GB2095196A

GB2095196A - Drive system of escalator

Info

Publication number: GB2095196A
Application number: GB8205349A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Current assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Priority date: 1981-02-25
Filing date: 1982-02-23
Publication date: 1982-09-29
Also published as: KR890002397B1; HK5286A; GB2095196B; JPS57141376A; JPS6364388B2; KR830007414A

Abstract

A drive system of an escalator enabling the area of a space for installing the escalator to be reduced, wherein a drive sprocket wheel (4) for transmitting motive force to a drive shaft (6) is arranged at one end of the drive shaft (6) outwardly of a step chain drive sprocket wheel (7) and a handrail drive sprocket wheel (19) for transmitting motive force to handrails is arranged at the other end thereof outwardly of another step chain drive sprocket wheel (7). Motive force is transmitted from the handrail drive sprocket wheel (19) through a chain (21) to handrail drive sections disposed on opposite sides to actuate same. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Drive system of man conveyor Background of the invention (1) Field of the invention This invention relates to a drive system of a man conveyor.

(2) Description of the prior art Heretofore, in one type of drive system of a moving staircase or man conveyor known in the art, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Patent No.

1,956,1 54, at least five sprocket wheels including a pair of step chain drive sprocket wheels, a pair of handrail drive sprocket wheels and a drive sprocket wheel receiving motive force from a drive motor are supported on a drive shaft at an upper end portion of the man conveyor.

There has in recent years been a demand for increasing the effective area of a space within a buiiding by reducing the area of a space occupied by man conveyors.

Various programs have been under way in many quarters to satisfy this demand. Research and experiments conducted by us have shown that in the man conveyor drive system of the aforesaid construction, the drive system as a whole constitutes a bottleneck that makes it difficult to reduce the width of the man conveyor as a whole, because of the arrangement that the step chain drive sprocket wheels, drive sprocket wheel and handrail drive sprocket wheels are arranged in side-by-side relation at one end portion of the drive shaft and the drive sprocket wheel has the number of the teeth on its rim increased as its lift is increased.

Summary of the invention This invention has as its object the provision of a drive system of a man conveyor having its width reduced so as to thereby reduce the area of a space necessary for installing the man conveyor.

An outstanding characteristic of the invention is that a drive sprocket wheel is arranged at one outer side of a pair of step chain drive sprocket wheels for a drive shaft and a handrail drive sprocket wheel is arranged at the other outer side thereof, in view of the fact that the force necessary for driving the handrails does not substantially increase even if the lift of the man conveyor is increased and the motive force can be transmitted to the handrails by using only one handrail drive sprocket wheel.

Brief description of the drawings Fig. 1 is a side view of a man conveyor in its entirety, in which the present invention can have application, showing its general construction; Fig. 2 is a side view of a man conveyor in its entirety, showing the manner in which the handrails are driven; Fig. 3 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the drive system of the main conveyor comprising one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the man conveyor, showing the manner in which the handrails are driven by the drive system according to the invention; and Fig. 5 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 4 but showing a modification of the drive system therein.

Description of the preferred embodiment One embodiment of the invention will now be described by referring to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows the general construction of a man conveyor in which the invention can have application. In the figure, a drive motor 1 has directly connected thereto a reduction gear 2 having an output shaft supporting a drive sprocket wheel 3 of a minor diameter which drives a drive sprocket wheel 4 of a major diameter through a drive chain 5, to rotate a drive shaft 6. A pair of step chain drive sprocket wheels 7 are secured to the drive shaft 6, one on each side thereof, and endless step chains 10 are trained over the step chain drive sprocket wheels 7 and a pair of lower step chain follower sprocket wheels 8 supported on a follower shaft 9 in such a manner that one endless chain 10 is trained over the chain sprocket wheels 7 and 8 on either side.Steps 11 arranged at reguiar spacing intervals are secured to the step chains 10 which are driven from the drive shaft 6 as the latter rotates. Wheels attached to the steps 11 are guided to run on rails 12,13,14, 15 and 16.

Fig. 2 shows the manner in which handrails 17 operating in synchronism with the steps 11 are driven. In the figure, parts similar to those shown in Fig. 1 are designated by like reference characters. The drive shaft 6 has secured thereto a handrail drive sprocket wheel 1 9 from which motive force is transmitted to handrail follower sprocket wheels 20 through a handrail drive chain 21, so as to operate the handrails 17 through drive pulleys 22. 1 8 designates a frame.

