US1260216A - Safety attachment for elevators. - Google Patents

Description

D. F. LEPLEY. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. i9. 191?- 1,260,21 6. Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

- 2 SHEETSSHEET I.

0. F. LEPLEY.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19. 1917.

mamms. Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

; N I- \\N lg-=2 m a q O an Q) R; w a? 1 h s N" Witness I E I lnventqr Attorneys DANIEL F. LEPLEY, OF CONNELLSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

I SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dial. 19, 1918.

Application filed September 19, 1917. Serial No. 192,163.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL F. LEPLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Connellsville, in the county of Fayette and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Safety Attachment for Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safety devices for elevators. and while it is capable of being used in connection with all kinds of passenger and freight elevators, it is primarily designed for use in connection with elevators of that type used in mines. The invention is designed primarily as an improvement upon the construction disclosed in my Patent No. 826586, issued to me on July 24, 1906'.

-In devices such as herein made and as shown, for example, in my patent herein mentioned, it has been difficult to remove and replace the wedges employed and which wedges must be renewed when the teeth thereof become worn off to an objectionable extent.

Prior devices have also been objectionable because they have necessitated, as in my patented structure, the use of steel castings for holding the wedges. Such castings have always been difficult to obtain in regular quantities and under present conditions are not only almost unobtainable, but are very expensive.

One of the objects of the present invention is to so mount the wedges of the safety device that they can be quickly and completely removed and others substituted without necessitating practically the dismantlement of the cage, as heretofore, and which wedges do not require the use of extensive castings to hold them in position.

A further object is to simplify and lighten the safety device without reducing its efficiency, but on the contrary making it more reliable in action and capable of more ready installation.

A still further object is to provide a safety device combined with a structure made up of standard materials which can be easily procured and assembled.

A, still further object is to provide equalizing means whereby should one of the shaft guides become worn to a greater extent than the other, the wedges would nevertheless bind with equal pressure upon the respec tive guides, thereby equalizing the grip at both sides of the cage to equally support said sides and prevent sagging.

Another object is to provide, in connection with the safety wedges, means for pre venting extensive vibration at the top of the cage when running at a high speed, thus insuring proper contact of the safety wedges with the guides, when an emergency arises.

Another object is to combine with the equalizing mechanism a means whereby the safety mechanism will not be wrecked and the cage permitted to drop should the bridle chains that connect the hoisting cable with the cage fail or break.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of the upper portion of a cage and showing the present improvements combined therewith.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the safety clutches.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the structure shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 Fig. 8.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, 1 designates a portion of a cage structure having combined therewith a tiltable platform structure only the upper portion of which has been shown in the drawings, said upper portion being indicated at 2. The tiltable structure is adapted to be locked against swinging movement relative to the cage structure 1, but as the locking means constitutes no part of the present invention, it has been deemed unnecessary to show or describe it. The cage 1 is designed to travel upon guides G extending downwardly within the shaft of the elevator, and the sides of the cage arevso shaped as to straddle these guides and work freely upon them, said sides having outstanding parallel flanges provided for this purpose and as shown at 3. Arranged above the sides of the cage are upper and lower plates 4: and 4: and these plates connect parallel angle beams 5 which are extended vertically and are attached to the cage structure. From th plate 1 project outwardly extending-angle strips 6 which are parallel and constitute supplemental means for slidably engaging the guides G, thereby to prevent the upper portion of the cage from vibrating to an objectionable extent while the cage 6 is moving at a high speed. This insures the proper application of the safety clutches as will be hereinafter more fully described.

Secured to the angle beams 5 close to the top of the cage are links v7 from which extend upwardly converging chains 8 Which are attached to a sleeve 9 clamped upon the hoisting cable 0. The lower end of the hoisting cable is provided with a socket S attached in the usual manner to a main lifting equalizer 10 having bridle chain 11 diverging downwardly therefrom and at tached to the side portions of the cage. A V-shaped breakable link 12 is supported by the lifting equalizer 10 and is attached to the intermediate portions of parallel levers 13 of supplemental equalizing means, there being a rod 14 pivotally attached to these levers 13 midway between the lower ends of the link 12 and extending downwardly through a coiled spring 15 which exerts a constant downward pull upon the rod. 7

Brackets 16 are mounted on the cage near the sides thereof and fulcrumed on each of these brackets is a lever 17 the inner end of which is connected to the adjacent ends of the levers 13 by a link 18. The outer ends of the lever 17 are connected to the wedges forming the safety'clutch members of the Present v tio and which will be hereinafter described. It is to be understood that four of the levers 1'? are used, two being located adjacent each side of the cage to form a pair and the levers of each pair being connected by links 18 to the levers 13 as before pointed out.

Secured to and extending outwardly from each of two lower plates 1 are angle strips 19 of a standard size, and which are so placed as to converge upwardly, as shown particularly in Fig. 3. The outstanding flange of each of these angle strips is provided with a longitudinal slot 20 and se cured alongthe outer face of each flange parallel with and close to the slot 20 is a holding strip 21. Slidably mounted on the inner faces of the flanges of strips 19 are i said guides.

wedges 22, the inner faces of which are substantially parallel and provided with teeth whilelthe opposed faces of the wedges fits snugly against the inclined flanges of the strips 19. These wedges can be readily forged from standard billets and each of theinis held to itsangle strip 19 by a bolt the corresponding movement of the wedge 22 relative to the angle strip 19.

