AUTOMOBILE-PARKING SYSTEM

• US 3,623,562 A
• Filed: 01/02/1970
• Issued: 11/30/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Svatopluk Paul Pitra
• Original Assignee: Svatopluk Paul Pitra
• Inventors: Pitra, Svatopluk Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Levy, A. Harry
• Application Number:
  US05/000,313
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 180/1A
• US Class Current: 180/200
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 9/14 for both lifting and manoeuvring

Abstract

A lateral drive assembly for an automotive vehicle has four parking wheels carried by parking legs which are rotatable between lowered vertical positions and elevated positions. The parking wheels are operatively coupled to the main drive shaft of the vehicle via gear trains which are disengaged from the main shaft when the parking legs and parking wheels are elevated. The parking legs and wheels are rotated between lowered and elevated positions by mechanisms independent of the gear trains which couple the parking wheels to the main shaft.

Claims

1. A lateral-drive assembly for parking an automotive vehicle having a chassis frame carrying a main engine-driven shaft operatively coupled to main wheels supporting the vehicle, comprising a plurality of parking legs rotatable in vertical planes and carrying parking wheels oriented in vertical planes perpendicular to the main wheels;

supports carried by said frame and rotatably supporting said parking legs;

mechanical tranSmission means operatively connecting said parking wheels to said main shaft to drive the parking wheels;

means for rotating the parking legs between lowered vertical position and elevated position; and

means operatively interconnecting said transmission means and legs and arranged for disengaging said transmission means from the main shaft when the parking legs are in said elevated position and for engaging the transmission means to the main shaft when the parking legs are in lowered vertical position, whereby the main wheels will be elevated above ground and the vehicle will be supported only by the parking wheels when the parking legs are in said lowered vertical position, the lastnamed means for engaging said mechanical transmission means with main shaft and for disengaging the transmission means from the main shaft comprises slidable members carried by said frame;

crank arms engaged with said slidable members for advancing and retracting the slidable members radially relative to said driven shaft; and

other shafts coupling said parking legs and crank arms to rotate together, so that rotation of the parking legs, other shafts and crank arms selectively engages said transmission means with said main shaft and disengages the transmission means from the main shaft.

2. A lateral-drive assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said transmission means comprises gear trains, selectively coupled to and decoupled from the main shaft when the legs are alternately in lowered and elevated positions.

3. A lateral-drive assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said transmission means comprises a drive gear on the main shaft, and driven gears carried by said slidable members for alternately engaging with and disengaging from said drive gear.

4. A lateral-drive assembly as defined in claim 1, further comprising control means for the leg rotation means which is independent of said transmission means so that the parking wheels are operatively driven by said main shaft independently of said control means when the transmission means are engaged with the main shaft.

5. A lateral-drive assembly as defined in claim 1, wherein said transmission means further comprises chains driven by said driven gears, and other gears driven by said chains.

6. A lateral-drive assembly as defined in claim 4, further comprising other chains driven by said other gears, sprockets engaged by said other chains, and mechanical means operatively interconnecting said sprockets and parking wheels, so that the parking wheels are driven by the main shaft when the drive gear and said other gears are mutually engaged.

7. A lateral-drive assembly as defined in claim 4, wherein one of said other shafts, one of said crank arms and one of said legs are all integrally joined together to rotate simultaneously on a horizontal further shaft carried by said frame.