Low-noise chainwheel

• US 8,517,874 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2004
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SRAM Corporation (SRAM International Corp.), Sram Deutschland GmbH (SRAM International Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sram Deutschland GmbH (SRAM International Corp.)
• Inventors: Reiter, Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): IRVIN, THOMAS W
• Application Number:
  US10/711,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20050079940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,245 Days
• Field of Search: 474/160, 474/152, 474/164, 474/78, 474/161, 474/162
• US Class Current: 474/160
• CPC Class Codes: B62M 9/10 involving different-sized wheels, e.g. rear sprocket chain wheels selectively engaged by the chain, belt, or the like bicycle hubs rotatably arranged on axle B60B27/023
• CPC Class Codes: F16G 13/06 with links connected by parallel driving-pins with or without rollers so called open links if the parallel coupling pins have only a joining function - so called closed links - F16G13/02
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 55/30 Chain-wheels

Abstract

A bicycle chainwheel assembly that includes at least one smaller chainwheel and at least one larger chainwheel, the chainwheels engageable by a chain. The larger chainwheel includes a first tooth and a second tooth disposed adjacent the first tooth opposite a drive rotation direction. The first tooth and the second tooth have a configuration that improves the shifting of a chain from a smaller chainwheel to the larger chainwheel. The first tooth has a lateral recess and the second tooth has a deflection chamfer. The second tooth may also have a recess. The first and second teeth have a configuration that prevents the first and second teeth from capturing the chain. An inner link plate of the chain includes a chamfer disposed on an outer side surface in a central region of the plate.

Claims

1. A chainwheel assembly including a plurality of chainwheels engageable with a chain having successive alternating pairs of inner link plates and outer link plates connected by pins, the pins surrounded by rollers, the chainwheel assembly comprising:

at least one smaller chainwheel having a plurality of teeth spaced about its circumference; and

at least one larger chainwheel having a plurality of teeth spaced about its circumference,

the larger chainwheel and the smaller chainwheel oriented relative to each other such that a distance between a center of the chain roller positioned between a pair of adjacent teeth on the larger chainwheel and the center of the chain roller between a pair of adjacent teeth on the smaller chainwheel is substantially an integer multiple of the chain pitch,

at least a first tooth of the pair of adjacent teeth on the larger chainwheel including a first lateral recess disposed on a front face of the larger chainwheel facing the smaller chainwheel to allow the chain to move from the smaller chainwheel towards the larger chainwheel, the first lateral recess having a first run-on ramp configured to lift the outer link plate in a radial direction when the outer link plate is positioned laterally at the first tooth,

at least a second tooth of the pair of adjacent teeth disposed adjacent to the first tooth opposite the drive rotation direction including a second recess disposed on the front face of the larger chainwheel facing the smaller chainwheel to allow the chain to move from the smaller chainwheel towards the larger chainwheel, the second recess having a second run-on ramp configured to lift the outer link plate in the radial direction when the outer link plate is positioned laterally at the second tooth, wherein the first recess is separate from the second recess.

2. The chainwheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the first recess is spaced apart from the second recess.

3. The chainwheel assembly of claim 2, wherein the first recess is spaced apart from the second recess by the first run-on ramp that extends to a tooth root of the second tooth and wherein the first run-on ramp extends, at the tooth root, into the outer periphery of the larger chainwheel.

4. The chainwheel assembly of claim 3, wherein the larger chainwheel includes a third tooth disposed adjacent the second tooth opposite the drive rotation direction includes a run-out chamfer disposed on the front face of the larger chainwheel, the run-out chamfer extending obliquely backward opposite to the drive rotation direction to provide a shifting lane for the link plate.

5. The chainwheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the first recess has a depth approximately equal to a thickness of the link plate.

6. The chainwheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the second tooth includes a deflection chamfer directed toward the smaller chainwheel to prevent the second tooth from capturing the chain.

7. The chainwheel assembly of claim 6, wherein the deflection chamfer is pronounced on an edge of the second tooth pointing in the drive rotation direction and tapers off toward a back of the tooth on an opposite edge of the second tooth.

8. The chainwheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the first tooth and the second tooth each include a deflection chamfer directed toward the smaller chainwheel to prevent the first tooth and the second tooth from capturing the chain.

9. The chainwheel assembly of claim 1, wherein tooth backs of the first tooth and the second tooth are located directly on a back face of the larger chainwheel facing the next larger chainwheel such that at an end of the shifting operation, the inner link plate has traveled a maximum axial shifting distance before it slides over the tooth back before the chain capture tooth.

10. The chainwheel assembly of claim 1, wherein the first, second and third teeth comprise tips that are chamfered on the front face such that at the end of the shifting operation, the inner link plate does not abruptly jump over the tooth back of the respective tooth.