Improved scooter

Abstract

A vehicle comprising a cycle incorporating a canopy which extends above an occupant of the vehicle to provide a measure of protection from weather and configured such that the occupant enters / leaves

Description

Field of the Invention The invention relates to scooters and in particular to braked vehicles comprising a cycle incorporating bodywork in the form of a canopy which, in operation of the cycle, extends above an occupant of the vehicle to provide a measure of protection to the occupant from inclement weather and which is configured such that the occupant is intended normally to enter and leave the vehicle from one or each opposite side region thereof; one at least of those side regions incorporating a screen which, in use, acts to shield the occupant’s side region at least partially from the weather when the occupant is inside the vehicle. Such a vehicle will be referred to as a vehicle of the kind defined. Review of Art Known to the Applicant Vehicles of the kind defined are known and one specific form of such a vehicle is described and illustrated in published UK patent number GB2532709B granted to Trident Electric Vehicles Limited with an original publication date of 01 June 2016. The whole of the content of that prior published UK patent specification is incorporated into this present disclosure by reference. It was made clear in that prior specification that whilst the invention described in it was illustrated with reference to a self-propelled two-wheeled motor scooter, the invention could also be applied to all practically realisable forms of cycle which could embody any or all of its inventive features; that is to say, pedal cycles, motor cycles, motor scooters, quad bikes, and tricycles. The invention of this present application is similarly applicable to all those sub-classes of cycle and indeed one of the embodiments, to be described and illustrated herein, is a threewheeled vehicle (i.e. a tricycle). The present invention discloses new and inventive developments of the invention of published patent specification GB2532709B which constitutes the nearest prior art known to the Applicant. Summary of the Invention The invention in its broadest aspects is defined in the numbered claims forming part of the present disclosure and the whole contents of each of those claims are now incorporated here by reference in order to provide basis for them. Brief Description of the Drawings The drawings comprise a succession of consecutively numbered illustrations (Figures 1 through 13) each showing differing practical forms a vehicle embodying the invention might take. These will now be described in sequence, noting that any practical detail needed to put the invention into practice in any of these forms can be gleaned from specification GB2532709B and / or will already be within the competence of the intended skilled addressee. Several of the drawings contain explanatory text and the content of each such text item is hereby incorporated into this disclosure to aid the reader in the most nearly complete possible understanding of the extent of the invention. Description of the Illustrated Embodiments Figures 1 and 2 show by way of introduction the two-wheeled motor scooter described and illustrated in patent GB2532709B and are rounded-out reproductions of Figures 1 and 2 of that prior patent specification. So is Figure 3A, and these three depictions between them establish the base from which the present invention proceeds. Figure 3B differs in that it shows, together with Figures 4 and 5, a three-wheeled vehicle in which the front, single, wheel is the steerable one which (like its equivalent in Figures 1, 2 and 3A) is moved via a handlebar connection in a manner familiar from conventional pedal cycles and motor cycles. The remaining two wheels are spaced apart across the back of the vehicle with a power pack in between them and so this particular design of scooter has an inherent upright stability when compared with that of its two-wheeled stablemate. Three-wheeled motor scooters of the kind generally exemplified by the ones shown in Figures 3B, 4 and 5 are known. When they are cornered, especially at high speed, they need extra stabilising means otherwise there is an increased risk of the vehicle turning over. Efforts to provide such means have concentrated on allowing the body of the vehicle, forward of the two-wheel power pack, to pivot about an axis longitudinal of the vehicle; but this is not easy to achieve, nor is it inexpensive and for these reasons amongst others such vehicles have had little if any commercial impact even when their use and ambitions are restricted to simply carrying a single passenger. In the embodiment of Figures 3B, 4 and 5 therefore this problem is addressed by the provision of one or more auxiliary stabilising wheels which extends automatically from the vehicle to aid its cornering ability. The use of such wheels was proposed in patent GB2532709B; but only in relation to two-wheeled scooters. To apply this known technique - originated by the same Inventor as that of patent GB2532709B - to a three-wheeled powered scooter of the kind now illustrated in the present specification, goes against current orthodox thinking; and is therefore inherently inventive. The means to put it into practice in the current context are not only disclosed within patent GB2532709B but in basic form, at least, can be realised without inventive thought by the intended addressee of this present specification. In practical embodiments of the invention just disclosed, the (or ideally the one of two or even more) stabilising wheel(s) will be computer controlled and will come down in emergency in, say, a time interval of around one second. When slowing down, in nonemergency conditions, they will extend more slowly; but whenever deployed, they will always be extended fully just before the vehicle comes to a halt. They are independently monitored and can be gyroscopically controlled so that at traffic lights, for example (and assuming the vehicle is in the near-side lane in UK conditions) the road surface may conventionally slope down to a gutter or pavement and this means that the left-hand auxiliary wheel will come down more than its companion on the opposite side of the vehicle to keep the scooter vertical even if one of the wheels should go inadvertently into a pothole for example. Enlarging on the example given immediately above, and again with the vehicle in the nearside lane at traffic lights and wanting to turn left, say, an occupant would press a suitable button on the handlebar and for every mile per hour the scooter leans into the bend the angle of lean could be, say, ideally one degree per one mile an hour extra speed up to an obvious dictated limit in reality. Figures 6 through 11 each show a two-wheeled motor scooter embodying the invention in a totally different guise from previous proposals in this defined field. Panel vans (Figure 6) pick-up trucks (Figure 7) ambulance paramedic vehicles (Figure 8) vehicle breakdown recovery units (Figure 9) and postal delivery vans (Figures 10 and 11) whether in the form of mail, parcel, or internet-enabled package delivery units, have never previously been proposed within the confined context of a two-wheeled or three-wheeled motor scooter. Conventionally they are relatively large and heavy four-wheeled vehicles whilst the conventional two-wheeled motor scooter has been restricted to carrying one or at most two occupants. To use a two-wheeled or three-wheeled motor scooter as the basis for inventive thinking in this context is wholly unexpected; and yet the advantages of slicing through today’s heavy traffic conditions in safety in all weathers are self-explanatory once the inventive concept has been revealed. Each of the motor scooters shown in the drawings incorporates one or a spaced-apart pair of auxiliary stabilising wheels. These emerge from, and retract into, the bodywork automatically in use and in Figure 10 once such stabilising wheel can be seen partially emerging from the side / underside region of the vehicle. Figures 12 (there are four individual figures but each forms part of the group labelled collectively “Figures” 12) show the way in which a scooter embodying the invention might be constructed. In this case the vehicle is configured to accommodate two occupants positioned, in use, one behind another and entering and leaving the vehicle via respective side entry screens. One of those screens (the one through which the driver enters and leaves the vehicle) slides open in a direction generally towards the front of the vehicle; whilst the other screen, via which the driver’s passenger enters and leaves the vehicle, slides open as shown towards the rear of the vehicle i.e. in the respectively opposite directions (open and shut successively) in which the first, forward, screen slides when opening and closing respectively. Figures 12 also show clearly the concept of the stabilising wheels and the text amplifies the way in which these work in practice. Finally Figures 13 (again there are five separate ones, all collectively forming part of the overall Figures set) show the complete scooter in which, in contrast to those of Figures 1, 2 and 3A, the forward and rearward opening sliding screen doors foreshadowed in Figures 12 are used. Again a portion of an auxiliary wheel is shown clearly partially emergent from the side / underneath region of the vehicle. Three-wheeled motor scooters whose wheel layout and drive train embody those of Figures 3B, 4 and 5 are known at the date of this present application; but they embody neither of the inventive concepts outlined above. They do not use automatically extending and retracting auxiliary stabilising wheels (they rely instead on electronic sensing means to keep the vehicle from overturning when cornering) and nor do they have side-entry sliding doors: their doors are conventionally front-edge-hinged to open outwards, which negates the ability of a vehicle of this kind to park in tight spaces whilst still allowing an operator to squeeze into and out of the driving seat repeatedly during a typical “stop / start” delivery 5 day. For the avoidance of doubt, the trade marks and logos shown in Figures 6 through 11 are the property of the respective trading organisations depicted in those figures and no intention to infringe, let alone claim any ownership rights in, any of those displayed 10 graphics is claimed by the present Applicant - with the exception of the words CITY SCOOT which are the exclusive trade mark, used in connection with goods and services of the kind now being discussed, of the Applicant. 09 05 25

