Patent ID: 11897576
Assignee: SHIMANO INC.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A crank assembly for a human-powered vehicle, the crank assembly comprising:
a crank arm having an axially outwardly facing crank-surface and an axially inwardly facing crank-surface provided on a reverse side of the axially outwardly facing crank-surface in an axial direction with respect to a rotational center axis of the crank assembly, the axially inwardly facing crank-surface being configured to face toward an axial center plane of the human powered vehicle in the axial direction in a mounted state where the crank assembly is mounted to the human powered vehicle;
a front sprocket unit having an axially outwardly facing sprocket-surface and an axially inwardly facing sprocket-surface provided on a reverse side of the axially outwardly facing sprocket-surface in the axial direction, the axially inwardly facing sprocket-surface being configured to face toward the axial center plane of the human powered vehicle in the axial direction in the mounted state, the front sprocket unit including:
a sprocket body; and
a plurality of sprocket teeth extending radially outwardly from the sprocket body in a radial direction with respect to the rotational center axis; and

a plurality of chain-drop control protrusions configured to inhibit a drive chain from getting into a space provided radially inwardly from the plurality of chain-drop control protrusions and between the crank arm and the front sprocket unit in the axial direction, the plurality of chain-drop control protrusions being configured to be provided to at least one of the axially inwardly facing crank-surface of the crank arm and the axially outwardly facing sprocket-surface of the front sprocket unit, the plurality of chain-drop control protrusions being spaced apart from each other in a circumferential direction with respect to the rotational center axis, wherein
the plurality of chain-drop control protrusions overlaps with the crank arm when viewed from the axial direction.