Patent Application
20210016673
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Reserved for a later date, if necessary.
The disclosed subject matter is in the field of vehicle racking and/or docking systems.
According to the California Vehicle Code (CVC) § 407.5 a “motorized scooter” is any two-wheeled device that has handlebars, a floorboard that is designed to be stood upon when riding and is powered by a motor. “e-scooters” are a subclass of “motorized scooters” that have electric motors. Recently, e-scooters branded by BIRD® and LIME® (and other brands) have been outfitted with GPS tracking so that any person with a mobile device and like-branded software application can pay-to-ride to the e-scooters wherever they are found. The user may discontinue the ride by leaving the e-scooter on the spot of a completed trip.
Pay-to-ride e-scooters have become quite prolific in a short amount of time. There is no real solution for how to handle e-scooters that are left in areas where they are unwelcome—and particularly on private property or city sidewalks and streets. The business owners and city workers struggle with how to handle the e-scooter influx as many embrace the environmental benefits of eliminating car travel for short trips; but many declare a nuisance when scooters are not parked properly. The scooters sometimes interfere with local business operations, parking, handicap access and in many cases cause premises hazards. In most cases, there is no way to contact the pay-to-ride e-scooter owners to move the scooter causing business owners and cities to expend resources monitoring and constantly moving scooters back and forth. The process of removing the unwanted scooters is labor intensive and expensive.
Pay-to-ride e-scooter owners also have an issue with e-scooters being left to-and-fro by the riders because the owners must gather the e-scooters so that the batteries of the e-scooter's electric motors can be charged daily. Gathering the scooters requires a team of “chargers” that pick-up the scooters for overnight recharge. This process is not only tedious, but often the “chargers” damage the scooters during pickup.
Different strategies for dealing with the influx of e-scooters have been proposed. For instance, some cities have painted corals or designated e-scooter parking along the roadside. But, this solution is not totally satisfactory because e-scooters are susceptible to falling over or being knocked over, and they cannot be charged, which requires chargers to pick them up.
In view of the foregoing, an object of this specification is to disclose a scooter rack that is capable of retaining scooters in a designated and consolidated location. It is further an object of the invention to provide a charging mechanism so that scooters can be charged while retained within the scooter rack.
Other objectives of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the invention has been shown and described. The manner in which these objectives and other desirable characteristics can be obtained is explained in the following description and attached figures in which:
In the drawings, the following reference numerals represent the associated components:
It is to be noted, however, that the appended figures illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments that will be appreciated by those reasonably skilled in the relevant arts. Also, figures are not necessarily made to scale but are representative.
Disclosed is a scooter rack that is capable of retaining scooters in a designated and consolidated location. In some embodiments, the disclosed scooter rack features a charging mechanism for charging the battery of an e-scooter. In other embodiments, the rack features a billboard for posting directions, warnings, or advertisements. The more specific details of the disclosed scooter rack are described with reference to the appended figures.
Referring to
Although the method and apparatus is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead might be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the disclosed method and apparatus, whether or not such embodiments are described and whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus the breadth and scope of the claimed invention should not be limited by any of the above-described embodiments.
Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open-ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” should be read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like, the term “example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof, the terms “a” or “an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more,” or the like, and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,” “standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that might be available or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future.
The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instances shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases might be absent. The use of the term “assembly” does not imply that the components or functionality described or claimed as part of the module are all configured in a common package. Indeed, any or all of the various components of a module, whether control logic or other components, might be combined in a single package or separately maintained and might further be distributed across multiple locations.
Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described in terms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations. As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives might be implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying description should not be construed as mandating a particular architecture or configuration.
All original claims submitted with this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety as if fully set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62843168 | May 2019 | US |
