Abstract:
A quick release hood for an electric scooter essentially comprised of a deck locking mechanism and a hood locking mechanism with the former adapted with a locking post and the latter provided with an insertion hole loaded with an resilient member; the locking post being engaged into the insertion hole to remove or reassemble both mechanisms for maintenance or transportation purposes of the electric scooter without requiring any tool by taking advantage of the expansion of the resilient member.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     (a) Technical Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention is related to a quick release hood adapted to an electric scooter, and more particularly, to one in which a locking post is adapted to a locking mechanism of the deck while a resilient member is adapted to a hood locking mechanism of the electric scooter allowing quick release and reassembly of the locking mechanism of the deck and the hood locking mechanism in maintenance or transportation.  
         [0003]     (b) Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     As the elderly segment of the total population is increasing and mobility is one of the essential needs in daily life, the development of the electric scooter is appealing The electric scooter is particularly useful for the elderly and the disabled who suffer problems with response and motion. Viewed from the industrial development point of view, the advanced function and technology of the electric scooter and the emerging population of elderly consumer both contribute a rapid growth of the global market.  
         [0005]     The electric scooter relates to a transportation means that operates on a scooter loaded battery to drive a controller to control the output from a motor to further drive the rear wheels via a transmission, and then to drive a front wheel to synchronously move for driving the electric scooter.  
         [0006]     The prior art of an electric scooter as illustrated in  FIG. 1  of the accompanying drawings is essentially comprised of a body  1 , a hood  2  and a seat  3 . The body  1  includes a steering mechanism  11 , a front wheel  12 , two rear wheel  13 , a pedal deck  14 , a power system  15 , and a deck locking mechanism  16 . The hood  2  is provided to cover up the power system  15 , and the seat  3  is provided for riding comfort.  
         [0007]     In the event of routine maintenance or disassembly for transportation, the hood  2  is usually removed. A magic tape  17  adhered to the deck locking mechanism  16  and another magic tape  21  adhered inside the hood  2  at where in relation to the magic tape  17  adhered to the deck locking mechanism are used to hold the deck locking mechanism  16  and the hood  2  in position when the hood  2  covers up the deck locking mechanism  16 . However, it is usually very difficult to misalign both magic tapes  17 ,  21  resulting in extremely troublesome in holding both of the hood  2  and the deck locking mechanism  16  in position. Furthermore, both magic tapes  17 ,  21  may provide excellent adhesion, but as time goes by, the adhesion gets poor after several times of detached for maintenance purpose. Consequently, great noise is heard while driving due to that the impact between the hood  2  and the deck locking mechanism  16 . Therefore, in an improved structure of the prior art, the conventional locking with screw is used in lieu of the magic tape as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Wherein, a bolt  18  is mounted on the deck locking mechanism  16  while a screw hole is provided on the hood  2  to allow the insertion by the bolt  18  and then the bolt  18  is locked with a nut  22 . The fastening though is sufficient to fix the hood  2  to the deck locking mechanism  16 , it requires hand tools to remove the nut  22  and the bolt  18 ; and both of the nut  22  and the bolt  18  are vulnerable to get rusty. Furthermore, improper force exercised in mounting or loosening the nut  22  and/or the bolt  18  will damage the coating on the hood  2 .  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a quick release hood for the electric scooter to easily remove the deck locking mechanism and the hood locking mechanism without any hand tool in the maintenance of the electric scooter. To achieve the purpose, a locking post is incorporated to the deck locking mechanism; an insertion hole is provided on the hood and an resilient member is provided to the circumference of the insertion hole. The locking post from the deck locking mechanism is inserted into the insertion hole on the hood and restricted by the expansion of the resilient member.  
         [0009]     The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.  
         [0010]     Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  is an exploded view of an electric scooter of the prior art.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a local part of the prior art.  
         [0013]      FIGS. 3, 3A  and  3 B are exploded views of an electric scooter of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view of a local part of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view showing a frame is incorporated with a locking post of the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]     The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.  
         [0018]     Referring to  FIGS. 3, 3A  and  3 B, a preferred embodiment of the present invention of a body  4 , a hood  5  and a seat  6  as found with the prior art. Wherein, the body  4  includes a steering mechanism  41 , a front wheel  42 , two rear wheels  43 , a pedal deck  44 , a power system  45 , and a deck locking mechanism  46 . The hood  5  contains the power system  45 , and the seat  6  is provided for riding comfort.  
         [0019]     As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the quick release is comprised of the deck locking mechanism  46  and a hood locking mechanism  51 . Wherein, a locking post  47  is incorporated to the deck locking mechanism  46  and fastened with a nut  48 .  
         [0020]     The deck locking mechanism  46  includes a frame  461 . A restriction hole  462  is disposed at one end of the frame  461  and two guide channels  463  are respectively provided on both sides of the circumference of the restriction hole  462 . The locking post  47  is made of a metallic material having its upper section wrapped with a hard plastic material serving as a blocking part  471 , and having its lower section provided with a threaded bolt  472 . The top of the blocking part  471  is made in a circular head that extends downward and expands into a middle section in diameter greater than that of the circular head, and further extends downward in gradually reducing diameter until it reaches the topper end of the threaded bolt  472 . A retainer  473  is each provided to the upper circumference of the threaded bolt  472  at where in relation to the restriction hole  462  of the deck locking mechanism.  
         [0021]     The hood locking mechanism  51  is provided with a recess on the hood  5  and an insertion hole  52  is disposed at the bottom of the recess with a resilient member  53  mounted to the circumference of the insertion hole  52 . The resilient member  53  is related to a rubber ring having at its center provided with a circular through hole.  
         [0022]     Now referring to  FIG. 5 , upon assembling the quick release of the present invention. The threaded bolt  472  of the locking post is first inserted into the restriction hole  462  of the frame  461  to the extent that both retainers  473  of the locking post  47  and both guiding channels  473  of the restriction hole  462  are respectively interlocked with each other to prevent the locking post  47  from lateral displacement; and finally the nut  48  is mounted to hold the locking post  47  in position. The assembly described above is done ex-factory. As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the hood locking mechanism  51  is provided with the resilient member  53  on the insertion hole of the hood  5 . When the hood locking mechanism is incorporated with the locking post  47 , the upper end and the lower end of the locking post  47  are both in the same diameter as that of the inner diameter of the resilient member while the middle section of the locking post is in a diameter greater than that of either of the upper or the lower end of the locking post  47 . Therefore, when the blocking part  471  penetrates through the resilient member  53 , the blocking part  471  for being wrapped up with a hard plastic material is compressed and held in position. Because the resilient member  53  is related to a expandable rubber, it allows the hood locking mechanism  51  to easily adapt to the locking post of the deck locking mechanism, thus to facilitate the removal and reassembly of both the hood locking mechanism and the deck locking mechanism of the electric scooter for the purpose of maintenance or transportation.  
         [0023]     The present invention by providing a resilient member to the hood and a locking post to the deck locking mechanism of the electric scooter for the insertion hole disposed on the hood to be incorporated with the locking post of the deck locking mechanism allows easy removal and reassembly of the deck locking mechanism and the hood locking mechanism without the use of any hand tool for maintenance or transportation purpose.  
         [0024]     It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.  
         [0025]     While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.