Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – Hub
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-26
2003-02-11
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
Hub
C301S104000, C301S074000, C301S067000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06517169
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a spoked wheel for a bicycle, more particularly to a spoked wheel with a plurality of spoke units that form coplanar planes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a conventional spoked wheel
100
for a bicycle having an axle defining an axis is shown to include an annular wheel rim
10
, a wheel hub
20
, and a plurality of spokes
30
. The annular wheel rim
10
has a left annular rim wall
11
and a right annular rim wall
12
opposite to each other in an axial direction parallel to the axis of the axle. The left and right annular rim walls
11
,
12
have a plurality of first mounting holes angularly displaced from one another about the axis. Moreover, the wheel hub
20
includes a left flange
21
and a right flange
22
opposite to each other in the axial direction. The left and right flanges
21
,
22
have a plurality of second mounting holes angularly displaced from one another about the axis. The spokes
30
of a conventional spoked wheel
100
are hooked to the annular wheel rim
10
and the wheel hub
20
at corresponding ones of the first and second mounting holes. More particularly, the spoke
30
A is connected to the left annular rim wall
11
and the right flange
22
, while the spoke
30
B is connected to the right annular rim wall
12
and the left flange
21
. Furthermore, the spokes
30
have first bent portions
31
,
32
which are inserted through the second mounting holes in the corresponding one of the left and right flanges
21
,
22
. The spokes
30
further have second bent portions
33
,
34
which are inserted through the first mounting holes in the corresponding one of the left and right annular rim walls
11
,
12
.
The conventional spoked wheel
100
has several drawbacks. First, due to the spoke distribution, when under stress as shown in
FIG. 3
, there are situations where the forces are not fully counteracted by any spoke which would, consequently, cause an unbalanced feeling during riding. Second, due to the alternate spoke arrangement, a major portion of the force could not desirably propagate along the length of each of the spokes on which the force is applied. In other words, the spoke bracing effect is not maximized. Last but not least, the forces tend to focus on the bent portions of the spokes
30
where deformation or breakage of the spokes
30
or wheel rim
10
would easily occur. Thus, the rigidity of the annular wheel rim
10
in a direction radial to the axis is relatively poor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a spoked wheel for a bicycle with unbent spokes presented in pairs to increase the strength of the wheel and to balance the forces applied onto the wheel.
According to this invention, a spoked wheel is adapted for use in a bicycle which has an axle defining an axis, and comprises a wheel hub which has an inner hub wall surface adapted to be rotatably mounted on the axle about the axis, and an outer hub wall surface opposite to the inner hub wall surface in radial directions. The outer hub wall surface includes left and right surrounding ends opposite to each other in an axial direction parallel to the axis. Left and right flanges extend in radial directions respectively from the left and right surrounding ends, and terminate respectively at left and right surrounding edges which are spaced apart from each other in the axial direction. Left and right surrounding mounts extend in the axial direction respectively from the left and right surrounding edges, and have left and right sets of first anchored sites, respectively. Each of the left and right sets of first anchored sites includes a plurality of first anchored loci angularly displaced from one another about the axis. An annular wheel rim is disposed to surround the wheel hub about the axis, and includes an annular rim wall surrounding and facing towards the outer hub wall surface. The annular rim wall includes left and right annular wall portions opposite to each other in the axial direction. The left and right annular wall portions have left and right sets of second anchored sites, respectively. Each of the left and right sets of second anchored sites includes a plurality of second anchored loci which are angularly displaced from one another about the axis. Each of left and right sets of spokes has a plurality of spoke units. Each of the spoke units includes proximate and distal anchoring ends which respectively engage a corresponding one of the first anchored loci and a corresponding one of the second anchored loci to form a plane such that left and right planes respectively formed by a corresponding pair of the first anchored loci, a corresponding pair of the second anchored loci, a corresponding pair of the proximate anchoring ends, and a corresponding pair of the distal anchoring ends, are coplanar with each other.
REFERENCES:
patent: 436993 (1890-09-01), Overman
patent: 1934102 (1933-11-01), Stoler
patent: 4844552 (1989-07-01), Tsygankov et al.
patent: 5810453 (1998-09-01), O'Brien
patent: 6024413 (2000-02-01), Dixon et al.
patent: 6145938 (2000-11-01), Dietrich
patent: 6367883 (2002-04-01), Chen
patent: 6382734 (2002-05-01), Passarotto
patent: 6386644 (2002-05-01), Chen
patent: 6409278 (2002-06-01), Nakajima
Morano S. Joseph
Morgan & Lewis & Bockius, LLP
Nguyen Long Bao
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