Transportation installation

Claim 2

Transportation installation, particularly for passengers, characterized in that it comprises passive vehicles, a conveyor of known type supported above the ground so as to be substantially parallel thereto and extending throughout the length of a course through which the vehicles are to be carried, running tracks, each of which tracks connects an incoming switching or shunting zone and an outgoing switching or shunting zone, placed below the conveyor and passing through one of the various stations of the installation that is situated at a distance from the said conveyor, each of the passive vehicles being equipped on its bottom with at least one vertical wheel and having mounted on its top a shoe by means of which it can be suspended from the conveyor, and means for selectively moving the vehicle, when it is passing through a switching or shunting zone, between one position in which its shoe rests on top of and suspends the vehicle from the conveyor and another position in which the entire shoe is spaced from the conveyor and the vehicle is supported on the track by its at least one wheel, the conveyor and the track being spaced apart by one uniform distince throughout the region of track in which the switching function takes place.

Claim 3

Installation according to one of claim 1 characterized in that the at least one wheel train of each vehicle is equipped with brakes, in particular for decelerating the vehicle just beyond the incoming switching or shunting zone of each secondary or side track, and that means are provided, just before the outgoing shunting zone of each side track to accelerate the vehicle up to the speed of the conveyor.

Claim 4

Installation according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one of the running tracks includes an arrival conveyor belt moving at a speed at the most equal to a walking pace and extending from the incoming switching or shunting zone through the corresponding station.

Claim 5

Installation according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one of the running tracks comprises a departure conveyor belt moving at the speed of the conveyor and extending from the outlet of the corresponding station to the ouTgoing switching or shunting zone.

Claim 6

Installation according to claim 4, characterized in that at least one of the running tracks comprises, between the arrival and departure conveyor belts, a waiting zone constitued by another conveyor belt, and that means are provided for shifting a vehicle from the waiting zone to the departure conveyor belt each time a sufficient interval has been determined between two vehicles suspended from the conveyor for insertion therebetween a vehicle from said at least one of the running tracks.

Claim 7

Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for selectively moving the vehicle comprise means for selectively varying the vertical distance between the under parts of the shoe and of the at least one wheel of the vehicle, while the vehicle is passing through the shunting zone, between a distance larger and a distance smaller than the vertical distance between the upper face of the conveyor and the running track.

Claim 8

Installation according to claim 6, characterized in that the shoe and the at least one wheel of each vehicle are suspended from the respective top and bottom parts of the vehicle by two sets of bellows with controllable communication and containing a total volume of fluid smaller than the sum of their maximum volumes, and that means are provided for temporarily opening the communication between the two sets of orifices while the vehicle is in a shunting zone, whereby the weight of the vehicle causes the partial emptying of the fuller set of bellows into the emptier set of bellows and a consequent change of the position of the vehicle between its said one and another positions.

Claim 9

Installation according to claim 1 characterized in that at least one of the running tracks forms a closed loop which passes through the corresponding station and passes below the conveyor in a single zone, serving both as incoming and outgoing switching or shunting zone.

Claim 10

Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that vertical guide surfaces are located on each side of the running track and in that each vehicle has a longitudinal median plane and at least two horizontal guide wheels mounted on either side of the said median plane and positioned for running on the vertical guide surfaces, the vehicle having a transverse axle which extends across the longitudinal median plane and on which said at least one vertical wheel is mounted.

Claim 11

Transportation installation according to claim 9, characterized in that the at least one vertical wheel is slidably mounted on the transverse axle, which axle is suspended at its two ends from the chassis of the vehicle by means of elastic parts, and there being provided means for biasing the vertical wheel toward a position in which it lies in the median plane.

Claim 12

Transportation installation according to claim 10, characterized in that the elastic parts suspending the transverse axle are constituted by two mutually communicating bellows filled with a fluid under pressure, and in that each bellows is provided with means resiliently urging it toward a compressed condition.

