US1961938A - Elevator door operator - Google Patents

Description

June 5, 1934. Q NORTON 1,961,938

ELEVATOR DOOR OPERATOR Filed March 7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEY6 June 5, 1934. c. NORTON ELEVATOR DOOR OPERATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 7, 1929 ATTORN EYS 1 Patented June 5, 1934 UNITED STATES ELEVATOR DOOR OPERATOR Clifford Norton, South Orange, N. J., assignor,

by mesne assignments, to Otis Elevator Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application March 7, 1929, Serial No. 345,139

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in door operators, the apparatus disclosed being designed primarily for use with elevator doors.

It is a primary object of the invention to pro- 5 vide power mechanism for opening an elevator door by a graduated movement operating slowly during the initial and final movements of the doors and more rapidly during the intermediate portion of the movement and to embody in such a mechanism connecting devices between the power means and door subject to the graduated movements of said power devices permitting the use of relatively weak friction devices for adapting the motor or door for independent operation.

Other objects relate to the provision of power mechanism for operating the doors serving to release any object caught in the door by continuing the operation of the power mechanism.

It is a still further object to provide devices of this character having greater safety features than those heretofore employed and which will permit an occupant of the car to halt the movement of the door or even to move it in an elementary way for example by engagement with the door directly after which the door will be again operated to either open or close the same without further operation of the control mechamsm.

These and other objects will appear more fully from the following description when considered in connection with the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the motor operated mechanism and control device and illustrating the connection for the car door and latch for the landing door.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the car door moved to open position.

Fig. 3 is an elevational .view taken at right angles to Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the friction device employed.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of the landing door lock and switch.

Fig. '7 shows one system of electrical control which may be employed.

The apparatus described in detail herein is primarily designed for operatorless elevators of the pushbutton type wherein the passenger calls the car to a floor after which the car gate or door will be opened automatically and the landing door unlatched to permit the passenger to enter the elevator. Thereafter by pushing a suitable control button the car door is moved to closed position and upon the closing of the landing door the elevator automatically moves to. the selected floor and the car door and landin doors are again automatically controlled. The car door operating devices are complete in themselves and may be used with or without the control for the landing door latch.

It is found with this type of elevator that the operating mechanism must have a high factor of safety providing among other things for the occasional low intelligence or extreme nervousness of passengers so that in case the doors do not move automatically to open position in the usual manner or in case the door is moved to closed position before a passenger is fully in or out of the car the door or doors may be moved or halted readily by the passengers grasping the doors directly, the present invention also providing for continued operation of the power means to release any object caught in the door.

The present invention provides the above desirable features by the following described devices. The elevator car is indicated generally at 10, the car being controlled by any usual hoisting control apparatus preferably of the pushbutton type for moving the elevator vertically to the different floors of the building.

The door moving mechanism, in the present embodiment of the invention. includes an electric motor 18 mounted upon the car and-connected by means of suitable reduction gearing 20 to a slow-speed drive shaft 22 formed with a crank arm 24. The motor 18 is arranged to operate inpne direction only to cause the arm 24 to move through an angle of substantially one hundred and eighty degrees to open the doors and then through the remaining one hundred and eighty degrees to close the same. 1

The car gate 26 is connected directly to the eccentric portion of crank 24 as by means of the v 95 gate operating lever 28 pivotally mounted upon the car as indicated at 29 and connected through a suitable link or other connection to the door adjacent the outer face of the same. The upper end of lever 28 is pivotally connected to slide block 32 receiving the pitman rod 30 which is pivotally attached to the eccentric bearing 31 of crank 24 to be moved longitudinally upon rotation of the eccentric. Rod 30 is thus imparted with oscillatory motion. The rod 30 is formed with an extended bearing surface on both sides of the device 32 to permit complete rotation of the crank 24 while the door 26 is held either completely closed or completely open. This is accomplished with the construction shown without applying unyielding driving force to the lever 28 or disassociating the parts.

