Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – Rim
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-30
2004-11-16
Stormer, Russell D. (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
Rim
C301S095101, C301S058000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06817680
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 091203167, filed on Mar. 15, 2002.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bicycle wheel rim, more particularly to a bicycle wheel rim with a reinforced base wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a conventional bicycle wheel rim
1
is shown to include annular left and right tire retaining walls
11
and an annular spoke mounting wall
12
interconnecting radial inner edges of the tire retaining walls
11
. The spoke mounting wall
12
is formed with a plurality of spoke fastening holes
121
that are arranged generally along a central portion of the spoke mounting wall
12
for mounting spoke fasteners
102
thereon. A plurality of spokes
101
are fastened to the spoke fasteners
102
for mounting the bicycle wheel rim
1
on two opposite ends of a hub (not shown). The aforementioned conventional bicycle wheel rim
1
, however, suffers from the following drawback: Since the spoke fastening holes
121
are arranged along the central portion of the spoke mounting wall
12
, the central portion of the spoke mounting wall
12
is susceptible to deformation due to the tension forces applied by the spokes
101
when the bicycle wheel rim
1
is in use.
To reinforce the strength of the bicycle wheel rim, it has been proposed in the art to provide a bicycle wheel rim
2
with a two-layer base wall unit which includes an annular spoke mounting wall
22
extending between the tire retaining walls
21
, and an annular bridging wall
23
disposed around the spoke mounting wall
22
and bridging the tire retaining walls
21
, as shown in FIG.
3
. The base wall unit further includes a pair of inclined reinforcing walls
24
extending between the bridging wall
23
and the spoke mounting wall
22
. To permit the installation of spoke fasteners
203
, the bridging wall
23
must be formed with a plurality of through holes
231
aligned respectively with spoke fastening holes
221
in the spoke mounting wall
22
to permit passage of the spoke fasteners
203
therethrough. The through holes
231
and the spoke fastening holes
221
are typically formed by punching. However, since the through holes
231
and the spoke fastening holes
221
differ in size, formation of the through holes
231
and the spoke fastening holes
221
thus involves a complicated punching process. Moreover, chips of the metal of the wheel rim
2
removed during the punching process could be received within the cavity
223
that is confined by the spoke mounting wall
22
, the bridging wall
23
, and the reinforcing walls
24
, and are difficult to be discharged therefrom.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a bicycle wheel rim that has a reinforced base wall and that permits formation of spoke fastening holes in the base wall through a simple punching process.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a bicycle wheel rim includes an annular rim body with a central axis. The rim body includes annular left and right tire retaining walls which are spaced-apart from each other, and an annular connecting wall. Each of the tire retaining walls has a radial inner edge proximate to the central axis of the rim body. The base wall interconnects the radial inner edges of the left and right tire retaining walls, and cooperates with the tire retaining walls to confine a tire retaining space thereamong. The base wall includes left and right corner parts disposed adjacent and connected to the left and right tire retaining walls, respectively, and an intermediate part extending between the corner parts. The intermediate part has a vaulted portion, which is vaulted in a radial inward direction with respect to the central axis. The intermediate part is formed with a first set of spoke mounting holes which are distributed along the base wall between the vaulted portion and the left corner part, and a second set of spoke mounting holes which are distributed along the base wall between the vaulted portion and the right corner part.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a bicycle wheel rim includes an annular rim body with a central axis. The rim body includes annular left and right tire retaining walls which are spaced-apart from each other, and an annular base wall. Each of the tire retaining walls has a radial inner edge proximate to the central axis of the rim body. The base wall interconnects the radial inner edges of the tire retaining walls, and cooperates with the tire retaining walls to confine a tire retaining space thereamong. The base wall includes left and right corner parts disposed adjacent and connected to the left and right tire retaining walls, respectively, and an intermediate part extending between the corner parts. The intermediate part has a vaulted portion which is vaulted in a radial outward direction with respect to the central axis, a left wall section extending between the vaulted portion and the left corner part and formed with a first set of spoke mounting holes, and a right wall section extending between the vaulted portion and the right corner part and formed with a second set of spoke mounting holes. Each of the left and right wall sections has a first terminating edge connected to the respective one of the left and right corner parts, and a second terminating edge opposite to the first terminating edge and connected to the vaulted portion. The intermediate part of the base wall further includes a bridging wall, which extends between the second terminating edges of the left and right wall sections. The bridging wall is flush with the left and right wall sections.
REFERENCES:
patent: 339422 (1886-04-01), Hudson
patent: 365091 (1887-06-01), Owen
patent: 2937905 (1960-05-01), Altenburger
patent: 3784260 (1974-01-01), Araya
patent: 4319785 (1982-03-01), Sato et al.
patent: 6257677 (2001-07-01), Chen
patent: 6402255 (2002-06-01), Chen
Alex Global Technology, Inc.
Bellinger Jason R.
Stormer Russell D.
Trop Pruner & Hu P.C.
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