Land vehicles – Wheeled – Occupant propelled type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-19
2001-05-29
Schwartz, Christopher P. (Department: 3613)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Occupant propelled type
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237930
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
The present invention was not developed with the use of any Federal Funds, but was developed independently by the inventor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to various methods and equipment employed in training motorbike riders on how to safely ride a motorbike in a wide variety of conditions and more specifically to the use of special outrigger devices attached to the frame of the motorbike, which extend out from the frame and contact the ground and directly control the motorbike's lean angle as it goes through a corner.
The present invention consists of two structural frames or outriggers, attached to either side of the bike extending out for a few feet with a wheel at the end of the outriggers which is in contact with the ground until the lean angle of the bike exceeds 40 degrees. The position and angle between these outriggers and the bike can be incrementally controlled by the rider by means of a lever mounted on the handlebars and controlling the pressure inside two shock struts attached to both outriggers and to the bike.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the training of new motorbike riders, one of the hardest things for the novice to learn is how to set the correct lean angle of the bicycle and the rider's body, as it goes through a corner. When any vehicle goes around a curve, a centrifugal force is generated horizontally. This force is a function of the weight of the vehicle, the radius of the curve and the velocity of the vehicle itself.
In the case of 4-wheeled vehicles, the base created by the 4 wheels naturally generates a vertical balancing moment to counteract this horizontal force. Unlike 4-wheeled vehicles, motorbikes must be leaned over through an angle, to generate the correct balancing moment when they go around a corner. This balancing moment is defined by the weight of the bike plus rider, acting at the combined center of gravity, multiplied by the distance between a vertical line through the combined center of gravity and another vertical line through the road contact point of the wheels. Thus at higher and higher cornering speeds, the rider must lean the bike over by increasingly greater angles to balance the increasing horizontal force.
If the bike is leaned too little or leaned too much it can quickly generate unstable driving conditions which can make the bike slide out from under the rider or the bike can topple to the high side (away from the corner). Learning the correct lean angle is therefore a skill that must be quickly learned by the novice. This degree of angle can at first, seem very threatening to the novice or trainee rider and so there is a need for a device to control the lean angle by some other means that is under the direct control of the rider.
In an earlier invention identified above, I describe a set of outriggers which can be installed on a motorbike and which allow the direct control of the lean angle of the bike by the rider. This earlier invention utilizes an air compressor and pneumatic valve to control the flow of hydraulic fluid through a bypass system.
The present invention is a simplified version of that earlier invention and incorporates a number of new embodiments that are improvements over the earlier application.
There are a number of existing designs in the art where extra structures and wheels are added to a basic 2-wheeled bike. For instance, sidecars have been in use for some time and are added to transport another passenger or to carry payloads. Sidecars are fixed rigidly to the bike frame and although they add lateral stability to the bike, this is a secondary factor. Further, a sidecar is only added to one side of the bike unlike the present invention, which adds a structure to both sides of the bike, and in an adjustable, controllable manner.
In the case of a motorbike and side-car, the sidecar supplies a lot of the stability that is missing in a two wheeled vehicle and creates a much more stable platform for the rider. However the sidecar is fixed to the side of the bicycle and does not move or rotate relative to the bike as the bike goes through a comer. The vertical center of gravity of the bike/side-car combination lies between the 3 wheels and so creates a moment (weight times distance) that counteracts the induced centrifugal force and subsequent moment created in the horizontal direction as the bike/side-car goes through a corner at speed. Also, unlike the present invention, the sidecar does not assist in the training of a bike rider who is learning to ride a bike with two wheels round a corner. As the rider is going through turns and corners on a 2-wheeled bike, he must learn how much to lean the bike as he goes through the corner.
Further, a bike with side-car is designed to be a freestanding system while the present invention applied to a 2 wheeled bike will allow the bike to lean over to either side. In the case of a bike plus side-car the bike cannot be leaned through corners, as the 3 wheels contacting the road act as a stable platform and lateral centrifugal forces are usually not sufficient to raise the side-car wheel off the ground, which would allow the bike to lean. This is especially true if a passenger is sitting in the sidecar or a payload is being carried.
Training wheels are also known in the art and can be used on a motorbike but they are generally rigidly fixed to the bike frame. While the bike is driven, they are used to limit lean angle of the bike to the angle, which is preset, before they contact the ground. They do not include any of the control or incremental training features of the present invention.
Also known in the art is the BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) design of outriggers, which are attached to the bike frame similar to the present invention. However, they are also positioned in a fixed relation to the bike frame, with wheels attached to the ends of each outrigger, which have a space between both of the wheels and the ground while the bike is moving in a straight line. When the bike is leaned over sufficiently in a corner, one of the outrigger wheels touches the ground and so limits the amount of lean.
A shock absorber is also used in the BMW design but only to reduce the impact forces in the case of a sudden lean that allows the outrigger wheel to hit hard on the road or track surface. This BMW device is designed mainly to measure wet weather traction forces on different types of tires. It has no capacity to allow incremental lean angle changes to the system and can not be used for quick turn and steep lean angle tests as can be done by the present invention.
The BMW bike outriggers could high-side the rider in a corner, as they do not maintain close contact between the outrigger wheels and the road, as in the present invention.
The definition of ‘high-side’ as used in the disclosure is the action of a two-wheeled bike going through a comer and the front or rear wheel (or both) slips away from the cornering center then suddenly re-grips the road surface. This sudden re-grip can generate a large reaction force which acts to rotate the bike towards the vertical axis and which can be sufficiently strong to throw the rider off the bike.
The definition of ‘low-side’ as used in the disclosure is the action of a two-wheeled bike going through a corner and the front or rear wheel (or both) slips away from the cornering center, causing the bike to fall down.
The definition of lean angle is the angle between a line perpendicular to the ground and the bike's vertical axis, as the bike leans over during a turn.
Apart from the inventor's earlier invention described herein, there is nothing in the prior art that allows the rider to overcome his fears in the manner of the present invention. The performance of the present invention can also be easily adjusted by changing orifice sizes in the hydraulic cylinders, which control the force required to change the lean angle for the rider. Thus control features of the invention can be changed to match th
Bartz C. T.
Schwartz Christopher P.
LandOfFree
Motorbike rider training device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Motorbike rider training device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Motorbike rider training device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2561654