Patent ID: 7841436

Claim:
A personal mobility vehicle comprising: a frame with an integral foot support plate; a power supply housing mounted a rear portion of the frame; a seat mounted on the frame; a pair of laterally spaced apart support wheels journaled on the rear portion of the frame and rotatable about a transverse horizontal axis; a front driven and steerable wheel assembly supporting a front frame portion and including a drive frame, a steering tube mounted on the drive frame and extending upwardly and rearwardly to a free top end, a gear housing mounted on the drive frame and including a reversible electric motor with a motor shaft having a motor shaft axis attached to the gear housing, a first idler shaft mounted in the housing and having a first idler shaft axis that is parallel to the motor shaft axis, a second idler shaft mounted in the gear housing and having a second idler shaft axis that is parallel to the motor shaft axis, a driven axle journaled in the gear housing for rotation about an axle axis and extending to one side of the gear housing, and a wheel assembly with a wheel hub and a tire mounted on the driven axle outside the gear housing and rotatable with the driven axle about a driven axle axis; a helical pinion gear mounted on the motor shaft and rotatable with the motor shaft, a compound gear journaled on the first idler shaft and including a helical gear in mesh with the helical pinion gear and a first drive pinion gear that rotates with the helical gear about a first idler shaft axis, a first spur gear journaled on the second idler shaft and in mesh with the first drive pinion gear, a second spur gear fixed to the driven axle and in mesh with the first spur gear and wherein a second spur gear pitch diameter of the second spur gear is at least as large as a first spur gear pitch diameter of the first spur gear.