WO2018142169A1

WO2018142169A1 - A procedure for a gravitational downtown cableway

Info

Publication number: WO2018142169A1
Application number: PCT/HU2017/000038
Authority: WO
Inventors: Miklós Tamás KÁNTOR; Gergely Imre KÁNTOR
Original assignee: Kantor Miklos Tamas; Kantor Gergely Imre
Priority date: 2017-02-01
Filing date: 2017-06-07
Publication date: 2018-08-09
Also published as: HUP1700045A2

Abstract

A procedure for a gravitational downtown cableway, which is a wire cableway advantageously made of stainless free steel. This cableway has to be tensioned between two points of different altitudes. On the cableway system installed and sloping in one direction at a defined angle - with the aid of an appropriate elementary device, people may slide from one point to the other end point. It is a special characteristic of the gravitational city cableway that it will be installed definitely in downtowns, provided the geographical and building features if the site are appropriate and/or with exploiting the existing buildings and other natural topographical formations.

Description

A procedure for a gravitational downtown cableway

The subject of the patent is a procedure for a gravitational downtown cableway advantageously made from stainless steel. The cableway is tensioned between two points of different altitudes. On the installed cableway system sloping in one of the directions at a determined angle - people may slide from one point to the endpoint with the aid of an appropriate elementary device. It is a specialty of the gravitational city cableway that it is definitely installed in downtowns, provided there are appropriate geographical features available, with exploiting the existing buildings and the other natural topographic formations.

The safety of the first cableways appearing in the 19^th century was still at an embryonic level, andthey had not been duplicated in high numbers. In a rudimental form a simple rope was led through the pulleys. These systems in most of the cases arched over clefts, they could be moved manually or in the case of significant level differences the systems were operated with counterweights. As the time went by, they introduced a number of modernising steps in the cableways. In connection with the cableways one of these innovative steps was applied for example in the case of a carriage that was equipped with a sledge towing unit pulled on the ground by a system moved from a single point. Later on, the rope was replaced by wire and the counterweight applying solution was replaced by power driven machines. They applied for the first time cableways - that had been used until then only for towing freight - as passenger liftsin a Swiss cityin 1908. Subsequently they also built departure and arrival l stations. The spreading of cableways throughout the continent took place with a similar speed as their development. In our days, the passenger transporting cableways built in a similar manner primarily serve entertainment and tourist purposes. There are numerous variants of cableways. For their simpler version only a cable system has to be deployed and an appropriate carriage has to be used.Similar systems are also used in the adventure parks. These are mostly artificially built timber scaffolding based structures, which exploit the existing vegetation and the trees of the site. In the case of the more elegant variants widely spread in our days, there is a carriage cabinet fixed to the cableway for transporting passengers. This arrangement is mostly used nowadays in the case of ski-lifts and tourist spectacles. Instead of carriage cabinets naturally there are numerous variants of elements that may be fixed to the cableway, from among which probably the most widely known is the one that is represented by the chair-lift system cableways, where the chairs are fixed to the cableways with the aid of a main axle.

The initial cableway of simple layout outlined in general above is realised bythe technical description of registration number 88367 titled „SUSPENDED CABLEWAY". The deployed system consists of a freight carrying cable system and a towing cable system. This mixed system not only saves significant amount of material, but it also allows the direct connection of the single rope track sections to the main network. There are a number of special joining methods used for connecting the patented cableways and their connected systems. One of these methods is for example the invention of registration number E009646 titled„LIF SUSPENSION LAYOUT". This technical solution may be primarily connected to lifts without machines houses, where they use a lifting machine attached to the lift. The cableways of today are equipped with a double rope system in order to increase their safety level, and invention of registration number CA2843821 titled„DOUBLE CABLE ZIPLINE TROLLEY SYSTEM" covers a sliding carriage that is equipped with a unique technical layout made for this purpose. Therefore, this invention is a running-carriage that may be placed on a double cabled track, which provides a far higher safety and running stability than the simple systems that are run on a single cable. A sliding- carriage is covered also by invention of registration number W02016191884 titled „ZIPLINE TROLLEY RELEASE AND SPEED LIMITER". The description outlines a special carriage layout, which is able to brake as well. Therefore the speed may be fully influenced with its aid. Naturally, if we create a system that operates at such heights and with such freight, technical defects, forced stops and other emergency situations may also occur. In the case of any stops that are due to any defects, if the deployed cableway system carries passengers, it cannot be allowed for the passengers to remain in the transporting elements during repairs that may take a longer time. The device that is to prevent this problem is included in the description of registration number US367741 1 1 titled „EMERGENCY EVACUATION MEANS FOR SKI CHAIRLIFTS". With the aid of this solution it is possible to lower the passengers with the aid of a rope system and the sitting surface that is attached to it. The listed solutions are creative and each of them contributed to the perfection and modernisation of the cableways and their belonging service systems. However, as regards their use, so far no implementation was invented that is similar to our procedure and which would definitely find a market in view of the popularity of the adventure parks.

Therefore, with the aid of my procedure for which I wish to get a patent, it is possible to install cableways primarily in downtowns, at frequented tourist spectacles and other sites that have appropriate environmental or building features. The two endpoints of the track have to have an altitude difference. This is so, because gravitation is the main force that will move the system, due to the weight of its user. The advantage of my procedure is the fact that with its aid the cableway may be implemented especially in the downtown. For deploying this cableway a perfect site is for example the average height difference that exists between Buda and Pest.

The advantage of the procedure to be patented is that with its aid a completely new and unmatched adventure will be available to everybody, people may see the given city from a rare point of view. While sliding on the cableway they may see

the specific spectaclesfrom a point of view from which they could never see itbefore, being in a carriage that runs in a relatively high height secured by safety and special carriage fixing ropes, possibly while crossing over a river. It offers an unbelievable adventure for the guests, who may view the city from a bird's view. This experience is more like flyingthan sliding.

In some downtowns, due to their geographic layout or the advantageous placement of the skyscrapers this procedure may be perfectly implemented, and it would be accessible to far more people, since the system would be deployed in those areas of the country that are most densely populated and most frequented by the tourists.

Therefore, based on this procedure a special further developed variant of the well-known cableway systems may be implemented, to which people are already accustomed, which had been so far installed in adventure parks, which will be installed definitely in downtowns, in frequented tourist locations, even arching over rivers, which will therefore provide a special spectacle and an entertainment opportunity. Another advantage of this procedure that it may boost the tourist traffic of a given site and thus - functioning as an attraction - it will also increase the turnover of a series of other enterprises.

Claims

1. A procedure for a gravitational, downtown cableway, based on which a wire cableway will be installed between two points of different advantageous altitudes- running even above water - made of stainless steel, characterised by the fact that the cableway will be laid definitely in downtowns, at frequented sites, and the users my slide from one point to the other one with the aid of an appropriate device, through a cableway built this way, which descends towards one of its points.

2. A cableway that may be installed according to demand point 1 , characterised by the fact that it will be installed in downtowns, but by all means in the vicinity of frequently visited tourist spectacles, exploiting the appropriate geographical and/or building features of the site.