Geared hub with freewheel, especially for wheel-chairs

A geared hub with a freewheel adapted for use with a wheelchair vehicle having a frame by which the hub is supported, containing:

• a hub axle and a driver supported on the hub axle;
• a hub sleeve supported at one side on the driver and at the other side on a rotatable lever-cone, said lever-cone being mounted to the frame of the vehicle;
• an epicyclic gear having a pinion cage accommodated within the hub sleeve, a ring gear, a planet pinion and a braked sun gear;
• a coupling sleeve adapted to connect the driver alternatively to the ring gear or to the pinion cage of the epicyclic gear;
• a thread on the pinion cage having a brake cone screwed axially thereon which, upon turning the driver backwards, spreads a brake member against the hub sleeve;
• at least one first ratchet gear having a ratchet wheel and spring-loaded pawls for the transmission of the driving torque introduced by the driver via the epicyclic gear into the hub sleeve in the forward direction of rotation;
• characterized by a second ratchet gear between the brake member and the frame of the vehicle, said second ratchet gear adapted to freewheel when a torque in the backwards direction of rotation is transmitted from the driver via the coupling sleeve, the epicyclic gear, the brake cone and the spread brake member to the hub sleeve.