US20060237272A1

US20060237272A1 - Shock absorber

Info

Publication number: US20060237272A1
Application number: US11/475,426
Authority: US
Inventors: Tan-Cheng Huang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-06-04
Filing date: 2006-06-26
Publication date: 2006-10-26
Also published as: US7097014B2; US20050269178A1

Abstract

A shock absorber for a bicycle comprises a base, a clutch assembly, a control assembly and a shock-absorbing spring. The shock-absorbing spring provides damper elastic force for the respective components of the shock absorber. The shock-absorbing function can be turned off when riding up slope, so it prevents the drag force from being increased by the up and down motion of the shock absorber. The shock-absorbing function can be turned off when riding on a horizontal road, and it can be turned off again when riding down a slope, thus preventing the increase of the front tilt angle of the bike and leading to turnover.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shock absorber, and more particularly to a shock absorber that is used on the bike.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional shock absorber used on the bike usually comprises inner spring, cylinder base and other components that cooperate with each to produce a shock-absorbing effect (whether the operation space for the inner spring is filled with hydraulic oil is not the essential condition of the present invention, further discussions on this matter will be omitted). A conventional shock absorber, used on the bike, includes base, axial shaft and shock-absorbing spring. The base is mounted to the fork of the bike, and the axial shaft is mounted on the frame of the bike. The shock-absorbing spring is biased between the base and the axial shaft. This kind of shock absorber has been used on different kinds of mechanisms and bikes, there are still some defects need to be improved as follows:
First, the buffering function of the conventional shock absorber cannot be turned off. When riding up a slope, the up-and-down motion of the shock absorber will increase the drag force because the motion of the shock absorber counteracts the pedaling force applied by the user.
Second, due to the buffering function of the conventional shock absorber cannot be turned off. When riding down a slope, the up-and-down motion of the shock absorber will change the front tilt angle of the bike, especially when the front shocker is moving downward, the front tilt angle of the bike will be increased substantially. Thereby, there is a danger of falling over.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a shock absorber, wherein the shock-absorbing function the shock absorber can be turned on/off. The shock absorber comprises a base, a clutch assembly, a control assembly and a shock-absorbing spring. The shock-absorbing spring provides damper elastic force for the respective components of the shock absorber. The shock-absorbing function can be turned off when riding up a slope, so as to prevent the drag force being increased by the up and down motion of the shock absorber. The shock-absorbing function can be turned on when riding on a horizontal road, and it can be turned off again when riding down a slope, so as to prevent the increase of the front tilt angle of the bike and leading to turnover.
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 embodiments in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a shock absorber in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the shock absorber in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view in accordance with the present invention for showing the shock absorber in a state of being unlocked;
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view in accordance with the present invention for showing the shock absorber in a state of being locked.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a shock absorber for a bicycle in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown and generally comprises: a base 10, a clutch assembly 20, a control assembly 30 and a shock-absorbing spring 40.
The base 10 is formed at a lower end thereof with a gap 11 that is to be coupled to the front wheel axle of a bike. At the bottom of the inner space of the base 10 is fixed a baseboard 12 that is centrally formed with a threaded hole 121. A mid sleeve 13 is disposed adjacent to the top end of the inner space of the base 10, and in the mid sleeve 13 is received a receiving tube 14. An upper end of the receiving tube 14 is fixed to the front fork of the bike, and at a lower end of the receiving tube 14 is provided a slide bush 15. The mid sleeve 13 cooperates with the slide bush 15 to allow the receiving tube 14 to freely slide in the base 10. The receiving tube 14 is provided at an end thereof with a bottom 141 that is located towards the baseboard 12.
The clutch assembly 20 includes a positioning member 21, an axial tube 22, a clutch member 23 and a control element 24.
At a first end of the positioning member 21 is provided with a plurality of threads 211 to be screwed in the threaded hole 121 of the baseboard 12 of the base 10, and a second end of the positioning member 21 is formed with a plurality of locking grooves 212. By using of several positioning retainers 213, washers 214 and a buffer cushion 215, the positioning member 21 is able to position the receiving tube 14. In addition, the positioning member 21 is provided at the outer periphery thereof with plural positioning grooves 216.
The axial tube 22 is interiorly formed with a through hole 221 for slidably receiving the positioning member 21. Plural positioning holes 222 are formed in the outer surface of the axial tube 22. At a first end of the axial tube 22 are formed plural retaining grooves 223 to be fixed to the bottom 141 of the receiving tube 14 of base 10 by plural retaining rings 224 and washers 225. A second end of the axial tube 22 facing the buffer cushion 215 is formed with a step periphery 226 and a retaining groove 227 respectively. A limit piece 229 is fixed in the retaining groove 227 by a retaining ring 228. In the outer periphery of the limit piece 229 are provided a plurality of gaps 2240.
The clutch member 23 is slidably received in the positioning hole 222 of the axial tube 22.
The control element 24 is slidably mounted on the exterior periphery of the axial tube 22, and in the control element 24 is formed an annular cone-shaped step portion 241 that divides the inner space of the control member 24 into a big diameter portion 242 and a small diameter portion 243. The annular cone-shaped step portion 241 is located correspondingly to the positioning holes 222 of the axial tube 22. At an end of the outer periphery of the control element 24 is formed a step periphery 244 that is located toward the bottom 141 of the receiving tube 14.
