GB2304655A

GB2304655A - Collapsible bicycle - uses tracks instead of wheels to save space

Info

Publication number: GB2304655A
Application number: GB9518161A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ninian Simpson Reid Logan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-09-06
Filing date: 1995-09-06
Publication date: 1997-03-26
Anticipated expiration: 2015-09-06
Also published as: GB2304655B; GB9518161D0

Abstract

A folding pedal driven vehicle uses arcuate ground contacts which are equal in radius to normal cycle wheels, but take up less storage space. Front and rear "wheels", transmission, and steering systems can be folded into the rectangular central frame. Transmission is provided by a toothed drive belt, which also acts as a tyre. The belt has a tensioner (fig.3), and is driven by a step-up gearbox from the pedal shaft. The "steering column" and seat support are telescopic. The pedals, saddle and handlebars fold for storage. Brakes and mudguards are disclosed; a briefcase may be supported by brackets on the saddle support shaft, and carried on a support platform (fig.15). Assisting straps (10, fig. 8) may be used to speed the folding operation. The saddle support shaft may be used as a carrying handle for the folded vehicle. Figure 2 shows a "ghosted" outline; fig. 3 shows the main subassemblies. Figs. 5 to 7 show the sequence of operations in folding; fig. 24 shows a two speed range change gearbox.

Description

FOLDING PEDAL VEHICLE The invention relates to a folding pedal propelled vehicle.

Folding cycles are constrained in their folding capacity due to the diameter of their wheels and the rigidity of the frame component parts.

This invention will provide pedal powered transport that can be rapidly assembled and re-folded and be capable of being carried in other forms of transport, cars, buses, trains, underground and be stored in the home, or place of work using minimal space.

This invention will be of particular use to commuters, who instead of taking a car to the vicinity of the station and leaving the car there all day or driving into the town or city, can use the invention to pedal from the home to the station, fold the device, and carry it onto the train or bus, and the end of that stage of the journey, assemble the invention for onward transport to the destination where it can be folded and carried into the office or home for security.

Facilities for attaching a briefcase have been provided and if desired the vehicle and briefcase can be carried as a single unit.

The invention overcomes the constraints of a wheel diameter, hy forming a sector of an arc equal in radius to that of a normal diameter wheel and is a composite unit with the drive train, the drive train being capable of rotation about a single axis and of being stored within the chassis frame when in folded configuration. The steering mechanism is similarly formed of an arc, is telescopic, capable of rotating about an axis and is stored within the chassis frame when folded. The saddle support posts also rotates about an axis for transport when carrying or storing and forms a handle for carriage.

The invention will now be described hy way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figures 1 to 16 illustrate the component parts of the pedal vehicle and the way the it is folded and assembled together with the mechanisms for attaching a briefcase. Figures 17 to 27 illustrate the component parts of the drive train unit. Figures 28 to 41 illustrate the steering unit and figures 42 and 43 illustrate the saddle unit.

Figure 1 shows the vehicle fully assembled.

Figure 2 is similar to figure 1, but shows a section through the chassis frame to show the vehicle in a "ghosted" form.

Figure 3 shows the principal component parts. 1 is the chassis frame onto which are attached 2 the saddle socket and 3 the steering pivot keepers. The power train 4 is composite and is fixed by bearing keeper rings at 5 in the chassis frame. The front steering unit 6 is held by the steering pivot keepers 3. The steering shaft 7 is telescopic within a guide tube of the steering mechanism. The saddle unit 8 is located in the saddle socket 2 which is hinged so that once the end of the saddle shaft is lifted sufficiently to clear the line of the hinge, the saddle unit can swing forward and down.

Figure 4 shows the "ghosted" assembled vehicle at small scale for illustrative purposes for comparisons to figures 5,6 and 7.

Figure 5 shows the power train 4 rotating to be held within the chassis frame by self locking quick release clamps shown in Figure 10 and at location 11 in Figure 8.

Figure 6 illustrates the folding of the front steering unit within the chassis frame. The lower holding point detailed later in Figure 36 is released and the steering unit swung inside the chassis frame 1. The steering shaft 7 slides within a lower guide shaft.

Figure 7 shows the power train 4 and steering unit 6 housed within the chassis frame 1 after which the pedals 9 can be folded through 180 degrees and the saddle unit 8 partially lifted and folded via the saddle socket hinge.

Figure 8 illustrates the folding assisting strap 10 which when pulled will assist in rotating and lift both the power train 4 and steering unit 6 and bring them into contact with the self holding clamps shown in Figure 10. The clamps are located at 11, one for the power train, the other for the steering unit. The clamps are released by pressing the bar 13 which slides on either side of the frame 14 attached to the chassis frame l and opens the clamp jaws 15.

