Quick release assembly for bicycle wheels
A lockable quick release assembly for securing removable parts such as a wheel to the fork of a bicycle frame with the assembly including a specialized handle which not only rotates a cam shaped member within the interior of the assembly but has a key means which allows locking of the assembly to the frame to prevent theft of the wheel. The assembly also has means to secure the handle to the assembly so it will not fall off during normal use of the bicycle, but can be removed if desired.
The present invention relates to a lockable, quick release assembly for securing removable parts to a bicycle frame, particularly for securing the wheels to the bicycle frame so as to prevent unauthorized removal.
Many racing-style, lightweight and mountain-type bikes, especially those of the more expensive variety, are equipped with quick release mechanisms for easily attaching and detaching certain components to the bicycle frame. Commonly, such components are the front and rear wheels of the bicycle and the seat. Thus, the front wheel is often removed from the bicycle during storage which seems to reduce the likelihood of theft of the bicycle, at least of the front wheel of the bicycle. Thus, the front wheel of a bicycle having a quick release assembly is typically removed when the bicycle is chained to a bicycle rack or post. Most of the quick release assemblies use a hand-operated lever which controls a cam for releasing and securing the wheel to the fork of the bicycle frame. That is, the lever is moved a distance to either tighten the wheel to the fork assembly, or to release the wheel from the fork assembly. In such a construction, traditional quick release mechanisms, by the very nature of their ease of removal, may actually facilitate theft of relatively expensive bicycle wheels.
In an attempt to lessen the likelihood of theft of bicycle wheels because of use of a quick release mechanism, the following possible solutions have been proposed in the U.S. patent literature.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,915—Discloses a lever arm lock for a quick release hub assembly which is provided with a cover for maintaining the lever in a locked position. Cover must be removed to move lever to an unlocked position for releasing the hub.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,985—Discloses use of a lockable cover member which fits over an axle nut to prevent access to the axle nut.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,873—Discloses a quick release assembly which uses a lock to prevent the hand-operated lever from being rotated to the open position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,306—Utilizes a U-shaped shackle (something like a Kryptonite bike lock) device which also uses a specially keyed nut to work in conjunction with the U-shaped shackle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,692—Another example of the use of a locking device to impair the movement of the actuating lever.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,672—Discloses the use of a removable lever whereby the lever can be manually pulled out after the clamping operation is completed to make it difficult for a thief to release the clamping force.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,628—Shows a removable lever secured by a retention means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,660—Discloses use of an insertable lever along with a lock so that when the lock is in the locked position, the assembly is not accessible to the lever.
From a review of the foregoing patents, they seem to disclose the use of a removable actuation lever to deter would-be thieves and also disclose the use of locks to physically impair the movement of the actuating lever.
Although the quick release mechanisms describe in the above-noted patents for the most part make theft of an expensive component of a bicycle frame much more difficult, there still remains a need for a quick release which is lockable, lightweight, simple in construction and of a relatively low cost.
Prior to providing a description of the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is appropriate that a brief description of a typical prior art quick release mechanism for the front wheel of a bicycle be given so as to better appreciate the inventive contribution of the quick release mechanism of this invention.
To assemble and operate release assembly 10, spring 28 is placed on axle 16 and then the axle of piston 34 is positioned within hollow axle 16. Cap 36 is then placed over piston 34 as shown in
To operate, the cyclist rotates handle 18 in a horizontal plane which causes the eccentric cam portion 22 of the handle to rotate within bore 38 of piston 34. Rotation of cam 22 causes a force to be applied, not only to the interior wall of bore 38 of piston 34, but to cap 36 as well. Thus, rotation of handle 18 causes movement of cap 36 and piston 34 in opposite directions, either towards fork 12, or away from the fork. Referring to
Although quick release assembly 10 is compact, relatively easy to manufacture, and does provide for quick removal or replacement of wheels, it has an important drawback and that is, it is not lockable Therefore, such a quick release could actually facilitate theft of a bicycle wheel.
The present invention provides a quick release assembly 50 which protects against theft. As shown in
As shown best in
Assembly 50 further includes piston 64 provided with an eccentric bore 88 which extends through piston 64, as shown best in FIG. 6. The end of piston 64 which is directly opposite to the opening to bore 88 is provided with circular opening 92. Piston 64 is secured to axle 57 and preferably in a permanent manner. As shown in
Surrounding piston 64 and cam 74 is a cylindrical-shaped cap 66 having open end 94 and closed end 96. The wall of cap 66 is provided with opening 68 to the interior of the cap and in alignment with bore 88 and which opening is sized to accommodate key receiving member 76 of cam 74. The wall of cap 66 which is directly opposite to opening 68 is provided with circular opening 84 to accommodate pivot pin 82. As shown best in
A further feature of the quick release assembly 50 is the incorporation of means to secure handle 52 to the assembly so that it will not fall off during normal use of the bicycle, but yet be easily removed by the cyclist so that theft of the wheel is not likely to occur. As shown most clearly in
To secure the wheel to the front fork of the bicycle, the cyclist inserts key 54 of handle 52 into keyhole 78 of key receiving member 76 of cam 74. Rotation of handle 52 will cause rotation of cam 74 within piston 64. Each of piston 64 and cam 74 are rotatably mounted on pivot pin 82 which is tightly secured to cap 66. Since cam 74 is cam-shaped and the wall of bore 88 of piston 64 is eccentric, rotation of cam 74 will cause movement of piston 64, cam 74 and cap 66. In
As earlier noted, the key assembly portion of quick release assembly 50 consisting of handle 52 with its attached key 54, and cam 74 with its key receiving member 76, functions not only to rotate the cam of the assembly in order to secure or unsecure the wheel from the bicycle, but also functions to prevent the likelihood of theft of the wheel. It should be apparent that once the handle with its key is removed from assembly 50, unless one has a handle with a duplicate key, rotation of cam 74 is not possible, and removal of the wheel becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible. A further advantage of the key assembly is the provision of release clip 56. When the handle and key are inserted into the assembly, the release clip is so constructed that the handle and key will not fall out of the assembly 50. That is, the cyclist can use the bicycle with the handle and the key in place. When the cyclist wants to park the bicycle and remove the front wheel, the handle and key may be used to release the wheel from the fork and then, by means of the release clip, the cyclist may take the handle and key with him. However, if the cyclist removes the key assembly while the wheel is locked in place in the fork, it would be extremely difficult for someone without the key assembly to remove the wheel.
