Chairs and seats – Straddle seat – Adjustable to plural use positions
Patent
1998-04-24
2000-07-18
Cuomo, Peter M.
Chairs and seats
Straddle seat
Adjustable to plural use positions
2971951, 297211, B62J 100
Patent
active
060896566
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cushioning system in connection with the sitting means of a bicycle, and relates more precisely to a springy seat retainer assembly intended to be mounted on a standard bicycle in the position in the bicycle frame where the conventional seat post is usually entered down into the seat tube. Further, it is intended that a standard seat shall be mounted on top of the seat retainer assembly in accordance with the invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are several types of previously known cushioning solutions in connection with bicycle seats, the most well-known one is the means having two helical springs at the rear end of the seat and constituting a part of the seat itself. Such helical springs have a very limited travel, at the same time as the front edge of the seat remains un-cushioned. This type of cushioning will increase comfort somewhat, but is not appropriate to accommodate the type of shock which occurs in particular in off-road bicycling.
Among recent types of cushioning for bicycle seats, a solution can be mentioned wherein the seat has a spring action in a telescopic assembly inside or along the seat tube, which tube in most bicycles is slanted in a direction down toward the crank bearing. This type of cushioning has a clear limitation in that the travel of the system along the seat tube in the spring action, is as much as 45.degree. mis-directed. This also has the effect that all attempts to obtain a long travel for such systems have not been successful, because the movement component in the wrong direction increases with an increase in the travel along the seat tube, and this becomes very noticable whenever the bumps are larger than a certain size, typically 10-15 mm.
Another previously known type of cushioning is the one in which a seat is springy by being mounted on a long and flexible arm attached to the bicycle's top tube adjacent to the handlebar bearing. This system makes it impossible to provide any bias, which leads to a tendency to swing up and down for the bicyclist during ordinary bicycling. Further, such a system has the problem that the seat will bound upwards quite far, when the bicyclist slides off the seat while moving his body rearwardly to avoid falling forward over the handlebar in a steep downhill ride, and this makes it rather difficult to get back onto the seat again afterwards. The correct distance to the pedals is achieved while the bicyclist sits on a seat which is pushed down, and without a weight on top, the seat will take a relatively high position.
From European patent application with publication number 0418429 there is known a springy saddle device for a two-wheeled vehicle, particularly for a moped or a motorcycle. An articulated system having parallel swinging arms connected to a helical spring down inside a saddle post, is attached directly to the frame, and the saddle framework is also attached directly to the swinging arms. A substantially downwardly directed movement is achieved with this device, however the device cannot be used as an optional part inserted between a standard bicycle frame and a standard seat.
A springy device for a bicycle seat is previously known from German Offenlegungsschrift number 4224941, which device is based upon a helical spring built into a seat post substitute. An adapted cylinder can slide up and down in a substantially vertical guide element behind the seat tube, and the cylindrical slide member is connected to the helical spring inside the seat post via a wire drive passing over one or more guide wheels. The seat is mounted on top of the cylindrical slide member, and thus will be able to spring substantially vertically up and down. The wire drive solution entails obvious weaknesses, and the construction does not seem particularly robust in practice.
In a situation where the bicycle rear wheel hits a bump, the whole frame and everything mounted thereto, will start to rotate around the front wheel hub of the bicycle. This causes the seat, which is situated much
REFERENCES:
patent: 1229468 (1917-06-01), Jackson
patent: 2167912 (1939-08-01), Schwinn
patent: 2331213 (1943-10-01), Mesinger
patent: 3481628 (1969-12-01), Brilando et al.
patent: 5024413 (1991-06-01), Papp
patent: 5464271 (1995-11-01), McFarland
patent: 5489139 (1996-02-01), McFarland
Cuomo Peter M.
Hals-Lauritzen A/S
Vu Stephen
LandOfFree
Spring-action seat suspension assembly for a two-wheeler does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Spring-action seat suspension assembly for a two-wheeler, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Spring-action seat suspension assembly for a two-wheeler will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2028953