GB2276145A - Elevator system - Google Patents

Abstract

An elevator system in which respective locking mechanisms 8A, 8B provided for elevator hall doors 1A, 1B opening to the right and left from the center can be simultaneously released from the hall, thereby allowing opening of the hall doors with a small amount of force. The present invention comprises elevator hall doors 1A and 1B opening from the center. The elevator hall doors 1A and 1B are maintained in a closed state by the locking mechanisms 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B and 10 when a car is not present. When the car arrives, the locking mechanisms 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B and 10 are released, thereby allowing the elevator hall doors to open following car doors. Operator key 15 operable by an operator from the hall is arranged to release the locking mechanisms 8A, 8B, 9A, 9B and 10 in response to a single operation of the key 15. The key is arranged to raise e.g. a hinged or guided plate to simultaneously lift both latches. A number of arrangements of release mechanisms are described (Figs 3 - 7, not shown). <IMAGE>

Description

ELEVATOR SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an elevator system, and more particularly, an elevator system in which elevator hall doors opening to the right and left from the center thereof can be opened from the elevator hall.

Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-152085, a locking mechanism is arranged in order to prevent the accidental opening of elevator hall doors from the hall when a car is not present behind the elevator hall doors. In the normal operation, when the car door starts to open after the car arrives at a desired destination, such a locking mechanism is adapted to be released by the moving force of the elevator hall doors engaged with the car doors. An unlocking mechanism is provided for a case in which a driving mechanism for the car doors does not function in an emergency, so as to release the locking mechanism for the elevator hall doors from the hall and to open the elevator hall doors and the car doors, thus rescuing passengers within.

In the related art disclosed in the above unexamined publication, a locking mechanism is provided for only one of the elevator hall doors opening from the center. However, when locking mechanisms are provided for each of the elevator hall door, a very large amount of force is required to open the elevator hall doors.

More specifically, in the case where a car is present behind the elevator hall doors in an emergency, even though one of the elevator hall doors is unlocked, the unlocked door cannot be opened easily. This is because a force is sequentially transmitted from one of the elevator hall doors, which is to be opened, to one of the car doors, which is engaged with the one of the elevator doors, then to the other car door operationally cooperating with one of the car doors, then to the other elevator door operationally cooperating with the other car door, and finally to the locking mechanism of the other elevator door. Thus, the elevator hall doors are not adapted to open to the right and left until the locking mechanism of the other elevator hall door is released.Hence, a considerably large amount of force is required to open the unlocked elevator hall door so as to actually release and open the locked door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an elevator system is which the respective locking mechanisms for the elevator hall doors can be released at the same time with a small amount of force from the hall side in an emergency.

The present invention provides an elevator system including elevator hall doors opening to the right and left from the center and locking mechanisms for maintaining the closing state of the hall doors when a car is not present behind the elevator hall doors, the locking mechanisms being released when the car arrives, thereby allowing the hall doors to open following car doors, the elevator system characterized by having operation means operable by an operator in the elevator hall, and unlocking means for releasing the locking mechanisms in response to a single operation of the operation means.

According to the above construction, the respective locking mechanisms corresponding to the elevator hall doors can be released at the same time by the operation means from the elevator hall. As a result, since the opening of one of the elevator hall doors does not involve the unlocking operation of the other elevator hall door, only a small amount of force is required to open both elevator hall doors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 shows the upper portion of elevator hall doors viewed from the lifting passage, the doors to which one embodiment of an unlocking mechanism according to the present invention is applied; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view along line A-A of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the unlocking mechanism shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the unlocking mechanism illustrated in Fig. 3 being operated; Fig. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the unlocking mechanism according to the present invention; Fig. 6 is a side view showing still another embodiment of the unlocking mechanism according to the present invention; and Fig. 7 is a side view showing a still further embodiment of the unlocking mechanism according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will now be described below with reference to Figs. 1 - 4. Elevator hall doors 1A and 1B opening toward the right and left from the center have hangers 2A and 2B, respectively, on the top thereof. Rollers 3A and 3B are pivoted to the hangers 2A and 2B, respectively, and roll on a horizontally-disposed rail 4, thereby guiding the horizontal movement of the elevator hall doors 1A and 1B. The rail 4 is supported by a hanger case 5 fixed to a building 6.

