Claims
- 1. A vehicle adapted to freely travel three-dimensionally and comprising a vehicle body, wheels provided on the vehicle body, and a drive assembly mounted on the vehicle body for driving at least one said wheel, the one wheel comprising an outer wheel member having an annular peripheral wall and having a rigidity capable of bearing the load of the vehicle and magnetic forces applied to the one wheel, an arm rotatably mounted on the central portion of the outer wheel member and having a portion of magnetically permeable material radially extending to a position close to the inner peripheral surface of the outer wheel member, a magnet mounted on the arm with its poles in contact therewith, and an arm rotating portion for rotating the arm through a desired angle independent of the outer wheel member's rotation so that when the vehicle travels from a first surface to a second surface having an inclination which allows the outer wheel member to come into contact with the first surface at a first point and with the second surface at a second point simultaneously and the outer wheel member is in a stationary state on contact with the first surface at the first point and the second surface at the second point, the rotating arm portion rotates the arm to transfer the attraction of the magnetic force from the first surface to the second surface, whereby the vehicle in the stationary state is moved to travel from said initial stationary position along the second surface.
- 2. A vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the arm has a pair of portions of magnetically permeable material arranged widthwise of the vehicle body, and the magnet is provided between the permeable portions with its poles in contact therewith.
- 3. A wheel for a vehicle adapted to freely travel three-dimensionally and comprising an outer wheel member having an annular peripheral wall and having a rigidity capable of bearing the load of the vehicle and magnetic forces applied to the wheel, an arm rotatably mounted on the central portion of the outer wheel member and having a portion of magnetically permeable material radially extending to a position close to the inner peripheral surface of the outer wheel member, a magnet mounted on the arm with its poles in contact therewith, and an arm rotating portion for rotating the arm through a desired angle independent of the outer wheel member's rotation so that when the vehicle travels from a first surface to a second surface having an inclination which allows the outer wheel member to come into contact with the first surface at a first point and with the second surface at a second point simultaneously and the outer wheel member is in a stationary state on contact with the first surface at the first point and the second surface at the second point, the rotating arm portion rotates the arm to transfer the attraction of the magnetic force from the first surface to the second surface, whereby the vehicle in the stationary state is moved to travel from said initial stationary position along the second surface.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of application Ser. No. 07/741,330 filed Aug. 7, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,869.
US Referenced Citations (15)
Foreign Referenced Citations (7)
Number |
Date |
Country |
18464 |
Jun 1985 |
JPX |
215479 |
Mar 1986 |
JPX |
226375 |
Apr 1986 |
JPX |
241283 |
Mar 1987 |
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247578 |
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Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
741330 |
Aug 1991 |
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