Forwardly and rearwardly self-adjusting arrangement for driving a trackbound towing unit

Claim 1

An arrangement for driving a trackbound traction unit and being self-adjusting in both a forward and a rearward direction, which are opposed to one another longitudinally of said unit, comprising: at least two drive wheels with associated transmissions; two carrier arms having longitudinal axes are substantially parallel with the longitudinal direction of the traction unit and on which the drive wheels are journalled at one end thereof; a holder in which another end of the carrier arms is pivotally journalled by means of spherical bearings; a hydraulic piston-cylinder device which is connected to said one end of said carrier arms; a rail which is fixedly mounted in the center of said track; said carrier arms being substantially perpendicular to the geometric axes of said drive wheels and being arranged to swing said drive wheels into pressured abutment with said center rail via said hydraulic piston-cylinder device; a substantially elongated rectangular frame from which said holder projects; resilient devices from which said frame is pivotally suspended on a chassis of said traction unit; coupling devices for resilient coaction between the frame and the chassis; hydraulic holding piston-cylinder devices for coupling together said coupling devices when the traction unit is driven; when driving the traction unit forwards or in reverse, selected ones of said coupling devices in the driving direction abut one another such as to form pivot points while remaining others of said coupling devices are disposed out of mutual engagement, said coupling devices and the center points of said drive wheels being located in a same plane, which is substantially parallel with the track plane, and said frame is free to tilt up or down in a vertical plane which is one of perpendicular to and parallel with the center rail; and in the event that a deviation of the rail position from the plane of the frame occurs in a driving state, the frame is rotated by at least one of a vertical reaction drive-force component acting on said drive wheels and a substantially horizontal reaction-pressure force acting on said drive wheels to the deviating position of the rail, in which position the total drive force of said drive wheels is directed towards said pivot points.