JPH0214991A - Assisting device for operating lever - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the force necessary for a driver to operate an operating lever by providing a spring between a spot on the handle side near a rotation supporting axis of the operating lever and an end-part of the operating lever in order to connect the both in a freely rotatable manner, so that tension or compression is generated if the straight line, which connects both supporting points, deviates from the rotation supporting axis line. CONSTITUTION:A rotation supporting axis between an operation lever 3 and a bracket 4 of a handle part is provided to a base part of the operation lever 3, and an end of the bracket 4, which is located near this rotation supporting axis, is connected to an end of the operation lever 3 by a spring 7 in a freely rotatable manner. In this case, it is aimed that the compression generated becomes the largest when the center of rotation O is situated on a straight line T, which connects both supporting points R and S. When the amount of operation of the operation lever 3 is large, the supporting point R of the spring 7 on the operation lever 3 side moves. And, if a straight line T, which connects both supporting points of the spring 7, passes the rotation supporting axis, the rotating and pushing direction of the spring 7 is reversed. With this contrivance, only a difference between the reaction of the device itself and the spring load of the spring 7 is felt by a driver as the reaction from the device. In other words, the force necessary for the driver to operate the handle is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an assist device that makes it possible to reduce the operating force of an operating lever such as a clutch lever installed in a motorcycle.

(Prior Art) Generally, the left and right handle portions of a motorcycle are equipped with a clutch lever 1 and a brake lever 2, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 10, for these operating levers, the distance 11 from the rotation center 0 to the operating load point P and the distance 12 from the point of action Q should be set to an appropriate ratio according to the lever principle. This doubles the driver's operating power.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In addition, the operating lever is generally linked with a return spring, but since the spring has a characteristic that the spring load increases as the amount of displacement increases, the operating lever As the amount of grip increases, the reaction force received by the driver also increases. In addition, with regard to clutches, the number of clutch plates has increased due to the increase in engine output in recent years, and the spring constant of the return spring has correspondingly increased, so the operating force required by the driver is increasing. There is a tendency to In connection with this trend, it is desired to devise an operating lever having a mechanism that reduces the operating force required by the driver.

In addition, as for brake lever technology, conventionally
A method disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 9-14590 has also been proposed. However, this technique non-linearly changes the piston operation stroke corresponding to the amount of lever operation, and is not capable of reducing the lever operation force itself.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an assist device for an operating lever that enables reliable reduction of operating force with an extremely simple structure.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides, as means for solving the above-mentioned problems,
In a motorcycle operating lever that is attached to the end of a handle and is gripped by the hand placed on the handle to operate an operated mechanism.

A tensile force or a compressive force is applied between the handle located near the pivot shaft of the operating lever and a part of the operating lever when a straight line connecting the support portions at both ends thereof is outside the pivot shaft. A spring is interposed therebetween.

(Function) With this configuration, when an operating force is applied to the operating lever, the following occurs.

When the operating lever is first moved slightly, the spring installed rotates and biases the operated mechanism in the return direction.
The driver receives a force consisting of the reaction force of the operated mechanism and the spring load of the spring. As the amount of operation of the operating lever gradually increases, the supporting part of the spring on the operating lever side moves, and the straight line connecting the supporting parts at both ends of the spring becomes the @ of the operating lever.
After passing through the dynamic support shaft, the direction of rotational biasing of the spring is reversed. As a result, the driver receives the difference between the reaction force of the operated mechanism and the spring load of the spring as a reaction force.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on FIGS. 1 to 7.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 3 indicates an operating lever, and the base of the operating lever 3 is supported by a bracket 4 attached to a handle portion of the vehicle via a pin 5 serving as a pivot shaft. Two sets of bulges 6a and 6b are provided at the base of the operating lever 3 around the rotation center O of the pin 5, and one bulge 6a has a clutch mechanism (not shown) as an operated mechanism. Cables, etc. are connected. This clutch mechanism operates the clutch by rotating the pin 5 of the operating lever 3, but a return spring (not shown) is interposed at an appropriate position in the middle of the operation. The lever 3 is always urged to rotate in the clutch ON direction. Further, an assisting spring 7 whose one end is supported by the bracket 4 is rotatably connected to the other bulging portion 6b of the operating lever 3.

ing. This assisting spring 7 is interposed between the bracket 4 and the operating lever 3 in a compressed state, and is most compressed when the rotation center O is located on the straight line T connecting the support part R and the support part S. It has become. At this time, the rotational force of the spring 7 does not act on the operating lever 3. Therefore, within the rotational range A-B of the operating lever 3, the assisting spring 7 is rotated from the same direction (direction A in the figure) as the biasing force direction of the return spring to the opposite direction (direction B in the figure). The rotational bias is switched to .

