CONVEYOR ARRANGEMENT FOR ROLLING TRANSPORT DEVICES

Abstract: The inclined elevator is comprised of a travelling chain, rope or cable with one or more push devices fixed to it at intervals. The elevator is intended for bicyclists or similar manned vehicles and is designed for installation in inclined streets, pedestrian tracks or in separate tracks specially designed for the purpose. The elevator chain, cable or rope is running in a conduit with a slot for the push device. The conduit is permanently installed on the ground. The push device is either running hidden inside the conduit on the ground, or, when in use, running on top of the conduit or guidance. During operation the bicyclist is sitting on the bicycle, and the bicycle is rolling on its own wheels. The push device pushes on the lower part of the person or the vehicle. The bicyclist is pushed upwards the elevator by standing with one foot on a push device fixed to the cable such as an inclined plate. The foot should be stretched backaords and the major bodyweight should be placed on the plate. The push device of the elevator could easily be adapted to wheelchairs, wheel wagons or similar.

Description: CONVEYOR ARRANGEMENT FOR ROLLING TRANSPORT DEVICES The invention relates to an inclined elevator for man on cycle or on other rolling vehicles. The elevator is installed in inclined streets, pedestrian tracks or separate tracks specially designed for the purpose. For health - , environmental - and economical reasons modern society as well as individuals wish to transfer the transport of people away from automobiles and to public transportation such as buses, trains or cycles. By different kinds of actions and/or technical means the use of cycles could be stimulated. The disadvantages and obstacles of cycling could be removed or deminished. In most modern cities all over the world a wide net of separate cycle tracks are being built in addition to a lot of other actions to improve the security and the general conditions of the cyclists. Lately, the bicycle has gone through a technical development for example making it more suitable on rough ground/hilly terrain. This has led to increased popularity of cycling in towns/cities with a lot of hills. It is obvious however, that long and steep hills still represent a main hindrance for most of the cyclists. Saying this, we do not have in mind cyclists who are doing serious training. What really counis transport wise is cycling to and from work, shopping, social visits etc., where the purpose with the cycling is transport without to much p. ical effort. Many towns and cities are characterized by terraced landscape where the major places of work and business areas are at the lower landscape level and where people live at the higher landscape level. Use of cycle between work and home is therefore depending on forcing one or more steep hills between terraced landscape. It is known that there are arranged vertical elevators for transport of people and goods where there also is room for a cycle. The cycle may also be transported on a rolling pavement. Ordinary elevators and rolling pavements are normally constructed for indoor use, and such installations represent for outdoor use dominating and expensive encroachments in the landscape and the street environment. It is also possible to adapt an ordinary gondola - or cableway making it possible to bring cycles. These cableways are normally suspended in masts above the ground but may also be pulled on tracks on ground level. These are normally installations that involve thorough and expensive encroachments in the terrain and street environment and often represent obstructions for crossing traffic. Elevators and cableways are characterized by carrying the full weight of both cycle and cyclist. USA patent 4,681,039 give a description of a hook device between a ski lift cable and a cycle having an automatic and manual releaser. This device is meant to pull a cyclist in the drag lifts trace in the summer season. The normal construction of a drag lift with wire suspended in masts in various heights above the ground will for practical and environmental reasons not be suitable for urban regions, for example in streets with heavy traffic. The main task with this invention is getting a mechanical device that is resonable in price, secure and kind to the environment, giving the cyclist help to force especially steep hills without a lot of physical effort and to use the benefit that the cycle has it's own wheels to roll with. The transport device should be installed in hills with little or none through traffic and minimum of crossing traffic by other vehicles. The hill must be steep enough to represent an essential facilitation, short cut and time saving route for the cyclist. The hill must also