JPH0720769B2 - Escalator cage loading device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cage loading device for an escalator.

[Conventional technology]

For example, in a luggage sorting center, luggage collected on the first floor by a truck or the like is transported to the second floor, sorted here, and then transported to the first floor.

Here, a lifter, an elevator, etc. have been conventionally used as a luggage carrying device between the first floor and the second floor, but this kind of carrying device has a low carrying efficiency because it carries out intermittent carrying.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

By the way, since the escalator carries out continuous transportation, the transportation efficiency is high, but when carrying out transportation using the escalator, loading and unloading of luggage into the escalator's step movement is carried out. There is a problem of how to perform synchronization quickly and safely.

The present invention has been proposed in view of such circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide an economical escalator cage loading device capable of automatically transporting a large amount of luggage to a escalator transfer position safely, quickly, reliably and efficiently by using a cage with casters.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

Therefore, the present invention is an apparatus for vertically transporting a luggage-carrying cage with caster rollers from a lower floor to a higher floor by means of an escalator, which is arranged at the level of the lower end horizontal portion of the above-mentioned escalator and is provided with a movable step of the escalator at the front. A cage introduction plate having parallel rail portions having a width slightly wider than the width and extending in parallel through the level of the horizontal portion and having parallel gaps on both sides of the movable step, and both sides of the cage introduction plate. A pair of left and right vertically parallel endless chains having parallel longitudinal portions that are symmetrically arranged in the vertical direction and move in the same direction synchronously, and the parallel protrusions provided at equal intervals over the entire length of each chain. And a plurality of feed claws that project toward each other in the longitudinal portion and abut on the rear end of the lower portion of the cage to vertically feed the cage. And wherein the door.

[Action]

If you manually move the cage on the lower floor and bring it to the rear end entrance of the cage introduction plate, it will face parallel endless chains that move synchronously in the longitudinal direction along both sides of the cage introduction plate at equal intervals. The protruding feed pawls simultaneously contact the lower rear end of the cage and automatically feed the cage vertically to the front end of the cage introduction plate.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view thereof, FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 4 and 5 are plan views showing the lower carrying-in section and the upper carrying-out section of FIG. 2, respectively, FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the action of the bending and stretching link of FIG. , FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of the main part of FIG.

First, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 1 is an escalator according to the present invention, in which the escalator 1 extends horizontally along the first floor in the vertical direction and a horizontal lower-stage loading section LT extends horizontally along the second floor in the vertical direction. The upper carrying-out section UT and the oblique section IT that is inclined between them and extends in the vertical direction are integrally assembled. Reference numeral 2 denotes a plurality of upright cube-shaped cages carried by the escalator 1, each having a caster roller at each of the four corners of the bottom surface. Reference numeral 3 denotes a plurality of movable steps of the escalator 1. The upper end loading surface 4 is formed by a pair of left and right parallel rails, each of which has tip rollers 5, 5 at its tip, and has a V-shape protrudingly provided at the bottom thereof. Lower end rollers 7 and 7 are provided at the lower ends of the leg feet 6, and the rear end of the loading surface 4 is an overhang portion that slightly projects rearward.

Here, the closed curve rail that guides the cyclic movement of the plurality of movable steps 3 includes a pair of left and right tip rollers 5 and 5 and left and right rollers 1 and 7 that guide the lower end rollers 7 and 7, respectively.
It consists of a pair of wide guide rails 8,8 and narrow guide rails 9,9.These guide rails 8,8,9,9 are firmly assembled as a truss structure through a plurality of support members, and the upper pedestal US,
It is installed diagonally between the lower mounts LS.

10 is a lower sprocket consisting of a pair of left and right shafts supported so that the upper end is on the first floor level, 11 is an upper sprocket consisting of a pair of left and right shafts supported so that the upper end is on the second floor level, 12 Is a drive sprocket consisting of a pair of left and right shafts slightly supported in front of the upper sprocket 11 and at a slightly lower level. The drive sprocket 12 is driven by a motor (not shown), but the lower sprocket 1
0 and the upper sprocket 11 are idlers, respectively.

13 is a pair of left and right endless chains (escalator chains) that are looped around the lower sprocket 10, the upper sprocket 11, and the drive sprocket 12, and the part between the sprockets 10, 11 and 12 of the endless chain 13 is wide. The endless chain 13 extends along the guide rail 8 and has a plurality of movable steps 3 at equal intervals.
Front end rollers 5 are each pivotally attached.

