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US 6,659,208 B2Granted
Powered golf caddy vehicle
AssigneeFairway Golf Cars, LLC
InventorsEdward J Gaffney, John Daily, Ronald G Koehn, Alan Zaremba
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A powered golf caddy vehicle permits a single golfer to conveniently control the speed and direction of travel during a round of golf while following the vehicle. Steering and throttle control functions are merged on a single steering tiller arm.
Claims33
A golf caddy vehicle comprising a chassis,
- a golf bag holder carried by the chassis,
- at least three wheels supporting the chassis for movement, at least one of the wheels being steerable,
- a motor coupled to at least one of the wheels to propel the chassis,
- a steerable element on the chassis for manual manipulation by an operator,
- a mechanism coupling the steerable element to the steerable wheel to steer the wheel in response to manual manipulation of the steerable element,
- a controller coupled to the motor operating to generate motor control signals in response to propulsion command inputs, and
- a throttle interface carried by the steerable element for manipulation by an operator and being coupled to the controller to generate the propulsion command inputs, wherein the device includes a switch in communication with the operator during operation of the vehicle, the switch having a first position in which no propulsion command input is generated and a second position that generates a propulsion command input, the switch being movable from the second position to the first position in response to actuation of the switch by the controller when a prescribed maximum separation between the operator and the chassis exists.
4 more elements
A vehicle comprising
- a chassis,
- a steerable wheel having weight and defining a turning force moment,
- a tiller on the chassis for left and right swinging movement in response to operator manipulation, the tiller having weight and a moment arm,
- a mechanism coupling the tiller to the steerable wheel to steer the wheel in response to left and right swinging movement of the tiller, the weight and moment arm of the tiller and the weight and turning force moment of the steerable wheel being substantially balanced to maintain a straight-ahead steering orientation for the steerable wheel absent a steering force applied by an operator to the tiller.
1 more element
A golf caddy vehicle comprising
- a chassis,
- a golf bag holder carried by the chassis,
- at least three wheels supporting the chassis for movement,
- a motor coupled to at least one of the wheels to propel the chassis,
- a controller coupled to the motor operating to generate motor control signals in response to propulsion command inputs, and
- a throttle interface on the chassis including a power socket and a power key insertable into the power socket to supply power to the motor, the power key being adapted to be withdrawn from the power socket to interrupt power to the motor, the power key being carried by a lanyard to tether the power key to an operator of the vehicle while the power key is inserted in the power socket and being sized to withdraw the power key from the socket when a prescribed maximum separation between the operator and the chassis exists.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.