Did You Know...
...that power steering was invented by independent inventor Francis W. Davis? As chief engineer in the 1920s of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, he saw how hard it was to steer heavy vehicles. So that he would be able to keep the profits from his future invention, Davis left his job, rented a small engineering shop in Waltham, Mass., and developed a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5340062 | Train control system integrating dynamic and fixed data A train control system employs beacon transponders along the track to transmit fixed data to a passing train in addition to dynamic data relating to track availability and routing provided by encoded cab signals transmitted in the track. The fixed data in... | 08/23/1994 |
| 5288040 | Device for exchanging data between movable units and a central unit A device for exchanging data between a plurality of rail-supported movable automatic manipulating units for operating a plurality of textile machines with multiple workstations and a common central unit comprises a rail system and a lead system connected ... | 02/22/1994 |
| 5236156 | Monitoring of track-type conveyor system A conveyor system has a track network including a main track, a plurality of branch tracks, and respective intersections at which the main track joins the branch tracks. Respective stations at the branch tracks are each associated with a respective target... | 08/17/1993 |
| 5177684 | Method for analyzing and generating optimal transportation schedules for vehicles such as trains and controlling the movement of vehicles in response thereto A method of analyzing transportation schedules in a schedule analysis (SCAN) decision support system to determine the feasibility of the schedules is disclosed. In a transportation system, vehicles are delayed to avoid conflicts with other vehicles which ... | 01/05/1993 |
| 5129605 | Rail vehicle positioning system A rail vehicle positioning system having a plurality of inputs used to generate a position report including a GPS receiver, a wheel tachometer, O.S. circuits, transponders, and manual inputs from locomotive engineers.... | 07/14/1992 |
| 5108052 | Passenger transportation system for self-guided vehicles A transportation system for moving passengers comprising a plurality of terminals interconnected by a track network, upon which are supported a plurality of independent and individual self-guided vehicles. Each terminal has a plurality of Automated Ticket... | 04/28/1992 |
| 5072900 | System for the control of the progression of several railway trains in a network Each train is equipped with an on-board device for detecting the position of the train with respect to the track and with a transmitter-receive communicating with a central station. The central station has an instantaneous storage of the relative position... | 12/17/1991 |
| 5050823 | Radio-based railway switch control system A switch machine operates a track switch under radio control via a switch controller. The switch controller may be given an identifying address unique to it which distinguishes the switch machine from other switch machines in the railway territory. In add... | 09/24/1991 |
| 5026009 | Method for tracking trains through multiple false track circuit occupancies A central control system includes a method for monitoring a plurality of trains throughout a transit system having computer for maintaining a train location table tracking the location of the trains throughout the system and for detecting and recording fa... | 06/25/1991 |
| 4974259 | Control system for unattended transport car A control system for an unattended transport car including a plurality of ground radio transmitters dispersed in a range within which the unattended transport car is movable, the transmitters transmitting positional information or the like by radio. The u... | 11/27/1990 |
| 4774669 | Train control having a supervisory monitor providing improved operating safety and better maintenance support A train control and monitoring system detects operating errors in controlled devices in each car and disables a car propulsion system if an error is detected. Operator reset is employed to reactivate a car, but operator reset control is disabled if a limi... | 09/27/1988 |
| 4721045 | Transport control system with linear motor drive A transport control system with linear motor drive applicable for cash transport in a bank. The system uses a main controller, a rail-path, a carrier adapted to be driven along the rail-path by linear motor drive, and a plurality of stator portions couple... | 01/26/1988 |
| 4711418 | Radio based railway signaling and traffic control system A railway signaling and traffic control system which minimizes the wayside equipment and eliminates the pole lines which carry power and signals along the right-of-way using instead the radio channel between the trains and the central office. Each train c... | 12/08/1987 |
| 4611291 | Vital interface system for railway signalling An interface system providing vital inputs to and vital outputs from a vital processor of railway signals for railway signalling and control purposes, utilizes non-vital components such as diodes and transistors. The input interface translates a railway s... | 09/09/1986 |
| 4538781 | Control system for controlling the passage of vehicles The control system is of the kind in which vehicle passage is controlled by a token, and is particularly suitable for single track railways. According to the invention, such a system is electronic, and a central control and each vehicle in use in the system is... | 09/03/1985 |
| 4516249 | Railway signalling receiver A railway signalling receiver in which a signal carried by the railway lines is sensed and the sensed signal is sampled, digitized and subjected to a discrete Fourier transform operation which transform the time domain samples into the frequency domain. T... | 05/07/1985 |
| 4361300 | Vehicle train routing apparatus and method The movement route of a vehicle operative with a roadway track having a plurality of stations and control signal gates is selected from a storage table of predetermined available routes in accordance with the known track plan and in relation to each stati... | 11/30/1982 |