The connection 32 between the lever 28 and rod is shown in the present embodiment as of the friction type capable of permitting free sliding movement between the rod 30 and lever 28 without undue strain upon any of the operating connections and preferably without materially influencing the operation of the motor 18. This connection, as indicated in detail in Fig. 5, com prises a casing 33 loosely receiving the rod 30 and provided with radial bores receiving friction plunger-s 34, preferably formed of bakelite, which as shown are pressed into frictional engagement with the rod 30 as by means of the springs 35 compressed by suitable machine screws. It is found that by forming the rod 30 of brass and the plungers 34 of bakelite the friction device is practically indestructible in normal use of the apparatus. This is the preferred form of friction connection between the motor 18 and door 26 although it will be understood that other types of constantly effective friction devices may be employed, the main requirement being to permit operation of the motor independently of the car gate or movement of the car gate or door independently of the motor.

The lever 28 is connected to the casing 33 by means or" a pin 36 passed through a transverse opening in the casing 33 and held against turning in the housing by a suitable set bolt. The pin 36 is formed with a transverse opening loosely receiving the rod 30, the exposed ends of the pin being received within the openings formed in the upper yoke shaped end of lever 28. The casing 33 and pin 35 may be suitably bored to accommodate an oil cup as shown in Fig. 5, thus further decreasing the friction between the rod 30 and friction device 32.

The lever 28 carries projections 3"! and 38 which operate upon the insulating plungers of the limit switches 39 and 40 to open the control circuits for the motor 18 when the door arrives at substantially open or closed position. In order to open the control circuit for either opening or closing movement at exactly the right point, the abutments 37 and 38 are adjustably mounted with respect to the lever 28 as by means of the bolt and slot connections as shown.

The car door may be provided with a handle 27 to permit movement thereof manually in either direction.

While the control for the door motor 18 may be accomplished in various ways, the wiring arrangement indicated in Fig. 7 is preferred. In this figure the door motor 18 may be supplied with electric current across the two supply lines as shown, either through resistance 42 or 43, one eirective normally during the opening movement of the door and the other during the closing movement. These resistances are adjustable so that the necessary power may be supplied to the motor for opening and closing movements.

The control for the motor 18 for opening the door includes a manually operable pushbutton 44 which, when closed, energizes a coil 45 to close the contacts 46 and 47. The contacts 46 form a holding circuit around the pushbutton 44 for maintaining the coil 45 energized until the circuit is independently brol-zen by'the opening of the open limit switch 39. The holding circuit so formed passes from the positive side of the power line to the stationary contact of switch 44,

through closed contacts 46, to the base of push button 44, through coil 45, open limit witch 39 to the negative side of the line. The contacts 47 serve to close the circuit to the motor 18 through the contacts 47 and resistance 42. The circuits and devices for controlling the motor 18 during the closing movement of the door are substantially the same as for the door opening movement and include a close pushbutton 48 and controlling coil 50. The coil 50 controls contacts 470. for closing the holding circuit therefor and contacts 460: for supplying current to the motor 18 by way of resistance 43 when the coil 50 is energized. The holding circuit during door closing movement passes from the positive side or the line, through the stationary contact of switch 48, through contacts 47a to the base of switch 48, through the door closing coil 50 and close limit switch 40 to the negative side of the line. When the door is substantially closed the close limit switch 40 opens the circuit to the coil 50 and deenergizes the motor 18.

It is preferred to control the door motor automatically so that whenever the car is stopped at a floor the door is automatically opened. This arrangement is shown in Fig. '7 and includes a relay the coil of which is connected across the hoisting motor circuit. The armature of the relay is elevated to the doited line position shown whenever any substantial current is supplied to the h isting motor. The armature of relay 51 carries a suitable conductor 49 engageable with the upper conducting surface of lever 52 only when the armature drops past the lever on deenergization of the relay. The conductors carried by lever 52 and by the armature of relay 51 are included in a short circuit around the open push button 44. The contact lever 52 normally held in position to be engaged by the armature of relay 51 by any suitable means.

By means of this construction the door opening circuit is closed whenever the hoisting motor ll. 2

is deener ized and due to the holding circuit formed by contacts 46 the opening circuit is maintained until the car door is open and the open limit switch interrupts the controlling circuit.

It will be understood that either automatic or manual operation may be employed or that both may be included in the completed apparatus.

The hoisting motor circuit is preferably rendered inoperative by means of a circuit controlling switch 54 carried by the car and effective to open the elevator motor controlling circuit when the car door is moved slightly toward open position. As shown the switch 54 includes contacts 56 adapted to be separated by an insulating plunger 58 as the door opens. Plunger 58 is operated by a lever 59 connected by a suitable link to the lever 28 to control the plunger directly from said lever. As indicated in Fig. 1 the plunger 58 permits contact between the members 56 only when the car door is substantially closed.

