Bicycle powered go-cart

A recreational vehicle for transporting at least two riders comprising (i) a propulsion device adapted for use by a first rider and having a brake and (ii) a go-cart adapted for use by a second rider and having steering device attached thereto, whereby the first rider provides propulsion and braking for the vehicle and the second rider provides steering for the vehicle. In a preferred embodiment, the propulsion device is the rear portion of a conventional bicycle. The go-cart has front and rear compartments, with the front compartment adapted for use by a forward facing rider and the rear compartment adapted for use by a rearward facing rider.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates generally to human powered recreational 
vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a 
bicycle-powered go-cart wherein a conventional bicycle, with its front 
wheel removed, provides propulsion to a go-cart incorporating the steering 
mechanism for the vehicle. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the past, vehicles such as wheel chairs and baby carriages have been 
joined to the rear portion of a bicycle-like device so that the vehicle 
could be powered by the rider of the bicycle-like portion--see, for 
example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,830,388 (Wang); 4,770,431 (Kulik); 2,482,585 
(Hauptman) and 1,661,257 (Kirch). Such approaches suffer from two 
disadvantages if applied to provide temporary power for a child's go-cart. 
First, extensive modification of the bicycle is often required to couple 
it to the other vehicle. This makes it unsuitable to satisfy the more or 
less spontaneous desire on the part of an adult and child to power the 
child's go-cart using the adult's bike on a given day while, allowing both 
devices to be converted back to independent use on short notice--that is, 
it is unlikely that the adult will undertake the effort required to couple 
his/her bicycle to the child's go-cart to "go for a ride" if substantial 
effort is required to couple the bicycle to the go-cart before the ride 
and then additional substantial effort is required immediately thereafter 
so that the bicycle and go-cart remain available for independent use. 
The second disadvantage associated with the approaches disclosed in the 
aforementioned patents, when applied to recreational use with a go-cart, 
is that the passenger in the vehicle has a passive role since the rider of 
the bicycle provides both the power and the steering for the vehicle. 
While this approach may be desireable, or even necessary, with respect to 
the handicapped and infant occupants of the wheel chairs and baby 
carriages of the prior art vehicles, it is unsuitable for use in go-carts 
with active young child who are easily bored with passivity. 
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a recreational vehicle that 
could be easily formed by temporarily integrating a conventional bicycle 
with a go-cart and that allowed the occupant of the go-cart to take an 
active role in operating the vehicle. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the current invention to provide a vehicle that can be 
easily formed by temporarily integrating a conventional bicycle with a 
go-cart. 
It is another object of the current invention that the vehicle allow the 
occupant of the go-cart to take an active role in operating the vehicle. 
These and other objects are accomplished in a recreational vehicle for 
transporting at least two riders comprising (i) a propulsion device 
adapted for use by a first one of the riders and having a frame to which 
at least one wheel, a pedalling mechanism for driving the wheel, and a 
seat are attached, (ii) a cart adapted for use by a second one of the 
riders and having at least one wheel having a steering mechanism coupled 
thereto, and (iii) means for coupling the propulsion device to the cart, 
whereby the first rider provides propulsion for the vehicle and the second 
rider provides steering for the vehicle. 
In one embodiment of the invention, the propulsion device has a front fork, 
and the coupling means is mounted on the cart and adapted to engage the 
front fork. In this embodiment, the coupling means comprises (i) a base 
portion attached to the cart, (ii) two connection bars extending upward 
from the base portion at an acute angle, and (ii) means for attaching the 
front fork to the connection bars.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIGS. 1-3 show a vehicle according to one embodiment of the current 
invention. The vehicle 1 is formed by integrating the rear portion of a 
conventional bicycle 2--that is, a conventional bicycle after its front 
wheel 25, shown in phantom in FIG. 1, has been removed--to the aft end of 
a conventional go-cart 3 that has been fitted with an adapter 4. The 
bicycle 2 has a frame 11 to which a rear wheel 13, a pedalling mechanism 
15 adapted to drive the rear wheel via a chain 49, a front fork 27, a seat 
59 supported by a seat tube 21, and a handle bar 23 are attached. As is 
conventional, a hand brake 45, coupled to brake pads (not shown) on the 
rear wheel 49, is mounted on the handle bar 23 for stopping the bicycle. 
Alternatively, as is well known in the art, a coaster brake could be 
incorporated into the rear wheel 49. 
As shown in FIGS. 114 3, the go-cart 3 has a substantially horizontal, 
substantially flat bed or frame 31 on the underside of which front and 
rear wheels 33 and 35, respectively, are attached. The go-cart 3 has a 
steering wheel 37 that is coupled by a post 47 to a bar 43 that ties the 
two front wheels 33 together. Rotation of the steering wheel 37 applies a 
torque to the bar 43, thereby turning the two front wheels 33. Thus, the 
steering wheel 37 provides direction control to the go-cart. A wall 39, 
extending upward approximately perpendicularly from the bed 31, divides 
the go-cart into front and rear compartments 40 and 41, respectively. 
