US2853956A

US2853956A - Monobeam systems and apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2853956A
Application number: US378146A
Authority: US
Inventors: Axel L Wenner-Gren; Hinsken Josef; Rethel Walter
Original assignee: Alweg Forschung GmbH
Current assignee: Alweg Forschung GmbH
Priority date: 1953-03-05
Filing date: 1953-08-28
Publication date: 1958-09-30
Anticipated expiration: 1975-09-30

Description

P 1958 A. L. WENNER-GREN ET AL 2,853,956

MONOBEAM SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 28. 1953 INVENTORS N L. s ENMWW. K E R mR 0 MI! T NH M E E FT .am L

.ww L u v A B Se t. 30, 1958 A. WENNER-GREN ET AL A 2,353,956

MONOBEAM SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 F ig.2

INVENTORS AxEL L. WENNERGREN 'JOSEF H\NSKEN WALTER RETHEL.

ATTORN Y5 p 30, 1958 A. L. WENNERGREN ET AL 2,853,956

MONOBEAM SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28. 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 3- INVENTORS Axel. L. WENNERGREN J'osEF HINSKEN WALTER RE'i'HEL AT TO EYS p 1958 A. L. WENNER-GREN ET AL 2,853,956

v MONOBEAM SYSTEMS AND'APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28. 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 NVENTORS AXEL L. WENNERGREN JosEF HINSKEN W R 1' BY ALTER v 1-: HEL

m i l ATTONEVS P 30, 1958 A. L. WENNER-GREN ET AL 2,853,956

MONOBEAM SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS Filed Aug. 28, 1953 Y 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig.6

INVENTORS} J'osEF HINSKEN WALTER RETHEL BY v W MV'W I I AT 1- NEYS AXEL L. WENNERGREN United StatesPatent O MONOBEAM SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS Axel L. Wenner-Gren, Mexico City, Mexico, and Josef Hinsken, Koln-Weidenpesch, and Walter Rethel, Koln, Germany, assignors to Alweg-Forschung, Gesellschaft mit beschriinkter Haftung, Koln, Germany The present invention relates to improvements in monobeam systems and apparatus and more specifically to a monobeam railroad in which the vehicles, travelling upon a single beam track construction, are provided with carrying wheels to support the vehicle upon the beam and with lateral stabilizing wheels held in contact with the sides of the beam.

In such prior monorail systems as have been pro: posed-and in a few cases actually built- -the vehicles were designed to operate solely on their monorail track. However, in many cases it would be a advantage to be able to transit the vehicles on to a road or to an open area in order to gain more traffic elasticity or mi group the vehicles in any desired order.

A primary object of the present invention accordingly is to provide a novel combination of train and track in. which the vehicles may transit from the beam to a road or other open area or vice versa.

Since the time factor is always a major problem inall: railroad operation another object of the invention is to train may continue to travel self-propelled on a road or other open area having no track or rails.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel combination of train and track in which the same wheels used for stabilizing the vehicles when operating on the beam can be used as driving and/or running wheels to support the vehicles on a flat road.

A further object of the invention is to provide bogies carrying the stabilizing wheels with an automatic device by means of which an adjustment of the stabilizing wheels is automatically effected when the vehicle is transiting from the beam-shaped track to the road or vice versa. f

A still further object of the invention is to provide for the adjustment of the stabilizing wheels by constructing the supporting track structure in such a way that the wheels strictly and automatically follow a special helically formed surface of the track within the transition area.

These and otherobjects of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosures of embodiments thereof and from the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a bogie without driving elements for a monobeam railway with vehicles embracing the monobeam and having lateral wheels running on the vertical surfaces and supporting wheels running on the horizontal top surface of the beam, the sets of lateral wheels at the opposite sides of the beam being shown in different positions.

Fig. 2 is a lateral view partly in cross section of a bogie as shown in Fig. 1 installed in a vehicle of a monobeam railway.

Fig. 3 shows, on a smaller scale, a detail of a structure for swingably mounting the stabilizing wheels.

Fig. 4 is a front view and partly a cross section ofa bogie having an electric motor mounted on the axle of the stabilizing wheels, said wheels being shown in each ofthe operating positions.

Fig. 5 is a lateral view of a bogie driven by an electric motor attached to the bogie.

Fig. 6 shows the transition track which performs the adjustment of the lateral stabilizing wheels when the vehicle passes from one type of supporting structure to the other.

Fig. 1 shows on the left hand side the position of the swingable wheels when operating on the carrying beam which may be elevated by resting on pylons, whereas the right hand side of the figure demonstrates the wheel position adjusted for operating on the road.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the car body 10 shown in dot-and-dash lines rest on the bogie, as will be described in connection with Fig. 2.