Claims

1. A motor scooter comprising:a steerable front wheel and one or two driven rear wheels;5 bodywork comprising a canopy which, in operation of the scooter, extendsabove an occupant of the scooter to provide a measure of protection to the occupant from inclement weather and which defines opposite side regions through which the occupant is intended normally to enter and leave the vehicle;one or more auxiliary stabilising wheels configured to operate automatically 10 by extending from the scooter as the scooter, in use, comes to a halt and / or leans beyond a predetermined angle from the vertical when cornering, the one or more auxiliary stabilising wheels being disposed substantially midway between the front wheel and the one or two driven rear wheels along a length direction of the scooter; and15 at least one of the side regions including a first side-entry door and a secondside-entry door, the first side-entry door being forward of the second side-entry door along the length direction of the scooter.

2. A motor scooter according to Claim 1, in which the bodywork includes one or 20 more side regions in which the one or more auxiliary stabilising wheels are received, such that, in use, the one or more auxiliary stabilising wheels may emerge from or retract into the bodywork at a side region of the scooter.

3. A motor scooter according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the first side-entry 25 door slides open in a direction generally towards the front of the scooter and the second side-entry door slides open in a direction generally towards the rear of the scooter.

4. A motor scooter according to any preceding claim, in which the first side-entry 30 door is generally forward of the one or more auxiliary stabilising wheels and the second side-entry door is generally rearward of the one or more auxiliary stabilising wheels.09 05 255. A motor scooter according to any preceding claim, in which the occupant comprises a payload of the vehicle.

6. A motor scooter according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the vehicle is 5 configured to accommodate two occupants positioned, in use, one behind another in the vehicle via the respective first side-entry door and second side-entry door, each side-entry door being associated with one or the other occupant; and characterised by the feature that one of the side-entry doors, associated with one of the occupants, slides open and shut in directions respectively opposite to those in 10 which the other side-entry door, associated with the other occupant, slides in use.

7. A motor scooter according to any preceding claim, in which the auxiliary stabilising wheel or each of the auxiliary stabilising wheels is adapted to be locked, with the vehicle at rest, to resist movement of the vehicle.

158. A motor scooter according to any preceding claim in the form of a panel van.

9. A motor scooter according to any of Claims 1 to 7 in the form of a pick-uptruck.2010. A motor scooter according to any of Claims 1 to 7 in the form of an ambulance.

11. A motor scooter according to any of Claims 1 to 7 in the form of a postal 25 delivery van.

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