US3834513A

US3834513A - Guide rail means

Info

Publication number: US3834513A
Application number: US00314535A
Authority: US
Inventors: M Miura; K Ichiryu; H Nakazawa
Original assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Current assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Priority date: 1971-12-20
Filing date: 1972-12-13
Publication date: 1974-09-10
Anticipated expiration: 1991-09-10
Also published as: DE2262203A1

Abstract

Guide rail means on which wheels travel, characterized by the provision of elastic members for absorbing impact forces occurring in contact engagement of said wheels with the cooperating guide rails, said elastic members being disposed along the respective surfaces of the guide rails as projecting slightly beyond said surfaces of the guide rails, so that only after the impact forces of the wheels having been absorbed by said elastic members, the wheels are adapted for direct contact engagement with the cooperating guide rails to finally be conducted substantially by the guide rails.

Description

0 United States Patent 1191 [111 3,834,513

Miura et al. 1 Sept. 10, 1974 [54] GUIDE RAIL MEANS ,9(3)6,390 lllefti 191135317391;

,0 2,377 1 [75] lnvemms 9 KatsutfliKm 3,237,756 3/1966 Puiiir 198/195 g z 3 filayashl Nakalawa 3,491,873 1/1970 Fauth 198/204 a su a, a o apan [73] Assignee: Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan Primary Examiner--Richard A. Schacher Assistant Examiner--Richard K. Thomson [22] Ffled' 1972 Attorney, Agent, or FirmCraig & Antonelli [21] App]. No.: 314,535

[57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Dec 20 1971 Japan 46402716 Gulde rail means on which wheels travel, character- 8 1972 Japan Q3182 ized by the provision of elastic members for absorbing impact forces occurring in contact engagement of said Mar. 8, 1972 Japan 47 2319 wheels with the cooperating guide rails said elastic members being disposed along the respective surfaces '8" 198/16 ii gg fi of the guide rails as projecting slightly beyond said [58] Fie'ld 195 surfaces of the guide rails, so that only after the im- 6 6 pact forces of the wheels having been absorbed by said elastic members, the wheels are adapted for direct contact engagement with the cooperating guide [56] X, :Zq rails to finally be conducted substantially by the guide rails. 2,455,175 11/1948 Hohl 198/16 R 2,813,613 11/1957 Margles 198/16 R 28 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEnsm 01914 I I I suit! 2 or 6 FIG. 4

PATENTED SEP 1 01974 shin 0F 6 FIG.

FIG. 7

FIG. 6

PATENTEDSEPIOIQH v v 3.894.513

sumsure 400 500 Seams cousmm OF THE BUFFERS /cm) FIG.

Q g n (5) A .LOVdWI d0 NOLLWE'IBOOVT GUIDE RAIL MEANS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement on rail means for guiding travelling wheels therealong, and more particularly to improved rail means for best use in an electrically driven escalator or moving sidewalk.

Generally, an electrically driven escalator or moving stair, or moving sidewalk is designed such that a plurality of stair elements supported by rotatable wheels running on guide rails are interconnected by means of endless chains so as to be driven for circulatory movement cycles.

In such a conventional arrangement, it has been also common in practice that each stair element provides two front wheels and two rear wheels, or four wheels in all, each of which wheels being covered around its external surface with a suitable elastic member such as rubber and the equivalent in order to avoid noise problems occurring upon contact engagement between the wheel and its cooperating rail.

However, even with such a measure of covering the external surface of the wheel with an elastic substance, it has been hardly possible to entirely eliminate the noise problems described since, in view of warranting the desired service life of such an elastic member as rubber, there essentially needs to employ a rubber member having a greater rate of hardness. More adversely, in the case of an escalator system, such noises have been found rather violent especially in the upper and lower transit regions where each travelling stair element changes its moving direction to and from the horizontal, and also in the upper and lower turnover regions of the endless stair travelling path. In a quiet office such as in the bank, for example. these noises have been extremely jarring. In other words, the occurrence of such violent shock sounds implies the fact that the wheels and the guide rails impinge upon each other under big impacts, which being also detrimental to maintaining desirous durabilities of the two members.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the present invention is, in guide rail means of the type described, to eliminate uncomfortable vibrations or noises which may arise in the travelling of wheels along the guide rails.

