阅读说明：本技术 隐藏式自行车锁具系统及其安装方法 (Concealed bicycle lock system and method of installing same ) 是由 留志宏 于 2020-06-23 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种隐藏式自行车锁具系统及其安装方法。本发明的锁具系统中包括有锁具,设有上转轴及下转轴,上转轴是用于通过龙头与手把连动；而下转轴则用于嵌入前叉管并与前轮连动。锁具在上锁状态时,上转轴与下转轴为不连动,反之,在解锁状态时则为连动,安装锁具前利用连接件将设于头管内的前叉管往上迫紧,使前叉管不会相对头管上下位移,再从前叉管的上开口将锁具安装于其中,通过下转轴于前叉管内扩张,固定锁具于前叉管中,达到无需对自行车进行破坏性调整即可轻易由使用者自行安装的功效。(The invention provides a hidden bicycle lock system and an installation method thereof. The lock system comprises a lock, an upper rotating shaft and a lower rotating shaft, wherein the upper rotating shaft is used for being linked with a handle through a faucet; and the lower rotating shaft is used for being embedded into the front fork tube and is linked with the front wheel. When the lock is in an upper locking state, the upper rotating shaft and the lower rotating shaft are not linked, otherwise, the lock is linked in an unlocking state, a front fork pipe arranged in the head pipe is forced upwards by the connecting piece before the lock is installed, so that the front fork pipe cannot move up and down relative to the head pipe, the lock is installed in the front fork pipe from an upper opening of the front fork pipe, the lock is expanded in the front fork pipe through the lower rotating shaft, and the lock is fixed in the front fork pipe, so that the effect that the lock can be easily installed by a user without destructively adjusting the bicycle is achieved.)

1. A concealed bicycle lock system, comprising:

a connector, comprising:

a side plate;

the base plate is arranged on the inner side of the lower end of the side plate and provided with a lock hole; and

the cantilever is arranged on the outer side of the upper end of the side plate and used for limiting the displacement of a head pipe of the bicycle relative to a front fork pipe in the direction vertical to the pipe diameter of the head pipe;

the fastener is used for locking the base plate of the connecting piece in the front fork tube of the bicycle through the lock hole; and

the lockset comprises an upper rotating shaft and a lower rotating shaft, wherein the lower rotating shaft comprises an expansion mechanism;

when the base plate is fixed in the front fork tube by the fastener, the side plate covers part of the inner side wall of the front fork tube, and when the expansion mechanism expands, the side plate can abut against and be fixed to the other part of the inner side wall which is not covered by the side plate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said connecting member comprises a plurality of said side plates, said lower ends of said plurality of said side plates are respectively connected to said base plate, said cantilever arms are respectively disposed outside said upper ends of said plurality of said side plates, at least one channel is defined between said plurality of said side plates, said channel has two lateral openings for said expansion mechanism to pass through when expanding.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of cantilevers of the connector surround an annular opening having a profile corresponding to an outer profile of the lower spindle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the upper spindle and the lower spindle of the lock are connected in a lock body, the upper spindle being adapted to be connected to and interlocked with a handlebar of the bicycle, the lower spindle being adapted to be connected to and interlocked with the front fork of the bicycle; the lock comprises a locking state and an unlocking state; when the lock is in the locking state, the upper rotating shaft is not linked with the lower rotating shaft, and when the lock is in the unlocking state, the upper rotating shaft is linked with the lower rotating shaft.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the expansion mechanism comprises an upper expansion member and a lower expansion member, the upper expansion member and the lower expansion member are connected by an inclined interface, an end surface of the upper rotating shaft is exposed at a distal end of a transmission member, the transmission member is connected with the lower expansion member, and the lower expansion member is displaced relative to the upper expansion member along the inclined interface by rotating the transmission member, so that the lower rotating shaft can move by horizontal expansion to control the expansion and contraction of the expansion mechanism.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the upper expansion member includes a front curved surface, the lower expansion member includes a rear curved surface, the upper expansion member and the lower expansion member are respectively provided with vertical sections corresponding to the side plates, the upper expansion member is configured to be connected to the inner sidewall of one side of the front fork tube through the front curved surface, and the lower expansion member is configured to be connected to the inner sidewall of the other side of the front fork tube through the rear curved surface.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a washer configured to fit over the end of the front fork so that the end of the front fork is lower in height than the washer.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the cantilever of the connector is configured to engage the washer.

