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US 4,386,787 AGranted
Spherical vehicle
OwnerClifford Maplethorpe, Kenneth E. Karyinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This disclosure relates to a spherical vehicle which incorporates an internally mounted rotatable seat, an observation apparatus to permit an occupant at least a view of his prospective path of travel and a drive apparatus having a pedes contact surface to serve as a device to space the occupant from a supporting medium so that he can be transported thereover.
Claims1
A vehicle comprising:
- a transparent, substantially rigid shell in the general shape of a sphere, said shell having circular ports with bearing surfaces along the edges thereof, the centers of said ports being on opposite ends of a diameter of said shell;
- a carriage adapted to seat a person, said carriage having a pair of drive wheels with rims directly engaging and rotatable over the interior surface of said shell;
- a pair of idler wheels having respective rims that are rotatably maintained upon said bearing surface;
- a pair of support members, coupled to said carriage and to said idler wheels, that maintain said carriage substantially equidistant from said idler wheels;
- and
- means for providing power to said drive wheels.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.