Variable-ratio drive

Abstract: A speed-variating means for bicycle or the like includes a sliding roller carrier means (2) sandwiched between two driving disks (1a, 1) of which one driving disk (1) is rotatably coupled with a hub (52) of a bike wheel (5) and the other driving disk (1a) is secured with a chain wheel (3), each driving disk (1a, 1) being provided with radial slots (12) engageable with a plurality of sliding rollers (24) of the roller carrier means (2), whereby upon a driving of a bike chain (33), a first speed variating ratio can be effected between the chain-wheel-secured driving disk (1a) and the sandwiched roller carrier means (2) and a second speed variating ratio can be effected between the hub-coupled driving disk (1) and the sandwiched roller carrier means (2), thereby obtaining a synergetic speed-­ variating effect by multiplying the first and the second speed variating ratio by means of such a compact mechanism of the sandwiched roller carrier means (2).

Description: The present invention relates to a variable ratio drive. It is a development of the concept in my earlier EP-A-336033 (hereinafter designated as "original application") entitled "Eccentrically Operating Speed-variating Means for Bicycle" filed on April 8, 1988 with an application number 88303163.5. Since this application was filed prior to the present application, it is considered to be comprised in the state of the art according to articles 54(3) and (4) EPC for the contracting states DE, ES, FR, GB, IT, NL, SE. Its content, however, in accordance with article 56, need not be taken into account when considering inventive step. Original application disclosed a speed variating means comprised of a driving disk, a sliding roller carrier means eccentrically moving in the disk, a chain wheel driving the roller carrier means and a variable speed adjusting means, which however can only be operated for speed variation by eccentrically moving the chain wheel and the roller carrier means in a single driving disk so that the speed variating ratio is still quite limited. Original application also disclosed a sliding block 23 formed with a sliding roller 24 thereon and a wedge portion 25 tapered rearwardly for slidingly loading a plurality of clutching rollers 26 thereon as shown in original Figure 6, which however may easily cause wearing of the plural rollers 26 having different diameters with one another, or may cause heterogeneous stress distribution on an annular groove of the roller means 2 to easily damage the eccentric mechanism since the rollers 26 are all loaded on a single wedge portion, rather than two wedge portions symmetrically disposed on two opposite sides of the sliding block. FR-A-822 080 discloses a variable ratio drive e.g. for a bicycle, comprising: a first drive disc to be coupled in rotation to a driven wheel; a second drive disc opposing the first drive disc coaxially, and rotatable by a drive input; and roller carrier means positioned between the first and second drive discs and controllably eccentrically movable relative thereto to vary drive ratio, the first drive disc defining a rotatable first rotation track and the roller carrier means defining a rotatable second rotation track, respectively for first and second sets of sliders around the drive axis, sliders of the first set being radially slidably retained in respective radially extending slots of the roller carrier means and sliders of the second set being radially slidably retained in respective radially-extending slots of the second drive disc; the sliders having means for engaging their respective tracks to rotate therewith in a driving sense of rotation. The present invention seeks to provide a novel variable ratio drive mechanism. Accordingly, I provide a variable ratio drive, e.g. for a bicycle, comprising: (a) a first drive disc to be coupled in rotation to a driven wheel and having circumferentially distributed slots extending in directions slightly inclined from the radial direction; (b) a second drive disc opposing the first drive disc co-axially, rotatable by a drive input and having circumferentially distributed slots extending in directions slightly inclined from the radial direction; (c) a roller carrier positioned between the first and second drive discs, the roller carrier defining around the drive axis first and second oppositely-facing annular rotation tracks, for slidably guiding first and second sets of sliders respectively, sliders of the first set being radially slidably retained in respective ones of the slots of the first drive disc and sliders of the second set being radially slidably retained in respective ones of the slots of the second drive disc; each slider having a front wedging portion and a rear wedging portion distributed along the respective rotation track, each said wedging portion comprising radially inwardly and radially outwardly directed wedging roller assemblies on a central slider block, and each said wedging roller assembly comprising a part of said block tapering along the rotation track in a driving sense of rotation from an obtuse stop portion to a spring seating portion, and a clutching roller urged by a spring