9. A method of installing a concealed bicycle lock system, comprising:

a lockset preparation step: providing the concealed bicycle lock system of any one of claims 1-6;

the bicycle preparation steps are as follows: providing the bicycle, wherein the bicycle comprises the head pipe and the front fork pipe, and the head pipe is rotatably sleeved outside the front fork pipe;

a connecting piece arranging step: burying the base plate of the connector into the front fork tube;

locking the connecting piece: the connecting piece is locked in the front fork tube by the base plate through the fastener, and the plurality of cantilevers are positioned outside the front fork tube and connected with the head tube so as to limit the displacement of the head tube relative to the front fork tube in the direction vertical to the tube diameter of the head tube;

a lockset arranging step: placing the lower shaft of the lock into the front fork tube; and

locking the lockset: and horizontally expanding the expansion mechanism of the lower rotating shaft, and enabling the expansion mechanism to be abutted against the inner side wall, which is not covered by the side plate, in the front fork tube, so that the lower rotating shaft is linked with the front fork tube.

10. The method of installing as claimed in claim 9, wherein said lock preparation step further includes a washer preparation sub-step of: providing at least one gasket; the mounting method further includes a washer setting step of: sleeving at least one gasket on the tail end of the front fork tube so that the tail end of the front fork tube is lower than the gasket in height; wherein the gasket preparing substep and the gasket setting step are completed before the connector setting step is started, and in the connector locking step, the plurality of cantilevers are connected to the head pipe through at least one of the gaskets.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a hidden bicycle lock system and a method for installing the same, and more particularly, to a hidden bicycle lock system and a method for installing the same, which can be easily installed without modifying a bicycle destructively.

Background

In order to solve the problem that traditional bicycle locks such as D-shaped locks are not easy to store, integrated locks for fixedly locking the locks to the bicycle body are known. In addition, there are also known hidden locks that store locks inside the frame or the front fork tube. The user can rotate the exposed lock core by means of a key and the like to drive the lock tongue to lock and unlock.

However, most of the current hidden locks employ a lock tongue penetrating through the front fork tube and the head tube to prevent the front fork tube or the faucet from rotating when locking. However, in the above-mentioned hidden lock, the head tube and the front fork tube must be provided with through holes concentrically arranged for the bolt to pass through. In addition, there are other similar lock devices, in which the lock tongue passes through the front fork tube to drive the tooth-shaped element arranged between the head tube and the front fork tube, and the connected and disconnected state of the lock tongue is used to control the linkage mode between the head tube and the front fork tube. Each of the aforementioned designs, however, must also mandate destructive modifications of the bicycle, such as welding, drilling, etc., by the modification industry, but are difficult and expensive to install and, once subjected to destructive modifications, negatively impact the structural strength of the bicycle and the price in the secondary market.

Furthermore, there is also known a lock device, which is provided with a positioning sleeve, the top surface of which is provided with a plurality of blind holes, which are provided at the end of the head tube of the original bicycle. When the annular lock is installed, a user locks the annular lock above the positioning sleeve through screws, so that the vertical distance between the annular lock and the positioning ring can be maintained, and meanwhile, the positioning sleeve can independently rotate relative to the annular lock. When in use, the front fork tube penetrates into the hollow part of the annular lock and is fixed with the annular lock; when the lock is in the unlocking state, the annular lock and the positioning ring can move mutually, and the front fork tube and the head tube can rotate mutually. When the lock is in an locked state, the annular lock above the lock can extend out of the lock tongue towards the positioning hole and is clamped into the positioning hole of the positioning sleeve to prevent the front fork tube from rotating relative to the head tube. However, in order to ensure that the positioning ring cannot rotate along with the positioning ring, the head pipe needs to be modified destructively, so that a plurality of tooth-shaped grooves are cut on the end face of the head pipe for the positioning ring to be embedded into, and the fixing position of the positioning ring is ensured. Accordingly, the problems of difficult installation and destructive modification of the existing hidden lock can not be solved.

In summary, in the design of the known hidden faucet lock, a lock tongue penetrating through the front fork tube and the head tube simultaneously or a tooth-shaped element between the head tube and the front fork tube is adopted to block the rotation of the front fork tube or the faucet relative to the head tube to achieve the locking effect, the front fork tube or the head tube of the bicycle is required to be customized or destructively modified for installation, and the installation process is complicated, so that the hidden faucet lock is difficult to popularize in the parts market (also known as after-sale market or after-market).

