Abstract:
A brake lever is adjustably positionable relative to a handlebar of a motorcycle. The lever includes a base, a lever, and an adjustment mechanism. The base is adapted to be pivotally coupled to a master cylinder coupled to the handlebar, and the lever is pivotally coupled to the base. The adjustment mechanism controllably positions the lever relative to the base to control spacing between the lever and the handlebar. The adjustment mechanism includes a cylinder and a pin. The cylinder is rotatable about a longitudinal axis, is coupled to one of the base and the lever, and has a first and second bore hole extending radially therein for first and second preselected distances, respectively. The pin is coupled to the other of the base and the lever, is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, and is alternately engageable with the first and second bore holes.

Description:
This is a continuation of co-pending application Ser. No. 09/164,701 filed Oct. 1, 1998 now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to a control lever, and, more particularly, to an adjustable clutch/brake lever for use on a motorcycle. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Motorcycles have recently enjoyed a wide-ranging surge in popularity. Historically, motorcycles have had an exuberant following in a fairly narrow segment of society, but recently their ridership has been extended to a wide variety of individuals. Bankers, doctors, lawyers, and college professors now count themselves among motorcycle fans. Even gender lines have been crossed, as increasing numbers of women take up the sport. Motorcycles are rapidly moving into mainstream society. 
     Motorcycles have been designed with their historical audience in mind. That is, the physical dimensions of many popular motorcycles are designed to accommodate men of above average size. This “sizing” of the motorcycle has been a barrier to smaller individuals. In particular, women, and men with small hands, find it difficult, or at least tiring, to operate controls, such as brake and clutch hand-levers. That is, the spacing between the handgrip and the brake/clutch lever is sufficiently wide to comfortably accommodate a larger hand-span. Individuals with smaller hands must stretch beyond a comfortable position, and thus tend to tire after even moderate operation. Alternatively, “sizing” the motorcycle to a smaller-sized audience will leave many of today&#39;s larger riders with undersized motorcycles, which are equally difficult and tiring to operate. 
     Because of the efficiencies of manufacturing facilities, and the economies of scale, it is generally viewed as impractical to produce custom-sized motorcycles. That is, customizing the dimensions of each motorcycle produced would be cost prohibitive. 
     To alleviate these “sizing” problems, some manufacturers have attempted to design adjustable controls that accommodate a variety of rider sizes. These adjustable controls have been complex in design and construction, difficult to adjust, insufficiently rugged in design, and just plain ugly. 
     The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one aspect of the present invention, a control lever is provided. The control lever includes a base, a lever pivotally coupled to the base, and an adjustment mechanism for controllably positioning the lever relative to the base. The adjustment mechanism includes a cylinder and a pin. The cylinder is rotatable about a longitudinal axis and is coupled to one of the base and the lever and has a first and second bore hole extending radially thereon for first and second preselected distances. The pin is coupled to the other of the base and the lever and is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder and alternately engageable with the first and second bore holes. 
     In another aspect of the present invention, a control lever is provided. The control lever includes a base, a lever pivotally coupled to the base, a spring and an adjustment mechanism. The spring extends between the base and the lever and urges the lever in a first direction toward a first operating position. The adjustment mechanism extends between the base and the lever and controllably positions the lever relative to the base. The adjustment mechanism is disengaged and free for adjustment in response to movement of the lever in a second direction opposite to the first direction. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which: 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a top view of an adjustable clutch/brake lever; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a bottom view of the adjustable clutch/brake lever in a first operating position; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of a portion of an adjuster mechanism of FIGS. 1 and 2; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates an end view of the lever and adjuster mechanism of FIGS. 1-3; and 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the adjustable clutch/brake lever of FIGS. 1-4. 
    
    
     While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers&#39; specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     Turning now to the drawings, and in particular, to FIG. 1, a top view of an adjustable clutch/brake mechanism  10  is shown. The mechanism  10  may be formed from a variety of materials, including aluminum, stainless steel, etc., and may be finished to any of a variety of appearances, such as chrome, black chrome, flat black, brushed aluminum, etc. The mechanism  10  includes a base  12  and a lever  14 . The base  12  is coupled to, for example, a clutch/brake master cylinder (not shown) attached to a handlebar of a motorcycle (not shown). The connection of the base  12  to the master cylinder of the motorcycle is effected conventionally, such as by a nut and bolt arrangement (not shown) engaging a bore  16  extending through the base  12  and an attachment point (not shown) on the master cylinder (not shown). During normal operation, the base  12  and the lever  14  are pivotally moveable relative to the handlebar (not shown) in the direction indicated by an arrow  18 . Movement of the lever  14  and base  12  in the direction indicated by the arrow  18  will effect operation of the system to which it is connected, such as a braking or clutch system. 
     An adjustment mechanism  20  is positioned between at least a portion of the lever  14  and base  12  to allow positioning of the lever  14  relative to the base  12  and the handlebar (not shown). That is, the adjustment mechanism  20  allows the lever  14  to be moved to a second operating position, such as that shown by the dashed lines  22 . The second position  22  of the lever  14  provides an alternative spacing between the lever  14  and the handlebars (not shown) to accommodate riders of various hand size. It is envisioned that a plurality of positions may be accomplished by the adjustment mechanism  20  to accommodate a variety of riders. 
