US1173235A - Elevator safety system. - Google Patents

Description

G. S. WILLIAMSON.

ELEVATOR SAFETY SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 12, 1914.

30 O a a? Q 1 L b33339 5/ 9,3 29 0 F5 0 O Patented Feb. 29, 91

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFI GLENN S. WILLIAMSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 SHURLOC ELEVATOR SAFETY 00., INC., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELEVATOR SAFETY SYSTEM.

Application filed March 12, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. GLENN S. lVILLIAM- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator Safety Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to elevator safetysystems, and its object is to provide means for illuminating the contiguous portions of the car and landing floors when the car is at a landing, the same being dependent upon the operation or control of the corresponding landing door, which opens and closes the doorway into the shaft; and also to combine such safety illuminating means with automatic car-locking mechanism and a means of control common to both.

More specifically, the invention comprises a floor-light for cars controlled after the manner of and preferably in conjunction with a car-locking mechanism in which the car may be locked at a landing either by locking the controller handle in inoperative position or breaking the car-operating circuit, or both.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, it being understood that numerous other specific constructions not illustrated may be devised for carrying the invention into effeet.

In these views: Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating my invention, the car being shown at a landing; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of parts mounted at the landing; Fig. 3 is a similar view showing these parts in a changed position; and Fig. 4 is a detail section enlarged plan view illustrating a form of device which may be employed for controlling the floor-light circuit.

An elevator car is indicated at 10, and 11 is a door to the shaft at one of the landings. The controller 12 in the car may be of any suitable or approved character, and as will be understood, in elevators driven by electric power, has circuit-controlling provisions whereby the car may be started and stopped and run in eitherdirection. I also provide the carv with mechanism, indicated generally by the reference character C, for rendering the controller inoperative and for operating the floor-light hereinafter re- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 29,1915.

Serial in. 824,121.

ferred to. My invention is not necessarily limited to the specific character or mode of operation of this mechanism, and naturally the selection of an appropriate train of parts is within the province of the skilled mechanic. The mechanism may render the controller inoperative by locking it in neutral position, or by breaking or otherwise afiecting the condition of a circuit, such that it would be impossible to start the car by the controller even if the latter could be moved. I prefer, however, to do both.

Briefly describing the specific car mechanism illustrated, 13 is a slide bar, appropriately mounted and guided beneath the floor of the car, 14 is a circuit-breaker having a projecting arm 15 in the path of a projection 16 on said bar, 17 is a rock-shaft having an arm 18 engaged by the slide bar, and 19 is a locking rod pivoted to another arm 30 on said rock-shaft and extending upward through a guide tube 21 inside the casing of the controller. The upper end of this rod is normally out of operative relation to a notched part 22 on the controller lever, but when the slide-bar is moved rearward the consequent rocking of the shaft raises the locking rod into engagement with or into the path of said notched part. Inclined portions or ways lead to the notch so as to guide the rod into the notch and thus permit the lever to be locked.

The contacting part 23, preferably in the form of a vertical shoe having curved ends, is carried by the forward end of the slide bar 13, being thereby connected with or forming part of the car mechanism C. This contacting part is adapted to cooperate with other contacting parts 24 at the several landings, for the purpose of coordinating the car mechanism with the shaft gates or gate locks. In the particular embodiment shown the car mechanism cooperates with the lending door locks.

The locking device installed in connection with the shaft gate at each landing is designated generally by the reference character L. The construction of and the specific manner of operating this device may be varied. I have illustrated and prefer a very simple construction, wherein the lock 29 for the gate and the contacting part 24 are constituted in one movable element, preferably a slide or plunger operating in a guide recess in a suitable base plate, casing or support 45. As shown this slide operates transversely of the shaft gate, one end forming the contacting part 24 and the other end being adapted to occupy a position behind the gate so as to lock the same closed. For purposes of adjustment the contacting part 24 is preferably screwed to the body of the slide, a lock nut 26 being provided to hold the adjustment.

