Miniature monorail system

A monorail vehicle for use with a flat, thin monorail of the undersupport type comprising

• a vehicle chassis;
• an electric contact assembly mounted on the chassis of the vehicle and extending downwardly along the monorail;
• a tractor assembly mounted on the chassis of the vehicle depending from the chassis for gripping the monorail;
• rolling means mounted on the chassis for supporting the vehicle in rolling contact on the monorail, said rolling means being elongated along the axis of rotation to provide a moving point of contact on the upper edge of the monorail on which the vehicle is mounted as the vehicle moves along a curved section of the monorail;
• electric motor means mounted on the chassis connected to the contact assembly;
• and
• drive means linking the motor means and the tractor assembly for supplying mechanical drive power to the tractor assembly.

A monorail comprising

• a length of elongated thin material, flexible about its lateral axis and rigid about its longitudinal axis;
• a recess extending longitudinally along each side of the length of the material;
• an electrically conductive strip slidably disposed in each recess, each recess including overlapping flanges for confining the conductive strips in said recesses;
• means for joining the free ends of the length of material to provide a closed, self-supporting, edge mounted monorail loop;
• and
• an endless slot in the underside of the monorail track extending longitudinally thereof.

A monorail system comprising

• a length of flat material defining a monorail, the material being relatively flexible about its lateral axis and relatively rigid about its longitudinal axis;
• a vehicle mounted on a longitudinal edge of the monorail;
• a pair of elongated rollers extending laterally of the vehicle and transversely of the longitudinal axis of the monorail, said rollers supporting the vehicle on the longitudinal edge of the monorail;
• motor means located within the vehicle;
• drive means mounted on the vehicle in frictional contact with the monorail;
• a source of electric power located within the vehicle connected to the motor means;
• and
• means for transmitting mechanical drive force from the motor means to the drive means.

A monorail track comprising

• a length of elongated thin material, flexible about its lateral axis and rigid about its longitudinal axis;
• a recess extending longitudinally along each side of the length of the material;
• a first passage extending longitudinally through the interior of the track, the passage being located generally midway between the upper and lower edges of the track and
• a second longitudinal passage extending through the track, said second passage being located interiorly of and immediately adjacent to the upper longitudinal edge of the track.