GB2305031A

GB2305031A - Auto-cancelling arrangement for motorcycle direction indicator lights

Info

Publication number: GB2305031A
Application number: GB9518467A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian Hewerdine
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-09-09
Filing date: 1995-09-09
Publication date: 1997-03-26
Also published as: GB9518467D0

Abstract

Direction indicator lights, 26, 28, 30, 32 on a motorcycle 10 are turned off automatically by means of a detector which senses an increase in speed. The detector may be responsive to a gear shift, throttle change, RPM change or speedometer reading change; the detector may sense an increase in such a factor. Alternatively, a decrease may be sensed, it being assumed that such a decrease is for the indicated turn and will hence be followed by an increase, so that when the sensing of a decease is combined with a timer, the effective result is sensing of an increase. Preferably, an upward gear change of the gear shift lever 14 is sensed by detecting mechanical movement of the lever 14 by a microswitch (38, Fig.4), a contact being made or broken with the lever, a reed switch (40, Fig.5) or Hall effect sensor activated by a magnet on the lever or by the susceptibility of the lever, or by an inductor coil which detects susceptibility of the lever. The detector may activate a solenoid which moves the indicator switch 24 back to the off position, or an electronic circuit may disconnect power until the switch is turned back to off by the rider. Alternatively, the switch 24 may be of the type which is biased to the off position and is associated with an electronic latch which is cancelled by the speed change detector; in this case a manual cancel button may also be provided.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO MOTORCYCLES The present invention relates to an improvement in or relating to motorcycles. It is particularly concerned with a means for allowing motorcycle indicators to be cancelled when no longer needed.

Indicators, in the sense used in the present specification, are illuminable lights placed at the front and rear of vehicles such as cars and motorcycles. On a car they are placed one at each corner. On a motorcycle, they are placed in a generally corresponding fashion.

Usually, the indicators are orange or yellow and flash when activated rather than being continuously illuminated. The purpose of indicators is to allow a rider or driver to activate the appropriate pair of indicators, i.e. those on the left hand side of the vehicle or the right hand side of the vehicle to indicate that he or she wishes to move or turn to the left or right respectively.

After the turn or manoeuvre has been completed, the indicators should be cancelled. Often, the driver will forget to return the activating switch to the off position and this introduces the risk that indicators may be left activated for some time. This is a major inconvenience for other road users who must take extra caution when in the vicinity of this vehicle.

In cars and other four wheeled vehicles, it is very near standard to include within the steering column of the vehicle a mechanical means for detecting rotation of the steering wheel in the sense opposite to that indicated, which then returns the indicator switch to the off position. This works because as the driver reaches a turn, the first movement of the steering wheel will be in the direction of turn, i.e. in the same direction as that indicated, but once the turn has been completed the driver must return the steering to the central position in order to continue in a forward direction. This counter-rotation of the steering wheel (in the direction opposite to that indicated) is used as a trigger to determine that the turn manoeuvre has been completed.

Small movements of the steering wheel are insufficient to trigger the mechanism. Thus, directionally gentle manoeuvres such as leaving slip roads, lane changes, and overtaking do not cause indicators to be cancelled.

This mechanism has never been applied successfully to motorcycles for a very simple reason. In a four wheeled vehicle, the steering wheel is connected to the steered wheels by a rack and pinion which gears down the movement of the steering wheel. Thus, the full range of motion of the steered wheels is achieved by turning the steering wheel through several turns. A motorcycle, on the other hand, is steered using a handlebar which is connected directly to the steered front wheel. Hence, there is a one-to-one relationship between the movement of the handlebar and of the wheel. The result of this is that the handlebar of the motorcycle needs to be moved through a very much lesser angle than the steering wheel of a vehicle to execute the same turn.Hence, the mechanical means normally applied to cars cannot be transferred to motorcycles since the necessary amplitude of movement is simply not present.