In the bogie are supported the carrying wheels 12 which run on tires, and the lateral stabilizing or guiding wheels 14 which are also provided with tires.

Thesewheels run on thebeam-shaped supporting structure 16,,which is shown in dot-and-dash lines. The bogie comprises two parallel longitudinal box girders 18, one on each side of the carrying wheels 12. Girders 18 are connected by several transverse girders 20 and mounted on them there are vertically extending members 22 which carry the pillow blocks 24. Divergent arms 26 'are mounted on the girders 18 and carry bearings 28 for a construction shown in detail also in Fig. 3.

Journalled in the bearings 28 are pivots 30 which are rigidly secured to a tubelike member 32 which, in turn,

is rigidly secured for instance by welding, to a connecting plate 34 rigidly secured to a shaft 36.

Shaft 36 is swingably pivoted in bearings 38 formed in one end of a carrying structure consisting of two interconnected arms 40 having ribs 42 to form a rigid structure. At their other ends arms 40 are connected by means of a plate 44 which forms a support for two springs 46, the other ends of which bear against a second plate 48 rigidly secured to the tube 32.

Arms 40 have rigidly secured to them bearings 50' for the axle 52 of the stabilizing wheels 14. Numeral 54 generally indicates a shock absorber of any convenient design. The construction as shown and described enables the stabilizing wheels 14 to swing around shaft 36 while being resiliently supported by arms40.

At the front and rear ends of girders 18 there are also mounted

shorter arms

56 and 58; In the front ends of the arms 56 lateral auxiliary guiding wheels 60 are.

pivoted while arms 58 extend about in the prolongation of girders 18 and carry emergency carrying steel wheels 62 which in the event one (-or more) of the carrying wheels 12 gets damaged, takes over its function. The axle of each of said emergency wheels is provided with a contact 64 actuating a signalling device when the load passes over from the tires 14 to the steel wheels 62. By means of lateral connecting arms 66 (Fig. 2) the

arms

26 and 56 are firmly connected with one another and with the girders 18 to form-together a rigid bogie.

The bearingsof the steel wheel 62 are eccentrically supported so that the vertical level of the wheels in respect to the supporting beam 16 is adjustable within definite limits, preferably in such a manner that, when the carrying wheels 12 have normal tire pressure, the wheels 62 do not rest on top of the supporting beam 16, but take over the load in case the air pressure in one of the tires becomes too low, thus preventing destruction of the-tires. i

As shown in Fig. 2, the car body is supported upon the bogie as follows. The lower part of the car body 10 forms an inverted trough at the uppermost part of which a plate 70 is secured which transfers the load of the car body through bars 72 on to a cross member 74 extending between the carrying wheels 12.

Member 74 consists of two parallel plates and between them there are slidingly arranged two guiding members 76 having firmly secured to them two hemispheric bearing shells 78 surrounding a ball pivot 80 projecting from the bogie. Thus the guiding members 76 allow a relative movement between the bogie and the car body only in a vertical but not in a horizontal direction.

As can be seen from Figures 4 and 5 the member 74 is connected with sliding plates 82, one on each side of the carrying wheels 12. The sliding plates 82 rest on conical rollers 84 which, on the other hand, rest on lower plates 86. Rigidly connected to the bogie there are plates 89 on which rest spring plates 90 which carry springs 88 resting against upper spring plates 91 rigidly connected with plates 86 and carrying the same in a resilient manner. Guiding means (not shown) may be used to prevent lateral displacements of the springs 88, if desired.

Referring to Fig. 4, at the lower end of the pivot 80 there is a small worm wheel 92 engaging a worm 94 which forms a part of a conventional steering mechanism to be used when the car travels on a flat road.

Fig. 6 shows a transition part for enabling vehicles to go over from the beam 16 to the flat road 110. The guiding surfaces 112 of the beam 16 gradually changes their inclination by being formed helically so that from the section 114 they gradually change through an angle of 90 degrees until they reach the section 116 which is horizontal and preferably runs out to the street level. The guiding surfaces 112, one on each side of the beam, compel the pair of wheels 14 shown on the left hand side in Fig. l to swing over to the position shown on the right hand side of Fig. 1, using the pivots 30 as swinging axis. The vehicle is now adapted for travel on the road and, if desired, the wheels 14 may be locked in their right hand position of Fig. l to ensure full safety against unintended back swinging movements by a conventional disengageable latch mechanism mounted between bearings 28 and the pivot 30.

