US3858520A

US3858520A - Conveyor of the teleferic kind with carrying cable

Info

Publication number: US3858520A
Application number: US308451A
Authority: US
Inventors: Pierre Patin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-11-16
Filing date: 1972-11-21
Publication date: 1975-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-07
Also published as: DE2256320C3; AT331850B; DE2256320A1; ATA967172A; IT970217B; GB1401485A; FR2161169A5; NL7215405A; NO134363B; DE2256320B2; BE790482A; CA966367A; CH561616A5; NO134363C; ES408418A1; SU651682A3

Abstract

A suspended vehicle support system has a carrying cable fixed on pylons. The cable has hangers along its length carrying a track. The track is made up of two tubular guides disposed in the same vertical plane. G-shaped brackets are fixed on the guides and fastened to the hangers. The track between pylons forms with the cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girders resisting lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminating sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds.

Description

United States Patent Patin 1 1 Jan. 7, 1975 [54] CONVEYOR OF THE TELEFERIC KIND 692,137 1/1902 Harding 104/115 WITH CARRYING CABLE 2,923,254 2/1960 Barthelmess [04/118 3,252,428 5/1966 Steinkamp... 104/121 1 1 inventor: Pierre u 9 rue Nlcolas Houel, 3,712,237 1/1973 McElroy 104/130 75005 Paris, France 3,717,102 2/1973 Lott 104/130 22 F1 d: .21, 72 1 l 6 Nov 19 Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. PP 308,451 Assistant Examiner-D. W. Kccn Attorney, Agent, or FirmCameron, Kerkam, Sutton, [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Stowe & Stowe" Nov. 16, 1971 France 71.40934 ABSTRACT I [52] U.S. Cl 104/89, 104/91, 104/124, A suspended vehicle support system has acarrying 104/112, 104/115, 105/148 cable fixed on pylons. The cable has hangers along its [51] Int. Cl E0lb 25/22 length carrying a track. The track ismade up of two [58] Field 0f'Search...104/89, 91, 93, 96, 100, 101,- tubular guides disposed in the same vertical plane. G-

104/103, 104, 106, 110, 111, 112, 115, 118, shaped brackets are fixed on the guides and fastened 121, 123, 124, 125, 242, 243,245; 105/141, to the hangers. The track between pylons forms with 147, 148, 150 the cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girders resisting lateral movement of the sus- [56] References Cited pended vehicle and substantially eliminating sensitivity UNITED STATES PATENTS of the carrying cable to violent winds.

496,329 4/1893 Depoele 105/147 12 Claims, 18 Drawing Figures Patented Jan. 7, 1975 3,858,520

6 Sheets-Sheet l Patented Jan. 7, 1975 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 7, 1975 3,858,520

6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Jan. 7, 1975 3,858,520

6 Sheets-Sheet 4 fig-i CONVEYOR OF THE TELEFERIC KIND WITH CARRYING CABLE This invention relates to a vehicle support system of the rope-way kind.

A vehicle support system of the rope-way type has been proposed in which cabins are suspended from a carriage running along a carrying cable which is suspended between supports. A traction cable is provided to drive the cabins along the carrying cable. This arrangement however suffers from several disadvantages. Firstly as the cabins pass the supports, a rapid change of direction of the carrying cable is produced in the vertical plane. This causes the cabin to undergo a downward acceleration which provides pitching oscillations. Secondly the suspension of the cabins does not present any resistance to rolling oscillations owing to, for example a cross wind. The. wheels running along the carrying cable are mounted so that the cabin assembly is entirely free to turn around the cable. Furthermore the carrying cable itself is very sensitive to strong winds and the drive system does not function satisfactorily when more than two cabins are present.

According to the present invention there is provided a vehicle support system of the rope-way kind comprising a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at intervals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track for suspended vehicles, which track between successive pylons forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder, which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds.

