Land vehicles – Wheeled – Coasters
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-01
2001-06-26
Vanaman, Frank (Department: 3611)
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Coasters
C280S062000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250656
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of self-propelled land dirigibles such as bicycles and skateboards. More particularly, this invention pertains to a novel combination of a bicycle and a skateboard operable by one person to perform numerous tricks and maneuvers not possible with either vehicle alone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bicycles have been known for many years and come in a wide variety of wheel diameters, heights, wheel ratios, and lengths such that they are used for exploration, transportation, sports races, and performing entertaining tricks and maneuvers the world over. As is well-known in the use of bicycles, the operator sits upon a seat in the upper portion of the bicycle with both feet off the ground and propels the vehicle by shifting his or her body weight alternatively from foot-to-foot onto a pair of rotatable pedals that are connected by cranks to one of a pair of large, spaced-apart, air-inflated, support wheels by a drive chain or the like. Modern bicycles are equipped with a front and a rear wheel of similar size that are pivotally mounted on cross axles mounted to forks fixed or journaled to the bicycle frame.
Skateboards, on the other hand, have not been known for as many years but currently are quite popular. They are generally long, narrow and usually flat footboards supported by front and rear pairs of small diameter wheel diameters solid rubber wheels to support a rider in standing position quite close to the ground as compared to bicycles. Skateboards come in a rather narrow range of lengths, widths and heights with the wheels being of fairly similar diameters. The operator stands upright on one foot upon the footboard and propels the skateboard by pushing off with the other foot. While bicycles are capable of both short and long trips, skateboards are meant for rather short trips and are generally used to produce tricks in riding, skipping and jumping over obstacles, and leaping off high places or off of inclined surfaces to perform spinning, twisting, and tumbling tricks of spectacular proportion.
There appears to be a general movement to find novel vehicles for the performance of even more sensational tricks and maneuvers using these small vehicles, either in their existing form or in some modified form. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 1,514,720 discloses a bicycle having a platform located aft of the standard seat for pushing off with one foot and then moving forward to sit on the seat so that the bicycle can be put in motion like a scooter and then ridden like a bicycle. U.S. Pat. No. 1,951,277 discloses a standard scooter having a low center plate supported apart from the ends thereof by a pair of spaced-apart like diameter wheels where the steering is effected by an upright pair of handlebars rising from the front support wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,079 discloses a scooter-like device with split platforms that articulate with a steerable front support wheel-handlebar combination to provide a mechanically-propellable device. U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,647 discloses a skateboard having a sectional front end that is steerable by a pair of handle bars rising upward from the front small-diameter support wheels through an articulable connection joint. U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,121 discloses a pair of skateboard-like plates angling together at the front of each to an articulable support assembly rising upward to terminate at a pair of steering handles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,189 discloses a skateboard plate supported by a trundle of small wheels and terminating at the front thereof by a large diameter wheel through a curved support bar terminating at a steerable joint through a pair of spaced-apart handle bars. And, U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,331 discloses a pair of spaced-apart plates on which a rider stands that are supported by a steerable front support wheel through a set of spaced-apart handlebars that terminate above a moveable support column joining the front wheel to the handlebars.
Continued efforts are being made to find vehicles capable of many different tricks and maneuvers. Each modification that is developed appears to supply the industry with a new and exciting product for development into spectacular tricks that heretofore have not been available to bicycle and skateboard enthusiasts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is the melding of a skateboard-type vehicle and a bicycle-type vehicle whereupon the combination provides advantages and opportunities to perform tricks and maneuvers that have not be available alone to either vehicle. The inventor has determined that the footboard portion of the skateboard-type vehicle should be attached to the front bicycle-type wheel through a fitting capable of pivoting about a vertical axis that intersects the central longitudinal axis passing under the footboard from fore to aft so that the steerable front portion of the combination vehicle can be leaned sharply to the left and to the right during use. In addition, the inventor has determined that numerous tricks and maneuvers can be performed on the novel device if a certain length of the footboard, near the rear terminal end thereof, is pitched upward at an angle to the plane of the footboard and supported with a separate wheel located under this terminal end.
More specifically, this invention concerns a steerable toy comprising a rigid, elongated footboard defined by an upper surface and front and rear terminal ends and horizontally supported slightly above ground level by a pair of spaced-apart small diameter wheels flexibly journaled thereunder inboard from said rear terminal end to support a rider in standing position, the front end of the footboard supported above the ground by a large diameter wheel pivotally attached through an articulatable junction connected through A-frame connected to the front terminal end of the footboard and steerable about a near-vertical axis with a handle bar assembly in communication with the large wheel; and, a flat portion of the footboard aft of the small diameter support wheels pitched upward at an angle to the footboard for stepping on by the rider to pitch the entire vehicle upward at the small diameter support wheels during certain maneuvers.
Accordingly, the main object of this invention is a new dirigible toy for children of many ages to ride and enjoy. Other objects of the invention include a toy that combines the versatility of a skateboard with the positive steering capability of a bicycle, a device that allows an easy approach to learning to ride a skateboard as well as a bicycle, a toy on which the rider may performs such tricks as “wheelies”, jumps over other objects, and the like while obtaining positive steering of the skateboard through the use of the handlebars, a device that allows more positive steering than the usual manner of steering a skateboard namely by leaning to one side or the other, a toy that allows the rider to effect positive steering at slow speed so as to render the toy safe at slow speeds, and a toy that allows the rider to be supported during maneuvers that require him or her to lean heavily in one direction or another through the A-frame so that the toy remains safe and will not allow the rider to fall over.
These and other objects of the invention will become more clear when one reads the following specification, taken together with the drawings that are attached hereto. The scope of protection sought by the inventor may be gleaned from a fair reading of the claims that conclude this specification.
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patent: 126364 (194
Murphey John J.
Vanaman Frank
LandOfFree
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