Apparatus for damping oscillations of magnetic elevated tracks and vehicles floatingly suspended thereon

Claim 1

In a transportation system including (a) a vehicle; (b) a longitudinally extending beam on which is located a longitudinally extending armature forming a track for supporting the vehicle, and (c) magnetic means for supporting the vehicle in a magnetic field in spaced relation to the track; a support on the vehicle which extends parallel to the longitudinally extending beam of the track, the longitudinally extending beam having a pair of spaced, vertically extending web plates supporting a horizontally extending chord plate upon which the horizontally oriented and longitudinally extending armature is located; the improvement characterized by apparatus for damping mechanical oscillations, which apparatus comprises in combination: a first oscillation suppression device, the device being a hollow longitudinally extending body having two end faces, two longitudinally extending side portions, a top portion and a bottom portion, the hollow body being filled with a damping medium; spring means connected between the hollow body and longitudinally extending support for suspending the body on the vehicle; a stop on the longitudinally extending support adjacent to one of the end faces of the hollow body; a buffer between said end face and the stop; means engaging the side portions of the hollow body to minimize lateral movement thereof while permitting longitudinal movement thereof with respect to said stop; means for selectively closing the other end face to leave the hollow body accessable for adjustments to the damping medium; second oscillation suppression devices, the second oscillation suppression devices being longitudinally extending, solid bodies; and spring means connecting the solid bodies to the chord plate at a location between the vertically extending web plates for free swinging movement with respect thereto; whereby mechanical oscillations which might occur in the system are damped.