GB1198268A - Improvements in or relating to Transporter Systems - Google Patents

Abstract

1,198,268. Transporter systems; tracked hovercars. M. BARTHALON. 13 Oct., 1967 [14 Oct., 1966], No. 46780/67. Addition to 1,167,621. Headings B7K and B7L. The transporter system of the parent Specification 1,167,621 (comprising a powered car suspended from an overhead track beam by creating a sub-atmospheric pressure in lifting chambers formed between the car and the beam) is improved or modified as follows. A track switch, Fig. 5, is provided between tubular track portions 1a 1b 1c and comprises tubular track sections 201, 202 which are joined by members 203, 204 supported by rollers on tracks 211, 212 and which are movable by drive units. A stop on the member 204 may block the track 1b. Automatic braking of a car travelling along a track portion which is not connected by the switch, e.g. track portion 1c, is effected by uncovering apertures 231c in the beam (so that air leaks into the lifting chambers and the car engages the track) in response to the non-alignment of lugs 241, 242 on the section 202 and portion 1c. Alternatively, a car may be traversed between tracks on a single track section 201. In Fig. 7, the throw of the suspension chamber 254 is several times that of the lifting chamber 91, and the walls 282, 281 thereof are elastically deformable. Springs 259 and dampers 261 connect the slide block 86 to the car body 9. The track beam may comprise two coaxial tubes (Fig. 10, not shown), the inner tube conveying water, gas or oil, and the space between receiving electric or air lines; a conveyer may be disposed in the inner tube. In Fig. 11, transverse flexible skirts 33 define lifting chambers 15a to 15g divided centrally by a longitudinal throttling member. The skirts at the ends and centre of the car are closer together longitudinally than their transverse spacing, and the edges 270a are inclined. The extraction duet density is greater in the chambers 15a, 15b, 15c than in the other chambers, and the duct density increases away from the centre. The air extractors for the end and centre chambers increase their rate of flow as the chamber pressure falls, and each comprise a centrifugal compressor with a rotor having ribs inclined in the direction of rotation, while the extractors for the other chambers have a normal characteristic. In Fig. 16, the stabilizing chambers 281a, 281b are at superatmospheric pressure, the lifting chambers 59a, 59b at subatmospheric pressure, and zones 305a, 305b at atmospheric pressure. The projections 301a, 301b may be on the slide block 55, not on the beam 1.