The lock, and the therewith connected contacting part 24, are operated automatically upon the gate being completely closed. To this end a spring 27 and detent 28 are provided. The spring urges the bolt of the lock toward locking position, and the detent automatically engages the bolt (or a connected part) when the bolt is withdrawn, and holds it and the contacting part 24 in this condition against the tension of the prevent the latter from moving freely. The

door, if open, also acts to keep the bolt and contacting member 23 in actuated position should the detent become disengaged. The gate in the last portion of its closing movement, after its rear edge has passed the locking bolt, disengages the detent, so that the bolt is free to shoot into locking position behind the gate, this same movement restoring the contacting part 24 to normal position. The construction and arrangement of the detent may, of course, be varied. As. shown it is slidable in a guide recess in the base plate'transversely to the locking slide 29, which is provided with a recess 30 in its side positioned to be engaged by the end of the detent when the lock is withdrawn. A spring 31 presses against the detent to urge it into engagement with the slide, and a pin 32 projecting upward from the detent enables it to be released at the proper moment by a pin 33 projecting from the door. A cover plate, which protects and holds the slide and detent in place, has been omitted from the drawings for clearness of illustration.

Vhen the car is brought to a landing the contacting parts 23, 24 are opposite each other, though not necessarily in contact. The car mechanism and the shaft door lock are thus coordinated, and brought into reciprocal relation, so that movement of one will cause movement of the other. The nature, location, and manner of connecting the operating means wherewith the operator withdraws the bolt of the door lock and actuates the car mechanism may be varied, but in the present embodiment of the invention such means is located at each landing, and, as shown, includes the slide rod 34 on the shaft door. This rod is pivotally connected at one end with an arm on a vertical shaft 35 carried by the door adjacent its rear edge; and at the lower end of this shaft is an arm 36, which when the rod 34 is slid to the right presses forward against the upstanding portion 37 on the slide 29, thus moving the latter against the tension of its spring so as to withdraw the locking portion 29, thereby permitting the gate to be opened by the operator continuing to push to the right on the rod 34. A spring 39 is provided for restoring the slide rod 34, the shaft 35 and the arm 36 to normal positions with relation to the door.

It will thus be seen that in the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated, the effort of the car operator is applied first to the shaft door lock to withdraw the same, and this effort is transmitted to the car mechanism through the thrust of the contacting member 24 against the contacting member 23. As long as the door is open and until it is entirely closed and re-locked, the parts remain in this condition, that is to say, with the door lock withdrawn and the controller in the car rendered inoperative. But, when the door has been entirely closed, and the detent 28 has been thereby disengaged from the slide 29, the latter is restored to gate-locking position by means of its spring; and, the car mechanism being no longer held by the contacting member 24, is free to return to normal position. It will be obvious that the slide 29 in its return movement might be caused to positively restore the car mechanism, or the weight of the locking rod 19 or its equivalent a spring may be relied upon to return the carried parts to the positions shownin Fig. 1.

It will be observed that in the embodiment of the invention shown the operating means for releasing the shaft door lock and actuating the car mechanism is distinct from the controller lever, and, furthermore, it is not necessary to bring the controller lever to neutral position in order to operate its locking mechanism. To thisend, as more particularly disclosed in Fig. l of the drawings referred to, the locking rod is connected with the car contacting member in a yieldingly manner, for example by mounting the arm 20 loosely on the rock-shaft 1'7 and con necting them by a spring .39, while the notched part 22 on the control lever has cam or inclined surfaces at opposite sides of the notch, so that if the rod is thrust upward when the controller is not in neutral midposition, it can latch into the notch when thecontroller is brought into such position. Manifestly, however, this may be otherwise.

The electric floorlight in the car is designated 50. It is preferably disposed near the floor and at the sideor sides of the car and as indicated is located at the right-hand side of the car doorway or the controller side of the car, and is provided with a suit able reflector or light-directing means, so

that when the lamp is lighted its rays clearly illuminate the car floor and landing at opposite sides of the gap. The particular style of lamp employed is not essential. Either an incandescent or a vapor lamp may be used. It is included in a suitable electric circuit, preferably a shunt of the regular car-lighting circuit, for which reason a cable comprising wires 51 and is shown leading downward from the upper part of the car. The wire 51 goes direct to one terminal of the lamp, while the wire 52 is interrupted, one portion being connected to a terminal 53 and the other portion being connected to a terminal 54 and to the other lamp terminal. The terminals 53 and 54 are mounted in a suitable support 55, where they are suitably insulated from each other. Electrical connection between these terminals may be established by a conducting plate or strip 56 on the side of a rearward extension 13 of the slide bar 13 of the car shoe Q3. Normally, however, the end of the terminal rests on a block of insulation 57 on said extension 13 abutting the plate 56 and having its outer face flush therewith. The terminals 53, 54 are yieldingly pressed forward, as by springs 58, so as to insure a goodcontact.