Advantageously the travelling track forms a Vierendeel beam.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the travelling track comprises two guides disposed in the same vertical plane, at least along the aligned sections of the system, and G-shaped brackets respectively fixed at regular intervals on said guides by their ends and fastened to the hangers which are fixed at the same regular internals to the carrying cable. Further the length of the hangers varies according to their distance from successive pylons so that the guides remain substantially straight between sald pylons. This thus provides the track with a continuous longitudinal profile even adjacent the pylons, which eliminates the pitching oscillations of the cabin.

Further, according to the invention, the track may be provided with non-reversible or reversible points.

The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a length of track between two pylons;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a portion of the track shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section along the line IIIIII in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a bracket fixing bolt;

FIG. 5 is a section through a rail and fixing bracket;

FIG. 6 is a section through a rail and fixing bracket orthogonal to the section in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is of external view of a rail normal to a fixing bolt;

FIG. 8 is a vertical section through two adjacent rails having a common splint;

FIG. 14 is a lateral section through the points shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a set of points;

FIG. 16 is a diagrammatic view of a set of points in both the active and wait positions;

FIG. 17 is a control unit for the points shown in FIGS. 15 and 16; and

FIG. 18 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 3 of the second form of holding bracket.

In FIG. 1, a track for a cable car is shown supported between two pylons la and 1b.

Gripping sleeves

3a, 3b, 3c and 3d are fixed to a carrying cable 2 at various points along its length.

Suspension bars

4a, 4b and 4c are suspended from each of the

sleeves

3a, 3b, 3c and 3d and each suspension bar supports a holding bracket 5 which will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. '2. Each holding bracket 5 is G-shaped and supports an upper and lower

tubular rail

6, 7. The carrying cable 2 is fixed to arms 9a, 9b of pylons la and 1b by

flat grips

8a and 8b.

The attachment of the two

tubular rails

6 and 7 to the holding brackets 5, suspension bar 4 and the sleeve 3 can be seen more clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3. Two half sleeves 10a and 10b with respective flanges are gripped by bolts around the carrying cable 2. The suspension bars hang from a shaft 13 mounted between lugs on the flanges of the half sleeves.

Each G-shaped holding bracket-is hung from a shaft 15 mounted between a fork portion 14 of the suspension bar 4. The tubular rails 6' and 7 are bolted to half sleeves l6 and 17 which are in turn fixed to the opposite arms of the G-shaped holding bracket 5. If the half sleeves are sufficiently long and the holding brackets are sufficiently close together, the assembly of the tubular rails and holding brackets forms a Vierendeel beam which together with the carrying cable 2 functions as the rigidity beamof a suspension bridge. This thus provides the track with a continuous longitudinal profile even adjacent the pylons. The suspension bars 4 have a length selected to produce this continuity in spite of the catenary form of the carrying cable 2 between the successive pylons l.

The half sleeves are fixed to the tubular rail by means of special bolts of which one is shown in FIG. 4. The tubular rail 6 is proivded with a groove 18 which isspecially adapted to receive the bolt 19. The head 20 of the bolt 19 is cut away on two parallel faces to a thickness which is very slightly greater than the outer diameter of the screw thread so as to allow the bolt to fit into the elongate groove 18. The length l e of the groove is slightly greater than the length l of the long portion of the bolt head. Faces 21a and 21b of the wide part of the head of the bolt are inclined so as to fit in notches 22a and 22b of the groove 18. The bolt 19, which is mounted loose in the sleeve, is introduced into the groove 18 which has cut away portions parallel to the axis of the rail. The bolt is then turned through a quarter of a turn and gripped so that the head of the bolt is buried in the notches 22a and 22b. A washer 23b is provided to prevent the bolt from coming undone and also a water tight joint may be introduced between the nut and the half sleeve. A marker 24 is provided on the end of the bolt so that its position may be verified.

A thin elastic sole plate, not shown in the drawings, can also be introduced between the half sleeve and the tubular rail 6.

In a curve the track is inclined according to the average speed of cabins intended to run along it. The assembly of the two rails must therefore lie on the surface of a cone and the mean interaxis between the fixing points of the brackets should be slightly longer for the lower rail than for the upper rail. The carrying cables.

