DE29811515U1 - Auxiliary device for double-level bicycle parking systems - Google Patents

Description

ZENZ · HELBER · HOSBACH & PARTNER

Patent Attorneys · European Patent Attorneys · 64673 Zwingenberg, Scheuergasse

Tel.: 06251-73008 · Fax: 06251-73156

O 9801 ORION BAUSYSTEME GmbH, Waldstrasse 2, 64584 Biebesheim

Adjustment aid for double-deck bicycle parking systems

The invention relates to an auxiliary device for storing bicycles in the upper level of bicycle parking facilities designed as two-storey facilities to increase the storage capacity, in which the wheels of the bicycles to be stored are held in profiled support rails that are open at the top, held in a support frame and accessible at one end for driving in the bicycles, and are optionally additionally secured against mutual sideways tipping by means provided in the area of the front wheel.

Double-storey bicycle parking facilities are increasingly being set up in empty halls of abandoned factories or similar near train stations, sports facilities or other leisure facilities that are heavily frequented by the public in order to offer visitors or users the possibility of parking their bicycles in a way that is secure against theft, vandalism and the effects of the weather. In order to make the most of the capacity of the available space the above-mentioned

double-decker bicycle parking systems have been created, in which profile rails are arranged on a support frame above the first floor level in a second level, thus enabling the parking capacity to be doubled compared to normal parking systems.

In practice, the systems are designed in such a way that in a support frame of sufficient height in the lower level near the ground, straight profile rails are provided for the wheels of a bicycle to be stored, which is held in the stored state at the front wheel by additional side brackets. In order to be able to store the bicycles as close to one another as possible, every second profile rail is designed in such a way that there is a section running diagonally upwards in the middle and, following this, a raised section intended for the front wheel, so that the front wheel of a bicycle stored in this profile rail is positioned higher in comparison to the bicycles stored to the side, and the handlebars of adjacent bicycles to the side are also at different heights and cannot get caught. The bicycles can be pushed directly into the profile rails arranged on the lower level near the ground.

In the second level, which is at a different height, corresponding mounting profile rails are mounted on the support frame. In order to be able to place bicycles in these mounting profile rails on the upper level, aids are required, since lifting the bicycles to the required height by the user or a supervisor of the bicycle parking facility would require such physical effort that it is unreasonable. In the known bicycle parking facilities, auxiliary profile rails are therefore attached to the mounting profile rails provided on the upper level.

provided, which can be moved from a position pushed in under the actual receiving profile rail into a position pulled out and then lowered diagonally downwards to the floor area in front of the support frame. Bicycles to be parked can then be pushed on the respective diagonal auxiliary profile rail onto the receiving profile rail on the upper level that is to be loaded, whereupon the auxiliary profile rail is pushed back into the non-disruptive parallel position under the receiving profile rail. It is clear that the arrangement of one auxiliary profile rail on each receiving profile rail on the upper level of the support frame is complex and makes the bicycle parking system significantly more expensive, especially since the guide and swivel devices must also be provided for each auxiliary profile rail.

The invention is based on the object of creating adjustment aids for the double-deck bicycle parking system in question, which make the auxiliary profile rail dispensable and thus significantly reduce the overall effort and costs of such systems.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in that the adjustment aid has a carriage that can be moved along the support frame of the bicycle parking system, on which an insertion profile rail is provided for a bicycle to be adjusted, which is profiled in accordance with the receiving profile rails of the bicycle parking systems and can be aligned on the support frame side with the receiving profile rails provided in the upper level of the system and has an adjustment section on the side facing away from the support frame that is lowered or can be lowered for adjusting bicycles. One or - in the case of bicycle parking systems with a high storage capacity - several of such adjustment aid devices provided on a movable carriage are therefore sufficient to ensure the variety.

number of previously provided auxiliary profile rails to be replaced.

The auxiliary device according to the invention is preferably designed so that the carriage has a chassis close to the ground with at least two spaced-apart rollers that can be moved on the floor surface adjacent to the support frames on the bicycle parking side or on guide rails provided in this floor surface, and that the insertion profile rail is mounted on this chassis.