In general, any suitable form of circuit making and breakingdevice connected with the car mechanism in such manner as to open and close the lamp circuit at proper times may be employed.

In the condition illustrated in Fig. 1, the floor lamp is not lighted, the shaft door is still locked, and the controller is still operative to cause the car to rise or descend. As soon, however, as the operator unlocks the shaft door by sliding the rod 34 to the right, the car operating circuit is interrupted at 14, the controller locking rod 19 is brought into locking position, and, simultaneously, the rearward movement of the extension 13 causes the contact portion 56 to connect the terminals 53 and 54, whereupon the floorlamp is illuminated, and continues to throw its rays upon the region where passengers must step into and out of the car, as long as the gate is open and until it is relocked and as long as the car controller is locked.

While I have shown and described a suitable and preferred embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that numerous changes and reversals may be made without departing from its scope.

IVhat I claim as new is- 1. In a safety illuminating system for elevators, the combination with an elevator shaft door and a lock therefor, of a floorlight in the elevator car, a circuit for said floor-light including a circuit closer on the car, and a train of mechanical connections between said lock for the shaft door and the circuit closer, which connections are partly on the car and partly at the landing, whereby said circuit closer .is operated simultaneously with the unlocking of the door and the light remains lighted until the shaft door is relocked.

2. In a safety illuminating system for elevators, the combination with an elevator shaft door, and a lock therefor, of a lighting circuit including a floor light and a circuit closer both on the car, means for unlocking the elevator shaft door, and mechanical connections whereby said means also operates said circuit closer.

3. In a safety illuminating system for elevators, the combination with an elevator shaft having a landing, of an elevator car having a controller, a lock for said controller, a lighting circuit including a floor-light and a circuit closer both on the car, and a train of mechanical connections'mounted in part at the landing and in part on the car and connected both with the controller lock and said circuit closer.

4. In a safety illuminating system for elevators, the combination of an elevator car having a controller, a lock for said controller, a lighting circuit including a floorlight and a circuit closer both on the car, and operating connections including a shoe carried by the car and links connecting said shoe with the controller lock and circuit closer.

5. In a safety illuminating system for elevators, the combination with an elevator car and a shaft door, of a lighting circuit including a floor-light in said car, a lock for said door, a manual member on said door for unlocking said lock, and connections located in part at the landing and in part on the car for closing said circuit to cause the said light to illuminate the floor by means of the operation of said manual operating member.

6. In a safety illuminating system for elevators, the combination with an elevator car, a floor-light therein, an electric circuit for said light, and a circuit-controlling device on the car, of an elevator shaft door, a looking device therefor, and cooperative contacting members on the car and landing connected with said circuit-controlling device and locking device respectively, whereby said light is made luminous when said shaft door, a bolt for locking the same closed, and a contacting member at the landing connected with said bolt so as to move when the latter is moved to permit the door to be opened, of a floor-light in the elevator car, a circuit therefor, a making and breaking device for said circuit, a contacting member on the car connected With said circuit making and'breaking device and adapted to occupy an operative position relative to the other contacting member when the car is at the landing, means for moving one of said contacting members and thereby imparting movement to the other when the car is at the landing, whereby said light is made luminous simultaneously with the unlocking of the door.

9. In an elevator safety illuminating system, the combination With an elevator shaft door, an unlocking member thereon, a contacting member at the landing and connections whereby said contacting member is moved by said unlocking member upon the opening of the door, of alighting circuit including a floor-light in the car, a contacting member carried by the car and adapted to be moved by the aforesaid contacting member, and mechanical connections *Whereby the closing and opening of said floor-light circuit is effected through the movement of said car-carried contacting member.

10. In an elevator safety illuminating system, an elevator shaft door, a locking bolt at the landing for locking said door closed,

means for retracting said bolt to permit the GLENN S. WILLIAMSON.

Witnesses:

WM. F. PURCELL, FRANK S. HARTNETT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

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