Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61B—RAILWAY SYSTEMS; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B61B12/00—Component parts, details or accessories not provided for in groups B61B7/00 - B61B11/00
  • B61B12/06—Safety devices or measures against cable fracture
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61B—RAILWAY SYSTEMS; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B61B12/00—Component parts, details or accessories not provided for in groups B61B7/00 - B61B11/00
  • B61B12/02—Suspension of the load; Guiding means, e.g. wheels; Attaching traction cables

Definitions

• the invention regards to a pulley device according to pre- characterizing part of claim 1, and to a cableway car comprising a pulley device.
• the simplest type of cableway is composed of a rope with one end of departure that is attached to a tree or fixing up the gradient, and the opposite end attached to another tree or moreover to the chosen point of arrival for the transport of such things as logs or things down the gradient along the span of a distance having considerable difference in altitude and also covering a long distance.
• a common requirement of these rope transport systems is to be able to regulate the velocity of a car' s and the transported material's descent, especially approaching the point of arrival in order to avoid the same material suffering impact damage.
• It is an object of the present innovation is to make it possible to develop cableway systems, descending by gravity from altitude and over remarkable distances in order to provide transport and also for the enjoyment of people who want to experience excitement but in increased level of safety, especially the maximum of safety along the entire length of its route.
• Another preferred important aim of the innovation is for people to be able to admire landscapes and situations inaccessible by normal ascent since the said situations constantly, change along the entire distance of the cableway.
• Another preferred important aim of the present innovation is to use this means of transport to carry goods and material, for example meteorological instrumentations for survey or television transmission equipment that need to be transported carefully.
• one preferred aim of the present innovation is to allow any normal person who is not specifically trained to be something like a parachutist to experience suspension in the air and the strong emotion and pleasant memory associated with this experience.
• a pulley device having features according to claim 1, and by a cableway car comprising such a pulley device according to claim 11.
• Preferred aspects and embodiments are subject-matter of dependent claims.
• a pulley device, especially turbo braking pulley device especially designed for cableways, for gravitational transport of persons and things, characterised in that it has at least one pair of blades, a rotation speed of which is reduced by effect of friction with air encountered as it descends a cableway span, that is applied upon them by a respective pulley, transmitting said reduction in rotation speed to at least one pulley.
• a pulley device especially being designed for cableways, for gravitational transport of persons and things, is preferred if blades, at least one pair of blades, being arranged such that a rotation speed of which is reducible by effect of friction with air encountered as the pulley device descends a rope of a cableway span, and a gear transmitting said blades reduction in rotation speed to at least one pulley.
• a preferred subject of the present innovation is a new pulley device with automatic braking for the transport of persons and/or things by gravity along spans on normal gradients.
• a preferred main specification of the present pulley device is for a descent controlled by the pulley and its weight or its load, respectively specifically for the transport of persons along the span of the rope reaching a predetermined maximum speed and guaranteed by appropriate fins or blades that are indirectly connected to a pair of rolling pulleys along the rope of the cableway, the said blades being braked by an air braking its rotation speed, therefore slowing the rotation of the same pulleys on the rolling rope and therefore the descent velocities of the car or pulley to which the weight and the person going down the gradient is coupled.
• these and other aims are all achieved by applying a pulley device to the cableway rope that is equipped with at least a rolling pulley and braked descent along the same rope, and this pulley is connected with at least one finned pinion or blade whose rotation is caused by the rotation of the pulley, is braked by the ambient air that therefore also brakes the rotation of the same pulley and limits the device' s velocity of descent and that of the person or things attached to it.
• such pulley device comprises at least one such pulley that descents along a rope, in which an external rim of the pulley has gear teeth that are positioned in order to mesh with gear teeth of a corresponding spool, especially sprocket, which is firmly attached to a shaft, especially spindle, to which one pair of such blades are attached, the rotation of which is reduced by friction with the air, consequently resulting in the reduced rotation and descent speed of the pulley.
• At least one such pair of pulleys is supported and positioned by a pair of walls, which support and position corresponding spools, which are positioned in order to mesh with the toothed rims of said pulleys.
• each pulley is supported by a axle, especially spindle, that firmly secures it to the two opposing walls of the pulley device by interposition of rolling mediums, thus allowing it to rotate on the same shaft.
• each pulley has a flared groove and either a toothed rim or is at any rate paired with a respective ring gear.
• each a crown gear of such pulley is positioned in order to mesh with respective gear teeth of the spools, which are firmly attached to respective shafts, the respective ends of which firmly support the pair of ventilation blades.