The problem of how to cancel motorcycle indicators has therefore been in existence a very long time. Some attempts have been made to overcome this problem, but none have successfully gained acceptance. In one method, a timer is included in the indicators which automatically cancels the indicators after a certain pre-set period of time has elapsed since their activation. This suffers from the difficulty that it takes no account of the speed of the motorcycle, and therefore is apt to cancel the indicators prematurely if the motorcycle happens to be in a traffic jam. Equally, on an open road the indicators continue for too long. In another attempt to solve the problem, a warning bleeper was incorporated into the indicator switch.

This bleeper activated whenever the indicators were activated, to ensure that the rider was aware that indicators were activated. Hence, the rider would be reminded to deactivate the indicators. This bleeper was somewhat annoying to the rider, and was audible to pedestrians nearby. Often, pelican crossings have similar bleepers to inform blind or partially sighted pedestrians that traffic has been stopped and that they may safely cross the road. Motorcyclists with such bleepers could find such blind or partially sighted pedestrians stepping out in front of them.

There has therefore existed for a significant period of time a need for providing an effective and reliable method of cancelling motorcycle indicators after the motorcycle has completed its turn manoeuvre.

The present invention therefore provides a motorcycle having illuminable direction indicators and including means for detecting a speed increase of the motorcycle and means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators; the ceasing means being arranged to operate when activated by the detecting means.

This invention is based on the realisation by the inventor that a turn manoeuvre is almost always preceded by a decrease in speed and followed by an increase in speed.

Hence, a detector which notes an increase in speed can be reliably used as a prompt for cancelling the indicators.

Sometimes, the rider may succeed in completing a turn manoeuvre with no change in speed or gear. In that case, the present invention will fail to cancel the indicators.

However, this performance is no worse than existing indicator cancelling apparatus for cars etc which usually fail to operate in the circumstances noted above when only small steering actions are needed.

The detecting means can sense any of a gear shift, throttle change, rpm change, or speedometer reading change.

Preferably, they sense increases in the aforesaid, but it is not impossible to sense a decrease. In that case, there may also be a timer to allow the rider time to complete the manoeuvre. Hence, the detecting means infers the presence of a speed increase by assuming that the decrease is for the indicated turn and will hence be followed by an increase. This is not essential, however.

It is particularly preferred to sense an increase in gear since this is the most reliable. An increase in throttle might only be a small movement of the twist grip normally employed, but could be detected by a mechanism similar to that employed on the steering columns of cars.

An increase in RPM could be detected through a tachometer, but could give a false reading since a change down in gear before a turn will normally be associated with a RPM increase. Equally, an increase in the speedometer reading is less preferred since in slow moving traffic there may be no change in speed notwithstanding the change in gear.

Sensing of the gear shift can be done in a number of ways. The simplest is to detect mechanical movement of the gear shift lever, and this can be by a number of known methods such as a microswitch, a contact being made or broken with the lever, a reed switch, activated by either a magnet attached to the lever or by the susceptibility of the lever, a Hall Effect sensor activated similarly, or an inductor coil, for example one which detects the susceptibility of the lever. The detector can be placed anywhere within the sweep of the lever, but positions spaced further from the axis of rotation of the lever are preferred since these will give a more positive reading.

Of these detectors, those which involve no moving parts such as the reed switch, the Hall Effect detector and the inductor coil may be preferable since these will be more reliable in the hostile environment of an exposed internal combustion engine. This is, however, subject to any difficulties caused by movement of other large metal objects with the engine, gearbox and chain. If the layout of a particular engine causes such difficulties, switch based sensors may then be preferable.

The means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators is preferably a solenoid which physically moves the indicator switch back to the off position. It can however be an electronic cancel, which simply disconnects power to the indicators until the switch is physically returned to the off position. It may simultaneously activate a warning signal to indicate that the indicator state and the switch state do not correspond. This warning signal could be a bleeper, but that may incur problems similar to those discussed above. It could alternatively be a small flashing light. This will however cause some irritation to the rider.