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a concealed bicycle lock system and a method for installing the same that allows a user to complete installation in a simple process without having to destructively modify the bicycle. Taking one of the feasible designs of the hidden bicycle lock system of the invention as an example, the aim of locking is achieved not by combining the head pipe with the front fork pipe or the faucet, but unlocking and locking effects are achieved by controlling the linkage or non-linkage state of the faucet and the front fork pipe, and only the faucet needs to be disassembled to expose the front fork pipe when being installed; embedding the connecting piece into the front fork tube; the connecting piece is locked in the front fork tube by a fastener; inserting a lower shaft of a bicycle lock into a front fork tube and expanding the front fork tube; then the faucet is sleeved into the upper rotating shaft of the bicycle lock to be locked, and the installation of the hidden bicycle lock can be completed. The lock system installation process is simple and does not need to carry out destructive modification to the bicycle.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a concealed bicycle lock system, comprising: a connector, comprising: a side plate; the base plate is arranged on the inner side of the lower end of the side plate and is provided with a lock hole; the cantilever is arranged on the outer side of the upper end of the side plate and used for limiting the displacement of a head pipe of the bicycle relative to a front fork pipe in the direction vertical to the pipe diameter of the head pipe; the fastener is used for locking the base plate of the connecting piece in the front fork tube of the bicycle through the lock hole; the lockset comprises an upper rotating shaft and a lower rotating shaft, and the lower rotating shaft comprises an expansion mechanism; when the base plate is fixed in the front fork tube by the fastener, the side plate covers one part of the inner side wall of the front fork tube, and the expanding mechanism can be abutted and fixed on the other part of the inner side wall which is not covered by the side plate when expanding.

In any of the above-mentioned hidden bicycle lock systems, the connecting piece includes a plurality of side plates, and the lower extreme of a plurality of side plates is connected with the base plate respectively, and the outside of the upper end of a plurality of side plates is equipped with the cantilever respectively, has defined an at least passageway between a plurality of side plates, and the passageway has two side direction openings, and two side direction openings are used for supplying expansion mechanism to pass through when expanding. The plurality of suspension arms of the connecting piece are surrounded with annular openings, and the outline of each annular opening corresponds to the outline of the lower rotating shaft.

In any of the above hidden bicycle lock systems, an upper spindle and a lower spindle of the lock are connected through the lock body, the upper spindle is used for being connected to and interlocked with a handlebar of the bicycle, and the lower spindle is used for being connected to and interlocked with a front fork tube of the bicycle; the lock comprises a locking state and an unlocking state; when the lock is in an unlocked state, the upper rotating shaft is linked with the lower rotating shaft.

In any of the above-mentioned hidden bicycle lock systems, the expanding mechanism includes an upper expanding member and a lower expanding member, the upper expanding member and the lower expanding member are connected via an inclined interface, the end surface of the upper rotating shaft exposes out of the end of the driving member, the driving member is connected with the lower expanding member, and the lower expanding member is displaced along the inclined interface relative to the upper expanding member by rotating the driving member, so that the lower rotating shaft can be expanded and moved in the horizontal direction to control the expansion and contraction of the expanding mechanism.

In any one of the hidden bicycle lock systems described above, the upper expansion member includes a front curved surface, the lower expansion member includes a rear curved surface, the upper expansion member and the lower expansion member are respectively provided with a vertical cross section corresponding to the side plate, the upper expansion member is used for being connected with the inner side wall of one side of the front fork tube through the front curved surface, and the lower expansion member is used for being connected with the inner side wall of the other side of the front fork tube through the rear curved surface.

In any of the above-mentioned hidden bicycle lock systems, the front fork tube further comprises a gasket for sleeving the end of the front fork tube so that the end of the front fork tube is lower than the gasket; in addition, the cantilever of the connecting member is used for fitting with the gasket.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for installing a concealed bicycle lock system, comprising the steps of: a lockset preparation step: providing any of the above-described concealed bicycle lock systems; the bicycle preparation steps are as follows: providing a bicycle, which comprises a head pipe and a front fork pipe, wherein the head pipe is rotatably sleeved outside the front fork pipe; a connecting piece arranging step: embedding the substrate of the connecting piece into the front fork tube; locking the connecting piece: the connecting piece is locked in the front fork tube by a base plate through a fastener, and the plurality of cantilevers are positioned outside the front fork tube and connected with the head tube so as to limit the displacement of the head tube relative to the front fork tube in the direction vertical to the tube diameter of the head tube; a lockset arranging step: putting a lower rotating shaft of a lockset into the front fork tube; and a lock locking step: the expanding mechanism of the lower rotating shaft is horizontally expanded, and the expanding mechanism is supported on the inner side wall of the front fork tube which is not covered by the side plate, so that the lower rotating shaft is linked with the front fork tube.

