Variable drive mechanism for cycle type vehicles

In variable drive apparatus for a cycle-type vehicle having front and rear wheels rotatably carried on a frame and manually actuated by foot pedals, the combination comprising:

• a circular drive plate secured to said pedals for rotation therewith in response to manual rotation;
• a circular driven plate rotatably coupled to said rear wheel for rotation therewith;
• said drive plate and said driven plate having a plurality of circular concentric rows of spaced-apart gear teeth outwardly projecting laterally wherein each row is of a different diameter with respect to the center of each plate;
• revolving shaft means carried on said frame having opposite end terminating adjacent to said drive plate and said driven plate respectively;
• shift gear means slidably carried on said revolving shaft means including a front shift gear and a rear shift gear responsive to selectively engaging a selected row of teeth of said plurality on said drive gear and said driven gear respectively;
• said drive plate and said driven plate rotate about spaced-apart horizontal axis consisting of a front axle and a rear axle respectively;
• expansion spring means operatively coupled between said frame and each of said shift gears to normally bias said shift gears into retaining relationship with their associated selected row of gear teeth.
• said revolving shaft has opposite ends;
• bearing blocks carried on said axles receiving said revolving shaft ends;
• said revolving shaft having a square transverse cross-section slidably mounting said shift gears for linear movement;
• manually operated hand controls mounted on said frame and coupled to each of said shift gears respectively for positioning said shift gears along said revolving shaft into and out of alignment with said plurality of rows of gear teeth;
• transmission gears slidably carried on said revolving shaft between said shift gears operable to change rotational speed of said shift gears;
• control means carried on said frame for separately positioning said shift gears and said transmission gears;
• said revolving shaft comprises a front section slidably mounting said front shift gear and a rear section slidably mounting said rear shift gear;
• said front section and said rear section overlapping in spaced-apart relationship permitting linear sliding movement of said transmission gears into and out of engagement;
• said plurality of gear teeth include individual self-locating and pre-positional teeth adjusting to mesh with said shift gears;
• and
• each of said gear teeth is yieldably spring-biased to self-locate with respect to said shift gears.

In a self-adjusting gear teeth assemblage for a pair of driven and driving gears, the improvement which comprises:

• a pair of driven and driving gears;
• a plurality of gear teeth carried on a selected one of said driven and driving gears;
• a flexible mounting for each booth of said plurality on said selected one gear of said driven and driving gears permitting limited flexible movement so as to fully achieve meshing between gear teeth of said pair of driven and driving gears;
• each tooth of said plurality of gear teeth adapted to rotate about an axis normal to said selected one gear of said driven and driving gears;
• and
• said flexible mounting for each tooth includes a spring secured between each tooth and said selected gear normally biasing each tooth into a neutral position.