Patent ID: 7458431

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: a prime mover; a pair of left and right running wheels; a transaxle for driving the left and right running wheels, the transaxle including a pair of axles onto which the respective left and right running wheels are attached, the pair of axles being able to be synchronously and differentially driven by power from the prime mover, and a rotatable control member for controlling the differential rotary speed and direction of the axles; a speed changing operation device operatively connected to the transaxle so as to control synchronous rotary speed and direction of the axles; first and second non-drive steerable wheels; mutually meshing first and second gears provided to the first steerable wheel; mutually meshing third and fourth gears provided to the second steerable wheel; a steering operation device for steering the first and second steerable wheels; and a mechanical linkage including first, second and third link parts extended from the steering operation device, wherein the first link part is connected to the first steerable wheel through the first and second gears, the second link part is connected to the second steerable wheel through the third and fourth gears, and the third link part is connected to the transaxle, so as to steer the first and second steerable wheels, and to simultaneously rotate the control member to cause the output power from the transaxle for differentially driving the axles in correspondence to an operation degree of the steering operation device, the first link portion including a first link rod which is extended from the steering operation device substantially fore-and-aft of the vehicle and is pivoted at an end thereof on the first gear, and the second link portion including a second link rod which is extended from the steering operation device substantially fore-and-aft of the vehicle and is pivoted at an end thereof on the third gear.