According to a first embodiment of the invention, the insertion profile rail is rigidly mounted on the chassis and is made up of three profile rail sections that follow one another in the direction of adjustment, of which the transfer section on the support frame side is arranged essentially horizontally at a height corresponding to the vertical distance of the receiving profile rails above the floor surface, the adjustment section facing away from the support frame is arranged directly on the chassis essentially horizontally and the middle section in between is arranged at an angle from the adjustment section to the transfer section. The bicycle to be parked in a receiving profile rail on the upper level of the bicycle parking facility is then first placed with the front wheel on the adjustment section at the point where the bicycle is handed over to the operating personnel of the facility, whereupon the front wheel is pushed over the slanted middle section onto the transfer section, upon reaching which the rear wheel then stands on the adjustment section. The auxiliary device is then moved to the receiving profile rail to be used and - after aligning the transfer section with the open end of the receiving profile rail in the support frame - the bicycle is pushed into the receiving profile rail, whereby the rear wheel of the bicycle is guided on the slanted middle section onto the transfer section and from there onto the receiving profile rail.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the insertion profile rail has a rigid transfer section on the support frame side at a height corresponding to the vertical distance of the receiving rails above the floor surface, which is held on the chassis, and at the end of the transfer section facing away from the support frame, one end of a middle section is pivotally connected about an axis running essentially at right angles and horizontally in such a way that the middle section can be pivoted between a position aligned essentially horizontally with the transfer section and a position with its end facing away from the support frame lowered onto the chassis. At the end of the middle section facing away from the support frame, an adjustment section can then be rigidly attached, which is supported essentially horizontally on the chassis in the position of the middle section pivoted down onto the support frame. The loading of the adjustment auxiliary device takes place with the middle section lowered in the manner described above in connection with the first embodiment. When the receiving profile rail to be loaded is reached in the upper level of the bicycle parking system, the middle section with the adjustment section as a whole is swung up into the horizontal position aligned with the transfer section and thus with the receiving profile rail, and then the horizontally aligned bicycle is pushed onto the receiving profile rail without any additional lifting work.

In a similar way, the loading of a receiving profile rail arranged in the upper level takes place in a further embodiment in which the insertion profile rail is arranged as a whole on a swivel frame, which in turn is mounted on the chassis so that it can be pivoted about an axis running horizontally at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the profile rail in such a way that it can be moved between a swiveled-up position in which the insertion

guide profile rail is aligned essentially horizontally to the receiving profile rail to be fed, can be pivoted into a position in which the end of the feed profile rail facing away from the support frame is lowered onto the chassis. With a suitable choice of the position of the pivot axis on the chassis, it can be achieved that part of the weight of the bicycle used in the auxiliary device lies on the support frame side in front of the pivot axis, which reduces the force required to pivot the pivot frame up, which has to be applied by the operating personnel by hand or with aids.

The invention is explained in more detail in the following description of several embodiments in conjunction with the drawing, which shows:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a double-storey bicycle parking facility and a first embodiment of an inventive setting

Auxiliary device in a side view ;

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation corresponding to Fig. 1 with a modified embodiment of the

auxiliary device; and

Fig. 3 is a schematic side view corresponding to Figs. 1 and 2 with a further modified embodiment of an auxiliary adjustment device.

Fig. 1 shows in the left half of the illustration a side view of a row of a basically known double-decker bicycle parking facility 10, which in

a not further described lattice-like support frame 12 made of metal profiles in two mutually height-staggered
Levels a plurality of laterally parallel spaced apart, channel-shaped in cross section, ie
the top has open mounting profile rails 14, 16,
into which bicycles can be inserted from the right side in the drawing. Of the mounting profile rails in each row, one of the profile rails 14 is straight, while the

next mounting profile rail 16 consists of three

rigidly connected sections 16a, 16b, and 16c, of which the first section 16a runs essentially parallel to the adjacent support profile rail 14 and is therefore shown in the drawing as

is covered by the mounting profile rail 14 in front of it.
Section 16a is followed by a diagonally upward
middle section 16b, at the end of which
again an essentially horizontal and thus
parallel above the support profile rail 14 running section 16c. This consists of three mutually
angular sections 16a, 16b and 16c composed
The design of the mounting profile rail 16 is intended to support the front wheels from adjacent mounting profile rails
14, 16 inserted bicycles 20 at different heights, so that the handlebars of adjacent bicycles at different heights
Height and even when placed close together
the mounting profile rails 14, 16 are not connected
can get caught.

