EP0097731A1 - Elektrisches Einspurgleis - Google Patents

Elektrisches Einspurgleis Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0097731A1
EP0097731A1 EP19820105671 EP82105671A EP0097731A1 EP 0097731 A1 EP0097731 A1 EP 0097731A1 EP 19820105671 EP19820105671 EP 19820105671 EP 82105671 A EP82105671 A EP 82105671A EP 0097731 A1 EP0097731 A1 EP 0097731A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
rails
rerailer
guide
vehicle
electric
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP19820105671
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0097731B1 (de
Inventor
Fukushiro Miura
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to DE8282105671T priority Critical patent/DE3273734D1/de
Priority to EP19820105671 priority patent/EP0097731B1/de
Publication of EP0097731A1 publication Critical patent/EP0097731A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0097731B1 publication Critical patent/EP0097731B1/de
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
    • A63H19/00—Model railways
    • A63H19/30—Permanent way; Rails; Rail-joint connections
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
    • A63H19/00—Model railways
    • A63H19/36—Model railway structures, e.g. kinds of arrangement of several units in containers, or on plates, or in combination with scenics for toy purposes
    • A63H2019/365—Devices for putting or removing vehicles on or from the rails, e.g. ramps

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a rerailer for a model railway, and more particularly to a rerailer for a power-driven vehicle such as locomotive, motive power car or the like.
  • a rerailer has been used as a guide member for guiding a vehicle onto rails.
  • a conventional rerailer is constructed in the form of an inclined base having a wide wheel guide groove on its inclined surface. The width of the guide groove is narrowed at the lower section of the inclined surface so as to guide the wheels on both sides of the vehicle onto rails.
  • the conventional rerailer as described above is useful for guiding carriages and wagons because they can freely move on the inclined surface of the rerailer under their own weight.
  • power-driven vehicles such as locomotives and motive power cars cannot move on the inclined surface under their own weight because their motors and speed reducing mechanism serve as brakes. Therefore, . the power-driven vehicles must be guided onto rails by manually moving them.
  • the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved rerailer for a model railway.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide a rerailer for automatically guiding a power-driven vehicle onto rails.
  • the specific object of the present invention is to provide an electric rerailer capable of supplying a drive current to a power-driven vehicle placed on the rerailer, and electrically moving the vehicle onto rails.
  • the rerailer in accordance with the present invention is characterized in that the surfaces of guide rails for guiding a vehicle onto rails are formed by discrete electric conductors used respectively for the left and right wheels of the vehicle, and the conductors are electrically contacted with the rails for the left and right wheels respectively.
  • the conductors forming the surfaces of the guide rails (various types of guide paths such as groove-like paths, plane-like paths with a central partition wall and the like are herein called guide rails) transmits a drive current to the vehicle via the outermost circumference fo wheels so as to move the vehicle on the rerailer and guide it onto the rails.
  • the electric rerailer in accordance with the present invention has an extremely simple construction suitable to guide a power-driven vehicle.
  • rhe rerailer in accordance with the present invention can automatically move a power-driven vehicle onto the rails, and can of course be used also for guiding vehicles such as carriages which are not power driven.
  • the rerailer may take an inclined form or a horizontal plane form. When it is horizontal, the vehicle being rerailed can easily be moved onto the rails by slightly pushing the vehicle forwards.
  • Figures 1 to 4 show an embodiment of the inclined base type rerailer capable of being releasably mounted on rails in accordance with the present invention.
  • a rerailer 10 is placed on rails la and lb of a model railway, and provided with guide rails 12a and 12b for guiding the left and right wheels of a vehicle on an inclined surface 11.
  • the guide rails 12a and 12b are in the form of shallow grooves the outer edges of which are defined by guide walls 13a and 13b.
  • the guide walls 13a and 13b protrude inwardly at the lower section of the inclined surface 11 so as to guide the wheels onto the rails la and lb.
  • the guide walls 13a and 13b guide large the diameter sections (flanges) 21a and 21b of wheels 2a and 2b shown in Figure 3 inwardly towards the middle between the guide walls 13a and 13b so as to place small diameter sections 22a and 22b of the wheels 2a and 2b on the rails la and lb.
  • a central guide wall 14 which prevents the vehicle from greatly deviating towards the guide wall 13a or 13b and which serves as a central partition for separating the guide rails 12a and 12b from each other.
  • the surfaces of the guide rails 12a and 12b are formed by electric conductors.
  • the surfaces thereof are formed by plate-like metal strips 15a and 15b, which are fitted by their elasticity to a plastic rerailer base 16 having the inclined surface 11, as best seen in Figure 4.