The above described car door mechanism may be employed in connection with the various landing doors adjacent which the elevator is stopped to control the locking devices of such landing door. These devices include at each landing a door latch lever 62 engageable behind a keeper 64 carried by the door 65 to lock the door in substantially closed position. Each landing door preferably has the usual spring or other mechanisin (not shown) tending to move the same to closed position.

As shown the latch member 62 includes an operating arm 66 formed with a roller or other bearing 68 engageable by the cam '70 carried by the car. Cam '70 is mounted upon suitable links andis movable upwardly to inoperative position by means of a chain72 which is passed over the necessary guide rollers and attached to the upper end of a car door lever 28. The chain 72is so arranged as todraw up the cam '70 and retract the same as the car door 26 reaches substantially closed position. The cam 70 is permitted to drop into projected position as soon as the lever 28 has been moved slightly from its door closed posi tion, the projection of cam '70 unlocking the landing door if the elevator is within a predetermined position of the landing, determined by the length of thecam 70.

According to the present invention an interlock switch is associated with the door latch, this switch including conducting members 74 and '76 arranged in series in the motor control circuit and positioned to be bridged by a conducting member 7'7 formed as a part of the latch member 64, the members 74 and 76 being bridged only when the latch members 62 and 64 are in cooperative relation in the locked position of the door. Operation of the elevator hoisting motor is thus prevented unless the landing doors are all looked in closed position. 7

The apparatus operates as follows: While the car is travelling in the shaft the crank 24 is at the extreme righthand position, as viewed in Fig. 1. This maintains the lever 28 and cam 70 in the positions shown in Fig. 1. When the car stops at a landing, current is automatically, supplied to the coil of relay 45 so that contacts 46 and 47 are closed and maintained closed by the holding circuit shown whereby current is supplied through the resistance 42 to the motor 18.

Operation of this motor causes the crank 24 to move through an arc of about 180 to the position shown in Fig. 2 wherein the car door 26 is in' open position. As the car door begins its movement toward the open position the interlock' switch 54 is operated to prevent further movement of, the elevator car. The initialmovement of the lever 28 and car door 26 drops the cam 70 thus unlocking the landing door and opening the interlock switch at the floor at which the car is stopped. When the car door 26 reaches substantially open position the open limit switch 39 is actuated to open the holding circuit through the relay 45 thus deenergizing the motor 18. Thereafter, through suitable devices such for eX- ample as the pushbutton 48, the door closing circuit may be closed by the relay 50 to form a holding circuit for the coil and to supply current to the motor 18, through the resistance 43, for continuing the interrupted operation of motor 18 in the same direction as during the opening movement thus closing the car door 26. Just prior to complete closure of the car door the elevator control switch 54 is permitted to close and the cam '70 is elevated to its inactive position by lever 28 and cable 72. This looks the landing door closed and closes the elevator motor control circuit. If the landing door should not be in closed position at this time the downward movement of latch 62 will not permit elevator movement but instead the elevator controlling circuit is maintained open until the latch 62 engages behind the keeper 64 as the door 26 reaches substantially closed position. As the lever 28 reaches substantially the position shown in Fig. 1 the close limit switch 40 is opened thus deenergizing coil 50 and motor 18.

If during the opening movement any obstruction to the movement of the car gate 26 occurs the friction device 32 permits the rod 30 to move with respect to the door lever 28 with the result that the crank 24 moves through its normal opening movement of substantially 180 without carrying the gate 26 correspondingly. Since the open limit switch 39 is not opened unless the car door 26 reaches substantially open position the motor 18 and crank 24 continue their movement after reaching their normally open door position and the gate 26 is then moved back to closed position. The motor 18 and crank 24 will then continue to operate and after moving the door to closed position will reopen it without further attention. The person or article previously caught in the door is thus set free but without interfering with the ultimate opening of the doors.

Substantially the same results take place if an obstruction is encountered during the closing movement of the car gate in that the motor 18 and crank 24 continue their movement to the normal position occupied thereby at closed door position but, if the door 26 has been stopped and is not permitted to move to closed position, themotor continues to operate thus moving the door back to open position and then to closed position, at which point the close limit switch is actuated to break the holding circuit to the coil 50.

