h a l f b a k e r yClearly this is a metaphor for something.
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The system I propose would be for delivering goods. it is
in essence a really simple monorail system similar to the
Shweeb. It would be much like railway systems but
simpler and for lower volumes of goods. the rail on
which the cars ride is simply a long pipe with a groove
cut in the bottom.
it is suspended from existing utility
poles with multiple cables similar to existing cable
stayed bridges so as to keep the track as flat as possible
while cars pass. Several electrical leads would run along
the inside of the pipe and would be connected to power
lines also suspended to said utility poles. the rails can be
branched and merged easily using y junctions. tracks go
all the way to the home, where they can be retrieved
automatically by an add on system or simply given
authorization (digital signature or the like) to come
down.
The cars would be made up of several parts, Two wheel
carriages, which rest inside the pipe, connected to a
body
of sorts. both wheel cariages have integrated barcode
scanners. The body has some means for attaching cargo
of
sorts and it contains a motor with which to drive the car.
To deploy said system do what they did for the railroads,
use the tracks to deliver more tracks. the difference here
would be that the track would weigh very little and the
supports on which to hang them (utility poles) would
already be in place.
Pneumatic Messaging Systems
http://www.dself.ds...eumess/pneumess.htm
This idea reminds me of these old schemes. [Wrongfellow, Jan 04 2010]
Physical Internet
physical_20internet
Prior Art [8th of 7, Jan 04 2010]
Shweeb monorail
http://www.shweeb.com/
a passenger powered hanging monorail [RichardT, Jan 04 2010]
[link]
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//cars would resemble 60 gallon drums.// That's pretty big piping. The existing infrastructure is designed to support cables - have you estimated how much the structural upgrades would be?
Some capital letters and line breaks would be nice.
Welcome to the HB. |
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So where's the system that delivers this monorail system? Or have I missed a level of recursiveness somewhere? |
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current utility poles hold the weight of the people that
work on them (from time to time) they are really really
sturdy and the cargo would be under 50 lbs(maybe a few
pizzas). As for the rail itself it needn't be any bigger than
5cm in internal diameter. I am not talking about a system
where the canister sits inside the rail but rather where
the canister hangs under the rail. Sorry for formatting
issues. I hope the last edit helps. I just wanted to put the
idea out there this morning. It evidently is out there
already. Though I hope this is simple and robust enough
to implement. |
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As for how the system is delivered ,the parts themselves
(Plastic rail, cables, metal supports) can obviously be
shipped using the system itself, with the exception of the
utility poles of course, but I think you might be able to
make a robot to install it. The robot would have to have
GPS and laser terrain scanning. The robot rides on the
rail it builds as it installs it. first the robot encounters a
section in which it needs to install the rail system. I thing
the simplest way to do the installation would be to
package the cables, precut to the proper length(a
scanning van will pass by (maybe a cooperative project
with Google) and scan the utility poles beforehand so
needed data can be gathered.) so, the robot
unpackages the cables attaches them to needed supports
and trundles over to the other side to install supports
and cables there. then it snaps on the plastic rails. and
connects leads for power and grounding to said plastic
rails. It keeps on going and it's trailing end follows all the
while imprinting navigational bar codes. |
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Maintenance robots similar to this one could check
installed rails for damage after installation, reaply faded
or unreadable navigational bar codes and or call for
material and or more advanced maintenance robots via
cellular link. |
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How do you prevent stepladder-equipped "entrepreneurs" from grabbing passing containers and abstracting the contents ? |
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The tracks would be installed well above the street(at
least 4m). the support brackets would allow them to be
hung next to the electrical wires(60 hertz sounds tend to
repel people). The containers themselves would have to
be locked to the cars until authorization is given to drop
(electronic security) with randomly placed ink tags added
to all containers that burst upon forced entry(denial of
reward. Not just secured with a simple latch. also the
cars would be well attached to their tracks, I doubt
anyone will be removing them unless they bring a sledge
hammer or a hacksaw (go ahead though saw through the
tracks, I dare you }:) make sure to use a full metal
hacksaw though! |
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