Railways – Suspended – Single-rail type
Patent
1993-03-15
1994-12-13
Le, Mark T.
Railways
Suspended
Single-rail type
104 91, 104119, 104127, 105144, 105154, 105156, 105152, 1051491, 105150, B61B 300
Patent
active
053720725
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a transportation system, and more particularly to a system of capable of providing high capacity lateral transportation in downtown core areas or vertical elevator transportation in high-rise buildings.
Conventional high capacity urban transportation systems generally employ underground trains or street cars moving along conventional rails. Such systems take up a considerable amount of space in the urban area and do not allow the individual cars to be separately directed. Furthermore, such systems cannot be used to provide vertical transportation in such applications as elevator shafts. Many alternative local systems for specialized applications, such as mono rails, ski lift systems and the like are known, but such systems are not generally suitable for widespread use in downtown core areas. Mono rails are generally used in localized applications, such as exhibition grounds and the like, and like conventional transportation systems the cars are coupled together in the form of a train. The trains cannot be conveniently switched between tracks. Furthermore, they cannot be used in vertical applications. Ski lift systems are generally cable based and are not suitable for use in urban areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,064 discloses a transportation system with a continuous stationary track having a pair of opposed rigid bearing surfaces and a plurality of discrete cantilevered load carrying vehicle units movable beside the track. Each vehicle is coupled to the track by means of a simple bogie arrangement running in a C-shaped guide. This arrangement does not allow convenient switching between tracks, neither does it allow the vehicles conveniently to move in vertical and horizontal directions.
An object of the present invention is to provide a more versatile urban transportation system that has hitherto been impossible using systems of the prior art.
According to the present invention there is provided a transportation system comprising a continuous stationary track having a pair of opposed rigid bearing surfaces, and a plurality of discrete cantilevered load-carrying vehicle units movable beside said track, each said vehicle being coupled to said track by means of a bogie having a linear arrangement of bogie wheels running between said bearing surfaces, said bogie wheels being mounted on mutually articulated frames and having a diameter slightly less than the separation of said opposed bearing surfaces to allow limited pivoting movement of said frames within said track, and urging means for forcibly urging adjacent articulated frames to pivot in opposite directions within said track between said bearing surfaces such that bogie wheels carried thereby forcibly and alternately engage said respective opposed bearing surfaces at at least three points to ensure a pro-loaded positive coupling between said bogie and said track.
Preferably, the bogie wheels are arranged in pairs on respective frames, the adjacent frames being interconnected by means of articulated links. In the preferred embodiment, each bogie consists of three pairs of bogie wheels, each pair being mounted on respective articulated frames urged apart by hydraulic rams. The adjacent frames are preferably interconnected by a linkage that allows pivotal movement about the X-Y axis, but prevents rotational movement about the Z axis, the Z axis lying parallel to the direction of movement of the bogie system. A drive motor is preferably mounted on the central frame, with drive motion being transmitted through to the outer frames via a constant velocity universal joint.
The load carrying vehicle units are preferably passenger cabins connected to the bogies by a rotational coupling that allows the passenger's cabin to remain in the vertical orientation while the attitude of the bogie changes as the direction of the track changes in the vertical direction. The transportation system can thus be used as a continuous-loop elevator system, for example in high-rise buildings, or in a combined system that provides both horizontal and vertical mod
REFERENCES:
patent: 3626857 (1971-12-01), Omar
patent: 3830338 (1974-08-01), Svensson
patent: 4144817 (1979-03-01), Morita
patent: 4503778 (1985-03-01), Wilson
patent: 4781119 (1988-11-01), Davis
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