Railways – Selective delivery
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-29
2001-05-29
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railways
Selective delivery
C104S130010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237500
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transportation system and more particularly to a system usable for transportation of people as well as automobiles and other freight loads with very high safety, efficiency, speed and convenience, with capital costs and fuel, labor and other operating costs being minimized and with minimal adverse environmental effects. The system is compatible with existing systems and is readily integrated therewith.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Conventional rail systems have become increasingly costly to construct, maintain and operate with the result that their use for transport of freight and for interurban passenger travel has been supplanted to a large degree by use of trucks and automobiles. For public transportation in cities, rail-supported street cars have been replaced by buses which have been used less and less as a result of the increased use of automobiles for personal travel. The resulting truck and automobile traffic over streets and highways is a problem of increasing magnitude.
Systems known as “Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems” are now being proposed for reducing certain problems associated with automobiles and are receiving considerable attention, but it appears that they may be very expensive and the degree to which such systems will be successful is open to question. Systems have been also been used or proposed using automatically operated and driver-less vehicles supported on elevated “monorail” guideways, but such systems have generally been limited to use on a small scale in special applications and have not enjoyed widespread success.
High speed rail systems are also being proposed but it is questionable whether they will attract enough passengers to justify the very high costs of constructing and operating such systems. Passengers who might consider using such systems may find the scheduled times unattractive and decide instead to travel by automobile, leaving when they want to leave.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention was evolved with the general object of overcoming disadvantages of prior transportation systems and of providing a practical system for general use in transportation of people and freight in urban and interurban use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a transportation system which is compatible with existing transportation systems.
A further object of the invention is to provide a transportation system which makes practical use of existing technology and which is so constructed as to allow for expansion and for the use of improvements which may reasonably be expected in the future from advancing technology.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a system which is convenient, fast, low in cost and otherwise attractive for travel as a passenger, for travel by automobile and for transport of freight.
The system of this invention uses many of the advantageous features that are disclosed in my aforementioned patents and patent applications. It uses automated carrier vehicles which can carry small passenger cabins, automobile platforms or freight containers and move at high speed along a main path, move off at a divergent Y guideway section to stop along a branch path for loading or unloading and then enter a convergent Y section to reenter the main path.
A very important feature of the invention relates to the recognition of the importance of providing a system that is immediately available for use when desired and to the recognition of features that are necessary to produce that objective. It must be recognized that the extensive use of the automobile for travel is due to the fact that people know that they can get in their automobiles, be on their way without delay and continue to their destinations.
To have a passenger carrying system that can compete with the immediately available capability of the automobile requires that a cabin be stopped in a station to be available for immediate use when one or more passengers enter the station. This imposes another requirement which leads to a system that is quite different from conventional transportation systems. In particular, it is found that a region used for loading passengers should be used for that purpose alone and a that a region used for unloading passengers should be used for that purpose alone. It is found from analysis that if one region is used for both purposes, a cabin cannot always be available for immediate use since it may be necessary to either await arrival of a cabin dispatched from a distance or await an incoming cabin that is to be unloaded. It is also found that incoming loaded cabins cannot always be immediately unloaded. If there is an empty cabin in the region, the incoming loaded cabin must either wait until a passenger arrives or wait until the empty cabin is dispatched to another location. An additional problem in using one region for both purposes is that passengers may take an unduly long time to reach their destinations, sometimes encountering stops and associated delays at every intervening station before reaching his or her destination.
The use of separate regions for loading and unloading avoids these problems and thus has important advantages from the standpoint of speed, making cabins immediately available to passengers and minimizing travel time. It is found that such speed advantages can be insured by providing a supply of cabins such that upon departure of one cabin, another cabin can be quickly made available for use by the next passenger or passengers who enter the station. In a preferred arrangement, queue portions of branch paths precede loading regions and have sizes sufficient for containing several cabins awaiting entry into passenger loading regions.
Still another speed advantage is obtained by providing a group of loading regions for simultaneous loading. In the case of a passenger station, the loading regions are preferably located seriatim along a branch path, opposite a loading platform therealong. This feature is particularly important during rush hours when passengers are arriving at a rapid rate.
There are other important features that relate to passenger use. In one type of passenger station of the invention, loading and unloading regions are provided at different levels along portions of associated branch paths that are located one above the other. This type of station is advantageous for use as a transfer station in which passengers arriving at an unloading region can move to the loading region to travel to a desired destination.
Another type of passenger station is usable only as an loading station or as an unloading station. A pair of stations of this type can be located on opposite sides of guideways that define parallel paths going in opposite directions and that may be elevated above a street. In this case, passengers departing from a loading station on one side of the street to go in one direction may come back to the unloading station on the opposite side of the street. It is also possible to use locate such a pair of stations near an interchange and use it for transfer purposes as well as for exit purposes. In this case, an elevated cross-over may preferably be provided to allow passengers to move from the unloading station to the loading station without crossing a street.
In urban areas, it is desirable to use elevated guideways that extend along streets or other readily available rights-of-way and it is desirable that loading and unloading levels be above ground level. In each type of station, elevators are provided for use by handicapped persons and stairs as well as escalators may also be provided.
With respect to transport of automobiles, the system has important advantages. In comparison to conventional travel by automobiles, travel by automobile with the system avoids any strain on a driver and is faster, safer and with less adverse environmental effects.
Immediate availability for use is also important in making the system attractive for use in moving automobiles and some of the same considerations that are applicable to p
Autran Corp.
McCarry, Jr. Robert J.
Morano S. Joseph
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