THEORY: To create a bike crank that would aid in providing a mechanical assist in peddling the bike.
DATE of ORIGIN: April, 2002
DESCRIPTION: This is a telescoping crank arm that chases in and out of a linear bearing. Lengthening the pedal arm to maximum length at the one o’clock position in the pedal stroke. Then tucking in before hitting the bottom of the stroke.
There was patent pending on this idea in June of 2004 in the US. Before the two-year patent pending ran out an application for a full patent was made. The Patent lawyer was working out of NY. It’s standard practice for them to work for a fee as well as a percentage of the patent. But the lawyer sold or transferred his interest in the crank idea to a second lawyer who did the same to a third lawyer. All the delays and transfers took more than the year which allowed for the patent pending expired.
Now that should have been the end of it because once published (as in patent pending) the idea can not be patented under another name. Five years after filling for a full patent they finally answered the application and it was rejected from the US patent office. Some two years earlier the idea had been patented under another name.
1)Building a better crank;
This is still a very good money-making idea. This crank was on a full-scale bike that road around. It made a very impressive difference in the effort required to peddle the bike.
This bike crank reduces the effort to peddle by 20%. That is right! One fifth easier and it does it without you having to think about it.
There was an US. patent pending on this crank design but that did not protect the idea from lawyers. They delayed until the patent pending expired then took out a full US patent under another name. The loss was $8,000.00 US. for the patent pending and another $8,000,00 US. to acquire a full US. patent.
New Bike Crank
2)These are the Patent drawings. This is a hydraulic version;
2)The Original Drawings;
You can see there are both mechanical and hydraulic examples. These were designed so that there would be only one cam on one side of the bike crank such that the cam will not interfere with the drive sprockets.
3)These were the documents that were supposed to protect the idea;
4)This idea belongs to everyone now;
The concept here is in the telescoping crank arm. The idler on the inside of the arm pushes the crank arm back and forth through the linear bearing as it runs around the cam. The cam is off set from the center, forward and up from the center of the crankshaft.
This results in a crank arm that lengthens and shortens from 5 inches on the back stroke to 9 inches on the front stroke in an oval fashion. A typical crank stroke is 7 inches in a circular fashion.
5)Pedals like a regular bike;
The key here is that your foot still goes around in a 14 inch circle. (7+7 or 5+9) so the rider do not know the difference. But the 2 inch advantage on the power stroke results in a 20% advantage. Now that is a good idea that should put 20% more people on bikes.
It was proposed that the cams would be designed in round or oval shapes to maximize the effect of the telescoping arms.
There are so many applications for this crank. From road racing, to mountain biking to all the pedal carts in the South East, China and India.
Hope you enjoy.