Figure 9 shows the power train in the held position.

Figures 11 and 12 illustrate the holding clamp for the saddle unit. As the saddle shaft is pressed down onto the lower section of saddle clamp jaws 16, the jaws rotate on pivot points on the fixed body unit 17 pushing down on the central portion of piston 19 against the springs 20 beneath the release buttons on either side of 19. As the jaws are forced apart by the incoming shaft, the centre portion of unit 19 rises by the spring action 20 and locks the jaws 16 in the closed position. Release of the saddle shaft is by pressing down on either of the side buttons allowing the jaws 16 to spring open via the springs 21. The body unit 17 is fixed to the chassis frame 1.

Figures 13,14,15 and 16 illustrate the way a briefcase can be carried. Two male sliding locks 26 would be fixed to the saddle shaft with two female sliding locks 27 being fitted to the briefcase. The composite lock unit 22 is shown in Figures 13 and 16. The briefcase would rest on support forks 23 being hinged at point 24. Location studs or sockets 25 would have counter units on the briefcase to locate the briefcase onto the studs of sockets and prevent sideways movement of the briefcase.

Figure 17 shows the side view of the power train. Power is transmitted from the gearbox 28 to the drive wheel 29 to the belt 30 which acts in addition to transferring power, as the tyre. The belt 30 passes round the guide wheel arc 37. The arc frame 38 locates small diameter wheels 39 fitted with ballraces. The component parts and assembled form of the arc is shown in Figure 19. A shaft 31, also shown in elevation in Figure 18 as 33 and in plan view 32, connects the arc to the gearbox. The shaft is cranked in this illustration to align the drive wheel 29 with the arc 37. A belt tensioner is proposed as shown in Figure 20.

Figure 21 illustrates the braking mechanism being a conventional brake fitted to the support shaft 31 and acting on the drive wheel 29.

Also illustrated in Figure 17 is a spray protector 36 fitted to the arc 37 and also to the support shaft 31.

Figure 22 shows the gearbox casing 28 with arc support shaft stub shaft 40.

Figure 23 shows in small scale a section of the gearbox, this being shown in larger detail in Figure 24. Figure 23 also shows the drive wheel 29 with weight reducing voids 41, ratchet wheel 42 fitted with ratchet palls 43 and pall springs 44.

Figure 24 illustrates the power transfer from the pedals to the drive wheel and the proposed method of fitting the gearbox to the chassis frame to allow for rotation. Pedal stub cranks 45 are fitted to the drive shaft 46 on splines or keyways and pinned.

Primary gear wheel 55 is frozen onto the drive shaft and rotates the secondary gear wheel 66. The secondary gear wheel 66 rotates the tertiary gear wheel 53 which is now rotating at a faster speed than the drive shaft 46 and is separated from it by the bearings 47 and 54. The tertiary gear wheel is connected by splines to the ratchet 42 which rotates the drive wheel 29 through the palls 43 shown in Figure 23. The ratchet 42 is protected by the ratchet cover plate 50. The drive shaft rotates on bearings 47 and 58 at either end of the shaft. The gearbox casing is support from the tertiary gear wheel by bearing 52. The drive wheel is supported from the tertiary gear wheel by bearing 51.

The drive wheel is separated from the chassis frame by bearing 48 and held in position hy a keeper ring 49 which is fitted with a side thrust hallrace. Keeper ring 57 retains a drive shaft ballrace. Keeper ring 56 retains the gearbox in the chassis frame and allows rotation of the gearbox unit.

In this illustration, two gear speeds are provided with the secondary gear 66 being able to slide to permit engagement of the supplementary gears on the secondary gear wheel 66 with the tertiary gear wheel 53. The sliding mechanism proposed being a fixed shaft 65 with a slot to accommodate a pin 64 attached to to a gear location chain 61 the whole being kept in compression by spring 60 bearing against the gearbox casing cover plate. The gear location pin fits into holes in a hollow sliding shaft 63 which does not rotate but carries the secondary gear wheel unit on bearings 59 and 68 which allows the secondary gear wheel to freely rotated. A thrust bearing 67 permits free movement between the non rotating sliding shaft 63 with the rotating secondary gear wheel 66.

Figure 25 illustrates the pedal folding movement being shown as an array from the using position to the folded position.

Figure 26 shows the pedals which are conventional, with weight reducing voids.

