GB2421714A

GB2421714A - Scooter with pedal mechanism

Info

Publication number: GB2421714A
Application number: GB0418588A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James Clegg
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-08-20
Filing date: 2004-08-20
Publication date: 2006-07-05
Also published as: GB0418588D0

Abstract

A scooter with a reciprocating pedal mechanism comprising of a frame 7 carrying a steerable front ground wheel 12 and a rear ground wheel 13, an upright stem 15 and handlebar 14 attached to the steerable front wheel. Two pedal carrying cranks 9,17 are attached pivotally to an axis 16 that is fixed to the frame 7 between the two wheels and two one-way drive gears 8,20 are fixed on opposite sides of the rear ground wheel 13. The each crank 9,17 includes a geared edge 11,19 that interacts with the one-way drive gears 8,20 of the rear wheel. The two cranks 9,17 are linked by a flexible member 6 and pulley 5 so that if one crank is forced in a downwardly direction the other crank is caused to move in an upwardly direction. Thus the reciprocating pedal action is turned into continuous rotation of the rear wheel. Two rear wheels 13 may be provided.

Description

PEDAL SCOOTER

Field of the invention

The invention relates to a propelling scooter with a reciprocating pedal mechanism.

Background of the invention

Scooters have been known for many years. Traditionally a scooter consists of a frame carrying a steer-able front ground wheel and a rear ground wheel and a platform between the two wheels. The rider stands with one foot on the platform and uses the other foot to push against the ground and propel the scooter forward.

This type of scooter has a number of disadvantages; the scooter is only propelled intermittently each time the rider pushes with one foot and so only relatively low speeds are obtainable; the weight of the rider is supported by only one standing leg making balance difficult, the propelling technique is not very efficient and so the rider fatigues quickly.

Whilst there are motorised scooters that overcome the problems of intermittent propulsion and low speed, they present other disadvantages, such as noise and the requirement for an energy source such as a battery or a supply of fuel They also tend to be heavy and so difficult to transport.

There are a number of scooters that have been described that attempt to improve upon the traditional design of the scooter. For example, UK patent GB 2 387 360 A describes a scooter in which the rider stands on a platform and pushes on a spring- loaded pedal. The spring-loaded pedal drives a mechanism that rotates the rear wheel of the scooter propelling it forwards. Another example is European patent EP 1 225 124 Al, in which the rider stands on an elongated pedal that is pivoted towards its centre so that it rocks forwards and backwards The rider stands with both feet on the elongated pedal one either side of the pivot and forces the pedal to rock forwards and backwards. The pedal is linked to a drive mechanism that ultimately propels the scooter forwards.

These examples suffer from a number of problems. Primarily the movements required to propel the scooter, such as rocking back and forth, are quite unnatural to the user Secondly, the mechanisms used to drive the scooters forward are relatively complicated and so potentially inefficient, unreliable, heavy and expensive to produce

Summary of the invention

The proposed invention offers a number of advantages over existing selfpropelled scooters The invention consists of a frame, a steer-able front ground wheel and a rear ground wheel. Two one-way drive gears are employed, one being attached to either side of the rear ground wheel. Two crank arms are rotateable around a fixed transverse horizontal axel secured to the frame. Each crank has a freely rotateable pedal attached. The rider will place one foot on each pedal. Applying a force to one of the pedals causes the corresponding crank to rotate about its fixed axel and act upon one of the one-way drive gears attached to the rear wheel assembly. This in turn causes the rear wheel to rotate about its fixed axis thus propelling the scooter forwards. Both crank arms are connected with a flexible drive piece that runs via a pulley wheel, this results in the following, as the user forces one pedal downwards, the corresponding crank rotates about its fixed axis, this in turn causes the other crank to rotate in the opposite direction and raise the other pedal.

This relatively simple mechanism allows the user to propel the scooter forwards in a smooth continuous motion by way of a reciprocating pedal action. This reciprocating pedal action has similarities with both walking and pedalling a bicycle and as such feels quite natural to the rider, and causes no undue stress on any parts of the body The mechanism employs relatively few moving parts, which enables a compact, reliable, lightweight and inexpensive design.

There are existing scooters that employ a reciprocating pedal mechanism but with one particular disadvantage, this being that the left and right foot pedals operate independently. On example is UK patent GB 2 387 360 A in which the pedals are returned to their starting position via a spring mechanism and as such the rider has to learn to take their weight off each pedal before it will return to the top of its stroke.

In the proposed design, the action of the user forcing one pedal down causes the other pedal to be raised in preparation for the next stoke of the reciprocating action This ensures a controlled and efficient reciprocating pedal action Pscription of the drawings Figure 1 is a schematic side view of the preferred embodiment of the proposed invention in which one side of the frame has been removed to show clearly the position of the parts that would normally be hidden from view.

Figure 2 is a schematic view showing the moving parts of the reciprocating pedal mechanism.

Preferred embodiment of the invention Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the preferred embodiment of this invention is shown to include a frame 7, a rear wheel 12, and a front wheel 13.

