Sorta techy news today

I always wondered how to route a chain onto a bicycle:

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/08/tre...downhill-bike/

Brakes are simpler - just need an hydraulic junction:

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/13/pat...e-junction-do/

Just in time - more BB formats!

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/12/bbi...ttom-brackets/


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 15/04/2021 18:24, AMuzi wrote:
I always wondered how to route a chain onto a bicycle:

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/08/tre...downhill-bike/


Brakes are simpler - just need an hydraulic junction:

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/13/pat...e-junction-do/

Let me get this straight. Shimano have just patented a t-junction?

Just in time - more BB formats!

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/12/bbi...ttom-brackets/

On 4/15/2021 11:13 AM, Tosspot wrote:

snip

Let me get this straight.Â* Shimano have just patented a t-junction?

Patents that would never hold up in court get issued all the time.
Shimano has the financial resources to fight someone else that uses a
hydraulic tee-junction for bicycle brakes, whether or not the patent
would eventually be upheld.

I once asked one of the attorneys at a semiconductor company that I
worked at why we were not defending a patent that several foreign
companies were openly violating. It was explained to me that if we went
to court and lost then all the companies that were paying us licensing
fees would stop paying and that it wasn't clear if our patent was
defensible.

sms wrote:
On 4/15/2021 11:13 AM, Tosspot wrote:

snip

Let me get this straight.* Shimano have just patented a t-junction?

No. Shimano has patented a t-junction with a built in backflow preventer
valve.

Patents that would never hold up in court get issued all the time.
Shimano has the financial resources to fight someone else that uses a
hydraulic tee-junction for bicycle brakes, whether or not the patent
would eventually be upheld.

I once asked one of the attorneys at a semiconductor company that I
worked at why we were not defending a patent that several foreign
companies were openly violating. It was explained to me that if we went
to court and lost then all the companies that were paying us licensing
fees would stop paying and that it wasn't clear if our patent was
defensible.

On 16/04/2021 03:26, Ralph Barone wrote:
sms wrote:
On 4/15/2021 11:13 AM, Tosspot wrote:

snip

Let me get this straight.Â* Shimano have just patented a t-junction?

No. Shimano has patented a t-junction with a built in backflow preventer
valve.

Ok, you are correct, but what does it actually do over a t-junction if
the system is filled?

Patents that would never hold up in court get issued all the time.
Shimano has the financial resources to fight someone else that uses a
hydraulic tee-junction for bicycle brakes, whether or not the patent
would eventually be upheld.

I once asked one of the attorneys at a semiconductor company that I
worked at why we were not defending a patent that several foreign
companies were openly violating. It was explained to me that if we went
to court and lost then all the companies that were paying us licensing
fees would stop paying and that it wasn't clear if our patent was
defensible.

Tosspot wrote:
On 16/04/2021 03:26, Ralph Barone wrote:
sms wrote:
On 4/15/2021 11:13 AM, Tosspot wrote:

snip

Let me get this straight.Â* Shimano have just patented a t-junction?

No. Shimano has patented a t-junction with a built in backflow preventer
valve.

Ok, you are correct, but what does it actually do over a t-junction if
the system is filled?

I’m not sure, since I don’t have a good idea of EXACTLY how disc brake
levers work, but I imagine that when the lever is fully in the off
position, that the reservoir is open to the brake line, so that pad wear
can be accommodated. If this is the case, then applying the brakes via an
auxiliary lever could force brake fluid back up into the reservoir instead
of down into the master cylinder.

Patents that would never hold up in court get issued all the time.
Shimano has the financial resources to fight someone else that uses a
hydraulic tee-junction for bicycle brakes, whether or not the patent
would eventually be upheld.

I once asked one of the attorneys at a semiconductor company that I
worked at why we were not defending a patent that several foreign
companies were openly violating. It was explained to me that if we went
to court and lost then all the companies that were paying us licensing
fees would stop paying and that it wasn't clear if our patent was
defensible.

On 4/15/2021 9:26 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
sms wrote:
On 4/15/2021 11:13 AM, Tosspot wrote:

snip

Let me get this straight.Â* Shimano have just patented a t-junction?

No. Shimano has patented a t-junction with a built in backflow preventer

Hmm. T junctions exist in all sorts of fluid technologies. So do check
valves. It's hard to believe that they got a patent for putting them
together.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/15/2021 9:26 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
sms wrote:
On 4/15/2021 11:13 AM, Tosspot wrote:

snip

Let me get this straight.Â* Shimano have just patented a t-junction?

No. Shimano has patented a t-junction with a built in backflow preventer

Hmm. T junctions exist in all sorts of fluid technologies. So do check
valves. It's hard to believe that they got a patent for putting them
together.


It could have been “Parent Applied For�, or maybe the patent was for
whatever magic that allowed them to construct it $0.02 cheaper than the
obvious way.

On Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 9:24:28 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
I always wondered how to route a chain onto a bicycle:

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/08/tre...downhill-bike/

Brakes are simpler - just need an hydraulic junction:

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/13/pat...e-junction-do/

Just in time - more BB formats!

https://bikerumor.com/2021/04/12/bbi...ttom-brackets/


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
Hydraulic junctions aren't particularly reliable. They require that both of the lever reservoirs dump into a single reservoir that runs both to the front and back brakes so that you can actuate both brakes with either lever. And the valves have to be balanced so that the rear brake which locks up easier than the front, gets less pressure. Remember when disk brakes first started on cars that the rear brakes would lock and the cars would always slide out sideways?