When the wheels 14 have assumed their position for travelling on the road the beam 16 is no longer necessary and accordingly the same gradually decreases in height from the section 116 until it ceases either suddenly or reaches the level on the road. As soon as the height of the beam has been decreased somewhat the wheels 14 will take over the load and carry the vehicle. The steering mechanism briefly described above may go be used when the vehicle leaves the beam and a driver may travel with this vehicle as with a truck on the road.

The bogie as shown in Fig. 4 is self-propelled by means of electric motors 96 arranged on shafts 52 to drive wheels 14. These electric motors may be fed from a n5 diesel-electric aggregate (not shown) which is located in any convenient space in the train.

The swinging movement of the lateral wheels 14 may also be efiected by an actuating mechanism such as a pneumatically or hydraulically actuator cylinder 98 mounted on the bogie and having a piston rod 100 con- G0 nected to a bell crank 102 suitably connected to the pivot support structure for the wheels.

Fig. 5 shows a driving means for the driving wheels 14 consisting of an electric motor 104 which is supported by the bogie and more particularly by the arms 26 thereof. In this way it is possible to reduce the unsprung weight. The motor 104 is coupled to the shaft 52 of the wheels 14 by means of a suitable gear located within the housing 108. The shaft 106 of the motor is coupled to said gear by means of a universal joint 110 in order to allow the swinging motions of the pair of wheels. The car may be of any suitable form and accommodated for passengers or goods.

The invention has been described herein in its broad features only, and it should be understood that it is not restricted to the particular arrangement, proportions and sizes of parts, and that it is susceptible of modifications and changes within the limit of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A monobeam transportation system comprising, an elongated beam having an upper running surface and side running surfaces, a vehicle having a body; a bogie structure, means attaching said bogie structure to said body, said bogie structure having lateral extensions projecting 0 downwardly on opposite sides of said beam, at least one load carrying wheel journalled on said bogie structure for rotation about an axis substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said beam and adapted to travel along said upper surface of said beam; wheel supporting assemblies freely pivotally mounted on said extensions about axes substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of said beam, wheels journalled on said wheel supporting assemblies, and adapted to travel in contact with said side surfaces of said beam; and a transition portion on said beam having outwardly concave, smoothly curved side surfaces of gradually changing inclination and merging at one end into said beam side surfaces and at the other end with a substantially horizontal running surface to automatically pivot said wheel supporting assemblies and said wheels from a position engaging said side surfaces of said beam to a position for travel on a substantially horizontal running surface and vice versa.

2. A monobeam transportation system comprising, an elongated beam having an upper running surface and side running surfaces, a vehicle having a body; a bogie structure, means attaching said bogie structure to said body, said bogie structure having lateral extensions projecting downwardly on opposite sides of said beam, at least one load carrying wheel journalled on said bogie structure for rotation about an axis substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of said beam and adapted to travel along said upper surface of said beam; wheel supporting as-' semblies freely pivotally mounted on said extensions about axes substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of said beam, wheels journalled on said wheel supporting assemblies, and adapted to travel in contact with said side surfaces of said beam; and means on said beam engaging said Wheels to pivot said Wheel supporting assemblies and said wheels from a position engaging said side surfaces of said beam to a position for travel on a substantially horizontal running surface and vice versa.

3. In a monobeam transportation system having an elongated beam provided with top and side running surfaces disposed above ground level: a vehicle adapted to run along said beam, at least one load carrying wheel; means on said vehicle journalling said load carrying wheel for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of said beam whereby said load carrying wheel is adapted to ride along said top running surface; lateral wheels journalled on an axle, a pivot shaft mounted in said vehicle and extending substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of said beam, support means spring-suspending said lateral wheels from said pivot shaft for rotation about axes normal to the axis of said pivot shaft and at opposite sides thereof whereby said lateral wheels are movable between a first position in which they engage said side running surfaces and a second position in which they engage horizontal running surfaces disposed at ground level and are normally restrained against movement about said pivot shaft by contact with the surfaces along which they are running, and means on said beam engaging said lateral wheels to pivot said support means and said wheels between said first and second positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 395,073 Paige Dec. 25, 1888 456,103 Turner et a1 July 14, 1891 (Other references on following page) 5 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS 958,160 Neville May 17, 1910 1,015,140 Cordero Ian. 16, 1912 494,081 Pruyn Mar. 21, 1893 1,043,793 Barnes Nov. 12, 1912 609,781 Capewell Aug. 30, 1898 1,079,373 Spirewfki Nov. 25, 1913 667,966 Brown Feb. 12, 1901 5 1,454,804 Wright May 8, 1923 723,024 Rees Mar. 17, 1903 1,926,695 Hutton Sept. 12, 1933 918,661 Davis Apr. 20, 1909 2,718,195 Boak et a1. Sept. 20, 1955