Patent ID: 6237500
Filing Date: 2001-05-29
Classification: B61B,B61L,E01B,Y02T

Abstract:
A transportation system, comprising a plurality of load-carriers, a plurality of vehicles for carrying said load-carriers, and guideways defining paths for movement of said vehicles to position said vehicles at loading regions for loading of loads on said load-carriers and at unloading regions for unloading of loads from said load-carriers, characterized in that said paths include a main path for movement of said vehicles at high speed therealong and branch paths that extend along said main path between divergent and convergent Y sections which allow movement of said vehicles off of said main path and to stop points in said branch paths and then back to enter said main path at merge points at the ends of said convergent Y sections, said loading regions being located at stop points in certain of said branch paths and said unloading regions being located at stop points in others of said branch paths, each of said vehicles being controllable to move from said main path and onto one of said certain branch paths to stop at one of said loading regions for rapid loading of a load-carrier thereat and being controllable to thereafter automatically move from said one of said certain branch paths and through said main path at high speed and through one or more of said others of said branch paths to stop at one or more of said unloading regions for unloading of a load from a load-carrier at each such unloading region.