Steering assembly for a human-driven vehicle, and human-driven vehicle

摘要

The steering assembly is applicable to a human-driven vehicle having a chassis (1) mounted on self-orienting wheels (2). The steering assembly comprises a steering unit (50b) with a steering wheel (4) installed on a mobile support and maintained out of contact with the ground by elastic means at an end (1b) of the chassis (1), and a control unit (50a) with a command member (7) in another end of the chassis. The units are connected by transmission devices (19, 20, 21). The command member (7) is manually operable to lower the steering wheel (4) against the force of said elastic means and to make the steering wheel (4) rotate with respect to a substantially vertical shaft when the wheel (5) is in contact with the ground to steer the vehicle. The elastic means automatically lift the steering wheel (4) when the manual operation of the command member (7) ceases.

主权项

1. A steering assembly for a human-driven vehicle, said vehicle having a chassis (1) mounted on a plurality of freely rotating wheels, wherein at least two of said freely rotating wheels are self-orienting wheels (2) located in an end region of the chassis (1), said steering assembly comprising:
a steering wheel (4) installed on a wheel support (5) in the same end region of the chassis (1) as at least two self-orienting wheels (2); a manually operable lowering mechanism for moving said wheel support (5) between a lifted position, in which said steering wheel (4) is out of contact with the ground, and a lowered position, in which the steering wheel (4) is in contact with the ground; and a manually operable steering mechanism for making the wheel support (5) and the steering wheel (4) rotate with respect to a steer shaft (12); first elastic means arranged to pull the wheel support (5) towards said lifted position; a common command member (7) for said lowering mechanism and said steering mechanism, which can be manually operated to move the wheel support (5) towards the lowered position against a force of exerted by said first elastic means and to rotate the wheel support (5) with respect to said steer shaft (12); and a first movement transmission device (19) arranged to transmit lowering movements from the command member (7) to the wheel support (5) and a second movement transmission devices (20, 21) is arranged to transmit steering movements from the command member (7) to the wheel support (5), characterized in that said command member (7) is located in a first end region (1a) of the chassis (1) and the wheel support (5) with the steering wheel (4) is located in a second end region (1b) of the chassis (1) opposite to said first end region (1a); the lowering and steering mechanisms comprises a first part connected to said command member (7) in said first end region (1 a) of the chassis (1) and a second part connected to the wheel support (5) in said second end region (1b) of the chassis (1), and said first and second movement transmission devices (19, 20, 21) transmit movements from said first parts of the lowering and steering mechanisms connected to the command member (7) to said second parts of the lowering and steering mechanisms connected to the wheel support (5); and the first parts of the lowering and steering mechanisms are integrated in a control unit (50a) configured to be fixed to a push member (3) connected to the chassis (1) or to the chassis (1) in a position adjacent to said push member (3) in the first end region (1a), and the wheel support (5) with the steering wheel (4) and the second parts of the lowering and steering mechanisms are integrated in a steering unit (50b) configured to be fixed to the chassis (1) in the second end region (1b).