  • a turned-back end 152b of the metal strip 15b is fixed by its elasticity to a lower thick-wall section 16a of the rerailer base 16
  • the other turned-back end 151b of the metal strip 15b is fixed by its elasticity to an upper thick-wall section 16b of the rerailer base 16.
  • the metal strip '15a is similarly constructed to have turned-back ends 152a and 151a.
  • the plate-like metal strip conductors 15a and 15b forming the surfaces of the guide rails 12a and 12b are electrically isolated from each other.
  • the turned-back ends 151a and 151b of these conductors 15a and 15b contact the rails la and lb respectively.
  • the rerailer 10 is provided with a positioning means for properly positioning the rerailer body on the rails in such a way that wheels guide outlets 17a and 17b at the lower end of the rerailer 10 ( Figure 2) are positioned just inside the rails la and lb respectively so as to guide the wheels thereto.
  • the positioning means may comprise recesses which are formed at the bottom of the rerailer body so as to fit snugly on the rails. Or, as shown in Figure 3, sections 18, 19a and 19b may be protruded downwardly from the rerailer body at the center and on both sides thereof, and the recesses formed among them may be placed on the rails la and lb. In any case, the metal strip conductors 15a and 15b should contact the rails la and lb respectively.
  • the metal strips 15a and 15b forming the surfaces of the guide rails 12a and 12b are turned back at both ends and fitted by their own elasticity to the rerailer base.
  • This fitting method is advantageous for simplifying the construction and process for assembling the rerailer.
  • the metal strips 15a and 15b may be of any other form insofar as they can be fixed to the rerailer base and parts of them contact with the rails.
  • the metal strips 15a and 15b may be of any construction having flat sections forming the surfaces of the guide rails 12a and 12b and the sections for electrically connecting the flat sections to the rails la and lb respectively.
  • the guide rails 12a and 12b are provided with the central guide wall 14 for separating them and with the outer guide walls 13a and 13b.
  • this construction may be modified in various ways.
  • outer walls 26 may be provided on the outlet side of the rerailer, and an inner wall 27 may be provided on the inlet side of the rerailer.
  • inner wall 27 may be provided on the inlet side of the rerailer.
  • outer walls 29 it is also possible to form only an inner wall 28'on the outlet side of the rerailer, and outer walls 29 on the inlet side of the rerailer.
  • conductors 30a and 30b are electrically isolated from each other by an electric insulating section 30.
  • the electric insulating section 30 may be formed by an insulator or a gap positioned between the conductors 30a and 30b. 6
  • the rerailer has an inclined surface and is placed on the rails.
  • the rerailer may have a horizontal surface instead of the inclined surface.
  • a rerailer having two horizontal guide rails is placed on the rails of a model railway.
  • the horizontal surfaces on which the wheels of a vehicle are guided are formed by conductors, and the conductors are electrically contacted with the rails.
  • Outlets for the vehicle may be formed on both ends of the rerailer to allow a power-driven vehicle to be driven forwards or backwards and guided onto rails.
  • Figures 6A and 6B show another embodiment of the rerailer in accordance with the present invention, which has a horizontal surface and is placed on rails.
  • This embodiment is characterized by an extremely simplified construction in which the rerailer body is formed by the conductors themselves.
  • a pair of flat conductor plates 31a and 31b serving as the guide rails are sandwiched and fixed between an upper plate 32a and a lower plate 32b of an I-shaped insulating plastic holder 32 serving also as a central partition wall.
  • the central partition wall 32 has wide end sections 32c and 32d, whose ends associated with rails la and lb are widened to a width approximately equal to the inside width between the rails la and lb.
  • the conductor plates 31a and 31b are respectively provided with longitudinal slits 33a and 33b at both ends. Inner portions 34a and 34b of the conductor plates 31a and 31b defining the slits 33a and 33b are bent downwardly inside the rails la and lb, so that large diameter sections 2law and 21b of wheels 2a and '2b " can move downwardly and small diameter sections 22a and 22b can be smoothly placed on the rails la and lb.
  • FIG. 6A and 6B The embodiment shown in Figures 6A and 6B is practically very convenient because it has a simple construction and because power-driven vehicles can be moved either forwards or backwards to be placed on the rails.
  • the insulating plastic holder 32 may take various shapes instead of the I-shaped sectional form. It is also possible to position the conductor plates on a plastic plate in parallel with each other at an interval, and fix them to the plastic plate with screws.
  • the rerailer is placed on the rails when it is used, and removed therefrom after a vehicle has been-guided and moved onto the rails.
  • the rerailer When the rerailer is used, it is first placed on the rails, and the conductors of the rerailer are electrically connected to the rails. Thereafter, a power-driven vehicle is placed on the guide rails of the rerailer in such a manner that the wheels on one side of the vehicle are placed on one conductor, and the wheels on the other side on the other conductor.
