US-12617491-B2 - Rear sprocket

US12617491B2US 12617491 B2US12617491 B2US 12617491B2US-12617491-B2

Abstract

A rear sprocket includes a sprocket body and a plurality of sprocket teeth. The plurality of sprocket teeth includes a first upshifting facilitation tooth, a second upshifting facilitation tooth, a third upshifting facilitation tooth and an upshifting initiation tooth. The upshifting initiation tooth is adjacent to the third upshifting facilitation tooth at an upstream side of the third upshifting facilitation tooth with respect to a driving rotational direction of the rear sprocket without another tooth between the third upshifting facilitation tooth and the upshifting initiation tooth in a circumferential direction.

Inventors

Hiroshi Fujita
Yusuke ODA
Hiroaki Uemura

Assignees

SHIMANO INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20241127

Claims (6)

1 . A rear sprocket configured to be mounted to a rear hub assembly for a human-powered vehicle, the rear sprocket having a rotational center axis to define an axial direction, a radial direction and a circumferential direction, the rear sprocket having an axially outwardly facing surface and an axially inwardly facing surface provided on a reverse side of the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction, the axially inwardly facing surface being configured to face toward an axial center plane of the human powered vehicle in the axial direction in a vehicle mounting state where the rear sprocket is mounted to the human powered vehicle, the rear sprocket comprising: a sprocket body; and a plurality of sprocket teeth extending radially outwardly from the sprocket body in the radial direction, the plurality of sprocket teeth including a first upshifting facilitation tooth, a second upshifting facilitation tooth, a third upshifting facilitation tooth and an upshifting initiation tooth; the first upshifting facilitation tooth, the second upshifting facilitation tooth and the third upshifting facilitation tooth being configured to facilitate an upshifting operation where a drive chain is shifted from a neighboring larger sprocket toward the rear sprocket, the upshifting initiation tooth being configured to firstly engage with the drive chain during the upshifting operation; the first upshifting facilitation tooth having a first recess provided to the axially inwardly facing surface of the first upshifting facilitation tooth so as to be dented from the axially inwardly facing surface toward the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction; the second upshifting facilitation tooth having a second recess provided to the axially inwardly facing surface of the second upshifting facilitation tooth so as to be dented from the axially inwardly facing surface toward the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction, the second upshifting facilitation tooth being adjacent to the first upshifting facilitation tooth at an upstream side of the first upshifting facilitation tooth with respect to a driving rotational direction of the rear sprocket without another tooth between the first upshifting facilitation tooth and the second upshifting facilitation tooth in the circumferential direction; the third upshifting facilitation tooth having a third recess provided to the axially inwardly facing surface of the third upshifting facilitation tooth so as to be dented from the axially inwardly facing surface toward the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction, the third upshifting facilitation tooth being adjacent to the second upshifting facilitation tooth at an upstream side of the second upshifting facilitation tooth with respect to the driving rotational direction of the rear sprocket without another tooth between the second upshifting facilitation tooth and the third upshifting facilitation tooth in the circumferential direction; and the upshifting initiation tooth being adjacent to the third upshifting facilitation tooth at an upstream side of the third upshifting facilitation tooth with respect to the driving rotational direction of the rear sprocket without another tooth between the third upshifting facilitation tooth and the upshifting initiation tooth in the circumferential direction.
2 . The rear sprocket according to claim 1 , wherein a total sprocket-tooth number of the plurality of sprocket teeth is equal to or smaller than 10.
3 . The rear sprocket according to claim 2 , wherein a total sprocket-tooth number of the plurality of sprocket teeth is nine.
4 . The rear sprocket according to claim 1 , wherein the first upshifting facilitation tooth has a first tooth crest, a first driving surface and a first non-driving surface opposite to the first driving surface in the circumferential direction, and the first recess reaches each of the first tooth crest, the first driving surface and the first non-driving surface.
5 . The rear sprocket according to claim 1 , wherein the second upshifting facilitation tooth has a second tooth crest, a second driving surface and a second non-driving surface opposite to the second driving surface in the circumferential direction, and the second recess reaches each of the second tooth crest, the second driving surface and the second non-driving surface.