The control assembly 30 comprises a body 31, a control shaft 32, a rotary knob 33, a back-moving spring 34, an abutting member 35 and a control spring 36.
The body 31 is screwed to an upper end of the receiving tube 14 of the base 10 by means of a seal ring 311. A first end of the body 31 is formed with an inner hole 312, while a second end the body 31 is formed with a slot 313, and a through hole 314 is located between the inner hole 312 and the slot 313. Furthermore, plural holes 315 are formed adjacent to the through hole 314 for insertion of the spring.
A first end of the control shaft 32 is inserted in the through hole 314 of the body 31 and is positioned therein by a seal ring 321, approximately at the center of the control shaft 32 is formed a retaining groove 322 in which is disposed a retaining member 322, so that the control shaft 32 is positioned in the base by the retaining member 322. A second end of the control shaft 32 is formed with a plurality of driving threads 324.
The rotary knob 33 will rotate if the user pulls the steel cord A (the steel cord is controlled by user). The rotary knob 33 is fixed to the control shaft 32 by positioning screws 331. A hole 333 is formed in a bottom of the outer periphery 332 at a first end of the rotary knob 33 for insertion of spring. The steel cord A is fixed to a second end of the rotary knob 33 by screws 334 and positioning cushions 335. The rotary knob 33 is rotatable relative to the body 31.
The back-moving spring 34 is mounted on the outer periphery 332 of the rotary knob 33 and serves to produce a rotating elastic force in a predetermined direction. A first end of the back-moving spring 34 is inserted in the holes 315 of the body 31 (can be inserted in any of the holes 315 so as to produce different elastic forces). A second end of the back-moving spring 34 is inserted in the hole 333 of the rotary knob 33.
The abutting member 35, at a first end of which is disposed an axial bush 351, and inside the axial bush 351 are formed a plurality of driving threads 3511 for meshing with the driving threads 323 at the end of the control shaft. In this case, the first end of the abutting member 35 can be interactively connected to the control shaft 32 via the axial bush 35 (the abutting member 35 can transmit motion to the control shaft 32, and vice versa). The second end of the abutting member 35 is inserted in the gaps 2240 of the limit piece 229 at an end of the axial tube 22 and abuts against the end surface of the control element 24 of the clutch assembly 20.
The control spring 36 is installed on the outer periphery of the axial tube 22 of the clutch assembly 20 and biased between the step periphery 244 of the control member 24 and the bottom 141 of the receiving tube 14 of the base 10.
The shock-absorbing spring 40 is biased between the baseboard 12 of the base 10 and the step periphery 151 of the slide bush 15 at the lower end of the receiving tube 14.
For a better understanding of the present invention, its operation and function, reference should be made then to FIGS. 3 and 4.
As shown in FIG. 3, when wanting to turn on the shock absorbing function of the shock absorber, the user can pull a length of the steel cord A and fix it (the method of pulling and fixing the steel cord A belongs to conventional technology, so further remarks on this matter will be omitted), causing the rotary knob 33 and the control shaft 32 to rotate and making the back-moving spring 34 be compressed. Meanwhile, the driving threads 323 at the end of the control shaft 32 will move the abutting member 35 (since the driving threads 3511 of the axial bush 351 at the first end of the abutting member 14 is interactively connected to the driving threads 323 at the end of the control shaft, and the abutting member 35 is unrotatable due to its outer periphery is confined by the slot 313 at the end of the body 31, furthermore, the second end of the abutting member 35 abuts against the end surface of the control element 24 after passing through the gap 2240 of the limit piece 229). At this moment, the abutting member 35 will move the control element 24 and synchronously compress the control spring 36, enabling the clutch member 23 to slide from the small diameter portion 243 of the annular cone-shaped step portion 241 of the control element 24 into the big diameter portion 242. Thus, the clutch member 23 will slide out of the positioning grooves 216 of the positioning member 21. And as a result, the positioning member 21 and the axial tube 22 can move relative to each other. At this moment, the base 10, the receiving tube 14 and the shock-absorbing spring 40 are able to produce a buffering effect.
As shown in FIG. 4, when riding up or down a slop, and the shock absorbing function of the shock absorber should be turned off for safe purpose (to prevent the tilt angle being increased by the motion of the shock absorber and causing the bike fall over), the user can release a length of the steel cord A. The rotary knob 33 and the steel cord A will be pushed by the back-moving spring 34 to their original position. The control shaft 32 will be driven to rotate in opposite direction. The threads on the control shaft will drive the abutting member 35 to move, so as to form a space between the end of the abutting member 35 and the end surface of the control element 24. Meanwhile, the control spring 36 will push the control element 24 to move. The small diameter portion 243 of the annular cone-shaped step portion 241 inside the control element 24 will push the clutch member 23 to move from the positioning hole 222 of the axial tube 22 and make it engage in one of the plural positioning grooves 216 of the positioning member 21. At this moment, the positioning member 21 will be locked with the axial tube 22, and the base 10 and the receiving tube 14 will not be moveable relative to each other. Thus, the shock absorbing function is turned off.
The shock absorber still will move up and down if the positioning groove 216 of the positioning member 21 is not meshed with the clutch member 23. During an instant period of motion of the shock absorber, when the clutch member 23 is in alignment with one of the positioning grooves 216, the control spring 36 will instantly move the control element 24, and the small diameter portion 243 of the annular cone-shaped step portion 241 of the control element A10 pushes the clutch member 23 to move into the positioning groove 216 of the positioning member 21. Since the positioning member 21 is provided with plural positioning grooves 216, in real operation, the clutch member 23 can be pushed by the control spring 36 and engages into one of the positioning grooves 216 of the positioning member 21. That is to say that the shock absorbing function of the shock absorber can be turned on/off according to needs.
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.

