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:
Mar. 19, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 05, 2000
André Carpiaux, Emeryville, CA (US);
William D. T. Davis, Fremont, CA (US);
Ivan Junju Huang, Fremont, CA (US);
Andreas Kaiser, Walnut Creek, CA (US);
Alexander S. Ko, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Martin Koebler, Fremont, CA (US);
Timothy James Loew, El Cerrito, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
The wheel suspension of the invention is a thin-profile wheel suspension system including spring and dampening mechanisms and an optional brake and drive motor, mounted to a suspension frame in a compact arrangement which permits all or most of the sprung components to be mounted within the volume enclosed by the rim of a wheel, and thus the wheel suspension of the invention may be referred to as an “in-wheel suspension”. The wheel suspension comprises a hub plate assembly including hub bearings and axle. The hub plate is mounted to a suspension frame by a motion-controlling sliding mount assembly, which connects the hub plate to the suspension frame while it permits the hub plate to slidably move in response to wheel loads. In the preferred embodiment, the suspension frame includes two forks, each fork mounting a sliding rail mount assembly comprising a slide-and-rail mechanism aligned vertically on the suspension frame and mounted to the hub plate. A spring mechanism such as a conventional piston-type shock absorber is mounted connecting to both the hub plate and the suspension frame to provide resilient motion control of the hub plate in response to vehicle weight, vehicle motion and road shock.