Patent Application
20180244338
This application is a Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 15/465,068, filed on Mar. 21, 2017, for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120; and this application claims priority of Application No. 105114113 filed in Taiwan on May 6, 2016 under 35 U.S.C. § 119, the entire contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
In a conventional brake for a bicycle, a brake cable pulls a first arm assembly to approach one of two brake surfaces first and then drives a second arm assembly to move to the other of the two brake surfaces. With this type of structure, there is a time difference between the functioning time of the brakes on the left-hand side and right-hand sides which may cause braking deviation or too much pressure on single one arm assembly. Therefore, as disclosed in TWM505444, a brake which can brake synchronously is provided.
In this type of brake, a seat has an adjustable screw, a brake cable has to be disposed through the adjustable screw before being connected to the first arm assembly, and a tightness of the adjustable screw influences the braking efficacy. However, person who is not skilled in the art cannot precisely and quickly adjust the screw to an appropriate position; in other words, there is an extra uncertainty in the braking operation which may have unfavorable influence to the braking and assembling processes. In addition, the base has to be additionally provided with a pulling arm for positioning the adjustable screw, so an overall weight and a volume occupied increase. Furthermore, the pulling arm which extends outwardly may hook on surrounding objects easily and cause unexpected accidents.
US20160280318 discloses a brake having two arms without overlapping of the rolling member and the two arms in an axial direction of the rolling member. As a result, the rolling member cannot be guided well, stably and precisely, and cannot block foreign matters such as rain, sand, particles or the like to come into the space between the two arms, so that the brake cannot work smoothly and is easy to be damaged.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.
The major object of the present invention is to provide a brake for a bicycle, which further streamlines a weight and a structure of the brake for the bicycle and provide the function of braking synchronously so that the brake for the bicycle can be quickly assembled, and there may be more uncertain factors which influence adjustment of the brake.
To achieve the above and other objects, a brake for a bicycle is provided, for being assembled to a bicycle, the bicycle having a plurality of holding members, each said holding member being for a brake cable being movably disposed therethrough. The brake for the bicycle includes a base, a first arm assembly and a second arm assembly. The base is for being unmovably fixed to a frame of the bicycle. The first arm assembly is pivoted to the base and has a first end portion, a second end portion and an actuating portion, the first end portion is for connection of the brake cable which is disposed through the holding member, and the second end portion is for swinging toward and clamping one of two brake surfaces of a wheel. The second arm assembly is pivoted to the base and has a third end portion, a fourth end portion and an actuated portion, the actuated portion interferes with the actuating portion on a rotating direction thereof, and the fourth end portion is for swinging toward and clamping the other of the two brake surfaces of the wheel.
The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment(s) in accordance with the present invention.
The present invention will be clearer from the following description when viewed together with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
Please refer to
The base 1 is for being unmovably fixed to a frame of the bicycle. The first arm assembly 2 is pivoted to the base 1 and has a first end portion 2, a second end portion 22 and an actuating portion 23, the first end portion 21 is for connection of the brake cable 82 which is disposed through the holding member, and the second end portion 22 is for swinging toward and clamping one of two brake surfaces 91 of a wheel 9. The second arm assembly 3 is pivoted to the base 1 and has a third end portion 31, a fourth end portion 32 and an actuated portion 33, the actuated portion 33 interferes with the actuating portion 23 on a rotating direction thereof, and the fourth end portion 32 is for swinging toward and clamping the other of the two brake surfaces 91 of the wheel 9. In this embodiment, the actuated portion 33 interferably arranged above the actuating portion 23 on the rotating direction thereof, the actuating portion and/or the actuated portion may be a linkage mechanism or other structure, and the actuated portion may be actuated, by the actuated portion, from bottom side or any other lateral side thereof as long as the actuating portion and the actuated portion move in response to each other.
The second end portion 22 and the fourth end portion 32 further respectively have a braking member 81, and each said braking member 81 is for contacting each of the two brake surfaces 91 so as to stop the wheel 9 from rotating. It is understandable that a user can change the braking member 81 with different braking effects according to different requirements so as to provide a suitable braking effect.
To be more specific on the brake for the bicycle of the present invention, the first and second arm assemblies 2, 3 are pivoted to the base 1 along a first direction 5, the first end portion 21 is located between the base 1 and the third end portion 31, and the actuating portion 23 and the actuated portion 33 overlap with each other and crossly arranged. More specifically, as viewed in the first direction 5, the base 1 is c-shaped, the first and second arm assemblies 2, 3 are respectively assembled on two sides of the base 1, and on the first direction 5, the actuating portion 23 and the actuated portion 33 are substantially in a same dimension.
