Patent ID: 6916032

Claim:
A propulsion, braking and steering control assembly for installation on a manually propelled vehicle, said vehicle comprising a frame, a front steering wheel assembly having at least two pivoting steering wheels having front steering wheel shafts, a rear drive wheel assembly comprising at least one drive wheel mounted for rotation on a rear drive wheel shaft, a single direction engagement apparatus axially mounted on said rear drive wheel shaft for translation of a propulsive force, an anti-rollback apparatus axially mounted on said rear drive wheel shaft and an axially mounted braking disc mounted on said shaft, said front steering and rear drive wheel assemblies supporting said frame and enabling movement of the vehicle, a footrest positioned within said frame above said front steering wheel assembly, said front steering wheel shafts being pivotally attached to the frame below the of said foot rest, and a seat constructed and oriented to support an occupant and mounted for limited horizontal sliding on the frame through roller and rail or linear bearing means, and a control assembly, said control assembly comprising: (a) a control lever assembly which is pivotally mounted to the top of the footrest and which has a plurality of engagement sites which extend along its length, said control lever assembly being connected by a brake actuator to said braking disc; (b) a sleeve which is disposed for movement on the exterior of the control lever assembly, said sleeve having a plurality of engagement sites which extend along the length of the sleeve and which may be positioned to overlap one or more of the engagement sites of the control lever assembly; (c) a force conveyance connecter which is affixed at one end to the sleeve and at the other end to said single direction engagement apparatus; and (d) a rotating steering column which extends through and is disposed for movement within the control lever assembly, and which (i) engages and turns one of said front steering wheels through connection by a flexible joint to a front steering wheel shaft, and (ii) which has an engager which may, through movement of the steering column, be positioned to engage simultaneously an engagement site of both the sleeve and control lever assembly and thereby lock the sleeve at a fixed position along the control lever assembly, wherein, (1) an increasing propulsive force is translated from the force conveyance connecter through the single direction engagement apparatus to the rear drive wheel shaft by pushing the control lever assembly forward from a vertical position when said steering column has been adjusted to lock the sleeve in a position along the control lever assembly closer to the pivot mounting near footrest, (2) pulling the control lever assembly in a backwards direction from a vertical orientation applies a braking force to the drive wheel shaft, and (3) the vehicle may be steered through movement of the steering column during propulsion or braking.