  • the rails are then energized in the same way as normally used for starting the power-driven vehicle by use of a controller.
  • An electric current is fed from the rail to the conductor and then to the large diameter section of the wheel to the drive motor in the vehicle to start the vehicle.
  • the started motor-driven vehicle is guided along the outer walls or the inner wall onto the rails and thereafter runs on the rails in the usual manner. In this way, the motor-driven vehicle is guided onto the rails by the rerailer in accordance with the present invention.
  • FIGS 7 and 8 show a further embodiment of the rerailer in accordance with the present invention, which is of the type incorporated between the rails.
  • a rerailer 40 comprises conductor guide plates 43a, 43b having connection rails 41a, 41b and 42a, 42b at opposite ends, and a'guide wall 44 serving as a partition provided at the center of the conductor guide plates 43, 43b.
  • the connection rails 41a and 42a for the left wheels (or right wheels, depending on the direction in which the vehicle faces) are electrically connected to a conductor guide plate 43a for the left (right) wheels.
  • the connection rails 41b and 42b for the right (left) wheels are electrically connected to a conductor guide plate 43b for the right (left) wheels.
  • the guide plates 43a and 43b made of conductors are electrically isolated from each other by the guide wall 44.
  • connection rails may be straight and a central guide wall 45 may be widened at both ends adjacent to the connection rails.
  • the connection rails may be straight, and outer walls 46 may be bent inwardly at both ends adjacent to the connection rails. In the latter case, a central insulator or partition 47 is necessary for electrically isolating conductors 43a and 43b from each other.
  • the conductors may be separated at their intermediate portions by a clearance therebetween and be spaced apart and fixed to each other in the vicinity of both ends.
  • the rails may be integrally connected with the outer walls to form rails 48a and 48b serving as guide walls fixed to the outer edges of conductor plates 49a and 49b respectively, and a central guide wall 50 may be positioned between the conductor plates 49a and 49b.
  • This construction is identical with that in which the outer walls 46 in Figure 9B are integrally connected with the rails and the central guide wall in Figure 9A or 7 is positioned therebetween.
  • the central guide wall 50 may of course be replaced by a clearance between the conductor plates 49a and 49b.
  • the guide rails of the rerailer are'provided with either the outer walls or the inner wall, it is of course necessary to determine the width of the conductor of each guide rail so that the wheels on one side cannot go onto the conductor for the wheels on the other side or fall off the conductor.
  • the width of each conductor must always smaller than the distance between the large diameter sections 21a and 21b of the wheels.
  • the distance from the outer edge of one conductor to the inner edge of the other conductor must always he larger than the distance between the large diameter sections 21a and 21b of the wheels.
  • Figures l0A to 10D show a still further embodiment of the rerailer in accordance with the present invention.
  • the rerailer is of the type placed on the rails and corresponds to a modification of a combination of Figures 5C and 5D.
  • conductive inclined base pieces 61a and 61b made of a white metal or the like in a form symmetrical with each other are coupled by an'insulating holder 62 made of a plastic or the like in I-shaped sectional form.
  • a clearance 63 is provided between the inclined base pieces 61a and 61b.
  • the inclined base pieces 61a and 61b have respetive outer guide walls 64a and 64b extending over their entire length and protruding inwardly adjacent to their lower ends.
  • the pieces 61a and 61b also have inner guide walls 65a and 65b which protrude outwardly opposite to the protrusions of the outer guide walls 64a and 64b.
  • the outer wall 64a and the inner wall 65a are formed integrally with the inclined base piece 61a, while the outer wall 64b and the inner wall 65b are integrated with the piece 61b.
  • On the bottoms of the inclined base pieces 61a and 61b are provided recesses 66a and 66b for fitting with the rails at several positions in an easy and reliable manner.
  • the central insulating holder 62 .. and the outer guide walls 64a, 64b define therebetween wheel guide rails 67a and 67b so as to guide the wheels of a power-driven vehicle via the protrusions of the inner and outer walls onto the rails.
  • inclined base pieces 61a, 61b are integrally formed of a white metal or the like and can very easily be combined by use of the insulating holder 62 obtained by plastic molding.
  • the rerailer thus made exhibits a good outer appearance and is suitable for practical use.
  • Figure 11 shows an even further embodiment of the rerailer in accordance with the present invention, which is particularly suitable for wide rails generally called O-gauge rails.
  • two conductive rails 71a and 71b for wheels are spaced apart from each other, and fixed on an insulating base 73 at the rear ends and on an insulating holder 74 at the front ends.
  • the rails 71a and 71b are electrically contacted with the rails la and lb at the front ends 75a and 75b respectively.