The lock preparation step in any of the aforementioned installation methods of a concealed bicycle lock system further comprises a washer preparation sub-step: providing at least one gasket; the mounting method further comprises a gasket seating step of: sleeving at least one gasket at the tail end of the front fork tube so that the tail end of the front fork tube is lower than the gasket; wherein the gasket preparation substep and the gasket setting step are completed before the connector setting step is started, and in the connector locking step, the plurality of cantilevers are connected to the head pipe through at least one gasket.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Drawings

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views of a first embodiment of a locking system of the present invention in an exploded and engaged state, respectively;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a lock in a first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of a connector in a first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention;

FIG. 4A is a schematic view of the relative relationship between the joint of the head tube and the front fork tube of the bicycle;

FIG. 4B shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the locking system of the present invention with the disassembly step completed;

FIG. 4C shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the locking system of the present invention with the washer setting step and the link setting step completed;

FIG. 4D shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention with the lock placement step completed;

FIG. 4E shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention upon completion of the faucet installation step;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic views of a portion of the components of the second and third embodiments of the locking system of the present invention, respectively, after the connector placement step is completed;

fig. 6A and 6B are schematic views of a lock system according to a first embodiment of the present invention before and after a lock locking step is completed.

Detailed Description

The foregoing and other technical and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following, more particular, description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Directional terms as referred to in the following examples, for example: the terms upper, lower, left, right, front, rear, top, bottom, side, etc. are used to describe the relative relationship of the elements and their designs, and are not intended to limit the method of use of the present invention.

Briefly, in one embodiment, a concealed bicycle lock system (hereinafter referred to as a "lock system") is disclosed. The lock system comprises a lock, wherein the lock is provided with an upper rotating shaft and a lower rotating shaft, and the upper rotating shaft is used for being linked with a handle through a faucet; the lower rotating shaft is embedded into the front fork tube and then is propped against the inner side wall of the front fork tube so as to be linked with the front wheel. When the lock is in an locked state, the upper rotating shaft and the lower rotating shaft are not linked, and a user cannot control the front wheel to rotate by rotating the handle, so that the anti-theft effect that the user cannot normally ride is achieved. Furthermore, through the fixed mode that the lower rotating shaft of the lockset expands in the front fork tube, the lockset can be simply installed by a user on the premise of not destructively modifying the bicycle.

However, if the lower shaft of the lock is directly inserted into the front fork tube and expanded to be fixed, there is a possibility that the front fork tube is displaced vertically with respect to the head tube after the lock is installed due to a vertical gap between the front fork tube and the head tube during installation, which may affect the riding experience. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, before the lock is installed, the front fork tube disposed in the head tube is pressed upward by the connecting member, so that the front fork tube and the head tube are tightly combined, and then the lock is installed in the front fork tube from the upper opening thereof, thereby ensuring that the front fork does not move up and down relative to the head tube and shake after the lock is installed.

Detailed design of the lock system will be described below, please refer to fig. 1A and 1B, and fig. 1A and 1B respectively show the exploded state and the combined state of the first embodiment of the lock system according to the present invention.

First, it should be emphasized that the bicycle and its parts mentioned in this specification, for example, the handlebar B1, the handlebar cover B2, the screw B3, the handlebar B4, the front fork B5, the headset B6, the head tube B7, the plum blossom piece B8, the front wheel B9 and other parts existing in the bicycle at the time of factory shipment, are only used for assisting in expressing the design of the lock system 1 itself and its using method, and do not represent that the lock system 1 includes any part existing in the bicycle.

As shown in fig. 1A, in the present embodiment, the lock system 1 includes a connecting member 10, a fastening member 20, a lock 30, a plurality of washers 40, and a screw 50. The cross-sectional views in the following figures are taken along the reference line of the section A-A in FIG. 1B.