Another object of the invention is to provide guide rail means of the type described in which any impact force occurring between wheels and cooperating guide rails can be absorbed so as to further improve their durabilities.

To accomplish the above objects, the invention is featured by the provision of elastic members for absorbing impact forces occurring in contact engagement of the wheels with the cooperating guide rails, said elastic members being disposed along the respective surfaces of the guide rails, so that only after the impact forces of the wheels having been absorbed by said elastic members, the wheels are adapted for direct contact engagement with the cooperating guide rails to finally be conducted substantially by the guide rails.

A further object of the invention is to attain the extension of durabilities of said elastic members.

A still further object of the invention is to provide guide rail means of the type described in which said elastic members are of simple construction as well as being readily mountable and demountable.

These and-other objects of the invention will become apparent by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings showing exemplified practices of the invention, wherein:

FIG. I is a schematic side view illustrating the whole construction of the ordinary escalator system;

FIG. 2 is a cross view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing the details of the relative arrangement between wheels and cooperating guide rails in the lower transit region of the ordinary escalator system",

Flg. 4 is a schematic side view showing the relative arrangement between the wheels and guide rails at one terminal or turnover section of the same escalator system;

FIG. 5 is a side view similar to FIG. 3 however showing how the guide rails in the lower transit region incorporate the invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 however showing the provision of different shock absorbers according to the invention;

FIG. 8 is a view still similar to FIG. 6 however showing the provision of shock absorbers according to the invention disposed in juxtaposition to the rails;

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view showing the provision of shock absorbers according to the invention disposed for both of the front and rear wheels; and

FIG. 10 is a characteristic curve showing the relationship between the impact acceleration of the wheel and the spring constant of the elastic member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Generally, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an escalator system provides

sprockets

2 and 3 respectively disposed around the upper and lower end portions of a main frame body 1, around which sprockets is trained an endless chain 4 for drive engagement with them. Through the length of this endless chain 4, are provided a pulrality of stair elements 12 each of which comprises a tread board 5, supporting frames 6, a riser 7, a front axle 8, a rear axle 9, and front and rear wheels'l0 and 11 each in pair and connected to the respective axles, in such a manner that the stair elements being arranged side by side with one another in endless form are drivingly connected to the endless chain 4 through the respective front axles 8. To operate the escalator, a further sprocket 16 is actuated by a driving sprocket 14 in a drive source 13 through a chain 15, which sprocket 16 in turn actuates the stair element driving sprocket- 2 fixed coaxially with the former sprocket 16. As the sprocket 2 rotates, the stair element carrying wheels 10 and II are caused to travel on a predetermined track defined by holding rails 19 and guide rails l7, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 2S and 26, at a constant speed.

In the following description of the invention, it has to be noted that for the sake of simplicity, only the relative arrangement between one of the wheels and its associated rail will be described to avoid the same recitation regarding the other, unless otherwise required depending on the case.

Now, during the course of the above travelling, however, the front wheels of each stair element are prone to longitudinal vibrations because of their being connected to the chain 4 through the front axle 8, such longitudinal vibrations causing the wheels to impinge upon the cooperating rails to produce noises.

Further, as is well known, an escalator system is generally fabricated with the angular inclination of 30 degrees, which inclination being in smooth connection with each end horizontal where passengers step in or out. Turning now to FIG. 3, which shows the lower transit region of the escalator system, it can be seen that during movement of the front wheel 10 from the horizontal to the inclination of 30, it springs up to the holding rail 19 from the guide rail 18 and then springs down to the guide rail 18, as shown at the

positions

10a, 10b, 10c and llOd the wheel takes in that order. This is caused by the action of normal components N, and N produced from the prevailing tension exerted in the endless chain 4. In consequence, the wheel heavily impinges upon the tread surfaces of the

rails

18 and 19, resulting in not only generation of noises but also damages of the front wheel 10 or

rails

18 and 19. In an effort to solve this problem, it has been proposed to reduce the distance h between the holding rail 19 and the guide rail 18, or the distance g between the holding rail 19 and the top of the front wheel 10, and this has been satisfactory with respect to eliminate the above described drawbacks. However, with the distance g being such reduced, the front wheel 10 is forcibly urged against the rail by the action of tension in the endless chain 4, thus wear of the front wheel 10 being so quickened that its commercially acceptable durability or service life can not be warranted.