Next, in FIGS. 4 to 5, reference numerals 15 and 16 respectively denote a lower flapper and an upper flapper, which are main members of the lower carry-in section LT and the upper carry-out section UT. Both flappers have the same structure and the vertical parallel rail section is provided. 17 and its outer quadrature is approximately equal to the cage width, and its inner quadrature is made slightly larger than the movable step width so that the movable step 3 can vertically penetrate its front part. The caster roller of the cage can run on the parallel rail portion 17, and both flappers 15 and 16 are arranged in a front-to-back symmetrical shape in which the tips of the parallel rail portions face each other. With this arrangement, when the cage is transported from the second floor level to the first floor level, the upper flapper can serve as the upper carry-in section and the lower flapper can serve as the lower carry-out section.

For convenience of description, the lower stage carry-in section will be mainly described below.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, the lower flapper 15 has its rear end pivotally supported by the lower pedestal LS via the horizontal shaft 18 so that its upper surface is on the first floor and is parallel to the lower flapper 15. A cam that is coaxially attached to the lower sprocket 10 by a lower end roller 21 of a bracket 19 that is provided near the front ends of a pair of left and right parallel rails 17 that extend forward and that respectively project from the lower surface of the lower sprocket 10 just above the lower sprocket 10. Abuts 22.

Here, since the cam 22 has two large-diameter circular arc portions and two small-diameter circular arc portions formed at substantially equal intervals, the lower flapper 15 rotates with each rotation of the lower sprocket 10 as it rotates.
The front end moves upward, that is, flapping is performed every two times.

Between the lower surface of the front end of the lower flapper 15 and the lower rack LS,
Upper link 23U that expands and contracts in the vertical direction by bending and stretching,
A bending / extending link 23 composed of a lower link 23L and a hydraulic cylinder 25 for bending / extending the bending / extending link 23 are provided (seventh embodiment).
Figure). Here, a long hole 24 is bored toward the upper link 23U at the pivotally connecting portions of the upper and lower links.

In FIGS. 4 and 6, reference numeral 27 denotes a pair of left and right vertically long endless chains, which are disposed on the lower pedestal LS and extend in the vertical direction on the left and right sides of the lower flapper 15 and at a slightly upper level. In the (longitudinal feed chain), both endless chains are respectively laid around a pair of front sprocket 28 and rear sprocket 29 so that the inner parallel portions of both endless chains 27 circulate forward at the same speed. The rear sprockets 29, 29 are driven via a motor 30, a bevel gear 31, a universal shaft 32 and the like.

A guide plate 35 is attached to each chain link on the outer side of each endless chain 27, and cage feed pawls 36 project outward from the chain links at appropriate intervals. Here, the guide plate 35 serves to guide the cage.

In the lower loading section, there are multiple switches SW1, SW2, ... for controlling loading of the cage and transfer control to the escalator.
・ SW7 (Fig. 2) is installed.

The switch SW1 is turned on by manually detecting the cage that has been introduced at the position a, whereby the vertical feed chain 27 starts moving, and its feed pawl 36 automatically feeds the cage 2 from the position a to the position b.

The switch SW3 detects that the cage 2 has arrived at the position b directly above the lower sprocket 10 and stops the vertical feed chain 27.

The switch SW5 detects that the bending / extending link 23 bends, and the switch SW6 detects that the bending / extending link 23 extends vertically.

SW7 is arranged at the carry-out end c of the upper-stage carry-out section UT, and when the cage stays here, it detects this and stops the escalator.

Here, the operation of the bending / extending link 23 will be described. As shown in FIG. 7 (A), the hydraulic cylinder 25 is extended and the bending / extending link 23 is bent in a dogleg shape during steady operation.
The lower flapper 15 flaps around the horizontal axis 18 by the action of the cam 22 and the roller 21, and the fulcrum pin 26
Moves reciprocally in the long hole 24 of the upper link 23U.

If the escalator's motor power is cut off for some reason, the hydraulic cylinder 25
As shown in FIG. 7B, the bending / extending link 23 becomes straight, the upper end of the long hole 24 of the upper link hits the fulcrum pin 26, and the lower flapper 15 is locked at the upper position. The switch SW6 detects the extension of the bending link and stops the operation of the transport chain of the lower loading device.

To summarize the main actions of the escalator described above, in the side view of FIG. 8, first, the cage manually brought to the lower loading section entrance position a is automatically fed to the position b by the vertical feeding chain 27, Stop at.

Next, when the movable step 3 comes directly under the cage 2 due to the operation of the escalator, the lower flapper 15 is slightly moved downward by the action of the cam and the roller, and the cage 2 is transferred onto the movable step 3.

When the movable step 3 on which the cage is placed reaches the upper unloading section, the upper flapper 16 moves slightly upward due to the action of the cam and the roller, so that the cage 2 moves away from the movable step 3 and rides on the upper flapper 16 to move to the upper transport section. It is sent to its discharge end by the action of the vertical feed chain of and stops there.

