AU606911B2

AU606911B2 - Wheeled vehicle

Info

Publication number: AU606911B2
Application number: AU83085/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Hylton Oliver Hensman
Original assignee: SKYLINE SKYRIDES Ltd
Current assignee: SKYLINE SKYRIDES Ltd
Priority date: 1987-12-29
Filing date: 1987-12-29
Publication date: 1991-02-21
Anticipated expiration: 2007-12-29
Also published as: AU8308587A

Description

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COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 0 FORM 0~e PATENTS ACT 1952.

CO0M PL ET E S ECI F IC A FOR OFFICE USE: Class nt .Class Application, Number: Lodged: Complete Specification~ Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority: ,Related Art: 'his doctimeni contains the a2mendments made wider ISectionl 49 anld is correct for, Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: SKYLINE SKYRIDES LIMITED Broad, Christie Partners, corn~er Kelvin Spey Streets, Invercargill, New Zealand Hylton Oliver Hensman 4 Acitual Inventor: oAddress for Service: SHELSTON WATERS, 55 Clarence Street, Sydney SComplete Specification for the Invenzion entitled: "WHEELED VEHICLE,! The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it k~nown to me/us:- 1- This invention relates to a vehicle for carrying a rider, and is applicable particularly, but not exclusively to a vehicle for amusement purposes intended to be propelled downhill by gravity and to be steerable and breakable by the rider.

According to the invention, a wheeled vehicle includes c a body to carry a rider of the vehicle; and three or more wheels on which the vehicle may travel on the ground, at least one of the said wheels being a steerable wheel which is pivotable about a substantially vertical axis which is a perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said wheel, such Cr

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c c that the vehicle may be steered., and at least one of said wheels being mounted to the body by suspension means optionally movable by controls controlled by the rider, between a first position in which the wheel engages the ground to hold the body clear thereof, and a second position in which the wheel is retracted relative to the b dy to a position in which the wheel cannot contact the ground, whereby at le.ast part of the body is lowered to the Sground for braking of the vehicle; the controls being so j arranged that when a rider releases said controls, said controls automatically return the vehicle to a "hands-off" position in which said at least one retractable wheel is in said second, retraced, position.

2 K A €i Jtra Conveniently at least one of said wheels is optionally movable relative to the body between a position in which the wheel is freely rotatable and braking position in which the wheel bears against part of the body, to brake the wheel in which case there may be provided a pad of friction material mounted on the S'E body, into contact with which pad the wheel is moved in S, the braking position.

r C SA preferred embodiment of the invention is C 0C S 10 described by way of example only, with taterence to the drawings accompanying the provisional specification, in which:- 0, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle according to the invention, and o 15 Fig. 2 is a ghost view from the same viewpoint as cccccC c c Fig. 1, showing components hidden therein.

c c In the drawings an amusement vehicle to carry a single rider is intended to be propelled downhill by gravity on a smooth track and to be optionally steerable and brakable by the rider.

The structure of the vehicle is provided by a body formed as a metal pressing or plastics moulding, with unshown reinforcing if necessary. The rear of the body 10 is formed with rear and side humps 11, 12 which -3together form the back and sides of a seat for the rider.

Adjacent the front sides of the vehicle the body is formed with two foot wells 13 behind each of which is a hump 14. Within each hump 14 a rigid bearing block 15 is screwed to the ui side of the body 4 9, 10. A transverse shaft 16 is pivote in bearing bushas 17 in the bearing blocks 15. The shaft 16 is formed a a with an enlarged central portion 18 having a vertical *0 bore in which a steering column 19 is pivoted. Handle- 4 4 a bars 20 are affixed to the top of the steering column 19, which ia cranked rearwards so as to bring the S.ao handlebars 20 to a convenient position for a rider sitting in the seat.

o 15 Below the enlarged portion 18 of the shaft 16, the column 19 is fixed to a pair of parallel trailing arms 21, directed rearwardly of the vehicle. Between the o* arms 21 is fastened a front spindle 22 on which a ground-engagable wheel 23 is free-running. Thus, by moving the handlebars 20 from side to side of the vehicle the steering column 19 is rotated in the shaft 16 to turn the wheel at an angle to the longitudinal centre line of the body 10, so as to steer the vehicle.

The trail of the wheel 23 provided by the arms 21 pro- 4 motes steering stability for the vehicle.

Furthermore, by moving the handlebars 20 forward, to pivot the shaft 16 in the bushes 17, the arms 21 are inclined upwardly to raise the wheel 23 relative to the body 10. At a predetermined point the underside of the body touches the ground and further forward movement of S o the handlebars 20 raises the wheel clear of the ground, 0 0 a o so that at least the front part of the body 10 bears on 0 a the ground to brake the vehicle. A pair of replaceable 00 10 pads 24 of wear resistant friction material are affixed a 0 to the underside of the body 10 to avoid wear thereof.

By these means, if the rider releases his hold on the a So, handlebars 20, the vehicle will adopt a substantially straight course and will be braked automatically.

0 0 15 Within the underside of the rear hump 11 two rear c bearing blocks 26 are fastened, adjacent the sides of Qoa the body 10. A transverse shaft 27 is pivoted in the o %S blocks 26 adjacent the top thereof and at each outer end of the shaft 27 is affixed a substantially vertical swinging link 28. In the bottom ends of the links 28 is fastened a non-rotary spindle 29, parallel to the shaft 27. Adjacent the ends of the spindle 29 a pair of rear ground-engaging wheels 30 are free running but are transversally located to be within the bearing blocks 26.