2 may be equally inclined.

To allow for contraction, the tube rails are formed by sections pinned together as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. The pinning can occur adjacent the pylons or between the two according to whether the most important parameter is the load or the effect of contraction. The

tubular rails

6 and 7 are neither compressed or stretched. Nevertheless the tube rails when curved can be soldered together and the contraction is allowed for by the play in the catenary suspension.

A splint 25 is formed of a tubular element having a resistant moment equal to that of the tubular rail and a diameter such that it is frictionally fixed between adjacent ends of tubular rail. The length is a little less than the distance that separates the two nearest bolts 19 of the neighbouring holding bracket 5. The heads 20 of the bolts 19 thus limit the possible displacement of the splints 25.

The ends 26a and 26b of the tubular rails are cut as shown in FIG. 9 along a certain length according to a vertical diametrical plane so as to render ajoint insensitive to a wheel lying on the generator contained in the vertical plane.

FIGS. 1 to 9 show how the track undergoes any change of direction in the vertical plane when cabins pass by the pylons. This leads to the reduction of the pitching of the cabin. The track also opposes any rolling oscillations and the rigidity beam held if necessary by anti-swinging devices almost completely eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable 2 to violent winds.

Each cabin is suspended from a carriage having at least two wheels running on the lower tubular rail and one wheel or preferably two wheels running on the upper tubular rail. A cabin mounting is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11.

A roof beam 27 is hung from two support frames 28a and 28b. A lever 29a is articulated about an axis 30 through the frame 28a, about an axis 31 through a carrying wheel 32 and about axis 33 through a guiding wheel 34. This system allows the cabin to be held in an average position which is parallel to the track, whatever its load or whatever lateral force to which it may be submitted.

The action of the wind tending to incline the cabincomes up against the proportional rigidity of the beam formed by the two tubular rails and the holding brackets. Anti-swinging units correcting neighbouring holding brackets to pylons may be provided to increase their rigidity and to substantially prevent all lateral swinging movement.

The cabins can be driven by an know means and in particular by traction cables running on pulleys fixed to the hangers. Nevertheless in the case of urban transport, the rigidity of the track suggests the use of self driving cabins having their own motors which may preferably be linear induction AC motors. In effect, such motors function as a synchronous motors and the speed which they impart the cabins is a function on the frequency of the AC current. It is therefore possible, ei ther by varying the frequency in a section containing only one cabin, or by fixing the frequency distributed to each section of track to give a desired speed to each cabin at any point. Furthermore the type of suspension adopted allows the gaps in a motor to remain constant so that the tubular rail may serve for example as the stator of the linear induction motor.

A set of points are shown in FIGS. 12, 13 andl4. In FIG. 12 a section of track formed by two

tubular rails

6a and 7a and suspended from the cable 2a fixed by the bracket to the pylon I can give access to the left hand track formed by tubular rails 6b and 7b. The rails 6b and 7b are suspended from the cable to be fixed to the fixing sleeve 8b. Access can also be given to the right hand track formed by

rail

6c and 7c suspended from the cable 2c fixed by the fixing sleeve 80.

In FIG. 12 the track 6a to 7a gives access to the

right hand track

6c and 7c.

The interconnection of the points and the continuity of the track from the point view of resistance to flexing are ensured by means of plugs and movable pins 25a and 25b controlled by a fork lever 36. The lever 36 is articulated on a control crank 37 and about an axis 38 through a support 39 fixed to the G-shaped bracket 5a. A fork of which the prongs are provided with

respective slots

41a and 41b forms the end of the lever 36 removed from the crank 37.

Pins

40a and 40b fixed to the

movable pins

35a and 35b engage in the

respective slot

41a and 41b. Each of the pins can slide in an

elongate opening

42a and 42b cut in the corresponding rail.

