JP2586662Y2 - Portable bicycle - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

The present invention relates to a portable bicycle,
In particular, the present invention relates to a portable bicycle having a configuration in which a front wheel, a rear wheel, and the like can be folded inside a main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, bicycles are widely used in outdoor sports, and accordingly, bicycles are often transported to remote places such as destinations for use. For this reason, various bicycles having excellent portability have been proposed and marketed. In the folding type bicycle disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-107971, when folding, the steering wheel is turned 180 ° to turn the front wheel backward, and the handle is turned down, the saddle is pushed into the accommodation space of the vehicle body, and then the cover is removed. It is something to hang.

However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
In the foldable bicycle disclosed in the publication, the distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel at the time of folding is almost the same as the distance at the time of use, and there is a problem that the folding is not so compact and the portability is not good. The foldable bicycle disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-205284 solves the above-described problem, and the front wheel and the rear wheel are rotated to respectively rotate the front wheel and the rear wheel into a case-shaped body. The housing and the handle and the saddle can be housed in the case-shaped main body. In this folding bicycle, since the front wheel and the rear wheel are both rotated and accommodated in the case-shaped main body, the folding bicycle is very compact when folded, and is very excellent in portability.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The folding bicycle disclosed in -205284 is
Since it is a rear-wheel drive type using a chain, there is a problem that the structure becomes very complicated due to processing of the chain at the time of folding. Another problem is that the running speed cannot be increased because the rear wheels are small. A front-wheel drive bicycle is also known as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-48396, for example, but this bicycle is not a foldable type and lacks portability.

Therefore, the present applicant has a very simple structure to solve these problems, and can rotate the front wheel and the rear wheel to be housed in the main body and have a speed increasing mechanism. A portable bicycle was proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-248251. However, since the front bicycle and the rear wheel are accommodated in the same plane when the portable bicycle according to the prior application is folded, there is still a problem that the entire area of the portable bicycle is relatively large and the compact bicycle lacks compactness. Therefore,
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a front-wheel-drive portable bicycle which has a very simple structure, and in which a front wheel and a rear wheel can be rotated and partially overlapped with each other to be compactly stored in a main body. is there.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, a portable bicycle according to the present invention comprises a pair of body plates separated from each other and a connecting portion for connecting a part of these body plates. A hollow main body, a saddle provided at an upper portion of the main body, a handle shaft rotatably supported by the main body, a front wheel stay receiver fixed to a lower end of the handle shaft, and the front wheel stay receiver. A front wheel stay pivotally attached to the front wheel stay receiver so as to be rotatable in a plane substantially parallel to the main body plate between a use position to be coupled and a folded position separated from the front wheel stay receiver; A fixed front wheel fork, a large-diameter front wheel rotatably mounted on the front wheel fork via a front wheel axle, a pedal, and a rotatably mounted on the front wheel fork, for rotating the pedal. A front wheel drive member for transmitting to a wheel, a rotating shaft vertically mounted on the main body plate, and an end portion at one end so as to be rotatable between a use position and a folding position in a plane substantially parallel to the main body plate. A rear wheel fork attached to a rotating shaft, a small-diameter rear wheel pivotally supported at the other end of the rear wheel fork, and when the rear wheel fork rotates between the use position and the folding position. A guide member that guides and moves the rear wheel fork in the axial direction of the rotation shaft, and when the front wheel stay and the rear wheel fork are respectively turned to the respective folding positions, at least a part of the front wheel and At least a part of the rear wheel is stored in a space between the pair of body plates, and the rear wheel fork moves in the axial direction of the rotation shaft when the rear wheel fork is turned from the use position to the folding position. Part of the rear wheel is moved up Is characterized in that housed in the said body so as to overlap the front wheel.

In this configuration, one end is pivotally supported by the rear portion of the main body, and the other end is detachably engaged with the rear wheel fork, and is elastically urged in an extending direction by an elastic body. The rear wheel stay further includes a rear wheel stay, and the other end of the rear wheel stay is engaged with the rear wheel fork in the use position to urge the rear wheel toward the ground via the rear wheel fork. Is preferred.

