Patent GB-946233-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to railed transport means or systems
IPC: B61B13/04
Filed: 1960-05-04
Abstract: 946,233. Elevated railways; railway vehicle undercarriages. PNEUWAYS DEVELOPMENT CO. (PRIVATE) Ltd. May 4, 1960 [May 13, 1959; May 26, 1959; Sept. 7, 1959], No. 15764/60. Heading B7L. A railway transport system comprises a vehicle having flangeless load-carrying wheels which run along the upper surfaces of a pair of parallel rail-like members and at least one pair of laterally spaced guide wheels arranged to engage on oppositely directed outwardly facing upwardly diverging longitudinal guide surfaces formed on the outwardly facing sides of the parallel rail-like members. In the arrangement shown in Figs. 2 and 4 the outer side surfaces 2a of the track beam, which may be of solid or hollow section, are upwardly and outwardly inclined and the guide wheels 5 are arranged in the plane normal to such surface. In a modification, Fig. 5 (not shown), the outer side surfaces 2a of the track beams 1, 2 are recessed. The upper surface of the track beams may be recessed to receive an asphaltic or bituminous compound or wearing plates. At a point or switching section, Fig. 9, the switching points A, A1, B, B1 are usually made of steel of hollow box section beams and pivoted at one end at a, b, c and d and are provided at the other end on their undersides with a roller which runs on an arcuate track S. The switch points A and B1 1 are coupled by a rod to a bell-crank and the switch points A1, B are similarly coupled to a bell-crank. The bell-cranks are in turn coupled to a throw-over lever or reversible electric motor. The prime mover or load carrying vehicles are provided with one or more free swinging bogies 8 each having three axles 9. The guide wheels 5 are supported on box girders 10 pivotally mounted by trunnion pins 12 on a triangular member 11 detachably mounted on the bogies 8. The initial pressure of the guide wheels 5 against the track beams 1, 2 is preset by limiting stops 13. In an alternative arrangement, Fig. 4a (not shown), the stops 13 are replaced by coil springs. The pressure of the guide wheels 5 against the side of the track beams 1, 2, is controlled by a ram 15 and cylinder 14 devices fed with compressed air through flexible pipes from a compressor provided on the main towing vehicle, Figs. 10 and 11 (not shown). Additional rubber tyred wheels 5a are provided to engage the sides of the track beams 1, 2 should the tyres of the guide wheels 5 fail. The members 11 together with the guide wheels 5 may be detached from the bogie 8 and the bogie 8 locked fore and aft to enable the vehicle to be articulated to, and towed by, a normal road using vehicle. In a further modification shown in Fig. 12 a flared nozzle 26 arranged above the guide wheel 5 is fed with compressed air which is directed against the side of the track beams 1, 2 to centralize the bogies. The pressure on the guide wheels 5 against the side of the track can be varied, when the vehicle is travelling at high speeds or on sharp curves, by a servo means controlled by a member or members responsive to the vehicle speeds and/or centrifugal forces associated therewith and changes of track directions. The servo means may operate on the guide wheels 5 through any form of linkage which partially rotates in either directions eccentric bushes for the spindles of the guide wheels 5 on the beam 10. The servo means may be operated by a centrifugal governor on the running wheel shaft. Alternatively a vane or aerofoil subjected to air pressure due to the vehicle speed may be linked with the servo means for automatically regulating the guide wheel pressure to the vehicle speed. A servo control valve may be connected to a pendulum mounted on the bogie or other part of the vehicle to enable the guide wheel pressure to be varied proportional to the centrifugal forces operating on the vehicle. In an alternative arrangement to that shown in Fig. 12 the air jets against the sides of the track beams 1, 2 may be created and/or augmented by aerofoil shrouding, associated with the vehicle bogie and/or guide wheels 5 making use of the windage arising from the vehicle speed.