1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a transport installation comprising a guide track and one or more cars adapted to move on the same track, a railroad type track, for example, being driven by a circulating cable near the track. The invention relates more specifically to improvements to mechanical systems provided under the car, both to facilitate insertion of the cable into the gripping means at the time the corresponding car is on the point of leaving a departure station and to ensure subsequently improved adhesion of the gripping means to the cable, especially when the car enters a grade and/or a curve.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a known transport installation using a car or cars able to accommodate a limited number of passengers (in the order of ten persons, for example) and designed to convey these passengers over average distances in the order of a few hundred meters. An installation of this kind described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,259. In this installation a cable is driven continously in a closed loop along the track and the car or cars are temporarily attached to it by appropriate gripping means to be driven from one point to another. These gripping means preferably consist in at least two braked wheels linked to an articulated mechanical system to come into contact with each other through their respective rolling surfaces, gripping the aforementioned cable between them. When the gripping means are coupled to the cable the braked wheels are driven by the cable, opposing a certain degree of resistance to this so that the speed of the car increases gradually until it stabilizes at the same value as the speed of the cable. With an arrangement of this kind significant deflection of the cable to either side of the gripping means may be observed in curves, which is likely to lead to fatigue failure of the cable due to bending stresses.
In one aspect, the invention provides a solution to this problem.