Patent ID: 7721866

Claim:
A traveling operation device comprising: a speed-change operation mechanism for operating a stepless speed-change device, the speed-change operation mechanism being biased toward a neutral side; a speed-change lock mechanism capable of being manually operated so as to take a speed-change locked state of holding the speed-change operation mechanism at a voluntary speed-change position and an unlocked state of releasing the speed-change locked state; and a brake operation mechanism for operating a traveling brake device; wherein the speed-change lock mechanism shifts from the speed-change locked state to the unlocked state according to the operation of the brake operation mechanism, wherein the speed-change operation mechanism includes: a speed-change pedal shaft capable of being rotated about an axis line; a forward-side speed-change pedal that is relatively non-rotatable with respect to the pedal shaft, the forward-side speed-change pedal rotating the pedal shaft about the axis line based on a manual operation; a ratchet body that rotates about the axis line substantially parallel to the pedal shaft according to the rotation of the pedal shaft about the axis line, the ratchet body including a plurality of teeth; and a neutral biasing mechanism for operatively biasing the pedal shaft toward the neutral side; the speed-change lock mechanism includes: a lock member including a lock claw that selectively engages the plurality of teeth of the ratchet body, the lock member capable of being rotated about a first pivot shaft substantially parallel to the pedal shaft so as to take a locked position where the lock claw engages the teeth and an unlocked position where the lock claw is separate from the teeth; a lock operation member capable of being manually operated so as to position the lock member at the locked position or the unlocked position; and an unlock biasing member for operatively holding the lock member at the unlocked position; the brake operation mechanism includes: a brake operation shaft arranged substantially parallel to the first pivot shaft, the brake operation shaft capable of being rotated about the axis line to take a brake-actuated position of actuating the traveling brake device and a brake-released position of releasing the brake actuation of the traveling brake device; a brake operation member capable of being manually operated so as to selectively position the brake operation shaft at the brake-actuated position or the brake-released position; and a brake-releasing biasing member for operatively biasing the brake operation shaft toward the brake-released position; and the brake operation shaft includes an engaging portion that contacts the lock member to move the lock member from the locked position to the unlocked position when the brake operation shaft moves from the brake-released position to the brake-actuated position.