New Shimano rear hub?

On page 16 of the hard copy edition of Mar 15 BRAIN there is an item about a new Shimano patent
(#6,497,314). If I understand it right, when you release the QR and pull the skewer part way out,
the hub body seperates from the cassette. When you remove the hub in this manner, the cassette stays
attached to the right dropout. There is a splined piece that connects the hub and cassette when
everthing is locked down.

They say it allows easier gear changes. I would think it would also allow easier spoke replacement
as well. I can't tell where the freewheel mechanism is; whether it is in the hub body or in the
cassette body.

These kind of hubs have come and gone several times over the years, but never caught on. I suppose
they are more expensive. Seems like a good idea to me. I once had a Maillard Helicomatic hub that
allowed easy removal of the cogset.

They also have a new patent on a freewheel that allows the use of cogs down to 11 teeth.

John Riley

 

John Riley <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> On page 16 of the hard copy edition of Mar 15 BRAIN there is an item about a new Shimano patent
> (#6,497,314). If I understand it right, when you release the QR and pull the skewer part way out,
> the hub body seperates from the cassette. When you remove the hub in this manner, the cassette
> stays attached to the right dropout. There is a splined piece that connects the hub and cassette
> when everthing is locked down.
>

I can't see how this would be a valid patent. Cinelli Bivalent hubs did this 40 years ago:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Italy/Cinelli_parts.htm Here's the patent itself:
http://tinyurl.com/7xwz

Jeff

 

Given the recent history of the patent office granting patents that obviously shouldn't have been
granted, this may fall into that category.

I don't remember the specifics, but the patent office granted a patent to a company for using
frames in the design of a website where one frame was used to display the navigation links, and
never changed.

In another instance, a patent was granted for using a cookie to store personal information that was
used in subsequent visits to a web site that would allow personalization of the web pages that were
displayed, ala CNN displaying news for your preferred region, or weather.com displaying the weather
in your area by default.

Rob

"Jeff Wills" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> John Riley <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > On page 16 of the hard copy edition of Mar 15 BRAIN there is an item about a new Shimano patent
> > (#6,497,314). If I understand it right, when you release the QR and pull the skewer part way
> > out, the hub body seperates from the cassette. When you remove the hub in this manner, the
> > cassette stays attached to the right dropout. There is a splined piece that connects the hub and
> > cassette when everthing is locked down.
> >
>
> I can't see how this would be a valid patent. Cinelli Bivalent hubs did this 40 years ago:
> http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Italy/Cinelli_parts.htm Here's the patent itself:
> http://tinyurl.com/7xwz
>
>
> Jeff

 

Hell, they granted a patent to a 12 year old boy for the swing, i.e. an entertainment device using a
suspended seat hanging from chains or rope that swung from a crossbar and used gravity to return to
it's starting position. wonder if the "shoe" is available?

 

It was actually for a specific method of swinging in a non-standard (side to side) fashion with
several variants. I tried to find the patent, but was surprised to find that I couldn't. But I have
read it in the past.

Michael Devenis wrote:
> Hell, they granted a patent to a 12 year old boy for the swing, i.e. an entertainment device using
> a suspended seat hanging from chains or rope that swung from a crossbar and used gravity to return
> to it's starting position. wonder if the "shoe" is available?