Stems 25 extend upwardly from the wedges and are provided with laterally extending studs 26 120 which are connected the outer ends of the levers 17 It is to be understood that the guides Grare positioned between the wedges 22 and under normal conditions the cage will move upwardly and downwardly upon the guides without the wedges coming'into contact with However, should the hoisting cable C break, the spring 15 would promptly pull downwardly through rod 11 upon the equalizing levers 18 and cause said levers to transmit motion through links "l8 and levers 17 to the wedges 22. These wedges are normally in their lowermost positions with the bolts 23 close to the lower ends of the slots 20. However, when the wedges are shifted in the manner pointed out they will move upwardly along the inclined flanges of the angle strips 19 and, consequently move toward each other, thus to cause the teeth 23' to bite into opposed faces of the guides G and prevent the cage from dropping. Should one of the guides wear to a greater extent than any other, the equalizing connections between the wedges will insure the-wedges firmlygripping the guides irrespective of the variation in the thicknesses of said guides.

Should-the bridle chains 11'jwhich connect the cable socket S to the cage give way, the lireakiii'g of the connection 12 would 'pre vent the entire weight of the cage frornbe ing placed on the wedge mechanism and pos sibly wrecking it. This is due to the fact that the link 12 is just strong enough to hold spring 15 normally under full compression, but in case of a bridle chain failure, this link will break before the load will wreck the other mechanism.

Should the wedges become worn, thus making it desirable to replace them with new ones, the repairs can be made without the expenditure of the time and trouble heretofore necessary. The strips'21 are first unf-astened from the angle strips 19. The

cotter pins 27 or other fastening means en'r' ployed for holding the studs 26 in engagement with the lever 17 are removed and the levers 17 disengaged from the studs. By then unscrewing the bolts 23 the wedges can be lifted out from engagement with the angle strips 19 and new ones easily substituted.

It will be apparent that a safety device such as described can be much more cheaply made and repaired than can those devices requiring the use of special castings or the use of parts which so interfit that it becomes a difficult matter to take them apart. By using standard sizes of material which can be purchased in the open market and assembling them as described, the structure is not only cheapened in cost and simplified in construction, but is rendered more durable and more eflicient in operation.

What is claimed is 1. A safety device for elevator cages, ineludin opposed angle members converging upwarc ly, wedges interposed between and slidable upon the angle members, said wedges being insertible laterally in position between the members, there being a longitudinal slot in each of said members, a fastening device slidably mounted in each slot for holding a wedge against displacement relative to the slotted member, and means for slidable engagement by the fastening device to hold said device against detachment from the wedge and its slotted member.

2. In a safety device for elevator cages,

opposed upwardly converging angle members having longitudinal slots, opposed wedges interposed between said members and slidably engaging them, said wedges being removable laterally from between the members, fastening means slidably mounted within the slots and threaded into the respective wedges, and means detachably secured to the slotted members for holding the fastening means against unscrewing during the relative movement of the wedges and slotted members while the cages are in operation and in the event of an emergency.

3. The combination with guides, and an elevator cage mounted between the guides, of upwardly converging angle members at the sides of the cage and arranged in pairs, each guide being extended between the members of one pair, all of the members bein lotted longitudinally, opposed wedges at opposite sides of each guide and between the slotted members of each pair, fastening means slidably mounted in the slots and threaded into the respective wedges, means on the slotted members for holding the fastening means against rotation during their movement with the wedges relative to the slotted members, hoisting means, connection between said hoisting mean and the wedges for holding the wedges normally apart and out of contact with the guides, and means for automatically shifting the wedges upwardly along the slotted members and into engage- V ment with the guide when relieved from the pull of the hoisting means.

4:. The combination with guides, and an elevator cage, of upwardly converging angle members arranged in pairs, each guide being extended between the angle members of each pair and said members being slotted longitudinally, wedge interposed between the members of each pair and insertible laterally between said members and the guide adjacent thereto, fastening means engaging the wedges and lidable in the slots, means for holding the fastening means against detachment during their movement with the wedges,'a hoisting cable, a hoist equalizer connected thereto, connections between said equalizer and the cage, a supplemental equalizing lever, a breakable connection between said lever and the hoist equalizer, yielding means for exerting a downward pull upon the supplemental lever, levers connected to the wedges, and connections between said lever and the supplemental equalizing lever.

5. The combination with guides, of an elevator cage slidably mounted thereon, outstanding means upon the sides of the cage for straddling and slidably engaging the guides, supplemental means connected to and supported above the cage for engaging and straddling the guides, outstanding upwardly converging angle members at the sides of the cage and interposed between said upper and lower guide engaging means, wedges interposed between the angle members and the guides and insertible and removable laterally relative thereto, a spring, a spring restraining lever on the cage, hoisting means for holding the lever against the action of its spring, and operative connections between the lever and the respective wedges, said lever and connections constituting an equalizer shiftable under the action of the spring when released from the hoisting means to shift the wedges relative to the angle members and bind upon the guides.

6. The combination with guides, and an elevator cage, of guide gripping members including wedges, a hoisting cable, a hoist equalizer connected thereto, connections between said equalizer and the cage, a supplemental equaling lever, a breakable connection between said lever and the hoist equalizer, yielding means for exerting a downward pull upon the supplemental lever, levers connected to the wedges, and connections between aid levers and the supplemental equalizing lever.

7. The combination with a guide and an elevator cage slidably mounted on the guide, of upwardly cmwerging angle members secured to the cage and extending to opposed sides of the guide, opposed wedges insertiblo laterally between the guide and the respecthe members, a sh dable connection between In testimony that I claim the foregoing is the Wedges and sald members, each of send my own l have hereto a-tfi-xed my 'slgnature connections incl-udl-ng a bolt threaded 1=nto 1n the presence of two wltnesses.

the Wedge and slidable Within the adjacent DANIEL F. LEPLEY. member, and'mezm fixed to the member and Witnesses:

close to the belt for holding said belt against IVY E. SIMPSON,

Totation relative to the Wedge. P. A. ROCKELLI.

00p!" 6! this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

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