US2000704A - Elevator apparatus - Google Patents

Description

May 7, 1935. w. L. LADMANN 2,000,704

ELEVATOR APPARATUS May 7, 1935. w. LfLADEMANN ELEVATOR APPARATUS Filed Feb. 19, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 zaA/f L Elfi/4727,? C14/PE L .STEP Mara@ INVENTOR Patented May 7, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELEVATOR APPARATUS 9 Claims.

of wiring and other expense.

The many novel features, combinations and relations of parts comprising the invention and by which the foregoing and other desirable objects are attained, will be understood from the following specification.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the specification illustrate certain practical embodiments of the invention but it will be apparent that the structure may be modified and changed as regards the present illustrations without departure from the true spirit and broad scope of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a view of two of the step motor door machines and the floor selector which is usually .located at the head of the elevator shaft and driven by mechanical means in time with the travel of the elevator, the various electrical connections being indicated diagrammatically and portions of the step motors being broken and appearing in section;` Fig. 2 is a front detail of one 0f thefloor indicators; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of the zone and floor annunciator system, showing connections from the floor buttons at two of the iioors; Fig. 4 is a broken sectional detail illustrating the contact mechanism operated by the selector step motor; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the elevator control connections and position indicator; Fig. 6 is a broken and partly diagrammaticview of a modified form of step motor control switch mechanism.

Referring to the first sheet of drawings for an understanding of the electric step motor, it will be seen that the same consists of two solenoids or magnets 1, 8, designed to operate cores or armatures 9, I0 on the vertically sliding rods II, I2, guided in suitable brackets or bearings I3 and operating rockers I4, I5, carrying pawls I6, I1, selectively engaging the reversely faced ratchets I8, I9, fast on the shaft 20. The rock levers I4, I5 are pivotally supported intermediate their ends as indicated at 2|, are yslidingly connected at their outer ends with the solenoid rods at 22 and have the pawls I6, I1 pivotally mounted on their inner ends at 23, said pawls being thrust inwardly or toward the ratchets by the springs 24, stops 25 on the levers limiting the extent of their inward movement.

In the positions of rest, the ratchets and hence the shaft 20 are retained against accidental or unintended movement by spring detents 26, 21 on the inner ends of the rocking levers 28', 29 which are connected at their outer ends at 30 with the lower ends of the solenoid rods, the relation being such that the detent which is connected with the inactive magnet serves as a slip detent for the ratchet which is being turned by the active magnet. Thus in the illustration, the detent 26 connected with the left hand magnet engages the ratchet I9 which is being turned by the active or energized right hand magnet. With both magnets de-energized both detents 26, 21 engage the ratchets I9,` I8 thus retaining the shaft against turning in either direction. When one magnet is energized, however, the detent which otherwise would hold the shaft against turning in the direction effected by that magnet is released from its holding position and only the detent which serves as a slip detent for rotation in that direction is left in engagement.

In Figs. l and 2 the step motors are shown as employed for operating the elevator signals at the different floors of a building. In such case, a step motor is located at each floor and connected to operate the signal device at that floor. Thus as shown, the shaft 20 is connected by a pulley and belt 3|, 32 or other drive connection with the indicating machine, shown as consisting of the two pulleys 33, 34 on the shafts 35, 36

carrying floor indicating tape 31 which is visible through a window or opening 38 in the casing 39 of. the machine, the lamp 40 furnishing the illumination for this indicating portion of the tape. The two shafts of the indicating machine are shown as driven in unison by a belt connection 4I and the upper shaft 35 is shown as carrying a pulley 42 engaged by the belt connection from the step motor.

Thus it will be understood that the floor machines are driven step by step from the motors, to indicate upward or downward travel of the elevator car in accordance with the energization of either the down magnets 1 or the up magnets 8.