Figure 27 illustrates in larger scale, the mechanism for folding the pedals. The stub crank 45 is fitted to the drive shaft 46. A recess 73 is fitted into the top of the stub crank. The pedal crank 69 can rotate round pin 75 to rest on the opposite side of the drive shaft when released. The releasing mechanism is formed of two sliders 70 held together by a pin 71 which passes through a sliding bolt 72 and held in the closed position by a spring 74. The sliding bolt 72 fits into the recess 73 when in the operational position. Figure 27 shows the component parts and a section of the pedal crank 69.

Figure 28 shows the lower front steering mechanism. Rear support tube 77 and front support tube 78 are connected to steering plates 79. In this illustration, the front support tube carries the upper steering tube which is permitted to pass throughout the length of the front support tube. Bolt 82 passes through the rear steering support tube and steering plates. The front support tube is held in the steering plates by studs 80 welded to the steering plates 79 and supplemented by a strap 81. The tyre is a belt 88 passing round the arc guide wheels 83 fixed to the steering plates 79 by shafts 84 fitted with circlips 86. The guide wheels 83 run on bearings 85 and are separated from the steering plates by washers 87.

Figure 29 shows the elevation and plan of the front support shaft 78. at its upper end are holes to locate the steering shaft 94 shown in Figure 32. Fixed to the front lower support shaft is a quick release mechanism to allow the whole steering unit to pivot for folding.

Figure 30 illustrates an enlarged section and component parts of the quick release mechanism. A barrel 93 is fitted to the outside of the lower front support shaft 78 which has a tongue lever 90 pined to it. The tongue lever 90 acts on the sliding bolt 91 when depressed and forces the bolt 91 into the barrel 93 against the spring 92. The steering shaft 94 fits inside the front support shaft and as it passes down the shaft, it rotates the tongue lever 90 pushing back the sliding bolt 91. The bolt 91 acts on the pin lock 119 shown in Figure 36.

Figure 31 shows the rear lower support shaft.

Figure 32 illustrates the steering shaft 94 which is a tube which slides inside the front steering support shaft 78. At the lower end of the shaft is an impact buffer to strike against the tongue lever 90 and release the sliding bolt 91. Also contained in the steering shaft is a rod 97 connected to a slider 96 by a nut 98 and capable of being slid upwards. The other end of the rod is connected to a clevis pin 103 connected to a cam 102 which is pinned to a barrel body unit 100 in which slides a barrel pin 101. As the rod 97 is slid upwards, the cam 102 rotates and pulls back the barrel pin 101 in the barrel body 100 against a spring so that the front of the barrel pin is flush with the outside of the steering shaft. The combined unit and component parts are shown in Figure 33.In operation mode, the barrel pin 101 locates in one of the holes 104 shown in Figure 29 to allow the steering shaft 94 to be adjusted to the appropriate height of the user.

Figure 34 shows the way the handle bars fold. The two sides are hinged 107 shown in this Figure in simple section. Thumb bolt 110 is connected to the slider 107 which acts against the spring 111 which in turn is held by pin 112. The action of sliding the thumb bolt 110 pushes back the slider to beyond the break point of the handle bars at the centre of the hinge allowing the handle bars to rotate for storage. A handle grip 106 would be provided for comfort. Not illustrated is the brake lever and gear selector lever which would be standard units.

Figures 35 to 41 illustrates the pivotal unit of the steering mechanism. The unit consists of a split drum 113 with guide recesses 114 round the outside for the steering keepers 124 shown in Figure 38. The drums 113 are shaped on the inside to contain the lower steering shafts, front and rear and held together with bolts 117 at locations 116. The front support guide shaft 78 is held by studs fitting into recesses 115 in the drum, the rear lower support shaft 77 being fixed by a bolt 117. A lower pair of drum shells shown in Figure 35 are provided but are not fixed to the guide shafts.

Figure 36 shows a cover plate and channel 118 which connects the upper drum shells to the lower drum shells through screws holes 112. The upper section of the cover plate and guide channel is slotted to permit the rotation of the steering shaft 94 fitted inside the front lower guide shaft 78 as illustrated in Figure 41. At the lower end of the cover plate and guide channel is a slot to permit the entry of the quick release barrel 93 and sliding bolt 91 shown in Figure 30. The sliding bolt 91 rides over the holding pin 119 in the guide channel 118 to lock the pivotal unit in the user position.

Figure 37 illustrates the assembled unit of the drum shells 113 with the cover plate and guide channel 118.

Figure 38 shows the keeper guides 124 which surround the drums 113 and which have pins which locate inside the circular grooves 114. The pins would be fitted with bronze sleeves to assist in ease of rotation, these sleeves are not shown in the illustration.

Figure 39 is a plan view of the assembled unit.

Figure 40 is an exploded plan view of the unit showing the component parts. Cover strap 125 would be used to assist in supporting the front of the chassis frame and would be fixed to the chassis frame 1 and not connected to the pivotal unit.