Locks 8A and 8B are attached to the hangers 2A and 2B by way of pivots 7A and 7B, respectively. They have downward-facing hooks 9A and 9B at the ends adjacent to the center of the doors 1A and 1B. A latch 10 fixed to the hanger case 5 is arranged to face the hooks 9A and 9B. Upward-facing stoppers 10A and 10B are formed on the latch 10 so as to be engaged with the hooks 9A and 9B, respectively. Springs 11A and 11B urge the locks 8A and 8B in order to maintain the engagement of the hooks 9A and 9B and the stoppers 10A and 10B, respectively. Pressing seats 12A and 12B are provided for the locks 8A and 8B, respectively.

The elevator hall doors 1A and 1B constructed as described above are arranged in the closed state to cover the entrance leading to the lifting passage of the building 6. Doors 1A and 1B are framed by a three-frame unit 13 consisting of a pair of vertical frames 13V and a horizontal frame 13H for connecting the top ends of the vertical frames 13V, and a threshold (not shown) disposed at the bottom of the pair of vertical frames 13V. As constructed above, locking mechanisms are formed by the locks 8A and 8B having the hooks 9A and 9B, the latch having the stoppers 10A and 10B and the springs 11A and 11B, respectively.

On the other hand, an unlocking mechanism 20 is disposed within the horizontal frame 13H of the three-frame unit 13, facing opposite to the locking mechanisms. The unlocking mechanism 20 comprises operation means and unlocking means.

The operation means employs a bar-like key 15 to be inserted into the unlocking means, guided by a through-hole 14 provided for the horizontal frame 13H of the three-frame unit 13.

The unlocking means comprises a fixed plate 21 horizontally fixed to either of the hanger case 5 or the horizontal frame 13H; a first movable plate 23 pivoted at one end to the fixed plate 21 by way of a hinge 22; and a second movable plate 25 pivoted at one end to the portion adjacent to the other end of the first movable plate 23 by way of a hinge 24. Through-holes 21H and 23H are provided for the fixed plate 21 and the first movable plate 23, respectively, in the position facing at one surface opposite to the surface of the second movable plate 25 and also facing at the other surface opposite to the throughhole 14 provided for the horizontal frame 13H. The second movable plate 25 is positioned at the end away from the hinge 24 to face opposite to the pressing seat 12A of the lock 8A and the first movable plate 23 is positioned at the end away from the hinge 22 to face opposite to the pressing seat 12B of the lock 8B.

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, if the elevator hall doors 1A and 1B do not open due to a failure in opening the car doors (not shown) in an emergency, an operator inserts the bar-like key 15 from the elevator hall, guided by the through-hole 14 provided for the horizontal frame 13H so that the bar-like key 15 passes through the through-holes 21H and 23H and pushes up the surface of the second movable plate 25 by the top end thereof.

Thus, the first and second movable plates 23 and 25 separate from the fixed plate 21, as shown in Fig. 4. The ends away from the hinges 22 and 24 of the first and second movable plates 23 and 25, respectively, are brought into contact with the pressing members 12A and 12B of the locks 8A and 8B, respectively, when the first and second movable plates 23 and 25 are displaced to the positions as indicated by 23A and 25A in Fig. 3, thereby pivoting the locks 8A and 8B around the pivots 7A and 7B, respectively. The hooks 9A and 9B are thus disengaged from the stoppers 10A and 10B, respectively. As a result, one of the elevator hall doors 1A and 1B is manually opened by the operator and the other door can be simultaneously opened with a small amount of force.

Fig. 5 shows another embodiment of the unlocking mechanism. A through-hole 40H for receiving the bar-like key 15 is provided for a fixed plate 40 on which a movable plate 41 is arranged, thereby connecting the fixed plate 40 and the movable plate 41 by way of a pair of hinges 42A and 42B. Needless to say, the movable plate 41 has a sufficient length to reach the pressing members 12A and 12B of the locks 8A and 8B. The unlocking operation is similar to that in the previous embodiment. In this embodiment, however, the unlocking operation is properly performed as long as the movable plate 41 is pushed up and raised by the bar-like key 15 while maintaining the horizontal position thereof, but in some cases, the unlocking operation may fail if the movable plate 41 is tilted.In order to avoid such a failure in an emergency, it is necessary to arrange guiding means for raising and lowering the movable plate 41 pressed up by the bar-like key 15 while maintaining the horizontal position thereof. In such a case, the hinges 42A and 42B described above are not essential.

