GB2133358A

GB2133358A - Electric vehicle

Info

Publication number: GB2133358A
Application number: GB8332157A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Kurs
Original assignee: KURS PETER ELO MA HG
Current assignee: KURS PETER ELO MA HG
Priority date: 1982-12-01
Filing date: 1983-12-01
Publication date: 1984-07-25
Also published as: GB2133358B; DE8233714U1; GB8332157D0

Abstract

An electric tricycle has a front wheel 4 which may be steered by way of a steering handle 8 and two non- steered wheels 2 mounted on a base plate 1 on which are disposed the battery 16 and driver's seat 12. The steerable front wheel 4 is connected to an electric drive motor 5, the rear wheels 2 are freely rotatable and the individual vehicle components such as the seat 12, the battery 16 and the steering handle 8 are connected to the rest of the vehicle by way of quick-acting clamping devices 7, 14, 15. The dismantled vehicle can be easily handled, and stowed, for example, in the boot of a car. Removable auxiliary wheels 18 are provided. The seat 12 may be raised, rotated through 360 degrees, and has movable arm rests 13. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Electric vehicle This invention relates to an electric vehicle designed in the form of a tricycle, comprising a front wheel which may be steered by way of a steering handle and two non-steered rear wheels which are mounted on a base plate on which are disposed the battery, where appropriate with a battery charger, and on which the driver's seat is mounted.

Electric vehicles of this type are known. They are used in particular for intra-plant transport of small quantities to be conveyed, for example files, for transport of pieces of luggage, for example at airports, and they are also used as vehicles for the disabled.

In the case of these known electric vehicles the electric motor is arranged in the rear of the vehicle and drives the rear wheels. A differential has therefore to be provided, which makes the electric vehicle very expensive. In order to avoid this, it is also known to drive only one rear wheel. This, however, results in perceptible deterioration of the driving ratios and also the manoeuvrability of a vehicle of this type.

In many known designs the seat of the electric vehicle may be removed and replaced by a luggage holder. The electric vehicle will then be driven or manoeuvred while the operator is standing.

In order for the electric vehicles themselves to be transported, it is also known to provide a hinge at the lower end of the steering handle, so that the steering handle may be positioned approximately parallel to the base plate. However, the apparatus is still very awkward, in particular on account of the mounted heavy battery. This applies even if the seat of the electric vehicle has been previously removed.

The object of the invention is to provide an electric vehicle of the type described above which is not only simply designed and simple to operate, but is also cheap to construct and thus inexpensive and, furthermore, is easy to transport.

In this connexion the electric vehicle should be able to be transported in the conventional boot of a passenger car. This object is attained according to the invention in that the drive motor is connected to the front wheel by way of a drive and is mounted on the fork guiding the front wheel and the rear wheels are freely rotatable and the seat and the battery (where appropriate with a charging battery) are connected to the base plate and the steering handle is connected to the front wheel fork by way of quick-acting couplings.

The drive motor no longer acts, therefore, upon one or both of the rear wheels, as in the case of the known electric vehicles, but only upon the singie front wheel. This results in straighfforward travel conditions and, in particular, an excellent manoeuvrability of the electric vehicle. It should be borne in mind that electric vehicles of this type have only low power and the present-day electric motors for this lower power are relatively small and light. Mounting on the front wheel fork is not therefore subject to difficulties. In addition, the manoeuvrability of the carriage is in no way restricted by this light motor on the front wheel fork. The motor may readily be supplied by way of a flexible cable which, in order to permit servicing, may be connected to the motor by way of plug-in connexions.A similar plug-in connexion is provided on the battery which according to the invention is connected to the base plate by way of a quick-acting clamping device. In this way it is easily possible to separate the heavy battery from the base plate, so that, if the seat and the steering handle are also removed from the base plate and the front wheel fork respectively, the remaining base plate with the wheels is very easy to handle and may readily be fitted in the boot of a passenger car. The manageability is further facilitated or the weight is further reduced respectively by the base plate being constructed from fibre-reinforced - glass fibres or carbon fibres -- plastics material or by the chassis being constructed as an angled tube structure and the remaining bodywork being of plastics material.In this way corrosion is at the same time largely avoided.