The crank 37 is driven by a shaft 43 which can either be controlled manually or by a motor. This is carried by a support 44 fixed to the pylon 1. The crank 37 can move through an angle included between the

positions

37m and 37n representing approximately two-thirds of the circumference of its turning circle.

Movement of crank 37 initially causes the disconnection of the points by sliding

pins

35a and 35b backwards during the first part of its rotational movement. This disengages the tubular rail and 7c. Further movement of the crank 37 causes the lateral displacement of the

tracks

6a and 7a to bring the

track

6a and 7a into line with the track 6b and 7b. Finally during the last part of the motion, the

track

6a and 7a is engaged with the track 6b and 7b by sliding the

35a and 35b forward into the track 6b and 7b. This movement is made possible by the oscillation of the suspension bar 4a which moves to a position 4a giving the cable a small amount of torsion. The

movable pins

35a and 35b are terminated by

conical portions

43a and 43b to facilitate the engaging and disengaging operations. 7

Generally the cabin always moves in the same direction and it is not necessary to have reversible points. However it is possible to proivde such points as will be described with reference to FIG. 15.

Each of the two branch tracks to which the main track can give access has an upper rail which is movable in the vertical plane over a certain length of said upper rail starting from the end of the branch track forming part of the points.

This upper rail is carried by a number of G-shaped brackets but having a special form.

In FIG. G-shaped bracket 46 has its lower part similar to the other brackets 5. However the upper tubular rail is articulated to the G-shaped bracket 46. The upper part of the bracket 46 receives an L-shaped lever 47 carrying swivel pins 48, 49 and 50 placed respectively at the top and at the two ends of the lever. The swivel pin 48 allows the lever 47 to rotate in a bearing on the upper part of the bracket, not shown in the Figure. The upper rail 6m is fixed to a half sleeve 16m suspended from the swivel pin 49 of the lever 47 by a rod 51. A control rod 52 is articulated about the swivel pin 50 of the lever 47. An abutment 53a fixed to the lower part of the G-shaped bracket 46 limits the movement of the lever 47 when the rail 6m is pushed upwards.

The operation of the points will be described with reference to FIG. 16. A certain number of brackets 46 starting from the beginning of the

track carry levers

47a,

47b

47c, 47d and 472 of which the vertical arms have the same length while the horizontal arms have a length decreasing with the distance from the beginning of the track 1, i.e., from the end of the branch track forming part of the points.

The control rod 52 controls the levers through articulate joints 50a, 50b 50e. When the track is not accessed by the points, the rod 52 remains in the position 52' shown in dotted outline. The articulates joints 50a 50e are in positions 50a 50e and the articulated joints 49a to 49a are in positions 49a 4%. This leads the upper rail 6m to a position 6n, the axis of the rail following a curve which is substantially circular, which corresponds in part to the flexing of the rail under its own weight, and connected to the normal position of the rail at the site of the first G-shaped bracket of normal type.

The operation of the points assembly is shown in FIG. 17. The control rod 52g corresponds to the left hand track accessed by the points and the control rod 52d to the right hand track. All the levers 47g of the left hand track are initially in a vertical position and the levers 47d of the right hand track are in an oblique position. The two

rods

52g and 52d are articulated about a rocker-arm 53 on which the axis 54 is carried by a cross piece 55, itself supported by two

supports

56g and 56d fixed to special G-shaped

brackets

46g and 46d. The rockerarm 53 is fixed to a lever 57 which through the intermediary of a rod 58 controls a toothed sector 59. The toothed sector 59, which is articulated about a shaft 60 carried by a support 61 next to a pylon 1 drives a pinion 62 carried by a shaft 43 which controls the crank 37 (FIGS. 12 and 13).

The upper rail 6mg is in the high position over the branch track accessed by the points but the upper rail is in the low position over the other branch track. The control rods 42g and 42d are in the positions shown. If the points are moved by turning the crank 37, the shaft 43 drives the toothed sector 59 through the pinion 52. This turns the rocker-arm 53 so as to push back the rod 52g and pull back the rod 52d so as to invert position of the two rails.

