US1790496A - Operating mechanism for elevator-shaft doors and car gates - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 27, 1931. F. A. BOEDTCHER OPERATING IECHANI SM FQR ELEVATOR SHAFT DOORS AND CAR GATES Filed July 2, 1927 Fran BY AT RNEYS.

Patented Jan. 27, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT FRANZ A. BOEDTCHER, or BERGENFIELD, NEwuERsEY, AssIGNoE To oTIs ELEVATOR V OFFICE 2 COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, JERSEY, A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY,

OPERATING MEcH NIsM FOR ELEvAToR-sHAET noons AND CAR GATES Application filed July 2, 1927. Serial. No. 203,054.

This invention is directed to mechanism for effecting the operation of the doors of an elevator shaft in a manner to free the operator from the necessity of manually operating the lelhaft door when the elevator car stops'a't a oor. v y

The object of the present invention is to provide for the rapid and eflicient, automatic operation of the shaft doors from a prime mover carried by the car and adapted, when the car is in a position at a floor to cooperate with mechanical means associated with the corresponding door in order to speedily effect the opening and closing of said door to permit passengers to exit from or enter the car.

An important feature of the invention resides in the provision of mechanism associated with each shaft door and through the operation of which the door can be opened and closed mechanically and in the further provision of means mounted on the elevator car to operate the door opening and closing mechanism at the respective floors, the means at the floors and on the car being normally free from engagement with one another, but

being so constituted that, when a caris atthe floor, the power mechanism of the car may be caused to interlock with the door operating i mechanism of the shaft by means of an electric control preferably operating magnetically to couple the power mechanism with the door operating mechanism and to operate the latter from the former to open and closethe cloor.' V

In the preferred manner of carrying out the'present invention, each door operated mechanism in the shaft embodies a rack which, when reciprocated, imparts opening or closing movement to the door depending upon the direction of its reciprocation While the power mechanism on the car embodies a power driven gear normally free from engagement with the racks of the respective floor doors. Thus, the car is adapted to travel vertically of the shaft without bringing the power means orthedoor operating means into actual cooperating relation.

WVith these two separate trains of elements, 7 however, is associated electrical means'which, 7 upon energization, serves to bring the parts 7 manner.

invention to specific electrical means, I have found in practice that it is entirely feasible to temporarily magnetize eitherthe rack or the gear when it is desired to bring these into coacting relation. Without limiting the a parts into meshing relationand a coil may be associated with the gear for this purpose. It will be apparent in this connection that as the coil is set close to the gear, this coil, when energized, will temporarily magnetize the gear which will draw the rack into mesh with the gear and a motor or other suitable prime mover is associated with the gear and when operated serves to actuate the gear for the purpose of reciprocating the rack and imparting movementto the door.

The door may be positively operated in both directions from the prime mover, but it is wholly practical to operate the door in one direction by a spring or othersuitable means and tooperate it in the other direction from the prime mover by way of the gear and rack, or their equivalents.

Features of the invention, other than those specified, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. f a

The accompanying drawingsillustrate one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

the inventionin a more or less diagrammatic Figure 2 is ahorizontal section through a part oftliepower mechanism, this section being taken in the planeof the drive shaft as shown by the line 22 of Figure 1.-

Figure 1. a

Referring to the illustrative showing of the Figure 3'is asection'on the line 3v3 of is adapted for sliding movement to open or close the'shaftopening at a floor. A single door installation is shown in Figure 1, but double doorsmay be employed without departing from the invention.

Pivoted to suitable stationary support 3 is a toggle embodying two arms at and 5, the arm 5 being pivoted at 6 to the door and having a handle 7 whereby the toggle may be manually operated if desired for the purpose of opening and closing the door. The toggle may be operated in one direction, however, by means of a cable 8 securedatthe elbow of the toggle and extending about di rectional pulleys 9 and 10 and secured to a rack 11. The rack is mounted for vertical sliding movement on a guide12 secured atits upper and lower edges on supports 13 mounted in the shaftwaiy. This guide 12 i's preferably of resilient material and is adapted to normally assume a straight condition while adapted to be flexed in a direction away from the wall of the shaft. If the rack is moved in a downward direction, tension will be exerted through the cable 8 to break the to le and cause 0 enin of the CO C door.

