Railway rolling stock – Locomotives – With rack rail engaging drive
Patent
1997-12-12
1999-07-20
Le, Mark T.
Railway rolling stock
Locomotives
With rack rail engaging drive
105155, 104 94, B61C 1300
Patent
active
059243651
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a national phase of PCT/EP96/02058 filed May 14, 1996 and based, in turn, in national application 1567/95-0 in Switzerland, filed May 26, 1995 under the International Convention.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a conveyor system. More particularly, the invention relates to a conveyor system of the type in which a conveyor carriage has running wheels riding on rails and the carriage cannot be lifted transversely off the rails and wherein at least one driving wheel on the carriage is prestressed against one of the rails.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Several conveyor systems of the above mentioned type are known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 3,636,883. With such conveyor carriages that cannot be lifted off from the rails, that the driving wheel is active at all times. Depending on the type of gear mechanism, the resistance in a driving wheel can range from infinity in the case of a self-locking gear, to nearly zero in the case where no transmission gear is present between the motor and the driving wheel. Accordingly, depending on the construction of the gear mechanism, the driving wheel will exert a variable resistance against a manual displacement, so that movement of the conveyor carriages within the rails may be either impossible or difficult.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The aim of the invention is to provide a conveyor system of the kind described hereinabove, in which the conveyor carriage can also be moved manually if this should be necessary.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This object is achieved according to the invention by providing a device for lifting off the driving wheel from the rail that is accessible from outside and can be actuated manually. The driving wheel can thus be disengaged and the conveyor carriage can be moved manually, which is advantageous, e.g. in case of malfunctions, shunting manoeuvres or corrections of the position of the conveyor carriage.
In principle, it is possible to provide the conveyor carriage with only one driving wheel, which can be designed as a friction wheel or as a gear wheel. In many cases the conveyor carriage will contain as driving wheels both a friction wheel and a gear wheel that are arranged next to each other on the same shaft, such that when the gear wheel is engaged, the friction wheel is disengaged, whereas in the absence of a tooth rack the driving action is taken over by the friction wheel.
There are several possibilities for ensuring the pre-stressing of the driving wheel. For example, the driving unit may be disposed basically rigidly, with only the driving axis being movable and pre-stressed transversely to the plane of the rails. Particularly advantageous is an embodiment wherein the driving unit is swivel-mounted on the carriage about an axis that is parallel but spaced from an axis of the driving wheel.
There are also various possibilities for the device for lifting off the driving wheel from the rail. More particularly, the lifting device can have a shaft that is rotatably mounted to the running gear of the conveyor carriage and the shaft can be connected through a coupling member with the driving unit such that upon a swiveling of the shaft, the driving with its driving wheel is lifted off from its rail. The coupling member thereof can be a cam plate or a lever gear, but an embodiment wherein the coupling member is a flexible element that is connected at one end with the driving unit and at the other end can be wound on the shaft, is particularly advantageous.
It is particularly advantageous if the lifting device is designed in such a way that it is lockable in the lift-off position of the driving wheel, so that the lifting device needs not be continuously actuated until the displacement process has been completed. However, the locking should not occur in every case but only in a second phase of the displacement of the lifting device, whereas in a first phase the lifting device should have to be constantly held manually in order to ensure that upon release of th
REFERENCES:
patent: 3636883 (1972-01-01), Wesener
patent: 4422384 (1983-12-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 4563956 (1986-01-01), Wiechert et al.
patent: 4703698 (1987-11-01), Kazlauskas
patent: 5461985 (1995-10-01), Gersemsky
Dubno Herbert
Le Mark T.
Telelift GmbH
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