Claim 13

A transportation installation comprising: a plurality of cars; means for conveying the cars including an overhead main conveyor; means for switching the cars from the main conveyor; a loading and unloading loop having an upwardly facing support surface and positioned for receiving cars switched from the main conveyor by the switching means and for feeding cars onto the main conveyor, the loop including a loading and unloading station, means for decelerating a car received from the main conveyor and carrying the car to the station, and means for accelerating a car to substantially the speed of the main conveyor while carrying the car from the station to the main conveyor, each of said cars having overhead means for engaging said main conveyor to cause said car to be suspended therefrom and carried thereby, and means for supporting said car during its movement in said loading and unloading loop and including at least one vertiCal wheel, the overhead means having an engaging means movable vertically relative to said car between a lower, operative position in which said support means is engaged with said main conveyor and an upper, inoperative position wherein said engaging means is disenagageable from said main conveyor and wherein said at least one vertical wheel is movable vertically relative to said car between an upper, inoperative position and a lower, operative position in which said wheel is engageable with said upwardly facing support surface of said loop.

Claim 14

A transportation installation comprising: a plurality of cars; means for conveying the cars including an overhead main conveyor; means for switching the cars from the main conveyor; a loading and unloading loop having an upwardly facing support surface and positioned for receiving cars switched from the main conveyor by the switching means and for feeding cars onto the main conveyor, the loop including a loading and unloading station, means for decelerating a car received from the main conveyor and carrying the car to the station, and means for accelerating a car to substantially the speed of the main conveyor while carrying the car from the station to the main conveyor, each of said cars having overhead means for engaging said main conveyor to cause said car to be suspended therefrom and carried thereby, and means for supporting said car during its movement in said loading and unloading loop and including at least one vertiCal wheel, the overhead means having an engaging means movable vertically relative to said car between a lower, operative position in which said support means is engaged with said main conveyor and an upper, inoperative position wherein said engaging means is disenagageable from said main conveyor and wherein said at least one vertical wheel is movable vertically relative to said car between an upper, inoperative position and a lower, operative position in which said wheel is engageable with said upwardly facing support surface of said loop.

Claim 15

The installation of claim 12, wherein each car has fluid-operated means for moving the at least one vertical wheel from its inoperative to its operative position when the engaging means is moved from its operative to its inoperative position and for moving the engaging means from its inoperative to its operative position when the at least one vertical wheel is moved from its operative to its inoperative position, the fluid-operated means being operably associated with the engaging means and the at least one vertical wheel, and there being provided control means for controlling the functioning of the fluid-operated means.

Claim 16

The installation of claim 13, and brake means for braking rotation of said wheel means and operable by said hydraulic means for gradually releasing the brake means to permit free rotation of the wheel means when said support means is released for movement from its operative to its inoperative position and for gradually and increasingly releasing said wheel means against rotation when said wheel means is released for movement from its operative to its inoperative position.

Claim 17

A car for a transportation installation having a conveyor means including an overhead main conveyor and a loading and unloading loop operatively associated with said main conveyor and providing an upwardly facing support, said car having a chassis and including: an overhead means mounted on and extending upwardly from said chassis for engaging the main conveyor of the transportation installation to cause said car to be suspended therefrom and carried thereby, and at least one wheel supporting said car during its movement over said loading and unloading loop, said overhead means including a support means movable vertically relative to said car between a lower, operative position in which said support means is engageable with the main conveyor of the transportation installation and an upper, inoperative position wherein said support means is disengageable from the main conveyor, and wherein said at least one vertical wheel is movable vertically relative to said car between an upper, inoperative position and a lower, operative position in which said wheel is engageable with said upwardly facing support of said loop.

Claim 18

A car for a transportation installation having a conveyor means including an overhead main conveyor and a loading and unloading loop operatively associated with said main conveyor and providing an upwardly facing support, said car having a chassis and including: an overhead means mounted on and extending upwardly from said chassis for engaging the main conveyor of the transportation installation to cause said car to be suspended therefrom and carried thereby, and at least one wheel supporting said car during its movement over said loading and unloading loop, said overhead means including a support means movable vertically relative to said car between a lower, operative position in which said support means is engageable with the main conveyor of the transportation installation and an upper, inoperative position wherein said support means is disengageable from the main conveyor, and wherein said at least one vertical wheel is movable vertically relative to said car between an upper, inoperative position and a lower, operative position in which said wheel is engageable with said upwardly facing support of said loop.

Claim 19

The car of claim 15, and fluid-powered means operatively associated with said support means and said at least one vertical wheel and operable by the weight of the car, and control means for said fluid-powered means for causing the fluid-powered means, when said support means is moved from its operative to its inoperative position, to move said at least one vertical wheel from its inoperative to its operative position and to cause said fluid-powered means to move said support means from its inoperative to its operative position when said at least one vertical wheel is moved from its operative to its inoperative position.