Bicycle Stabilizing Apparatus With Adjustable Preloaded Strut
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional training wheels for bicycles provide insufficient flexibility and support, leading to increased risk of falling during turns and limiting the learning of balance and leaning skills in beginners, as they offer static flexibility and lack force towards the bicycle's midpoint.
Innovation Solution
A stabilizing apparatus with a vertical and horizontal member, a wheel, and a preloaded strut with an adjustable device that allows for adjustable compression, providing dynamic support and force to maintain balance during turns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional rigid training wheels are used, then the bicycle structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the training wheel provides insufficient flexibility and support during turns, increasing the risk of falling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by replacing the static rigid bracket with a linkage mechanism comprising a pivot arm, support arm, and spring assembly. This dynamic structure allows the training wheel to automatically adjust its position and provide variable support based on the bicycle's leaning angle during turns, thereby improving stability without requiring complex active control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements parameter changes by using a spring assembly that varies the support force based on the compression distance. As the bicycle leans during a turn, the spring compresses and provides increasing support force, dynamically adjusting the mechanical parameter of support force to match the varying stability requirements during different phases of turning.
2Adaptability or versatility
If rigid L-shaped brackets are used to mount training wheels, then the manufacturing is simple, but the training wheel provides static flexibility with little or no give when the bicycle leans, limiting balance learning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the static L-shaped bracket with a dynamic linkage mechanism that includes a pivot arm connected to the frame, a support arm connected to the training wheel, and a spring assembly. This allows the training wheel to move dynamically as the bicycle leans, providing progressive flexibility that adapts to the rider's balance adjustments while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through passive mechanical components.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring assembly in the linkage mechanism changes the support parameter dynamically based on the lean angle. As the bicycle leans towards the training wheel, the spring compresses and provides increasing give or flexibility, allowing beginners to learn balance and leaning skills progressively without requiring complex adjustable mechanisms.
3Force
If static training wheels are used, then the device is simple in structure, but the training wheel cannot provide active force towards the midpoint of the bicycle during turns, limiting usefulness for balance learning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the counterweight principle through the spring assembly that generates a restoring force opposing the lean direction. When the bicycle leans during a turn, the compressed spring provides a counteracting force that pushes the training wheel towards the midpoint position, creating a natural restoring force that aids balance learning without requiring active control systems or complex mechanisms.
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 apparatus reduces the risk of falling by offering adjustable flexibility and support, enabling beginners to learn balance and leaning skills more effectively by providing force towards the bicycle's midpoint during turns.
Implementation Method 1
a preloaded strut hingably attached at a top end to the vertical member, and hingably attached at a bottom end to the horizontal member
Data Source
AI summary
A stabilizing apparatus for a bicycle is disclosed. The stabilizing apparatus includes a vertical member configured for coupling to a distal end of a rear hub of the bicycle, a horizontal member hingably attached at a proximal end to the vertical member, a wheel attached to a distal end of the horizontal member, the wheel configured for laterally supporting the bicycle, a preloaded strut hingably attached at a top end to the vertical member, and hingably attached at a bottom end to the horizontal member, and an adjustable device located on the preloaded strut, the adjustable device configured for adjusting a rest compression state of the preloaded strut.