Copyright 2018, Lord Oxford

Update 15/10/018

TheEx.press

Is the THIRD system name – Formerly

TRAVELEX.PRESS

Then AKA by

NEWTRAVELEX.PRESS*

TheEx.press

a CITY transport system

Like no other.

System Outline

TheEx.press is a civilized Ecological, clean and safe way to get a large number of people from one exact location in a city to where they want to go ECONOMICALLY, Quickly, SAFELY, and in comfort

The system consists of an elevated or enclosed Track, along which “standard Cars” (usually configured to carry 4 people and/or luggage) and, (importantly) massing no more than 1 tonne…. With a known (and not excessive) weight the (typically) elevated tracks do not need to carry extreme loads, like conventional road and rail do, and can also be a lot lighter, neater and cheaper than conventional road, rail, canal or even pedestrian bridges. The system control weighs the cars by calculation from their acceleration from a given applied motor power to prevent overload.

Like a conventional railway carriage, There is usually no individual driver per carriage .. Our “standard car” travels on Rubicon Rails.*

TheEx.press Is based on The “Rubicon Rail” system, developed for delivering millions of tonnes of coral sand to offshore barrier construction sites in the shallow tidal waters of TARAWA and other very low lying Kiribus (Formally spelled Kiribati, Formerly called“Gilbert islands”) Coral atolls in the central Pacific

The “Rubicon Rail” system works as a sort of movable conveyor belt – moving a large number of small (1 tonne) loads at a known speed and spacing, such that adequate roads and bridges can be made of much lighter weight than for heavy rail or heavy general traffic, and can be assembled (and moved) quickly and at a low cost.

TheEx.press is designed for PASSENGERS (and freight and auto delivery, postage, etc.) in a city environment, eventually replacing all but the NECESSARY heaviest of vehicles which become the exception rather than being the dominant, dirty, and lethal intruders on pedestrian and plant ground space.

The system is EXPRESS, but it is NOT HIGH SPEED EXPRESS, typically, it typically runs at a CONSTANT 15metres/sec (54Km/Hr) so a 10Km inner city trip will take just over 10 minutes with NO STOPS, no fumes, no deaths, injuries cusses and arguments with drunk and other dangerous drivers...

The TRACK

www.TheTrack.Systems

Rubicon Rail is unlike conventional railway’s heavy steel rails, Rubicon Rails are a 3 dimensional database describing exactly where the wheels should go – they are not made of any material – they are invisible, but conform exactly with where the wheels are on an apparent actual road, which is also inertially measured by MEMS on each vehicle, thereby reporting any slight defect in that (real) road surface. There is not just one remote computer controlling our passage, there are many cross checking each other and “the real world map” each carriage DOES have a virtual driver (and an actual human driver in the control room can see from forward cameras and steer within the limits and “road rules” of the track) to tell an individual carriage when and how to turn off on a siding – this is where conventional motor cars win over railroads, with their heavy and slow rail switch which can fail to be one way or the other, requiring large timing gaps between such switches to ensure correctly completed switch, or stop the next train before it gets to that point. Railway trains are VERY HEAVY and have poor traction – they may take several Km to stop. Our cars can brake quickly like road cars, in an emergency, but this is not normal. Where possible braking and accelerating forces are translated to “virtual vertical” ie – like the accelerate and decelerate of a lift – more on this later.

Like a railway track, people and animal are excluded from NewTravelExpress “Tracks” or “Highways” - by fencing, or often - Particularly in dense cities - by complete enclosure to keep cretures, debris and severe weather out. They can also maintain dry and (relatively temperate operations

Elevated tracks are normal in cities as well as over the shallow tidal waters in Kiribus – This similar “Wildcat” movable support system can be used to rapidly deploy, repair, vary or remove tracks in the city rapidly, cheaply and with minimal interference to existing structures and traffic They are named “wildcat” because of their similar appearance to the (much larger) “jack up” wildcat offshore oil exploration drilling rigs. - which are floated into position, then their long legs are lowered to the sea floor and then the platform is raised up. Our variant “Wildcat cabins” are typically a 4m x 8m platform, with the 8 legs individually raised and moved along the 8metre side, then placed down to support the platform whilst the next legs are raised, thus the platform is WALKED or waded dry, over land or shallow lake beds

(8 October 2018 update continued)

The support standard is 4m wide, 8m long, ... the Kiribus standard size,,, though we can use a different base size to suit other needs and environs, for example building some longer bridge spans to pass over a conventional crossing road below, and some narrower wildcats to permit traffic to pass under it, such as at crossroads

(picture, wildcat cabin frame)

As described above, the standard RubiconRail trackway supports a 4 metre wide track, over an extendable 8metre length ( an oblong of two 4m squares, on 6 legs placed about 4 metres apart )

the 3 legs on each 8 metre side can be slid along that side, driven by motors when that leg is raised. The motors are an accessory that can be mounted and dismounted by hand or by machine ONLY when needed – that is, when the support needs to be moved – installed, adjusted or removed. It is normally only used during the initial construction and install, then the system is locked (by manual bolting) and the motors used elsewhere

Construction Sites

In most conventional construction sites various teams have various construction sites as close as possible – this is difficult in a busy metropolis. We don’t need such building sites .. basically, only the “parking spaces” where our road will be “constructed” - though “Driven to” or “assembled” may be a better word…. Whatever ,,,, the assembly point is not usually the final placing of our platforms – they can walk off at about 1Km/hr towards their intended position, and another is built at the same “roadside position” … and that walks off until the last one is assembled, adjusted, and the trucks move off.

