Personal mobility vehicle

A personal mobility vehicle comprising:

• a frame with an integral foot support plate including a horizontal rear plate portion and an upwardly and forwardly inclined front plate portion;
• a power supply housing mounted on the horizontal rear plate portion and extending upwardly from the integral foot support plate;
• a seat with a seat back mounted on the top of the power supply housing;
• a pair of laterally spaced apart support wheels journaled on a rear portion of the frame and rotatable about a transverse horizontal axis;
• a front driven and steerable wheel assembly supporting the front frame portion and including a drive frame, a steering tube mounted on the drive frame and extending upwardly and rearwardly to a free top end, a gear housing mounted on the drive frame and including a reversible electric motor with a motor shaft having a motor shaft axis, attached to the gear housing, a first idler shaft mounted in the gear housing and having a first idler shaft axis that is parallel to the motor shaft axis, a second idler shaft mounted in the gear housing and having a second idler shaft axis that is parallel to the motor shaft axis, a driven axle journaled in the gear housing for rotation about a driven axle axis, that is parallel to the motor shaft axis, and extending to one side of the gear housing, and a wheel assembly with a wheel hub and a tire mounted on the drive axle outside the gear housing and rotatable with the driven axle about the driven axle axis;
• a helical pinion gear mounted on the motor shaft and rotatable with the motor shaft, a compound gear journaled on the first idler shaft and including a helical gear in mesh with the helical pinion gear and a first drive pinion gear fixed to the helical gear and that rotates with the helical gear about the first idler shaft axis, a first spur gear journaled on the second idler shaft and in mesh with the first drive pinion gear and wherein the first spur gear has a first spur gear pitch diameter that is larger than the first drive pinion gear pitch diameter, a second spur gear fixed to the driven axle and in mesh with the first spur gear and wherein a second spur gear pitch diameter of the second spur gear is at least as large as the first spur gear pitch diameter of the first spur gear.

A personal mobility vehicle comprising a frame with a front end, a rear end, a right side, a left side;

• a horizontal rear frame portion, a front frame portion integral with the horizontal rear frame portion and extending forwardly and upwardly from the rear frame portion, and a foot support plate covering at least a part of the rear frame portion and covering the front frame portion;
• a power supply housing mounted on the horizontal rear frame portion and extending upward from the rear frame portion, a seat with a seat bottom and a seat back mounted on the power supply housing and a bearing assembly mounted in a mast fixed to the frame front portion and extending upward from the foot support plate;
• a pair of laterally spaced apart support wheels journaled on the horizontal rear frame portion for rotation about a transverse horizontal axis and supporting the horizontal rear frame portion above vehicle support surfaces;
• a front driven axle and steerable wheel assembly supporting the front frame portion and including a drive frame with a vertical plate and an integral drive frame flange extending from a first side surface and an upper edge of the vertical plate, a steering tube welded to the integral drive frame flange and extending upwardly and rearwardly to a steering tube free upper end, a driven axle shaft passing through an inboard bearing bore through the vertical plate and journaled in an inboard bearing mounted in the inboard bearing bore through the vertical plate, a tire mounted on the driven axle shaft adjacent to a first side surface of the vertical plate, and wherein the steering tube is journaled in the bearing assembly mounted in the mast for pivotal movement about a steering axis that extends upward and rearward, and a tiller bar with a left hand grip and a right hand grip attached to the steering tube free end and extending upward and rearward from the mast;
• and wherein an electric motor is attached to the first side surface of the vertical plate with a helical pinion gear mounted on an electric motor output shaft and extending through a helical pinion gear bore through the vertical plate, a first idler shaft fixed in a first idler shaft bore in a second side of the vertical plate, a compound gear journaled on the first idler shaft, including a helical gear in mesh with the helical pinion gear, and a first drive pinion gear integral with the helical gear and rotatable about a first idler shaft axis, a first spur gear journaled on the second idler shaft and in mesh with the first drive pinion gear journaled on the first idler shaft, a second spur gear fixed by a retainer pin that passes through an axle pin bore and is received in a retainer pin recess in the second spur gear, to the driven axle shaft and in mesh with the first spur gear and wherein the second spur gear has a second pitch diameter that is the same as a first pitch diameter of the first spur gear, a motor axis of the electric motor output shaft, a first idler shaft axis of the first idler shaft, a second idler shaft axis of the second idler shaft, axis and a driven axle of the front driven axle are all parallel to each other and in a common plane that extends forward and upward from a front wheel and tire;
• a gear housing including a housing plate, a housing skirt integral with the housing plate, a flat gasket engaging surface on the gear housing, a housing first idler shaft bore that receives a first idler pin end, a second idler pin bore in the housing plate that receive a second idler pin end, an outboard bearing bore, and wherein a gasket is positioned against a second side surface of the vertical plate and is clamped between the second side surface and the flat gasket engaging surface by bolts that pass through bores in the gear housing and screw into threaded bores in the vertical plate.