The step by step action of the floor signal motors is governed by a suitable contact machine such as the selector shown in Fig. l as consisting of a traveller 43 actuated by the screw 44 driven by gearing 45, or otherwise in accordance with the travel of the elevator car and carrying contact pawls 46, 41 cooperating with contacts 48, 49 in the downward and upward travel respectively of the car. y

The down set of contacts 48 are shown as connected bysuitable wiring 50 with the down set of magnets 1 and the up set of contacts are shown as connected by wiring 5l with the up magnets 8. The selector machine is shown as connected to the negative side of the line by wiring 52 and the magnets are returned to the positive side of the line by the wiring 53, the up magnets being connected in a series and similarly the down magnets being in a series relation so that all magnets of one set will be operated simultaneously under control of the selector.

The selector is constructed so that in the travel in one direction only one set oi contacts will be operative and correspondingly in the travel of the other direction only the other set will be operative. ln the illustration this is accomplished by the provision o1c insulation on the backs of the contacts l which as appears at the top causes the contacts, because oi their spring pivot mounting to yield and then snap by without making eiectrical contact in the Inove- Inent o the traveller in one direction.

rlhe direction of travel is indicated at the iioor machines by the up and down signal lamps 56, 51 which are controlled in the illustration by a rocker 58 on the step motor and actuated by lugs 59, 69 on the solenoid rods to close the down and up signal circuit contacts Si, respectively, the latter being connected by wiring with the down and signal lamps 51, 5G, the latter being connected by the wiring and in the two sides of the line.

While the up and down signal rocker is indicated as mounted on or concentric with the shaft 28, it will be clear that it may be supported in any suitable way for rocking movement under the action of the up and down magnet-s respectively and it will be understood that it remains in the position to which it is shifted, by riction, spring detent or the like until it is positively shifted in the opposite direction by operation of the other magnets.

After the selector completes each contact, the set of magnets which have just been energized all release their armatures, by gravity, or aided by spring, if that is considered desirable, the weight of the parts, however, usually insuring that the armatures will positively drop and the pawls be released from the ratchets immediately after the circuit is broken at the selector.

Figs. 3 and It illustrate the employment of the step motor for operation of the zone and iioor annunciator system. In these views, the step motor is indicated generally at B, the shaft 20 of the same being shown as carrying an arm 61 of insulating material having through contacts GS to form connection between the two sets of contact rings 58, i9, at the iront and the two sets of zone contacts, 1i 12, at the back.

The inner set of down contact rings 65, are shown connected by wiring i3 with the set of down annunciator signal lights 1-3 in the elevator car and similarly the outer up set of contact rings 18 are shown connected by wiring 15 with the up set or annunciator signals 16.

The inner set of down zone contacts 1I are indicated as connected by wiring 11 with the contacts 18 of the down relays 18 and the up set of zone contacts 'i2 are shown as connected by the wiring with the contacts 8l of the up control relays 82.

The down and the up push buttons 83, 84, are connected by wiring 85, 86, respectively with the relays 81, 88 controlling contacts 89, 90. The down relays 19, 81, and the up relays 82, 88 are self-holding magnets so that when energized by operation of the oor push buttons they will hold their contacts closed until automatically reset by the door selector mechanism forming part of the usual automatic elevator control and not herein shown.

In the present illustration, if the up button 84 on the ninth door be pressed, a circuit will be closed by wiring 86 through the up control relay 88 which will hold its contacts 9D closed until after the car has gone past the ninth floor on its up trip. When contacts 90 are closed in this illustration, a circuit will be completed by wiring 9i through the No. l zone signal lamp 92 and through the common feeder system 93 to the positive side of the line, the negative side of the line being connected to the other side of the relay switch at 94. A second sct of contacts 95 closed by the relay 88 simultaneously with closure of contacts Si) sends current into wiring 80 of the No. 1 set of up zone contacts 12 and through contact segments S8 in the carrier segment 61 to the No. 9 contact ring 1B and thence by wiring 15 to the No. 9 up signal lamp 16 on the annunciator these also being all connected to the common feeder 93. Hence if the car is in the first zone going up, both the No. l zone signal and the No. 9 floor signal will show up on the annuciator indicating to the operator of the car a stop on the ninth oor on the up trip. As a further example, if the up button were pushed on the 19th door, the second zone signal 92 would show up at once indicating to the operator a stop in the second zone and as the car passes up into the second zone the No. 9 floor signal would come on to show the operator a stop was to be 5 made on the ninth floor in the second zone, or in other words, the 19th floor of the building and similarly for the third zone floor signals or for any additional zone signals.

