Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – Compression wheel
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-18
2001-02-27
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
Compression wheel
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193322
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to wheels and more particularly to an aerodynamic bicycle wheel which exhibits reduced aerodynamic drag.
BACKGROUND ART
Bicyclist continually pondered designs and alterations of their cycles and components to increase efficiency and reduce effort. Along this line of thought alternative bicycle wheels have been patented and built which are designed to decrease aerodynamic drag experienced by rotation of a conventional spoke wheel. The prior art includes a number of alternatives to standard spokes wheels for this purpose, the following patents are good examples of the prior art:
Arrendondo, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,275
Klieber at al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,553
Enders, U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,485
Schlanger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,199
Hopkins et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,490
Various problems have been overcome by the prior devices, such as reducing aerodynamic drag, increasing lateral and torsional stability, decreasing cross wind problems and manufacturing methods. Although the prior art patents are extremely useful for their stated purposes, there has never been a bicycle wheel as the present which decreases aerodynamic drag, decreases the “sail effect” experience by cross winds, is light weight in construction, easily manufactured using known manufacturing processes, and further increases rotational efficiency.
The present invention includes a central hub section and a rim with a plurality of spoke members extending between the rim and the central hub, each spoke includes a leading edge and two trailing edges with air deflecting walls extending between each trailing edge and the leading edge. The spokes have equal shapes and dimensions and are evenly spaced in intervals radially about the central hub and rim. A cross sectional profile of each spoke about mid way between each end resembles a “V” with a centrally located trailing edge cavity positioned between each trailing edge and behind the leading edge. The wheel and spokes are installed for rotation with the leading edge of each spoke forward so that as the wheel rotates the leading edge, air deflecting walls and centrally located trailing edge cavity create a drafting effect for the following spoke leading edge. Accordingly, each spoke drafts the spoke immediately forward by a low pressure formed around the centrally located trailing edge cavity thereby reducing the effort for each succeeding spoke. The spoke drafting is similar to cyclists drafting each other during long distance racing. The difficulty encountered with cross winds is not experienced in the present invention and the present invention considerably increases rotation efficiency as will be shown below by the rotational experimental data comparing the present invention to traditional spoke wheel rotation efficiency. The spokes, hub, and rim may be integrally formed from the same material or may be manufactured as separate components.
GENERAL SUMMARY DISCUSSION OF INVENTION
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a bicycle wheel which increases rotational efficiency, reduces aerodynamic drag, does not exhibit cross wind stability problems and further is easily adapted to any bicycle.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an aerodynamic wheel with at least three spokes each of which are aerodynamically shaped to create a drafting effect for the following spoke.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an extremely efficient bicycle wheel which is easily manufactured using known manufacturing methods and which may be manufactured with the hub, spokes and rim as a single component or as separate components.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a lightweight bicycle wheel which is easily manufactured and which increases rotational efficiency and which reduces effort.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an aerodynamic wheel which includes a plurality of spoke members that are equally radially spaced about and extend between a rim and a central hub wherein each spoke includes a rim connecting end mounting the spoke to an inner surface of the rim and a hub connecting end radiused to mate with and mount to the central hub, each spoke includes a leading edge extending tangentially from the central hub in a direction opposite the rotational direction of the wheel and perpendicularly from an axis of the central hub and further mounted mid way between outside edges of the central hub and the leading edge extends to the rim connecting end, each spoke also includes two trailing edges each extending tangentially from the central hub in a direction of rotation of the wheel and opposing the leading edge and perpendicular from an axis of the central hub and further each trailing edge is mounted near opposing outside edges of the central hub and the trailing edges extend to the rim connecting end, air deflecting walls extend from each trailing edge to the leading edge forming a spoke with a cross section about mid way between the spoke ends which resembles a “V”.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an aerodynamic wheel with spokes as set forth above and wherein the leading and trailing edges are parallel with a plane along an axis of the central hub.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an aerodynamic wheel with spokes as set forth above and wherein the trailing edges are parallel with a plane along an axis of the central hub and the leading edge arcs from the central hub to the rim connecting end so that the trailing edge rim connecting ends and the leading edge rim connecting end are joined.
Accordingly, an aerodynamic bicycle wheel is disclosed which includes a central hub section and a rim with a plurality of spoke members extending between the rim and the central hub, each spoke includes a leading edge and two trailing edges with air deflecting walls extending between each trailing edge and the leading edge. The spokes are evenly spaced in intervals radially about the central hub and rim and each spoke has a cross sectional profile which resembles a “V” with a trailing edge cavity positioned between the air deflecting walls and behind the leading edge. A low pressure is created in the trailing edge cavity as each spoke moves through air providing a drafting effect for the following spoke thereby reducing effort needed to move the rotating wheel and spokes through air. The spokes' shape allows them work for each other providing a net effect of reducing rotational effort.
REFERENCES:
patent: D. 368464 (1996-04-01), Morley et al.
patent: D. 368885 (1996-04-01), Wagner
patent: D. 397663 (1998-09-01), Chrysanto
patent: D. 407054 (1999-03-01), Kelley
patent: D. 412692 (1999-08-01), Hussaini
patent: D. 416844 (1999-11-01), Neeper
patent: D. 424501 (2000-05-01), Hussaini et al.
patent: D. 427555 (2000-07-01), Hall
patent: D. 428845 (2000-08-01), Yoshida et al.
patent: 4919490 (1990-04-01), Hopkins et al.
patent: 4930844 (1990-06-01), Giroux
patent: 4995675 (1991-02-01), Tsai
patent: 5104199 (1992-04-01), Schlanger
patent: 5246275 (1993-09-01), Arredondo, Jr.
patent: 5540485 (1996-07-01), Enders
patent: 5603553 (1997-02-01), Klieber
patent: 405077602 (1993-03-01), None
Jolly Michael B.
Morano S. Joseph
Nguyen Long Bao
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