The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 28, 1995
Filed:
Sep. 07, 1993
Gerald M Stewart, Camarillo, CA (US);
E Douglas Bradbury, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Manitou Mountain Bikes, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a precision suspension fork for bicycles. The fork utilizes a telescoping suspension system for each of its fork legs. The telescoping suspension system includes an outer tube, an inner tube slidably engaged with the outer tube, and a compression rod slidably engaged with the inner tube. The compression rod has a compression flange and a spaced apart rebound flange at a first end, and a positive stop clip at a location adjacent to, but spaced apart from an opposite second end. The suspension system also includes a compression elastomer assembly positioned between a first end of the inner tube and the compression flange of the compression rod to provide a compressive damping force when the outer and inner tubes are compressed from a balanced condition, a rebound elastomer assembly positioned between the rebound flange of the compression rod and an opposite second end of the inner tube to provide a rebound damping force when the outer and inner tubes are extended from the balanced condition, and a second stage elastomer assembly positioned between the second end of the inner tube and the positive stop clip to provide a secondary compressive damping force when the inner tube crushes into the outer tube. An adjuster assembly is further provided to fine-tune the preload on the compression elastomers. The present invention also provides a method of quick conversion between standard and long travel configurations by modifying the configurations of the compression and rebound elastomer assemblies correspondingly.