Fig. 6 illustrates a further simplified form of the unlocking mechanism shown in Fig. 5. Such a simplified unlocking mechanism comprises a movable member 51 which is disposed within the horizontal frame 13H and has a sufficient length to reach the pushing members 12A and 12B provided for the locks 8A and 8B, respectively; a vertical member 52 raised vertically from the central portion of the movable member 51; guiding means provided for, for example, the hanger case 5 or the three-frame unit 13 so as to only vertically guide the vertical member 52; and an engagement portion arranged on top of the vertical member 52 to be engaged with the top of the guiding means 53 so as to maintain the position of the movable plate 51 in the non-operating state. The unlocking operation similar to that in the previous embodiment is simply operated as follows.The bar-like key 15 is inserted via the through-hole 14 of the horizontal frame 13H so as to push up the movable member 51, thereby pivoting the locks 8A and 8B by way of the pressing members 12A and 12B and releasing the engagement of the hooks and the stoppers.

Fig. 7 illustrates still another unlocking mechanism. It is constructed such that a first movable plate 63 is pivotally connected at one end to a fixed plate 61 by way of a hinge 62 and a second movable plate 65 is pivotally connected at one end to the first movable plate 63 by way of a hinge 64 arranged adjacent to the hinge 62 of the first movable plate 63. A through-hole 61H is provided for the fixed plate 65 to receive the bar-like key 15, thereby pushing and raising the surface of the second movable plate 65 at the top end of the bar-like key 15.

Thus, the bar-like key 15 sequentially pushes up the second movable plate 65 and the first movable plate 63 which are displaced to the positions 63A and 65A as indicated by two-dot chain lines in Fig. 7, so that they are brought into contact with the pressing members 12A and 12B of the locks 8A and 8B, respectively.

The unlocking operation is thus completed.

Although the bar-like key 15 used as operation means is inserted and pushes up the movable plate in the above embodiments, it may be inserted and turned, instead. Further, the locking mechanisms are not limited to a combination of the downward-facing hooks and upward-facing latches described in the above embodiments.

As will be clearly understood from the foregoing description, the present invention offers the following advantages.

Since both locks provided for the elevator hall doors can be released at the same time from the elevator hall in an emergency, a large amount of force for opening the doors is not required, thus promptly unlocking and opening the elevator hall doors in an emergency.

Claims (6)

1. An elevator system including elevator hall doors opening to the right and left from the center and locking mechanisms for maintaining the closed state of said hall doors when a car is not present behind said elevator hall doors, said locking mechanisms being released when said car arrives, thereby allowing said hall doors to open following the opening of car doors, said elevator system being characterized by operation means operable by an operator in the elevator hall, and unlocking means for releasing said locking mechanisms in response to a single operation of said operation means.

2. An elevator system according to claim 1, wherein said unlocking means release said locking mechanisms at the same time in response to a single operation of said operation means.

3. An elevator system including elevator hall doors opening to the right and left from the center, said elevator hall doors having respective hooks which are engaged with latches when a car is not present behind said hall doors to maintain the closed state of said hall doors, said hooks being driven to disengage from said latches when said car arrives, thereby allowing said hall doors to open following the opening of car doors, said elevator system, being characterized by a movable member which faces and reaches said hooks, guiding means arranged on a fixed member for guiding said movable member only in the direction in which said hooks are unlocked, and operation means operable from the elevator hall for displacing said movable member.

4. An elevator system including elevator hall doors opening to the right and left from the center hung from a rail by way of rollers and hangers, said rail being attached to a hanger case fixed to a building, said hangers supporting pivoting hooks which are downwardly engaged with latches fixed to said hanger case, said hooks being engaged with said latches when a car is not present behind said elevator hall doors so for maintaining the closed state of said elevator hall doors, said hooks being driven upward to disengage from said latches when said car arrives, thereby allowing said elevator hall doors to open following opening of car doors, said system being characterized by a movable member which faces and reaches said hooks, a vertical member provided with an engagement member on top thereof, said vertical member being integrally arranged on said movable member, guiding means arranged on a fixed member for guiding said vertical member only vertically, said guiding means being engaged with said engagement member for maintaining the position of said movable member in the non-operating state, operation means operable from the elevator hall for displacing said movable member, and door frame having a hole for guiding said operation means, said hole being arranged at the top edge of said door frame.

5. An elevator system substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figs. 1 to 4, Fig. 5, Fig.

6. Elevator hall door assembly as set out in any one of the preceding claims.

6 or fig. 7 of the accompanying drawings.