Referring to fig. 2 together, fig. 2 is a perspective view of a lock according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The lock 30 is used for connecting and interlocking with a tap B4 and a front fork tube B5 of a bicycle, and the interlocking of the tap B4 and the front fork tube B5 is adjusted by switching the locking and unlocking states of the lock 30, so that the purpose of limiting the use is achieved. The lock 30 may alternatively be an electronic lock or a mechanical lock. In the first embodiment, the lock 30 is an electronic lock. As can be seen, the lock 30 comprises at least a housing 33, an upper spindle 31, a lower spindle 32 and a transmission member 34. The housing 33 serves as a lock body, and the upper spindle 31 and the lower spindle 32 are connected in the lock body and respectively extend out from the upper side and the lower side thereof. When the lock 30 is in the locked state, the upper rotating shaft 31 and the lower rotating shaft 32 are not interlocked, and when the lock 30 is in the unlocked state, the upper rotating shaft 31 and the lower rotating shaft 32 are interlocked. In an embodiment, the upper rotating shaft 31 and the lower rotating shaft 32 can be linked by using, for example, a lock tongue to link the upper rotating shaft 31 and the lower rotating shaft 32, but not limited thereto, and the upper rotating shaft 31 and the lower rotating shaft 32 can also be adjusted by using respective structures such as a stepped structure, a tooth-like structure, and the like to match the vertical movement of the upper rotating shaft 31 and the lower rotating shaft 32, and the invention does not limit the above.

Referring again to fig. 2 and 4D, fig. 4D includes details of the internal design of the lock. As can be seen, the upper rotating shaft 31 and the lower rotating shaft 32 are hollow cylinders. The lower rotating shaft 32 is provided with an expanding mechanism; alternatively, the portion of the lower shaft 32 exposed from the housing 33 can be divided into two parts, which are referred to as an upper expansion element 321 and a lower expansion element 322 according to their relative positions, and the upper expansion element 321 and the lower expansion element 322 cooperate with the transmission member 34 and the like as the expansion mechanism. The upper expansion piece 321 and the lower expansion piece 322 are respectively provided with a hollow tubular wedge-shaped structure; the lower end surface of the upper expansion piece 321 and the upper end surface of the lower expansion piece 322 are respectively provided with an inclined surface and can be connected through an inclined interface 32A. The slopes of the two aforementioned slopes are similar. In addition, in this embodiment, the through hole inside the upper expansion member 321 is larger than the outer diameter of the transmission member 34.

Please refer to fig. 4D, fig. 6A and fig. 6B together. The relative positions of the elements of the expansion mechanism of the lock in the converging and expanding positions can be seen in fig. 6A and 6B. As can be seen, the driving member 34 is a long screw having an outer thread at its end. The transmission member 34 penetrates through the upper rotating shaft 31 and the upper expanding member 321 of the lower rotating shaft 32 at the same time, and is locked with the inner thread of the lower expanding member 322 by the outer thread at the end of the transmission member 34. The upper opening 31A of the upper rotating shaft 31 exposes the end of the transmission member 34, that is, although the transmission member 34 is embedded in the upper rotating shaft 31, the upper end surface of the transmission member 34 can communicate with the outside through the upper opening 31A of the upper rotating shaft 31. Thus, when the expanding mechanism needs to be expanded, the user can use a tool to rotate the transmission member 34 through the upper opening 31A of the upper rotating shaft 31 to drive the lower expanding member 322 to press the upper expanding member 321. Since the through hole in the upper expansion member 321 is larger than the outer diameter of the transmission member 34, the transmission member 34 can be shifted or tilted to some extent in the upper expansion member 321 when the lower expansion member 322 is pressed upwards, and the lower expansion member 322 is allowed to displace to some extent along the tilted interface 32A to the upper expansion member 321, thereby controlling the expansion of the expansion mechanism and allowing the lower shaft 32 to move and expand in the horizontal direction, as a result, as depicted in fig. 6B. Conversely, the user can control the convergence of the expansion mechanism by rotating the transmission member 34 in the opposite direction, as depicted in FIG. 6A. Besides the examples of the expanding mechanism mentioned in the previous examples, other known mechanisms or elements that can achieve similar fixing effects can be used, and the invention is not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 shows a schematic view of a connector in a first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention. The connecting member 10 is used to press the front fork tube B5 and the head tube B7 of the bicycle against each other and limit the vertical displacement between them, so as to prevent the lock 30 from shaking due to the gap between the head tube B7 and the front fork tube B5 after being fixed to the front fork tube B5.