The handle shaft includes a hollow lower shaft rotatably supported by the main body, and an upper shaft mounted on the upper end of the lower shaft so as to be housed in the hollow of the lower shaft. Preferably, a handle is attached to the upper end of the upper shaft, and a portable handle is attached to the lower shaft. Further, it is preferable to further include a caster protruding rearward from a rear lower end of the main body.

[0009]

In use, the driving force from the pedal rotates the large-diameter front wheel via the front wheel driving member. Folding is performed by rotating the front wheel stay and the rear wheel fork to their respective folded positions. By this folding, the rear wheel fork is stored in the space between the pair of main body plates so that the rear wheel fork is shifted in the axial direction of the rotation shaft and a part thereof overlaps with the front wheel, so that the compactness when carrying is greatly improved.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a portable bicycle according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG.
Bicycle body 1 has carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) in which saddle 2 is integrally formed on a part of its upper part.
It is an integrally molded product. The saddle 2 has a shape in which a handle 2a is partially formed. The main body 1 has a U-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 2, and a pair of flat main body plates 3, 3 separated from each other, and a connecting portion for connecting a part of these main body plates 3, 3. And a space 5 for accommodating wheels.
Having.

The handle shaft 6 comprises a hollow lower shaft 6a rotatably supported by the main body 1, and an upper shaft 6b attached to the upper end of the lower shaft 6a. This upper shaft 6
b can be stored in the hollow interior of the lower shaft 6a,
A handle 7 is attached to the upper end of b. The handle 7 is configured to be foldable at a point P as shown in FIG. A portable handle 8 is attached to the lower shaft 6a.
Is fixed.

A front wheel stay receiver 9 is fixed to a lower end of the lower shaft 6a, and a front wheel stay 11 is rotatably attached to one end of the front wheel stay receiver 9 by a pin 10.
The front wheel stay 11 rotates between a use position (solid line position in FIG. 1) and a folded position (two-dot chain line position in FIG. 1) in a plane substantially parallel to the main body plate 3, and in this use position, the front wheel stays. It is fitted to the stay receiver 9 and is locked to the front wheel stay receiver 9 in this state. In addition, this locking is performed by an automatic locking device such as a ratchet type latch not shown.

A front wheel fork 12 is fixed to the front wheel stay 11, and a large-diameter front wheel 14 is rotatably mounted on the front wheel fork 12 via a front wheel axle 13 as shown in FIGS. . A pair of small gears 15, 15 are mounted on both sides of the front wheel axle 13 coaxially with the front wheel 14, and these small gears 15, 15 are connected to the front wheel 14. A pair of internal gears 16 and 16 are engaged with the small gears 15 and 15, respectively. The large gears 16 and 16 have a lid shape and are rotatably mounted on the front wheel fork 12 about a center shaft 16a. I have. Projections are formed on the outer periphery of the large gears 16, 16, and a pair of foldable pedals 1
7 (only one pedal is shown in FIG. 1). The small gear 15, the large gear 16 and the pedal 17 constitute a front wheel driving member.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, a rotary shaft 18 is fixed to the lower rear end of the main body 1, and the rotary shaft 18 extends between the pair of main body plates 3, 3. One end of a rear wheel fork 19 is rotatably mounted on the rotating shaft 18, and the other end of the rear wheel fork 19 has a rear wheel 20 having a smaller diameter than the front wheel 14.
Is installed. The rear wheel hawk 19 is in the use position (FIG. 1).
5 and the folding position (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1).

As shown in FIG. 5, the rear wheel fork 19 of the use position is provided with an end face 21a of the guide member 21 and a stopper 22.
The rear wheel 20 is positioned so as to be located in the same plane as the front wheel 14 by this sandwiching.
The guide member 21 protrudes from one main body plate 3, and the stopper 22 protrudes from the other main body plate 3. When the rear wheel fork 19 is turned in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 5 from the use position to the folding position, the rear wheel fork 19 is guided by the inclined guide surface 21 b of the guide member 21 and moves in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 18 on the way. be able to. A plate spring type lock member 23 shown in FIG. 1 is attached to the main body 1, and this lock member 23 locks the rear wheel fork 19 in the folded position.

