System of suspended supports for aerial transportation

A system of suspended supports for aerial transportation like ski lifts, tramways, freight ropeways, and high voltage electricity lines, has a main carrying element which is a long-span cable along the route, and which is suspended at its ends. A plurality of spaced supports for the aerial means are hung from the cable. Each support has a rigid element carrying the carrying cable and guy ropes, one end of which is attached to the rigid element and another end which is anchored in the ground. The guy ropes carry horizontal and upward vertical loads, and torques applied to the rigid element and fix a position of the rigid element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Two main types of carrying structures for aerial transportation and 
transmission means like ski lift, tramway, freight ropeway, high voltage 
electricity line, etc. are used: 
Type 1--a plurality of supports (usually towers) standing on the ground and 
spaced at a relatively small distance. The aerial means are placed on a 
cross beam at the top of the tower. The beam transfers all horizontal and 
vertical loads and torques from the aerial means to the tower. 
Type 2--a carrying cable suspended at its ends by any convenient way. A 
span of the cable is usually 8-10 times longer than the distance between 
the towers in (1). The aerial means are supported by a plurality of cross 
beams attached to the cable. Functions of these beams are similar to (1). 
Both types of the carrying structures have drawbacks, especially for routes 
in mountains and on uneven terrain. 
Type 1: 
heights of the towers depend on a profile of the ground along a route of 
the aerial means and might be 200-250 ft. or even more. Cost of such 
towers and expenses for their erection and maintenance are very high. For 
profiles with depressions 400-500 ft. towers are actually, not applicable; 
towers can be destroyed by strong storm, snow-slip, land slide, earthquake 
and other natural disasters which happen in mountains rather often. A 
destruction of even one tower leads to destruction of the aerial means. 
Restoring works are very expensive. 
Type 2: 
the carrying cable is subjected to horizontal displacements and rocking of 
the cable along it's length from one support to another. As a result, 
special heavy cable, or a number of cables, or a horizontal supporting 
means for the cable are installed. All these measures sharply increase 
cost of the aerial means. 
With these drawbacks, the advantages of prior art in carrying structures 
for the aerial means is largely offset by their disadvantages. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is a system of suspended 
supports for aerial transportation and transmission means like ski lift, 
tramway, freight ropeway, high voltage electricity line, etc. which is 
highly effective for routes on uneven terrain. 
As a main carrying element a long-span cable is used. The cable is placed 
along a route of the aerial means and is suspended at both ends. One end 
of the cable is anchored and the other end is attached to a tensioning 
means. 
A plurality of spaced supports for the aerial means are hung from the 
cable. Each support has a rigid element similar to a cross beam of a 
traditional tower support and guy ropes which one end is attached to the 
rigid element and another end is anchored in the ground. The guy ropes 
carry the horizontal loads and torques applied to the rigid element and, 
thus, fix a position of the rigid element. This, in turn, prevents 
horizontal displacements of the cable in each point the rigid element is 
hung. At the same time, the guy ropes prevent upward movement of the rigid 
element when the cable is stressed by the tensioning means. A projected 
profile of the cable above the ground is settled by adjusting lengths of 
the guy ropes. Each guy rope has means for adjusting its length. 
The rigid element is hung from the cable by a saddle. The saddle includes 
track wheel(s) with a grooved rim having a direct contact with the cable. 
Therefore, in case of changing the length of the cable, for example, 
because of temperature elongation, the cable slips by the rigid element. 
Its length between the end supports and, accordingly, a profile of the 
cable remain unchangeable. In case of a short route of the aerial means 
the rigid element can be attached to the cable without the saddle. 
An installation of the invented system is realized by the following steps: 
the carrying cable is stretched between its end supports, one end of the 
cable is anchored and the other is attached to a tensioning means; then, a 
part of the designed tensioning load, enough for stretching the unloaded 
cable, is applied; 
rigid elements with attached guy ropes and main supporting components of 
the aerial means, such as carrying ropes, hauling ropes, etc. are mounted 
on the cable and hauled one by one to their working position along the 
cable; 
the lower end of the guy ropes are attached to the anchoring means, then 
the guy ropes are pulled down until a projected profile of the cable above 
the ground is reached; 
the tension of the cable is gradually increased up to the design level, 
which also provides the increasing of tension stress in the guy ropes. The 
lengths of the guy ropes are adjusted, if necessary.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawings in more detail, in FIG. 1 a system of suspended 
supports for aerial transportation like ski lift, tramway, freight 
ropeway, high voltage electricity line, etc. and in particular, a system 
of supports for aerial tramway located in mountains is shown. 
The system combines two well known types of carrying structures for the 
aerial means: 
a long-span carrying cable suspended at the ends, which is usually used for 
routes crossing rivers or lakes, and 
a plurality of supports (usually towers) spaced at a relatively small 
distance, standing on the ground. 
As shown in FIG. 1, the main carrying element of the system is a suspended 
long-span cable 1 placed along a route of the aerial tramway. The cable is 
supported at its both ends. As a supporting means an anchorage, station 13 
and a tension station 14 are used. One end 11 of the cable 1 is anchored 
and the other 12 is attached to a tensioning means which is, for example, 
a weight balance 15. 
The system also includes plurality of supports 2 hung from the cable 1 in 
any desirable point along the cable. 
An upper part of each support 2 is a rigid element 21 which is similar to a 
cross beam of a traditionally used tower FIG. 2. The rigid elements 21 are 
located substantially perpendicular to an axis of said route of the aerial 
means. The main purpose of the rigid element is to carry main supporting 
components of the aerial means, such as carrying ropes 27, hauling ropes, 
etc. 
Guy ropes 22 are attached close to the ends of the rigid element 21 (FIG. 