The action is reversed for the down travel of the car, the zone signals indicating to the operator stops to be made in the lower zones and the door signals for such zones coming on as the car passes into such zones on its downward travel. Thus by way of example, if the down button B3 were operated at the 9th floor, the energization of down relay 81 would close one set of contacts 89 to energize the No. l zone signal and a. second set of contacts 95 to send current by wiring 11 to the No. 9 terminal of the down zone contacts 1l and thence to the No. 9 down ring contact 69 and by wiring 13 to the No. 9 down annunciator signal 14. Similar operations may be traced for the 10th oor in the illustration and it will be understood that the connections may be multiplied for any number of iioors. It will be seen furthermore that the zoning system eliminates considerable wiring, it requiring in the illustration only ten wires for up signals, ten wires for down signals, one wire for each zone and a common feeder, making in this present case only 24 wires to the elevator oar for a building of 30 stories.

The step motor 5B for the zone and floor annuciator signals may be located in the motor room, along with the control relays and related parts and is controlled by the floor selector switch mechanism shown at the foot of Fig. 1, which latter preferably also is located in the motor room at the head of the elevator shaft and connected with the up and down and feed circuit wires 91, 98, 99, as will be clear in Figs. 1, 3 and 4. In these views the conditions are illustrated as with the elevator car on its upward travel in the first zone and the selector as having made engagement with the No. 9 contact inthe up series of contacts l! in the first zone of travel.

In Fig. 5, the control of the elevator is illustrated as effected through the medium of the step motors, one of these motors being located in the motor room as indicated at and another, in step with the first, indicated at |0| on the elevator car. The step motor |00 in the motor room may in fact be built as a part of the zone and oor annunciator step moto:` 66, Figs. 3 and 4, that is, one step motor be provided for operating both the zone annunciator switch contacts and the switch contacts for controlling the action of the car, which "in this case is a so-called signal-controlled car, automatically stopping on signals from the floors or from presetting of floor buttons in the car. Thus in Fig. 5, there are indicated a series of automatic buttons I 02, in the car adapted to be pressed by the operator of the car as the passengers announce the iloors at which they wish to stop, it being understood that a stop button is provided for each floor of the building.

These buttons are shown connected by Wiring |03 with contact segments |04 designed to be engaged by a Contact carried by an arm |06 on the shaft 20 of step motor |0|. This contact |05 on the rotating switch arm receives current from a contact ring |01 connected by wiring |08 with contact ring |09 engaged by contact ||0 of switch arm carried by shaft 20 of the control room step motor |00. This switch arm contact I0 at the opposite side engages contacts I2 suitably connected by wiring ||3 with the elevator control relays, not shown. Consequently, the closing of the circuit at one of the push buttons in the car automatically effects the stopping of the car when it reaches the oor corresponding to the push button which has been actuated.

The position indicator signals in the` car are shown at H4 and these are controlled automatically in Fig. 5 by an extra contact ||5 on the step motor switch arm |06 taking current from a Contact ring IIB and engaging one after another the contact segments I1 connected respectively with the different floor indicators.

While the construction disclosed in Fig. 4, with the switch arm operating between contact rings on one side and switch contacts at the opposite side after the manner shown in Fig. 4, is satisfactory, all the contacts may be located at one side of the switch arm as in Fig. 6 where said switch arm is shown as carrying elongated switch contacts |05 and I5' adapted to bridge between contact rings |01 and segments |04 and between contact ring H6 and segment H1', respectively.

