BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Children's ride-on vehicles, of all shapes and configurations, are usually manually powered by the child via foot contact with the floor. The instant invention is directed to a ride-on vehicle mechanism for allowing the vehicle to either be manually propelled or propelled by an electric motor. The ride-on vehicle mechanism has a set of wheels, a housing containing an electric motor, gearing, batteries, and switches. Such a ride-on mechanism enables an adult or a child to engage the electric drive mechanism and once engaged; the adult or the child can start or stop the electric motor and engage the wheels of the ride-on mechanism to go in the forward or reverse direction.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The ride-on vehicle mechanism is attached to the underside of a child's ride-on vehicle which can take numerous shapes, a fire truck, an automobile, a tractor, etc. The ride- on vehicle mechanism has a housing containing an electric motor, gearing and batteries along with switches and two wheels connected by an axle. The vehicle attached thereto can have one or more additional wheels so that the vehicle is stable. The ride-on vehicle mechanism enables that stable vehicle of any shape or size adequate to accommodate a child, and it can be either manually propelled by the child or electrically propelled by the driven wheels of the ride-on vehicle mechanism. The mechanism has an engagement switch on the bottom of it to engage or disengage the gearing with the axle. It also has a direction switch which can turn on or off the electric motor and change the wheel direction to forward or reverse direction once the electric motor has been turned on. Such a ride-on vehicle mechanism enables the child, at his or her choosing, to be able to manually propel the vehicle or electrically propel the vehicle in either direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a bottom perspective view of the ride-on vehicle mechanism;

Figure 2 is an internal view showing the gearing, the axle of the wheels, and the engagement mechanism in the disengaged position;

Figure 3 is internal gearing showing the wheels, the axle, the gearing and the engagement switch in the engaged position;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Looking at Figure 1 the housing 1 contains an engagement switch 3 on the bottom thereof and a direction switch 4 on one of the sides thereof. Moreover, the housing contains in the upper section 10 an electric motor, not shown, and one or more batteries, not shown. An axle 5 passes through the housing and at either end has a wheel 2 attached. The housing 1 is attached to a child's vehicle which has one or more additional wheels for stability and since it can be attached to the bottom of any type of child's vehicle, the vehicle is not shown.

Looking at Figure 2 it will be seen that the axle 5 has a hexagon cross section but can be any sort of polygonal cross section. There is a drive gear 9 which engages a number of other gears to give an adequate torque for the driving of the wheels. An engagement means 6 is shown which is actuated by the engagement switch 3. The engagement means 6 is shown as two parallel protrusions capable of engaging a transfer means 7 and moving it along the axles. The transfer means 7 has a hole through the center of it of commensurate cross- sectional shape as the axle 5 so that when the axle turns it turns the transfer means 7. By moving the engagement switch 3 to the right, as seen in Figure 2, this in turn moves the transfer means 7 into a commensurately shaped cavity in gear socket 8. Once the transfer means 7 is moved into the commensurately shaped gear socket 8, the axle 5 and the wheels 2 are engaged with the drive gear 9 through the various other gears which are powered by the electric motor.

Figure 3 shows the transfer means 7 fully engaged with the gear socket 8 which in turn engages the axle 5 and the wheels 2 with the drive gear 9. As stated before, the engagement means 6 is actuated by the engagement switch 3 and when actuated the axle 5 is engaged with the drive gear 9. When the engagement means 6 moves the transfer means 7 out of the gear socket 8, the axle and the wheels are free turning.

Once the engagement switch 3 actuates the transfer means 7 to engage with the gear socket 8 and the drive gear 9, the axle and wheels can only be powered by the electric motor via the drive gear 9. The switch 4, as seen in Figure 1, in the middle position turns the electric motor off and therefore the drive mechanism and wheels cannot move. By moving the direction switch 4 in either direction will turn the electric motor on for either forward drive direction or reverse drive direction hence enabling the ride-on vehicle mechanism to move the child's vehicle in the desired direction.

The cross-section of the axle 5 can be of any polygonal cross-section shape so long as it is commensurate with the hole going through the transfer means 7. This is because the transfer means 7 must engage and turn with the axle 5 and hence turn the wheels 2. The transfer means 7 has a hexagonal protrusion in cross-section or any other polygonal shape in cross-section, but the polygonal shape must be commensurate with the shape of the cavity in the gear socket 8. This is because when there is a male/female inter engagement between the transfer means 7, which is connected to the axle 5, and the gear socket 8 connected to the drive gear 9, and when the electric motor is actuated the drive gear 9 turns the wheels in a forward or reverse direction. The gearing seen adjacent to the drive gear 9 is a matter of choice depending upon the size and weight of the vehicle and the size and weight of the child for which the vehicle is designed. The gearing provides adequate torque for turning the wheels and multiplies the torque of the electric motor.