As shown in FIG. 1, one end of a rear wheel stay 24 is rotatably mounted on the upper rear portion of the main body, and the rear wheel stay 24 is configured to be extendable and contractible, and a coil spring provided at a central portion thereof. 25 is urged in the extension direction.
A shaft housing 26 is formed at the other end of the rear wheel stay 24 as shown in FIGS.
6 accommodates a pair of shafts 27, 27 and a spring 28. This spring 28 urges each shaft 27 so that its tip 27a projects from the shaft accommodating chamber 26. A lever 29 protrudes from each shaft 27, and when both levers 29 are grasped and approached to each other, the shaft tip 27 a is retracted into the shaft housing chamber 26. The shaft tip 27a can be inserted into the through hole 30 of the rear wheel fork 19 shown in FIG. 5 when protruding, so that the rear wheel stay 24 allows the rear wheel fork 1
9, the rear wheel 20 is urged toward the ground E via the rear wheel fork 19 by the urging force of the coil spring 25. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, a pair of casters 31 project rearward from the lower rear end of the main body 1.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG.
In the use state of the bicycle shown in (1), the large gears 16, 16 are rotated by the driving force from the pedals 17, 17, and the rotation is accelerated by the small gears 15, 15 to rotate the front wheel 14. In this state, the tip 27a of the shaft 27 at the lower end of the rear wheel stay 24 has the through hole 3 of the rear wheel fork 19.
Thus, the rear wheel stay 24 constitutes a suspension mechanism for the rear wheel 20, and the coil spring 25 absorbs an impact from the ground E applied to the rear wheel 20 during traveling.
As described above, the portable bicycle of the present embodiment has the rear wheel stay 2
4 constitutes the suspension mechanism of the rear wheel 20, so that the riding comfort is greatly improved.

The folding operation of this bicycle is as follows. That is, the automatic lock device of the front wheel stay 11 is released, and the front wheel stay 11 is rotated counterclockwise around the pin 10 in FIG. 1 to move to the folding position. With this rotation, a part of the front wheel 14 is accommodated in the space 5 of the main body 1 as shown in FIG. Next, the pair of levers 29 at the lower end of the rear wheel stay 24 are grasped and approached to each other, so that the tip portion 27 a of the shaft 27 is separated from the through hole 30 of the rear wheel fork 19. As a result, the rear wheel fork 19 can freely rotate, so that the rear wheel fork 19 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 1 around the pin 18 and moves to the folding position. The rear wheel fork 19 is guided by the inclined guide surface 21b of the guide member 21 during the rotation, and moves in the axial direction of the rotating shaft 18. Due to this axial movement, the rear wheel 20 shifts from the plane on which the front wheel 14 is located, and FIG.
As shown by a two-dot chain line, a part of the rear wheel 20 overlaps with the front wheel 14 and is accommodated in the space 5 of the main body 1.

Thereafter, the upper shaft 6b of the handle shaft 6 is accommodated in the hollow lower shaft 6a, and the handle 7 is folded as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the pedals 17, 17 are folded. In this folded state, as shown in FIG. 8, when the bicycle is set up so that the handle 8 of the handle shaft 6 faces upward,
Since the pair of casters 31 and the rear wheel 20 abut on the ground E, the entire bicycle can stand on its own, and when the handle 8 is pulled, the bicycle can be easily moved by the caster 31 and the rear wheel 20. In addition, handle 2a of saddle 2
The bicycle can be transported sideways by using the. In this embodiment, the front wheel 14 is turned toward the rear wheel 20 and is accommodated in the space 5 of the main body 1, and the rear wheel 20 is turned in a direction away from the front wheel 14 and a part of the front wheel is turned. 14 is housed in the space 5 of the main body 1 so that a part of the front wheel 14 and a part of the rear wheel 20 are
It is efficiently arranged without leaving a large useless space in the space 5 inside, and becomes a very compact folded state. Of course, in each folded position, each member is automatically locked by a known locking mechanism.

