Patent Application
20110089659
This application relates to platform steering systems, and more specifically to a system with a pair of bevel gears that connect and form concurrent motion between the platform and the axle for use on systems such as, but not limited to, skateboards, sleds, and other stand-on/ride-on platform apparatuses.
Skateboarding and sledding are both popular sports—especially among a younger crowd. Unfortunately, both share in a general deficiency of control. Every year thousands of people are injured in skateboarding and sledding accidents, and many of these accidents are caused by a vehicles' inability to perform turns sharp enough to avoid obstacles. For some unclear reason the issue of turning for skateboards and sleds has been chosen to be addressed separately by most inventors.
Several designs for turning mechanisms have been proposed over the years. U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,297 to Solimine (1977) suggests a system of pivotal arms and rockers which allows for more maneuverability than present models. The design, however, is only meant for skateboards and does not allow for a singular wheel, ski, or skate to be implemented. Nor does it suggest utilization for a pair of skis or a pair of skates. Furthermore, Solimine's patent appears to over complicate the issue; its numerous moving and rotating parts would likely deter a manufacturer who is seeking a more economic and simplistic approach to a simple problem. In addition, the patent requires a slightly different design for the front and back units, enough so that it would burden the manufacturer with the unwanted cost of producing two different mechanisms. Finally, Solimine's steering mechanism stands higher than a traditional skateboard truck, meaning the cumbersome appearance will deter skateboarders who are use to the low slung look and feel of present skateboard designs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,166 to Brooks (1992) demonstrates a design that has the wheels and platform tilt from side to side in concurrent motion. Although economical from a manufacturing standpoint, Brooks' design does not address a skateboarder's need for the ability to perform sharp hairpin turns to avoid obstacles in congested urban area. Furthermore, the design requires the rider to tilt the skateboard platform excessively to perform turns, which can cause more skateboarders to lose their balance during maneuvers. Brooks' later patented two revised versions of this design. U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,235 to Brooks (1992) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,214 to Brooks (1994) are both very similar to the first design in nature, but neither of these patents address the issue of maneuverability or structure to an adequate extent.
Several designs have also been proposed to solve the same issue for sleds. U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,506 to Scheib (1977) suggests a steering wheel connected to a series of runners that tilt from side-to-side. Although this system works, the steering, wheel system can be more dangerous if a crash does occur because its small surface area concentrates the impact pressure and can cause chest and neck injuries upon collision. U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,142 to Turner (1978), U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,479 to Combs (2003), U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,902 to Capra (1989) and many others employ a similar steering mechanism to Scheib, in that a protruding steering wheel or handle bars are required to operate the system.
Thus, prior art in the field of steering mechanisms for skateboards, sleds, and similar vehicles, is known to suffer from one or more of the follow disadvantages:
(a) The mechanism is incapable of incorporating a single wheel, ski, or skate instead of a pair.
(b) The mechanism is excessively complicated, limiting the practicality of production.
(c) The mechanism has a different design for the front and back steering units, resulting in an additional cost to manufacture.
(d) The mechanism is cumbersome and therefore unappealing to the consumer.
(e) The mechanism is only capable of performing shallow turns.
(f) The mechanism requires excessive tilting of the stand-on/ride-on platform to perform a sharp turn, which can cause the rider to lose balance.
(g) The mechanism requires the use of a protruding steering wheel or handlebars, which can be unsafe at high speeds.
Therefore, there exists a need for a weight displacement steering mechanism that can address these deficiencies.
The present disclosure describes a steering system comprising a platform, a swing arm perpendicularly attached to the platform, a spring system attached to the swing arm supporting the platform, a rotating wheeled axle mounted to the bottom of the swing arm and a pair of bevel gears that connect and form concurrent motion between the, platform and the axle. Steering is activated by weight displacement or weight, transfer causing the platform to tilt toward the desired steering direction.
Understanding that drawings depict only certain preferred embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, the preferred embodiments are described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
In the following description, numerous specific details are provided for a thorough understanding of specific preferred embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In some cases, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail in order to avoid obscuring aspects of the preferred embodiments. Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in a variety of alternative embodiments. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, as represented in the drawings, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but is merely representative of the various embodiments of the invention.
