Steerable wheel assembly incorporating lean-to-steer mechanism with linear or non-linear steering response

A steerable wheel assembly for a body that traverses a surface and for steering about a steering axis in response to leaning of the body about a longitudinal axis, the steerable wheel assembly comprising:

• a shaft maintained in a fixed position relative to the body so as to extend perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;
• an inner race that is movably mounted to said shaft so as to allow motion between said inner race and said shaft about a central point located at the intersection of the steering axis and the longitudinal axis,
• said inner race being movably connected to said shaft so as to be movable with respect thereto about the central point, but where such motion between said shaft and said inner race is not limited to rotation about a single axis;
• a wheel mounted with respect to said inner race so as to rotate with respect to said inner race about a roller bearing axis, and having a wheel rim that rests upon the surface, said wheel being configured to maintain the roller bearing axis substantially parallel to the surface, at least at a desired speed of operation;
• at least one guided element mounted with respect to one of said shaft and said inner race;
• and
• at least one guiding element affixed with respect to the other of said shaft and said inner race,
• said guiding element being configured to engage said guided element to direct said guided element along a path defined by said guiding element, such engagement limiting the free motion between said shaft and said inner race to force steering motion of said inner race about the steering axis in order to accommodate leaning of the body and said shaft about the longitudinal axis.

A steerable wheel assembly for attaching a wheel to a body that traverses a surface, the body being leanable about a longitudinal axis and the wheel being steerable about a steering axis, the steerable wheel assembly comprising:

• a shaft maintained in a fixed position relative to the body so as to extend perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;
• a roller bearing having an inner race and an outer race that rotate freely with respect to each other about a roller bearing axis,
• said inner race being movably mounted to said shaft so as to allow motion between said inner race and said shaft about a central point located at the intersection of the steering axis and the longitudinal axis, and
• said outer race having the wheel mounted thereto so as to engage the surface;
• and
• a motion-limiting structure that limits allowed motion between said shaft and said inner race such that tilting of said shaft, resulting from leaning of the body about the longitudinal axis, can only be accommodated by forcing a corresponding steering movement of said inner race about the steering axis, through at least a range of leaning of the body.