions to release the clutching rollers from two side walls of the outer annular groove of the roller carrier means, or operatively depressed by an arcuate plate formed on an eccentric plate of said speed adjusting means to urge said clutching rollers frontwardly towards the obtuse-angle portions to frictionally couple said carrier means with said sliding block to forwardly drive said driving disk.
7 more elements
A speed variating means for bicycle comprising:
- a driving disk secured to a hub or spokes of a bike wheel having a plurality of radial slots formed in said disk;
- a sliding roller carrier means having a plurality of sliding blocks slidably formed in an annular groove of said carrier means, each sliding block having a sliding roller protruding inwardly to slidably engage each said radial slot in said driving disk and having a clutching means operatively coupling said sliding block with said carrier means:
- a chain wheel secured with said carrier means and driven by a driving chain operated by a bike pedal for driving said carrier means;
- and
- a variable speed adjusting means having an eccentric plate rotatably secured with said carrier means and eccentrically biased with respect to the axle by slidably moving the sliding rollers in said radial slots for adjusting a transmission radius between the driving chain and the axle for variating a bike speed;
- said sliding roller carrier means including:
- a collar secured with the chain wheel having an outer annular groove, a plurality of sliding blocks slidably engaged with said outer annular groove each block having a sliding roller protruding inwardly to slidably engage each said radial solt in said driving disk, and an inner annular groove for rotatably engaging a plurality of coupling rollers formed on said eccentric plate of said variable speed adjusting means, said roller carrier means and said chain wheel being concentric to a center of said eccentric plate;
- said sliding roller carrier means including a collar having an outer annular groove formed with an annular ratchet teeth in a side wall of said outer annular groove, a plurality of sliding blocks slidably engaged in the outer annular groove of said collar each block having a sliding roller protruding inwardly to slidably engage each said radial slot in said driving disk:
- the improvement which comprises:
- said clutching means including a pawl normally released from said annular ratchet teeth as downwardly pulled by a first tensioning annular ratchet teeth as downwardly pulled by a first tensioning spring, or operatively engaged with the annular ratchet teeth for coupling said carrier means with said sliding block as urged by a second tensioning spring when depressed by an arcuate plate formed on said eccentric plate of said variable speed adjusting means.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.