Machine element or mechanism – Elements – Cranks and pedals
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-29
2001-12-04
Luong, Vinh T. (Department: 3682)
Machine element or mechanism
Elements
Cranks and pedals
C074S594400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06324941
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a snap-in bicycle pedal, and more particularly to a snap-in bicycle pedal that includes a fastener portion screwed to a sole of a bicycle shoe and a catch portion screwed to a pedal shaft, and the fastener portion may be easily snap-fitted onto the catch portion or rotated to disengage from the catch portion.
There are many differently shaped and structured snap-in bicycle pedals available in the market. One of these conventional snap-in bicycle pedals that has been known in the market for many years is shown in FIG.
1
. The snap-in bicycle pedal shown in
FIG. 1
includes a catch body
1
and a fastener body
2
that is screwed to a bicycle shoe. The following are some drawbacks found in such a snap-in bicycle pedal:
1. It includes complicate components and requires high manufacturing cost;
2. It includes torsion springs
11
that must be elastically pushed apart for the fastener body to engage with the catch body. The assembling of the snap-in pedal of
FIG. 1
is therefore time and effort consuming;
3. The torsion springs
11
are exposed to external environment, and dust tends to deposit and accumulate on the exposed torsion springs
11
to adversely affect the elasticity thereof and accordingly the assembling of the snap-in bicycle pedal; and
4. When the fastener body
2
is assembled to the catch body
1
, the fastener body
2
must be inclined for its front end
21
to downward extend into a front catch space
12
of the catch body
1
. Thereafter, a rear end of the fastener body
2
is set in a rear catch space
13
of the catch body
1
by pushing the torsion springs
11
apart. Since the fastener body
2
is screwed on a bicycle shoe, it can be assembled to the catch body
1
only in one forward direction. To do so, a user must force his or her toes to point downward with the heels highly raised. Such a position is, of course, uncomfortable and will cause sore feet.
It is therefore desirable to develop an improved snap-in bicycle pedal to eliminate the drawbacks existing in the conventional snap-in bicycle pedals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a snap-in bicycle pedal that allows quick assembling of a fastener portion to a catch portion in different directions and quick disengaging of the fastener portion from the catch portion simply by rotating the fastener portion in one direction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a snap-in bicycle pedal that allows easy adjustment of compressive force of the compression springs thereof, so that the fastener portion may be snap-fitted onto the catch portion with different strength depending on the user.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a snap-in bicycle pedal that allows the springs thereof to conceal in the catch portion, so that the springs are not subject to deposited and accumulated dust to effectively maintain the elasticity thereof.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a snap-in bicycle pedal that includes components that can be easily assembled and therefore enables reduced manufacturing cost.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4864887 (1989-09-01), Rapisarda
patent: 5419218 (1995-05-01), Romano
patent: 5423233 (1995-06-01), Peyre et al.
patent: 5992266 (1999-11-01), Heim
patent: 6012356 (2000-01-01), Ueda
patent: 6089122 (2000-07-01), Nagano
patent: 6170357 (2001-01-01), Chen
patent: 6196084 (2001-03-01), Ueda
patent: 0402512 (1990-12-01), None
patent: 2609270 (1988-07-01), None
Dougherty & Troxell
Luong Vinh T.
LandOfFree
Snap-in bicycle pedal does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Snap-in bicycle pedal, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Snap-in bicycle pedal will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2588369