• the shafts are aligned or at any rate firmly joined onto the spools and the blades, thus ensuring the support and the positioning between the walls of the pulley device as well as their connection with the pulleys, thus ensuring their firm rotational movement.
• the braking action, especially turbo braking action of the blade ensures that optimal aeration is achieved by the blades through their turbo braking action, as well as the full or partial aperture of a pulley wheel housing, between supporting walls, even in the case of perforations in said walls and of any perforations in protective surfaces covering the blades.
• such walls although removable, are firmly joined together by various tie-rods and their respective spacers and the respective nut-and-bolt-works as required for safety purposes.
• such pair of walls of said pulley device have respective holes for the application of hooks for the harnessing persons or means of transport to be conveyed along the span of the cableway.
• a cableway car comprising such a pulley device to be guided along a rope of a cableway.
• Fig. 1 presents a view of a profile of slope of accidental form on which a cableway equipped with the preferred pulley device has been arranged;
• Fig. 2 presents a cross-section of the pulley device that can be applied to the cableway in Fig. 1, being represented according to the plan in section II - II of Fig. 3;
• Fig. 3 presents an external vertical view of the same pulley device that can be applied to the cableway in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 4 presents a similar view to the view in Fig. 3 but represented along the plane in section IV - IV of Fig. 2;
• Fig. 5 shows a similar view of the pulley device to Figs. 3 and 4, being represented in combination with the cableway rope shown in Fig. 1, and being partially represented in a left-hand elevation similar to the section of Fig. 4, while the right-hand elevation is analogous to the view in Fig. 3, but without a protective cover; and
• Fig. 6 shows a similar cross-section to the view of the pulley device in Fig. 2, but with decomposition of the main elements from which it is composed, indicatively according to the plan in section VI - VI of Fig. 5.
• a cableway A is mainly built in order to connect a point of departure B to a point of arrival C of a difference in altitude V by a rope F to which it is possible to attach a pulley device or a car device D including such pulley device D for the support and transport of persons for their decent at a controlled speed.
• the rope F will have an extremity Fl fixed to a pole of departure or other solid point of support Bl and an opposite extremity F2 that is fixed to another pole of arrival or other solid point of support Cl.
• a departure landing B2 making possible a jolt or raised at the point of departure B, is arranged so that it is a shorter distance from the rope F to make it easy to couple the braking device D just as an arrival landing C2 is arranged at the point of arrival B, if necessary by jolt or by suspension in order to facilitate uncoupling from the same rope F.
• a distance formed by the rope F of the cableway A between its two extremities Fl, F2 is normally shorter than the correspondent distance of the actual cableway, while indeed guaranteeing a descent and arrival at a safe speed since this speed is controlled by the pulley device D that forms the subject of the present innovation.
• a span Fl - F2 formed by the rope F of the cableway A between its two extremities Fl, F2 is longer than the correspondent linear distance between the two extremities Fl, F2.
• the pulley device D is substantially composed of a pair of plates forming walls 10, 11 that are used to support a pair of running pulleys 20, 30, which are equipped with a crown gear comprising flange teeth having especially twice as many flange teeth 21b; 31a, 31b that are positioned so that they mesh directly with corresponding spools 40, 50.
• the spools 40, 50 can be structured as sprockets or pinions .
• the said spools 40, 50 are also equipped with corresponding sets of teeth 41b; 51a, 51b, and mesh with a corresponding spindle or starter shaft 42, 52 whose extremities stick out from said walls 10, 11, especially plates, and to which as many blades 43, 44; 53, 54 are applied, which rotate in agreement with the corresponding spools 40 - 50.
• the starter shafts 42, 52 especially are pivotable mounted in the walls 10, 11 leading through both walls 10, 11 and have torque proof mounted or integrally formed the flanges 43, 44, 53, 54 at their end sections.
• the shafts 42, 52 have torque proof mounted the spools 40, 50 between the walls 10, 11.
• the said pulleys 20, 30 naturally become idle between the said plates forming the walls 10, 11, being supported by means of suitable bearings or rollers - not represented in the figs. - are in agreement with an axle 23, 33, with its extremities being in agreement with corresponding seats in the same plates.
• the pulleys 30 are supported by ball bearings 32a, 32b at the axles 23, 33.
• the axles 23, 33 can be structured as a shaft or spindle.
