GB894837A - Track for electrically powered miniature vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

894,837. Miniature-vehicle tracks. WRENN, G. R., and WRENN, C. R. Sept. 17, 1959 [July 28, 1959], No. 25865/59. Classes 132(2) and 132(3) A miniature-vehicle diverting device is such that it will divert an electrically powered vehicle by engaging a guide member or members on each vehicle with a member in a vehicle guiding slot to lift the guide member or members from the slot and to divert the vehicle from one lane of a track so that it will run under its own momentum to an adjacent lane. Each lane has a guide slot, e.g. 25, Fig. 1, engageable by one or more downwardly projecting guide members from a vehicle and also has electrically conductive strips 28 to 31 inserted in it engageable by current collectors. Each vehicle has a pair of current collectors, the collectors of different vehicles on the same lane engaging different pairs of conductors so that, by controlling the current supply to the strips, the speed of the different vehicles can be independently controlled. Figs. 3 and 4 show an insert frictionally fitted in a guide slot, the insert comprising an upwardly sloping face 47 and a laterally slanting face 49. As a vehicle travels along the lane its guide member is raised out of the lane slot by the face 47 and is deflected sideways by the face 49. Thus the vehicle is deflected from its lane to an adjacent lane where its guide member drops into a guide slot and its collectors make contact with the conductors. Fig. 6 shows an alternative embodiment where a similarly shaped deflector is pivoted at 51 and is operated through a cranked spindle 55 by a lever, Bowden cable or solenoid. Vehicles may be raced by controlling the diverting devices and current to the strips, the vehicles overtaking each other by changing from one track to another and back again. According to the Provisional Specification, instead of a guide slot, a raised guide rail having conductor strips incorporated in it or a pair of guide grooves for miniature-car wheels may be used. The Provisional Specification also describes overhead wires for miniature trolley buses or trams and points similar to those used in model railway tracks. Specification 844,436 is referred to,