To be more specific on a braking operation (please refer to
Preferably, the actuating portion 23 has a rolling member 24 which rotatably abuts against the actuated portion 33, during the process of the actuating portion 23 abuts against the actuated portion 33, a friction is effectively decreased, and the actuating portion 23 and the actuated portion 33 can move synchronously more smoothly. Specifically, the actuated portion 33 includes a guiding face 331 and a flange 332, the rolling member 24 rotatably abuts against the guiding face 331, and the flange 332 is arranged on the guiding face 331 and covers at least one part of the rolling member 24 so as to ensure that the rolling member 24 will not be blocked by foreign objects from outside and stuck during a rolling process. In this embodiment, the flange 332 perpendicularly extends above the guiding face 331, and the guiding face 331 is curved to cooperate with the rolling member 24 to move more smoothly. More specifically, the actuating portion 23 includes a base 231 and a seat 232, the base 231 extends from the first end portion 21 along the first direction 5, the seat 232 is arranged on a distal end of the base 231 and protrudes laterally beyond the base 231, and the rolling member 24 is rotatably arranged on the seat 232. The base 231 does not contact the guiding face 331 so as to make sure there is no unexpected interference. It is to be noted that the base 231 is curved, and the base 231 is greater than the guiding face 331 in curvature radius; therefore, during the braking process, when the first and second arm assemblies 2, 3 swing to a particular angle, at least one of the rolling member 24 and the rolling member 232 abuts against the guiding face 331 to prevent the actuating portion 23 from being disengaged with the actuated portion 33 and cannot recover to a state before braking.
In addition, preferably, the second arm assembly 3 further has blocking portion 34, and the blocking portion 34 optionally abuts against the first end portion 21. In this embodiment, the blocking portion 34 extends from the fourth end portion 32 and is located between the fourth end portion 32 and the base 1, and the first end portion 21 extends across the blocking portion 34. When the second end portion 22 and the fourth end portion 32 move away from each other to a particular angle, the first end portion 21 abuts against the blocking portion 34 to restrict the second end portion 22 and the fourth end portion 32 from swinging away from the wheel 9. It is to be noted that the brake for the bicycle preferably further includes an elastic member 6, two ends of the elastic member 6 respectively abut against the base 1 and the second arm assembly 3 so that the second end portion 22 and the fourth end portion 32 have a tendency to move away from the brake surface 91. Once a braking action ends, the elastic member 6 can make the second and fourth end portions 22, 32 to move away from the wheel 9 automatically to prevent each said braking member 81 from contacting each of the two brake surfaces 91 continuously.
Specifically, in this embodiment, the elastic member 6 is a twisting spring, the first arm assembly is pivoted to the base 1 via a first pivot 71, the second arm assembly 3 is pivoted to the base 1 via a second pivot 72, and the second pivot 72 is disposed through the elastic member 6. When braking, the first arm assembly 2 co-moves the second arm assembly 3 to twist and compress the elastic member 6, so during the braking and swinging process, the second arm assembly 2 is not easily influenced by a bouncing resistance of the elastic member 6.
More specifically, the base 1 has a spacing portion 11, the second arm assembly 3 abuts against the spacing portion 11, the elastic member 6 is disposed around the spacing portion 11, the second pivot 72 is disposed through the second arm assembly 3 and the spacing portion 11, and the second arm assembly 3 swings, about the second pivot 72, relative to the spacing portion 11. During an assembling process, the spacing portion 11 can quickly and easily position the elastic member 6 and the second arm assembly 3 on designed positions so as to make sure that the fourth end portion and the second end portion 22 are symmetrical to each other to provide a preferable braking effect.
Preferably, two sides 241 of the rolling member 24 at least partially overlap the actuating portion 23 and the actuated portion 33 in an axial direction 242 of the rolling member 24. As a result, the rolling member 24 can be guided well, stably and precisely, and block foreign matters such as rain, sand, particles or the like to come into the space between the actuating portion 23 and the actuated portion 33, so that the brake can work smoothly and is durable.
Given the above, in the brake of the bicycle, the brake cable is directly connected to the first end portion without passing other components, so a braking reaction time can be reduced. In addition, with the linkage design, the first and second arm assemblies can swing toward and clamp the wheel synchronously without time difference so as to provide a preferable braking effect, and the braking process will not influenced by the bouncing resistance of the elastic member. Besides, the first and second arm assemblies are set with fixed swinging ranges to prevent the first and second arm assemblies from swinging overly.
While we have shown and described various embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 105114113 | May 2016 | TW | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15465068 | Mar 2017 | US |
| Child | 15964994 | US |