Further, it is to be understood that there involves the same problems as described above also in the upper transit region of the escalator where each stair element changes its moving direction from the incline of 30 to the horizontal. Still further, the same noise problems occur around each turnover of the endless track where the rear wheel in each stair element is being transferred from the upper guide rail portion 20 to the lower guide rail portion 23 (conversely, in the case of a downwardrunning escalator system), as shown in FIG. 4, and additionally, also where the front wheel 10 is being released from the sprocket 2 onto the guide rail 22 (onto the guide rail 21 in the case of downward-running escalator system).

Therefore, the present invention is directed to solve the aforementioned problems by providing a structure in which

rubber members

27a, 27b and 27c are fittingly mounted in respective longitudinal grooves 30 formed centrally of the guide rail 18 and the holding rail 19, each of said rubber members having a relief notch 28, as shown in FIG. 6. Also, it is arranged that each rubber member projects slightly beyond the tread surface of the associated rail. The amount of this projection, as indicated at i in FIG. 6, is preferably ranged from lmm to 3mm from viewpoints of fabrication and durability. In another word, if this projecting amount i is selected as smaller than 1mm, the result will be adverse in that the wheel instantly collides against the tread surface of the cooperating rail thereby voiding the desired effect of shock absorption, in addition to the resultant diffculties in the manufacture and mounting of the rubber members. If selected greater than 3mm, on the other hand, then it will become difficult to set the value of impact acceleration of the wheel at those not exceeding 2 g that are substantially effective to reduce the noise problems, and besides, the shock absorber tends to be impaired of its elasticity.

Now, the associated parts arranged according to the invention will be described of their operation by referring again to FIGS. 5 and 6.

When the travelling front wheel 10 is around the position indicated at 100, as seen in FIG. 5, the wheel first rides on the rubber cushion member 27a mounted along the guide rail portion 18, and then comes in contact engagement with the rail 18 after its impact having been absorbed by the rubber member, as best seen in FIG. 6. In like manner, when the wheel is shifted to the side of the holding rail portion 19, its impact is absorbed by the rubber member 27b, and further when returned to the guide rail 18, the rubber member 27c serves to take up the impact of the wheel. Accordingly, it is assured that the rubber member 27 can afford satisfactory absorption of any impacts produced by the wheel especially when it vibrates longitudinally, or springs up to the side of the holding rail 19, still or falls down to the side of the guide rails 18, as mentioned above. Thus, the described problem of vibration can completely be settled in the escalator system according to the invention. Further, the same effect will be obtained equally when providing the invention at each terminal section of the endless track, namely at the portions of the upper and lower rear

wheel conducting rails

20 and 23 adjacent each turning, or at the corresponding portions of the upper and lower front

wheel conducting rails

21 and 22. Still further, it will be obvious that the provision of the invention throughout the entire length of the endless rail track system eliminates normal noises which occur during the running of the escalator, thus yielding far better results. However, the present invention is not limited only to such an overall application extending all over the endless rail track, but the invention may unobjectionably be applied partly of the rail track system, namely around the upper and lower transit regions between the horizontals and the inclines, or around each terminal truning of the endless rail track where particularly intensified noises tend to occur.

Again, in the arrangement of each rubber member according to the invention, it is featured that the rubber member 27 is fittingly inserted into the groove 30 formed on the associated rail as slightly projecting beyond the tread surface of the rail so that the front wheel 10 be adapted to come in contact engagement with the rail only after first having engaged with the rubber member 27. There will now be given reasons for the above.

First, let it be supposed that instead of the invention, a rubber layer is simply applied on the tread surface of the rail. In such an arrangement, the wheel 10 rolls on the rubber layer so that the latter is directly exposed to loads of the travelling stair elements or the passengers being carried. This causes the rubber layer to be worn off rapidly. Running tests have proved that with such an arrangement of simply applying a rubber layer on the rail, damages occurred in less than 3 months, while the escalator system employing the invention served satisfactorily for more than 2 years.

