Bicycle Cable Lock with Interlocking Beads and Cam Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bicycle cable locks are vulnerable to cutting and damage due to their ease of defeat, which does not provide sufficient security for increasingly valuable and lightweight bicycles.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight cable lock design featuring a flexible cable with interlocking metal beads and a lock body with a unique mechanism that includes pivotable lock members, a key mechanism, and a cam system, making it difficult to cut or break, with a spherical lock body shape and protective sheaths to prevent grasping or cutting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional cable lock designs are used, then the lock is easier to manufacture and operate, but it becomes easier to defeat by cutting the cable or breaking the lock body
Solution Approach 1:
The cable is segmented into multiple strands wrapped around a core, with each strand individually protected. The lock body is segmented into a shell and internal mechanisms, separating the protective function from the locking function. This segmentation makes cutting more difficult while maintaining manageable complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable uses a composite structure with multiple wire strands wrapped around a flexible core, combining strength and flexibility. The lock body combines a rigid shell with spring-loaded lock members and cam mechanisms, creating a composite structure that resists cutting and breaking while remaining operable.
2Reliability
If heavier materials are used to increase security, then the lock becomes more difficult to defeat, but it increases in weight
Solution Approach 1:
The cable's flexibility and strength are optimized by changing the parameters of wire gauge, strand configuration, and wrapping tension. The lock body uses spring-loaded members with optimized spring constants to provide security without excessive weight. These parameter optimizations achieve security requirements with minimal weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable applies local quality by concentrating strength where needed through the stranded wire construction, with each strand providing localized protection. The lock body uses local quality through the spring-loaded lock members that engage only when needed, providing security at specific points rather than uniformly throughout the entire structure.
3Weight of moving object
If the lock body is made smaller and lighter, then portability is improved, but the mechanisms become more difficult to engage and disengage
Solution Approach 1:
The lock members are designed to be dynamic rather than static, using spring-loaded mechanisms that automatically engage and disengage. The cam mechanism provides dynamic mechanical advantage that amplifies the key's rotational motion into the linear motion needed to move the compact lock members, maintaining ease of operation despite reduced size.
Solution Approach 2:
The cam mechanism acts as an intermediary between the key's rotational motion and the lock members' linear motion. This intermediary translates small key movements into effective locking actions, preserving ease of operation in the compact design. The spring members also act as intermediaries, storing and releasing energy to facilitate smooth engagement and disengagement.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design provides a highly secure and difficult-to-defeat cable lock that is both lightweight and effective in preventing theft, suitable for securing bicycles and other valuable items.
Implementation Method 1
a spring biased the shackle pin out of the lock body, the lock member into engagement with the shackle pin
Implementation Method 2
a cam member rotated by the plug and including a cam surface configured to pivot the lock member to the open position
Data Source
AI summary
A cable lock includes a cable, a shackle pin connected to one end of the cable, and a lock body connected to the other end of the cable. The lock body includes at least one lock member pivotable from an open position disengaged from the shackle pin and biased to a closed position engaging the shackle pin, a key mechanism including a plug rotatable when a key is inserted therein, and a cam member rotated by the plug and including a cam surface configured to pivot the lock member to the open position.