Railways – Derailment guards – Inclined wheels
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-06
2001-07-03
Le, Mark T. (Department: 3617)
Railways
Derailment guards
Inclined wheels
C238S125000, C238S122000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253685
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a guide rail designed for public urban transportation systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Because space is limited in cities, particularly in the center of older cities, municipalities tend to use automatic, controlled public transportation systems for ground transportation.
Such transportation systems require a minimum of ground space, especially for turning.
Tramways are one such means of transportation, but recently there has been a more widespread use of automatic road vehicles guided by systems with various degrees of complexity, depending primarily on a guide rail which serves as a track for the guide wheels of the control mechanism.
Cities which already have public transportation dependent on roads or rails cannot afford to change their infrastructure, since often they have already made substantial investments in their transportation systems.
This invention proposes a positive solution to the problem of how to use existing structures for other types of transportation, particularly automatic ground transportation.
Patent Application No. DE 195 07 880 filed Mar. 7, 1995 by Société Friedrich REMMERT (priority date Mar. 23, 1994) describes a guided railway travel system.
This system is used in various product storage applications, especially by displacing one or more crane structures.
According to this system, a carriage
1
holding the post
5
of a mobile unit is guided in movement along a rail
2
using supporting wheels
9
.
Said supporting wheels move along an upper table in the rail. They support the weight of the carriage and its load. Two pairs of guide wheels (
10
,
11
), front and rear, located on either side of the supporting wheel, move along adjacent pathways formed by the sides of the rail.
The supporting wheels are also surrounded by four lateral, rolling supports which guide the carriage.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a high degree of lateral stability for a heavy unit moving along a single rail.
The upper table portion of the rail is not used for guiding, but rather, exclusively for motion, with the motion being simultaneously guided by guide wheels contacting the lateral pathways.
Thus, motion and guidance along the same rail are inseparably associated and made possible by four guide wheels used in pairs, spaced apart from each other and located on either side of the support wheel, giving the carriage a high degree lateral stability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to public urban transportation systems using at least one guide rail, which may or may not be a supporting rail, in which the rail or rails are adapted to be used with a road vehicle guide system which uses a guide device with one or two angled guide wheels moving along at least said one rail.
Accordingly, the general goal of the invention is to transform existing rails and adapt them to function as guide rails for another system, specifically a system using an automatic vehicle with angled guide wheels.
A more specific goal is to convert the existing rail or rails into multipurpose systems by using the intermediate area between the base and the upper portion for a different guide system, i.e., a system using angled guide wheels.
To achieve this, the invention relates to a guide rail with an upper pathway and a cushion for attachment to the ground or to a support, characterized in that in an intermediate zone extending from the upper pathway to the attaching cushion, there is at least one pathway along the rail accommodating the guide wheel.
The following features of the invention are of interest:
Modifying an existing rail or rails makes them dual-purpose or multipurpose rails, that is, they can be used for a single guided system or auxiliary systems.
The same infrastructure can serve simultaneously for the original transportation system and other systems.
It can be adapted to two types of automatic guided systems using different control means.
Most important, if it is a railway system, it can be adapted to use with an automatically guided road vehicle.
With a single investment, the guide rail according to the invention ensures future compatibility with other guided railway transportation systems.
The upper portion of the rail is conventionally used as a guide means.
The goal of the invention is to convert this rail to a multi-purpose rail utilizing the other available areas for a different guide wheel system.
A complementary interface is added to the intermediate portion of the rail to allow the use of a different guide system.
The general inventive concept consists of adapting the track to different types of guide systems, without, however, modifying the upper portion of the rail relative to guided movement or simple movement.
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patent: 6064 (1849-01-01), Day
patent: 508480 (1893-11-01), Kirchner et al.
patent: 527236 (1894-10-01), Granges
patent: 2046448 (1936-07-01), Buigne
patent: 3119349 (1964-01-01), Hampton et al.
patent: 3707125 (1972-12-01), Milenkovic et al.
patent: 4779537 (1988-10-01), Hafner et al.
patent: 5758583 (1998-06-01), Lohr
patent: 5842422 (1998-12-01), Biship
patent: 5845581 (1998-12-01), Svensson
patent: 6029579 (2000-02-01), Andre et al.
patent: 195 07 888 A1 (1995-09-01), None
patent: 0 079 099 A2 (1983-05-01), None
patent: 2 220 396 (1990-01-01), None
patent: 96/17129 (1996-06-01), None
Davis & Bujold P.L.L.C.
Le Mark T.
Lohr Industrie
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