In the first embodiment, the whole of the connector 10 can be manufactured by stamping process and integrally formed (One piece formed) from a single sheet metal material, i.e. the thickness of the connector 10 is substantially the same everywhere. However, the same is not limited thereto, and the connecting member 10 may be manufactured by casting or welding a plurality of pieces, if necessary. In the present embodiment, the main body of the connecting member 10 is substantially U-shaped, and the connecting member 10 includes two side plates 11, a base plate 12 and two suspension arms 13. The two side plates 11 are respectively in a long rectangular shape and are arranged in parallel, the lower ends of the two side plates 11 are connected through a base plate 12 which is positioned on the common inner side of the two side plates, the outer side of the upper end of each side plate 11 is respectively provided with a cantilever 13, and the cantilever 13 is formed by bending and extending outwards from the edge of the upper end of the side plate 11. The two cantilevers 13 are half-moon shaped and located at the same height and surround the annular opening 10B. However, since the connecting member 10 in this embodiment is formed by stamping a single metal plate and symmetrically bending, two notches may be formed on two sides of the annular opening 10B, which does not affect the use of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a channel 10A is defined between two parallel side plates 11, and two ends of the channel 10A have lateral openings that are not blocked by the side plates 11. The substrate 12 is provided with a lock hole 12A penetrating the substrate 12.

The connector 10 of the present invention is not limited to the above design, and in another embodiment, the connector 10 can omit one of the side plates 11 and one of the cantilevers 13 in the above design to achieve a similar effect, and at this time, the cantilevers 13 can be maintained in a circular shape or any other shape, which is not limited by the present invention. However, in the design of the single side plate 11 and the cantilever 13, the material selection and thickness of the connecting member 10 can be adjusted accordingly to ensure the strength. If necessary, the cantilever 13 may also be modified correspondingly, as shown in fig. 5B, which will be described later.

Fastener 20(fastener) refers to a mechanical component or kit that mechanically secures or bonds two or more components together, and fastener 20 may be, for example, a screw, a threaded rod, a nut, or the like, or a combination thereof. In the present embodiment, the fastener 20 is a screw.

The gasket 40 is a hollow annular cylinder. In the embodiment, the washer 40 is made of metal, and the upper and lower end surfaces thereof are horizontal and flat, and the contour of the inner ring thereof is slightly larger than or equal to the outer contour of the front fork B5 near the end and corresponds to the shape of the end surface of the headset B6, so that the washer 40 can be sleeved outside the end of the front fork B5 and is disposed on the upper surface of the headset B6.

The method of installing the concealed bicycle lock system of the present invention will be described below.

Referring to fig. 1A, fig. 1B and fig. 4A, fig. 4A is a schematic view of a relative relationship between a head tube and a front fork tube of a bicycle. Some elements are shown in phantom to emphasize features of the figures. When the lock system is initially installed, a bicycle preparation step S0 and a lock preparation step S1 are performed to prepare the bicycle and the aforementioned lock system 1, respectively. In the present embodiment, the lock preparation step S1 includes a washer preparation sub-step S11.

In the present embodiment, the bicycle required to be prepared in the bicycle preparation step S0 includes a frame (frame) and a front fork (fork). The front end of the frame is provided with a hollow head pipe B7(head tube), an opening at the upper end of the head pipe B7 is embedded with a head bowl group B6 (also called head bowls or head parts), a turntable bearing is arranged in the head bowl group B6, so that when foreign objects such as a faucet B4 are pressed above the turntable bearing, the head pipe B7 can still effectively rotate relative to the foreign objects.

In addition, the front fork of the bicycle is in an inverted Y shape and comprises two lower tubes and an upper tube. Two lower tubes are used for pivoting the front wheel B9, and an upper tube is used for connecting with the tap B4. The aforementioned upper tube is commonly referred to in the industry as a fork riser or fork standpipe, hereinafter referred to as fork B5. The front fork B5 is a hollow tubular structure, and a metallic internally threaded tubular fastener is fixed in the front fork B5, which is referred to in the industry as a quincunx (Star Fangled Nut) B8, and the quincunx B8 is forcibly driven from the upper opening of the front fork B5 and fixed at a specific depth in the front fork B5. The central portion of the quincunx B8 has a screw hole through which an external member can be coupled and fixed to the front fork B5.

As shown in the figure, the head tube B7 is rotatably sleeved outside the front fork tube B5, and the front fork tube B5 penetrates through the head tube B7 and the headset B6 at the tail end thereof, so that the top end of the front fork tube B5 penetrates out of the head tube B7 and is partially exposed out of the head tube B7 to be clamped by a clamp-shaped structure at the tail end of the faucet B4 (stem). And the other end of tap B4 is fixed to handle B1 (handlebar).

The tap cover B2 has a through hole for passing the screw B3 through the tap cover B2 and locking with the thread of the peach slice in the front fork tube B5 and converging, and pressing the tap B4 on the upper opening of the front fork tube B5. Thus, the upper opening of the front fork tube B5 is effectively covered while the tap B4 is fixed. During riding, the user turns handle B1, and through tap B4, front fork tube B5 and front wheel B9 are rotated relative to head tube B7, thereby completing the turn.

