Scooter type vehicle

Field of the Invention:

The subject matter described herein, in general, relates to a scooter type vehicle provided with automated manual transmission equipped engine (AMT engine) and in particular relates to an improved low framework body structure for a scooter type vehicle incorporating the same.

Background of the Invention:

There have been various types of two - wheeled vehicles. One such type of vehicle is a small motor scooter. Such motor scooters are provided with a floor board portion where the rider rest his feet and is provided with swinging power unit with continuously variable transmission (CVT). This motor scooter is preferred more over the motorcycle type of vehicle for its convenience of ride which does not include the hassle of a gear shifting.

Since such motor scooters are having CVT due to belt slippage and transmission losses, the fuel efficiency are generally less than that of a geared motorcycle.

Hence there is a need for a vehicle which retains the convenience of ride (no gear shifting) of a motor scooter and simultaneously achieves the fuel economy benefit of the geared vehicle.

The motor scooters invariably employ body panels covering the engine and frame tubes and wiring harness for providing a neat shape to the scooter and for protection of its parts and also for aesthetic appeal. Of course when the engine is covered with such body panels, it is necessary to have adequate cooling system for cooling the engine. Normally such cooling requires the use of fan due to the enclosed configuration of the body. In order to provide more efficient cooling and to ensure adequate cooling, it has been a practice to employ forced air cooling or liquid cooling. However, this forced cooling system consumes a portion of the power generated by the engine and hence affects the fuel economy of the vehicle

Apart from the above, the known motor scooter provided with gear box, the gear box is located on one side, resulting in shifting of the CG , thereby affecting balance of the whole vehicle. This also puts a limitation on the selection of wheel size which has to be preferably kept small, otherwise with the increasing wheel size the transmission length has to be increased which is not desirable for small size vehicle such as a scooter type motorcycle.

Further in the known motor scooter, the front portion of the power unit is pivoted to a body frame and a rear portion is suspended to the body frame via a shock absorber, whereby a whole power unit vertically swings together with the rear wheel, and serves as a swing arm of the rear wheel. This arrangement is not possible with an engine fitted with automatic manual transmission having gear shift actuator and a clutch actuator. This is so because the position of the actuators on the AMT engine will not provide sufficient clearance between the sprung and unsprung mass in the case of a swinging engine. ..

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention is to overcome the above problems and provide an improved scooter type vehicle.

Summary of the Invention:

An object of the present invention is to substantially eliminate the problem associated or drawbacks encountered in the prior art described above and to make it possible to mount an AMT engine fixedly in the vicinity of the floor board portion of a low framework structure scooter type vehicle.

Another object of the present invention is to orient the AMT engine in such a way that adequate ground clearance is achieved.Another object of the present invention is to provide air regulating means on the front panel of the vehicle for cooling the engine.Further object of the present invention is to provide convenience of riding with improved fuel efficiency as that of a typical motorcycle.

Another object of the present invention is to make load distribution between the front and rear wheels proper with engine mounted substantially to the front of the vehicle.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide sufficient footing space as in the conventional scooter floor board portion and thereby retaining the ability to get on and off easy onto the vehicle.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Brief Description of the Invention: The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein

Figure 1 shows a conventional scooter type vehicle.

Figure 2 shows scooter type vehicle according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Detail Description of the Invention:

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with different embodiments. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather those embodiments are provided. so that this disclosure will be thorough and . complete, and fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

With reference to figure 1, , a front wheel, 2 denotes a front fork, 3 denotes a front fender, 4 denotes a front cover, 5 denotes a leg shield made of resin or metal, 6 denotes a handle bar cover, 7 denotes a headlight, 8 denotes a handle bar ,17 denotes a rear fender and 18 denotes tail lamp.

The center of the body forms a low floor board 9 for functioning as a part for putting feet and a under cowl 10 which is located below the rider's seat and covers at least a part of the engine, The under cowl is made up of metal or resin. The under cowl is hinged to the seat 11. A utility box 12 opens from the rear end to hinged portion. The utility box 12 is provided under the seat extending longitudinally of a vehicle body and the inside of the utility box has a large capacity so that a large article can be housed. A main frame 14 extended along the center of the body before and behind and made of a metallic pipe and is provided under the floor board 9. A swing type power unit 13 is coupled to the rear end of the main frame 14.

A rear wheel 15 is supported on one side of the rear end of the swing type power unit 13. The swing type power unit 13 is suspended in the rear of a body frame.

The side covers 16 both on left and right sides, covers the utility box 12 and other parts of the vehicle, thereby providing a good appearance to the vehicle.

With reference to Figure 2 and according to one embodiment of the present invention and referring to Figure 2, a low floor type board 201 is positioned between the handle bar 202 and seat 203. The said low floor type board 201 is further positioned above down tube (s) 204 of frame structure and is uniformly formed with a front panel 205. An automated manual transmission engine (AMT) 206 is positioned in the vicinity of the low floor board 201 and preferably below the floor board. The said engine 206 having a gear actuator 207 and clutch actuator 208 on the right side mounted on the right side of the engine 206 is positioned substantially towards the front of the vehicle for better cooling. The said engine 206 is fixedly connected to body frame of the vehicle. The said front of the engine 206 is oriented 10 degrees upwards from the ground horizontal axis. This orientation helps to achieve a better ground clearance.

The said low floor type board 201 is uniformly formed with a front panel 205 and is provided with air regulating means 209. The said low floor type board 201 can be made integrated piece with the front panel 205 or can be made as a separate piece from the front panel 205.

The said front panel 205 runs through head pipe 210 of the vehicle to the floor board portion and is provided air regulating means 209 which can be air grills or air ducts or air guides as known in the art to induce air cooling to the said engine 206. The rear panel 211 is connected to the front panel 205 directly or indirectly. The front panel 205 covers the front portion of the front of the vehicle frame as viewed from the front and the rear panel 211 covers the rear portion of the front of the vehicle frame. A portion of the said front panel 205 acts as a front fender and hence no separate fender is required. An appropriate defined space is created on the front panel bottom side to accommodate the wheel keeping the required gap between the front wheel and the said front panel. The said air regulating means 209 are preferably located on the front bottom side of the said front panel 205 towards the floor board portion directed towards the engine.

The front wheel and rear wheel for the said scooter type vehicle are made of different sizes, front wheel being smaller in relation to the rear wheel in order to provide adequate clearance.

With the above configuration of the vehicle it is possible to keep the height of floor board low with wide footing space for an automated manual transmission equipped engine 206.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

We Claim:

1. A scooter type motorcycle comprising:

a low framework structure body frame having a floor board portion;

an automated manual transmission equipped engine disposed in the vicinity of the floor board portion, to be fixed to the body frame;

a front panel disposed in front portion of body frame, said front panel runs through head pipe to the floor board portion , wherein a space is defined to accommodate the front wheel; and

an airflow regulating means on the front panel at low floor board portion for cooling the engine.

2. The scooter type motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the automated manual transmission equipped engine is fixed preferably below the low floor board portion and substantially towards the front of the vehicle.

3. The scooter type motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the automated manual transmission equipped engine front is preferably oriented atleast 10 degrees upwards from the horizontal axis of ground.

4. The scooter type motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front panel is atleast one piece panel.

5. The scooter type motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air regulating means is preferably air grills

6. The scooter type motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air regulating means is preferably air ducts.

7. The scooter type motorcycle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air regulating means is preferably air guides.

8. The scooter type motorcycle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.