Sled-type vehicles

A sled type vehicle for descending over unimproved ground, and particularly grass or snow covered slopes, characterized by

• a chassis having wheels and an occupant support for the driver,
• the chassis being provided with two wheels having axles and positioned near the transverse ends of the chassis, front and back, the center plane of the wheels coinciding normally with the longitudinal axis of the chassis;
• both wheels being wider than they are high and of a profile which is substantially a complete ellipse extending out to the axle ends,
• at least the front wheel being constructed and mounted so as to pivot angularly in a horizontal plane when the ground track of the wheel deviates from its center plane due to inclination of the chassis and is displaced toward a lateral extremity of that wheel to exercize a pivoting couple proportional to the chassis inclination,
• the vehicle being devoid of other manual steering means,
• whereby directional changes of the vehicle are capable of being accomplished solely by inclination of the chassis to the right or left of its longitudinal axis.

A sled type vehicle for descending over unimproved ground, and particularly grass or snow covered slopes, characterized by

• a chassis having wheels and an occupant support for the driver, and lateral longitudinal struts paralleling its longitudinal axis,
• the chassis being provided with two wheels positioned near the transverse ends of the chassis, front and back, the center plane of the wheels coinciding normally with the longitudinal axis of the chassis,
• the wheels being wider than they are high and of generally elliptical profile,
• at least the front wheel being capable of pivoting angularly in a horizontal plane,
• the chassis being tubular and defining a substantially horizontal plane along the major portion of its length, while being bent in its rear portion to define a substantially vertical plane, which is preferably slightly inclined,
• the rear wheel having an axle supported upon the substantially vertical portions of the longitudinal struts, this support being obtained by the opposing influence of two elastic traction members having a first attachment point at the wheel axle and a second attachment point upon the corresponding longitudinal strut of the chassis, one in front of the wheel axle at the substantially horizontal portion of the longitudinal strut, and other behind the wheel axle at the substantially vertical portion of the longitudinal strut.

A sled type vehicle for descending over unimproved ground, and particularly grass or snow covered slopes, characterized by

• a chassis having wheels and an occupant support for the driver,
• the chassis being provided with two wheels positioned near the transverse ends of the chassis, front and back, the center plane of the wheels coinciding normally with the longitudinal axis of the chassis,
• the wheels being wider than they are high and of generally elliptical profile,
• at least the front wheel being constructed and mounted so as to pivot angularly in a horizontal plane when the ground track of the wheel deviates from its center plane due to inclination of the chassis and is displaced toward a lateral extremity of that wheel to exercize a pivoting couple proportional to the chassis inclination,
• the vehicle being devoid of other manual steering means,
• whereby directional changes of the vehicle are capable of being accomplished solely by inclination of the chassis to the right or left of its longitudinal axis, and
• the ends of the front wheel axle which pivots having support bearings constituted by an inclined ramp with double slope and generally "V" shape, the branches of which are aligned with the axis of the longitudinal struts of the chassis, the ends of the wheel axle resting upon the rearward branch of the inclined ramp.

A sled type vehicle for descending over unimproved ground, and particularly grass or snow covered slopes, characterized by

• a chassis having wheels and an occupant support for the driver,
• the chassis being provided with two wheels positioned near the transverse ends of the chassis, front and back, the center plane of the wheels coinciding normally with the longitudinal axis of the chassis,
• the wheels being wider than they are high and of generally elliptical profile,
• at least the front wheel being constructed and mounted so as to pivot angularly in a horizontal plane when the ground track of the wheel deviates from its center plane due to inclination of the chassis and is displaced toward a lateral extremity of that wheel to exercize a pivoting couple proportional to the chassis inclination,
• the vehicle being devoid of other manual steering means,
• whereby directional changes of the vehicle are capable of being accomplished solely by inclination of the chassis to the right or left of its longitudinal axis,
• the occupant support comprising a platform shaped in the longitudinal direction of the chassis, the platform comprising three curved portions including end portions and a central portion, and being subdivided transversely in the vicinity of the center of the central curved portion so as to form two platform portions having substantially symmetrical longitudinal profiles the two portions being joined to each other by overlap and united by assembly means, and
• a braking arrangement controlled by the front wheel, the braking arrangement comprising a skid or static friction zone placed below the curved portion of the platfrom and a lanyard positioned to be held by the driver, the ends of the lanyard being connected to the ends of the front wheel axle in such a manner that pulling upon the lanyard produces displacement of the front wheel in the direction of the skid or friction zone thereby to provide braking by rubbing of the wheel against the skid or friction zone.