To illustrate the compactness of folding, a numerical example is given below. The diameter of the front wheel 15 is 40
0 mm and the diameter of the rear wheel 21 is 200 mm, FIG.
The dimensions H and D at the time of folding shown in FIG.
= 516 mm. In the example of the portable bicycle disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-248251 filed by the present applicant, H = 700 mm and D = 550 mm. It can be seen that the bicycle is more compact when folded than the previous application.

In the above embodiment, the small gear 15 and the large gear 16 are used as the speed increasing transmission mechanism for transmitting the driving force of the pedal 17 to the front wheels 14. However, the present invention is not limited to the gear transmission mechanism as such a speed increasing transmission mechanism, and it is also possible to use a transmission system using friction such as a rubber ring.

[0022]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, both the front wheel and the rear wheel are folded and rotated, and both wheels overlap and are stored in the space between the main body plates.
Since the front wheel can be folded very compactly and the front wheel drive system is all supported by the front wheel fork, the front wheel folding mechanism also has a very simple configuration. In addition, the folding operation is easy, and the appearance of the folded appearance is also good.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing an embodiment of a portable bicycle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the main body of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a folded state of the handle of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the front wheel drive member of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the periphery of a rear wheel fork of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a lower end portion of the rear wheel stay of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the lower end of the rear wheel stay of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing the folded state of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Saddle 3 Main body board 4 Connection part 5 Space 6 Handle shaft 9 Front wheel stay receiver 11 Front wheel stay 12 Front wheel fork 13 Front wheel axle 15, 16 Front wheel drive member 17 Pedal 18 Rotation shaft 19 Rear wheel fork 20 Rear wheel 21 Guide member

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-12488 (JP, A) JP-A-57-205284 (JP, A) JP-A-52-137835 (JP, A) 165892 (JP, U) Actually open 49-115847 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B62K 15/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A hollow main body comprising a pair of main body plates separated from each other and a connecting portion connecting a part of these main body plates, a saddle provided on an upper portion of the main body, A handle shaft rotatably supported, a front wheel stay receiver fixed to a lower end of the handle shaft, and a main body plate between a use position coupled to the front wheel stay receiver and a folded position separated from the front wheel stay receiver. A front wheel stay pivotally attached to the front wheel stay receiver, a front wheel fork fixed to the front wheel stay, and a rotatably mounted to the front wheel fork via a front wheel axle so as to be rotatable in a plane substantially parallel to the front wheel stay. A large-diameter front wheel, a front wheel drive member having a pedal and rotatably mounted on the front wheel fork, transmitting the rotation of the pedal to the front wheel, and a rotating shaft vertically mounted on the main body plate, A rear wheel fork attached to the rotating shaft at one end so as to be rotatable between a use position and a folding position in a plane substantially parallel to the main body plate, and a pivot supported on the other end of the rear wheel fork. A small diameter rear wheel, and a guide member for guiding and moving the rear wheel fork in the axial direction of the rotation shaft when the rear wheel fork rotates between the use position and the folding position, When the front wheel stay and the rear wheel fork are respectively turned to the respective folding positions, at least a part of the front wheel and at least a part of the rear wheel are stored in a space between the pair of body plates, and the rear wheel fork is provided. Is moved in the axial direction of the rotating shaft when it is turned from the use position to the folding position, and is accommodated in the main body such that a part of the rear wheel overlaps the front wheel by this axial movement. A portable bicycle characterized by the following. 2. An extendable rear wheel stay, one end of which is pivotally supported by the rear portion of the main body and the other end of which is detachably engaged with the rear wheel fork, and which is urged in an extending direction by an elastic body. Further, the other end of the rear wheel stay is engaged with the rear wheel fork in the use position to urge the rear wheel toward the ground via the rear wheel fork. Claim 1
Portable bicycle according to. 3. The handle shaft comprises: a hollow lower shaft rotatably supported by the main body; and an upper shaft attached to an upper end of the lower shaft so as to be housed in the hollow of the lower shaft. The portable bicycle according to claim 1, wherein a handle is attached to an upper end of the upper shaft, and a portable handle is attached to the lower shaft. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a caster protruding rearward from a rear lower end of the main body.
Portable bicycle according to.