seated against the spring seating portion into engagement between said tapering part of said block and an opposing surface of the respective rotation track, whereby each slider is frictionally coupled radially inwardly and outwardly to the roller carrier, and (d) a drive ratio adjuster comprising a carrying plate having an annulus within which the roller carrier is rotatably supported, and adjuster means for controllably moving the carrying plate, relative to a fixing plate which is secured at the axis of the driven wheel, to move the roller carrier eccentrically with respect to the drive discs and thereby vary the drive ratio. Embodiments of the invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows schematically a bicycle with a drive embodying the invention; Figure 2 is a side-view sectional drawing of the drive; Figure 3 is an illustration of a front elevation, as viewed from direction A of Figure 2; Figure 4 shows a sliding block of the drive; Figure 5 is an illustration showing a first speed variation; Figure 6 is an illustration showing a second speed variation; Figure 7 shows an engagement between a driving disk and a bike hub; Figure 8 shows another embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 9 is a side view of the second embodiment. As shown in Figures 1-4, the present embodiment comprises: an outer driving disk 1a secured with a chain wheel 3, an inner driving disk 1 rotatably engageable with a hub 52 of a bike rear wheel 5, a central sliding-roller carrier means 2 sandwiched between the two driving disks 1a, 1, and a variable speed adjusting means 4. The outer driving disk 1a is generally formed as a circular disk having a central hole provided with bearings 11a rotatably mounted on an axle 51 of a rear bike wheel 5 and formed with a plurality of radial slots 12 each slightly inclined from a corresponding radius of the disk 1 to form an approximate spiral shape as shown in Figure 3, an outer flange 10 secured with the chain wheel 3 having gear 32 driven by a chain 33. The chain wheel 3 is secured to the disk 1 by a plurality of sticks 31a each stick 31a being jacketed with an elastomer packing 31b for absorbing a vibrational shock caused during operation or running of a bike, between the disk 1a and the chain wheel 3. The inner driving disk 1 is also formed as a circular disk corresponding to the outer disk 1a having a central annular extension 11b with two pawls 11c engageable with annular ratchet teeth 53 formed in a hub 52 of the rear bike wheel 5, and formed with a plurality of radial slots 12 in the disk 1. Once the variating means of the present invention is out of order, the rear wheel 5 can still keep running in direction C as shown in Figure 7. In normal bike running by treadling bike pedals, the chain wheel 3 is rotated to drive the outer disk 1a, the roller carrier means 2 and the inner disk 1 in which the pawls 11c of the annular extension 11b engage the ratchet teeth 53 of the rear wheel 5 so that upon a rotation of the chain wheel 3 and disk 1 in direction C, the rear wheel 5 can be driven accordingly as shown in Figure 7. The central sliding roller means 2 is formed as a collar having an outermost perimeter 21 rotatably held in a circular disk 421a of the variable speed adjusting means 4. a central opening 22c longitudinally formed through the collar, two annular grooves 22a, 22 respectively recessed in two opposite side portions of the collar each groove 22a or 22 defined between the outermost perimeter 21 and the central opening 22c, and a plurality of sliding blocks 23 slidably engageable in either groove 22a or 22. Each sliding block 23 as shown in Figure 4 includes: a sliding roller 24 protruding outwardly to be engageable with each slot 12 formed in either disk 1a, 1, at least a pair of wedge portions 25, 25a each tapered rearwardly and both disposed on a rear and a front side of the block 23, and at least two pairs of clutching rollers 26 each pair of rollers 26 operatively moving on the two wedge portions 25, 25a. Each wedge portion 25 or 25a is tapered rearwardly or counter-clockwise (if the carrier means is rotated clockwise) to form a pair of acute-angle portion 251 at its tapered side and a pair of obtuse-angle portions 252 at an opposite side to the tapered side. Each roller 26 is retained on a rear end acute-angle portion 251 by a tension spring 29a. Such a tension spring 29a normally urges the tapered wedge portion 25 towards the obtuse-angle portion 252 to frictionally couple the wedge portion of the block 23 with an annular groove wall 221 so that upon a clockwise rotation of the roller means 2 as driven by a chain wheel rotating clockwise C, the sliding blocks 23 as coupled to the outer disk 1a will be frictionally coupled to the roller means 2 to thereby rotate the roller means 2 within a bearing 421b of the circular disk 421a of the variable speed adjusting means 4. The inner disk 1 having the slots 12 engageable with the rollers 24 of the sliding blocks as held in a left side of the roller means 2 will also be rotatably driven by the roller means 2 since the blocks 23 will also be frictionally coupled with the roller means 2 clockwise rotated C as