GB1004952A - Improvements in monorail vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

1,004,952. Monorail vehicles; undercarriages; seating arrangements; cars continuous forming trains. WEGEMATIC CORPORATION. April 18, 1962, No. 15144/62. Headings B7L and B7J. A monorail vehicle has a body with a floor 28, Fig. 3, supported at each end by a truck comprising a frame 76 surrounding a single load-carrying axle 74 for a dual wheel assembly 16 provided with pneumatic tyres 52, 54 to run along the top of the rail 14, the axle being pivotally connected by a parallelogram linkage 78 to the frame 76, which linkage has a pair of bell-cranks 98 whose depending arms 84 are connected by a rod 82 to a pneumatic spring 80 mounted on one of the depending legs 132 of the frame, and the latter is pivotally connected to the body floor 28, for rotation about a vertical axis, by arcuate channel members 109, 110 on the frame and underfloor respectively. The shaft 74 supports roller bearings 70, 72 in a hub 68 and supporting connected wheel rims 56, 58. The axle 74 is driven by a motor 87, Fig. 2, secured to a depending side portion of the vehicle body, through universal joints 87<SP>1</SP> on a shaft 86, a bevel reduction gear 88, a universal joint 90, a shaft 92 and universal joint 96. A pair of guide-wheels 20, 22 and 24, 26 are resiliently mounted on each side of the truck frame, through linkages 114, 116, 118 and rubber springs 126, 128, the shaft 112 of each guide wheel being carried by the link 114. Further guide wheels 136, 138 are provided one on each side of the frame. Each guide wheel 136 or 138 has a shaft 138 supported by a parallel linkage assembly 140, 142, 144, the shaft 138 being carried by the link 140 and the link 144 being connected to the depending frame leg 130 or 132 through a torsion bar unit 154 and also pivotally connected at 158 to a shock-absorber 156. The load-supporting wheel assemblies 16 are each received in a housing 37 projecting upwardly from the floor 28 and seats 38, 40, 42 and 44 and 46, 48 and 50 are mounted on top of the housing 37, as shown in Fig. 2. These seats together with seats 51 are arranged so that the vehicle has a central gangway between the end housings 37 and side gangways adjacent the ends of the vehicle to facilitate passage between coupled vehicles.