2). Lower ends 23 of the guy ropes are anchored in the ground by tie-backs 
or any other convenient way or by being embedded in concrete foundation. 
The main destinations of the guy ropes are as following: 
settling a profile of the cable 1 above the ground, and 
fixing positions of the rigid elements 21. 
Settling a profile of the cable is made in process of installation of the 
system. When the rigid element 21 is mounted along the cable 1, previously 
stretched between the anchorage 13 and the tension 14 stations, the guy 
ropes 22 are pulled down until the rigid element 21 and, accordingly, the 
cable 1 reach a required level above the ground. 
As it is shown in FIG. 3 the cable 1 and the guy ropes 22 and, accordingly, 
the whole system are stressed. Tension of the cable 1 depends on 
tensioning load Pc applyed to the cable. For given profile of the route 
tension stress of the guy ropes Rr1-Rr6 varies in proportion to tensioning 
load applied to the cable 1 and in inverse proportion to lengths of the 
guy ropes 22. For adjusting the lengths of the guy ropes each of them 
should be supplied with length adjusting device 24 (FIG. 1). 
Fixed position of the rigid elements 21 is provided by the guy ropes 22 
carrying, as it is clear from FIG. 3, horizontal and upward vertical 
loads, and torques applied to the rigid element. Accordingly, number of 
ropes at each end of the rigid elements, its' cross sections, locations of 
the anchors relative to a rigid element, etc. should be designed. Due to 
perfect aerodynamic characteristics of the guy ropes the wind load on the 
supports 2 is greatly reduced in comparison with traditional towers. 
A fixed position of the rigid elements prevents upward and transverse 
displacements of the cable in a plurality points where the rigid elements 
are placed. For further reduction of the transverse displacements of the 
cable 1, additional guy ropes (without rigid element) can be attached 
directly to the cable. 
For hanging the rigid element 21 from the carrying cable 1 a saddle 25 is 
used (FIG. 4). The saddle includes a track wheel 26 with a grooved rim 28 
which provide a slipping contacts between the saddle and the cable. Thus, 
when the length of the cable 1 changes, for example, because of 
temperature elongation or in process of settling a profile of the cable, 
the cable slips by the saddle 25 and, accordingly, by a fixed rigid 
element 21. 
In case of short span of the cable 1 the rigid element 21 can be attached 
directly to the cable (without the saddle 25) by any convenient way. 
In some cases, profile of the ground along the route of the tramway may 
have a combination of concave and convex lines, as it is shown in FIG. 5. 
For such routes an additional tower(s) 3 for supporting the cable 1 should 
be installed at the concave portion. A sliding contact between the cable 1 
and the tower 3 has to be provided. In other respects the invented system 
doesn't have essential changes. 
The system can be used for whole route of aerial means or for its part, in 
combination with traditional towers. 
An important advantage of the invented system in compare with traditional 
towers is that the system is much more reliable. Break of guy ropes or 
displacement of its' anchors because of storm, snow-slip, land slide, 
earthquake and other natural disasters doesn't destruct the system. Broken 
guy ropes can be easily replaced. The rigid elements which are actually, 
main supporting components of the aerial means are not subjected directly 
to additional loads in this case. The system isn't sensitive even to small 
displacements of the end supports of the cable 1. 
Installation 
Generally, a process of installation of the invented system consists of 
four main steps: 
1. The carrying cable is stretched between its end supports. One end of the 
cable is anchored and the other is attached to a tensioning means. The 
tension load applied to the cable "at this step should not exceed the 
force necessary for ". stretching the unloaded cable between the supports. 
2. Rigid elements with guy ropes and main supporting components of the 
aerial means, such as carrying ropes, hauling ropes, etc. are mounted on 
the carrying cable and hauled to its' working position. In the process of 
hauling lower ends of the guy ropes are raised above the ground. 
3. The guy ropes are lowered on the ground just at the place they should be 
anchored. Then, the guy ropes are attached to previously installed 
anchoring means and pulled down until they reach projected lengths. By 
this way a projected profile of the carrying cable along a route of the 
aerial means is settled. 
4. The tensioning of the cable is gradually increased to a design load. 
Accordingly, tension stress in the guy ropes is also increased. Lengths of 
the guy ropes are adjusted. 
Some types of aerial means include a carrying cable(s) used as a ropeway 
for a car. For example, to-and-fro bicable ropeway for two cars has two 
cables 211 supporting cars 210 moving along the cables (FIG. 6). One end 
213 of each of these cables is anchored and the other 214 is attached to 
the tensioning means 215. The second version of the invention is based on 
using these carrying cables 211 as a main carrying element of the invented 
system of suspended supports instead of special cable described in the 
preferred embodiment. According to this version, a plurality of suspended 
supports hang from the carrying cables 211 of the aerial means (each rigid 
element is attached to both carrying cables 211). The saddles, in 
comparison with the preferred embodiment, includes also a bypass way over 
the track wheel of the saddle which is used for riding cars by the 
suspended supports. A smooth transition of the car's roller from the 
carrying cable to the bypass way and back to the carrying cable should be 
provided. 
In some cases a mobile aerial means for elevating people or freight, for 
example in mountains, is required. The following is the the third version 
of the invented system possessing such features. This version, in compare 
with the preferred embodiment includes anchorage and tension stations made 
as a prefabricated blocks combining supporting structures and necessary 
equipment. The blocks are delivered at any chosen site and installed on a 
preliminary constructed foundations. The length and the carrying capacity 
of the cable should cover a variety of spans between the stations and 
aerial means of different destinations. The same requirement is related to 
the guy ropes. In other respects the system isn't subjected to essential 
changes in compare with preferrer embodiment. 
This invention is not limited to the details shown since various 
modifications and structural changes are possible without departing in any 
way from the spirit of the present invention. What is desired to be 
protected is set forth in particular in the appended claims.