Brakes – Internal-resistance motion retarder – Including protective shield for retarder
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-05
2001-03-13
Graham, Matthew C. (Department: 3613)
Brakes
Internal-resistance motion retarder
Including protective shield for retarder
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199672
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dust cover mounting structure for the front fork of a two-wheel vehicle or the like and for a shock absorber used for such vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art as shown in
FIG. 14
of the attached drawings, a front fork assembly
100
for a motorcycle holds a pair of front forks
102
at both ends of under bracket
101
, and an upper bracket (not shown), axially supports a front wheel in a freely rotating manner on front forks
102
and pivotally supports a steering shaft
103
arranged at a center portion of the under bracket
101
and the upper bracket to a head pipe (not shown) of the vehicle body frame, thereby steering the front wheel.
The front fork
102
is structured so that a vehicle body inner tube
104
is slidably inserted into a wheel side outer tube
105
, so that the inner tube
104
is held to the outer bracket
101
and the upper bracket. The inner tube
104
is structured so that an outer peripheral surface thereof is protected by an upper dust cover
106
and an under dust cover
107
.
The upper dust cover
106
is supported by a supporting member
109
made of a synthetic resin on an upper surface of the under bracket
101
through a washer
108
. The under dust cover
107
has a flange
111
attached to an upper opening of a cylindrical cover main body
110
, as shown in
FIGS. 14
to
16
. The under dust cover
107
has a mounting bolt
114
inserted into a hole
112
of the flange
111
and hole
113
of the under bracket
101
and is secured to the under bracket
101
by means of a nut
115
.
However, in the prior art described above, since the under dust cover
107
is fixed to the under bracket
101
by using a plurality of, for example, three mounting bolts
114
, it is necessary to form the bolt holes
113
and
112
in the under bracket
101
and the flange
111
of the under dust cover
107
. This makes the shape of the under bracket
101
and the under dust cover
107
intricate and hard to use. The assembly operation of the under dust cover
107
is therefore difficult.
Further, since the under dust cover
107
is attached to the under bracket
101
by a plurality of mounting bolts
114
, the load of the under dust cover
107
is shifted to the mounting bolt
114
having the greatest fastening torque, so that concentricity is difficult to obtain with respect to the inner tube
104
. Accordingly, a slant phenomenon occurs where the axis of the under dust cover
107
and an axis of the inner tube
104
are inclined so that the under dust cover
107
is slanted in a direction of arrow A in FIG.
14
. The under dust cover
107
is brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the outer tube
105
, creating risk of rubbing the outer peripheral surface and causing wear and damage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention takes the matter mentioned above into consideration, and an object of the present invention is to provide a simple dust cover mounting structure, and prevents a slant phenomenon of the dust cover.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a dust cover mounting structure for a front fork, structured so that a vehicle body side tube and a wheel side tube are slidably inserted so as to constitute a front fork, a dust cover for protecting an outer peripheral surface of the vehicle body side tube mounted to a lower portion of a bracket for mounting the vehicle body side tube to a vehicle body, and wherein an annular supporting member is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the vehicle body side tube, a flange portion of the dust cover is locked to the supporting member through an annular elastic body. The dust cover is structured such that the flange portion is held and fixed between the bracket inserted to the vehicle body side tube and the supporting member under an axial compressing deformation of the elastic body. An inner peripheral surface is elastically brought into contact with an outer peripheral surface of the elastic body is attached to the vehicle body side tube in a concentric state.
Further, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a dust cover mounting structure for a shock absorber, structured so that a piston rod is inserted into a cylinder to constitute a shock absorber. A dust cover for protecting an outer peripheral surface of the piston rod is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the piston rod, wherein an annular supporting member is mounted to an outer peripheral surface of an end portion opposite to the cylinder side of the piston rod. A flange portion of the dust cover is locked to the supporting member through an annular elastic body, and the dust cover is held and fixed between a pressing member inserted into the piston rod and the supporting member under axial compressing deformation of the elastic body. An inner peripheral surface is elastically brought into contact with an outer peripheral surface of the elastic body and concentrically attached to the piston rod.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2163255 (1939-06-01), Binder et al.
patent: 2417190 (1975-10-01), None
patent: 845556 (1939-08-01), None
patent: 2186050 (1987-08-01), None
patent: 2205382 (1988-12-01), None
patent: 2276930 (1994-10-01), None
Hirano Masahiro
Wada Kazuo
Graham Matthew C.
Orum & Roth
Showa Corporation
Talavera Melanie
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