Patent GB-854644-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in a travelling gear for suspension railways with fixed tracks
IPC: E01B25/16
Filed: 1957-03-13
Abstract: 854,644. Elevated railways. GRUBE, W. March 13, 1957, No. 33550/58. Divided out of 854,643. Class 104 (2). [Also in Group XXXII] In a travelling-gear for suspension railways with fixed tracks the travelling gear comprises running-wheels which rest on at least one railtrack, a load-supporting member suspended vertically on the gear and at least one checkwheel which engages the lower surface of the rail track, and is formed as an articulated frame which is deformed by the weight of the vertically suspended load when the gear is placed on an upwardly or downwardly inclined stretch of the track so that the running and check wheels are respectively pressed upon the upper and lower surfaces of the rail track. In the arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 of a travelling-gear for use with a double-track rail, flanged wheels 35, 36 and 37, 38 running on the upper surface of the track 75 are rotatably mounted, respectively, in rectangular frames 33, 34. Each frame 33, 34 is provided above the wheels with a bearing 39, 40 from which a bracket 43 is pivotally suspended by pivot-pins 41, 42. The bracket 43 supports a material or passenger container 44 and has mounted thereon check-wheels 46 rotatably mounted on a shaft 45 beneath the track 75. The check-wheels 46 do not, or only loosely, engage the lower surface of the track 75 when the travelling gear moves along the horizontal track but when the gear moves along an upwardly or downwardly inclined track, Fig. 4, the bracket 43 is pivoted relatively to the frames 33, 34 to press the check-wheels 46 against the lower surface of the track 75 so that a greater friction is created on the downwardlyinclined track or, on an upwardly-inclined track, a firmer adherence is produced between the wheels 35, 36, 37, 38 and the upper surface of the track 75. The modification shown in Fig. 5 differs only from the arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 in that double sets of running- wheels 47, and 48 support a frame 33a through the intermediary of vertical pivots 50 and a pair of check-wheels 46a are in turn carried by a frame 49 supported on a bracket 43a. In a further modification shown in Fig. 7 an upper frame 53 supports running wheels 51, 52 and carries an articulated frame composed of a pair of parallel arms 54, 55 and a lower frame 56 on which the load P is suspended and which has supported thereon, in bearings 57, check rollers 58. If the track 75b is inclined the load P will change the angularity of the parallelogram formed by the frames 53, 56 and arms 54, 55, in order to press the check-wheels 58 against the lower surface of the track 75b. The embodiment shown in Fig. 9 is similar to the arrangement shown in Fig. 5 in so far as the number and arrangement of running and check-wheels are concerned but the frame consists of three parallel arms 65, 66, 67 articulated to an upper frame 63 and to a lower frame 68 which supports the load w. The angularity of the parallelogram is altered by the effect of the load w when the travelling-gear moves along an inclined track 75c to press the check-wheels 46b against the lower surface of the track 75c. Intermediate frame members 69 articulated to the parallel arms 65, 66, 67 have rotatably supported thereon guide-wheels 70 which engage the side walls of the track 75c. The running- wheels and check-wheels need not be flanged and they and the guide-wheels 70 may be provided with elastic or pneumatic tyres. In the event of the check-wheels 46b being utilized for braking on a horizontal track a mechanism of the type shown in Fig. 11 may be provided. The mechanism consists of diagonal frame members 90, 91 connecting the outer upper ends of the frame 92 with a central lower point thereon and of cylinders 93, 94, interposed in the frame members 90, 91. The cylinders 93, 94 are, respectively, connected by flexible tubes 95, 96 to a pump 97 for supplying pressure-fluid such as liquid or gas to the cylinders 93, 94. Depending upon the direction of rotation of the pump 97 hydraulic fluid will either be passed from cylinder 93 into cylinder 94 or vice versa and the piston in these cylinders will be either placed under pressure or released to alter in one direction or the other the angularity of the frame parallelogram as though the travelling gear were moving over an inclined track and thus press the check-wheels against the lower surface of the track.