In order to prevent the bicycles 20 from tipping sideways in the setting position in the support profile rail 14, 16,
The front wheel is still mounted on both sides at the right end of the support profile rails in the drawing figure.

5 gripping bracket 22 is provided. In Fig. 1, in the lower level, a straight receiving profile rail 14
inserted bicycle 2 0 and in the upper level a

a bicycle 20 inserted into a receiving profile rail composed of three sections 16a, 16b and 16c running at an angle to one another is shown schematically. To the right of the bicycle parking system 10, the drawing shows a first embodiment of an auxiliary adjustment device, designated as a whole by 30, for bicycles 20 to be placed into the receiving profile rail 14 or 16 of the upper level of the system 10.

The auxiliary adjustment device is in the form of a carriage whose chassis 32 is made of welded metal profiles and is close to the ground and has spaced-apart rollers 34 on the underside, on which the carriage can be moved on the floor surface 36 that is laterally adjacent to the bicycle parking facility 10 - or on rails provided in the floor there (not shown). An insertion profile rail 40 is rigidly held on the chassis 32 on a support structure 38 made of metal profiles, which in the case shown is made up of three consecutive sections 40a, 40b and 40c.

The end region of the insertion profile rail 40 facing the support frame 12 of the system 10 is formed by a horizontally extending transfer section 40 arranged at the height of the receiving profile rails 14 or 16 provided in the upper level of the system 10, which is followed by a diagonally downwardly extending middle section 40b which merges immediately above the chassis 32 into a horizontally extending adjustment section 40c.

To park a bicycle 20 in a receiving profile rail 14 or 16 of the upper level of the bicycle parking facility 10, the bicycle is placed by the owner at the transfer point on the adjustment aid 30 by first placing the front wheel on the low horizontal adjustment section 40c and then pushing it upwards along the middle section 40b and onto the

horizontal transfer section 40a. The rear wheel is then held in the setting section 40c in an inclined position of the bicycle. The device 30 is then pushed on its rollers 34 along the Parker system to the receiving profile rail 14 or 16 to be fed, in such a way that the transfer section 40a is aligned with the open end of the receiving profile rail or 16 to be fed. The bicycle is then transferred to the receiving profile rail, with first the front wheel and then the rear wheel, which is guided over the middle section 40b and the transfer section 40a, moving into the receiving profile rail 14 or 16. In this position, the bicycle 2 0 is then held in the system 10, secured against tipping by the side brackets 22, and the device 3 0 is available for a subsequent removal process of a bicycle from a receiving profile rail or, after returning to the transfer point, for receiving another bicycle to be stored.

In Figure 2, an auxiliary adjustment device 30' is shown next to the bicycle parking system 10, which is modified compared to the embodiment described above, in which the adjustment profile rail 40' is not rigidly mounted on the chassis as a whole, but only the transfer section 40a. The middle section 40b connected to the adjustment section 40c, on the other hand, is pivotably connected to the end of the transition section 40a facing away from the support frame in such a way that it can be pivoted up from the diagonally rising position shown in the drawing - corresponding to Figure 1 - into the position shown in dash-dotted lines, in which it is aligned horizontally with the transfer section 40a and the adjoining receiving profile rail 14 or 16 of the system 10. The adjustment section points slightly upwards in this raised position, so that the rear wheel of a bicycle still on the device 30' is raised relative to the front wheel. Due to the weight of the bicycle

&iacgr; 10

the rear wheel then rolls on the adjustment section 40c and the bicycle receives a total impulse in the direction of the receiving profile rail 14 or 16 of the bicycle parking system 10, which can be further increased if the impulse from the middle section 40b and the adjustment section

40c, the pivotable part of the adjustment profile rail 40' can still be pivoted slightly beyond the horizontal position shown.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, it is assumed that the central section 40b and the adjustment section 40c are swung upwards by the operator by hand after loading with a bicycle in accordance with the previous ^exemplary embodiment and when aligned with the receiving profile rail to be loaded. In order to facilitate this lifting, aids (not shown) such as lever mechanisms or crank gears can be provided, which reduce the required lifting force by means of a corresponding gear ratio. The arrangement of spring or gas pressure accumulators, which exert a preload on the central section 40b in the upward swivel direction, which compensates for at least part of the weight of a bicycle, can also be provided to reduce the manual force required to swivel the central section 40b upwards.

