| 摘要 |
A multicombination vehicle and method are provided for transporting a payload, such as a mined metal ore, over the roadways existing in an underground mine. The multicombination vehicle includes a powered towing unit, which may comprise a rigid body truck, and at least one towed unit mechanically coupled to the rigid body truck. The vehicle may also include a plurality of the towed units, with a forward most one of the units coupled to the rigid body truck and each adjacent pair of the towed units being coupled to one another. Each of the units includes a chassis, a plurality of wheeled axles connected to the chassis for supporting the respective unit as the vehicle travels over the roadways of the mine, and a draw frame attached to and extending rearwardly from the corresponding chassis, with a coupling attached to a rear end of the draw frame. Each towed unit may comprise a semi-trailer mounted on a dolly, with a drawbar attached to and extending forwardly from the dolly and connected with the coupling of the immediately forward unit of the vehicle. The multicombination vehicle is configured so as to minimize the swept path width of the vehicle as the vehicle negotiates turns. This is accomplished by providing each of the towed units with a dolly drawbar length having a value of less than 3.0 meters and establishing a ratio of the coupling overhang-to-wheelbase, for each of the units, of at least 0.5.
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