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AssigneeDEKA Products Limited Partnership
InventorsDean L. Kamen, Robert Ambrogi, John B. Morrell, Christopher C. Langenfeld, Stanley B. Smith, III, James H. Steenson, Jr.
Estimating the term…
A safety mechanism for a personal vehicle that provides for separation of the motion of a body support from a ground contacting assembly of the vehicle in case of accident. In one embodiment, the body support is attached to the ground contacting module via a slide mechanism that permits the body support to continue upright motion despite overturning of the ground contacting assembly in order to prevent injury to the passenger. Another embodiment provides for coupling of the body support or the ground contacting assembly via either a real or virtual pivot located above the respective centers of mass of the body support and ground contacting assembly.
A safety mechanism for protecting a passenger of a vehicle having a ground contacting assembly characterized by a fore-aft plane and a body support, the body support having a center of gravity, in a situation wherein the vehicle undergoes undesirable tipping in the fore-aft plane defined by a direction of motion and the vertical, the safety mechanism comprising:
A method for protecting a passenger of a personal vehicle having a ground contacting assembly and a body support in a situation wherein the ground contacting assembly undergoes undesirable tipping in a fore-aft plane defined by a direction of motion and the vertical, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.