Many different types of vehicles of highly variable character are used for surface transport over land as well as over water. These can be categorized from different view points. On solid ground, like bare earth, wheel borne carriages or carts are the primary means of transport. These can be manually driven (i.e. using muscular power) or motor driven (i.e. self propelled). Regardless of the means of propulsion such vehicles can be set in motion either through pulling (e.g. bicycle carts, handcarts, trailers, etc.) or through pushing (e.g. wheelbarrows, baby buggies, etc.). Furthermore, wheel borne vehicles can be categorized according to the number of wheels; more precisely single wheeled and multi-wheeled respectively, whereof the latter usually utilizes two, three or four wheels. In addition certain wheel borne vehicles can be steered in that one or more of the wheels can be turned or swivelled relative to the other wheels, while other types of vehicle can only be passively moved along without their own steering capability. Other vehicles are meant to be driven over snow and/or ice covered surfaces and are therefore equipped with other running members (the member or members of the vehicle that are in contact with the surface) than wheels; for example, skis, sledge runner or the like. Still other vehicles are meant to be driven on water and are therefore equipped with running members such as hulls, pontoons, buoyant skis, etc. To this can be added vehicles such as hovercrafts, hydrocopters and the like, which can travel over land as well as over water while riding on air cushions; i.e. they lack running members of the kind that are in direct physical contact with the surface during travel.
There exist at least as many actual vehicle types as there are conceivable application areas for these vehicles. Vehicles for transport of people and/or freight are not only used for utility purposes but also for diversion and amusement purposes, i.e. highly varying types of recreational activities. However, a common characteristic for vehicles manufactured according to older techniques is that a specific vehicle was given a functional design that was determined once and for all. For example, a bicycle cart was and always would be a cart for bicycles even if this cart in extraordinary circumstances was used for more or less odd applications not necessarily connected to a bicycle. A consequence and disadvantage of this technique is, however, that one and the same person, natural or juridical, is compelled to supply herself with a number of different vehicles to satisfy all the various needs that arise in life or in the organization. As one example, chosen from a range of possible real cases, consider the following situation of a man on his summer vacation who wants to both go long-distance bicycling and canoeing. This person can be in a situation that requires him to purchase a bicycle cart as well as a special two wheeled vehicle for portage of his canoe between different water-courses. If this person during the winter is interested in snowmobile driving as well, a completely different auxiliary vehicle will be needed, namely a snowmobile sled.
With the aim to remedy the economic, practical and other disadvantages in connection with the necessity of acquiring a specific vehicle for each transport application, multifunctional vehicles have during recent times been developed; more precisely vehicles which can be converted in such a way that one and the same vehicle can be used in fundamentally different ways. Thus, through U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,395 a four wheeled vehicle is known that is convertible mainly between a baby buggy and a bicycle trailer. When the vehicle is used as a baby buggy the vehicle includes three wheels, namely a front, central wheel and two back wheels. In order to push the buggy forward a u-formed, backward extending handle is mounted to the frame of the trailer. When the buggy is to be converted to a bicycle cart the front wheel as well as the backward extending U-handle are removed. Thereafter a thill-like fork is attached to the front part of the frame allowing attachment to a bicycle. Furthermore, the vehicle can be converted into a third configuration through the addition of a sled bottom, which allows the vehicle to be drawn by a skier or a dog.
Further, through US 2003/0062707 A1 a trailer is known that besides a hitch shaft also includes two foldable wheel units, which on the one hand in a folded out position make the trailer wheel borne and on the other hand in a folded in position reduce the volume of the trailer with the aim of facilitating storage and transport. In other words the vehicle can in general be converted between an active state for use and an inactive, non-usable state.
Finally, in DE 29701874 U1 a vehicle is described that can be converted between several different states, for example, from a trailer configuration suitable for hitching to a pulling vehicle to a manually driven configuration that forms a push cart (handcart), sack cart, baggage trolley or the like. The possibility to convert this vehicle between different states is based on the utilization of elastic tube clamps in combination with adjustable profiles.
The mutual characteristics demonstrated by these earlier known multifunctional vehicles, which are discussed above, are that they always use one and the same basic frame in their different states of conversion and that conversion is accomplish through changing the number of wheels and/or the position of the wheels relative to the frame. Common for these known vehicles is also that they are primarily wheel borne. In any case they can not in any configuration be driven on water. For this and other reasons the flexibility of the vehicles is fairly limited with respect to different areas of application.
The presented invention aims at obviating the above mentioned inconveniences associated with previously known vehicles and at providing the prerequisites for constructing vehicles having drastically improved flexibility with regard to possible areas of application. In a first aspect the invention is therefore aiming at providing a building or component kit for construction of highly disparate variations of vehicles. A primary object of this kit is that, extending from simple and inexpensive components, it shall make possible the construction of vehicles with a nearly endless variation on design and construction not merely with respect to the number of wheels and their placement but also with regard to the requisite vehicle frame; all in the ultimate objective to create the prerequisites for the user to quickly and simply, and in an arbitrary place, assemble a vehicle that fulfils unforeseen needs. To take a concrete example, from a range of imaginable examples, consider the situation that arises when a canoeist wants to get out of the water and portage his/her canoe from the beach to a parked bicycle some distance away. A kit packed in the canoe allows the canoeist to assemble a canoe wagon; i.e. a multi-wheeled vehicle which bears the canoe when the user pulls the canoe while walking to a bicycle some distance from the beach, whereupon the vehicle in some simple operations is transformed into a bicycle cart for further transport of the canoe by bicycle.
According to the invention the primary object is attained through the inventive kit by means of the characterizing features which are stated in the independent claim 10. Advantageous embodiments of the kit according to the invention are further specified in the dependent claims 11-14.