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  • Toys (AREA)
EP19820105671 1982-06-26 1982-06-26 Elektrisches Einspurgleis Expired EP0097731B1 (de)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE8282105671T DE3273734D1 (en) 1982-06-26 1982-06-26 Electric rerailer
EP19820105671 EP0097731B1 (de) 1982-06-26 1982-06-26 Elektrisches Einspurgleis

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP19820105671 EP0097731B1 (de) 1982-06-26 1982-06-26 Elektrisches Einspurgleis

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0097731A1 true EP0097731A1 (de) 1984-01-11
EP0097731B1 EP0097731B1 (de) 1986-10-15

Family

ID=8189105

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19820105671 Expired EP0097731B1 (de) 1982-06-26 1982-06-26 Elektrisches Einspurgleis

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0097731B1 (de)
DE (1) DE3273734D1 (de)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2006052197A1 (en) * 2004-11-15 2006-05-18 Brio Ab Rail element to a toy railway
US7938068B2 (en) 2008-08-28 2011-05-10 Mattel, Inc. Toy track section with alignment feature
WO2014180535A1 (de) * 2013-05-06 2014-11-13 Sew-Eurodrive Gmbh & Co. Kg Anlage, umfassend ein entlang einer schienenstrecke, insbesondere entlang eines schienenteils, bewegbares schienenfahrzeug
WO2014180536A1 (de) * 2013-05-06 2014-11-13 Sew-Eurodrive Gmbh & Co. Kg Anlage, umfassend ein entlang einer schienenstrecke, insbesondere entlang eines schienenteils, bewegbares schienenfahrzeug

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1888760A (en) * 1932-05-18 1932-11-22 Flower Harry Butler Self-railing trackway
DE821324C (de) * 1950-02-08 1951-11-15 Maerklin & Cie G M B H Geb Vorrichtung fuer Spielzeug- oder Modelleisenbahnen
DE845463C (de) * 1950-02-08 1953-05-04 Maerklin & Cie G M B H Geb Mit aus uebernormaler Spurweite in die normale Spurweite uebergehenden Fuehrungsschienen versehenes Einspurgleis

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1888760A (en) * 1932-05-18 1932-11-22 Flower Harry Butler Self-railing trackway
DE821324C (de) * 1950-02-08 1951-11-15 Maerklin & Cie G M B H Geb Vorrichtung fuer Spielzeug- oder Modelleisenbahnen
DE845463C (de) * 1950-02-08 1953-05-04 Maerklin & Cie G M B H Geb Mit aus uebernormaler Spurweite in die normale Spurweite uebergehenden Fuehrungsschienen versehenes Einspurgleis

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2006052197A1 (en) * 2004-11-15 2006-05-18 Brio Ab Rail element to a toy railway
US7938068B2 (en) 2008-08-28 2011-05-10 Mattel, Inc. Toy track section with alignment feature
WO2014180535A1 (de) * 2013-05-06 2014-11-13 Sew-Eurodrive Gmbh & Co. Kg Anlage, umfassend ein entlang einer schienenstrecke, insbesondere entlang eines schienenteils, bewegbares schienenfahrzeug
WO2014180536A1 (de) * 2013-05-06 2014-11-13 Sew-Eurodrive Gmbh & Co. Kg Anlage, umfassend ein entlang einer schienenstrecke, insbesondere entlang eines schienenteils, bewegbares schienenfahrzeug

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0097731B1 (de) 1986-10-15
DE3273734D1 (en) 1986-11-20

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