The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 09, 2020
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2017
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Erlanger, KY (US);
Taewoo Nam, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Yasuo Uehara, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Abstract
A dual-mode vehicle, wheels for the vehicle, and a method of transitioning the vehicle from a land mode to a flight mode. In the land mode, the method includes rotating a pair of spaced wheel arms about a central pivot to lower a body of the dual-mode vehicle to a ground surface. Each wheel arm extends from the central pivot to a wheel. The method also includes rotating the central pivot about a longitudinal vehicle axis to raise the wheel arms and the wheels above the ground surface. After raising the wheel arms and wheels above the ground surface, the method includes rotating the wheel arms about the central pivot to position the wheels for use as rotors in the flight mode. In the flight mode, the method includes rotating the wheels in order to extract rotor blades positioned within the wheels to extend beyond the wheels.