Figure 3 finally shows an auxiliary adjustment device 30", in which the inlet profile rail 40", which is in turn designed to be rigid overall, is held on a swivel frame 38", which in turn is pivotably mounted on the chassis. The drawing shows the swivel position of the swivel frame, in which the inlet profile rail 40" is aligned horizontally to an adjoining receiving profile rail 14 or 16. The position pivoted downwards, in which the inlet profile rail with its end facing away from the bicycle parking system is at the height for loading with a bicycle

of the chassis 32 is lowered, is again indicated by dash-dot lines.

It is clear that in this case too, the aids for pivoting the pivoting frame already described in connection with the auxiliary adjustment device 40' according to Figure 2 can be used, whereby here only the possibility of arranging a piston-cylinder unit that can be pressurized by a hand pump and that engages the chassis 32 on the one hand and the pivoting frame 38 on the other hand should be mentioned.

In this case, too, it may be useful if the swivel frame can be swiveled up slightly above the swivel position shown with a horizontal insertion profile rail (40") in order to facilitate the transfer of a bicycle into the designated receiving profile rail of the bicycle parking system (10).
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Claims (6)

Expectations 1. Auxiliary adjustment device (30; 30';30") for bicycles (20) to be adjusted in the upper level of bicycle parking systems (10) designed as two-level systems to increase the storage capacity, in which the wheels of the bicycles to be adjusted are held in profiled support rails (14; 16) which are open at the top and are held in a support frame (12) and accessible at one end for driving in the bicycles, and are optionally additionally secured against mutual tipping to the side by means provided in the area of the front wheel,
characterized in that the auxiliary adjustment device (30; 30';30") has a carriage which can be moved along the support frame (12) of the bicycle parking system (10), on which an insertion profile rail (40; 40';40") is provided for a bicycle to be adjusted, which is profiled in accordance with the receiving profile rails (14; 16) of the bicycle parking system (10) and can be aligned on the support frame side with the receiving profile rails (14; 16) provided in the upper level of the system and has on the side facing away from the support frame an adjustment section (40c) which is lowered or can be lowered for adjusting bicycles. 2.*Adjustment aid according to claim 1, characterized in that the carriage has a chassis close to the ground (32) with at least two rollers (34) spaced apart from one another and movable on the floor surface adjacent to the support frame (12) on the bicycle parking side, and that the insertion profile rail (40; 40'; 40") is mounted on this chassis (32). 3. Adjustment aid according to claim 2, characterized in that the insertion profile rail (40) is rigid is held on the chassis (32) and is composed of three profile rail sections following one another in the adjustment direction, of which the transfer section (40a) on the support frame side is arranged essentially horizontally at a height corresponding to the vertical distance of the receiving profile rails (14; 16) above the floor surface (36), the adjustment section (40c) facing away from the support frame is arranged directly on the chassis (32) essentially horizontally and the intermediate middle section (40b) is arranged at an angle rising from the adjustment section (40c) to the transfer section (40a). 4. Auxiliary adjustment device according to claim 2, characterized in that the insertion profile rail (40') has a rigid transfer section (40a) held on the chassis (32) on the support frame side at a height corresponding to the vertical distance of the receiving profile rails (14; 16) above the floor surface (36), at the end of which facing away from the support frame one end of a middle section (40b) is pivotably connected about an axis running essentially at right angles and horizontally in such a way that the middle section (40b) can be pivoted between a position which is essentially horizontal and aligned with the transfer section (40a) and a position in which its end facing away from the support frame is lowered onto the chassis (32). 5. Auxiliary adjustment device according to claim 4, characterized in that an adjustment section (40c) is rigidly attached to the end of the middle section (40b) facing away from the support frame and is supported essentially horizontally on the chassis (32) in the position of the middle section (40b) pivoted down onto the chassis (32). 6. Adjustment aid according to claim 2, characterized in that the insertion profile rail (40") is arranged on a pivoting frame (38"), which on the one hand, it is mounted on the chassis (32) so as to be pivotable about an axis running horizontally at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the profile rail in such a way that it can be pivoted between a pivoted-up position, in which the insertion profile rail (40") is aligned substantially horizontally to a receiving profile rail (14; 16) to be fed, into a position in which the end of the insertion profile rail (40") facing away from the support frame is lowered onto the chassis (32).
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