US20230049102A1

US20230049102A1 - Alstonish Railway System

Info

Publication number: US20230049102A1
Application number: US17/401,487
Authority: US
Inventors: Alfonso Green
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2021-08-13
Filing date: 2021-08-13
Publication date: 2023-02-16

Abstract

A multilayer track board includes two tracks overlaid on each other in various patterns including an oval, a rectangle, a figure eight, a circle, and other various and popular track geometries. Props for various and popular imaginary and real city park scapes are included. Lights, trees, park benches, landscapes, buildings, bridges, railings, curb and gutter, etc are also included both for functional and for esthetic purposes. Digital and mechanical counters are included on the tracks at various and multiple points in order to track the race and chase of a vehicle on one track in relation to a vehicle on the other track. This prevents a hunch up of the vehicles on a one level track when one vehicle is faster or slower than the other one.

Description

BACKGROUND

A track board is a setup that involves tracks or pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked surface or “board”, according to a set of trains, cars and vehicles and props. Some boards are set up just for fun and others are based on grid planning with some or little element of real life grid planning or real traffic patterns. A track board usually involves no direct interaction but only observation. Early track boards represented a race between two cars, and most modern board games are still based on a race between two vehicles.
There are many varieties of track boards. Their representation of real-life situations can range from having no inherent theme, to having a specific theme and narrative. Track arrangement can range from the very simple, to those describing a particular imaginary place in great detail. The time required to setup a track board varies greatly, but is not necessarily correlated with the number of vehicles or the length of track used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A multilayer track board is disclosed including two tracks overlaid on each other in various patterns including an oval, a rectangle, a figure eight, a circle, and other various and popular track geometries. Props for various and. popular imaginary and real city and park scapes are included. Lights, trees, park benches, landscapes, buildings, bridges, railings, curb and gutter, etc are also included both for functional and for esthetic purposes,
Digital and mechanical counters are included on the tracks are various and multiple points in order to track the race and chase of a vehicle on one track in relation to a vehicle on the other track. This prevents a bunch up of the vehicles on a one level track when one vehicle is faster or slower than the other one. In fact, nth level tracks are claimed wherein more than two vehicles may race and chase and not be hunched up around the lagging vehicle but continue to lap the others via the digital and or mechanical counters claimed herein.
A track for motorized vehicles is disclosed having a first track and a substrate for an electrical wiring there beneath and an ancillary track there upon and at least one race and chase sensor for a first vehicle tracking there upon. The disclosure also includes a second track having a suspension above the first track and a wiring through the suspension and at least one race and chase sensor for a second vehicle tracking there upon. The disclosure additionally includes a processor configured to receive an input from each of the at least one race and chase sensor of the first and of the second tracks and determine a relative position of the first vehicle to the second vehicle based on the input,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a single level track board for the Race and Chase game in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of a dual level track board for the Race and Chase game in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the description, similar reference numbers may be used to identify similar elements depicted in multiple embodiments. Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein and additional applications of the principles of the inventions as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.
Throughout the present disclosure the term ‘race’ is applied in the common sense to at least two vehicles vying for a lead on the track board. The term ‘chase’ refers to at least two vehicles participating in a pursuit, one of another to overtake each other and reach a destination first.
The disclosed race and chase track board game, is a new idea that encourages friendly competition among father and son, family and friends. The object of the track board game is for a player's vehicle to race a number of times around the track avoiding numerous setbacks and gaining the advantage on each other by achieving the goal first via a set of digital or mechanical counters disposed at predetermined points on each respective track.
FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a single level track board for the Race and Chase game in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The depiction includes the single track perimeter track A, the single figure eight track B, the lap counters D, the structure E such as a gazebo and the light post F and the board substrate G. Railings for the figure eight track and the perimeter track are not shown in detail but an outer railing H is shown on the perimeter track A and inner railing I is also included on the perimeter track A. The lap counters D are synchronized with other tracks to enable multi track race and chase in some embodiments. Electric power for the light F is routed through the board and there beneath unless included above board for aesthetic purposes such as simulating power lines in a city park. The depiction also includes the suspension S and the wiring W.
FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of a dual level track board for the Race and Chase game in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Same reference letters are used as in FIG. 1 for same and similar limitations and components. Additionally, the multi level track C including rails H but without the substrate board G is included. The second level track C of the multilevel embodiment includes lap counters J which are synchronized with lap counters D on level 1. The lap counters work from breaking a light path to each other, by a capacitive detection and by a weight or friction detection. The depiction also includes the suspension S and the wiring W.
Alternative track boards are also included in the disclosure including multiple track boards on one dimension and vertical dimension track boards. Electronic versions of the game are also included in the disclosure where the track board is virtual and vehicles race against Artificial Intelligence and multiple online players.
Although the operations of the method(s) herein are shown and described in a particular order, the order of the operations of each method may be altered so that certain operations may be performed in an inverse order or so that certain operations may be performed, at least in part, concurrently with other operations. In another embodiment, instructions or sub-operations of distinct operations may be implemented in an intermittent and/or alternating manner.
While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of the present disclosure in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the disclosure be limited, except as by the specification and claims set forth herein.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A track for motorized vehicles comprising

a first track having a substrate for an electrical wiring there beneath and an ancillary track there upon and at least one race and chase sensor for a first vehicle tracking there upon;

a second track having a suspension above the first track and a wiring through the suspension and at least one race and chase sensor for a second vehicle tracking there upon; and

a processor configured to receive an input from each of the at least one race and chase sensor of the first and of the second tracks and determine a relative position of the first vehicle to the second vehicle based on the input.

2. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the wiring there beneath supports an electrical need for the ancillary track and for the first and second tracks.

3. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the ancillary track is an electric train track.

4. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the at least one race and chase sensor of the first or of the second track is a light sensor.

5. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the at least one race and chase sensor of the first or of the second track is an electrical capacitance sensor.

6. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the at least one race and chase sensor of the first or of the second track is a mechanical trip sensor.

7. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the relative position of the first vehicle to the second vehicle is based on a number of laps of the respective vehicles in relation to the at least one race and chase sensors.

8. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the at least one race and chase sensors are placed one above the other relative to a same x and y coordinate on the first track and on the second track.

9. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, further comprising at least one race and chase sensor on the ancillary track and synchronized to the at least one race and chase sensor of the first track.

10. The track for motorized vehicle of claim 1, further comprising at least one race and chase sensor on the ancillary track and synchronized to the at least one race and chase sensor of the second track.

11. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, further comprising a wiring above the substrate designed to appear as power lines in a city park.

12. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the processor is a lap counter.

13. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the processor is an electronic microprocessor.

14. The track for motorized vehicles of claim 1, wherein the processor is an electronic state machine circuit.