If a person is present in a car but through some fault of the mechanism the door is not moved to open position when the car arrives at the landing, or when the pushbutton 44 is pressed, the passenger may grasp the handle 27 of the car door 26 to move it to open position. This door will remain in any position in which it is placed under these conditions. Thelanding door may then be moved manually to open position to permit the person to escape from the car. The opening of either the car door or landing door prevents movement of the car.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. In a door mechanism; a motor; a crank; means for rotating said crank upon rotation of said motor; a door; and means, connecting said crank with said door, normally effective tomove the latter upon actuation of the former by said motor, said means including a longitudinallymovable rod connected to said crank, a door moving member connected to said door, and a constantly effective friction device associated with said door moving member and bearing exteriorly upon said rod so as to be normally movable with said rod but movable longitudinally relatively to said rod when the force attempted to be transmitted through said friction device is in excess of that which the friction device is capable of transmitting without slipping.

2. In a door mechanism, a motor, a crank, means for rotating said crank upon rotation of said motor, a door, means connecting said motor and door for moving the latter by actuation of the former, said means including a longitudinally movable brass rod, friction devices including bakelite friction material bearing directly on said rod to cause said friction devices to be normally movable with said rod but movable longitudinally relatively to said rod under abnormal conditions.

3. Operating mechanism for a door, comprising; a member; means connecting said member to said door, said means including a constantlyeffective friction clutch, so that, when there is no slipping at said friction clutch, said member moves between two limiting positions as said door moves between door-open and door-closed positions; a motor; an operating shaft driven by said motor; means connecting said shaft with said member so that a half revolution of said shaft in a predetermined direction moves said member from one of said limiting positions thereof to the other of said limiting positions; means, effective when said door is in the position normally corresponding to said first-mentioned limiting position of said member, for actuating said motor so as to rotate said shaft in said predetermined direction, thereby normally effecting movement of said door toward its other position; and mechanism responsive to the position of said door for stopping said motor when said door substantially reaches said other of its positions, said means connecting said shaft with said member being effective, after said shaft has rotated said one-half of a revolution and driven said member from its first-mentioned limiting position to its other limiting position, and in the event said motor continues to drive said shaft in said predetermined direction due to the fact that slippage has occurred in said friction clutch with the result that said motor-stopping mechanism is not operated, to move said member back to its first-mentioned limiting position and thereby effeet the return of said door to its initial position.

4. Operating mechanism for a door, comprising; a motor; a crank; means for rotating said crank upon rotation of said motor; a member secured to said crank and driven thereby; means connecting said member to said door for opening and closing said door upon operation of said motor, said means including a constantly-effective friction grip capable of slipping at any point in the movement of said door when the force attempted to be transmitted through said friction grip is greater than that which the friction grip is capable of transmitting; means, normally effective when said door is in open position, for initiating the operation of said motor in the direction to effect closure of said door; and means, effective after the operation of said last-mentioned means, for maintaining said motor in operation in the direction in which it is initiated,

until said door reaches closed position, so that, in the event said door meets with an obstruction during closing, slippage may occur at said friction grip until said door is urged back toward open position by said crank as a result of the continued rotation of said motor, after which, and after said door is returned to open position by said crank, the continued operation of said motor recommences the closing movement of said door.

5. Operating mechanism for a door, comprising; a member; means connecting said member to said door, said means including a clutch having elements between which, in normal operation, there is no relative movement, so that, in normal operation, said member moves between two limiting positions as said door moves between door-open and door-closed positions; a motor; an operating shaft driven by said motor; means connecting said shaft with said member so that a half revolution of said shaft in a predetermined direction moves said member from one to the other of said limiting positions; means, effective when said door is in the position normally corresponding to said first-mentioned limiting position of said member, for actuating said motor so as to rotate said shaft in said predetermined direction, thereby normally effecting movement of said door toward its other position; and mechanism responsive to the position of said door for stopping said motor when said door substantially reaches said other of its positions, said means connecting said shaft with said member being effective, after said shaft has rotated said onehalf of a revolution and driven said member from its first-mentioned limiting position to its other limiting position, and in the event said motor continues to drive said shaft in said predetermined clirection, due to the fact that there has occurred an abnormal operation attended by relative motion of said clutch elements so that said motor-stopping mechanism has not operated, to move said member back to its first-mentioned limiting position and thereby effect the return of said doorto its initial position.

CLIFFORD NORTQN.

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