Portable motorized golf cart

Claim 1

In a portable golf bag cart having an elongated main frame with upper and lower ends; a foldable undercarriage removably attached to the frame intermediate the ends thereof and a handle attached to the upper end of the frame; and a pair of free turning spaced wheels supported by the undercarriage; the improvement comprising: a motorized assembly adapted to be removably attached to the lower end of the main frame; a plate adapted to be attached to the frame; a fork pivotally mounted to said plate; a wheel supported by said fork for pivotal movement about a substantially vertical axis; motor means supported by said assembly for driving said wheel; means adapted to mount said handle to the frame for permitting pivotal movement thereof about an axis substantially perpendicular to that of the frame; steering means for imparting pivotal movement to said wheel in response to pivotal movement of said handle about said axis; and steering means including a cable mounted about and affixed to a pulley with the ends of said cable being attached to said fork for imparting pivotal movement thereto; an adjustable spacer-riser assembly adapted to attach the undercarriage to the frame for elevating the frame by an amount substantially equal to the vertical extent of said motorized assembly and for moving said undercarriage closer to the upper end of said main frame; manually settable means on said handle for developing at least one command signal for setting the speed of said motor means; sensing means including a sensor mounted on said fork adjacent said wheel for developing a sensed signal substantially proportional to the rotational speed of said wheel; and control means responsive to said command signal and to said sensed signal for applying power to said motor means to increase the speed thereof when said command signal is higher than said sensed signal and for switching in a resistive load across the terminals of said motor means to reduce the speed thereof when said command signal is lower than said sensed signal whereby the speed of said wheel is maintained substantially constant about a preselected setting.