System for transporting vehicles on rails by gravity

Transport system, comprising

• a transport track formed by at least one running rail,
• several vehicles to be transported, and
• a rolling device connected to each vehicle and arranged on the said at least one running rail so as to be able to roll thereon, the vehicle provided with the rolling device having a rolling resistance on the said at least one rail,
• the said transport track having several descending track sections, each descending track section having a slope that is sufficient to overcome said rolling resistance of each vehicle, each vehicle thus rolling on the said at least one descending track section by simple gravity,
• wherein the transport track has a starting point and an arrival point, said starting point having an elevation equal to or higher than the starting point,
• wherein said starting point and arrival point are different, so that the transport track does not form a closed loop,
• wherein between said descending track sections there is in each case arranged a section of ascending track on which each vehicle provided with the rolling device is driven by a driving device,
• wherein the slope of each descending track section is insufficient to produce a continuous acceleration of said vehicles on the said at least one running rail , each vehicle having a substantially constant speed, and
• wherein the transport track has a route along which no vehicle at any point is raised higher than the elevation that the vehicle would have at this point on a transport track having a single descending track section between the starting point and the arrival point, provided with the same slope as said several descending track sections,
• said transport system further comprising means for balancing the speed of two successive vehicles on said descending track sections, so as to maintain a distance between said two successive vehicles, said means for balancing the speed of two successive vehicles on said descending track sections comprising at least one endless cable returned freely in a loop by pulleys along the transport track and clamps arranged on each vehicle to grip the cable and drive the vehicle during transport.