• pulley 30 introduces a ring gear or an especially double toothed flange with teeth 31a, 31b separated by the presence of a groove 34 that is used to accommodate the rope F of the cableway A, together and in parallel with a corresponding groove of the other pulley 20.
• the preferred pulleys 20, 30 are pulley wheels comprising a circumferential groove to be put onto such a rope F.
• circumferential rims are toothed or arranged to provide frictional coupling with the shafts.
• the said grooves 34 are normally equipped with truncated cone inner walls suitably joined together so that they can house such ropes F of various diameters, ensuring the surface contact with said rope F in always maximised manner in order to guarantee regular unwinding of the pulley on the same rope.
• the walls 10, 11, especially plates are also joined and positioned by rods 12, 13, 14, especially tie-rods, with adequate spacers 12a, 13a, 14a, and respective nuts, washers, and pins, especially cotter pins for stable normal closing of the entire pulley device D.
• the same plates forming the walls 10, 11 are equipped with a corresponding coupling hole 15, 16 for a hook 17, especially safety snap link to which to couple a sling holding a person or car to the pulley device D after having arranged it on the rope F on the grooves 34 of the pulleys the 20, 30 for a controlled descent along the cableway A.
• the same plates forming the walls 10, 11 are then advantageously equipped with a series of through holes 18, 19 to guarantee maximum aeration in the space between them and especially for the maximum aeration of such external blades 43, 44, 53,54, while the same holes 18 can also be used for the coupling of an emergency rope, tensioned higher up the mountain than the departure landing B2 and/or below the arrival landing C2, for example during the testing of the system or because of the presence of hesitant persons.
• the through holes 18, 19 are structured as perforations or air inlets.
• device D is therefore composed of the pair of plates forming the walls 10, 11 that enclose and support the pair of pulleys 20, 30, which rotate in their running movement to descend the rope F, determining the rotation of the respective toothed spools 40, 50 and therefore respectively of the first starter shaft 42, blades 43, 44, and of the second starter shaft 52 blades 53, 54, especially ventilation blades 43, 44, 53, 54.
• four single spools can be used 50a, 50b, providing them moreover with a stable connection to the respective starter shafts 42 and 52, directly meshing with the toothed flanges 21b, 31a, 31b of the respective pulleys 20, 30.
• the pulley device D is advantageously equipped with protections 61, 62 or protection shields providing protective surfaces, the said protection shields can be provided with appropriate frontal or lateral perforation 63 in order to cooperate with the air inlets 18, 19 of the wall 10, 11 forming plates for maximum aeration of the blades 43, 44, 53, 54.
• the air acts as a brake slowing down the rotation of the blades 43, 44, 53, 54 slowing down the revolutions of the axle or shaft 42, 52 and therefore of the spools 40, 50 with which they are in agreement.
• the turbo slowing down of the spools' 40, 50 rotation therefore involves the slowing down of the pulleys the 20 - 30 running on the rope F, causing continuous braking of the pulley device's D descent velocity and the person coupled to it along the entire descent of the span Fl - F2 of the cableway A guaranteeing the safest of conditions in compliance with the main aims proposed.
• the turbo braked pulley device D allows the transport of any other good such as devices and equipment, assuring the best of transport and arrival conditions, conforming to another aim of the specifications .
• the same pulley device D illustrated above can ensure any normal person who is not specifically trained to be something like a parachutist to experience suspension in the air and the strong emotion and pleasant memory associated with admiring the landscape and situations that is an inherent memory for the person, conforming to one of the other aims in the specifications.
• the weight of the person to transport may vary such as between a child, an adult, and an obese person
• the number of blades can vary 43, 44, 53, 53 for example arranging pulley devices D equipped with four, three, or only two blades in relation to the decreasing weight of the person to be transported so that the descent velocity is always sufficiently thrilling even though within agreed safety limits.
• the blades can be formed and arranged as ventilation blades, flaps or three-dimensional fan blades to be able to catch air and have great aerodynamic drag when moving during rotation against the moving direction of the pulley device D and to have less aerodynamic resistance when moving during rotation in the moving direction of the pulley device D.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Pulleys (AREA)
• Braking Arrangements (AREA)

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• 2008
  • 2008-12-11 IT ITBL2008A000017A patent/IT1391997B1/it active
• 2009
  • 2009-12-10 CA CA2746487A patent/CA2746487A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2009-12-10 WO PCT/EP2009/008849 patent/WO2010066433A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2009-12-10 US US13/139,330 patent/US20120031297A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2009-12-10 EP EP09796953A patent/EP2373530A1/en not_active Withdrawn

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