Information
-
Patent Grant
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6302242
-
Patent Number
6,302,242
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Date Filed
Tuesday, December 21, 199925 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, October 16, 200123 years ago
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Inventors
-
-
Examiners
- Oberleitner; Robert J.
- Nguyen; Xuan Lan
Agents
-
CPC
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US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 188 2421
- 188 2422
- 188 2412
- 188 2 D
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International Classifications
-
Abstract
A bicycle brake system including a locating frame which is fastned with a bicycle front fork for locating a first guide support and a second guide support. The guide supports are respectively provided with a brake shoe. The first guide support and the second guide support are provided with an action arm having a rack which is engaged with the gear. When the second guide support is actuated to swivel by a brake cable fastened therewith, the rack of the action arm of the second guide support actuates the gear to turn. The gear in motion actuates the first guide support to swivel via the rack of the action arm of the first guide support. The brake shoes of the two guide supports are thus actuated synchronously to bring about a braking effect with precision.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to bicycle brake shoes, and more particularly to guide supports of the bicycle brake shoes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a conventional bicycle front fork
10
is provided with an inverted U-shaped locating frame
13
which is fastened with two upright tubes
11
and
12
of the front fork
10
. Two guide supports
14
and
15
are fastened pivotally with the locating frame
13
such that the first guide support
14
is used to support a first brake shoe
16
, and that the second guide support
15
is used to support a second brake shoe
17
. The brake shoes
16
and
17
are respectively actuated by the guide supports
14
and
15
, which are linked with a brake cable
1
. The brake cable I is put through the top of the first guide support
14
such that one end of the brake cable
1
is fastened with the top of the second guide support
15
by a fastening screw
18
. When the brake cable
1
is pulled to slow down or stop the bicycle in motion, the brake shoes
16
and
17
are not evenly exerted on by the pull force of the brake cable
1
because the two guide supports
14
and
15
are different in amplitude when they swivel. As a result, the braking effect of the two brake shoes
16
and
17
is seriously undermined. In addition, the two brake shoes
16
and
17
are different in the extent to which they are worn.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a bicycle with a braking system comprising a brake cable, two guide supports, and two brake shoes fastened pivotally with the two guide supports capable of being actuated synchronously by the brake cable such that the two brake shoes are actuated uniformly by the two guide supports to bring about a braking action with precision.
The features, functions, and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
shows a schematic view of two conventional guide supports for fastening pivotally two bicycle brake shoes.
FIG. 2
shows a schematic view of the two conventional guide supports in action to actuate the two bicycle brake shoes to bring about a braking effect.
FIG. 3
shows a perspective view of the present invention in conjunction with a bicycle front fork.
FIG. 4
shows an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5
shows a schematic plan view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention at work.
FIG. 6
shows a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7
shows an exploded view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8
shows a schematic plan view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention at work.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
As shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, a bicycle front fork
10
has two upright tubes
11
and
12
, and an inverted U-shaped locating frame
13
which is fastened to the two upright tubes
11
and
12
. The present invention comprises a first guide support
14
for pivotally fastening a first brake shoe
16
, and a second guide support
15
for pivotally fastening a second brake shoe
17
. The first guide support
14
and the second guide support
15
are linked by a brake cable
1
. When the brake cable
1
is activated, the two guide supports
14
and
15
are synchronously actuated such that the two brake shoes
16
and
17
work together to bring about a braking effect with precision.
The present invention is characterized by the locating frame
13
which is provided at the center with a gear
21
pivoted thereto by a pivot
20
, and is further characterized by the two guide supports
14
and
15
, which are respectively provided at the top end with an action arm
141
,
151
. The first action arm
141
has an upper surface thereof with a first rack
142
which is engaged with the gear
21
. The second action arm
151
has an underside thereof with a second rack
152
which is engaged with the gear
21
. It must be noted here that the first action arm
141
and the second action arm
151
are respectively and integrally made with the first guide support
14
and the second guide support
15
.
As illustrated in
FIGS. 3 and 5
, when cable
1
is pulled, the second guide support
15
is actuated to swivel in view of the second guide support
15
being fixed with the brake cable
1
. However, the gear
21
is actuated to turn by the second arm
151
at the time when the second guide support
15
is actuated to swivel by the brake cable
1
. The gear
21
in motion causes the first action arm
141
of the first guide support
14
to turn. As a result, the two brake shoes
16
and
17
are actuated at the same time to press against the front wheel rim of the bicycle in motion.
As shown in
FIGS. 6
,
7
, and
8
, the second preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a first guide support
14
and a second guide support
15
, which share an action member
30
such that the brake cable
1
is fastened to the action member
30
via the first guide support
14
, and that the brake cable
1
is linked to the second guide support
15
via the action member
30
. The action member
30
comprises a main connection rod
31
, an upper connection rod
32
, and a lower connection rod
33
. The main connection rod
31
is pivoted to the center of the locating frame
13
by a pivot such that the end of the main connection rod
31
is fastened pivotally with one end of the upper connection rod
32
. The upper connection rod
32
is fastened to the brake cable
1
. The main connection rod
31
is fastened pivotally at the bottom end thereof to one end of the lower connection rod
33
. The lower connection rod
33
is in turn fastened pivotally at the thereof with the first guide support
14
. In operation, as the brake cable
1
is pulled, the second guide support
15
is first actuated via the upper connection rod
32
to swivel. At the time when the upper connection rod
32
is pulled by the brake cable
1
, the top end of the main connection rod
31
is pushed toward the first guide support
14
to cause the bottom end of the main connection rod
31
to pull the lower connection rod
33
in an opposite direction. As a result, the first guide support
14
is actuated by the lower connection rod
33
to swivel. The two guide supports
14
and
15
are thus actuated to swivel synchronously so as to enable the two brake shoes
16
and
17
to work together to bring about a braking effect with precision. In the meantime, the two brake shoes
16
and
17
are not worn unevenly.
The embodiments of the present invention described above are to be regarded in all respects as being merely illustrative and not restrictive. Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without deviating from the spirit thereof. The present invention is therefore to be limited only by the scope of the following appended claims.
Claims
- 1. A bicycle brake system comprising:a locating frame fastened with a bicycle front fork; a first guide support fastened pivotally with said locating frame and provided with a first brake shoe fastened therewith; a second guide support fastened pivotally with said locating frame and provided with a second brake shoe fastened therewith; and a brake cable connected at one end thereof with said second guide support; wherein said locating frame is provided with a gear pivoted thereto; wherein said first guide support is provided at one end thereof with an action arm extending therefrom and having in an upper surface thereof a rack whereby said rack is engaged with said gear of said locating frame; wherein said second guide support is provided at one end thereof with an action arm extending therefrom and having in an underside thereof a rack whereby said rack is engaged with said gear of said locating frame; said second guide support being actuated to swivel by said brake cable at such time when said brake cable is pulled by an external force, thereby causing said rack of said action arm of said second guide support to actuate said gear of said locating frame to turn whereby said gear in motion actuates said first guide support to swivel via said rack of said action arm of said first guide support.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0514470 |
Mar 1921 |
FR |
0562372 |
Nov 1923 |
FR |
604221 |
Apr 1926 |
FR |
405058375-A |
Mar 1993 |
JP |