aforementioned. Therefore, the chain wheel 3 disposed at the right side of the roller means 2 may finally drive the inner disk 1 and the bike hub 52 for driving the bike wheel 5. In view of Figures 20 and 8 accompanying with the original application whereon this application is based, all sliding blocks 23 are normally coupled with the carrier means 2, with only one roller 24 having a shortest distance from the axle 51 which may drive the disk 1 for rotating the disk 1 and bike wheel forwardly, but having the remaining rollers released without driving the disk 1 . By such a principle, the present application may occur speed variation on a right side and a left side of the sandwiched roller means 2. The variable speed adjusting means 4 includes: a fixing plate 41 having its central portion secured to the axle 51 of rear wheel 5, an eccentric plate 42 having a circular disk 421a formed with an annular bearing 421b for rotatably mounting the perimeter 21 of the roller means 2 therein and a biasing plate 42a pivotally mounted on the fixing plate 41 by a fulcrum pin 412 formed on the plate 41, a calliper retainer having two calliper arms 431 pivotally mounted on a driving pin 425 formed on an upper end of the biasing plate 42a of which each arm 431 is formed with a rod hole 432 passing through a guiding rod 44 secured to a bracket 411 of the fixing plate 41 and the two arms 431 are resiliently locked on the rod 44 when extended by a calliper tensioning spring 433 tensioning the two arms 431 to be normally open, an U-shaped pusher member 45 slidably mounted on the rod 44 and normally disposed around the calliper retainer 43 by a restoring spring 442 jacketed on the rod 44 between the pusher member 45 and the bracket 411, and an actuating wire 46 having its rear end fixed on the pusher member by a screw 451 and having its front end secured to an operating lever 47 secured on a handle bar of a bike. When allowing the restoring spring 442 to urge the pusher member 45 leftwardly (direction B) to bias the eccentric plate 42 frontwardly (direction E) as shown in Figure 3, an axis 420a of the circular disk 421a of the eccentric plate 42 and an axis 220 of the roller means 2 being concentric to axis 420a will be eccentrically moved frontwardly, thereby obtaining a first speed variation (acceleration) formed on a right side of the sandwiched roller means 2 as shown in Figure 5, and a second speed variation (acceleration) formed on a left side of the roller means 2 as shown in Figure 6. When pulling wire 46 in direction F, a slower speed can be adjusted. In Figure 5, if a chain 33 is driven having a stroke S along the chain wheel 3, a first speed variation R1 can be obtained by the following formula: R1 = S/2πrb S/2πra = ra rb = B A wherein B is a rotating angle after being eccentrically moved from original angle A, ra is original radius, and rb is eccentric radius, thereby accelerating the bike speed. As shown in Figure 6, the stroke S1 of chain wheel 3 may result in a second speed variation R2 as follows: R2 = S1/2πrd S1/2πrc = rc rd = D C wherein D is an eccentric rotating angle as eccentrically moved from original C angle, rd an eccentric radius and rc original radius, thereby further accelerating the bike speed. Since angle C = A, the total speed variating ratio RT may be obtained: RT = R1 x R2 = B A x D C = BD A² Accordingly, this drive may obtain a synergetic speed variation effect, much greater than that in my original application. The sliding block 23 having two wedge portions 25 disposed on two opposite sides of the block so that the stress of the moving block is uniformly distributed onto the groove wall 221 of the roller means 2 to cause a stable sliding of blocks in the groove 22a, 22 or to soothe the pressure acting on the groove to prevent wearing of the relevant moving parts of the eccentric mechanism. So, the block 23 with two wedge portions 25 is much improved over the block 23 with single wedge portion 25. As shown in Figures 8, 9, the variable speed adjusting means 4 may be modified to include a fixing plate 41 formed with two guiding slots 413, 414 generally vertically aligned to be perpendicular to a horizontal tube 50 of a bike frame secured with the axle 51, a fulcrum pin 412a fixed on an upper portion of the biasing plate 42a and slidably moving in an upper guiding slot 413, a driving pin 425a fixed on a lower portion of the biasing plate 42a slidably moving in a lower guiding slot 414 formed under the upper slot 413, and the guiding rod 44 for mounting the pusher member 45 vertically secured on the fixing plate 41. When adjusting the speed, the wire 46 is loosened to allow the spring 442 urging the pusher member 45 downwardly so that the eccentric plate 42, and the roller means 2 is downwardly moved ( direction D) as shown in Figure 8 for eccentric adjustment to increase a bike speed. While the situation of the present apparatus is shown in Figure 8, the chain wheel 3, the roller means 2 and the circular disk 421a are commonly concentric for normal-speed running of the bike. During the eccentric adjustment of this modification, the driving chain 33 is kept at a constant tension for a smooth running of the bike.