     Operation of the adjustment mechanism  20  may be appreciated by reference to a bottom view of the mechanism  10 , as shown in FIG.  2 . In FIG. 2, the lever  14  is shown moved outwardly relative to the base  12  and handlebar (not shown), in a direction indicated by an arrow  24 . Movement of the lever  14  in the direction indicated by the arrow  24  does not cause the base  12  to move, but rather causes movement of the lever  14  about o pivot point  26 , such that the adjustment mechanism  20  is moved away form the base  12  and disengaged from a pin  28  fixedly extending form the base  12  along a center line  19  of the adjustment mechanism  20 . Normally, the lever  14  is urged toward the position illustrated in FIG. 1 by a spring  30 , such as a coil spring, extending between operating surfaces of the lever  14  and the base  12  and captured against lateral movement by bores  32 ,  34  extending into the base  12  and the lever  14 , respectively. 
     With the lever  14  in the position illustrated in FIG. 2, operation of the adjustment mechanism  20  is readily accomplished by rotating a dial  36  (see FIG. 1) to one of a plurality of positions. The construction and operation of the dial  36  may be appreciated by reference to FIG. 3 where a side, partial hidden view is illustrated. The adjustment mechanism  20  includes a central, generally cylindrically-shaped body  38  having a plurality of bores  40 ,  42 ,  44  extending radially therein. A first end portion of the cylindrical body  38  is attached to the dial  36 , and a second end portion of the body  38  is connected to a cylindrical body of reduced diameter  48 . The reduced diameter cylindrical body  48  has an annular groove  50  formed therein and is adapted to receive a snap ring (not shown). The reduced diameter cylindrical body  48  extends through an opening  52  of like diameter in the lever  14  (see FIG.  2 ). A recessed bore  54  of larger diameter receives the snap ring (not shown) within the groove  50  of the reduced diameter cylindrical body  48  so as to capture the adjustment mechanism  20  within the lever  14 , but allow rotational movement thereof, as effected by the dial  36 . 
     The bores  40 ,  42 ,  44 , extend radially toward the center line of the cylindrical body  38  and are of varying depths. That is, for example, the bore  42  may extend further into the cylindrical body  38  than the bore  44 . The varying depths of the bores  40 ,  42 ,  44  provide for a variety of operating positions for the lever  14 . That is, the pin  28  is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis  55  of the adjustment mechanism  20  so that rotation of the dial  36  will variously align the bores  40 ,  42 ,  44  with the pin  28 . Thus, when the lever  14  is released from the position shown in FIG. 2, the pin  28  will pass into one of the bores  40 ,  42 ,  44  and come rest against its bottom surface. The depths of the various bores  40 ,  42 ,  44  control the degree of movement of the lever  14 , as caused by the spring  30 , toward the base  12 . That is, the deeper the bore  40 ,  42 ,  44 , the further the lever  14  will move toward the base  12 , reducing the spacing between the handlebar (not shown) and the lever  14 . While three bores  40 ,  42 ,  44  have been illustrated, it is envisioned that more or fewer bores may be distributed about the periphery of the cylindrical body  48  without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 4, an end view of the lever  14  adjacent the adjustment mechanism  20  shows that a slot  56  extends through an end wall of the lever  14 , intersecting with the opening  52  and generally aligned with the pin  28  so that it may pass through the lever  14  and into one of the bores  40 ,  42 ,  44  in the adjustment mechanism  20 . 
     When the lever  14  is located in the position shown in FIG. 2, the adjustment mechanism  20  is free to rotate under very small forces. That is, with the lever  14  in the position illustrated in FIG. 2, very light thumb action may be used to rotate the dial  36  to adjust the positioning of the lever  14  to accommodate different hand sizes. The pin  28  serves a dual purpose of positioning the lever  14  at the desired operating position and locking the adjustment mechanism  20  against movement when in the operating position, as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     It should be noted that the transfer of force from the lever  14  through the base  12  during normal operation of the mechanism  10  (as shown by the arrow  18  in FIG. 1) occurs through the pin  28  in the adjustment mechanism  20 . The pin  28  will have the longest useful life if the forces are directed substantially along its longitudinal axis. Since the adjustment mechanism  20  is free for easy rotation, it is useful to locate the pin  28  perpendicular to its rotational axis so that operating pressure on the lever  14  does not cause the pin  28  to induce rotational movement of the adjustment mechanism  20 . By locating the pin  28  substantially perpendicular to the rotational axis of the adjustment mechanism  20 , rotational movement is minimized during normal operation. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 5, a longitudinal recess  62  extending on a front side of the lever  14  is shown to receive a padded insert  64 . The insert  64  may be constructed from a rubber material such as ethylene propylene diene terpolymers, and may have a durometer of about 60. The insert  64  may be retained in the recess  62  by either a friction fit or an adhesive, such as that manufactured under the trademark LOCTITE®. The insert  64  is located in the region of the lever  14  that is gripped by the fingers of the rider of the motorcycle, and operates to substantially improve the comfort of the rider, especially during long periods of extended operation. 
     Additionally, as can be seen clearly in FIG. 5, the lever  14  and base  12  are joined together in a region  66  with both pieces having substantially matching recessed areas  68 ,  70  so that when joined together they form a substantially smooth and contiguous surface on the top and bottom surfaces thereof. Additionally, the dial  36  is also located in a recessed region  69  of the lever  14  (see FIG. 1) so that its outer surface is also relatively smooth and contiguous with the top surface of the lever  14  and base  12 . Moreover, a nut and bolt arrangement located at the pivot point  26  is recessed into the base  12  on the top surface thereof, and the corresponding bore in the lever  14  is threaded to form a substantially flush bottom surface of the lever  14 . The overall effect on the mechanism  10  is to produce smooth and contiguous surfaces that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but are useful in that they reduce the possibility of inadvertently snagging clothes are other items thereon. 
     The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.