Caster wheel assembly
AssigneeBrintal Limited
InventorBrian Harrison
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A caster-wheel assembly (100; 200) for a vehicle, for example a wheelchair or powered wheelchair. The caster-wheel assembly comprises a switch (13) coupled to a housing (3); a castering wheel bracket (9) configured to receive a wheel (10), wherein the bracket is rotatably mounted about a caster pivot axis (28) with respect to the housing; biasing means (15) configured to provide a biasing force such that the wheel bracket is biased away from the housing; and a switch-actuating member (13) coupled to the wheel bracket such that movement of the wheel bracket towards the housing and against the biasing force causes the switch-actuating member to actuate the switch.
Claims26
A caster-wheel assembly for a vehicle, the caster-wheel assembly comprising:
- a housing;
- a switch coupled to the housing, the switch being configured to disengage or engage a propulsion means or a braking means of the vehicle;
- a castering wheel bracket configured to receive a wheel, wherein the castering wheel bracket is rotatably mounted about a caster pivot axis with respect to the housing;
- biasing means configured to provide a biasing force such that the castering wheel bracket is biased away from the housing;
- and
- a switch-actuating member coupled to the castering wheel bracket such that movement of the castering wheel bracket towards the housing and against the biasing force causes the switch-actuating member to actuate the switch.
A caster-wheel assembly for a vehicle, the caster-wheel assembly comprising:
- a chassis mounting means for mounting the caster-wheel assembly to a chassis of the vehicle;
- a castering wheel bracket comprising a wheel mounting means for mounting a wheel thereto;
- and
- a load-sensitive switch configured to disengage a propulsion means of the vehicle, or engage a braking means of the vehicle, when a compressive force acting between the chassis mounting means and the wheel mounting means falls below a predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.