Patent ID: 7261171

Claim:
An apparatus for converting movements of a wheel of a vehicle relative to a body of the vehicle to electricity for charging a battery of the vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a generator mounted on the vehicle, the generator having a stator and an armature that is mounted to the stator for rotation of the armature relative to the stator to produce electricity from the generator; a battery mounted on the vehicle, the battery being connected in electrical communication with the generator for receiving electricity produced by the generator; a wheel related piece operatively connected to the wheel of the vehicle for reciprocating movement of the wheel related piece in response to movement of the wheel; a body related piece operatively connected to the body of the vehicle for movement of the body related piece in response to movement of the body; and, a motion converter that is operatively connected to the armature and to one of the wheel related piece and the body related piece with the stator being operatively connected to the other of the wheel related piece and the body related piece, the motion converter being operative to convert relative reciprocating movement between the wheel and the body to rotary movement of the armature relative to the stator.