US 12,269,232 B2
Process for manufacturing a bicycle saddle
Franco Schiavon, Padua (IT); and Maurizio Schiavon, Padua (IT)
Assigned to SELLE SMP S.A.S. DI FRANCO SCHIAVON, Padua (IT)
Appl. No. 17/926,048
Filed by SELLE SMP S.A.S. DI FRANCO SCHIAVON, Padua (IT)
PCT Filed Jun. 3, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/064907
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 17, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/245189, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 9, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 102020000013249 (IT), filed on Jun. 4, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0182427 A1, Jun. 15, 2023
Int. Cl. B29D 99/00 (2010.01); B62J 1/00 (2006.01); B62J 1/18 (2006.01); B29K 75/00 (2006.01); B29K 105/04 (2006.01)
CPC B29D 99/0092 (2013.01) [B62J 1/002 (2013.01); B62J 1/18 (2013.01); B29K 2075/00 (2013.01); B29K 2105/04 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING A BICYCLE SADDLE, which provides a central through channel and which has:
a hull with a through hole at the central through channel of the saddle;
a polyurethane layer as a padding element;
a liner adapted to cover the polyurethane layer, said process providing for the following steps:
arranging the liner on the hollow surface of a mould;
creating a vacuum between the liner and said hollow surface to allow adhesion between the liner and the hollow surface;
pouring polyurethane into said hollow surface;
positioning the hull on the surface of a counter mould;
moving the mould towards the counter mould and consequent positioning of the counter mould at the hollow surface of the mould;
expansion of the polyurethane, which completely fills the space between the liner and the hull;
moving the mould away from the counter mould;
extraction of the hull, the polyurethane, and the liner of the mould, wherein said liner is subjected to a previous processing step so as to present a cap-like structure at a region in which the channel of the saddle will be present once formed and in that the step of arranging the liner presenting the cap-like structure on the mould takes place taking care to arrange said cap-like structure on a projection provided in said mould, wherein the projection is adapted to engage with a concave portion of said counter-mould;
said process wherein, at the end of all the previous steps, a portion of the cap-like structure on the projection and which protrudes above edges of the hole of the hull is removed and said liner is made by the following steps:
creating a hole on a semi-finished liner, at the region where the channel of the saddle will be present, once formed;
-welding of a cap-like structure to the semi-finished liner at the hole, so that open edges of the cap-like structure coincide substantially with the edges of the hole.