WO1991005456A2

WO1991005456A2 - A system for preventing the casual operating of the pedals while driving, in a vehicle provided with a manual gear change, and means for the realization thereof

Info

Publication number: WO1991005456A2
Application number: PCT/IT1990/000079
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ezio Dell'orso
Original assignee: Dell Orso Ezio
Priority date: 1989-10-13
Filing date: 1990-09-26
Publication date: 1991-05-02
Also published as: IT8948449A0; IT89048449A1; WO1991005456A3

Abstract

The system for preventing the casual operating of the pedals while driving, in a vehicle provided with a manual gear change, mainly consists in that an obstacle is realized between the clutch pedal and the brake pedal against the undesired sliding of one foot from the pedal usually operated by said foot, onto the adjacent pedal. The means consist of a partition wall growing from the ground and that may be out of one piece with the same, or which is carried by one of the adjacent pedals, or which is provided in the space between the clutch pedal and the brake pedal.

Description

"A SYSTEM FOR PREVENTING THE CASUAL OPERATING OF THE PEDALS WHILE DRIVING, IN A VEHICLE PROVIDED WITH A MANUAL GEAR CHANGE, AND MEANS FOR THE REALIZATION THEREOF"

The present invention concerns a system for preventing the casual operating of pedals while driving, in a vehicle provided with a nabual gear change, and means for the realization thereof.

It is already well knwon that in vehicles provided with a non-automatic gear change - which pertains to most vehicles - there are provided three pedals that are operated by the driver with his feet and they are, from left to right, the friction pedal, the brake pedal and the acceleration pedal.

The most important of said three pedals is the one of the brakes, which is oftenly operated in emergency si- tuations .

From statistics and from the daily experience it results however that often also deadly incidents may take place due to an inexact manoeuvre of the driver when his foot must operate on the brake. In particular, it oftenly occurs that that foot that should push the brake pedal, slides on the friction pedal. The chances that this kind of inconveni¬ ence occurs is furthermore given by the fact that during the driving lessons one is taught not to keep one's foot on the friction pedal. It ma also occur that wearing shoes that are not perfectly suitable for driving - being particularly stiff of having a particularly large sole - one pushes two pedals at the same time.

Therefore, it is a great need to prevent such inconven¬ iences so as to provide all vehicles not provided with an automatic gear change with a greater safety.

The object of the present invention is a system for preventing the casual operating of the pedals while driving a vehicle provided with a manual gear change .

A further object of the present invention are the means for the realization of above mentioned system.

According to the system provided by the present invention, the pedals of the friction and of the brake are kept physically separate from each other so that the foot can not act - if not intentionally on the pedal adjacent to the one he should operate. For this purpose, an obstacle is realized between the friction pedal and the brake pedal, againts the undesired sliding of one foot from the pedal usually operated by said foot, onto the adjacent pedal .

Above mentioned system may be realized by means of appropriate elements like, e.g., a separating wall provided between the pedals of carried by one of the pedals.

In particular, according to the present invention a division wall is provided out of one piece with the ground or fixed to the same, that prevents the foot from sliding from one pedal onto the adjacent one. In a variant said wall, instead of coming up from the ground, is carried by one of the adjacent pedals, i.e. by the friction pedal or by the brake pedal. In a further variant, each of said pedals carries a vertical partition wall turned towards the space between them, and said walls prevent any undesired sliding of the foot from one pedal to the adjacent one.

The present invention will be described hereinbelow more in detail in some preferred embodiments thereof, relating to the enclosed drawings, in which:

figure 1 shows the driving seat of a vehicle provided with the system according to the present invention; figure shows a variant in which the partition wall is provided on the ground of the vehicle; figures 3 and show two further _ variants of the means for realizing the system according to the present invention. Relating now to the enclosed drawing, and in particu¬ lar to figure 1, the driving seat, for what concerns the housing of the pedals, is separated into two sectors, A and B, by a vertical wall 1 that extends from the ground 2 just under the dashboard 3.

Said wall 1 is sufficiently broad so that, when the driver is sitting on his driving seat in his driving position, the left foot that is to operate the friction pedal 4 may not casualy leave that pedal getting onto the adjacent brake pedal. At the same time, the right foot can not slide from the brake pedal 5 onto the friction pedal 4.

As it shown in figure 2, the wall 1 may also be applied on already existing vehicles, making use of an appropriate element having the shape of an ¹¹L" or of an upsidedown "T" 6 screwed on ground 2. A correspondent stop 7 provided below dashboard 3, allows the blocking of the upper part of said wall 1, making it stiff and thus preventing it from getting down.

A partition wall has been mentioned until now that grows from the ground and reaches preferably until below the dashboard. In a variant shown in figure

3, wall 1 is carried by one pedal, e.g. by pedal

4, and is provided in such a way as to obtain the same result than the wall accoding to figures 1 and 2. In a similar way, as can be seen in figure 4, wall 1 carried by pedals 4 or 5, is appropriately folded in 8 in the upper part thereof, so as to form a covering for said pedal in such a height from the pedal as to prevent the use of said upper plane 8 for the operating of the pedal or for the resting of the foot.

In a further variant not shown the vertical wall 1 is carried by friction pedal 4 as wel as by brake pedal 5, and grows, with respect to them, towards the space between them. Also in this way the chance of the sliding of one foot onto the adjacent pedal is prevented.

Claims

1. A system for preventing the casual operating of the pedals while driving, in a vehicle provided with a manual gear change, characterized in that between the friction pedal and the brake pedal an obstacle againts the undesired sliding of one foot from the pedal usually operated by said foot, onto the adjacent pedal.

2. Means for the realization of the system accord¬ ing to claim 1, characterized in that said means consist of a mainly vertical partition wall grow¬ ing from the ground in the space between the fric¬ tion pedal and the brake pedal.

3. Means for the realization of the system accord¬ ing to claim 1 and according to claim 2, characte¬ rized in that the partition wall becomes out one piece with theground or is applied to it by means of hooking means.

4. Means for the realization of the system of claim 1, characterized in that the vertical partition wall is carried by the brake pedal or by the friction pedal or by both pedals.

5. Means for the realization of the system of claim 1, accoding to claim 4, characterized in that the partition wall carried by the pedal has a portion thereof turned parallel to said pedal, wherein said portion covers, at a convenient height, said pedal leaving free the entrance for the foot from the external part of the pedal as well as from the front and from behind the same.