GB983418A - Improvements in electrical model roadways - Google Patents

Abstract

983,418. Toy vehicle roadways. GEBR FALLER G.m.b.H. Aug. 27, 1963 [May 24, 1963], No. 33849/63. Heading A6S. An electric model roadway having two independently electrically controlled lanes for two-way traffic has overtaking sections with switchpoints for transferring a vehicle from its own lane into the opposite lane and back again, in which, when the switch points are set for overtaking, switching means break the normal electrical connections to said opposite lane between the said switchpoints and connect thereto the electric circuit of the overtaking vehicle's own lane. Fig. 1 shows a two-way traffic plan in which each lane is provided with a pair of conductors, the adjacent one of each lane being from a common point 9, and the outer conductors taking a supply from rectified halves 10, 11 of an A.C. source. The traffic plan comprises sections connected together by known means, and at intermediate points are inserted sections with cross-over points whereby a vehicle may be moved over to the other track and back again when overtaking another vehicle travelling in the same direction. Figs. 2 and 3 show enlarged views of such sections, Fig. 2, in the non-operating condition and Fig. 3 showing the points switched for overtaking. It will be seen in Fig. 2 that breaks 27, 28 in the conductors 3, 4 of the opposite lane are short-circuited by connections 36, 37 during normal operation, but when the overtaking points are switched as in Fig. 3, the intermediate sections of the opposite lane conductors are switched to connect with the appropriate conductors of the other lane. In addition the switching may include a series resistor 41, which may also be variable, to reduce the current to a vehicle being overtaken so that it is slowed to allow the other vehicle more certainly to overtake.