US2976818A

US2976818A - Monorail truck and hanging car

Info

Publication number: US2976818A
Application number: US769139A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sidney H Bingham
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1958-10-23
Filing date: 1958-10-23
Publication date: 1961-03-28
Anticipated expiration: 1978-03-28

Description

March 28, 1961 Filed Oct. 25, 1958 S. H. BINGHAM MONORAIL TRUCK AND HANGING CAR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

S/DA Ey f1 Ewe/m4 BY %LL DOAL 4 Tram/Er;

March 28, 1961 s. H. BINGHAM 2,976,818

MONORAIL TRUCK AND HANGING CAR Filed Oct. 23, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 72 y 54 40 //0 (5-4 4 lfl /0fi v 1 ENTOR,

BY A d-gaizg nited States This invention relates to improvements in monorail suspended vehicle systems.

The prime object of this invention is to provide a single track suspension type of monorail truck of such form that the vehicle suspended therefrom will be less subject to pendular motion than prior structures of this kind.

A more detailed object of the invention is to provide a monorail vehicle in which the hanging point or rolling axis thereof is substantially below the supporting rail.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a combination in a system of this kind in which the pendular lever arm be displaced between the center of gravity of the hung coach and the swinging point is drastically reduced, and likewise the pendular motion natural frequency, the pendular motion energy and the lateral coach displacement for a given swaying angle is substantially reduced.

Other and more detailed objects of the invention will be apparent from the embodiment thereof selected for illustrative purposes.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a truck and car combination illustrating the principles of this invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the structure of Fig. 1 with the car omitted;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the upper portion of the truck;

Figure 4 is a similar view of the lower portion of the truck;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; v

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Figure 7 is an enlarged elevational view of the details of attachment of the car to the truck with some parts broken away and some parts in cross-section.

In the monorail suspended train system as proposed by early workers in the art, steel wheels with guiding flanges were used for guiding as well as supporting purposes. In that system the coaches hang freely on a single row of supporting and guiding wheels. Thus, the center of lateral pendular motion, which can also be defined as the rolling axis, is located on the top of the rail.

With the advent of the use of pneumatic-tired wheels, extra guiding wheels, generally of vertical axis, became desirable. This led to the' concept of supporting and guiding carriages or bogies, which are unable to bank with respect to the rail supporting structure, and on which the coaches were therefore hung by hinged arms in order to permit pendular motion of the coach.

However, in some proposed systems the hanging point of the coach on the carriage frame has been located somewhat above the top of the supporting rail. This produces pendular conditions quite similar to the previous steelwheeled monorails. The prime object of the design shown herein is to provide a structure for locating the hanging point, or rolling axis, substantially below the supporting rail level for the reasons pointed out above.

atent This concept is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. There is shown diagrammatically at 10 a suitable form of arched supporting column at the end of which is the monorail 12. A generally rectangular, open sided carriage or bogie is indicated by the reference numeral 14 and includes in plan, as shown in Fig. 2, a suitably shaped chassis 16 on which are mounted the various components of the truck. The chassis includes a forwardly extending arm 18 and a rearwardly extending arm 20' which are substantially parallel to each other and to the rail 12 and lie in a plane just above the top of the rail. Rotatably mounted on these arms in suitable large bearings are horizontal shafts carrying the main rubber-tired supporting

wheels

22 and 24. The shaft of each of these wheels is connected through suitable power transmission gearingillustrated

generallyat

26 and 28, to the

driving motors

30 and 32 respectively. The full details of this construction have not been provided in order to keep the drawings simple, but those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a wide range of power transmitting systems and power sources are available. The point to be made is that the rubber-tired wheel 22 is driven by the motor 30 and the rubber-tired wheel 24 is driven by the motor 32.

Extending forwardly and rearwardly on opposite sides of the carriage frame with respect to the corresponding arms 18 and 2d are the short supporting

arms

34 and 38 for the

guide wheels

36 and 40 which likewise, in practice, as illustrated will be rubber tired. To provide further lateral guiding for the truck the

arms

18 and 20 are respectively provided with brackets 46 and the corresponding bracket hidden in Fig. 2, on which are journaled the additional rubber-tired guiding

wheels

48 and 50. It is clear that these guiding wheels are journaled on vertical axes with respect to the trail and are all positioned in a plane so as to engage the sides of the rail 12 near its top.

As is clear from several figures, the main frame of the carriage is provided with a vertical tubular support 52 extending downwardly parallel to the outer side of the rail 12, i.e., the side of the rail opposite the side to which columns 10 are attached, see Fig. 1, as the support for a lower frame member 54 for the carriage which lies under the rail, see Fig. 6.

The lower carriage or frame member 54 is shown in general outline in plan in Fig. 5 and is provided with two pairs of lateral extensions lying on opposite sides of the center of the rail, as at 56, 58, 60 and 62. Pivotally mounted at 78 and are two pairs of

arms

64 and 66 and 68 and 70, whose outer ends overlie the ends of the

extensions

56, 58, 60 and 62.' The ends of these extensions and said arms are shaped to provide sockets in which any suitable form of resilient cushioning means may be mounted to be interposed therebetween, as is clear from Fig. 1. These can either be steel, rubber or the like. These resilient cushioning means are illustrated at 72, 74, 76 and 77. To supplement the resilient cushioning means it is desirable to provide pneumatic shock absorbers which are diagrammatically illustrated at 82, 84, 86 and 88. These shock absorbers are pivotally connected at their respective ends to brackets formed on the arms and extensions, as clearly illustrated in several of the figures.

The lower carriage member 54 is also provided with lateral arms 9!), 94, 98 and 102 on which are journaled, on vertical axes, rubber-

tired wheels

92, 96, 101 and 104, all of which wheels lie substantially in the same plane so as to engage the side faces of the rail 12 near its lower side, as is clear from Fig. 1.

