Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
This invention relates to a rail vehicle system.
According to the present invention there is provided a
rail vehicle system comprising a pair of spaced apart railway
rails, heads of the rails being engaged by a leading pair and a
trailing pair of flanged wheels of a rail vehicle, which flanged
wheels have an axis of rotation extendiny laterally with respect
to the direction of travel of the vehicle along the railway rails,
a beam located adjacent each rail, and at least a portion of the
beam being located firstly in a plane which passes through the
axes of rotation of the flanged wheels and secondly in such
close proximity to the wheels that centres of the latter engage
the beam portion at a curve in the railway rails for the purpose
of vehicle guidance around the curve.
Thus, in the system according to the present invention,
vehicle guidance does not rely solely on the reaction forces
conventionally transmitted at a curve through the wheel flanges
but in contrast, guidance is principally effected by wheel centre
to beam contact at curves in the rails.
The rail vehicle may take the form of a bogie or a bogie
mounted rail car. Basically, the bogie may comprise a frame and
the four flanged wheels. Furthermore, power means may be pro-
vided to adjust the position of the axes of rotation of the
flanged wheels with respect to the frame.
The rail vehicle may be provided with a trapping wheel
located at each side thereof intermediate the leading and trail-
ing wheels. At least a portion of each trapping wheel is located
outboard of the bogie to engage a trapping bar provided at one,
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or preferably both, sides of the conven-tional rails e.g. at bends
or depressions of a mine floor for instance, to ensure main-
tenance of contact of the rail wheels with the rails. It is
also preferred for each flanged wheel to be carried on an arm
pivotally attached at one point to the frame about a suspension
axis, and pivotally attached at another point to the power means
as described in greater detail in our British Patent No.
1,58~,951 (I~owarth). Furthermore, the vehicle may be provided
with at least one brake pad carried by -the frame and adapted to
engage/disengage a rail upon activation of the powèr mèans to
cause lowering/raising the frame to bring the one or more pads
into engagement/disengagement with the or each rail. Preferably,
a common power means extends between the arms of each pair of
leading and trailing wheels and conveniently one power means is
located at each side of the vehicle. Preferably, such power
means extends generally horizontally and conveniently is a piston
and cylinder unit, preferably hydraulically actuated, with the
rod of the piston pivotally attached to one arm and cylinder
of the unit pivotally attached to the other arm, the position of
the piston within the cylinder determining the degree of rotation
of the arms about their suspension axes and hence the suspended
position of the frame with respect to the railway rails. Thus
extension of the piston and cylinder unit can be arranged to
rotate the arms about the suspension axes so as to raise the
frame with respect to the rails with retraction of the piston
and cylinder lowering the frame.
In addition to providing a parking and/or emergency brake,
5~2(~9
the vehicle may also incorporate service brakes.
Also, in the above described rail vehicle system, the
vehicle has been displaceable by a locomotive. However, ano-ther
preferred feature is to make the vehicle a drive vehicle by
incorporating drive means within the vehicle -to propel the
latter along the rails. The drive means may take the form of a
conventional rotary electric motor or a hydraulic motor connected
to some or all the rail wheels of the vehicle, or a linear motor.
One or both the bogies of a rail car may be drive bogies.
Power for the motor may be by providing the rail vehicle, or one
rail vehicle of a train, with a diesel electric generating set,
the latter driving electric motors, hydraulic pumps etc., as
required.
The invention will now be further described by way of
examples, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is
a detailed sectional view through a rail vehicle system in
accordance with the present invention.
In the drawing, a bogie l, comprises a frame 2 and, at
each side of the bogie, leading and trailing wheels 3, each
wheel having a flange 4 and a frusto-conical rail engaging
periphery 5. A pair of flat bottom rails 6 lone only shows)
with a head 7 are mounted on sleepers 8 to provide a conventional
rail track. Each wheel 3 has an axis of rotation 9 extending
laterally with respect to the direction of travel of the bogie
along the rails 6, and each is mounted on a support arm pivotally
attached about a suspension axis to the frame 2, as described in
greater detail in our British Patent No. 1,584,951 (Howarth).
The support arms at each side of the bogie are pivotally connected
about axes to a common power means constituted by a hydraulic
piston and cylinder unit 13, operation of which displaces the
support arms about their suspension axes and hence displaces
the wheel rotation axes 9 with respect to the bogie 1. At each
side of the frame 2 and between -the leading and trailing wheels
3, is carried a brake pad 21 with a lining 22 of friction
material, the lining 22 being engageable with the rail head 7
to act as a track brake Eor parking or emergency purposes, upon
exhaustion of fluid from the track brake and suspension hydraulic
unit 13.
From the frame 2 of the bogie 1 is suspended on four
arms 25, a motor unit 26 of a linear motor, a reaction plate 27
being located between the rails 6 on the sleepers 8. Power for
the windings of the motor unit 26 is provided for instance, by
a diesel-electric generating set carried by a rail vehicle
(not shown) mounted on bogies 1, or one of the vehicles of a
train. Intermediate the leading and trailing wheels 3 at each
side of the bogie is a trapping wheel 28 rotatable about an
upright axis. One bogie 1 would be located towards each end
of a rail car in conventional manner, and the rail vehicle system
according to the invention is completed by the provision of
elements 29-32.
The periphery of each trapping wheel 28 is located
outboard of the bogie 1 and engages a channel section trapping
bar 29 supported from an arm 30 carried by sleepers 8A interposed
between sleepers 8. Trapping bar 29 has an upper flange 31
located along the axis of rotation 9 of the wheels 3 and adapted
to engage wheel caps 32 e.g. at curves in the rail 6, to assist
in guiding the bogie 1 around the curve. This system enables
tighter curves to be safely negotiated, e.g. as are often
encountered in mine rail systems than would be possible if one
were to rely solely on bogie guidance in the conventional
manner by the flanges 4.