| 4349196 | Computer control toy track system A toy track system having an electro-optical sensing device in the roadway senses the passage and identity of a plurality of individual cars on that roadway and provides the sensed information to a microprocessor based operator control panel. The operator... | 09/14/1982 |
| 4348618 | Feeding system for linear motor type transporting system A feeding system for a linear motor transportation system in which a number of discrete drive coil units or linear motor units are arranged along a track to generate a moving magnetic field for driving trains is disclosed. In the present feeding system, a... | 09/07/1982 |
| 4327415 | Transit vehicle handback control apparatus and method There is disclosed a vehicle train control apparatus and method for controlling the operation of a vehicle train by a second control equipment provided in a different control vehicle of the train in the event of the failure of the train control equipment ... | 04/27/1982 |
| 4323890 | Switching circuit for monitoring the switching state of switch elements A switching circuit for monitoring the switching state of switching elements wherein the switching state of the switching element is detected and a corresponding signal is generated and this signal is compared to the input signal initially provided for sw... | 04/06/1982 |
| 4314237 | Fail-safe acknowledging circuit A fail-safe acknowledging circuit having a plurality of relay switching contacts having a predetermined order of more restrictive significance. A differentiating circuit selectively interconnected by certain ones of the plurality of relay switching contac... | 02/02/1982 |
| 4307463 | Vital rate decoder A vital rate decoder for actuating one of a plurality of output relays in correspondence with the frequency of an input signal applied thereto, comprising a main rate decoding processor for evaluating the frequency and duty cycle of the input signal by es... | 12/22/1981 |
| 4305556 | Railway control signal dynamic output interlocking systems A computer based railway interlocking control system, having triple parallel redundant control computers (FIG. 2) provides greater system reliability as compared to a single computer system. The railway traffic control devices, e.g. points and signals, ar... | 12/15/1981 |
| 4284256 | Sequential checking of railway control signals An electronic or computer-based railway control system including further safety checks in addition to normal safety interlocking. The present system carries out checks to see that operations, such as print switching and signal setting, are carried out in ... | 08/18/1981 |
| 4270715 | Railway control signal interlocking systems The specification discloses an electronic or computer-based railway control signal interlocking system. Signals representing the settings or conditions of railway control elements e.g. track circuits, signals and points, and their control signals are chec... | 06/02/1981 |
| 4247897 | Train vehicle control microprocessor power reset There is disclosed a passenger vehicle operation control apparatus and method including program microprocessor control apparatus for providing a dynamic output signal when the microprocessor completes a predetermined main computer control program subrouti... | 01/27/1981 |
| 4244672 | System for sequencing articles including mail A system is provided for arranging articles in a predetermined sequence. In mail handling applications, the documents destined for local distribution may be segregated as to the respective routes of the postmen and arranged in sequence within each route i... | 01/13/1981 |
| 4122523 | Route conflict analysis system for control of railroads A centralized traffic control system for complex railroad areas analyzes the intended path of travel of various trains to determine the existence of any conflicts. When one or more conflicts are detected, the system analyzes various options to resolve the... | 10/24/1978 |
| 4093161 | Control system with improved communication for centralized control of vehicles A control system for a plurality of vehicles provides for efficient communication while minimizing necessary bandwidth and communication delays. Periodic reports are received from the vehicles by a controlling authority. All vehicles in motion continually... | 06/06/1978 |
| 4066228 | Route control system for railroad interlockings A route oriented interlocking control system with only entrance, exit, and alternate route selectors on the control machine console. No track switch controllers or indications are provided at the control location. Operation of entrance and exit selectors ... | 01/03/1978 |
| 4023753 | Vehicle control system A control system is proposed which is capable of controlling driverless vehicles running on a fixed guideway according to schedule or demand. An input device is disposed at each station along the guideway to enable each passenger to enter his destination.... | 05/17/1977 |
| 4018410 | Method for the optimized transportation of passengers or objects The vehicles are moved in continuous manner in the same direction, on orders of a computer given only before their departure, fixing an itinerary optimized as a function of the congestion anticipated at each section of the network. The network comprises s... | 04/19/1977 |
| 4015804 | System for the demand-dependent control of guided vehicles The system includes equipments necessary for demand registration and control organized hierarchically. The uppermost hierarchy level includes an operations control center and station equipment connected to the operations control center. The operations con... | 04/05/1977 |
| 3976272 | Control system for railroads A traffic control system for governing from a central office train control equipment such as track switches and track signals which are disposed along a stretch of railroad track. The control system is flexible in that it can operate with either the CTC (... | 08/24/1976 |
| 3933099 | Vehicle control apparatus for a closed transporting system Control apparatus for guiding one or more vehicles along a closed transport system having a plurality of routes and a plurality of junctions each allowing a choice of two directions. The system is illustrated as comprising a number of interconnected sub-s... | 01/20/1976 |