be placed so that a great number of cyclists will benefit from the device. The cyclist shall sit on the cycle during the transfer and be pushed up and forward by the help of the device's carriers. In one version of the invention, all technical equipment is placed in the ground and the device pushes the cyclist uphill by pushing his foot which is resting on the device's carrier. The device is very simple to use and represents no security risk for the cyclist himself or other road-users. When the device is not in active use, the carriers run hidden and shielded inside the guide duct. The device can, with simple adjustments also be used by wheel chair users or other people sitting in, or standing on light wheel based transport devices. The following will describe the invention with reference to enclosed drawings, where fig. 1 shows the illustration of a cyclist on a transport device with carrier in accordance with the present invention. fig- 2 shows side draw of the performance in fig. 1. fig. 3a shows side draw and top draw of the carrier in the performance in fig 1 and 2. fig. 3b shows another performance of the carrier (2b) adapted to a stationary, flexible friction band (8) which is stretched on the whole guide duct. fig. 3c shows a third performance of the carrier (2c) with free running friction roll (9b) in contact with the cycle wheel, fig. 4a and 4b show variations of the invention adjusted to the technical construction of an ordinary ski lift with mast mounted pull wire. Firstly we refer to fig. 1. The transport device is installed on or just above ground level. The device is based on an endless motor driven transport band or other similar devices. The transport belt can be wire, rope, chain or belt of all known types. Fig. 2 shows an example of the use of steel wire (1). Carriers are fixed to the wire in definite intervals (2). Speed and the number of carriers set the device's transport capacity. 5 Carriers (2a) on it's way uphill, but not in use, will stay inside the guide duct (4). Carriers (2a) that return downhill may be in one and the same guide duct or in another guide duct without interfering with those going uphill. The guide duct (4) can be executed with different cross sections; quadrangle, cylindrical and in different materials; steel, aluminium, plastic. The example in fig. 3a shows a rectangular duct with a lengthwise slit track (4a) for carrier guidance. The carriers transporting the cyclists come partly out of and on top of the guide duct by help of an electrical or mechanical device controlled by the cyclist. After the cyclist has gone off, the carrier disappears into the box containing the end wheel (6) on top of the hauling track. The carrier (2a) itself or a seperate scraper fixed to the wire, seeks to clean the guide duct for waste and dirt falling into the slit track (4a). The carrier may be equipped with a wheel for controlling and reduction of friction in and/or on top of the guide duct. By use of special plastic materials giving low friction and great wear resistance, the wheels can be replaced with slide blocks or sliding surfaces (7a, 7b). To reduce the starting torque when a cyclist is being picked up by the conveying plant, the carrier can be equipped with start attenuation devices (3) e.g. spring, torsion - or friction elements built in the carriers fixing e.g. to the wire. In the refered version of the invention, the cyclist shall stand with one foot on the carrier (2a). The carrier pushes the cyclist upwards. To ease the load of the cyclists leg muscles during start and on the way, the foot must be put well behind the vertical axis and the knee must be stretched. In another version of the invention (fig. 3b) a flexible friction belt (8), e.g. in rubber - or plastic material, is stretched over and directly on top of the guide duct and in the whole length of the guide duct. The carrier (2b), which will emerge from a signal, will in this version of the invention be equipped with a free running roller (9a), having the same width as the friction belt. The carrier guides the roller underneath the friction belt, and in this way creates an upwards going wave (10) on the friction belt in the total length of the track. In this version of the invention the cycle's wheels (11) are being placed on top of the friction belt and the above mentioned wave, starts moving the back wheel of the cycle on the track. The cycle and the cyclist will in this way be pushed upwards along the track. At the end of the track, the carrier ducks down into the guide duct as described earlier and returns to the start position. In a third version of the invention (fig. 3c) the carrier (2c) is equipped with a free running roller (9b) fixed with friction coating (12) pushing directly towards the cycles back wheel. A variation