Appeal No. 97-1114 Page 15
Application No. 08/222,643
following passages pertinent to appellant's claimed mass transit
system:
This invention pertains to a new and improved system of
rapid transit, particularly for transporting passengers over
relatively long distances, such as between metropolitan and
suburban centers, or between cities that are spaced far
enough apart to constitute a relatively long-distance trip
by bus, but not quite far enough apart to justify airplane
travel.
As metropolitan areas spread out, and suburban areas
move farther away from their centers, highway congestion
becomes increasingly more of a problem, and bus travel
during the rush hours is slowed down to the point where it
ceases to be an attractive form of transportation. At the
same time, the proliferation of automobiles, most of which
carry only one or two passengers, produces more and more air
pollution, which is rapidly approaching a critical stage.
The present invention contemplates a system of rapid
transit, wherein passengers may be picked up by a
motor-driven wheeled vehicle, such as a bus or monorail (or
other vehicle running on tracks) which is driven around a
predetermined route and then taken to an airport or
helicopter port, where the passenger-carrying pod is
detached from its wheeled vehicle and detachably connected
to the underside of a helicopter, or other VTOL aircraft.
The pod is then carried at high speed by the helicopter from
the suburban area to the metropolitan center, above the
traffic congestion of surface highways. At the metropolitan
center depot, the helicopter lands, and in one aspect of the
invention, transfers its passenger-carrying pod onto a
waiting automotive-type wheeled chassis. When the passenger
carrying pod is thus mounted on the chassis, driving
controls inside the pod are connected to their respective
operating mechanisms on the chassis, and these are
manipulated by the operator, who drives the vehicle away, to
make the circuit of the predetermined bus route, delivering
the incoming passengers and picking up other passengers for
the return trip. Since the passenger pod would carry up to
40 (or more) passengers on each trip, this would eliminate
from 30 to 40 passenger cars from the highways, with a
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