Title of Invention

A FOOT REST BRACKET FOR A MOTOR CYCLE

Abstract

A foot rest bracket for a motor cycle, the body of said bracket comprising a front (or root) end, a fork end and a rear end, characterised by inserts provided in the front end and the rear end; ribs provided from fork end to rear end; and a tapered section provided for the rear end, the materia) of said body being moulded out of substances such as herein described, selected from fibres, fibre forms, and fibre orientaticns, tberm 0 setting, therm opJastic resins.

Full Text

This invention relates to a foot rest bracket bracket for a motor cycle. Foot rest bracket in the two wheeler is provided as a support for the pillion rider's leg on either side of the vehicle. The footrest bracket essentially consists of the following: A - Front end or Root B - Fork end C - Rear end The foot rest bracket is mounted on either side of the chassis frame. The pillion rider unfolds the foot pedal to support and rest his leg. The pedal operates with spring force stopper mechanism and can be folded and unfolded as and when required. The lower end of the foot pedal comes in contact with the vertical wall of the fork end when unfolded. The pillion rider's weight is supported by the foot pedal which gets transferred to the foot rest. The foot pedal can be pushed back to vertical position when not in use, The major drawback of the known foot rest bracket which is of steel construction is as follows: Design options are limited to available standard sections Steel gets corroded and results in regular field failures and customer complaints Failure of weld joints for parts in tlie form of tubes, plate and formed sections Steel is heavier and results in heavier part weight Low damping characteristics of steel giving rise to vibrations leading to rider and pillion rider discomfort. Induced vibrations lead to fatigue failures or weld joints. The major drawback with known aluminum alloy construction is as follows: Aluminum alloy used in the automotive industry cannot be welded and weldable aluminum alloy normally used in aircraft and aerospace industry are expensive. Higher material and processing cost. Pressure die casting is prone to impact failures Difficult to optimize the design, because of minimum thickness requirement for the process. Aluminum being isotropic material cannot be used for tailoring of the properties for cross-sectional change based on the loading requirement. Vibrations lead to fatigue failure and field complaints. This invention proposes to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks. In the foot rest bracket for a motor cycle, according to this invention, the body of said bracket comprises a front (or root) end, a fork end and a rear end, characterised by inserts provided in the front end and the rear end; ribs provided from fork end to rear end; and a tapered section provided for the rear end, the material of said body being moulded out of substances such as herein described, selected from fibres, fibre forms, and fibre orientations, tliermosetting, thermoplastic resins. Fhis invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 illustrates tlie foot rest bracket And Fig. 2 illustrates one of possible embodiments of the foot rest bracket proposed herein, by way of example and not by way of limitation. The footrest proposed herein is made of composite material the major ingredients being glass fibres and polyester resin systems. The thickness of the section is more at the root end for improved section modulus and is reduced at the rear end. The glass fibre to resin ratio can be by weight can be varied from 20 % to 85 % depending upon load requirement. Optimised design is selected on tlie basis of number of design iterations carried out with selection of cross sections, rib shape size and connecting pattern from front to rear, variable wall thickness, fibre to resin ratios and resin system. The root end A21 and the fork end B22'are provided with inserts M L and Ml to avoid direct metal contact with bearing surface. Part of the metal insert Ml at the fork end B22 reinforces the vertical wall W to react with the loads transferred from the foot pedal. The inserts may be made of metal or of non-metal. Longitudinal ribs R provide connectivity from fork end to root end. These ribs can be made of varied thicknesses and sections depending upon load considerations. Such ribs may be transversely disposed as V or be of the truss type W as illustrated. The rear end C21 has a tapered section at T. The foot rest bracket proposed herein is made of glass fibres; however it is to be noted that the body may be moulded out of substances selected from fibres, fibre forms, and fibre orientations(unidirectional rovings, chopped strand mat, multi-directional mat) of glass, carbon, Kevlar or a combination thereof; thermosetting resins,such as, epoxy, polyester, vinyl esters and polyurethane; thermoplastic resins, such as, polypropylene, acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene, polyamides. Unlike the existing foot rest brackets which are predominantly made of steel or aluminium the present invention is of light weight composite material. The known foot rest brackets predominantly of metal have frequent problems of corrosion, weld failures, inability to withstand impact load. Since the known designs are made using isotropic materials it is not possible to tailor the material properties for optimised structure. The composites of the present invention are anisotropic in nature and can be tailored by placing the fibres in the loading direction, thus furnishing an option to optimize the footrest bracket. The present invention has the advantage of improved load carrying capacity, fatigue Hfe, impact resistance and absence oaf corrosion. Compared to the known foot rest brackets, the present invention also facilitates the creation of attractive designs with double curvature surfaces. The terms and expressions heron are of description and not of limitation having regard to the scope and ambit of this invention. We Claim A foot rest bracket for a motor cycle, the body of said bracket comprising a front (or root) end, a fork end and a rear end, characterised by inserts provided in the front end and the rear end; ribs Sprovided from fork end to rear end; and a tapered section provided for the rear end, the material of said body being moulded out of substances such as herein described, selected from fibres, fibre forms, and fibre orientations, tliennosetting, thennoplaslic resins. 2. A foot rest bracket as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the inserts are made of metal. 3.A foot rest bracket as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the inserts are made of non-metal. 4. A foot rest bracket as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims wherein the ribs are of the longitudinal type. 5. A foot rest bracket as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims wherein the ribs are of the transverse type. 6. A foot rest bracket as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims wherein the ribs are of tlie truss type. 7. A foot rest bracket as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims wherein the fibres are at least one of the following, namely, glass, carbon, Kevlar. 8. A foot rest bracket as claimed in any rone of the preceding Claims wherein the thermosetting resins are at least one of the following namely, epoxy, polyester, vinyl esters and polyurethane. 9. A foot rest bracket as claimed in any one of tlie preceding Claims wherein the thermoplastic resins comprise at least one of tlie following namely polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene poly amides. 10. A foot rest bracket for a motor cycle substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

1203-che-2004-abstract.pdf

1203-che-2004-claims.pdf

1203-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

1203-che-2004-description(complete).pdf

1203-che-2004-drawings.pdf

1203-che-2004-form 1.pdf

1203-che-2004-form 19.pdf

1203-che-2004-form 26.pdf

EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY.PDF