Normally closed hub assembly for bicycle
AssigneeChosen Co., Ltd.
InventorChing-Shu Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hub assembly for a bicycle includes a shaft (12), a hub body (40), a driven ring (43), a drive seat (10), a rotation ring (20), a plurality of pawl members (22), a plurality of push balls (23), a mounting sleeve (32), a damping ring (30), and a plurality of tension adjusting mechanisms (37). Thus, each of the pawl members is driven by each of the push balls in a rolling manner so that each of the pawl members is moved smoothly and stably without incurring sliding friction, thereby facilitating operation of the drive seat. In addition, each of the tension adjusting mechanisms is used to adjust the damping force of the damping ring, so that the damping force of the damping ring is distributed evenly.
Claims9
A hub assembly for a bicycle, comprising:
- a shaft (12);
- a hub body (40) rotatably mounted on the shaft;
- a driven ring (43) secured in the hub body and having an inner wall provided with a plurality of oneway ratchet teeth (42);
- a drive seat (10) rotatably mounted on the shaft;
- a drive ring (13) secured on the drive seat and having a periphery provided with a plurality of pressing grooves (131);
- a rotation ring (20) mounted on the drive ring and having a periphery provided with a plurality of receiving slots (21);
- a plurality of pawl members (22) each pivotally mounted in a respective one of the receiving slots of the rotation ring to releasably mesh with the oneway ratchet teeth of the driven ring;
- a plurality of push balls (23) each movably mounted on the rotation ring and each biased between a respective one of the pressing grooves of the drive ring and a respective one of the pawl members to push the respective pawl member toward the oneway ratchet teeth of the driven ring;
- a mounting sleeve (32) mounted on the shaft;
- a damping ring (30) mounted on the mounting sleeve and attached to the rotation ring to damp a rotation movement of the rotation ring;
- a plurality of tension adjusting mechanisms (37) each biased between the damping ring and the mounting sleeve to adjust a damping force of the damping ring;
- wherein each of the receiving slots of the rotation ring has a first end provided with a receiving bore (212) connected between the drive ring and each of the receiving slots;
- each of the push balls is movably mounted in a respective one of the receiving bore of the rotation ring and has a first side received in and pressed by the respective one pressing groove of the drive ring and a second side abutting the respective pawl member;
- the rotation ring is provided with a plurality of positioning pieces (27);
- the damping ring has an outer wall provided with a plurality of positioning recesses (31) to fix the positioning pieces of the rotation ring respectively;
- the damping ring has a periphery provided with a plurality of threaded receiving holes (33) connected to the mounting sleeve to receive the tension adjusting mechanisms respectively;
- each of the tension adjusting mechanisms includes:
- a pressing ball (34) movably mounted in the respective receiving hole of the damping ring and pressing an outer wall of the mounting sleeve;
- an adjusting screw (36) screwed into the respective receiving hole of the damping ring;
- and
- a push spring (35) mounted in the respective receiving hole of the damping ring and biased between the pressing ball and the adjusting screw;
- the hub body has an inner portion provided with a receiving space (41) to receive the rotation ring and the damping ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.