Device for driving a common shaft by pushing and pulling hand movements, especially for three-wheeled vehicles for disabled subjects

A device for driving a rotating member of a vehicle by pushing and pulling movements, for a disabled rider, comprising:

• a frame (10),
• a fork (12) pivoted with respect to the frame (10) for steering the vehicle, said fork comprising left and right fork tubes, said left and right fork tubes terminating in rotating member supports,
• a rotating member supported between said rotating member supports,
• a front wheel (41) supported on said rotating member,
• a left driving bar and a right driving bar positioned at respective sides of the vehicle, said left driving bar and said right driving bar being configured for engagement by left and right hands of the rider, and
• first and second biased drums, said first and second drums being coupled to drive the rotating member,
• first and second cables adapted to be wound on said first and second drums respectively, wherein the pulling and unwinding of said first or second cable causes rotation of the rotating member in a same direction,
• a mechanical unit that converts both the forward and backward movements of said left driving bar and said right driving bar corresponding to pushing and pulling movements, to alternately unwind said first and second cables and rotate said rotating member,
• said left and right driving bars are interconnected and are pivoted for limited angular displacement around a common shaft, wherein a displacement in a first direction requires a pushing motion and a displacement in an opposite second direction requires a pulling motion, wherein owing to their interconnection said pushing and pulling motions of the left and right driving bars cause simultaneous bar displacements in a same direction of said left and right driving bars, the cables when they are unwound from their respective drums are alternately wound on their respective drums by a force exerted by a first biasing spring associated with said first drum, and a second biasing spring associated with said second drum, wherein the front wheel is a driven wheel of the vehicle, and the driving bars are connected to the fork, and the vehicle is steered by the driving bars by their connection to the fork.