Propulsion, steering, and braking system for vehicles

Claim 1

In combination with a vehicle having a pair of groundengaging wheels operable by rotation thereof at equal speeds to propel said vehicle in a straight line and by rotation thereof at unequal speeds to change the direction of travel of said vehicle: a. a prime mover carried by said vehicle, b. a pair of power trains interconnecting said prime mover with said ground-engaging wheels respectively, c. manually operable control means in each of said Power trains whereby the rotation of the associated wheel may be started, stopped, reversed, and varied in speed without affecting the other of said wheels and without changing the speed of operation of said prime mover, said control means including a manually movable control member having a neutral position at which the associated wheel is not driven and being movable in opposite directions from said neutral position to cause said associated wheel to be driven in respectively opposite directions, the speed of operation of said wheel varying with the displacement of said control member from it neutral position, d. resilient means biasing the control members of both power trains yieldably toward their neutral positions whenever they are displaced in one direction from their neutral positions, e. a single manually movable operating member operable to return said control members of both power trains to their neutral positions whenever they are displaced in the opposite direction from their neutral positions, f. mechanical brake means operable when applied to resist rotation of both of said ground-engaging wheels, and g. mechanical means operable by movement of said operating member to its neutralizing position to apply said brake means.