Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
MOTORISED WHEELBARROW |
| Document Number: |
20120146386 |
| Publication Date: |
June 14, 2012 |
| Appl. No: |
13/392392 |
| Application Filed: |
August 25, 2010 |
| Abstract: |
A pedestrian motorised wheelbarrow of the so-called four-wheel kind comprising an electric motor (12) to drive the wheelbarrow; adapted for battery means (14), to be carried by the wheelbarrow to power the motor, to be in the region of the front axle means (26), with all four wheels driven by the single electric motor, that drives the rear two wheels (161, 162) directly and these wheels in turn drive the other two wheels; the wheelbarrow having, when empty, a weight distribution with more than half its weight on its front axle means (26), and a hopper (28) such that its load will be substantially on the front axle means, with handle means (30) for tilting the wheelbarrow so as to lift the rear wheels off the ground, with a brake that operates automatically upon interruption of power supply to the motor, and with a pivotal mount (54) for the hopper such that if the wheelbarrow is suddenly braked the hopper will tend pivotally to tilt or overturn to eject its load forwards. |
| Inventors: |
Rowlands, Terry Charles (Port St. Lucie, FL, US) |
| Claim: |
1-31. (canceled) |
| Claim: |
32. A pedestrian motorized wheelbarrow having front axle means comprising two front road-wheels and rear axle means comprising two rear road-wheel means, an electric motor connected to drive the rear wheels and battery means to power the motor and positioned to be (or to exert substantially their whole weight) in the region of the front axle means. |
| Claim: |
33. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, which is a four-wheel drive vehicle. |
| Claim: |
34. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 33, in which all four wheels are driven by the single electric motor. |
| Claim: |
35. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 34, in which the motor is arranged to drive two of the wheels directly and these wheels in turn are arranged to drive the other two wheels. |
| Claim: |
36. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 35, in which said directly driven wheels are the rear wheels of the wheelbarrow and said other wheels are the front wheels of the wheelbarrow. |
| Claim: |
37. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, which is adapted to have, when empty, a weight distribution with more than half its weight in, or exerted in, the region of, or resting on, its front axle means. |
| Claim: |
38. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, comprising a hopper so arranged that, when loaded evenly, its load will bear, or be exerted, substantially entirely in the region of or resting on the front axle means. |
| Claim: |
39. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, which comprises handle means for tilting the wheelbarrow so as to lift the rear wheels off the ground. |
| Claim: |
40. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 39, such that the horizontal distance from the front axle means to the handle means is more than twice or substantially twice or in the range of 2 to 2.2 or 2 to 2.4 times the horizontal distance from the front axle means to the rear axle means. |
| Claim: |
41. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 39, which comprises handle means and a hopper so arranged that the required upwards force on the handle means for lifting the rear wheels off the ground is not substantially increased when the hopper has an evenly distributed load compared with when it has no load. |
| Claim: |
42. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 39, such that the total required upwards force on the handle means for lifting the rear wheels off the ground is less than 60 kg weight. |
| Claim: |
43. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, in which the motor is mounted towards the rear of the wheelbarrow. |
| Claim: |
44. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, in which the battery means comprise connection means for connecting two batteries in series to make a series pair and two such pairs in parallel. |
| Claim: |
45. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 44, which comprises connection means for connecting a third such series pair of batteries in parallel with the other two pairs. |
| Claim: |
46. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, which comprises a brake and means connected to control the brake automatically upon interruption of power supply to the motor. |
| Claim: |
47. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32, comprising a hopper and a pivotal mount for the hopper so arranged that upon sudden braking of the wheelbarrow, the hopper will tend to undergo pivotal movement to tilt or overturn to eject its load forwards. |
| Claim: |
48. The wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 47, comprising catch means to restrain the hopper from said pivotal movement and releasable to release the hopper for said pivotal movement to eject its load upon said sudden braking. |
| Claim: |
49. A method of transporting material in which there is used a wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 32. |
| Claim: |
50. The method as claimed in claim 49, in which the material is ejected or dumped from the wheelbarrow by releasing a pivotally mounted hopper of the wheelbarrow and with the aid of stopping (or suddenly slowing down) forward movement of the wheelbarrow so that the hopper tilts forwards or overturns to eject or dump its load. |
| Claim: |
51. Material transported by a method as claimed in claim 50. |
| Current U.S. Class: |
298/2 |
| Current International Class: |
62; 62 |
| Accession Number: |
edspap.20120146386 |
| Database: |
USPTO Patent Applications |
