Motor vehicles – Power – Hoods
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-18
2001-08-07
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Motor vehicles
Power
Hoods
C180S229000, C180S068100, C180S068300, C280S288400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269896
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to a radiator cover provided for covering a radiator side section on a motorcycle.
2. Background Art
In Japanese Utility Model publication No. Hei. 3-26060, there is shown a radiator cover assembly for a motorcycle in which the side of an engine is covered from the front of the vehicle by a cowling, and an intake path for passing fresh air in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and a plurality of expelled air paths being mutually different in the vertical direction, for passing engine hot air from inside the vehicle to the outside so as to expel the air forward of the vehicle, are formed in air ducts provided in the cowling. Changing of the respective directions of the intake path and the expelled air path in cold weather is also suggested.
With the above described structure, the intake path and the expelled air path respectively separately pass only one of either fresh air or expelled air. This means that it is difficult to make the air flowing out behind the air ducts an appropriate temperature which both provides comfort to a rider and does not have a detrimental effect on the performance of a carburetor, etc. This is particularly true in cold weather.
As suggested in the above described related art publication, even if attempts are made to alter the respective directions of the expelled air path and the intake path, hot air flows directly onto the rider and the carburetor which means that it is not really possible to obtain an appropriate temperature. The object of the present invention is to solve these problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above described problems, a first aspect of the present invention provides a radiator cover used with a motorcycle including an engine and a carburetor connected to this engine, a radiator arranged in front of the carburetor and the engine, and a radiator cover for covering a water tank side of the radiator, with an intake path, for causing fresh air to be guided in a front to rear direction, and an expelled air path for expelling hot air that has been heated by heat exchange with the radiator to the outside from inside the vehicle body, being provided in the radiator cover, in which the radiator is substantially box shaped, an expelled air path for passing expelled air is formed in an internal space, and there is further provided mixing means for mixing some of the expelled air in the expelled air path with fresh air in the intake path.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a radiator cover assembly for a motorcycle of the first aspect, in which an air blocking plate is provided behind the radiator and in front of the engine and the carburetor, and expelled air from the radiator is directed into the expelled air path of the radiator cover by this windshield plate.
A third aspect of the present invention is the second aspect in which the engine is a horizontally opposed engine.
According to the first aspect of the invention, since it is possible to mix some of the expelled air inside the expelled air path with fresh air using the mixing means provided in the radiator cover, fresh air is made an appropriate temperature and supplied from an outlet of the intake path to the rear of the radiator cover. This means that the comfort of the rider behind the radiator cover is improved and preferable carburetor performance is maintained. Particularly, when the motorcycle is running in a cold district, the effects are more notable because over heating of the rider and icing of the carburetor can be prevented.
According to the second aspect of the invention, expelled air does not flow rearwards because of the air blocking plate behind the radiator, and can be guided in the direction of the radiator cover, which makes it possible to further realize the above described effects.
In a horizontally opposed engine, the carburetor is often arranged behind the radiator in an overlapping manner when viewed from the rear of the motorcycle. However, according to the third aspect of the invention, because of the above described structure, the expelled air does not flow directly to the carburetor but fresh air warmed to an appropriate temperature flows instead, which means that a preferable expelled air processing and intake structure is formed for a horizontally opposed engine.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
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patent: 4709774 (1987-12-01), Saito et al.
patent: 4830135 (1989-05-01), Yamashita
patent: 5016725 (1991-05-01), Muramatsu
patent: 5577570 (1996-11-01), Shiohara et al.
patent: 5715904 (1998-02-01), Takahashi et al.
patent: 5745023 (1998-04-01), Totsuka
patent: 6105701 (2000-08-01), Buell
patent: Y2-326060 (1991-06-01), None
Hasumi Hiroaki
Tanaka Koichi
Tokumasu Nobutaka
Avery Bridget
Birch, Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LL
Honda Giken Kabushiki Kaisha
Johnson Brian L.
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