At this point to dispose of the supporting and guiding wheel arrangements, reference is made to the rubber-

tired wheels

42 and 44 which are journaled at the extreme ends of the

arms

18 and 20, see Fig. 2, so as to be aligned with the main supporting

wheels

22 and 24 and with the longitudinal axes of the top of the rail12. As shown in Fig. 3, the

wheels

42 and 44 are normally out of contact with the top of the rail when the pairs of

wheels

22 and 24 are normally inflated. Should they become deflated, the

smaller wheels

42 and 44 move into contact with the top of the rail and temporarily replace the load carrying function of the main supporting wheels.

Supported from the

arms

64, 66, 68 and 70 are four

suspension rods

106 and 108, arranged in pairs on each side of the rail and bearing on the tops of these arms through any suitable form of resilient pads P such as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The

rods

106 and 108 pass freely through the arms with their respective supporting arms so as to allow freedom of movement. The

rods

106 and 108 are fixedly connected at their lower ends to

suitable fixtures

107 and 109 which can be bolted or otherwise secured at appropriate points on the car or vehicle body 16, asillustrated in Figs. 1 and 7. These rods provide four points of connection to the car. Centrally of these rods is secured a fixture 112 which would normally be on the roof of the vehicle, which extends upwardly and has mounted on its upper end, as shown in Fig. 6 for free rotation a rubber-tired wheel 114 which fits snugly in the cavity 110 of the lower carriage part 54. The operation of the invention may best be understood by considering the action of the truck during a'banking movement of the vehicle, as during a turn, for example. Assuming that the vehicle 16 swings in a clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 1, it will be apparent that the load on rods 106 is increased while the load on rods 108 is decreased. Since each of the rods is supported by one of the

arms

64, 66,

68 and 70 and the arms are pivoted at 75 and 80, the

arms 68 and '70 associated with rods 1.08 move upwardly about their respective pivot points, while the

arms

64 and 66 associated with rods 106 move downwardly about their respectivepivot points. The resilient cushioning means 72, 74, 76 and 77 supporting the free ends of the arms permit these movements of the arms even though the

rods

106, 108 are continually in tension. The wheel 114 and the cavity 110 of the lower carriage part combine to form a universal type of pivot point to stabilize and guide the movements of the vehicle during the aforementioned banking action.

Upon consideration it will be seen that the point of guided pivoting for the car or vehicle body is at the point of engagement of the wheel 1.14 and the frame member 54. This is a gimbals pivot, or as referred to at the beginning, the point of rolling axis for the car, and as will be apparent is below the rail 12 instead above it as in previous construction. Geometrically this pivot point is very much closer to the center of gravity of the car so that even with the same banking angle as compared to ,the prior arrangements the actual motion of the car laterally of the rail as viewed in Fig. 1 is very much smaller.

The pendular lever arm for the car, that is the distance between its swinging point or rolling axis and the center of gravity is very much shorter than in the prior art arrangements. This results in a reduced pendular motion, natural frequency, pendular motion energy and lateral coach displacement for .a given swaying angle, a highly important improvement in this art.

From the above description it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the subject matter of this invention is capable of embodiment in other specifically difierent physical forms, and I prefer, therefore, to have this invention inhibited as to scope by the appended claims, rather than have it limited to the particular embodiment selected for illustrative and descriptive purposes.

What is claimed is:

1. A monorail car and truck assembly comprising a generally rectangular open sided carriage lying in a vertical plane, main supporting wheels journaled on said carriage at its upper end, a vehicle body, means for suspending said body from and below said carriage, and means forming a universal pivoting guide for said body with respect to said carriage at the lower end of said carriage.

2. In the combination of claim 1, said supporting wheels being positioned to ride along the top of a monorail and in further combination with the structure 01 claim 1 at least one pair of guide wheels journaled on said carriage in a position to engage the sides of the monorail.

3. In the combination of claim 1, a plurality of pairs of guide wheels journaled on said carriage and adapted to engage the sides of the rail.

4. In the combination of claim 1, motor devices for driving said supporting wheels.

5. In the combination of claim 1, said support wheels lying in the same vertical plane and means for independently driving said wheels.

6. In the combination of claim 1, a pair of auxiliary supporting wheels mounted at the upper end of said carriage so as to lie above the rail and normally out of contact therewith, said supporting wheels being rubber tired and said auxiliary wheels engaging the rail should said tire become deflated.

7. In the combination of claim 1, a plurality of supporting arms pivotally mounted at the lower end of said carriage, and shock absorbing members upon which said arms rest, said suspending means bearing on said arms.

8. In the combination of claim 1, a plurality of Supporting arms pivotally mounted atthe lower end of said carriage, and shock absorbing members upon which said arms rest, said suspending means bearing on said arms and having freedom of movement in horizontal planes.

9. In the combination of claim 1, the lower end of said carriage having a cylindrical contact surface and said pivoting means engaging said surface.

10. In the combination of claim 1, the lower end 01' said carriage having a cylindrical contact surface and said pivoting means including a wheel journaled on said body and engaging said surface.

11. In the combination of claim 1, said suspending means comprising a plurality of rods bearing on said carriage and connected to said car body.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 936,825 Smith Oct. 12, 1909 1,305,415 Stetfens June 3, 1919 1,740,416 Combs Dec. 17, 1929 1,944,100 Medor Jan. 16, 1934 2,274,016 Verplanck Feb. 24, 1942 2,825,291 Chadenson Mar. 4, 1.953 2,853,956 Wennergren et a1. Sept. 30, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,139,330 France Feb. 11, 1957