Patent GB-1124957-A (GB)
Title: Installation for the conveyance of persons and goods
IPC: B61B13/00
Filed: 1965-12-02
Abstract: 1,124,957. Transport installations. F. PFEFFER. 2 Dec., 1965 [2 Dec., 1964; 4 Feb., 1965; 7 April, 1965], No. 51289/65. Heading B7L. A transport installation for conveying passengers and goods from incoming motorvehicles, railways, trams and underground railways to individual aircraft 3 in an airport, or to offices, schools, factories, exhibitions, or shopping, sport or entertainment centres (not shown), comprises at least one group of at least two tracks 1 extending between stations S and having at least one wheeled or rollered vehicle on each, and pick-up and set-down places 2 at the stations arranged at least alongside the tracks and are in the form of cabins. The tracks 1 link the stations S with a dispatch building T and a multistorey car park P. In an embodiment, the tracks 1 run underground, and the vehicles 4 when halted are automatically lifted bodily by a device 6 in the base of the track 1 at a station S to the level of the pick-up cabins 2 on the ground floor of the station S. Each cabin has doors which are opened outomatically with the opening of the front doors of the vehicle 4. The device 6 may be arranged above the place 2. In another embodiment, the devices 6 are mounted on a track-engaging carrier part 4<SP>1</SP> of the vehicle so as to raise or lower a passenger-carrying part 4<SP>11</SP> of the vehicle. In a further embodiment, the vehicle raises itself on hydraulic ram devices which rest on the base of the track 1. In yet another embodiment, the devices 6 are provided on the part 4<SP>11</SP> and urge against the base of the part 4<SP>1</SP>. In Fig. 8 (not shown), the pick-up places 2 are side by side and the doors are in the vehicle ends; and in Fig. 9 (not shown), the places are staggered along the track and the vehicle doors are in the sides of the vehicle. In yet a further embodiment, the tracks 1 are supported above the normal level of the airport by a support construction supported by stanchions and serving as a garage or store-house roof, and the places 2 are lower than the tracks 1. In yet another embodiment, the tracks 1 are at the normal airport level, and the places 2 are underground and accessible from the normal level by steps or escalators or ramps provided on one or both sides of the tracks. In still another embodiment, a pair of tracks 1 terminate at each station S. In Fig. 17 (not shown), the places 2 are alongside and on the same level as the terminating tracks 1, and in Fig. 18 (not shown), the tracks 1 are elevated on a support construction 7 and the places are at ground level and connected by a ramp 10 with the tracks 1. In other embodiments, the places 2 may be above or underground with the tracks at ground level. The vehicles 4 each have an individual electric drive and draw electricity from conductor rails running alongside the tracks. Alternatively, each vehicle may be hooked on to a moving chain or wire alongside the track, as required. Individual passengers can summon a vehicle by actuating an electrical or electronic impulse transmitter arranged at each place 2. An optical or acoustic signal may signal the time and place of arrival of a vehicle at a place 2.