The door is opened against the tension of the spring 1 1 which serves to cushion the opening movement and to return the door to closedposition provided that the rack is not held against lifting movement.

The operations of the toggle may be further cushioned by any suitable cushioning device 15 common to this art.

All the mechanism thus far described is associated with each floor door of the elevator shaft and is duplicated for each floor. Mounted on the elevator car and in any suitable position on said car is the power mecha nism next to be described.

This power mechanism embodies a power shaft 16 adapted to be driven by any suitable prime mover shown, for the purpose of illustration, as an electric motor 17. The electric motor 1? preferably drives the shaft 16 through suitable speed reducing gearing of any conventional type shown diagrammatically at'18. On the shaft 16 is keyed a plate 19 in such manner as to be rigid with the shaft while a plate 20 is also keyed'to the shaft 16, but is mounted forlongitudinal sliding movement on the shaft. 'Between the plates 19 and 20 which collectively constitute a clutch, a gear 21 is mounted to freely revolve on the shaft, so long as the plates 19 and 20 do not frictionally grip the gear between them.

Embracing the shaft 16 and spaced therefrom by a bushing 22a is a coil 22 included in an electric circuit 23 which also includes a suitable source of current supply 24: and a switch 25. Connected to thecircuit 23 is a shunt circuit 26 including a magnet 27, the armature 28 of which is fulcrumed on a suitable bracket 29 mounted on the car. This armature is adapted to function as a lever of the first class and is provided with a nose 30 adapted to bear against the sliding collar 31 which embraces the shaft 16 beyond the plate 20. The collar 31 has a radial flange 32 within which is formed a ball race for antifriction bearings 33 which bear against the outer surface of the plate 20.

When the switch 25 is open, the gear 21 will be loose on the shaft 16, but if the switch 25 is closed current will be fed simultaneouslyto the magnets 22 and 27 in multiple.

is so positioned that when a car is at rest adjacenta floor, it will be juxtaposed with the rack 11, but will be spaced therefrom. However, when the gear 21 assumes the characteristics of a magnet, it will act upon the rack 11 as its armature and cause the guide 12 to be flexed in the direction of the gear to permit the drawing of the rack into mesh with the gear.

' 'So long as the gear 21 remains magnetized, it will hold the rackll in mesh. therewith and therefore maintain these parts in coacting interlocked engagement. If the motor 17 is nowenergized by closing the switch 3 1,the motor will operate to rotate the shaft 16 in a direction to depress the rack 11.' As the rack descends, the cable is drawn over the directional pulleys 9 and 10 for the purpose of flexing the toggle against the tension of the spring 14; and the door is thereby opened. Then the door is fully opened any tendency of the motor to continue to drive the 21 is offset by the friction clutch connection between the gear and the shaft which permits of slipping of the shaft with reference to the gear so that breakage of parts will not result. If desired, the closing of the switch 3 1 may be timed in any suitable manner so as to only operate the gear and rack for sufficient period to insure the complete opening of the door. Moreover, the switch 34 may be interlocked with the switch 25, or. if desired, these switches may be combined and a single switch utilized to control both the motor and the magnets 2', and 22. The manner in which these circuits are interlockedor separately controlled is optional and the present invention is not limited in this regard.

