GB1248808A - Improvements in or relating to conveyor systems - Google Patents

Abstract

1,248,808. Elevated railways; air cushion vehicles. M. BARTHALON. 6 March, 1969 [8 March, 1968], No. 11879/69. Headings B7K and B7L. In a transport system, transport containers or vehicles are picked up by a carrier, which is supported in an elevated track so as to glide substantially frictionlessly therealong. The carrier is supported by magnetic levitation or air pressure. In an example of the latter, Fig. 1, electric motors 13 drive fans 12 to provide suction support for carrier 1, in track 2, and to attract container 20 to the carrier. The container is further secured by electromagnetically operated hooks 25. At unloading stations, collectors 29 contact conductors 30, to release hooks 25 and open electromagnetic valve 23, thus breaking the vacuum and releasing the container 20. The suction above the carrier prevents it from rubbing against the walls of the track, while it is propelled therealong by wheels 4, driven by electric motors. Adjacent carriers may be linked together. An automatic pick-up arrangement (Fig. 4, not shown) is described. For transferring the container from one track 2 to another, a ground track (55, Fig. 6, not shown) is provided. Fans (53) support a carrier (50) on an air cushion enclosed in the track (55). The transfer between tracks 2 and (55) may be effected automatically according to the setting of a switch (Fig. 7, not shown). In a modification, a carrier (95, Fig. 10, not shown), similar to the carrier 1, is propelled by a linear induction motor (96) while supporting an electrically driven car (102). Car 102a is propelled up ramp 105, in response to photocell 109, at a remotely controlled speed and united with carrier 95a. The passenger compartment of an aircraft may be arranged to travel along a track 2. Alternatively, fans 201, for evacuating the space above the carriers 1, are mounted on the track. The spaces between the carriers are sealed by flexible connectors 205 and the assembly is propelled by linear induction motors (212, 213). The flanges of the track underlying the carrier can, in an alternative form, support an air cushion for the carrier. The air cushion may either be generated in the track (Fig. 19, not shown) or in the carrier (Fig. 20, not shown). In a form, in which the carrier 80 is supported and propelled by electromagnetic induction in a tunnel 70, an electromagnet 84 secures container 89 and is energized by collectors 88 and conductors 87. The conductors 87 are interrupted at unloading stations.