Claims: A variable ratio drive, e.g. for a bicycle, comprising: (a) a first drive disc (1) to be coupled in rotation to a driven wheel (5) and having circumferentially distributed slots (12) extending in directions slightly inclined from the radial direction; (b) a second drive disc (1a) opposing the first drive disc (1) co-axially, rotatable by a drive input and having circumferentially distributed slots (12) extending in directions slightly inclined from the radial direction; (c) a roller carrier (2) positioned between the first and second drive discs (1,1a), the roller carrier (2) defining around the drive axis first and second oppositely-facing annular rotation tracks (22,22a), for slidably guiding first and second sets of sliders (23) respectively, sliders (23) of the first set being radially slidably retained in respective ones of the slots (12) of the first drive disc (1) and sliders (23) of the second set being radially slidably retained in respective ones of the slots (12) of the second drive disc (1a); each slider (23) having a front wedging portion (25a) and a rear wedging portion (25) distributed along the respective rotation track (22,22a), each said wedging portion comprising radially inwardly and radially outwardly directed wedging roller assemblies on a central slider block, and each said wedging roller assembly comprising a part (25,25a) of said block tapering along the rotation track in a driving sense of rotation from an obtuse stop portion (252) to a spring seating portion (251), and a clutching roller (26) urged by a spring (29a) seated against the spring seating portion (251) into engagement between said tapering part of said block and an opposing surface of the respective rotation track (22,22a), whereby each slider (23) is frictionally coupled radially inwardly and outwardly to the roller carrier (2), and (d) a drive ratio adjuster (4) comprising a carrying plate (42) having an annulus (421a) within which the roller carrier (2) is rotatably supported, and adjuster means for controllably moving the carrying plate (42), relative to a fixing plate (41) which is secured at the axis of the driven wheel (5), to move the roller carrier (2) eccentrically with respect to the drive discs (1,1a) and thereby vary the drive ratio. A variable ratio drive according to claim 1 in which the first drive disc (1) has an annular extension (11b) carrying at least one pawl (11c) to engage an annular ratchet (53) formed on a hub (52) of the driven wheel (5). A variable ratio drive according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the roller carrier (2) has an outer perimeter (21) rotatably mounted in the annulus (421a) of the carrying plate (42) of the drive ratio adjuster (4), and a central opening (22c), each of said rotation tracks (22,22a) lying radially between the outer perimeter (21) and the central opening (22c). A variable ratio drive according to any one of the preceding claims in which, in the drive ratio adjuster (4), the carrying plate (42) is pivotally secured to the fixing plate (41) at a fulcrum pin (412), about which the controlled movement of the carrying plate (42) is made. A variable ratio drive according to any one of claims 1 to 3 in which, in the drive ratio adjuster (4), the fixing plate (41) has two guiding slots (413,414), and the carrying plate (42) has a fulcrum pin (412a) slidably movable in an upper one of said slots (413) and a driving pin (425a) controllably adjustably movable in the lower one (414) of said slots. A variable ratio drive according to any one of the preceding claims in which the second drive disc (1a) is secured to a chain wheel (3) through an elastomer packing (31b), to absorb vibrational shocks between the chain wheel (3) and the second drive disc (1a).

Inventors: WEN MAZ, WEN, MAZ
Applicants: WEN MAZ, WEN, MAZ
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B62M9
IPC codes: B62M9, F16H29