FIG. 7 shows a modification of the invention being directed to further improve the durability of the rubber cushion member, in which a metal plate 28' is secured upon the surface of each rubber member. With this altered arrangement, the wheel is caused to make contact with the metal plate 28' during the process of shock absorption, resulting in a substantial reduction of wear around the rubber surface, and it has been found by tests that this altered practice of the invention gained an extra service life of over 12 months in addition to the normal life attained by the previous arrangement without using the metal plate.

FIG. 8 shows a further modification of the invention, in which an upper rail 34A and a lower rail 34 are fastened to respective horizontal sides of a longitudinally extending rail-holding frame 33 having a U-shaped cross section, through bolts 39 and nuts 39A, while rubber members 30 are secured to the frame 33 similarly through bolts 35 in juxtaposition with the respective rails 34 and 34A, however as projecting inwardly slightly beyond the surfaces of the respective rails.

Between each rubber member 30 and its cooperating rail 34 or 34A, is provided a relief space into which the rubber material is forced upon deformation under load. Further, there are conveniently provided upper and

lower guide plates

32 and 32 fixedly mounted, via fastening bolts 36, on the inner side of the vertical wall of the frame 33, which guide plates serving to prevent the wheel 10 from a snake motion or travelling in zigzag along the guide rail track and also to avoid objectionable risks of the rubber member 30 being removed out of its position.

With the above arrangement wherein the rubber members 30 are disposed in juxtaposition with the guide rail 34 and the holding rail 34A, respectively, it is thus possible to advantageously omit rather a complicated process of forming the grooves as described with respect to the previous embodiment. Preferably, each rebber member is arranged to keep contact with its cooperating rail only over a width not exceeding half the wheel width so as to avoid full imposition of loads from the travelling wheel 10 upon the rubber member 30.

FIG. 9 showsa further practice of the invention applied to the guide rail and the wheels in the incline region of a straight travelling course. Here, it is arranged that a sole guide rail 37 is employed as common to the front and rear wheels 10 and 11 since the two wheels 10 and 11 are to travel flush with each other in the straight inclination region. More specifically, the guide rail 37 on which the wheels 10 and 11 travel is supported fixedly on a U-shaped longitudional frame 40, by means of bolts 41 and nuts 41A. Further, the guide rail 37 is positioned in such a manner that each of the front and rear wheels 10 and 11 is placed as projecting a certain width outwardly from the respective side edge of the guide rail, as viewed and best seen in FIG. 9. Similarly to the preceding embodiment described with reference to FIG. 8, rubber members 42 are disposed in juxtaposition with the guide rail 37 and below the respective wheels as filling the inner comer spaces of the U-shaped frame 40. The rubber members 42 are also secured to the frame 40 through bolts 46 and extend slightly outwardly beyond the guide surface of the rail 37. With this structure, thus, amy vibrations and noises can be alleviated or eliminated through the elastic action of the rubber members 42. Reference numerals 43 and 44 in the same Figure show respective guide plates which serve to prevent any snake motion or travelling in zigzag of the wheels 10 and 11 and also to hold the respective rubber members in position; and numerals 47 show relief spaces to permit the resilient deformation of the rubber members under load.

Referring to all of the embodiments of the invention that have been described so far, it will be noted that rubber members are employed in common throughout all of them. In this regard, however, the same purpose according to the invention may equally be attained, in I FIG. 7 for example, by substituting the rubber members with coil springs arranged below the metal plates 28'. Further, it is pointed out that during the normal travelling of the wheel 10 on its associated grooved rail, in

the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the wheel might by some possibility be scratched of its peripheral face, causing furtherance of vibrations. To eliminate this possibility, it is desirably arranged, as shown in FIG. 7, that the holding rail 19 is provided with a recessed step portion x adapted for snug accomodation of the metal plate 28' therein while the plate 28' being enlarged of its width correspondingly. With the thus provided arrangement, the resultant operation is such that upon engagement of the wheel 10 with the metal plate 28' attached with the rubber member 27b, the rubber member 27b performs its shock absorption through deflection, and then the metal plate 28 is snugly housed in the recess x so that the wheel 10 travels on the tread surface now made up of the guide rail and the metal plate 28'. Thus, the occurrence of scratches on the peripheral face of the travelling wheel described above can be avoided.