Figure 41 is illustrative of the tilting mechanism on the bolts 117 and the studs 115 for the rear and front steering support tubes respectively.

Figure 42 shows the saddle 126 and round saddle shaft tube 129 which slides inside the saddle square support tube 128. The square saddle support tube would be reduced to a round section at the top end and be fitted with a quick release clamp 127 for rapid adjustment.

Figure 43 illustrates the square saddle support hinged section 130, fitted with hinge 133 through which the square saddle support passes and is prevented in rotation due to the square section. The lower end of the hinged unit 130 is fixed to the chassis frame 1.

The unit can either extend to the rubber bearing block 132 or be fixed to a smaller diameter tube 131 which is in turn fitted with a rubber bearing block 132. The rubber hearing block 132 is at the interface between the saddle hinge unit 130 and the power train support shaft 31 shown in figure 17.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 A folding propelled vehicle comprising of a chassis frame on which is fixed a power drive unit capable of rotating on a fixed axis relative to the chassis frame plus a steering unit capable of rotating on a fixed axis relative to the chassis frame plus a seat capable of rotating round a fixed axis on the chassis frame.

2 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the power drive power drive unit in contact with the ground surface forms an arc equal in radius to that of a cycle wheel.

3 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the arc described in Claim 2 is formed by a series of small diameter wheels or rollers.

4 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the power train unit in contact with the ground is a belt following the arc as claimed in Claim 2 and Claim 3 which passes round a drive wheel the circumference of which travels at the speed of the vehicle.

5 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claims 1, Claim 2, Claim 3 and Claim 4 where the arc described in Claim 2 is separated from the drive wheel by a shaft controlling the position and orientation of the arc to the centre of the drive wheel.

6 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the power is transferred through a gearbox increasing the speed of rotation of the initial power input drive shaft to to a higher speed of rotation of the drive wheel referred to in Claim 4.

7 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the power is provided by pedals connected to the initial drive shaft as claimed in Claim 6.

8 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claims 1 and 7 where the pedals are moved from the power transfer position to carriage position by rotating through some 180 degrees so that the pedal tread lies inboard of the pedal crank.

9 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 fitted with a brake acting on the drive wheel as described in Claim 4 and fixed to the shaft as described in Claim 5.

10 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the belt referred to in Claim 4 is tensioned.

11 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where there is an anti-spray guard fixed to the arc formers as described in Claim 2 and the shaft as described in Claim 5.

12 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the power drive unit referred to in Claims 1 to 11 can rotate about the axis referred to in Claim 1 for carriage.

13 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering unit in contact with the ground forms and arc equal to that of a normal cycle wheel.

14 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering arc described in Claim 13 is formed by a series of small diameter wheels or rollers around which passes a belt which forms the running surface in contact with the ground.

15 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 13 is supported by and its orientation to the ground surface is maintained by guide support tubes

16 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering is controlled by a shaft which is telescopic within the steering guide support tubes as described in Claim 15

17 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering shaft described in Claim 16 activates a quick release mechanism to permit rotation of the steering unit.

18 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering shaft described in Claim 16 has within it a mechanism for release from its fixed location within the steering guide support tubes to permit the telescopic aspects to function.

19 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering guide tubes referred to in Claim 15 are contained within a unit capable of rotation round an axis on the chassis frame.

20 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering guide tubes referred to in Claim 15 can when released rotate about an axis within the unit referred to in Claim 19 and retain the arc referred to in Claim 13 in the orientation referred to in Claim 15.

20 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the steering shaft is fitted with handle bars on an axis transverse to the line of the centre. line of the steering shaft and capable of independently being able to rotate through 90 degrees to be parallel to the projected axis of the centre of the steering shaft.

21 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the saddle and associated support shafts are housed in a socket which is hinged to permit rotation of the saddle and associated support shafts.

22 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the saddle support shaft is fitted with mechanisms to permit supporting supplementary items.

23 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the chassis frame is fitted with a support platform to permit supporting supplementary items.

24 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where straps are fitted to the power train unit and the steering unit to assist in lifting these units to the folded position.

25 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the chassis frame is fitted with a self gripping and quick release catch to support the power train unit in its folded position.

26 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the chassis frame is fitted with a self gripping and quick release catch to support the steering unit in its folded position.

27 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the chassis frame is fitted with a self gripping and quick release catch to hold the saddle shaft in its folded position.

28 A folding propelled vehicle as claimed in Claim 1 where the saddle shaft when in the folded position and held in the saddle socket referred to in Claim 22 and the catch referred to in Claim 28 can be used as the carrying handle for the whole when in the folded position.