After the bicycle and the lock system 1 are both prepared, the disassembling step S3 is performed. In the disassembling step S3, the screw B3 of the bicycle is firstly rotated away from the tap cover B2, and the tap cover B2 is removed after the screw B3 is separated from the quincunx sheet B8 of the front fork tube B5; faucet B4 is then removed from front fork B5 along with handle B1 to expose the end of front fork B5, the result of which is shown in FIG. 4B. Fig. 4B shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention when the disassembling step S3 is completed. During the process, the handle B1 does not need to be disassembled from the tap B4.

Next, the user performs the washer setting step S4, looking at the height of the front fork B5 relative to the head tube B7. At this time, the user sees the height of the front fork tube B5 exposed from the head tube B7 to determine that one or more washers 40 are sleeved outside the end of the front fork tube B5, so that the height of the end of the front fork tube B5 is slightly lower than the height of the top surface of the washer 40. That is, the front fork B5 is buried under the washer 40. At this time, the bottom surface of the lowermost washer 40 is connected or in contact with the headset B6.

Subsequently, a link setting step S5 is performed to insert one end of the link 10 opposite to the base plate 12 from the upper opening of the front fork B5 into the interior of the front fork B5 until the respective cantilever arms 13 of the link 10 contact the washer 40, at which time the base plate 12 is suspended in the front fork B5. The length of the side plate 11 of the connecting member 10 is slightly shorter than the depth of the plum blossom plate B8, so that the base plate 12 of the connecting member 10 keeps a certain distance from the plum blossom plate B8 after the connecting member 10 is completely installed.

Then, a connector locking step S6 is performed to lock the connector 10 with the base plate 12 in the front fork tube B5 by the fastener 20, as shown in fig. 4C, where fig. 4C is a schematic diagram illustrating the washer positioning step S4 and the connector positioning step S5 in the first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention.

More specifically, after inserting the connector 10, the user can use a screwdriver to insert into the annular opening 10B of the connector 10 and rotate the fastener 20, so that the fastener 20 passes through the locking hole 12A of the base 12 and engages with the screw teeth of the plum-blossom-shaped piece B8 in the front fork B5. At this time, the fastener 20 is further rotated to pull and lock the front fork tube B5 toward the upper opening of the front fork tube B5. Thus, the front fork tube B5 is tightly coupled to the head tube B7, and the displacement of the head tube B7 relative to the front fork tube B5 in the vertical direction D1 is restricted, and the vertical shaking of the two is prevented. The aforementioned perpendicular direction D1 can be understood as a direction perpendicular to the tube diameter of the head tube B7. In the present embodiment, the vertical direction D1 corresponds to the Z-axis of the coordinate system, and the horizontal direction corresponds to the X-axis and the Y-axis.

On the other hand, although the washer 40 is pressed by the cantilever 13, the headset B6 between the washer 40 and the head pipe B7 includes a swivel bearing, so that the front fork B5 and the head pipe B7 can relatively rotate in a single axial direction with a single degree of freedom.

However, in some cases, the gasket preparation substep S11 and the gasket setting step S4 may be omitted. For example, referring to fig. 5A, fig. 5A is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention, which differs from fig. 4C in that fig. 5A employs a different design of the connecting member 10. More specifically, when the dimensions of the front fork tube B5 and the head tube B7 of the bicycle are known, the cantilever arm 13 of the connecting member 10 can be correspondingly adjusted, lengthened, and folded down to directly support the end of the cantilever arm 13 against the headset B6 after the connecting member assembling step, so that the washer 40 can be omitted to achieve the effect similar to the mutual pressing of the front fork tube B5 and the head tube B7 in the first embodiment.

Still alternatively, when the present invention is applied to the bicycle as shown in fig. 5B, since the top end surface of the front fork tube B5 is lower than the top end surface of the headset B6, the cantilever 13 of the connecting member 10 can directly abut against the top end of the headset B6 during the connecting member placing step S5, thereby omitting the washer 40 to achieve the effect similar to the first embodiment in which the front fork tube B5 and the head tube B7 are pressed against each other.

As will be described with reference to fig. 4C, after ensuring that the front fork B5 has been securely and tightly connected to the head tube B7, a lock positioning step S7 can be performed to pass the lower shaft 32 of the lock 30 through the annular opening 10B between the arms 13 of the link 10, into the upper opening of the front fork B5 and into the interior of the front fork B5 until the lock 30 cannot move down any further. As shown in fig. 4D, fig. 4D shows a schematic view of the first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention when the lock positioning step S7 is completed. In application, various elements such as adhesive or gasket can be selectively disposed between the housing 33 of the lock 30 and the cantilever 13 of the connecting member 10, which is not limited in the present invention.

