Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B9/00—Kinds or types of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures
  • B66B9/06—Kinds or types of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures inclined, e.g. serving blast furnaces
  • B66B9/08—Kinds or types of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures inclined, e.g. serving blast furnaces associated with stairways, e.g. for transporting disabled persons
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B9/00—Kinds or types of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures
  • B66B9/06—Kinds or types of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures inclined, e.g. serving blast furnaces
  • B66B9/08—Kinds or types of lifts in, or associated with, buildings or other structures inclined, e.g. serving blast furnaces associated with stairways, e.g. for transporting disabled persons
  • B66B9/0846—Guide rail

Definitions

• Embodiments of the invention relate to a home escalator device, in particular for lifting and lowering people along stairs, e.g. mobility challenged people.
• WO2018092125 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a home escalator device for supporting upward and downward movement of people along stairs of the staircase.
• the home escalator device in one of its examples includes supports that can be fitted to the stairs and rails that can be pivotally coupled to the supports to permit adjustment of the device for use with staircases of different steepness.
• a home escalator device for transferring users up or down along stairs of a staircase, the device comprising a plurality of rests each comprising a base member and an axially extending rod member that is coupled to the base member, wherein the coupling is of an axial end region of the rod member with the base member while a remainder of the rod member extends sideways away from the base member towards an opposing axial end region of the rod member, and wherein the device further comprises at least one rail that is coupled to the base members of all rests.
• FIG. 1 schematically shows embodiments of base members placed on treads of a typical staircase for supporting a home escalator device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 2 schematically shows base members such as those shown in Fig. 1 coupled each to respective rod members of a home escalator device embodiment
• FIG. 3 schematically shows an embodiment of a home escalator device of the present invention with rails fixed to base members such as those shown in the former figures and a platform that is adapted to move along the rails;
• FIG. 4 schematically shows a platform embodiment
• FIG. 5 schematically shows escalator device embodiments such as those shown in the former figures (with their respective platforms removed), used in a possible formation for bridging a series of staircases;
• FIG. 6A and 6B schematically show a further platform embodiment.
• FIG. 1 schematically illustrating a typical staircase 10 with base members 12 of a home escalator device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, being seen placed each on a respective tread 11 of the staircase. It is noted that base members (and rests described herein below) may not necessarily be placed on each stair of the staircase and hence may be placed only on part of the stairs.
• Base member 12 can be seen in the enlarged view at the upper side of Fig. 1 as including a hollow bar 121 that is formed about an axis X, a generally planar plate (or plank) 123 and two side supports 122 that connect between the bar 121 and the plate 123.
• Base member 12 can be placed on a tread 11 of a staircase with its bar extending axially generally alongside an intersection 13 formed between the tread 11 and an adjacent riser of the staircase that extends above the tread.
• the base members can possibly be laid on the stairs without being positively attached to the stairs, i.e. said base members can be lifted up from the stairs without need to release any fasteners or the like.
• FIG. 2 illustrating arm- like rod members 14 being placed alongside respective intersections 13 between adjacent treads and risers of the staircase.
• Each rod member 14 can be seen being coupled adjacent one of its axial ends 141 to a respective base member 12 and extending sideways therefrom along its respective stair.
• Coupling between a rod member 14 and its respective base member 12 can be formed by inserting an end region of the rod member (adjacent axial end 141) through the hollow bar 121 of the base member 12.
• Blocks 16 may be placed at spaced apart locations along each rod member 14.
• the blocks may serve for slightly lifting and/or spacing the rod members away from the intersection 13 along which they are placed and/or for providing cushioning or support between the rod members and the treads/risers of the staircase, while possibly increasing friction between the escalator and a staircase while possibly avoiding substantial damage (e.g. scratches) to the staircase.
• assemblies of a base member and its associated rod member - provide rests 17 for the escalator device against stairs in the staircase.
• the rests 17 as seen provide on the one hand stability to an escalator device during use while maintaining a relative open passage along the staircase e.g. for users wanting to ascend or descend the staircase not using the home escalator device.
• the base that is located at a first lateral side (LI) (here right side) of each stair (and by that occupies only a small lateral portion of each stair) - provides an interface for connecting to further elements of the escalator, while the arm- like rod member that ‘snugly’ extends sideways along the intersection 13 of each stair towards the opposing lateral side (L2) of the stair - is adapted to resist moment forces that may act to tilt the escalator device sideways. See the opposing lateral sides of the staircase LI and L2 indicated in Fig. 3.
• FIG. 3 illustrating rails 18 connected to the base members that due to the positioning of the bases along a lateral right-hand side of the staircase - are also placed extending along the same lateral side of the staircase.
• the rails may be fixed to the plate 123 of each base.
• fixing of the rails to the plate of each base member is such that each rail is located generally above a respective side support 122 of the base member that supports it from beneath.
• any numbers of rails 18 and/or respective side supports 122 may be provided, such as a single rail 18 possible situated generally above a single side support 122 of a base member.
• Coupling between each base member and its respective rod member may be such that the base member can be relatively free to be pivoted about its rod member at least during assembly of a home escalator device to a staircase. Such pivoting of the base member may facilitate adjustment of a home escalator device to staircases of different steepness and/or sizes.
• Rails 18 may be of a linear motion guide type supporting motion of carriage slide units there along (such carriage slide units being hidden in the provided figures).
• a motor 20 coupled to a rail 18 may be used for urging axial movement of a carriage slide unit along the rail by means of an endless belt (or the like).
• Fig. 3 additionally shows a platform 22 that can be coupled to the rails of the escalator device for supporting users up or down the staircase. Coupling of the platform can typically be performed to the carriage slide(s) units of the rails.
• one of the rails may be operatively coupled to a motor 20 to form an “operative” active rail that can be used for urging movement of the platform up or down the staircase, while the other rail may be a “passive” rail that is not connected to the motor and by that functions to mainly support the platform against moment forces acting to tilt the device.
• a “passive” rail may be the more outer lateral rail.
• FIG. 4 illustrating a platform embodiment 22 that may include a foldable chair 24.
• the chair may be pivoted between a ‘nondeployed’ state where it may optionally be substantially flush with a hand support railing 26 of the platform (see right hand side of figure) and a ‘deployed’ state (see left hand side of figure) where the chair is in a position suitable for supporting a user.
• Fig. 5 illustrates possible use of several escalator device embodiments 100 such as those shown and described herein for supporting users up or down a staircase that includes several flights (here three flights).
• FIGs. 6A and 6B illustrating a platform embodiment 22 that may include a foldable standing support 28.
• the standing support may be pivoted between a ‘non-deployed’ state where it is foldable in this example towards a hand support railing 26 of the platform (see Fig. 6B) and a ‘deployed’ state (see Fig. 6A) where the standing support is in a position suitable for supporting a user.
• the platform embodiment 22 in this embodiment may include also a foldable chair, an example of which can be seen in Fig. 4.
• Provision of such foldable supports may be useful in maintaining the open passage along the staircase e.g. for users wanting to ascend or descend the staircase not using the home escalator device.
• each of the verbs, “comprise” “include” and “have”, and conjugates thereof, are used to indicate that the object or objects of the verb are not necessarily a complete listing of members, components, elements or parts of the subject or subjects of the verb.

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• 2021
  • 2021-09-19 IL IL301430A patent/IL301430A/en unknown
  • 2021-09-19 WO PCT/IB2021/058526 patent/WO2022064341A1/en unknown
  • 2021-09-19 EP EP21794954.4A patent/EP4200242A1/de active Pending

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