It will be noted, however, that when the door is fully opened, the spring 14. will be placed under maximum tension, so that if the switch 25 is opened to tie-energize the magnets 22 and 27, the driving connection between the shaft 16 and the gear 21 will cease to exist and the spring 14 is free to close the door during which operation the rack 11 will be elevated.- Tt will of course be understood in this connection that as soon as the magnet 22 is de-energized, the gear 21 will lose its magnetism and therebyrelease the rack 11 which will be retracted out of engagement with the gear by the inherent resiliency of the guide 12. V

The preferred form of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings and in this embodiment the plates 19 and act a's'a friction clutch controlled by the magnet 27. I find, in practice, however, that the parts 20, 31, 28 and the magnet 27 may be dispensed with, since, in practice, the energizing of the magnet 22will cause the gear 21 to be drawn sufi'iciently tight against the plate 19-to provide the necessary driving connection. The clutch which Ihave disclosed is, however, illustrated as optional and to insure adequate connection for operating the heaviest shaft doors. 7 i

I have hereinbefore specifically described the invention as particularly a'daptedfor the operation of shaft doors. It is entirely feasible, however, to employ the mechanism thus far described for the simultaneous operation of car gates. Thisecan be accomplished by mounting on the car a gear positioned directly above or below the gear 21 and fixed on a shaft 42, which is mounted in fixed hearings on the car so as to mount the gear :0 in such relative position to the rack 11 that when said rack is drawn into mesh with the gear 21, it will also be meshed with the gear 40. As a result, the operation of the rack by the gear 21 will cause the gear 40 to be oper ated. If desired, a magnet it maybe also associated with the gear 10 in order that said gear may be magnetized to assist the gear 21 in drawing and maintaining therack in mosh so long as these magnets are energized. The shaft 12 may serveto drive any suitable operative connections between thisshaft and the gate or gates of the car. As illustrative of this construction, the drawings showthe gear 40 keyed to the shaft i2 and the sheave 101 forced against the gear by a follower 103 keyed to the shaft and acted upon by a spring 104, which, in turn, acts against a stop 105.

V] hen the gear 10 is energized by the coil 13,

a the parts are bound together, so that the gear will drive the shaft while the magnetic torque will also turn the sheave 101 for the purpose of winding up the cable 8a, which is connected to the car door operating mechanism and acts around directional rolls 10a and 9a and which parts correspond to the parts 8, 9 and 10 of the shaft door operating mechanism. The sheave 101is illustrated in Figure 1 as somewhat separated from the gear 1-0 in order to avoid confusion between the hatchway door operating connection 8 and the car gate operating connection 8a. This, it is to be understood, is merely diagrammatic, for the sheave 101 is naturally adjacent the gear 40, as shown in Figure 3.

In connection with the magnetizing of the gears 40 and'21,I have shown in the drawings single coils. This is for the purpose of illustration only and double or horseshoe coils or any other suitable coil arrangement may be employed to magnetize these gears. Moreover, the rack may be caused to engage the gears by magnets which may be positioned to directly act upon the rack 11 to draw it into 7 mesh with the gears with or without magnetizing the gears. in fact, so many different arrangements of magnetic control of the driven or interlocking relation between these parts are possible that it is not feasible to show them all. Suffice it'to say in this regard that the present invention contemplates a prime:

mover on the car at such times as it is de-- sired to operate the shaft doors fromthe prime mover. The drawings show a sliding door mounted to slide on a horizontal track, but single or multiple hinged or folding or sliding doors operable either horizontally or vertically may be operated by the mechanism of this invention through the interposition of suitable mechanicalv adjuncts as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. In this connection, it may be stated that the terms door and gate are used interchangeably without intent to differentiate the closed door from the open ornamental or collapsible gate. l I i In carrying out thisinvention, it is found that themagnetic clutch which I have shown in the drawings as embodying either or both the plates 19 and 20 Wlll permit of sufficient slippage to overcome shocks due to quick starting or stopping of the operating parts,.

but. in some cases I find it desirable to interpose a suitable friction clutch between the motor 17 and gear 21. This clutch may be housed in the housing 18 with the reduction gearing and. when such a friction clutch as will permit slippage for the purposes stated,

is employed, thegear 21 may be keyed to the shaft 16. I

I have hereinbefore stated that the switches 25 and 3 1 may be controlled in difi'erent ways and there is no intention to limit the particular control of these switches either separately or collectively. It may be pertinent, however, to note that the said switches maybe either manually operated or may be interlocked in any suitable manner with either the control or operating parts of the elevator. The operativeness of the present inven tion is not, however, in anywise dependent upon the particular manner of operating the switches in question.