5 Two lengths of tube 31, located on the spindle 29 adjacent the wheels 30, are fastened to parallel foreand-aft drag links 32. Each drag link 32 is connected by a clevis 33 to a drop arm 34 fast at each end of the front transverse shaft 16, adjacent the front bearing blocks 15. Thus, fore-and-aft location of the rear a So" spindle 29 and wheels 30 is controlled by fore-and-aft 0 06 movement of the handlebars From a position of the handlebars 20 wherein all 0a 6 10 three wheels 23, 30 are free running and engaging the ground the free-wheel position), rearward movement of handlebars 20 by the rider will raise, the front 0 O of the vehicle somewhat and also draw the rear wheels 0 forwards until they bear against arouate pads of 0 15 friction material 35 fastened within wheel arches 36 in 0 the rear bearing blocks 26. Thereby, a controlled 4 amount of braking of the rear wheels 30 is provided to *0 the driver:- this is the "controlled position.

On the other hand, forward movement of the handlebars 20, as described above, raises the front wheel 23 clear of the ground and at the same time moves the rear wheels 30 rearwardly. This causes the swinging links 28 to rotate rearwardly from the rear vertical, so that the rear wheels 30 swing upwardly relative to the body 6 in an arc until the rear of the body 10 also moves downwardly into contact with the ground to provide maximum braking of the vehicle. Further replaceable pads 37 of wear resistant friction material are fastened to the underside of the body 10, rearwards of the centre thereof, so that for maximum braking the total w Lght o0 o" of the vehicle plus rider is automatically applied to the pads 24, 37 if the rider releases the handlebars a"s a "hands-off" position).

SO 10 Clearly, instead of the single front wheel 23 there may be provided a pair of front wheels, each ado, jacent a side of the body 10 and each mounted on trail- <o ing arms 21 pivoted on or around the transverse shaft 16 and connected to the steering column 19 by suitable 0a V 15 steering linkage, Similarly, if preferred, a single central rear wheel 30 could be used, in p3]ce of the rc pair described above, and provided with the same modes of operation as them.

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Claims

1. A wheeled vehicle including: a body to carry a Srider of the vehicle; and three or more wheels on which the vehicle may travel on the ground, at least one of the said wheels being a steerable wheel which is pivotable about a substantially vertical axis which is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said wheel3, such that the vehicle may be steered, and at least one of said wheels being mounted to the body by suspension means optionally movable by controls controlled by the rider, between a first position in which the wheel engages the ground to hold the body ScO clear thereof, and a second position in which the wheel is Sc retracted relative to the body to a position in which the cc wheel cannot contact the ground, whereby at least part of C CC the body is lowered to the ground for braking of the vehicle, the controls being so arranged that when a rider releases said controls, said controls automatically return the vehicle to a "hands-off" position in which said at least one retractable wheel is in said second, retraced, position.

2. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least one of said steerable wheels also is movable between the ground engaging and retracted positions.

3. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in either preceding claim wherein at least one of the wheeld is optionally movable relative to the body between a position in which the wheel is freely rotatable and a braking position in which the wheel bears against part of the body to brake the ik vehicle.

4. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in claim 3, further including a pad of friction material mounted on the body L such that a wheel in the braking position contacts said pad.

The wheeled vehicle as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the portions of the vehicle body which may engage the ground are provided with one or more wear pads upon which the body rides on the ground when said wheel or 1 0 0 C wheels is or are retracted. 0 o0 0

6. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in any preceding a te claim, wherein all of said wheels are movable between said first and second positions and in said hands-off position 0000 0 all of said wheels are in said second, retracted, position.

V C f c" S7, The wheeled vehicle as claimed in claim 6 wherein said controls are movable by the rider from said hands-off position optionally to a free-wheel position which all wheels engage the ground and are free-running and the or each steerable wheel is steerable; or to a c,ontrolled position in which all wheels engage the ground but there is controlled braking on the non-steerabs2 wheel or wheels only.

8. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in claim 7 wherein said wheels comprise one or a pair of steerable wheels and a pair of non-steerable wheels, the or each said steerable o &r Oy wheel being connected to the controls such that rotation of said controls rotates the or each said steerable wheel about said substantially vertical axis and hence steers the vehicle.

9. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in claim 8 wherein said pair of non-steerable wheels are freely rotatably mounted upon a spindle which is suspended by swinging links from a shaft parallel to said spindle; said spindle being r connected to said controls by drag links such that movement of said conrols in one direction brings both the or each 0 C t S steerable wheel and the non-steerable wheels to said free- wheel position and movement of said controls in the opposition direction brings said wheels intd said controlled position.

10. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in claim 9 wherein said vehicle is provided with a single steerable wheel rhi h is connected directly to the controls.

11. The wheeled vehicle as claimed in claim 9 wherein said vehicle is provided with a pair of steerable wheels,

12, A wheeled vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accom- panying drawings, Dated this 16th day of Noveimer, 1990 SKYLINE SKYRIDES LIMITED to <VIt.t rit