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Cableway system with terminal stations and a middle station

Cableway system with terminal stations and a middle station description/claims

This application claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, of Austrian patent application A 1979/2006, filed Nov. 28, 2006; the prior application is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The invention relates to an aerial cableway with transportation devices, such as chairs or gondolas. The cableway includes two cable loops to which the transportation devices can be coupled and from which the transportation devices can be decoupled. The system further includes a lower station, an upper station, and a middle station, wherein in the section from the lower station to the middle station the lower cable loop is arranged, and from the middle station to the upper station the upper cable loop is arranged.

In generic aerial cableways with two cable loops the lower cable loop leads from a lower station (i.e., valley station) to a first middle station (intermediate station). Furthermore, the upper cable loop then leads from a second middle station (i.e., intermediate station) to an upper station (i.e., top station, a mountain station).

Two middle stations are associated with a disadvantage in that they require more space and involve greater expenditure. Furthermore, noise generation in the case of two stations is greater than in the case of only one station. Therefore, solutions are known in which only a single cable loop leads from a valley station through an intermediate station right up to a top station. However, these solutions are associated with a disadvantage in that only slight angular deviations of the top and bottom sections of the cable loop from the straight orientation, i.e. 180°, are possible, unless very high technical expenditure for deflection equipment is accepted. Solutions comprising only one cable loop are also associated with a disadvantage in that they involve long cable lengths with correspondingly high cable tension and the associated disadvantages of larger cable cross sections and more expensive support structures, roller batteries, and the like. Compared to this, again, installations comprising two or more cable loops are advantageous, in which distribution of the cable length and of tension path to a corresponding number of sections is possible.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a cableway system, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type.

With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an aerial cableway system, comprising: transportation devices (e.g., gondolas, lift chairs); a lower station, a middle station, and an upper station; two cable loops configured for coupling thereto and decoupling therefrom said transportation devices; said two cable loops including a lower cable loop extending between said lower station and said middle station and an upper cable loop extending between said middle station and said upper station; and a common guide device disposed in said middle station and configured to deflect and guide said lower cable loop and said upper cable loop in said middle station.

Since in the aerial cableway according to the invention the lower and the upper cable loops in the middle station are guided about a common (i.e., a shared) guide device it is sufficient to provide merely a single middle station between the lower station and the upper station. Passengers can embark and disembark as usual in this middle station. However, with the invention it is also possible to travel in the same transportation device from the lower station directly to the upper station, irrespective as to whether the upper and the lower cable loops are arranged at an angle of 180° or at some other angle.

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