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US 4,848,241 AGranted
Aerial tramway system and method having parallel haul ropes
AssigneesZygmunt Alexander Kunczynski, Alexander Jan Kunczynski
InventorJan K. Kunczynski
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AssigneesZygmunt Alexander Kunczynski, Alexander Jan Kunczynski
InventorJan K. Kunczynski
Estimating the term…
An aerial tramway system and method are disclosed in which pairs of haul ropes are mounted to vertically oriented bull wheels. The drive bull wheels are preferably mounted to a common drive shaft to help synchronize haul rope advancement. An adjustment assembly is provided on one of the pair of drive bull wheels to enable dynamic adjustment of the effective radius of the bull wheel without changing the bull wheel rotation rate. Adjustment is based upon sensor feedback to previsely synchronize the haul rope advancement. The aerial tramway system further includes a first pair of endless loop haul ropes operating in one direction and a second pair of endless loop haul ropes operating in an opposite direction. The passenger carrier units are demountably attached to the haul ropes and transferred along transfer paths between stations at the end of the haul ropes so as to provide a system in which the passenger carrier units can be continuously cycled around the loop formed by the two pairs of haul ropes. An adjustable bull wheel assembly and method of employing the same to maintain haul rope synchronism are also disclosed.
In an aerial tramway haul rope drive assembly including at least one bull wheel mounted for rotation and having a circular peripheral drive surface, and a haul rope mounted on and extending around a portion of said drive surface, said haul rope extending from said bull wheel to haul rope support means supporting said haul rope for movement between said bull wheel and said support means, the improvement comprising:
In a bull wheel assembly for an aerial tramway, said bull wheel assembly including two side-by-side bull wheels each having a wheel body with central hub means and a substantially circular peripheral drive surface formed to support and frictionally drive a haul rope at a radius from said hub, the improvement comprising:
In an aerial tramway system having a first pair of endless-loop haul ropes extending over a first course, carrier means coupled between said first pair of haul ropes for transport thereby, a first pair of drive bull wheels, and a first pair of idler bull wheels, said first pair of haul ropes mounted to said first bull wheels and distended therebetween;
A method of synchronizing the relative rates of advancement of a pair of haul ropes driven by a pair of bull wheels comprising the steps of:
A method of maintaining synchronism between the rate of advancement of a pair of haul ropes being driven by a pair of bull wheels comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.