Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Axle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-11
2001-06-19
Stormer, Russell D. (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Axle
C301S110500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06247761
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to an improved stepping rod mainly mounted to axle of a rear wheel of a bicycle. The stepping rod has one end provided with a multi-angled countersunk cavity in correspondence to a locking nut secured to each end of the axle of a rear wheel of a bicycle and an extra locking nut is placed in a hollow interior of the stepping rod to lock the stepping rod firmly in place so that the stepping rod will not rotate when a person steps thereon and the locking nuts will not loosen during in use. Moreover, the stepping rod can be easily and quickly removed from and mounted to the axle of a rear wheel of a bicycle without affecting the original bicycle structure at all.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional stepping rod
20
is mounted to each end of an externally threaded axle
12
of a rear wheel
10
of bicycle. The stepping rod
20
is mounted to the threaded axle
12
which is led through a fork tube
11
of the bicycle. The stepping rod
20
has an abutment end
21
provided with a central through hole
22
and an open-ended hollow interior
23
. A washer
13
is first attached to the axle
12
and then a nut
14
is secured in place to each end of the threaded axle
12
so as to lock the transmission wheels and chain of a bicycle to the rear wheel of a bicycle.
In maintaining the conventional stepping rod
20
mounted to the threaded axle
12
of a rear wheel
10
of a bicycle, as seen in
FIG. 2
, the nut
14
is first removed from the threaded axle
12
of the rear wheel
10
and then the stepping rod
20
is engaged with the threaded axle
12
by guiding the same via the central hole
22
of the stepping rod
20
. Next the nut
14
is placed into the stepping rod
20
via the open-ended hollow interior
23
and locked again to each end of the threaded axle
12
of the rear wheel
10
to complete the assembly.
Such a prior art stepping rod has the following disadvantages:
1. The nuts
14
must first be removed from ends of the threaded axle
12
, then the stepping rod
20
is attached to the axle
12
by way of the removed nuts
14
. The removal of the nuts
14
will cause the transmission wheels and chain to become loose and shifted from their original position. That will result in dangerous accidents if no proper adjustments are made on the shifted transmission wheels and chain, and the dismantling and re-mounting of the nuts are time consuming and inconvenient.
2. The nuts
14
originally dismantled from the axle
12
and then re-secured to the axle
12
placed into the stepping rod
20
via the open-ended hollow interior
23
after the stepping rod
20
is mounted to the axle
12
are easily loosened as a result of the stepping rod
20
being constantly spun by people stepping on the same.
3. The stepping rod
20
secured to the axle
12
by the nuts
14
is easily dismantled and will fall off when the nuts are loosened. That may cause traffic accidents.
4. When the stepping rod
20
is removed from the axle
12
, the nuts
14
have to be dismantled from and secured to the axle
12
again. The transmission wheels and chain of a bicycle are easily shifted from position during this procedure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved stepping rod which is a hollow tube having an abutment face at one end and a hollow interior at the other end so that the stepping rod can be directly mounted to the axle of a bicycle with a locking nut placed into the hollow interior of the stepping rod and locked in place on the threaded end of the axle and without dismantling any parts of a bicycle so that it is easy and safe to get the stepping rod mounted to the axle with less time. Thus, the transmission wheels and chain of a bicycle will not be influenced at all in the mounting of a stepping rod so that they will not be loosened.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved stepping rod which is easily and quickly mounted to each threaded end of an axle of a rear wheel without dismantling any fixed parts of a bicycle whereby less time is taken in the mounting of the stepping rod of the present invention.
One further object of the present invention is to provide an improved stepping rod provided with a hexagon-shaped or multi-angled countersunk cavity at one abutment end thereof which is engaged with a retaining nut secured to the threaded end of an axle so as to prevent the stepping rod mounted to the axle of a rear wheel and the locking nut from rotating and loosening up during use.
One further object of the present invention is to provide an improved stepping rod which can be dismantled from the axle of a rear wheel of a bicycle by simple removal of a locking nut housed in a stepping rod without affecting any nuts originally secured to the axle of a rear wheel whereby the transmission wheels and chain associated with the axle of the rear of a bicycle will not be influenced thus, preventing any danger produced as a result of dismantling of the stepping rods.
REFERENCES:
patent: 615533 (1898-12-01), Demory
patent: 618855 (1899-02-01), Ennis et al.
patent: 625368 (1899-05-01), Thompson
patent: 3734534 (1973-05-01), Brooks, Jr. et al.
patent: 5884983 (1999-03-01), Wu
Bacon & Thomas PLLC
Den Liang Industrial Co., Ltd.
Stormer Russell D.
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