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:
May. 08, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 24, 1999
Edward Bray Fritz, Valencia, CA (US);
Disney Enterprises, Inc., , DE (US);
Abstract
An amusement ride vehicle capable of generating a natural “wheelie” motion with minimal acceleration is provided. Air springs are used to balance the vehicle about a predetermined center of gravity after passenger loading. The amount of balancing required is minimized by using a link, such as a pivoting control arm, to connect the front wheels of the vehicle to the front end of the chassis, thus enabling the chassis to be automatically balanced independent of the weight of the front wheels, without the need for computer control. Upon acceleration of as little as 0.5 Gs in a forward direction, the front end of the chassis rises smoothly and naturally into a upward arc while the front wheels remain engaged with the trackway. The amount of upward movement is limited by the length of the control arms, and can be further limited using stops, such as jounce and rebound bumpers. Passengers are loaded into the vehicle, and then the front end of the vehicle is levelled to compensate for the added weight of the passengers, for example by filling air springs mounted between the chassis and the front wheels. When the vehicle is levelled, the vehicle is accelerated to cause the front end of the chassis to rise up, “popping a wheelie.” As the ride decelerates, the front end drops down to a design height. Since vehicle acceleration causes the wheelie, it is by definition a natural force. This natural wheelie motion transmits the correct feel to the passengers.