Abstract: A monorail transit system includes transit drive units for supporting a transit car body on a beam and propelling the body along the beam. Improvements to the transit system include a quiet steel rail with vibration isolation for the beam, a vehicle braking system using a fixed plat engaged with a steel rail to arrest motion of the drive unit, a beam stabilizing support structure comprising a column with an insert that extends into a hollow beam portion, a drive unit coupled to the transit car body so as to be able to rotate with respect to the body while the drive unit and transit car body are traversing a curve in the rail, a leveling system for automatically leveling the car body with respect to a loading platform and a mechanism for automatically tilting the car body in response to centrifugal forces and then leveling the body, an articulating car body for accommodating curved beams, and a mechanism for providing positive traction on an inclined steel rail.

Abstract: A monorail beam is provided with a lower, upwardly-facing support surface, a lower, laterally-facing support surface and an upper, medially-facing support surface (relative to the support beam). Vehicles are hangingly supported, pendulum-like, from davit-like cantilevering arms of support trucks having wheels which run on or act against the base support surfaces so that they run along the side or sides of the beam. The beam may be elevated on columns, surface mounted, or depressed in tunnels. By preference, the vehicles' bodies are detachable from the trucks, and the heaviest air-conditioning components are mounted on the trucks rather than on the bodies. Power transmission and automatic control systems are described, as are switching systems and station facilities.