The use of the step motors materially reduces the necessary amount of wiring in the shaft. It will be seen that for the signal-control operation of the car it is only necessary to carry four wires from the control room to the car, this being so because the wiring from the diierent floor buttons can all be concentrated in the car as shown in Fig. 5, with only the leads from the step motor in the car to the step motor in the control room. The step motors are positioned in action so that once set they will remain in proper step. For the initial setting, they may be individually adjusted by hand and if desired, special synchronizing mechanism may be provided to maintain them in exactly timed relation. These step motors are of simple, sturdy design and relatively inexpensive in construction, and have no parts complicated or fragile which are liable to wear or get out of order. The step motors, furthermore, are adapted to other uses than those shown.

By way of example, instead of the selector switch in the shaft way, illustrated at the bottom of Fig. 1, a step motor may be substituted, operated step by step in one direction by contact switches operated by the car in one direction of travel and rotated in the reverse direction by contact means actuated by the car in its reverse direction of travel.

What is claimed is:

1. In elevator control, the combination of elevator car, floor selecting devices in the car, step by step oor `switch mechanism in the car and connected with said floor selecting devices, means for operating said step by step switch mechanism in timed relation with the travel of the car and position indicator signals in the car and controlled by said same step by step switch mechanism on the car.

2. In an elevator system, a step motor, zone and floor indicating car signals for indicating respectively any one of a number of diierent oor groups and individual oors in each of such groups and control switch mechanism for said zone and floor signals actuated by said step motor to indicate the zone or group in which a call originates and the floor in that group from which such call came.

3. In an elevator system, a step motor, zone and floor indicating car signals for indicating respectively any one of a number of different floor groups and individual iioors in each of such groups and control switch mechanism for said zone and floor signals actuated by said step motor to indicate the zone or group in which a call n originates and the iioor in that group from which such call came and floor signaling devices connected with said zone and floor signal switch mechanism.

4. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the car in opposite directions, step motors at diierent floors and connected to be actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel in opposite directions and car position indicator means actuated by said iioor step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated in timed relation with the floor step motors and car carried signals actuated by said motor room step motor.

5. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the car in opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected to be actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel in opposite directions, car position indicator means actuated by said oor step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated in timed relation with the floor step motors, car carried signals actuated by said motor room step motor and signal-stop control mechanism under control of said motor room step motor.

6. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the car in opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected to be actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel in opposite directions and car position indicator means actuated by said floor step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated in timed relation with the iloor step motors, car carried signals actuated by said motor room step motor and car carried preset stop means connected to operate in conjunction with said motor room step motor.

7. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the car in opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected to be actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel in opposite directions and car position indicator means actuated by said floor step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated in timed relation with the floor step motors, car carried signals actuated by said motor room step motor, car carried preset stop means connected to operate in conjunction with said motor room step motor and including step motor actuated switch means operating in synchronism with the motor room step motor.

8. In elevator systems, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the car in opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected to be actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel in opposite directions, car position indicator means actuated by said door step motors, a motor room step motor connected to be actuated in timed relation with the oor step motors, car carried signals actuated by said motor room step motor, signalstop control mechanism under control of said motor room step motor and preset car carried control means connected to be operated in synchronism with the motor room step motor.

9. In elevator control, the combination o1' an elevator car, floor selecting devices in the car, step-by-step oor switch mechanism in the car and connected with said floor selecting devices, means for operating said step-by-step switch mechanism in timed relation with the travel of the car, position indicator signals in the car and controlled by said same step-by-step floor switch mechanism in the car, switch mechanism actuated by travel of the car in opposite directions, step motors at different floors and connected to be actuated by said switch mechanism in step with the car travel in opposite directions, car positioned indicator means actuated by said oor step motors, control means for stopping the elevator, including a step motor connected to be actuated in timed relation with the oor step motors.

WILLIAM L. LADEMANN.

Images