Referring to fig. 6A and 6B together, the relative positions of the lower shaft 32, the connecting member 10, the fastener 20, and the spline B8 in the front fork B5 of the lock system can be seen. In addition, the actuation directions of the elements of FIGS. 6A and 6B may be linked to FIG. 4D by reference to their X-Y-Z axes. As can be seen, upon completion of the lock setting step S7, the lower spindle 32 of the lock 30 is located inside the front fork B5. The two side plates 11 of the connecting member 10 cover a part of the inner side wall of the front fork tube B5 relative to the lower rotating shaft 32, and the other part of the inner side wall of the front fork tube B5 corresponding to the two lateral openings of the passage 10A between the two side plates 11 is not covered yet. The front curved surface 321A of the upper expansion piece 321 and the rear curved surface 322A of the lower expansion piece 322 of the lower rotating shaft 32 respectively face the inner side walls of the two sides of the front fork tube B5 corresponding to the lateral openings; the vertical sections 321B, 322B on both sides of the upper expansion piece 321 and the lower expansion piece 322 respectively face the two side plates 11 of the connecting member 10 and are substantially parallel to each other.

It should be noted that, in an embodiment, the connecting member 10 is formed by stamping, before stamping, the side plate 11 and the cantilever 13 of the connecting member 10 are in a flat plate-like structure, and during stamping, the machine bends the side plate 11 relative to the cantilever 13 to form a right-angled bent portion between the side plate 11 and the cantilever 13, and the bent portion is a straight edge. Accordingly, the lower shaft 32 of the lock 30 correspondingly includes two vertical sections 321B, 322B to correspond to the shape of the annular opening 10B to ensure that the lower shaft 32 can smoothly enter the front fork B5. The top of the vertical section 321B of the lower rotating shaft 32 is provided with a stepped shoulder 321C, and the lock 30 is supported above the connecting member 10 by the shoulder 30.

Referring to fig. 6A and fig. 6B together, a perspective view of a part of the components of the lock before and after the lock locking step S8 in the first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention is shown. At the beginning of the lock locking step S8, the user can use a tool to extend into the upper opening 31A of the upper rotating shaft 31 to rotate the transmission member 34, so that the lower expansion element 322 of the lower rotating shaft 32 moves and expands along the inclined interface 32A relative to the upper expansion element 321, i.e. the state of fig. 6A changes to the state of fig. 6B; at this time, the front curved surface 321A of the upper expansion piece 321 and the rear curved surface 321A of the lower expansion piece 322 respectively penetrate through the two lateral openings of the connecting piece 10 and are abutted and fixed on the inner side wall of the front fork tube B5 which is not covered by the side plate 11, so that the lower rotating shaft 32 is linked with the front fork tube B5. Conversely, the interlocking state of the lower shaft 32 and the front fork B5, that is, the state in fig. 6B may be changed back to the state in fig. 6A by adjusting the rotational direction of the tool so that the lower spreader 322 converges with the upper spreader 321.

Next, a faucet assembling step S9 is performed. The tap assembling step S9 is to clamp the tap B4 to the outside of the upper turning shaft 31 of the lock 30, and then connect the screw threads at the ends of the tap cover B2 and the upper turning shaft 31 with the screws 50 attached to the lock system 1, thereby completing the installation of the tap cover B2 and the tap B4. In another embodiment, the original tap cover B2 can be replaced by another tap cover (not shown) prepared in the lock system 1 and not provided with through holes, and the screw threads built inside the tap cover are locked on the internal screw threads at the end of the upper rotating shaft 31 to fix the tap B4; or the faucet B4 is fixed at the end of the upper rotating shaft 31 by gluing or other means to achieve the effect of the original faucet cover B2, thereby omitting the screw 50, and further simplifying the installation process. Thus, the installation of the concealed bicycle lock system 1 of the present invention is completed, as shown in fig. 1A, 1B and 4E, and fig. 4E is a schematic view of the first embodiment of the lock system of the present invention when the faucet assembling step S9 is completed.

Finally, it is emphasized that the scope of the present invention and its equivalents of the disclosed bicycle lock system and its installation method include, but are not limited to, the examples of implementation, and that the components and steps of the present invention disclosed in the above embodiments are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and other equivalents and steps may be substituted or modified and are intended to be covered by the claims of the present application.