In order to prevent the rear wheels from sinking in the case of loose supporting ground, it is an optional feature of the invention that there should be mounted on the base plate, in front of each of the rear wheels and synchronous with them, a further freely rotatable wheel, the lower limit of which is higher than that of the rear wheel. If the electric vehicle itself is transported, the steering handle, the seat and the battery may be removed without effort from the front wheel fork and the base plate respectively by means of the quickacting couplings and quick-acting clamping devices respectively which are provided. The remaining individual parts - base plate with wheels, seat, battery and steering handle - are individually easy to stow. In this way this vehicle may even be used by the handicapped in their motor cars.

In connexion with the requirements of a handicapped person sitting on this electric vehicle according to the invention, it is important, in particular in the case of restricted conditions of space, for example in trains, buses or aeroplanes, that the electric vehicle should be as narrow as possible in order to be able to push it through the narrow passageways generally existing there. This is taken into account by the invention in that the arm rests of the driving seat are removable, so that the width of the vehicle is determined by the mutual distance of the rear wheels. This distance, however, is of a magnitude such that it practically corresponds to the width of the person, so that the vehicle as a whole is so narrow that in all events it may be pushed through the existing passages, even under restricted conditions of space.

Since the electric vehicle according to the invention can be used in particular for transporting the handicapped, the seat may be turned through 3600 and fixed in any position in order that the handicapped person may sit on it easily. In addition, the arm rests may be individually swung backwards in each case in such a way that their front surface, preferably upholstered, is still in front of the back rests and may be used for supporting the handicapped person when sitting down on the driver's seat.

Particularly in the case of handicapped persons it is important to be able to adjust the height of the seat to the operating conditions in question in an optimum manner. In this connexion it should be borne in mind that handicapped persons generally lack the physical strength to be able to adjust the height of the operating seat themselves. The invention can therefore provide that the height of the passenger seat may be easily adjusted, advantageously by way of an adjustable gas spring. The height of the seat may also be altered by servo power, advantageously by way of a threaded spindle interposed between the seat plate of the driver's seat and its subframe or the base plate and drivable by an electric motor. In any case the driver's seat is sprung by a spring disposed in the subframe acting upon the upper part by way of an articulated bracket.

The motor hood of the electric vehicle is preferably rounded off in such a way that stiff leg supports may be provided on both sides of the motor hood. A further luggage carrier or a corresponding holder for transporting luggage etc.

can be provided in conjunction with this form of the motor hood. In addition, a spring steel band in the form of a bumper surrounding the front edge of the hood and covered by a rubber bulged portion can be provided.

The electric vehicle according to the invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a lateral view, partially cut away; Fig. 2 is the lateral view of the chassis: Fig. 3 is the plan view of the chassis; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the electric vehicle; Fig. 5 is a plan view along the section line V-V in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a front elevation; Fig. 7 is a partial front elevation with a reinforcing overlay, and Fig. 8 is a detailed view of the driver's seat carrier.

Two freely rotatable rear wheels 2 are mounted at the rear of a base plate 1 or the chassis 25 respectively. A bearing, in which the fork 3 for a single front wheel 4 may pivot, is disposed at the front of the base plate. An electric drive motor 5, which drives a toothed-belt drive 6 by way of a resilient torsion member 27 and the front wheel 4 by way of a chain drive 29, is secured to the said fork 3. A steering handle 8 is connected to the front wheel fork 3 by way of a quick-acting coupling 7. An interchangeable speed controller 35, by which the electric vehicle may be operated, is provided on the top of the steering handle 8.

The controller can be pivoted either by means of the finger tips or the balls of the hands. The front wheel fork 3 together with the drive motor 5, the toothed-beit drive 6, the chain drive 29 and the front wheel 4 are covered by a hood 9 as a continuation of the base plate 1. The front edge of the hood surrounds a spring steel band 24 which is covered by a rubber bulged portion 10 and which acts as a bumper.

A seat 12, which is advantageously sprung by way of a gas cushion and is vertically adjustable by means of lever 20 which may activate a pump or a control valve, is positioned at the rear end of the base plate 1 by way of a tubular butt end 11.

This seat may be turned through 3600 independently of the height adjustment and may be locked in any desired position, the seat springing being maintained by an articulated bracket 26. Arm rests 13, which may be swung away and which in the swung down position (shown in broken lines 28) may be used as access aids for a handicapped person, are provided on the seat. The seat plate of the driver's seat 12 is provided with a socket pin which engages in the tubular butt end 11 and is held in the correct position by means of a socket guide 14. In this way, rapid removal is possible, simply by withdrawing the seat 1 2 from the tubular butt end 11. Instead of the socket pin and the air cushion 19 a spring mechanism 21 may be provided in the tubular butt end 11 and the height of the driver's seat 12 may be adjusted by way of a servo mechanism.This servo mechanism is, for example, a threaded spindle which may be turned by way of an electric motor 22 with a worm drive 23.

