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US 8,117,875 B2Granted
Retractable wheel lock
OwnerPhillip D. Ellisinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The retractable wheel lock has a wheel axle assembly that includes a hub forming a housing with an opening. The hub is freely rotatable about the axle. A retractable cable including a male locking element is coiled in the hub and can be retractably paid out from the hub, guided through a frame of an attached bicycle, around a bike rack, pole, or the like, and then back into a female lock socket affixed to the hub to conveniently secure the bicycle in a theft resistant manner. Alternative embodiments allow a rim to rotate freely around the hub.
Claims6
A wheel rim, comprising:
- a hub forming a housing, the housing having an opening defined therein;
- a spring-biased, flexible member coiled within the hub housing, the flexible member being extensible through the opening defined in the hub;
- an axle disposed through the hub, the hub being freely rotatable about the axle;
- a first locking member attached to a free end of the flexible member;
- a second locking member affixed to the hub, the second locking member releasably engaging the first locking member;
- a rim;
- and
- elongate members interconnecting the hub to the rim.
5 more elements
A retractable wheel lock, comprising:
- a hub;
- a rim having an inner periphery and an outer periphery concentric to the inner periphery;
- elongate members interconnecting the rim's inner periphery to the rim's outer periphery;
- bearings disposed around an outer portion of the hub, the bearings allowing the inner periphery of the rim freely rotate around the hub, thereby forming a wheel assembly;
- a spring-biased, flexible member attached to and coiled within the wheel assembly, the flexible member being extensible through an opening defined in the wheel assembly;
- a first locking member attached to the flexible member;
- a second locking member affixed to the hub, the second locking member releasably engaging the first locking member thereto.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.