Alternatively, the indicator switch could be arranged to return immediately to the off position upon release by the rider. This would then be associated with an electronic latch which ensured that the indicators continued to illuminate after release, but were then cancelled automatically by the present invention. This arrangement would preferably also include a manual cancel button in case the invention failed to cancel the indicators automatically.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying figures in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a normal motorcycle showing the indicator switch and the indicators; Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the left hand grip of the motorcycle of figure 1 showing the indicator button; Figure 3 is a side view of the gear shift lever of the motorcycle of Figure 1; Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views of gear shift levers according to the present invention; Figure 1 shows a typical motorcycle 10 in plan view.

On the lefthand side of the motorcycle 10 just in front of the foot peg 12 is the gear shift lever 14. On the left handle 18 of the handlebars 16 is a clutch lever 20 and an indicator switch 22.

Indicator lights are fitted to the motorcycle; at the rear of the motorcycle on either side are a pair of indicators 26, 28, light 26 being on the lefthand side of the motorcycle 10 and light 28 being on the righthand side.

Similarly, at the front there are a pair of forward facing indicator lights 30, 32, light 30 being on the lefthand side of the motorcycle 10 and light 32 being on the righthand side.

With the toggle 24 of the indicator switch 22 in the "left" position shown in Figure 1, the lights 26 and 30 on the lefthand side of the motorcycle 10 flash intermittently as indicated. With the toggle 24 in the central position, neither pair of lights flash, and with the toggle 24 in the righthand position the righthand lights 28, 32 flash.

Figure 2 shows the left handle 18 of the handlebar 16 in somewhat more detail. In this Figure, the toggle 24 of the indicator switch 22 is in the central position.

Figure 3 shows the gear shift lever 14 and foot peg 12 in more detail. The gear shift lever is biased to sit in a central position but can be deflected upwards or downwards to an upper or lower limit. This is indicated by arrows 34. There is an established series of gears, shown to the left of Figure 3, and an upwards deflection of the lever causes the gearbox of the motorcycle 10 to move one gear upwards in that series, whilst a downward deflection of the lever causes the gearbox of the motorcycle 10 to move one gear down in the series. Neutral (N) is considered to lie halfway between the first and second gear and is obtained by a half-push upward from first. Thus, the same single nudge upward causes the gearbox to move one gear upward, be that from first to second, second to third, or third to fourth.

Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the invention in which the gearbox 36 is fitted on its outer face with a microswitch 38 within the sweep of the gear shift lever 14 from its central rest position to its upward deflected position . That microswitch 38 is positioned so as to register an upward movement of the gear shift lever 14.

Hence, an upward gear change is detected.

Figure 5 shows a similar arrangement according to a second embodiment in which the microswitch 38 is replaced with a reed switch 40. In this embodiment, the arm of the gear shift lever 14 is fitted with a small magnet (not visible) which causes the reed switch 40 to operate when the gear shift lever 14 is in its upper deflected position.

Other ways of detecting an upward deflection of the gear shift lever are possible, for example by an electrical contact being made or broken with the lever, or a Hall Effect sensor activated similarly to the reed switch, or an inductor coil detecting the susceptibility of the metallic lever. Reed switches and Hall Effect sensors can be activated positively by a magnet within the lever, or negatively by the susceptibility of the metallic lever affecting the field produced by a fixed magnet, for example behind the detector.

The detectors can be placed anywhere within the sweep of the gear shift lever, but positions based further from the access rotation of the lever are preferred since these will give a more positive reading.

Detectors which involve no moving parts are preferred since they are less susceptible to damage or degradation in the hostile environment of an exposed internal combustion engine. Thus, the reed switch, Hall Effect detector and inductor coil are preferred.

These detectors enable a simple control circuit to note the presence of an upward gear change. This control circuit can then activate a small solenoid positioned within the housing of the switch 22 to return the toggle 24 to its central position.

