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:
Apr. 30, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 20, 2000
Tadashi Hanaoka, Wako, JP;
Masaru Katayama, Wako, JP;
Yasuto Shigematsu, Wako, JP;
Yoshito Hamasaki, Wako, JP;
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A four-wheel vehicle equipped with a space saving, relatively simple turning mechanism capable of turning a vehicle body with a sufficiently reduced turning radius. One of front and rear pairs of left and right wheels, to which a running torque produced by a driving force is not transmitted, are arranged for rotation concerning respective axes perpendicular to the ground. For turning the vehicle body, the one pair of left and right wheels are fixed at respective angular positions along tangential directions of an arc which passes the axes perpendicular to the ground of the one pair of left and right wheels and has the center near the center point of a rotating axle for running the vehicle of the other pair of left and right wheels. At these angular positions, rotating torques in different rotating directions from each other are applied to the other pair of left and right wheels, respectively, to turn the vehicle body on a neighborhood of the center point of the rotating axle for running the vehicle of the other pair of left and right wheels.