In another aspect the invention also relates to a module included in the kit according to the invention. In the case where the desired vehicle shall be wheel borne, said module consists of a wheel module, but said module may also comprise running members other than wheels; for example, skis, pontoons or the like. The characterizing features for this module are apparent from the independent claim 1. The advantageous embodiments of this module according to the invention are further stated in the dependent claims 2-9.
In a third aspect the invention also relates to a vehicle as such. The characterizing features for this vehicle are apparent from claim 15.
The invention is based on the intention of using a number of modules in combination with a number of connecting members with the purpose of connecting different modules with one another. Each module shall comprise a universally applicable carrier, which in turn comprises means for attaching; for example, a wheel or other running member, such as a ski or the like, said carrier comprising a number of sockets in which connecting members can be attached. The connecting members can have different configurations, but are primarily long and narrow and in practice may consist of slender tubes or hollow profiles. In its preferred embodiment the kit's basic component, namely the universally applicable module, is manufactured with several sockets of which some are arranged at an angle, in particularly at a right angle to one another. In this way, for example, a four wheeled vehicle can be simply built by connecting two modules using one or more transverse connecting members forming a pair of wheels that in turn may be connected to a similar pair of wheels using longitudinal connecting members. As is apparent from the following detailed description of different embodiments of the invention, the inventive module allows itself to be used for construction of a nearly endless number of vehicles from simple single wheeled vehicles to complicated multi-wheeled vehicles.
Already here it is motivated to point out that the invention through its universality creates certain terminological difficulties. In many states of conversion the carrier of the module according to the invention, is equipped (temporarily or steadily) with a wheel to permit construction of wheel borne vehicles. In this case the module can therefore be considered to be a wheel module. However, in other applications the carrier of the module can be equipped (temporarily or steadily) with other running members than just wheels. Earlier mentioned examples of such running members are skis and pontoons. Thus, the concept “running member” shall be understood to mean every type of component that can have contact with and that runs along the bearing surface (solid ground or water) and at the same time bears up the carrier of the module.
With reference to the drawings:
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In the embodiment according to precisely
Distinguishing for the shown wheel module is that its carrier 6 comprises a number of sockets in which connecting members 4 can be inserted. In the actual example the carrier 6 comprises three sockets, namely a longitudinal socket 12 and two transverse sockets 13. The two sockets 13 are parallel relative to one another and extend at an angle, more precisely a right angle, relative to the longitudinal socket 12. In its simplest embodiment a particular socket can consist of a simple hole in a side piece 8 or gable piece 10 respectively, but in practice a pipe coupling or hollow profile is used that is fastened at each end to a side piece or gable piece, for example, by welding. Thus, the single transverse socket 13 (see
As is apparent from
The separate connecting member 4 consists in the example of a square profile with an external cross section that corresponds to the internal cross section of the sockets. In this way the hollow profiles 4 can be inserted with a fairly close or play free fit into the sockets while attaining a torsion resistant connection between them. In the single hollow profile 4 is made at least one hole 15 for receiving a locking member 5. In the depicted preferred embodiment each hollow profile 4 comprises a series of axially separated holes that are suitably equidistantly positioned. By choosing a certain hole in the series, the particular hollow profile 4 can be secured in different positions in the corresponding socket. As is shown in
In the case where a transverse connecting member 4 and a longitudinal connecting member 4 are inserted at the same time in the corresponding sockets 13 and 12 respectively, and the holes 15 are aligned with the hole 14, one locking member 5 can be inserted through all the holes and thereby lock the connecting members reciprocally as well as relative to the carrier.
Further, the carrier in the example comprises means for attachment of the wheel 7. In the example this means consists of, in each side piece 8, a slit-like recess 17 that opens outwards in the edge section of the side piece. More precisely, the recess 17 is oblong and opens downwards. In connection with the recess 17 is formed a counter bore 18, for example a circular counter bore for a washer 19 having a through hole 20. When placed in the counter bore 18 the washer can not move in a vertical direction relative to the side piece 8. Together with the washer is found a threaded nut 21 which is screwed onto the wheel's shaft end 22 having a male thread and extending through the hole 20.
From the above it is apparent that the wheel 7 in this case is disengageably connected to the carrier. More precisely the wheel can be removed from the carrier by unscrewing the nut 21 and lifting the washer 19 out of the counter bore 18. In this way the shaft end 22 can be removed from the recess 17.
In this context it should be mentioned that the wheel 7 in the example according to
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From the foregoing it ought to be clear that the described kit comprising as the main components on the one hand a module in which is included a running member and on the other hand a number of connecting members, can be applied in a universal way for construction/assembly of vehicles of the most varying types. An exhaustive account of all possible types of vehicles that could feasibly be made is not possible since it is only the user's fantasy that puts limits on what could be constructed. Nevertheless, with the aim of further concretising the possibilities that the invention offers, the following presents a brief description of a few conceivable embodiments of different vehicles in practice.
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The invention, as indicated above, is in no way limited only to the above described and in the drawings shown embodiments. Thus, within the scope of the following claims, the modules as well as the connecting members that are comprised in the kit, can be most considerably modified. As an example, the connecting members can be made as telescoping embodiments, i.e. comprising two or more tubes or hollow profiles which are telescopically displaceable relative to each other and mutually fixable. In this way the length of one and the same connecting member can be varied. Basic for the invention is herewith mainly and solely that the module included in the kit, irrespectively of the type of running member said module is equipped with, comprises sockets in which interacting connecting members are allowed to be disengageably applied.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0302235-7 | Aug 2003 | SE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/SE04/01201 | 8/17/2004 | WO | 2/21/2006 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60495724 | Aug 2003 | US |