Claims

1. A shock absorber comprising a base, a clutch assembly, a control assembly and a shock-absorbing spring, the shock-absorbing spring providing damper elastic force for the respective components of the shock absorber, wherein:

the clutch assembly includes a positioning member, an axial tube, a clutch member and a control element, the positioning member is formed with the positioning grooves, the axial tube is formed with positioning holes, the positioning member and the axial tube are telescopically disposed, the clutch member is received in the positioning holes of the axial tube, the control element is formed with annular cone-shaped step portion that divides the control element into a big diameter portion and a small diameter portion, the big diameter portion and the small diameter portion serve to push the clutch member to move, motion of the clutch member can produce relative slide and engagement between the positioning member and the axial tube, through this way, the shock-absorbing function of the shock absorber can be turned on/off.

2. The shock absorber as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the base has a first end fixed to a body of a bike, and a second end of the base is received with a receiving tube, a first end of the receiving tube is moveably disposed in the base, and a second of the receiving tube is fixed at a corresponding position on the body of a bike, the receiving tube is able to move relative to the base;

the control assembly is positioned at an end of the receiving tube of the base;

the shock-absorbing spring is received in the base and biased between the control assembly and the base.

3. The shock absorber as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the control assembly includes a body, a control shaft, a control spring, a back-moving spring and an abutting member, the body is formed with a through hole for reception of an end of the control shaft, another end of the control shaft is formed with a plurality of driving threads for meshing with a plurality of driving threads at an end of the abutting member, another end of the abutting member serves to abut against the control element of the clutch assembly, the control shaft is under control of the steel cord, the steel cord is controlled by user, the user can rotate the control shaft by pulling the steel cord, the rotation of the shaft can enable the abutting member to move the control element of the clutch assembly, the back-moving spring serves to push the control shaft back to its original position, an end of the control spring is compressed and decompressed by the control shaft and serves to move the control element of the clutch assembly.