The movable step after the cage is separated is the drive sprocket 12 that is located slightly below the upper sprocket 11.
Make a U-turn along and return to the lower loading section LT.

At this time, since the drive sprocket 12 is provided slightly below the upper sprocket 11, the overhang portion must turn above the level of the parallel rail portion of the upper unloading portion during a U-turn of the movable step. It is useful for work safety because it does not exist.

In the above embodiment, the lower flapper 15 performs flapping each time the cage is transferred, in order to correctly position the transfer position of the cage to the movable step and the transfer position of the cage from the movable step to the unloading portion of the cage. is there.

However, the flapping motions of the lower flapper and the upper flapper can be omitted if the slight variation in the transfer position is not taken into consideration.

In that case, the lower flapper simply acts as a fixed parallel rail portion, and the cage is transferred by riding on a movable step that rises through the parallel rail portion. In the upper flapper, when the movable step slightly descends from the highest position through the parallel rail portion, the cage on the movable step remains on the parallel rail portion and is carried out by the vertical feed chain.

According to such an embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Luggage transport efficiency is greatly increased by the circulatory motion of the movable steps of the escalator.

(2) By the cooperation of the upper and lower loading and unloading sections,
The labor and labor of workers can be saved, and the transportation efficiency is dramatically increased.

(3) The upper and lower ends of the escalator can be used for both the loading and unloading ends.

(4) In addition to the cage, it can also be used for raising and lowering workers.

〔The invention's effect〕

In short, according to the present invention, in a device for vertically transporting a cage with a caster roller for transporting a luggage from a lower floor to a higher floor by an escalator, the cage is arranged at the level of the lower horizontal portion of the escalator, and the escalator is movable in the front portion. A cage introducing plate having a parallel rail portion having a gap slightly wider than the step width and extending in parallel through the level of the horizontal portion and having parallel gaps on both sides of the movable step and having an appropriate clearance, and the cage introducing plate. A pair of left and right vertically parallel endless chains having parallel longitudinal portions that are arranged symmetrically in the longitudinal direction along both sides and move in the same direction synchronously, and the projecting projections are provided at equal intervals over the entire length of each chain. A plurality of feed claws that project in opposite directions at the parallel longitudinal portions and abut on the rear end of the cage lower part to vertically feed the cage. The present invention provides an economical escalator cage loading device capable of automatically transporting a large amount of luggage to a escalator transfer position safely, quickly, reliably, and efficiently using a cage with casters. Is extremely useful in industry.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2, FIG. 4, and FIG. The figure shows the lower loading section of Fig. 2, respectively.
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the upper carrying-out section, FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 4, FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view of the bending and stretching link of FIG. 2, and FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of main parts of FIG. is there. 1 ... Escalator, 2 ... Cage, 3 ... Movable step, 4 ... Loading surface, 5 ... Tip roller, 6 ... V-shaped leg foot, 7 ... Bottom roller, 8 ... Wide guide rail, 9 ... Narrow guide rail, 10 ... Lower sprocket, 11 ... Upper sprocket, 12 ... Drive sprocket, 13 ... Endless chain (escalator chain), 15 ... Lower flapper, 16 ... Upper flapper,
17 …… Parallel rail section, 18 …… Horizontal axis, 19 …… Bracket, 21 …… Roller, 22 …… Cam, 23 …… Bend and stretch link,
23L …… bottom link, 23U …… top link, 24 …… oblong hole,
25 …… hydraulic cylinder, 26 …… fulcrum pin, 27 …… endless chain (vertical feed chain), 28 …… front sprocket, 29 …… rear sprocket, 30 …… motor, 31 ……
Bevel gear, 32 …… Universal shaft, 35 …… Guide plate, 36 …… Feed claw, IT …… Inclination stroke part, LS …… Lower stage mount, LT …… Lower stage loading part, US …… Upper stage mount, UT …… Upper stage Carrying out section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for vertically transporting a cage with a caster roller for transporting goods from a lower floor to a higher floor by an escalator, wherein the escalator has a movable step width in the front, which is disposed at a level of a horizontal portion of a lower end of the escalator. On both sides of the cage introduction plate, which has a slightly wider interval and which has parallel rail portions that extend in parallel with an appropriate clearance on both sides of the movable step that rises through the level of the horizontal portion, A pair of left and right vertically parallel endless chains having parallel longitudinal portions that are arranged symmetrically in the longitudinal direction and move in the same direction synchronously, and the parallel longitudinal portions that are provided at equal intervals over the entire length of each chain. It has a plurality of feed claws that project in opposed relation to each other at the portion and abut on the rear end of the lower part of the cage to vertically feed the cage. Cage loading device of the escalator to.