It will however be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above described embodiments are purely exemplary of the present invention and are susceptible to modification whilst remaining within the scope of the present invention. Several such modifications are set out above, but these are not exhaustive.

Claims

1. A motorcycle having illuminable direction indicators and including means for detecting a speed increase of the motorcycle and means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators; the ceasing means being arranged to operate when activated by the detecting means.

2. A motorcycle according to claim 1 wherein the detecting means is adapted to sense any of a gear shift, throttle change, rpm change, or speedometer reading change.

3. A motorcycle according to claim 2 wherein the detecting means senses increases in the said factors.

4. A motorcycle according to claim 2 wherein the detecting means senses a decrease in the said factors and also includes a timer.

5. A motorcycle according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the detector means senses an increase in gear.

6. A motorcycle according to claim 5 wherein sensing of the gear shift is by detection of mechanical movement of the gear shift lever.

7. A motorcycle according to claim 6 wherein the movement detector is one of (i) a microswitch, a contact being made or broken with the lever, (ii) a reed switch, activated by either a magnet attached to the lever or by the susceptibility of the lever, (iii) a Hall Effect sensor activated similarly, or (iv) an inductor coil which detects the susceptibility of the lever.

8. A motorcycle according to claim 7 wherein the detector is within the sweep of the lever.

9. A motorcycle according to any preceeding claim wherein the means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators comprises a solenoid which physically moves the indicator switch back to the off position.

10. A motorcycle according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators comprises means for disconnecting power to the indicators until the switch is physically returned to the off position.

11. A motorcycle according to claim 10 wherein the said means simultaneously activates a warning signal to indicate that the indicator state and the switch state do not correspond.

12. A motorcycle according to claim 11 wherein the warning signal is a bleeper or a small flashing light or both.

13. A motorcycle according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the indicator switch is arranged to return immediately to the off position upon release by the rider, further including an electronic latch to ensure that the indicators continue to illuminate thereafter until cancelled.

14. A motorcycle according to claim 13 further including a manual cancel button.

15. A motorcycle substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. An indicator light set for a motorcycle, comprising illuminable direction indicators and including means for detecting a speed increase of the motorcycle and means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators; the ceasing means being arranged to operate when activated by the detecting means.

17. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 16 wherein the detecting means is adapted to sense any of a gear shift, throttle change, rpm change, or speedometer reading change.

18. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 17 wherein the detecting means senses increases in the said factors.

19. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 17 wherein the detecting means senses a decrease in the said factors and also includes a timer.

20. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to any one of claims 16 to 18 wherein the detector means senses an increase in gear.

21. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 20 wherein sensing of the gear shift is by detection of mechanical movement of the gear shift lever.

22. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 21 wherein the movement detector is one of (i) a microswitch, a contact being made or broken with the lever, (ii) a reed switch, activated by either a magnet attached to the lever or by the susceptibility of the lever, (iii) a Hall Effect sensor activated similarly, or (iv) an inductor coil which detects the susceptibility of the lever.

23. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 22 wherein the detector is within the sweep of the lever.

24. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to any one of claims 16 to 23 wherein the means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators comprises a solenoid which physically moves the indicator switch back to the off position.

25. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to any one of claims 16 to 23 wherein the means for ceasing illumination of the direction indicators comprises means for disconnecting power to the indicators until the switch is physically returned to the off position.

26. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 25 wherein the said means simultaneously activates a warning signal to indicate that the indicator state and the switch state do not correspond.

27. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 26 wherein the warning signal is a bleeper or a small flashing light or both.

28. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to any one of claims 16 to 23 wherein the indicator switch is arranged to return immediately to the off position upon release by the rider, further including an electronic latch to ensure that the indicators continue to illuminate thereafter until cancelled.

29. An indicator light set for a motorcycle according to claim 28 further including a manual cancel button.

30. An indicator light set for a motorcycle substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.