Technical field

The present invention relates to a bicycle saddle.

Background Art

Typically, in a bicycle saddle for racing bikes, mountain bikes, city bikes and the like, there are four parts: the frame, the shell, the padding and the cover, of which the frame and the shell have a structural function.

The frame is usually made from tubing or from solid bars of a metal, ranging from steel to titanium alloys, but it is also possible to find solutions in carbon fiber.

These metal tubes or bars are bent so as to assume the usual triangular shape of the frame, which makes it possible to support the shell by means of the support and fixing points, normally one front point and two rear points.

By means of the frame, the saddle is fixed to the seat post and the region where the frame has two parallel tubes is called the seat rails, and it is the region that, by resting on the seat post, makes it possible for the saddle to be fixed in the position that is best for the cyclist.

The frames generally used today are, as noted, those made from tubing which is made by extrusion and then bent into shape.

Such a frame of the known type, although widespread and appreciated, has some aspects that can be improved.

A first one of these aspects concerns the speed of bending the tubing, which has to respect limits imposed by the risks of stretching the outer curve sections at the yield strength.

A second one of these aspects that can be improved is linked to the cross-sectional profile of the tubing, which obviously is constantly circular. Adopting the tube for making a frame for a saddle consequently involves limits from the point of view of design, since the rounded shape of the saddle frame cannot be diverged from at any point thereof.

Furthermore, as far as advanced ultralight materials are concerned, a saddle frame made of steel tubing or titanium alloy tubing makes its weight felt in a sector, i.e. cycling, where even the 'standard' purchaser, i.e. the purchaser who is not particularly conversant with the technical issues of the sector, is still very attentive to the overall weight of the bicycle.

Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to provide a bicycle saddle that is capable of overcoming the above-mentioned drawbacks of similar saddles of a known type.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a bicycle saddle that can be implemented faster than saddles with frames of bent tubing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bicycle saddle that is lighter than similar saddles made of bent tubing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bicycle saddle that can be made with a greater margin for creativity in terms of design.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bicycle saddle that is at least as comfortable and at least as strong as the saddles of the known type.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bicycle saddle that can be mounted on seat posts of the known type without particular and demanding modifications.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bicycle saddle that can be made at low cost using known systems and technologies.

This aim and this object, as well as others which will become more evident hereinafter, are achieved by a bicycle saddle, of the type comprising a frame for supporting a shell, characterized in that said frame is constituted by plate-shaped portions that extend substantially in the direction of the length of the shell, said frame being provided by pressing and bending a single piece of metal plate.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of two preferred, but not exclusive, embodiments of the bicycle saddle according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is an end elevation view of a bicycle saddle according to the invention in a first embodiment thereof;

Figure 2 is an end elevation view of a frame of a bicycle saddle according to the invention;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the frame in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a frame of a bicycle saddle according to the invention in a second embodiment thereof.

Ways of carrying out the Invention

With reference to the figures, a bicycle saddle according to the invention is designated, in the first embodiment thereof, with the reference numeral 10.

The bicycle saddle 10 is of the type comprising a frame 11 for supporting a shell 12, the shell 12 being of a type that is known per se and made of a plastic material or other special material that is similar and equivalent.

The distinctive characteristic of the invention consists in that the frame 11 is constituted by plate-shaped portions 17, 18 and 19 that extend substantially in the direction of the length of the shell 12, and in the fact that the frame 11 is made by pressing and bending a single piece of metal plate, and not from bent metal tubing.

The frame 11 exemplified here, like known frames made of bent tubing, has three points where it supports and is fixed to the shell 12, a first front point 13 and two symmetrical rear points 14, each one of which is designed to be inserted in a corresponding seat 15 and 16 which are provided under the shell 12, as shown in the sectional view in Figure 2.

It should be understood that the frame 11 can have at least one fixing point and at least three support points for a shell, a first front point and two symmetrical rear points, with the support points distinct from the fixing points.

For the purposes of example, what is described here is an embodiment of the invention that has three support points 13, 14 and 14a each of which coincides with one of the fixing points, thus defining the above-mentioned front point 13 and the two rear points 14 and 14a.

The frame 11 , in the embodiment described here for the purposes of non-limiting example of the invention, has two lateral portions 17 and 18, which are plate-shaped and extend substantially in the direction of the length of the shell 12 and at right angles to the average arrangement of the shell 12, and these lateral portions 17 and 19 join at the front, at their respective front ends 17a and 18a, so as to define the first fixing point 13 at the front.

The lateral portions 17 and 18 diverge rearward so that each one defines one of the two aforementioned rear fixing points 14 and 14a, as shown in Figure 3.

The two lateral portions 17 and 18 are monolithic with a central portion 19.

The lateral portions 17 and 18 and the central portion 19 have lightening cutouts 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 which make it possible to lighten the frame 11 without structurally weakening it.

In this way, by careful design of these openings 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 it is possible to provide a frame 11 that is lighter than a similar frame made of bent tubing.

In a second embodiment of a bicycle saddle according to the invention, the frame, designated with 111 in Figure 4, has, monolithically, a front portion 130, a central portion 131 and a rear portion 132, which are plate-shaped and extend substantially parallel to the average arrangement of the shell, and not at right angles to it as in the first embodiment described above. The front portion 130 defines the first front fixing point 113, and the rear portion 132 is splayed into two symmetrical tangs 133a and 133b each of which defines a second rear fixing point 114 and 114a.

The front 130, central 131 and rear 132 portions have openings 135, 136 and 137 respectively, to lighten the frame 111.

Furthermore, the central portion 136 has lateral reinforcement folds

138.

It should be noted that these reinforcement folds can also be executed on the front portion 130 and rear portion 132 of the frame, or on more than one of the front, central and rear portions, not only in a longitudinal direction, but also in a transversal direction, and in other directions, with the aim of strengthening the frame 111 itself.

The invention also relates to a method for making a frame 11 according to the invention.

This method for making a frame for bicycle saddles involves the following operations:

- shaping a portion of metal plate ribbon and providing lightening openings therein;

- bending this portion of metal plate ribbon, so as to make the finished frame 11 or 111.

In practice it has been found that the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects.

In particular, with the invention a bicycle saddle is provided that is faster to make than saddles with frames of bent tubing, since it is made by pressing and bending a single piece of metal plate, which, with one or a few steps in a press, can be obtained from a strip of metal ribbon.

Furthermore, with the invention a bicycle saddle is provided which is lighter than similar saddles made of bent tubing, thanks to the lightening cutouts that are practicable and achievable on the frame.

Furthermore, with the invention a bicycle saddle is provided which can be made with a greater margin for creativity in terms of design, since the shape of the frame with its folds and its cutouts can combine mechanical strength and ample possibilities for design.

Furthermore, with the invention a bicycle saddle is provided that is at least as comfortable and at least as strong as the saddles of the known type, the frame being capable of being adapted to shells of a type known per se and therefore of established comfort.

Furthermore, with the invention a bicycle saddle is provided which can be mounted on a seat post of a known type without particular and demanding modifications.

In addition, with the invention a bicycle saddle is provided which can be made at low cost with metal ribbon pressing and cutting systems of a known type.

The invention, thus conceived, is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, all the details may be substituted by other, technically equivalent elements.

In practice the materials employed, and the contingent dimensions and shapes, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. PD2010A000195 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, such reference signs have been inserted for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.