If a vehicle arrives on the branch track which is not accessed by the points, the upper wheel 34 of the cabin progressively pushes the upper rail 6m into the raised position which returns all the levers 47 into the vertical position. It also pushes back the rod 52 and moves the points so that they give access to the track on which the vehicle is arriving through rotating the rocker-arm 53 and the toothed sector 59.

For the maximum safety, the track can be doubled as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 18. In FIG. 18, the track comprises four tubular rails 6r, 6s, 7r and 7s arranged along the edges of a prism. The tubular rails are fixed to a holding bracket 63 in the form of an 0 resulting form the combination of two G-shaped holding brackets placed face to face. The tubular rails 6r and 6s are placed above the tubular rails 7r and 7s. The Q-shaped holding bracket 63 is connected to a suspension bar 4r hung from a sleeve 3r gripping the carrying cable 2r.

Each cabin is hung from a carriage similar to that shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 but having four rolling wheels 32r running on the lower rail 7r and 7s and two or four guiding wheels 34r running on the upper rails 6r and 6.9 /2.

This embodiment diminishes the risky of derailment as the carriage is always maintained in the holding bracket 63 by a train of wheels 32r.

In the more general case of two neighbouring tacks each carrying cabins travelling in the'opposite direction, frames can be arranged so as to connect the holding brackets of the two tracks and thus increase their rigidity. With the described track no sudden change of direction is experienced in the vertical plane when the cabins pass by the pylons. This reduces pitching and rolling oscillations and the beam held in position by the antiswinging devices substantially reduces the sensitivity of the carrying cable to strong winds.

What I claim is:

1. A suspended vehicle support system of the ropeway kind comprisng a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at intervals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track which comprises two tubular guides disposed in the same vertical plane, at least along the aligned sections of the system, and G-shaped brackets respectively fixed on said guides by their ends and fastened to the hangers which are fixed to the carrying cable; which track, between successive pylons, forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds.

2. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the guides are formed by tubular sections interconnected by pins inserted in adjoining sections along straight portions of the system.

3. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the pins are formed by tubular elements having a resistant moment equal to that of the guide and are frictionally mounted in the tubes, said tubular elements having a length that is slightly lessthan the distance separating adjacent fixing bolts across the section junction.

4. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 2, wherein plumb with the pin the two tubular sections are cut-away along a vertical diametrical plane at their ends and adjacent sections are overlaid together.

5. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guides are formed by tubular sections welded together along curved portions of the system.

6. A vehicle support system of the rope-way kind comprising a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at internals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track for suspended vehicles, which track between successive pylons forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder, which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds, including at least one non-reversible points of a main pair of guides and two pairs of branch guides, the main pair being movable between the first and second pairs, slidable pins provided in the ends of the pair of main guides for engaging with either pair of branch guides, and crank means which when moved to a first position disengages the pine from the first pair of branch guides, when moved to a second position displaces the pair of main guides to the second pair of branch guides and when moved-to a third position engages the pins with the second branch pair of branch guides. v

7. A vehicle support system of the rope-way kind comprising a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at intervals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track for suspended ve-' hicles, which track between successive pylons forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder, which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds, including at least one reversible points comprising for each branch track, from the end of said track forming part of the points, an upper guide to a control rod and means for actuating said control rod when a vehicle arrives along a branch track not connected to the main track.

8. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 7, wherein each lever is an L-shaped lever centrally articulated on a rigid fixture and the upper arm of which is articulated to the control rod while its lower arm is connected to the upper movable guide by means of a rod, the lengths of the lower arms of the L-shaped levers decreasing progressively from the end of the branch track forming part of the points while the length of the upper arms and rods remains constant.

9. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means for actuating the control rod comprises a rocker-arm connected to the movable upper guides ofthe two branch tracks ofthe points and means for mechanically pivoting said rocker-arm. said rockerarm being further automatically pivoted for throwing over the points by the rolling device of a vehicle arriving on the branch track which is not connected by said points.