In 10 hours we can deploy 20Km of track support – 10Km in each direction

more if we have more than one assembly site and team

I did say, “ TheEx.press is a CITY transport system like no other.” This is just about true ….from a “carpark’ or reserve of fully assembled platforms … but without that, to assemble and test each of these platforms , and fit and test their mobility modules may take 2 hours, manually, with just 1 modest mobile crane and a dozen men H24 with spanners, it would take a bit longer… but assembly line automation is quite easy.

The Track support structure

The support structure is based on Wildcat Cabins which can be (water or road) floated to the desired positions, then raised to the desired height. This COULD be done manually, as it is basically a very large ratchet jack that can be raised a notch at a time by a man with a lever on each of the legs, and when one of the legs is not touching the ground, the leg can be pushed along the horizontal Thigh beam with ease before lowering down, then forcing down to support theplatform whilst another leg is moved by a similar cycle

Atop this horizontal framework a 4m wide, 8m long road platform and another road platform is inverted and hinged to hinge up, out, and down like a castle’s drawbridge. (we use the middle pair of legs moved fully forward on the platform’s 8 metre “thigh” beam in their “shipping mode” - that is the legs are jacked up high above the frame and other winches and rigging manipulate it to connect the track to the next platform.

Then the raised pair are returned to feet mode, and the first pair are maneuvered to the centre of the new span. Lowered and adjusted to support it. 2 legs every 4 metres (adjustable).

(at 16 track metres per platform, about 63 platforms per Km are required 1260 for the above “nights effort” they need about 100 square metres each to store 12.6Ha)

10 October 2018 … to be continued

at 2 hours each assembly time , H24 is 2520 hours – 3 or 4 months for 1 team, at one site with 13Ha of parking … It could be done that way, but there are better ways, more sensible ways … such as

12 Oct 2018 continued

The components assembled are very basic shapes mostly, for level straight line tracks there are only a few large and heavy, but not very heavy components, all or most , of which can be delivered over our trackway as it is under construction, before enclosure. This is more fluid building – a supply line “off the barge” delivers down the one construction path to branching multiple lines,,, growing the system more like a tree than a line,

the 8metre long wildcat thigh beams are less than 1 tonne, and can easily travel between 2 (or more) support cars, straight runs – Easy. Curves need to be handled carefully ... we don’t plan on having sharp corners anyway! , Decking panels 4m x 8m are the widest, heaviest and least wieldy parts to travel on the (part constructed, delivery) 4m track. But it can be done … perhaps they are 2m x 4m to be joined, (or even hinged).

1310-018 continued … move server to 1310-018 TheEx-press.html TheCity.Systems

TheEx.Press

The Wildcat Wildcat assembler … “On track assemblers” or “snake builder”

This is like a snake’s head – or Hydra’s head, several of these can run off a single “Body” or “Component supply line” Like “heads of a Hydra” or animal’s biological structures from a bloodstream

Each assembler head may choose different systems – some can even be “manual”, but automated, the wildcat wildcat assembler is a PORTABLE factory system, not much wider than the track leading to it

1) Single ended MANUAL tail fed snake builder

Whereas this is the cheapest BATCH builder it needs some times of full conventional road closure during construction, not just its track width, but enough space in adjacent carriageway for trucking in and out for mobile cranes … Its more disturbing because of this, but is useful particularly for building “stations” - and “turnoffs” in this system the initial platform unloads components from supply trucks onto rubicon rail carrier “cars” ...the track is used, by our track vehicles, normally outward only, and returned to temporary start depot by truck,

(( note that at system opening time these “stations” - and “turnoffs” are more akin to “bus stops” or “exit roads” - only individual “cars” / “carriages” wanting to stop,or change routes do so ...normal traffic straight ahead does not )) There may be dozens of such operations each supplied by a temporary supply and storage depots in one locality, or many localities

2) Multi Head (and tail) Snake Builder “HYDRA”

Whilst under construction the said snake can have several heads dispensing track and several tails receiving construction parts. The returning (mostly empty) carry cars may intersperse with normal traffic on existing loops to get back to the supply “tail” for new carrying tasks. The construction track (with no cover) can take wider and longer loads than the completed ones, but are subject to halts in bad weather. This is ideal for a major dockyard source of supply (barge, national or international shipping) where building stock can be fed directly to the numerous heads faster than a single head can build, with reserves parked on tracks or lay-byes after ships (rapidly unloaded) and we wait for next barge. Partial pre assembly can be carried out on the track to speed head deployment speed, multiple tails unload the ship or barge directly,,, AND SORT the components onto different tracks or stores for delivery in the right order… Rubicon Rail is also usable as a warehousing and postal system – even during track construction

Edit point 1510-018

TheEx.press + NewTRAVELEX.PRESS

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