Land vehicles – Wheeled – Occupant propelled type
Patent
1993-09-09
1996-02-27
Hurley, Kevin T.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Occupant propelled type
280261, 474 80, B62M 912
Patent
active
054943078
ABSTRACT:
A bicycle frame supports a sprocket, front and rear wheels and first gears axially aligned with the rear wheel. Each gear has an individual ratio with the sprocket. At a first end, a support is attached to the frame at two (2) spaced positions, one axially aligned with the rear wheel. When loosened from the frame at such aligned position, the support is pivotable at the other position to provide access to the rear wheel and the gears for maintenance or repair. At its second end, the support holds a hollow shaft in a direction substantially parallel to the gear peripheries. A drive motor, a screw and a yoke mounted on the screw extend in this parallel direction within the shaft. Channels in the shaft receive the yoke to constrain yoke rotation. The motor drives the screw and yoke to position a spool linearly in the parallel direction. A takeup arm movable with the spool carries an additional gear into alignment with an individual one of the gears. A microprocessor is programmed as by handlebar-mounted switches to stop the motor at the proper position for each gear. The microprocessor accomplishes this by monitoring the position of a shaft encoder on the motor. A flexible bellows seals the spool to the support to exclude dirt. A chain extends in a closed loop around the sprocket, the individual gear and an additional gear. A spring adjusts the takeup arm position to eliminate any chain slack when the chain engages the individual gear.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4041788 (1977-08-01), Niniger, Jr.
patent: 4605240 (1986-08-01), Clem et al.
patent: 4824420 (1989-04-01), Romano
patent: 4894046 (1990-01-01), Browning
patent: 4946425 (1990-08-01), Buhlmann
patent: 5213548 (1993-05-01), Colbert et al.
patent: 5254044 (1993-10-01), Anderson
patent: 5358451 (1994-10-01), Lacombe et al.
Hurley Kevin T.
Roston Ellsworth R.
Schwartz Charles H.
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