With such a configuration, the operating force applied by the driver to the operating lever 3 can be reduced. below,
The reason why the operating force is reduced will be explained.

When the operating lever 3 is in the ON state (the state shown by the solid line in FIGS. 1 and 2), the rotation center 0 of the operating lever 3 and the assisting spring 7 are in the relationship shown in FIG. 3, and When the operating lever -3 is in the OFF state (the state shown by the chain line in Figs. 1 and 2), the 4th
The relationship is as shown in the figure. Here, the spring load of the assisting spring 7 in each of the ON state and OFF state is f
If l+fffi and the distance between the assisting spring 7 and the center of rotation 0 are d+ and d2, then the operating load point P
The force Δf acting on can be expressed as follows.

In case of ON state Δf = f s ・d 1/ 1 r ”・■OFF
In the case of state Δf=-f2・a 2 / 11... ■Note that 1. is the distance from the operating load point P to the rotation center 0.

As is clear from the equations ■ and ■, the force Δf depends on the spring loads f□, f2 and the distances d, d, and the distance #
When a1 or d2 is 0, Δf=o. Then, the force Δ accompanying the change in the operation amount (rotation angle) of the operation lever 3
The change in f is shown in FIG.

Further, the relationship between the operating amount of the operating lever 3 and the reaction force F° received by the driver in a conventional operating lever (one without an assisting spring 7 attached) is shown in FIG.

In the case of the operating lever 3 according to the present invention, the force Δ shown in FIG.
The sum of f and the reaction force F° shown in FIG. 6 appears as the reaction force F actually received by the driver. In this case, the relationship between the operation amount of the operating lever main body 3 and the reaction force F is as shown by the solid line in FIG. Therefore, in the case of the operating lever according to the present invention, the reaction force, that is, the operating force, is reduced by the amount indicated by crossed diagonal lines in the figure. When the operating lever 3 is in the initial stage of operation (on the A side in Figure 1.2), the biasing direction of the assisting sprinter 7 is the same as the biasing direction of the return spring 7. Therefore, the driver's operating force is increased during this period. However, this increased operating force does not impose a large operational burden on the driver, since the operating force at the initial stage of operation is not very large.

In addition, there are other embodiments of the present invention as shown in FIG. 8, for example. In the case of this embodiment, the attachment of the assisting spring 7 is somewhat different from that described above. First, the position of the support portion R of the assist spring 7 on the operation lever 3 side is different, and is located on the operation load point P side with the rotation center 0 in between. The assisting spring 7 is interposed between the support part R and the support part S with a load applied in the tensile direction, and the rotation center O is located on the straight line T connecting the support part R and the support part S. By the way, it has become the most popular. However, in this case, the force of the spring 7 does not act in the direction of rotation of the operating lever 3. The urging rotation direction of the assisting sprinter 7 is reversed from the same direction as the return spring to the opposite direction within the rotation range AB of the operating lever 3. In the case of this embodiment, although the assisting sprig 7 is slightly attached compared to the above-mentioned embodiment, the operating force of the driver is reduced in principle in exactly the same manner as described above.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, an effect can be obtained in that the operating force on the operating lever can be reliably reduced despite the extremely simple structure.

Furthermore, when the operating lever is returned, even if the user releases the hand, the force of the operated mechanism in the returning direction is not weakened in the latter half, so that the return to the current position can be reliably performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is the same side view, Figures 3 and 4 are the same schematic diagrams, Figures 5 to 7 show test results when the present invention is adopted, and Figure 8 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a side view showing an example, FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an operating lever of a motorcycle, and FIG. 10 is an enlarged side view corresponding to the line X in FIG. 9. 3...Operating lever 5...Bin 7...Spring for assist 0...Rotation center Patent applicant Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. Figure, p' Figure 9 @ Figure 10

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an operating lever of a motorcycle that is attached to the end of the handle and is gripped by the hand placed on the handle to operate an operated mechanism, the handle near the pivot shaft of the operating lever is connected to the operating lever of the motorcycle. An assist for an operating lever characterized in that a spring is interposed between a part of the operating lever and a spring that applies a tensile force or a compressive force when a straight line connecting the supporting portions at both ends of the operating lever is outside the pivot shaft. Device.