A battery 1 6 is likewise connected to the base plate 1 by way of a quick-acting clamping device 1 5. it is disposed on the base plate 1 immediately in front of the tubular butt end 11 so that sufficient leg room remains for the driver of this apparatus. A locking brake 17 acting on the rear wheels 2 is disposed in the region of the seat 1 2. It is only required when the vehicle is to be parked on sloping ground. In addition, it may also be used, of course, as an emergency brake.

Otherwise the electric motor, which brakes the vehicle either by its own magnetic field or by reversing, is used as a service brake. Loading wheels 1 8 which are advantageously to be applied in particularly while traveiling over soft yielding ground, are provided on the base plate 1 in front of the rear wheels 2 by means of lockable knockout spindles. In addition, the tendency of the vehicle to tip is reduced by these attachable wheels, on account of widening the wheel base.

In the assembled state shown, the vehicle is extremely manoeuvrable and, as has been shown in practice, very easy to drive. In order to be able to fit the apparatus in the boot of a passenger car, when desired, after loosening the quick-acting clamping devices 7, 14, 15, the steering handle 8, the seat 12 and the battery 16 may be removed from the base plate 1 and then each individual component may be fitted without difficulty in the boot of the passenger car. It should be emphasized that by removing the steering handle 8, the seat 1 2 and the battery 1 6 not only were the bulky components removed from the base plate 1, but also each individual component is itself easy to manipulate in terms of weight.

Figure 7 shows a support 31 for a stiff leg. The support 32 shown in phantom may be provided alternatively or additionally.

Figure 2 shows bodywork 30 of plastics material enveloping the chassis 25.

Figure 5 shows a plug-in connection 36 for the battery 16.

Claims

1. An electric vehicle designed in the form of a tricycle, comprising a front wheel mounted in a front fork, a steering handle for steering the front wheel, a base plate, two freely rotatable rear wheels and a driver's seat mounted on the base plate a drive motor connected to the front wheel by way of a drive mounted on the fork, a seat and a battery (where appropriate with a battery charger), the seat and the battery being connected to the base plate and the steering handle being connected to the front wheel fork by way of quickacting couplings.

2. An electric vehicle according to Claim 1, wherein the drive is a combined toothed-wheel drive and chain drive.

3. An electric vehicle according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the connexion shaft between the drive motor and the drive comprises a spring resilient torsion member.

4. An electric vehicle according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein there is mounted on the base plate, in front of each of the rear wheels, a further freely rotatable wheel, the lower limit of which is slightly higher than that of the rear wheel.

5. An electric vehicle according to Claim 4, wherein the further wheel is joined to the base plate by way of a knockout spindle.

6. An electric vehicle according to one or more of the preceding Claims, wherein the base plate terminates in a hood covering the front wheel fork the drive motor and the drive.

7. An electric vehicle according to Claim 6, comprising a spring steel band in the form of a bumper at the front edge of the hood and covered by a rubber bulged portion.

8. An electric vehicle according to any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein the base plate comprises fibre-reinforced plastics material.

9. An electric vehicle according to any one of Claims 1 to 8 wherein the chassis is a rigid angled tube structure.

10. An electric vehicle according to any one of the preceding Claims comprising a locking brake acting upon at least one of the rear wheels is disposed on the base plate.

11. An electric vehicle according to Claim 1, wherein the quick-acting coupling devices are provided with an eccentric lock.

12. An electric vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the driver's seat comprises a back rest and arm rests which may each be swung backwards from an operative position beside the seat in such a way that their front faces are still in front of the back rest.

13. An electric vehicle as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the driver's seat is vertically adjustable.

14. An electric vehicle according to Claim 13, wherein the driver's seat is arranged so as to be axially displaceable on a tubular butt end disposed on the base plate and vertically adjustable by way of an adjustable gas cushion.

1 5. An electric vehicle according to Claim 13, comprising a threaded spindle driven by an electric motor interposed between the driver's seat and the base plate for the purpose of vertical adjustment.

1 6. An electric vehicle substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.