Finally, FIG. 10 is a characteristic curve showing the relationship between the acceleration of impact and the spring constant of the buffers. It is desired, according to the tests, that for the magnitude range of impact acceleration exceeding 2g, the minimum rate of spring constant is selected as Kg/cm, and the upper limit of this spring constant is preferably set at 300 Kg/cm that corresponds to lg-impact acceleration. Otherwise, as apparent from the same Figure, the rubber or buffer member with a spring constant exceeding 300 Kg/cm will only increase its hardness producing a lesser extent of flexture under the normal force so that in operation, the wheels are obliged to travel direct upon the shock absorbing rubber members.

Relevant tests have proved that when applying the invention to an escalator or electrically driven moving sidewalk, a best suitable range of spring constant is from Kg/cm to 200 Kg/cm.

It has also been found desirous, by further tests, to select the depth or thickness of the rubber buffer as more than 10 times its projection or preferably 10 times to 15 times, from viewpoints of securing its optimum effect of shock absorption and longest possible service life.

What is claimed is:

1. Guide rail means for guiding rotary traveling wheels, characterized by the provision of shock absorbing members which are positioned along respective tracks of said traveling wheels'with the extremities thereof slightly projecting beyond the surfaces of the respectively associated guide rails, said shock absorbing members being adapted to assume positions flush with or below the surfaces of said associated guide rails upon completion of absorbing impact forces exerted by said wheels when said wheels are passing thereat, and said wheels being guided by said rails when said absorbing members assume said positions flush with or below the surfaces of said associated guide rails.

2. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, characterized by that the amount of projection provided in each of said shock absorbing members is 1mm to 3mm.

3. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, characterized by that the spring constant of each shock absorbing member is 100 Kg/cm to 300 Kb/cm.

4. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, characterized by that a substantially wear resisting member is provided on the side of said each shock absorbing member in contact with the associated wheel.

5. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 4, characterized by that said substantially wear resisting member is greater in width than the associated shock absorbing member so that upon completion of absorbing impact forces exerted by the associated wheel, said substantially wear resisting member is caused to be positioned flush with said guide rail whereby allowing said associated wheel to travel on said substantially wear resisting member.

6. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, characterized by that said each shock absorbing member is made of rubber, its thickness being preferably to times said amount of projection beyond the surface of the associated rail.

7. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, character ized by that said each shock absorbing member is provided in juxtaposition with the associated guide rail, the width of said shock absorbing member being less than half that of said associated wheel.

8. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 7, characterized by that at least one supporting frame is provided for supporting said guide rails, said shock absorbing members being held in position by said supporting frame, while said supporting frame provides a guide plate to prevent zigzag motion of the travelling wheels.

9. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, characterized by that said each guide rail on which the associated wheel travel is provided with a longitudinal groove, said shock absorbing member being provided as inserted into said groove with the exposed end thereof projecting slightly beyond the surface of said rail so as to engage said associated wheel, said shock absorbing member being adapted to be positioned flush with or below said surface of the rail after having absorbed impact forces exerted by the associated wheel.

10. Guide rail means, in an escalacalator or an elec' trically driven moving sidewalk of the type which comprises a plurality of stair elements each carried by front wheels and rear wheels travelling along respective rails, said stair elements being interconnected through an endless chain trained around an upper sprocket and a lower sprocket for drive engagement therewith, so that said stair elements be driven for circulatory movement cycles in an endless looped track, characterized by the provision of shock absorbing members which are positioned along the tracks of said travelling wheels with the exposed extremities thereof projecting slightly beyond the surfaces of said rails, said shock absorbing members being adapted to be positioned flush with or below said surfaces of the associated ralls only after having absorbed impact forces exerted by said travelling wheels.

II. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that said shock absorbing members are provided at least in the region where said wheels move from said sprockets t0 the guide rails.

12. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, which consists of horizontal portions and inclination portions, characterized by that said shock absorbing members are provided in the transit regions of the guide rails from said horizontal portions to said inclination portions, and vice versa.

