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  Tour and leisure cart management system and rail track maintenance methodUSPTO Application #: 20070283838Title: Tour and leisure cart management system and rail track maintenance method Abstract: A tour and leisure cart management system capable of allowing large numbers of tourists to access nature reserves without damaging ecologically sensitive areas. The cart system is installed in areas having excellent views, places where various memorials or educational materials are displayed, nature reserves where wildlife lives and access is restricted, undeveloped areas that are difficult to access, swamps which are difficult to access using typical vehicles and so on, in order to enable tours of various natural features, animals, plants and educational materials, without incurring high construction costs for road construction and rail installation. (end of abstract)
Agent: Park Law Firm - Los Angeles, CA, US Inventor: Mu Young Hwang USPTO Applicaton #: 20070283838 - Class: 104 78 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070283838. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001]1. Field of the Invention [0002]The present invention relates to a tour and leisure cart management system which is installed in regions such as nature reserves, inhabited by animals and plants requiring that extreme care be taken, undeveloped regions difficult for humans to access, and swamps where traffic, such as vehicles, cannot travel, so that sightseeing is made possible without destroying the ecosystem of various resident animals and plants. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cart management system which can also be utilized as leisure sport equipment, by which a user can drive a rail cart using his/her own strength through a scenically beautiful region while enjoying the scenery. [0003]2. Description of the Related Art [0004]Many railroad tracks installed in areas producing coal, cement and wood have been decommissioned and neglected because they have become unprofitable. Such areas are mostly located on mountains, which are difficult for ordinary people to access, and thus a rail cart capable of riding on the railroad tracks has been developed in order to develop such areas as tourist facilities. [0005]The inventor has developed Korean Utility Registration No. 368841, entitled "Manually Controlled Power Train on Railroad" and No. 371751, entitled "Rail Cart Powered by Wind," and has been managing such equipment in regions such as Jeong-seon, Gang-won Province, Korea. [0006]Such a rail cart system, which is installed to use abandoned railroad tracks and is driven manually without additional power, can attract tourists and thus help stimulate regional economies. [0007]However, the rail carts of the above type can be managed only in regions where railroad tracks are installed. In addition, such railroad tracks are mostly single sets of tracks, so that a large number of people cannot drive rail carts without having to wait for a long time. [0008]As another problem, after the rail carts are used, they must be returned to their starting place by additional workers and/or other devices for hauling the rail carts. Such drawbacks substantially decrease profitability. [0009]As a further problem, it is impossible to use the rail carts in areas where rail tracks are not installed. [0010]That is, there is an increasing number of people who want to experience scenes in beautiful areas such as lakesides, beaches, tree farms, resort towns, and ecological parks. However, such an experience can be had merely by walking or boating through swamps, valleys, lakes and so on. Roads or footpaths installed for people to access the interior of the swamps, the valleys, the lakes and so on inevitably destroy nature. The surrounding environment is heavily destroyed by road construction or people who drive cars or walk on the road. Thus, development is often prohibited. Recently, after large numbers of tourists and vehicles caused the extinction of many trees and birds in the Korea National Arboretum, vehicle access was prohibited and the number of tourists per day is also limited. [0011]In the case of famous mountains visited by large numbers of people, a gap year system for prohibiting access by people has unavoidably been introduced. Even though tourist tracks in the mountains are restricted to particular regions, the tracks are inevitably widened or destroyed by large numbers of seasonal tourists, and thus foliage surrounding the tracks perishes. Accordingly, the gap year system was introduced to protect nature by prohibiting access by people. In addition, natural swamps and protected forests are basically prohibited from access so that their natural state can be preserved. [0012]However, blocking tourists has not only the positive aspect of conserving nature, but also the negative aspect of impoverishing nearby areas. Furthermore, it is effective to provide access areas rather than blocking access to nature reserves. Although the need to set aside areas to encourage the conservation of nature is increasing, suitable measures therefor have not yet been proposed. Accordingly, longstanding conflicts between developers and environmentalists are deepening, because the conservation of nature cannot coexist with development. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0013]The present invention has thus been made to solve the aforementioned problems with the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a tourist system capable of allowing large numbers of tourists to access nature reserves without injuring the ecological systems. [0014]Another object of the invention is to provide a system capable of allowing easy access to sightseeing areas which are difficult to access and where railroad tracks are not installed, by installing a simple support structure and a rail track and developing carts for driving on the rail track. [0015]A further object of the invention is to provide a tour cart management system that includes a multiple structure of two or more sets of rail tracks, in which a turntable or a resting place is installed so that tourists can take a rest while enjoying tours on carts. [0016]Another object of the invention is to provide a tour cart management system including a multiple structure of two or more sets of rail tracks, so that the number of users can be greatly increased without having to destroy nature. [0017]Yet another object of the invention is to provide a rail system enabling tours and leisure, for which one need not construct a tunnel, build a bridge or remove a protruding part of a mountain for the purpose of road or footpath construction, and in which running rails are installed a preset distance from the ground, which is required in order to conserve nature, thus permitting tourism without injuring the ground, so that the ecological paths of animals can be preserved. [0018]According to an aspect of the invention for realizing the object, the cart driving rail system of the invention can be installed in areas having excellent scenery, places where various memorials or educational materials are displayed, nature reserves where wildlife resides and access is restricted, undeveloped areas that are difficult to access, swamps which are difficult to access using typical vehicles and so on, in order to enable tours for various natural resources, animals, plants and educational materials, without having to consume a massive amount of construction costs for road construction and rail installation. [0019]The invention provides a rail system which is installed a preset distance from the ground so that the rail system does not directly contact the ground or animals/plants in nature reserves. [0020]The invention provides a rail system that includes turntable structures in specific places so that a cart can reverse its direction or move from one rail to another one if necessary in order to access a desired place, which is an improvement on the a conventional system, in which carts can move only in one direction. [0021]The invention also provides a rail system which is installed a preset distance from the ground using rails made of square iron pipes, which are suitably bent according to the installation site, and a pillar structure capable of fixing the rails at a specific location in the ground. [0022]The invention further provides a rail system capable of allowing tours regardless of obstacles such as swamps, steep slopes and rivers, using a pillar structure to fix rails above the swamp, an additional support structure to support rails on the steep slope, or a simple reinforcement structure attached to the edge of a bridge in the case of a river. Continue reading... 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