US331269A

US331269A - Safety-catch for elevators

Info

Publication number: US331269A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1885-12-01
Anticipated expiration: 1902-12-01

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. ALBERT.

SAFETY CATCH FOR ELEVATORS. NO. 331,269. Patented Dec. 1, 1885'.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ()rricn.

HENRY ALBERT, OF CRESCENT CITY, CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY-CATO H FO R ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,269, dated December 1, 1885. Application filed January 29, 1885. Serial No. l54,310. (No model.)

' platforms for the purpose of arresting the fall and holding the load at any point when an accident to the hoisting-rope takes place; and my invention consists in certain improved construction and combination of safety-catches and operative mechanism, as hereinafter more particularly described, whereby the catches are mechanically thrown out and caused to engage with the guides, ways, or stationary upright surfaces of the elevator-well when the rope breaks. It includes, also, certain combination of parts and mechanism adapted to open the sliding traps or doors of the landings while the elevator is running properly; but when the hoisting-rope breaks the device is caused to engage with the sides of the elevator-well and operate as brakes.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of an elevatorcage and the sides of the well or shaft to which my improvements are applied. Fig. 2 is a similar section taken transversely or at right angles vertically. Fig. 3 is a view of the cage, showing the door-actuating mechanism and the safety-catch in position when the strain is on the hoisting-rope and the elevator is running properly, and Fig. 4 is a view taken at right angles to the view Fig. 3.

A A are the four sides or walls of an elevator-shaft, and B the elevator-cage. Upon the sides A A are notched guides or racks G, fixed along the sides of the upright timbers. To engage with these notched surfaces, there are fixed beneath the bottom of the cage two drop-levers, D D, opposite to each other. They are pivoted at d (1, near the outer ends, and at these ends there are points D, that form pawls to enter the notched surfaces when thrown out, as in Fig. 1. This position is given by dropping the longer ends of the levers. When these ends are raised up, the points D are drawn in to clear the notches, as shown in Fig. 3. In this position the inner ends, D of the levers lap over each other, and they are slotted to take over a pin or stud, E, on an upright bar or rod, H, that passes through the cage and out at the top. To the end of this rod, above the cage, is connected the hoisting-rope, so that the tension comes directly on the rod. The lower end is slotted, and the ends of the levers D D pass through from opposite sides and are attached by the pin E. As long as the elevator is working properly the levers D are held up out of action; but when the strain is taken off the rod it drops by its own gravity and the reaction of a coil-spring. These parts constitute a simple clutch device that is thrown into action by the breaking of the hoisting-rope. Gonnected with these parts, and operating with them, is the mechanism for bringing the friction-brake into action. This part of the apparatus is formed of the door-operating inclines I and a set of brake-bars, 1K, carrying shoes or friction-surfaces L,of rubber, on their ends.

Instead of fixing the inclines rigidly to the bottom of the cage, I attach the outer ends of the bars I by hinge-joints to the cage, and then connect them by link-bars K to a slide bar or post, H, running up through the cage and out at the top. This slide-bar is hollow, and the principal rod, H,works through it. Upon the upper end of this hollow bar is an enlarged cylindrical portion or barrel, m, with a bottom flange to receive the coil-spring N, and this barrel portion works through the cross-headP of the cage, so that when drawn up its upper end will strike against the fixed frame P and the coil-spring will be compressed. The rod passes out through the end of the slide-bar to receive the connection of the hoisting-rope, and these two parts-the rod and the surrounding bar-are connected by a crosspin, q, that works through a vertical slot, h, in the outside bar. The links are attached at pointsZ to the end of the hollow bar H by hinge-joints, and by similar connections are united to the bars I. On the outer end of each link is secured a block of rubber, L, in such manner that it projects beyond the line of the edge of the bar when the link is thrown down into the horizontal. When the inclines are drawn in, and are in working position to act upon the traps or doors, the rubber surfaces come within the edges of the inclines and are out of the way. Figs. 3 and 4 ofthe drawings show these two positions. The rubbers L are fixed to the bars by fastenings of such character that they can be readily detached and set out to present new surfaces for contact with the sides of the elevator-well as they wear down. These two partsthe clutch and the friction-brakeare thrown into action together as soon as the hoisting-rope breaks, the one against the ratchet-bar or series of notches along the sides of the upright guides, and the other against the sides of the well or shaft in which the elevator runs.

The use of the friction-brake and the clutches together gives double security against accident when the hoisting-rope breaks. Both are thrown into action at the same time by the operation of the spring, and one assists the other in taking hold of the surfaces provided in the run of the cage. As'the friction-brakes serve also as door-operators when closed together during the regular travel of the cage, they do not add to the number of parts or increase the mechanism for operating the device, the additional slide-bar H and its connections being the only parts added. In addition to this operation, also, the separation of the two bars at the time the brakes are brought into action causes them to no longer work the doors in the elevator-shaft, and where these doors are sliding or horizontal traps across the shaft they are thus brought into service as another agent to arrest the descent v of the elevator-cage.

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

1. The combination,with an elevator and its shaft, of the friction-brake levers I I, applied to operate also as door openers and closers, the slide-bar connected with the hoisting-rope at its upper end and to the levers I at its lower end by the links K K, the frictional surfaces L L, and the spring N, substantially as herein described.

2. The combination,with an elevator and its shaft, of frictional brake levers having shoes or surfaces L to engage with the sides of the shaft, and the slide-bar connecting said levers with the hoisting-rope, and a spring, substantially as herein described, to operate in the manner set forth.

3. A safety device for cages or platforms of elevators, consisting of a sliding bar, H, running through the cage and connected with the hoisting-rope at the upper end, the pivoted levers D D D D, connected with the slide-bar; at their inner ends, so that by the drop on the downward movement of the bar the outer ends, D,will be thrown out beyond the sides of the cage and in position to engage with a rack or notched surfaces at each side of the elevatorwell, the spring N, and the hinged-bars J J, connectedwith the slide-bar H by links KK, in the manner described.

4. The combination together of the pawl-andrack clutch device and the friction-brake leof the pawl-and-rack clutch, substantially as" described.

HENRY ALBERT. [L. s]

Witnesses:

JOHN M. FULWEILER, G. O. COKE.