Claims
1. A lockable quick release assembly for securing removable parts such as a wheel to the fork of a bicycle frame comprising:
- a piston having an eccentric bore extending through said piston;
- an axle secured to said piston in such a manner that said axle is at a substantially right angle to said bore of said piston;
- a cam rotatably positioned within said piston bore with an end of said cam having integral therewith a key receiving member of smaller diameter than the diameter of said cam and positioned off center of said cam whereby a portion of a sidewall of said key receiving member is in line with a portion of the sidewall of said cam, said key receiving member being positioned at the opening of said piston bore;
- a cylindrical shaped cap surrounding said piston with the wall thereof having an opening to the interior of said cap and in alignment with said piston bore and sized to accommodate said key receiving member, and means for securing said cap to said piston, said means including a pivot pin which extends from said cap through an opening in said piston and terminates in a cavity in said cam, the interior of said cap having space to allow for lateral movement of said piston; and
- a handle having key means secured thereto, said key means being insertable into said key receiving member so that rotation of said handle results in rotation of said cam member causing movement of said assembly.
2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said pin is mounted in said cavity so as to permit rotation of said cam.
3. The assembly of claim 2 additionally provided with means to secure said handle and key means to said assembly so that said handle and key means will not fall off during normal use but can be removed if desired.
4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein said means includes a release clip mounted on said handle, a portion of said clip engaging with said cap to secure said handle and key to said assembly.
5. The assembly of claim 4 wherein said release clip is provided with finger grips whereby squeezing said grips together causes disengagement of said handle and key from said assembly.
6. The assembly of claim 5 wherein said release clip surrounds a portion of said handle, with an exterior side of said clip provided with a protruding rib which can be received in a corresponding groove located in the opening to the interior of said cap.
7. The assembly of claim 6 wherein said release clip is provided with finger grips whereby squeezing said grips together results in a reduction in the size of said clip permitting the handle and clip to be inserted a distance into said cap opening.
8. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said key means is an elongated, unitary, rigid structure provided with at least two flat surfaces, with said surfaces being at an angle to each other.
9. The assembly of claim 8 wherein the edges of said surfaces are parallel.
10. An assembly for securing a removable part to a frame comprising:
- a piston carried by a cap for reciprocal movement, the piston having a bore;
- a cam having first and second ends held by the cap for rotation in the bore along a fixed axis, wherein one of the first and second ends includes a key receiving member extending into an opening of the cap and the other of the first and second ends is held at the fixed axis of rotation by a pivot pin which extends from the cap through an opening in the piston and terminates in a cavity in the cam; and
- a handle supporting a key engageable into the key receiving member for securing the handle to the cam.
11. The assembly of claim 10, wherein the opening holds the one of the first and second ends at the fixed axis of rotation.
12. The assembly of claim 10, wherein the key receiving member defines a diameter less than a diameter defined by the cam.
13. The assembly of claim 10, wherein the key receiving member is positioned off center of the cam.
14. The assembly of claim 10, further including a clip carried by the handle for detachably securing the handle to the cap.
15. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the clip is movable between an expanded condition for engaging the cap and a collapsed condition for disengaging the cap.
16. The assembly of claim 15, wherein the clip includes grips engagable for moving the clip between the expanded and collapsed conditions.
17. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the clip supports a rib engageable with a groove located adjacent the opening of the cap in the expanded condition of the clip.
18. The assembly of claim 11, wherein the key includes at least one angled surface.
19. An assembly for securing a removable part to a frame comprising:
- a piston carried by a cap for reciprocal movement, the piston having a bore;
- a cam supported by the cap for rotation in the bore along a fixed axis, wherein the cam a) includes a key receiving member extending into an opening of the cap and b) is supported at the fixed axis of rotation at the opening by a pivot pin which extends from the cap through an opening in the piston and terminates in a cavity in the cam; and
- a handle supporting a key engageable into the key receiving member for securing the handle to the cam.
20. The assembly of claim 19, wherein the key receiving member defines a diameter less than a diameter defined by the cam.
21. The assembly of claim 19, wherein the key receiving member is positioned off center of the cam.
22. The assembly of claim 19, further including a clip carried by the handle for detachably securing the handle to the cap.
23. The assembly of claim 22, wherein the clip is movable between an expanded condition for engaging the cap and a collapsed condition for disengaging the cap.
24. The assembly of claim 23, wherein the clip includes grips engageable for moving the clip between the expanded and collapsed condition.
25. The assembly of claim 22, wherein the clip supports a rib engageable with a groove located adjacent the opening of the cap in the expanded condition of the clip.
26. The assembly of claim 19, wherein the key includes at least one angled surface.
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5291763 | March 8, 1994 | Cuisinot |
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5479836 | January 2, 1996 | Chang |
Type: Grant
Filed: Dec 22, 1999
Date of Patent: Nov 15, 2005
Inventors: Michael L. Denby (Phoenix, AZ), Charles R. Posenauer (Phoenix, AZ)
Primary Examiner: Suzanne Dino Barrett
Attorney: Parsons & Goltry
Application Number: 09/470,601