6 . The rear sprocket according to claim 1 , wherein the third upshifting facilitation tooth has a third tooth crest, a third driving surface and a third non-driving surface opposite to the third driving surface in the circumferential direction, and the third recess reaches each of the third tooth crest and the third non-driving surface and does not reach the third driving surface.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a divisional application of the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/950,105 filed Sep. 22, 2022, which is a continuation-in-part application of the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/899,549 filed Aug. 30, 2022, which was abandoned. The contents of these applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. BACKGROUND Technical Field The present invention relates to a rear sprocket. Background Information A human-powered vehicle includes a sprocket assembly configured to be engage with a chain. The sprocket assembly includes a plurality of sprockets. The sprocket includes a torque-transmitting part configured to engage with another torque-transmitting part of a neighboring sprocket to transmit torque between the sprocket and the neighboring sprocket. It is preferable to improve the strength of the torque-transmitting part of the sprocket in a case where the sprocket has a comparatively small outer diameter. The sprocket includes a shifting facilitation structure configured to facilitate a shifting operation in which a chain is shifted between sprockets. It is preferable to smoothen the shifting operation. SUMMARY In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a rear sprocket is configured to be mounted to a rear hub assembly for a human-powered vehicle. The rear sprocket has a rotational center axis to define an axial direction, a radial direction and a circumferential direction. The rear sprocket has an axially outwardly facing surface, and an axially inwardly facing surface. The axially inwardly facing surface is provided on a reverse side of the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction. The axially inwardly facing surface is configured to face toward an axial center plane of the human-powered vehicle in the axial direction in a vehicle mounting state where the rear sprocket is mounted to the human-powered vehicle. The rear sprocket comprises a sprocket body and a plurality of sprocket teeth. The plurality of sprocket teeth extends radially outwardly from the sprocket body in the radial direction. The plurality of sprocket teeth includes a first upshifting facilitation tooth, a second upshifting facilitation tooth, a third upshifting facilitation tooth and an upshifting initiation tooth. The first upshifting facilitation tooth, the second upshifting facilitation tooth and the third upshifting facilitation tooth are configured to facilitate an upshifting operation where a drive chain is shifted from a neighboring larger sprocket toward the rear sprocket. The upshifting initiation tooth is configured to firstly engage with the drive chain during the upshifting operation. The first upshifting facilitation tooth has a first recess provided to the axially inwardly facing surface of the first upshifting facilitation tooth so as to be dented from the axially inwardly facing surface toward the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction. The second upshifting facilitation tooth has a second recess provided to the axially inwardly facing surface of the second upshifting facilitation tooth so as to be dented from the axially inwardly facing surface toward the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction. The second upshifting facilitation tooth is adjacent to the first upshifting facilitation tooth at an upstream side of the first upshifting facilitation tooth with respect to a driving rotational direction of the rear sprocket without another tooth between the first upshifting facilitation tooth and the second upshifting facilitation tooth in the circumferential direction. The third upshifting facilitation tooth has a third recess provided to the axially inwardly facing surface of the third upshifting facilitation tooth so as to be dented from the axially inwardly facing surface toward the axially outwardly facing surface in the axial direction. The third upshifting facilitation tooth is adjacent to the second upshifting facilitation tooth at an upstream side of the second upshifting facilitation tooth with respect to the driving rotational direction of the rear sprocket without another tooth between the second upshifting facilitation tooth and the third upshifting facilitation tooth in the circumferential direction. The upshifting initiation tooth is adjacent to the third upshifting facilitation tooth at an upstream side of the third upshifting facilitation tooth with respect to the driving rotational direction of the rear sprocket without another tooth between the third upshifting facilitation tooth and the upshifting initiation tooth in the circumferential direction. With the rear sprocket according to the first aspect, the first recess, the second recess, and the third recess allow the drive chain to smoothly move toward the rear sprocket during the upshifting operation. The first recess, the second recess, and the third recess make it smoother to bring the upshifting initiation