A braking mechanism for a hand truck or dolly that, when installed on the hand truck, slows the movement of the hand truck when the hand truck is tilted rearwardly. The more the hand truck is tilted rearwardly, the greater the braking force applied by the braking mechanism against the wheels.

The present invention discloses a foldable cart frame, comprising a front frame mechanism, a rear frame mechanism, a collapsing mechanism, a foldable upper connection frame, and a foldable lower support frame; when the front frame mechanism and the rear frame mechanism are pushed to collapse or expand, the foldable upper connection frame and the foldable lower support frame rotate to fold or unfold accordingly, an upper end of the collapsing mechanism slides along the foldable upper connection frame, a lower end of the collapsing mechanism slides along the front frame mechanism and the rear frame mechanism to collapse or expand, thereby completing the collapsing and expanding of the entire cart frame.

A drive unit includes a frame, a drive wheel, an electric motor, a rotary member, and a brake mechanism. The drive wheel is rotatably supported by the frame. The electric motor is supported by the frame. The electric motor is configured to drive the drive wheel. The rotary member is configured to be rotated in conjunction with the drive wheel. The brake mechanism includes an engaging portion. The brake mechanism is switchable between a braking state and an unbraking state. The braking mechanism is set in the braking state such that the engaging portion is engaged with the rotary member so as to brake rotation of the rotary member. The braking mechanism is set in the unbraking state such that the engaging portion is disengaged from the rotary member so as to make the rotary member rotatable. Thus, a mobile object is prevented from unintentionally moving after stopping.

A caster wheel brake system for carts and other wheeled articles is operable to secure caster wheels against rolling rotation along their horizontal rotation axes. The system includes a pivotable parking brake lever, an actuator arm, and a torque shaft extending between the brake lever and actuator arm. The brake lever includes a distal end portion for selectively engaging a caster wheel, a proximal end portion opposite the distal end portion, and a pivot coupling, the latter being pivotably secured to the cart or wheeled article. An actuator arm extends outwardly from a distal end portion of the torque shaft, with the actuator arm slidably engaging the proximal end portion of the brake lever. The torque shaft and the actuator arm are rotatable together to urge the brake lever toward the braking or non-braking position.

A robotic surgery cart has a pair of rear wheel assemblies and a pair of front wheel assemblies. A brake assembly for the robotic surgery cart includes a gearbox interposed between and connected to the pair of rear wheel assemblies by rotatable shafts. Elongate actuators extend between and interconnect the rotatable shafts and brake mechanisms for the front wheel assemblies. A pedal lever is rotatably coupled to the gearbox and can rotate clockwise by pressing one portion of the pedal lever and can rotate counterclockwise by pressing another portion of the pedal lever. Rotation of the pedal lever causes the gearbox to rotate the rotatable shafts to substantially lock the pair of rear wheel assemblies, and substantially simultaneously causes a translation of the elongate actuators to actuate the brake mechanisms of the front wheel assemblies, such that the wheels of the front and rear wheel assemblies brake substantially simultaneously.