Transport system

Details Transport system Transport system

1998-06-02

2001-06-05

Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)

Railways

Elevators

C104S130010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06240851

ABSTRACT:

The subway is selected as the public traffic for transport of much people in area's of dense urbanisation, said subway is characterised by an own track going above or below the already existing traffic. In some cases there is even an own track at ground level, however this is excluded from the concept as described. We restrict ourselves to subways below ground level, although the same method can be used for subways on a high level.
A feature of the known system is that both the subway track and the stations are under the ground. An alternative is to keep the track under the ground, while the stations are brought up. A practical drawback of this is that a typical subway has stations rather close to each other such that virtually there are merely inclined track parts between the stations because the present carriages of the subway vehicles allow for only very shallow inclinations for passenger comfort.
It will be different if we start with small vehicles that follow each other with only a small time lapse. The typically rather lengthy subway vehicle is devided into seperate cabins that drive individually, so as to speek. This systems as such is not novel. This systems is found at airports, and is called “people mover”. Also, there are systems with small shuttles pulled by cables of which the velocity is lowered at the change-over cites, such that entering and exiting the shuttle can be done safely. Such systems are merely economically feasible if the control is automatically, such that a shuttle does not require an individual for the control. In recent years, the automatic control with computerised sensing and evaluating has made this technically feasible and acceptable from a safety point of view.
The present invention is concerned with application of the above mentioned small shuttles or cabins, that move throug e.g. a tunnelpipe under the ground, but these shuttles are raised to the stations along a steep ramp, while the shuttles remain horizontal, such that the passenger comfort is guaranteed. At the stations, the shuttles can be observed as an elevator. Afterwards, the shuttle moves further, and preferable is lowered to the preceeding level. To keep the shuttle horizontal, one can make the front wheels ride on an inclined track different from that for the back wheels, the front wheels having a smaller distance between them compared to the back wheels. During lowering, this is the other way around. For this purpose, a switching mechanism is provided. The mechanical implementation of this mechanism is not subject of this invention, but the concept of:
small shuttles following each other with a small time lapse;
driving below ground level;
changeover by entering or exiting the shuttle above the ground.
Contrary to underground stations the advantages with the invention are:
No permanent illumination;
no ventilation;
no stairs and moving stairs;
no elevator (for wheel chairs);
improves social security.
Because the systems uses small shuttles, smaller than a standard subway train, the tunnelpipe can be small; like a big sewer. Since this is cheaper to construct, the grid-density can be made higher for the same financial investment. Since all provisions are small, the implementation in historic city area's will become easier.
Because of the small time intervals between the shuttles, the passengers have practically no waiting time. Since there is no waiting time there is no need for providing a waiting room, such that the space needed can be much smaller compared to standard stations.
It is preferable to select a proper architectual adaption for the stations, for instance by integration with a telephone box, kiosk, ticket seller, etc. The manager of the kiosk can e.g. have free use of it, if he will also inspect for reasons of security. The manager of the kiosk does not have to come in between if there is thread, however has a red emergency button, such that he is immediately in a position to call the subway police that is driving around in the neighbourhood.
It is an object of the invention to provide a transport system such that with a reletively high frequency, for as low investments as possible, persons can be transported comfortably. It is another object, to enter or exit a transport element at the one level, and to do the essential transport with said element substantially at another level, differing substantially from the said one level, for a low price and small consumption of space. It is a further object to make the bridging of the different horizontal levels as comfortably as possible for a price as low as possible, such as investments and maintenance. It is another object of the invention to have a combination of the solutions of one or more of the above mentioned objects.
These and other objects will appear from reading this description, and the drawings and claims as enclosed. The invention is mainly directed to a transport system, in which transport elements (shuttles), move along a substantially rigid guide and for instance hang therefrom or rest thereon. However, one can imagine, that a more flexible guide, such as a suspension cable -known as such with cable lifts in mountain area's to bridge large horizontal or vertical distances- is used, the shuttle hanging from such cable. One can imagine combinations as well, in which parts of the track are made by cables or other flexible or yielding guides, while other parts are made by substantially rigid guides, such as train rails etc. Use of merely rigid guides is perferred, since this allows for a curved track at low price. Another advantage over a hybrid system is that it contains no complex changes. The comfort is better compared to a cable lift as well.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3918367 (1975-11-01), Alimanestianu et al.
patent: 5069140 (1991-12-01), Glassey

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