Moreover, the wall 39 serves as a back rest for passengers in each 
compartment, with the passenger 70 in the front compartment 45 facing 
forward and the passenger 71 in the rear compartment 41 facing rearward. 
An adapter 4 is mounted on the aft end of the horizontal bed 31 and allows 
the bicycle 2 to be securely coupled to the go-cart 3. 
As shown in FIG. 4, the adapter 4 comprises two mounting bars 51, front and 
rear support bars 55 and 56, and two spaced connection bars 57 Two 
threaded members 24 extend downwardly form each of the mounting bars 51. 
The mounting bars 51 form the base of the adapter 4 and are secured to the 
horizontal bed 31 by disposing the threaded members 24 through holes in 
the horizontal bed 31 and clamping the mounting bars to the bed by 
screwing a nut 22 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 4) onto each 
threaded member so that the nut bears against the underside of the bed. 
The support bars 55 and 56 are connected between the two mounting bars 51 
and substantially increase the stability of the adapter 4. The connection 
bars 57 are coupled to the rear support bar 56 and extend upward at an 
acute angle from the adapter base so that the front fork 17 of the bicycle 
can be easily aligned for connection. 
As shown in FIG. 5, in the preferred embodiment, the connection bars $7 are 
spaced so one bar is disposed adjacent each of the tines 18 of the front 
fork 17. This allows the bicycle front fork 17 to be securely attached to 
the connection bars 57 by four bolts 61 disposed through holes 62 and 63 
in the connection bars 57 and the tines 18 of the fork 17, respectively. 
Thus, according to the current invention, once the adapter 4 has been 
permanently attached to the bed 31 of the go-cart 3 and the holes 63 have 
been drilled in the fork 17, the bicycle 2 can be coupled thereto to form 
the vehicle 1 by merely removing the front wheel 25 of the bicycle, 
aligning its front fork 17 with the connection bars 57 and installing the 
bolts 61. It is expected that, unlike the aforementioned previously known 
approaches to coupling bicycles to vehicles, this operation can be 
accomplished in a few minutes even by those with little mechanical 
aptitude. 
Although in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3, the front wheel 25 of the 
bicycle 2 is removed prior to coupling the bicycle to the go-cart 3, the 
invention could also be practiced by leaving the front wheel installed 
when the bicycle is coupled to the go-cart. This approach is facilitated 
by setting the engagement between the front fork 17 and the connection 
bars 57 so that the front wheel 25 was raised above the ground so as not 
to interfere with the contact of the go-cart 3 rear wheels 35 of with the 
ground. 
In operation, the rider 73 on the bicycle portion 2 of the vehicle 1 
provides power, braking and speed control, while the rider 70 in the front 
compartment 40 of the gocart 3 provides steering. Thus, unlike the 
previous approaches, the go-cart front passenger 70 takes an active role 
in operating the vehicle 1, thereby significantly increasing the enjoyment 
obtained by children using the vehicle. In addition, the rear compartment 
41 may be used for storage or for carrying another passenger 71. According 
to the current invention, although the passenger 71 in the rear 
compartment 41 plays a passive role in the operation of the vehicle, by 
facing rearward such passenger may readily communicate with the bicycle 
rider 73, thereby preventing boredom. 
Although in FIGS. 1-3 the invention has been illustrated by reference to 
temporarily incorporating a conventional stand-alone bicycle 2 and a 
conventional standalone go-cart 3 to form a vehicle 1, the invention may 
also be practiced by providing a vehicle 100 having a unitary structure, 
as shown in FIG. 6. In this embodiment, the vehicle 100 is comprised Of a 
substantially flat, substantially horizontal frame 131. The frame 131 is 
of unitary construction--that is, there are no detachable joints within 
the frame. Attached to the frame 131 are (i) at least one front wheel 133, 
(ii) at least one rear wheel 113, (iii) a front seat 170, (iii) a wall 139 
that serves as a back rest for the front seat, and (iv) a frame 111 that 
supports a rear seat 119. A pedalling mechanism 115 is coupled only to the 
rear wheel 113 via drive chain 149, thereby allowing only the rear rider 
173 to propel the vehicle 100. A steering wheel 37 is coupled to the front 
wheel 133, thereby allowing the front rider 170 to steer the vehicle 100. 
While the present invention has been illustrated and described in 
connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not to be limited to the 
particular structure shown. It is to be understood that various changes 
and modifications may be made within the purview of the appended claims 
without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention in its 
broader aspects.