Patent ID: 7059621

Claim:
A foldable frame ( 100 ) for a tricycle ( 1000 ) powered by a force selected from the group consisting of: a physical force; a motor; and a combination of a physical force and a motor the frame ( 100 ) comprising a number of subframes interconnected to fold the component members of said frame ( 100 ); and the frame ( 100 ) being characterized in that, by folding a central subframe ( 10 ) by exerting a force on it, two lateral subframes ( 30 ) supporting rear lateral wheels (W 1 ) are folded from a first fully unfolded configuration to a second fully folded configuration; and, conversely, by unfolding the central subframe ( 10 ), the lateral subframes ( 30 ) are also unfolded; and characterized in that each of said two lateral subframes ( 30 ) is connected functionally to said central subframe ( 10 ) by a first mechanism ( 80 ), so that deformation of said central subframe ( 10 ) is unequivocally related to that of said two lateral subframes ( 30 ), and each configuration of said central subframe ( 10 ) corresponds to one, and only one, configuration of said two lateral subframes ( 30 ); and, when said central subframe ( 10 ) is deformed into a fully unfolded configuration corresponding to a running configuration of said tricycle ( 1000 ), said two lateral subframes ( 30 ) assume the fully unfolded configuration corresponding to the running configuration of the tricycle ( 1000 ); whereas, conversely, when the central subframe ( 10 ) is deformed into a fully folded configuration, the two lateral subframes ( 30 ) are collapsed against the central subframe ( 10 ) into a minimum-size configuration of the tricycle ( 1000 ); and characterized in that, each lateral wheel (W 1 ), said first mechanism ( 80 ) comprises a first connecting rod ( 81 ) connected at one end by an articulated joint (G 2 ) to a member ( 15 ) of said central subframe ( 10 ), and at the other end by another articulated joint (G 1 ) to a member ( 33 ) of the respective lateral subframe ( 30 ), so that the movements of the first connecting rod ( 81 ) induced by rotation of the member ( 15 ) of the central subframe ( 10 ) produce corresponding deformations of the respective lateral subframe ( 30 ).