of the invention is shown in fig. 4a. It is adapted to an ordinary ski lift in such a way that cyclists can be pushed up the lift track in the summer season. The wire traction has a reel fited (13). The ski lift is equipped with a T-hook or disc clamp pulling the skier. These pulling devices can totally or partly be replaced with a carrier (2d) for cyclists. The carrier can immediately before the starting place, manually or automatically, be guided into or outside a forced guiding (14) which is installed in contact with the ground. To follow the broken ground in a ski lift's track, the carrier can be equipped with a swivel arm (15) and for example a haul wheel (16) which touches the ground all the time. The cyclist can be pushed by placing the foot on e.g. a suitable carrier disc (17) or equivalent versions of the carrier (2) shown in fig. 3b and 3c. The carrier can by help of simple adjustments or extensions and for the purpose prepared roller track in the lift trace, be used by wheel chair users or others sitting in or standing on a light wheel based transport device. The ski lift can because of this function as a complete transport device be used for persons and goods also in the summer season and this way replace a chair lift or a cable car.Fig. 4b shows a variant of the invention where a flexible mat (8), stretched in all the length of the trace, functions as a roller track for the cycle and as forced guidance for the carrier (2e). The mat can be made of e.g. textile, plastic or rubber, or other flexible material. The mat can also be constructed by the help of articulated elements, e.g. of wood or aluminium. The roller (18) is a variant of the roller (9a) in fig. 3b, and the roller (19) is a variant of the roller (9b) in fig. 3c.

Claims: Patent claims: 1. Engine-driven device for transportation of person on cycle or similar wheeled transport device, including an endless wire (1), belt or similar which is being placed in a loop between two end points, preferentially with level difference, and equipped with minimum one carrier (2) which is placed in contact with a forced guidance for the carrier, characterized by - that the forced guidance (4;8;14) is placed in contact with the ground, and - that the carrier is in guided enchroachment with the forced guidance, and arranged to get in pushing position towards the cycle wheel or towards a lower part of a person on the cycle. 2. Transport device in accordance with patent claim 1, characterized by - that the carrier includes a foot device (2a) preferentially with a friction layer, suspension and damping. 3. Transport device in accordance with patent claim 1, characterized by - that the forced guidance includes a stationary, flexible belt (8), and - that the carrier includes a free running roller (18) which is led underneath the belt to form a wandering wave that serves as a sliding force towards the cycle wheel. 4, Transport device in accordance with patent claim 1, characterized by - that the carrier (2c) is arranged with a free running roller (9b) with friction layer (12), which forms a sliding force towards the cycle wheel (11) starting the wheel to rotate. 5. Transport device in accordance with patent claim 3 or 4, characterized by - that the stationary friction belt (8) itself constitutes both the cycle's roller track and the carriers forced guidance. AMENDED CLAIMS [received by the International Bureau on 6 December 1993 (06.12.93); original claims 1-5 replaced by amended claims 1-3 (1 page)] 1. Engine-driven device for transportation of person on cycle or similar wheeled transport tool, including an endless wire (1), belt or similar which is being placed in a loop between two end points, preferentially with level difference, and equipped with minimum one carrier (2) which is placed in contact with a forced guidance for the carrier, characterized by - that the forced guidance (4;8;14) is placed in contact with the ground, and - that the carrier is in guided enchroachment with the forced guidance, and arranged to get in pushing position towards at least one foot sole of the person on the wheeled transport device. 2. Transport device in accordance with patent claim 1, characterized by - that the carrier includes a foot supporting divice (2a) pushing on the whole foot sole of the person and arranged with a friction layer and a forward slope of approximately 30 - 40 °. 3. Transport device in accordance with claim 1 and 2, characterized by - a start attenuating suspension and damping system (3).

Inventors: LOVOLL STEIN, WANVIK JARLE OLAV, LOEVOLL, STEIN, WANVIK, JARLE, OLAV
Applicants: DESIGN MANAGEMENT AS, LOVOLL STEIN, WANVIK JARLE OLAV, LOEVOLL, STEIN, WANVIK, JARLE, OLAV
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B61B11
IPC codes: B60S13, B61B9, B61B11, B66B9