I wish it further understood that while I have shown an electric motor as a prime mover driving a gear 21 of the power mecha nism to operate the rack 11 of the operating mechanism, the invention is not limited to this specific construction as mechanical equivalents for transferring movement from the power mechanism on the car to the door operating mechanism of the shaft, may be used where the driving and driven elements are respectively mounted to be magnetically engaged with one another, i. e., magnetically interlocked to provide for a driving and driven relation of the character herein before specified.

The drawings illustrate a construction, moreover, wherein a door is opened by the power mechanism carried by the car, the door being closed by the spring 14 when the rack is retractedfrom the gear 21. It is entirely feasible, however, without departing from this invention to both open and close the door by power. If the motor 17 is a reversible motor and a positive connection is pro- 'vided between the lower end of the rack and the toggle of the door, this will fulfill the function of the spring 1%, and will serve to straighten out the toggle when the rack is mechanically elevated.

The present invention embodies many practical features of advantage over the prior art. It is extremely simple in construction, very economical to install and is thoroughly positive and dependable in its operations The duplication of power devices at the various floors is rendered unnecessary by the employment of unitary power means carried by the car and adapted to be attached or de tached from the door operating mechanism of the respective floors when the car is in juxtaposition with the floor. As the car moves up and down the shaft in its normal. operations, there is positively no connection between the power mechanism and the door op rating device and the respective parts do not come into operation until the car is at or in the zone of a floor. The advantage of this invention will at once be apparent to those skilled in the art. It provides an extremely simple yet highly efficient means for mechanically opening a door. whereas the opening of a door has been either accomplished manually or by relatively complicated mechanism embodying expensive duplication of parts.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the present invention in its preferred practical form, but theinvention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operating rack mounted to reciprocate in an elevator shaft, a gear carried by the elevator car and normally spaced from the rack to permit the car to travel in the shaft without engaging the rack, a prime mover for operating the gear, and means for magnetically attracting the rack into engagement with the gear.

2. In an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operating rack mounted to reciprocate in an elevator shaft, a gear carried by the elevator car and normally spaced from the rack to permit the car to travel in the shaftwithout engaging the rack, a prime mover for operating the gear, and magnetic means, of which the rack constitutes an armature, for drawing the rack into cngagement with the gear.

3-3. in an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operating rack mounted to reciprocate in an elevator shaft, a gear carried by the elevator car and normally spaced from the rack to permit the car to travel in the shaft without engaging the rack, a prime mover for operating the gear, and means for magnetizing the gear, whereby it is adapted to function as a magnet to draw the raclr, as its armature, into mesh with the gear.

4. in an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operating rack, means for mounting the rack in the elevator shaft for reciprocation and for movement perpendicular to the toothed face of the racl-z, a gear carried by the elevator car, means for driving the gear, said gear and rack being normally positioned to porn-lit the gear to move past the rack without engaging therewith, and magnetic means, of which the rack constitutes an armature, for drawing the rack from its normally retracted position into engagement with the gear.

5. In an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operating rack, means for mounting the rack in the elevator shaft for reciprocation and for movement perpendicular to the toothed face of the rack, a gear carried by the elevator car, means for driving the gear, said gear and rack being normally positioned to permit the gear to move past the rack without engaging therewith, and means for n'iagnetizing the gear for drawing the rack into mesh therewith.

6. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a door operating element mounted in the elevator shaft, operative connections between the shaft door and said element, a car door operating element mounted on the elevator car, a driving eleed on the elevator car, a driving element also 7 mounted on the car, and means for magnetically drawing the door operating element of the shaft into operative engagement with both the driving element on the car and the car door operating element on the car.

8. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a door operating element mounted in the elevator shaft, operative connections between the shaft door and 7 said element, a cardo-or operating element mounted on the elevator car, a driving element also mounted on the car, and means for magnetizing the driving element and the door operating element on the car, whereby they are adapted to operate as magnetsto draw the door operating element'of the shaft into engagement with them. 7

9. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a door operating rack mounted for reciprocation in the shaft and operatively connected to the shaft door, a driving gear mounted on the car, a car door operating gear also mounted on the car with both of said gears normally spaced fr-omthe rack, and magnetic means, of which the'rack V constitutes an armature for drawing the rack into simultaneous engagement with both gears.

10. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft having floor doors and door operating mechanism embodying a driven element associated with each floor door, in com- 7 bination with a car movable 1n the shaft, power mechanism mounted on the car and common to all the driven elements of the shaft, said power mechanism embodying a driving element normally spaced from the driven elements of the respective door operating mechanisms to permit of movement of the car in the shaft without engaging with said parts and said driven elements of the door operating mechanisms and the driving element of the power mechanism being relatively movable toward and away from one another into and out of coactive relation, and magnetic means mounted on the car and of which any: juxtaposed driven element of, the shaft is adapted to constitute an armature, for drawing said juxtaposed driven element into coactive relation with the driving element on .the car.

'11. In an assembly of the character described, adoor, adoor operating element mounted in the shaft and adaptedto be driven, a driving'element on the car and normally spaced from the driven element'in the shaft, a prime mover on thecar, a clutch connection betweenthe prime mover andther driving elementfand magnetic means for magnetically"causing the driving and driven elements to engage with one another.

12. In anassembly' of the character described, a door, a door operating element mounted in the" shaft and, adapted to be driven, a driving element on the car and normally spaced from the driven element in the shaft, a prime mover on the car, a clutch connection between the prime mover and the ".5

driving element, and magnetic means for magnetically causing the driving and driven elements to engage wit-h one another, and for operating therclutch to operatively connect the prime mover to the driven element.

13. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a car within the shaft and also having a door, a door operating element for the shaft door, a door operating element for'the car door, a drivingelement from which both door operating elements are adapted to be driven, said door operating elements being normally-in non-driven relation to the driving element, and means for'magnetically connecting both door operating elex ments in driven relation with the driving element. I

14. In an elevator installation having a hatchway provided with'a hatchway door for affording access to the hatchway from a 1 landing and an elevator car provided with door closing theentrance thereto; operatlng means for said hatchway door; operat- 1ng meansfor the car door; dr ving means from which saidfc ar door and hatchw'ay door operating means are adapted to be driven, said hatchway door operating means being normally in non-driven relation to said driving means; and means for magnetically effecting the operative engagement of said door operating means and said driving means.

said car door operating means being adapted to be driven by said driving means through the intermediary of said hatchway door operating means.

15. In an elevator installation having a hatchway provided with a door for aflording access'to the hatchway from a landing and a car movable in the hatchway and provided with a door for aifordin access to the inte- 11::

rior of the car a door operating rack mounted for reciprocation in said hatchway and operatively connected to the hatchway door; a

car door operating gear mounted on the car and operativelyconnected to said car door ;'a gs,"

driving gear also mounted on the car and nor inally spaced from said rack and said first mentioned gear; said driving gear being adapted to be engaged with said rack to'efi'ect M reciprocation of the latter to operate said hatohway door and to drive said car door operating gear through the intermediary of said rack for operating said car door; and

means adapted to cause the engagement of said driving gear and said car door operating gear With said rack for effecting the simultaneous operation of said car door and said hatchway door by said driving gear.

In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing specification.

FRANZ A. BOEDTCHER.

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