Fig. 3 shows one example of the drive system according to the invention in an enlarged plan view.

As shown in Fig. 3, the drive system according to the invention has the pair of step chain drive sprocket wheels 7 mounted on the left and right ends of the drive shaft 6, and the drive sprocket wheel 4 is located on one outer side of the step chain drive sprocket wheels 7 while handrail drive sprocket wheel 1 9 is located on the other outer side thereof.

As shown in Fig. 4, motive force is transmitted from the handrail drive sprocket wheel 1 9 through the handrail drive chain 21, handrail follower sprocket wheels 20 and a drive pulley shaft 23 to the drive pulleys 22 to operate the handrails 1 7.

Heretofore, it has been customary to drive the handrails 1 7 by a pair of handrail drive sprocket wheels mounted on opposite ends of the drive shaft 6 as aforesaid, to operate the respective hand rails 1 7. This construction has caused the drive sprocket wheel to bulge and increase the width of the drive system.

A solution for the problem that comes to mind may contemplate mounting the handrail drive sprocket wheels between the step chain drive sprocket wheels. However, this section of the system is covered with the steps and the solution would make it difficult to carry out maintenance and repair.

The invention proposes to obviate the problem by arranging the drive sprocket wheel 4 at one end of the drive shaft 6 and the handrail drive sprocket wheel 19 at the other end thereof. This constructional form not only reduces the width of the drive system as a whole but also permits maintenance and repair to be carried out with ease because the sprocket wheels 4 and 19 are both located outside the stop chain drive sprocket wheels 7. A reduction in the width of the drive system is conducive to a reduction in the width of the man conveyor as a whole. Thus the space occupied by the man conveyor can be reduced in area by about 10% by the present invention.

Fig. 5 shows a modification of the embodiment in which the drive pulley shaft 23 is eliminated and an intermediate shaft 24 is mounted between the handrail drive sprocket wheel 19 and the drive pulleys 22. Motive force is transmitted from the handrail drive chain 21 through an intermediate follower sprocket wheel 25, intermediate shaft 24, intermediate drive sprocket wheels 26 and intermediate chains 27 to the follower sprocket wheels 20, to thereby drive the drive pulleys 22.

In this constructional form, the drive pulleys 22 can be mounted separately and the latitude with which they are mounted can be increased greatly.

This constructional form offers the advantage that it is possible to vary the phase of the handrail drive sprocket wheel 19 and the follower sprocket wheels 20, which is beyond the power of the constructional form having only one handrail drive chain 21.

In the embodiment shown and described hereinabove, the handrails 17 are driven by friction through the drive pulleys 22. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to this specific form of driving and that other form, such as driving of the handrails by means of a plurality of rollers disposed on opposite surfaces of each handrail and pressing against the handrail from opposite sides, may be used without departing from the scope of the invention.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that the drive system provided by the invention has a width which is greatly reduced as compared with the width of drive systems of the prior art, so that the man conveyor as a whole can have its width reduced. This is conducive to a reduction in the area of a space occupied by the man conveyor.

Claims

1. In a drive system of a man conveyor comprising a pair of step chains connected to a plurality of steps for accommodating passengers and located on opposite sides of the steps, a pair of step chain drive sprocket wheels and a pair of step chain follower sprocket wheels having the pair of step chains trained over them, a drive sprocket wheel secured to a drive shaft having the step chain sprocket wheels rotatabiy supported thereon, to transmit a motive force to said drive shaft, a driver motor transmitting motive force to said drive shaft through a drive chain, and a handrail drive sprocket wheel supported on said drive shaft for transmitting motive force to a pair of handrails moving in synchronism with the steps, the improvement which resides in that the drive sprocket wheel for transmitting motive force to the drive shaft is arranged at one end of said drive shaft outwardly of one of said step chain drive sprocket wheels and the handrail drive sprocket wheel for transmitting motive force to the handrails is arranged at the other end thereof outwardly of the other said step chain drive sprocket wheel, so that handrail drive sections arranged on opposite sides can be actuated by the motive force transmitted from the handrail drive sprocket wheel through a chain.

2. A drive system of a man conveyor as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a handrail drive intermediate shaft located midway between the handrail drive sections on the opposite sides and the drive shaft, said intermediate shaft receiving motive force from said drive shaft and transmitting motive force to said handrail drive sections.

3. A drive system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 or these Figs. as modified by Fig. 5 of the accompanying drawings.