Railways – Monorail – With side guides
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-01
2001-11-27
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railways
Monorail
With side guides
C104S028000, C104S124000, C188S038000, C188S041000, C238S382000, C246S12200A
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321657
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements in a monorail transportation system that improve the utility, comfort, safety, and cost-effectiveness of the system.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, interest in providing rail-type mass transit in urban and suburban areas, between adjacent pairs of cities, between cities and satellite service facilities such as outlying airports, sports stadia and the like has increased.
Often the feasibility of providing or extending such a transit system fundamentally hinges on cost.
Although some cities, such as San Francisco, Calif., Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Md. were successful in initiating construction of their rail urban mass transit systems at a time when a combination of cost factors worked in their favor, those same conjunctions of favorable factors do not presently exist: federal government funding assistance is not so forthcoming, energy prices are at least temporarily in decline, right of way land acquisition costs and construction costs have risen, and car fabrication plants have closed down domestic production lines.
Yet the need of many for convenient rail-type mass transit goes unmet. It is clear that if more of such mass transit systems are to be built, some innovations are needed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,064 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference), monorail beam is provided with a lower, upwardly-facing support surface, a lower, laterally-facing support surface and an upper, medially-facing support surface (relative to the support beam). Vehicles are hangingly supported, pendulum-like, from davit-like cantilevering arms of support drive units having wheels which run on or act against the beam support surfaces so that they run along the side or sides of the beam. The beam may be elevated on columns, surface mounted, or depressed in tunnels. By preference, the vehicles' bodies are detachable from the drive units, and the heaviest air-conditioning components are mounted on the drive units rather than on the bodies. Power transmission and automatic control systems are described, as are switching systems and station facilities.
While the transit system described in the '064 patent constitutes a viable rail system for many urban and suburban regions, it and other transit systems can be improved in many areas, including utility, safety, comfort, and cost-effectiveness in installation and maintenance.
For example, transit vehicles normally are rubber-tired where possible to prevent excessive noise from being propagated to the surrounding environment and causing noise pollution. A drawback to this method is that rubber tires have speed limits (60 to 70 miles per hour) due to construction limits of the tire material, and rubber tires are subject to catastrophic failure when overheated or when overloaded. Additionally, rubber tires normally wear out rapidly in transit service and must be inspected and replaced at regular intervals. Steel wheels on steel rail are preferred for low operating cost, longevity, and safety, but noise damage to the environment makes use of such materials undesirable.
According to one aspect of this invention, an improved construction and method are presented for using steel wheels on steel rails which provide quiet operation and low operating cost, longevity, and safety.
Passenger vehicles operating between cities or which must accommodate passengers for long distance travel presently use railway-type cars which have limited space for carry-on baggage and no provision for wheelchair-borne passengers, refreshments, and toileting facilities.
According to another aspect of this invention, a dual-sided monorail vehicle plan accommodates all requirements for intercity travel for improved comfort for passengers.
Freight is presently moved between origin and destination points by drive unit, rail, barge, and aircraft. In locations where roadways are crowded and air pollution problems may cause drive unit operation to be restricted or prohibited, an alternative means of moving freight is needed. Rail freight methods are an acceptable alternative, but the marshaling of rail cars for movement of trains makes the time consumed undesirable, and a better method is needed. Also, in freight movement by air there is a need for the very rapid transshipment of freight from aircraft arriving at one airport to be moved to a second airport so that departing aircraft may continue with the movement of the freight by air.
According to another aspect of this invention, a vehicle provides a means for moving such freight rapidly between points in less than trainload quantities (i.e., in single container quantities) without causing airborne pollution and at a speed much higher than that offered by the alternative modes of transportation. It also allows single units of freight to be moved by fully automated means, reducing labor costs and shipping time. A new lightweight freight container used in the system has the ability to be transferred easily between the available freight modes.
In conventional braking systems the ability to stop a vehicle is limited to the amount of heat energy which can be stored in conventional brake drums, brake discs, steel wheels, or other brake system heat-sinks which move with the vehicle, and which may be overloaded from the absorption of kinetic energy caused by frequent vehicle stops.
According to another aspect of this invention, a braking system, which would be used primarily in rapid transit systems and railway systems has a fixed guideway with a brake plate or combination rail and brake plate, such that the heat sink is the rail plate or brake plate which absorbs the kinetic energy while continuously presenting a new heat sink for use by the moving brake pads. Additionally, the cooler rail plate or brake plate will cool the moving brake pads preventing overheating of the brake pads, extending brake pad longevity. The system can be used on vehicles with rubber tires or with steel wheels on rails or with magnetic levitation systems. The system can be controlled to be partially-acting or fully acting according to design and operation choices.
Transit systems require unloading of passengers and loading of passengers for each vehicle as a vehicle presents itself in a station. In stations where the vehicles are presented at brief intervals, but unloading and loading of passengers requires a period longer than the station dwell time (the period of time the vehicle is stopped for unloading and loading operations) allowed by the vehicle intervals (headway), a means is desirable for allowing both short vehicle headways and long station dwell time.
According to another aspect of this invention, a passenger loading/unloading system allows both short vehicle headways and long station dwell time.
Transit vehicles remain in transit passenger stations sufficiently long to discharge arriving passengers and board departing passengers, the time period being called dwell time. In transit systems with short headway times (separation of consecutive vehicles along a transit vehicle path) dwell times may be greater than the headway time, creating a limitation of the briefness of headways, thereby limiting the efficiency of the transit system.
According to another aspect of this invention, a procedure described herein extends the effective dwell time of a vehicle without negatively affecting the headway time of the system.
Structural beams on top of columns supporting such beams may move with respect to the columns from forces caused by thermal expansion and contraction, as well as from local vibration forces and from earthquakes and earth tremors. It is desirable that beams on top of columns remain where placed by design.
According to another aspect of this invention, a beam stabilizer prevents lateral movement of beams on columns, while allowing motion of beams linearly as may be caused by thermal expansion and contraction.
Concrete support columns for fixed guideway transit systems, bridges, roadways, and buildings frequently employ site-erec
Morano S. Joseph
Olson Lars A.
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
LandOfFree
Rail transit system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Rail transit system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Rail transit system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2599778