The present disclosure describes a weight displacement steering mechanism for controlling the direction of motion of a vehicle on wheels, skates, runners or the like. The shifting or repositioning of weight on the system, also referred to as weight transfer or weight displacement, initiates and controls the steering mechanism and provides a number of advantages including the following.
(a) The use of this steering mechanism allows users far more control over their skateboard, or other transportation device, permitting even beginners to travel congested areas that would normally be too difficult to navigate through using present skateboard models.
(b) The steering mechanism has the advantage of a greater turn-to-tilt ratio due to the sizing of the bevel gears. This will allow riders the ability to maintain their balance even when performing a sharp turn.
(c) The use of springs as a means of retention will allow manufactures to offer springs of various strengths to better suit the weight and height of the customer in order to maximize the product's efficiency.
(d) The steering mechanism allows for a singular or multiple wheel design. The use of the steering mechanism equipped with a singular wheel would likely prove to be useful for a bi or tri wheeled vehicle.
(e) The steering mechanism also allows for a singular or multiple ski/skate design. Similarly, the use of a single ski/skate design would be effective for a bi or tri ski/skate vehicle.
(f) The steering mechanism design is far more compact and low slung than present patents with the same intention.
(g) The front and back steering mechanism is of the same design, which will result in easy unit manufacturing.
These advantages will become apparent in the following detailed description of the weight displacement steering mechanism. One embodiment of the steering mechanism is illustrated in
When the weight displacement on the base platform 10 is equally distributed on each side, the base platform 10 is level and the pivoting axle 18 is perpendicular to bolt 26. When the weight on the base platform 10 is shifted to one side, the base platform 10 tilts to that side causing the second bevel gear 17 to rotate which causes the first bevel gear 16 to turn. The resultant action is the pivoting axle 18 pivots, thus steering the system. The springs 20 provide a restoring force to bring the base platform 10 to a level position and the pivoting axle 18 back to its original orientation.
In this preferred embodiment, the material used for the various components is aluminum, except for the wheels which are polyurethane. However; plastics, steel, or other materials could be used in place of aluminum, and any wheel made of plastic, rubber, metal, or other material is a compatible substitute for polyurethane. Paints and laminations could also be added for additional protection or simply to enhance the appeal. Composite materials may also be used for their desirable strength to weight properties.
The weight displacement steering system can be adjusted to create different steering characteristics. For example, the size ratio between the first bevel gear 16 and the second bevel gear 17 will affect the amount of steering for a given weight displacement or tilt to the base platform 10. A smaller ratio of the diameter of the first bevel gear 16 to the diameter of the second bevel gear 17 results in a more sensitive or responsive steering system, i.e. a smaller displacement or tilting of the base platform 10 is required to turn the pivoting axle 18.
Another component that can be adjusted to change the steering characteristics is the spring 20. A steering mechanism built with springs 20 having a greater spring constant will require a greater displacement for the same angle of steering that would be experienced by a system with a spring 20 having a lower spring constant. Simply stated, a stiffer spring will require a greater force to turn the weight displacement steering mechanism.
Another embodiment is illustrated in
In still another embodiment, a standard shock absorber can be implemented to act as the suspension system. This piston and fluid filled cylinder provides damping similar to the springs described above.
The disclosed weight displacement steering mechanism can be incorporated into a variety of devices which are briefly described below. These various devices contain different numbers and configurations of wheels, skis, runners and the like, that are fastened to the weight displacement steering mechanism by of the arm bolt 36 and pins 38 shown in
These devices all utilize the weight displacement steering mechanism illustrated in
Accordingly, the reader will see that the weight transfer, steering mechanism described in the various embodiments can be an easy to use, effective and affordable mode of vehicle steering for a large segment of people. In addition, for recreational equipment, the embodiments will have a greater appeal to beginners, those living in congested urban environments, and those who are simply not satisfied with current designs' lacking ability to perform small radius turns. Furthermore, the steering mechanism has the additional advantages in that:
Although the description above describes many specific features, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments. For example, the steering mechanism could be sized to fit a motorcycle, tri wheel vehicle, ATV, or even larger means of transportation; the axle and wheels could be replaced by a single wheel and mount; the wheel(s) could be replaced by ski(s), skate(s), or other devices. Therefore the scope of the embodiment should be determined by the appended claims, rather than of the examples given above.
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/251,780, filed Oct. 15, 2009, and titled “Weight Displacement Steering Mechanism”, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61251780 | Oct 2009 | US |
