Patent ID: 6971318

Claim:
A monorail switching arrangement for controlling the direction of switching of a vehicle along a monorail system, comprising: (a) a generally horizontal sectional monorail system including: (1) a plurality of coplanar monorail sections each having a rectangular cross-section and including horizontal top and bottom surfaces; and a pair of vertical side wall surfaces; (2) a first one of said monorail sections being an initial travel section, a second one of said sections comprising a continued travel section arranged in slightly spaced collinear relation adjacent one end of said first section, and a third one of said sections comprising a switching section arranged in spaced relation adjacent said first section one end and angularly arranged relative to the longitudinal axis of said travel section; (b) a vehicle supported for longitudinal travel along said first monorail section, said vehicle including: (1) a chassis; and (2) a plurality of vertically arranged support wheels rotatably connected with said chassis for engagement with the top surface of said monorail travel section; and (c) switching means for alternately switching said vehicle for travel from said first monorail section to a selected one of said second and third sections, respectively, said switching means comprising: (1) a first pair of continued-travel control tracks arranged at a first elevation on opposite sides of said first monorail section; (2) a first pair of switched-travel control tracks arranged at a second elevation on opposite sides of said travel monorail section; (3) a first pair of horizontally arranged switching wheels arranged on opposite sides of said travel monorail section; (4) switching wheel connecting means for connecting said switching wheels with said chassis; and (5) selecting means for varying the elevation of said first pair of switching wheels between a first elevated position in engagement, with said continued-travel control tracks, respectively, and a second elevated position in engagement with said switched-travel control tracks, respectively, thereby to control the switching direction of the vehicle.