The front wheel 13 is attached steerably to the front of the frame 7 and the rear wheel 12 is attached rotateably to the rear of the frame 7 An upright stem 15 and handle bar 4 are attached to the steerable front wheel assembly to allow the user to steer the scooter Two cranks 9/17 are attached rotateably to an axel 16 fixed transversely to the frame 7 between the front wheel 13 and rear wheel 12 A freely rotating pedal 10/18 is attached to each crank 9/17. The user places a foot on each pedal 10/18 during operation.

Two one-way drive gears 8/20 are used, one being attached to either side of the rear wheel 12 and about the same axis. These one-way drive gears 8/20 contain a ratchet mechanism and so can be rotated in either direction but only cause the rear wheel 12 to rotate in one direction n 3 Both cranks 9/17 include a geared edge 11/19 that engage the one-way drive gears 8/20 In this embodiment the one-way drive gears are of a fixed gear ratio but in another embodiment it would be possible for the one-way drive gears to be part of an internally geared hub assembled as part of the rear wheel This would allow the rider to change the gearing ratio of the reciprocating drive mechanism, thus alter the pace of the reciprocating pedal action making the scooter comfortable to pedal over a range of different speeds.

Another alternative to this embodiment would be to employ two rear ground wheels instead of one This would have the effect of improving the stability of the scooter Both the cranks 9/17 are linked via a flexible drive piece 6 so that the movement of one crank causes the other crank to move in a counter direction A pulley wheel 5 is attached rotateably to the underside of the top of the frame 7 The pulley wheel 5 guides the flexible drive piece 6 that connects the two cranks 9/17 The upright stem 15 and handle bar 14 may include a hinge mechanism 2 to allow the handle bar 14 and stem 15 to be folded down towards the frame 7 reducing the overall dimensions of the scooter to allow easier storage and transportation.

Brakes 3, 4 of known construction are supplied for the front wheel 13 and rear wheel 12. Brake levers 1 of known construction attached to the handlebar 14 control these The user stands with one foot on each pedal 10/18 and holds on to the handlebar 14 with both hands. As the user transfers weight to one of the pedals 10/18 the corresponding crank 9/17 is forced to rotate about its fixed axis 16. The geared edge 11/19 of the aforementioned crank 9/17 engages with one of the one-way drive gears 8/20 forcing it to rotate about its fixed axis. Due to the arrangement of the ratchet mechanism inside the aforementioned one-way drive gear 8/20, the rear wheel 12 is forced to turn in unison with the one-way drive gear 8/20 attached to the rear wheel 12 This causes the scooter to be propelled forwards. The motion of one crank as just described is transferred to the other crank by means of the flexible drive piece 6 As one crank 9/17 is forced downwardly by the user the attached flexible drive piece 6 running via the pulley wheel 5 pulls on the other crank 9/17 causing it to be rotated about the fixed axel 16 in a upwardly direction. In this embodiment the flexible drive piece 6 is cable As the opposite crank 9/17 is raised, the corresponding pedal 10/18 is raised to the top of its stroke ready for the user to apply a downwardly force to the pedal 10/18 in order to propel the scooter As this crank 9/17 is raised the geared edge 11/19 interacts with one of the one-way drive gears 8/20 attached to the rear wheel 12, causing the one-way drive gear 8/20 to rotate. Because of the arrangement of the ratchet mechanism inside the one-way drive gears 8/20 the rotation of the one-way drive gears 8/20 caused by a crank rotating in an upwardly motion does not confer any rotational force upon the rear wheel 12 Thus the user is able to cause continuous rotation of the rear wheel with a reciprocating pedal action The maximum upwardly position of the cranks 9/17 is limited to the point at which the pedal 10/18 fixed to the crank 9/17 comes into contact with the frame 7 The maximum downwardly position of the cranks 9/17 is limited by the length of the flexible drive piece 6 As one of the cranks 9/17 reaches its maximum upwardly position the flexible drive piece 6 connecting the two cranks 9/17 prevents the other crank 9/17 from moving any further in a downwardly direction thus preventing the crank 9/17 and pedal 10/18 from coming into contact with the ground

Claims

I. A scooter with a reciprocating pedal mechanism comprising of.

a frame carrying a steerable front ground wheel and a rear ground wheel; an upright stem and handlebar attached to the steerable front wheel, two one-way drive gears attached to the rear ground wheel: two platform carrying cranks that rotate about a fixed axis and that engage the two one-way drive gears; a drive piece that links the two platform carrying cranks.
2. A reciprocating pedal scooter according to claim I in which each crank has a geared edge that interacts with the one-way drive gears of the rear wheel.
3. A reciprocating pedal scooter according to claims I and 2 in which the two cranks are linked so that if one crank is forced to rotate in a downwardly direction the other crank is caused to rotate in an upwardly direction.
4. A reciprocating pedal scooter according to claims 1, 2 and 3 in which the cranks are linked with a flexible drive piece.
5. A reciprocating pedal scooter according to previous claims in which the geared edge of each crank engages a drive gear of a wheel with an internally geared hub.
6. A reciprocating pedal scooter according to claims 1,2 and 3 in which each pedal attached to each crank can freely rotate.
7. A reciprocating pedal scooter according to claims I,2 and 3 in which two rear wheels are employed.
8. A reciprocating pedal scooter according to claims 1,2 and 3 in which the upright stem and handle bar includes a hinge that allows the stem to fold.