Land vehicles – Wheeled – Occupant propelled type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-18
2002-07-30
DePumpo, Daniel G. (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Occupant propelled type
C280S200000, C280S261000, C280S287000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06425598
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a folding bicycle constructed in a manner foldable about a central portion of a body thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bicycle
71
shown in
FIG. 12
is among folding bicycles of the above-mentioned type as the related art. The bicycle
71
includes a frame
74
rotatably supporting a front wheel
2
and a rear wheel
3
, a drive mechanism
6
for driving the bicycle
71
, a rack
75
secured above the rear wheel
3
, a steering section
77
linked to the front wheel
2
, a seat section
8
secured to a central portion of the frame
74
, and a kick stand
79
that allows the bicycle
71
in its extended state to stand by itself and is capable of supporting the bicycle
71
in its folded state. The frame
74
is comprised of a front fork
11
connected to the steering section
77
and having the front wheel
2
secured thereto via an axle
2
a,
a steering head
12
holding the front fork
11
and the steering section
77
in a rotatable manner, a down tube
13
, a folding mechanism
14
for folding the bicycle
71
, a rear arm
85
connected to the down tube
13
via the folding mechanism
14
and having the rear wheel
3
secured thereto via an axle
3
a,
a seat tube
86
extending upward from the rear arm
85
, for having the seat section
8
secured thereto such that the seat section
8
can be moved vertically, a seat stay
87
connecting between the rear end portion of the rear arm
85
and the upper end portion of the seat tube
86
, and a stay
88
having the rack
75
secured thereto.
The drive mechanism
6
includes a pedal-side sprocket
33
to which are attached pedals
32
,
32
via respective cranks
91
a,
91
b,
and a rear wheel-side sprocket
35
which is rotated via a sprocket chain
34
as the pedal-side sprocket
33
rotates. The steering section
77
is comprised of a stem
95
connected to an upper end of the front fork
11
within the steering head
12
and a handle bar
96
secured to the upper end of the stem
95
. Further, the seat section
8
is comprised of a seat post
51
secured to the seat tube
86
such that the seat post
51
can be moved vertically therein, and a saddle
53
secured to the upper end of the seat post
51
via a saddle angle-adjusting mechanism
52
.
The bicycle
71
is folded through the following procedure. First, as shown in
FIG. 13
, the seat post
51
is pushed down into the seat tube
86
such that it is received therein. Then, after the handle bar
96
is turned downward to a position where each of the opposite ends thereof looks as if suspended from the upper end of the stem
95
, the steering section
77
in this state and the front fork
11
having the front wheel
2
secured thereto are turned around. At this time, the front wheel
2
is shifted toward the folding mechanism
14
by a distance which is twice longer than a front fork offset. Subsequently, the bicycle
71
in this state is folded by and about the folding mechanism
14
at the central portion of the bicycle
71
. As a result, the front wheel
2
is positioned at the left side of the rear wheel
3
(as viewed from the rear of the bicycle
71
), whereby the length of the bicycle
71
is reduced approximately by half in comparison with the whole length of the bicycle
71
in its extended state. Thereafter, by placing the front and rear wheels
2
,
3
and the kick stand
79
on the ground, with the kick stand
79
kicked backward as shown in
FIG. 14
, the bicycle
71
in its folded state stands in a state supported by the front and rear wheels
2
,
3
and the kick stand
79
.
However, the above bicycle
71
suffers from the following problems: As described above, the bicycle
71
is folded by and about the folding mechanism
14
at the central portion of the bicycle
71
, so that the length of the bicycle
71
is reduced approximately by half in comparison with the whole length of the bicycle
71
in its extended state. However, the distance from the axle
2
a
to the folding mechanism
14
and the distance from the axle
3
a
to the folding mechanism
14
are each longer than the radius of the front wheel
2
and that of the rear wheel
3
, and hence the down tube
13
and the rear arm
85
project considerably far from the front and rear wheels
2
,
3
in the folded state of the bicycle
71
. If the distance between the two axles
2
a,
3
a
is reduced so as to solve the above problem by reducing the distances between the respective axles
2
a
3
a
and the folding mechanism
14
, running stability of the bicycle
71
is degraded due to the reduction of the distance between the axles
2
a,
3
a.
Since it is thus difficult to reduce the distance from the axles
2
a,
3
a
of the respective wheels
2
,
3
to the folding mechanism
14
in the folded state while maintaining the running stability of the bicycle
71
in the extended state, reduction of the size of the bicycle
71
in its folded state (hereinafter also referred to as “the folded bicycle
71
”) is difficult.
Another problem occurs with the folded bicycle
71
when it is carried. If a user tries to move the folded bicycle
71
by rotating the wheels
2
,
3
on the ground, rotation of the rear wheel
3
causes rotation of the rear wheel-side sprocket
35
, whereby the pedal-side sprocket
33
is rotated via the sprocket chain
34
. As a result, the pedal
32
attached to the crank
91
a
is brought into abutment with the front wheel
2
or the down tube
13
. This abutment inhibits the rotation of the rear wheel-side sprocket
35
, and hence it becomes impossible to rotate the rear wheel
3
. Consequently, the user has to carry the folded bicycle
71
e.g. by holding the seat tube
86
by hand and lifting the whole bicycle
71
.
Still another problem is as follows: In the bicycle
71
, the handle bar
96
is turned with respect to the stem
95
for reduction of the size of the bicycle
71
in its folded state. However, even when the handle bar
96
is turned downward, the length from the steering head
12
to the upper end of the stem
95
is not reduced, and, what is more, the opposite ends of the handle bar
96
largely project leftward and rightward, respectively, from the folded bicycle
71
. This also makes it difficult to reduce the size of the bicycle
71
in its folded state. Further, the pedals
32
,
32
also largely project leftward and rightward, respectively, from the folded bicycle
71
, which also makes it difficult to reduce the size of the folded bicycle
71
.
Moreover, as shown in
FIG. 15
, when the bicycle
71
is folded, the front wheel
2
and the rear wheel
3
are not in a state held in parallel with each other. Therefore, in moving forward or backward the folded bicycle
71
with the wheels
2
,
3
placed on the ground, once the parallelism of the front and rear wheels
2
,
3
is lost, the state of the two wheels more pronouncedly tends to go further away from parallelism. For this reason, when the user tries to move the folded bicycle
71
straight in the direction of reverse rotation of the rear wheel
3
e.g. by pushing the seat tube
86
, the resistance to rotation of the front wheel
2
is increased, which makes it difficult to carry the bicycle
71
in a state of the wheels
2
,
3
being on the ground.
In addition, there is another problem that when the bicycle
71
is folded, the user has to carry baggage which was placed on the rack
75
during running of the bicycle
71
, apart from the bicycle
71
. More specifically, in the state of the bicycle
71
being folded, the rack
75
is inclined at a large angle with respect to the ground GL as shown in
FIG. 14
, so that if the baggage is left on the rack
75
, the baggage can fall off the rack
75
due to its own weight. Therefore, it is hard to carry the bicycle
71
with the baggage placed on the rack
75
, and hence the user has to carry the bicycle
71
by one hand while carrying the baggage by the other hand, which is very troublesome and laborious.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to pr
DePumpo Daniel G.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
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