AU2004100949B4

AU2004100949B4 - Scooter with multifunction chair

Info

Publication number: AU2004100949B4
Application number: AU2004100949A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Dongning Zhang
Original assignee: T TEK Pty Ltd
Current assignee: T-TEK Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2004-11-08
Filing date: 2004-11-08
Publication date: 2004-12-23
Anticipated expiration: 2012-11-08
Also published as: TW200614978A; AU2004100949A4; CN1876473A; TWI288634B; CN100427353C

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT SCOOTER WITH MULTIFUNCTION CHAIR The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: SCOOTER WITH MULTIFUNCTION CHAIR oo Many mobility scooters have the anti-tip wheels on the back of the S scooter for safety purpose. However the anti-tip wheels normally start to work when the scooter has tipped over.

A scooter with multifunction chair in accordance with this invention comprises a scooter has at least one front steering wheel and at least two rear wheels and a multifunction chair, and the multi- 0 function chair having a swivel castor in back of the chair to support the chair directly on floor and two pivots in front to joint and support the chair with the scooter.

A multifunction chair has at least one swivel castor support directly on floor and two pivots joint to a three or more wheels scooter. The multifunction chair is stably supported by the three points, one castor and two pivots. The safety of the multifunction chair is ensured by the castor may support the multifunction chair directly on floor. The scooter has two pivots adapters on its frame for the multifunction chair joint to the scooter. The two pivots and the castor are located apart from each other for the stability of the multifunction chair. The two pivots are in the same line, so the two pivots are like a single pivot in principle. The centre line of the two pivots is normally arranged in parallel with the rear axle of the scooter. The multifunction chair may rotate freely in a certain angle range around the pivots on the scooter.

The two pivots and the castor share the driver's weight. The two pivots apply the load to the scooter, so the two pivots should be located between the front steering wheel and the rear wheels and the rear axle is between the castor and two pivots. The driver seat of the multifunction chair is located more close to the centre line of the two pivots to share more weight on the pivots and the castor share less load. The pivots are located little more forward towards the front steering wheel on the scooter frame than the normal chair 2 supporting location, so the steering wheel may share more load and Sgain more turning friction. Therefore the scooter is more dynamic 00 stable and steerable. For the front steering wheel drive scooter, the S pivots locations are close to the front steering drive wheel even further for increasing the front wheel driving capability, and the two S rear wheels may shift forward towards the front drive wheel, then the front wheel scooter is more steerable. The single front steering wheel drive scooter is more practical and the scooter may even turn on spot around its chair like a wheelchair.

The scooter is like a power engine. The pivots can be designed for the multifunction chair easy separation from the scooter. Then different multifunction chair may be coupled with the scooter for different usage. A shopping basket or second seat maybe fit onto the extended castor frame. The scooter can be shorter in length and the steering bar may be fold down to fit into a car boot after the multifunction chair is detached.

The multifunction chair may be shift forward and support fully on the scooter and the castor is off the floor during normal driving. This may be accomplished by the adjustable pivots location on the scooter or multifunction chair. The multifunction chair may still rotate up around the two pivots under this configuration, so the castor may be very close to floor and the castor is an anti-tip safety wheel. The multifunction chair is automatically supported by the castor and the two pivots when the scooter goes on uneven floor or the scooter tips. The scooter drives like a normal scooter, but it is safer with the multifunction chair than the normal scooter with the fixed anti-tip wheel.

On a rear wheel drive scooter, the driver may shift the multifunction chair up while sit on. Then the multifunction chair is supported with the two pivots and the driver's leg, and the castor is off the floor. So a small wheel castor may be used for the multifunction chair, and 3 the scooter with multifunction chair may still be able to go over a Skerb.

00 oO SThe scooter is a normal scooter if a chair without the swivel castor Sis installed and directly supported on the scooter.

A normal scooter may fit with the multifunction chair to improve both safety and driving performance.

The invention may be better understood with reference to the illustrations of embodiments of the invention which:- Figure 1 is an elevation of a normal scooter.

Figure 2 is an elevation of a scooter without multifunction chair installed.

Figure 3 is an elevation of a scooter with multifunction chair.

Figure 4 is an elevation of a scooter with multifunction chair, and the multifunction chair lifted.

Figure 5 is a perspective top view of a scooter with multifunction chair.

Figure 6 is an elevation of a multifunction chair only.

Figure 7 is an elevation of a front steering wheel drive scooter with a multifunction chair.

Figure 8 is an elevation of a multifunction chair with a child seat on the extended frame.

A normal scooter in Figure 1, the driver weight on the seat 4 applies Sto the scooter frame 5 through the seat socket 3. The seat socket 3 oo is close to the rear drive axle 1, so the anti-tip wheel 6 is installed Sfor the scooter safety.

An example of scooter with multifunction chair in figure 3 5 has two solid frames, scooter frame 5 and chair frame 10. The scooter frame 5 and the chair frame 10 are jointed with pivot adapters 7 and pivots 8. The scooter frame 5 equips with front steering wheel 2 and o) rear axle 1.

(N

An example of scooter without multifunction chair in Figure 2 comprise a scooter frame 5 and front steering wheel 2 and rear driving axle 1 and pivot adapters 7 and optional chair limiter 9, which is similar like the normal scooter in figure 1 without the seat 4 and seat socket 3. The two pivots adapters 7 are closer to the front steering wheel 2 than the seat socket 3, so the equivalent load centre of the scooter in Figure 2 is more forward than the load centre to the scooter in Figure 1. So the scooter in Figure 3 5 is more dynamic stable and steerable. The multifunction chair in figure 6 comprises chair frame 10, swivel castor 11, pivots 8, seat socket 3 and seat 4. The multifunction chair movement may be limited with the optional chair limiter 9, like in figure 4. The chair limiter 9 may be a solid or flexible part of frame An example of front wheel drive scooter with multifunction chair in figure 7 has a drive and steering wheel 2 and two rear support wheels 1 shift to close to front drive wheel 2, and pivot adapters 7 and pivots 8 for front wheel drive scooter are close to the front drive wheel 2. The front wheel drive scooter with multifunction chair in figure 7 may turn on spot around the seat socket 3 like a wheelchair or improve driving capability if the two rear wheels stay in back location.

A child seat 12 may fit onto the extended multifunction chair frame Z like in figure 8. The child seat may be replaced with a shopping 0o basket, and/or extra seat fitted.

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Claims

2. A scooter with multifunction chair as claimed in claim 1 has an adapter for easy separation of the multifunction chair with the scooter, and allows other multifunction chair joint with the scooter.
3. A scooter with multifunction chair as claimed in claim 1 has a multifunction chair with one or more extra seats and/or shopping basket on extended chair frame in back of the driver seat.
4. A scooter with multifunction chair as claimed in claim 1 has optional position limiter, which can be fixed stopper or flexible buffer, to limit moving range of the multifunction chair for comfort and safe driving, and/or support the chair on the scooter and lift the castor off floor while driving on flat floor, and the castor may support the chair automatically on uneven ground or when the scooter tips. A scooter with multifunction chair substantially as herein before described with reference to the description and/or figure 2 8 of the accompanying drawings. T-TEK PTY LTD 8 NOVEMBER 2004 DONGNING ZHANG 8 NOVEMBER 2004