GB897790A - Controller apparatus for railway vehicles or wagons - Google Patents

Abstract

897,790. Rope railways. HUDSWELL, CLARKE & CO. Ltd. Jan. 5, 1961 [Oct. 5, 1959], No. 33621/59. Class 104 (2). In a railway vehicle controller apparatus in which a series of trolleys T, attached to and spaced along an endless chain or flexible carrier 1, are arranged to be lowered down an inclined track in front of and in rolling contact with at least one wheel W of a railway vehicle to lower the vehicles and release one or more as desired and at desired intervals each trolley T carries a freely rotatable retarding roller 14 to bear against the leading face of the adjacent vehicle wheel W and has supporting rollers 12, 13, one or more of which run on the vehicle rail 10 and one or more others of which run on a trolley rail 11 extending parallel to or outside the vehicle rail 10. The endless chain 1 moves in one direction only during the working of the apparatus. In the arrangement shown the endless chain 1, to which the trolleys T are attached, is supported by wheels 2, 3 and driven by an electric motor 6 through an electromagnetic brake 7, reduction gear-box 8 and an automatic slip clutch 9 which is set to slip on impact of a wheel W with a trolley T. The retarding roller 14 is mounted on an eccentric formed on the axle 15 carrying the wheels 12, 13. The trolleys T are also provided with guide-wheels 18 mounted on vertical spindles 17 and engaging the inner opposed walls of the rails 10, 11. Transfer rails 19, engageable by the flanges of the wagon wheels W, are provided between adjacent spaced ends of the rails 10, 5. A track limit switch 20, provided at the outlet end of the apparatus, is actuated by an off-going trolley T to stop the chain 1. The chain 1 may also be continuously operated to release wagons at predetermined intervals.