10. A vehicle support as claimed in claim 9, including a vehicle having a support wheel on the first guide and with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder, which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds, the travelling track forming a Vierendeel beam and comprises two tubular guides disposed in the same vertical plane, at least along the aligned sections of the system, and G-shaped brackets respectivley fixed at regular intervals on said guides by their ends and fastened to the hangers which are fixed at the same regular intervals to the carrying cable, wherein each G- shaped bracket is provided with gutter-shaped sleeves for supporting the guides and each tubular guide is provided with slots into which an elongate head of a fixing bolt is inserted for bolting the guides to the sleeves, the

boltbeing rotated after insertion through the slot.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3,858,520 DATED January 7, 1975 INVENTOIKS) Pierre Patin It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Claim 6, column 7, line 12, "pine" should read -pins-.

Claim 7, column 7, line 29, after "guide" insert --movable in a vertical plane, levers connecting said upper guide--.

Signed and Sealed this nineteenth D y of August 1975 [SEAL] A ttest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN .4IIFSII HX Uffir (mnmissiuncr ()[Parems and Trademarks

Claims

1. A suspended vehicle support system of the rope-way kind comprisng a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at intervals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track which comprises two tubular guides disposed in the same vertical plane, at least along the aligned sections of the system, and G-shaped brackets respectively fixed on said guides by their ends and fastened to the hangers which are fixed to the carrying cable; which track, between successive pylons, forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds.

3. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the pins are formed by tubular elements having a resistant moment equal to that of the guide and are frictionally mounted in the tubes, said tubular elements having a length that is slightly less than the distance separating adjacent fixing bolts across the section junction.

6. A vehicle support system of the rope-way kind comprising a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at internals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track for suspended vehicles, which track between successive pylons forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder, which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds, including at least one non-reversible points of a main pair of guides and two pairs of branch guides, the main pair being movable between the first and second pairs, slidable pins provided in the ends of the pair of main guides for engaging with either pair of branch guides, and crank means which when moved to a first position disengages the pine from the first pair of branch guides, when moved to a second position displaces the pair of main guides to the second pair of branch guides and when moved to a third position engages the pins with the second branch pair of branch guides.

7. A vehicle support system of the rope-way kind comprising a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at intervals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track for suspended vehicles, which track between successive pylons forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder, which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds, including at least one reversible points comprising for each branch track, from the end of said track Forming part of the points, an upper guide to a control rod and means for actuating said control rod when a vehicle arrives along a branch track not connected to the main track.

9. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means for actuating the control rod comprises a rocker-arm connected to the movable upper guides of the two branch tracks of the points and means for mechanically pivoting said rocker-arm, said rocker-arm being further automatically pivoted for throwing over the points by the rolling device of a vehicle arriving on the branch track which is not connected by said points.

10. A vehicle support as claimed in claim 9, including a vehicle having a support wheel on the first guide and a guide wheel on the second guide.

11. A vehicle support system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the travelling track is doubled and comprises four guides arranged in pairs in parallel vertical planes and Omega -shaped brackets interconnecting said guides and fastened to the hangers.

12. A vehicle support system of the rope-way kind comprising a carrying cable fixed on pylons and provided at intervals along its length with hangers carrying at their lower ends a travelling track for suspended vehicles, which track between successive pylons forms with said cable and hangers a catenary suspension with rigidity girder, which provides a resistance to lateral movement of the suspended vehicle and substantially eliminates the sensitivity of the carrying cable to violent winds, the travelling track forming a Vierendeel beam and comprises two tubular guides disposed in the same vertical plane, at least along the aligned sections of the system, and G-shaped brackets respectivley fixed at regular intervals on said guides by their ends and fastened to the hangers which are fixed at the same regular intervals to the carrying cable, wherein each G-shaped bracket is provided with gutter-shaped sleeves for supporting the guides and each tubular guide is provided with slots into which an elongate head of a fixing bolt is inserted for bolting the guides to the sleeves, the bolt being rotated 90*after insertion through the slot.