13. Guide rail means as set fother in claim 10, characterized by that said shock absorbing members are provided in each terminal region of the escalator length where said rear wheels shift from the upper guide rails to the lower guide rails, and vice versa.

14. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that the amount of projection in each shock absorbing member is 1mm to 3mm.

15. Guide rail means as set forth inclaim l0, characterized by that the spring constant of each said shock absorbing member is Kg/cm to 300 Kg/cm.

16. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that a substantially wear resisting member is provided at the side of said each shock absorbing member to be in contact with the associated wheel.

17. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, charac terized by that said substantially wear resisting member is greater in width than the associated shock absorbing member while said wear resisting member being adapted to be positioned flush with the surface of the associated guide rail after impacts of the wheel having been absorbed by said shock absorbing member, thereby allowing said wheel to travel upon said wear resisting member.

18. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that said shock absorbing members are made of rubber, and each has a thickness preferably 10 to 15 times the amount of projection beyond the surface of the rail.

19. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that said shock absorbing members are provided in juxtaposition with said associated rails while the width of each shock absorbing member being less than half the width of said associated wheel.

20. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by the provision of at least one supporting frame for supporting said guide rails, said supporting frame retaining said shock absorbing members in position while guide plates for preventing the wheels from zigzag motion along the guide rails are provided on said supporting frame.

21. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that in the region where the guide rails on which the respective front and rear wheels in each of said stair elements travel are arranged flush with each other, a common rail for both of the front and rear wheels is disposed on and centrally of a U-shaped supporting frame, shock absorbing members each having a width less than half the width of said respective wheel being provided between said common rail and the side walls of said U-shaped supporting frame, while holding plates serving to retain said respective shock absorbing members in position being provided on the inner side walls of said supporting frame.

22. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that said each guide rail is formed with a groove into which the shock absorbing member is inserted as projecting slightly beyond the surface of said rail to engage said associated wheel, said shock absorbing member being adapted to absorb impact forces exerted by said wheel in contact engagement with the rail and thereafter be positioned flush with or below the surface of said rail.

23. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 22, characterized by that said groove is countersunk to form a recess wider than said groove while said shock absorbing member provides on the upper surface thereof a rigid member of substantial wear-resistance wider than said shock absorbing member, said rigid member being adapted, during the travelling of the wheel, for snug engagement in said recess to be positioned flush with the surface of said rail.

24. A conveyor arrangement comprising: a conveying means, a plurality of roller means connected to said conveying means for movable supporting the same, guide rail means for receiving and guiding the movement of said roller means, means provided along at least selected portions of said guide rail means for absorbing impact forces of said roller means, said impact absorbing means including a plurality of shock absorbing members, said shock absorbing members including surface portions projecting above the surfaces of the guiding rail means to permit said roller means to engage said surface portions prior to engaging said guide rail means, said shock absorbing members being deformable upon engagement with said roller means to assume a position at least flush with said guide rail means to permit said roller means to be guided by said guide rail means.

25. An arrangement according to claim 24, wherein said roller means are disposed on respective lateral sides of said conveying means, said guiding rail means including a pair of spaced tracks disposed on respective sides of said conveying means for receiving said roller means therebetween, each of said tracks being provided with a shock absorbing member disposed substantially centrally thereof.

26. An arrangement according to claim 25, wherein each of said tracks is provided with a longitudinally extending groove, and wherein said shock absorbing members are disposed within said groove.

27. An arrangement according to claim 25, wherein said projecting surface portions of said shock absorbing members are provided with a wear resistant member, said guide tracks being provided with means for receiving said last-mentioned member to permit said member to assume a flush position with said guide tracks upon deformation of said shock absorbing members by said roller means.

28. An arrangement according to claim 25, wherein a substantially U-shaped support frame is provided for maintaining the respective pair of guide tracks in spaced relationship, each guide track of a respective pair being disposed on a respective leg of said U-shaped support frame with a shock absorbing member being disposed adjacent to and in abutting relationship with a respective guide track.

Claims

1. Guide rail means for guiding rotary traveling wheels, characterized by the provision of shock absorbing members which are positioned along respective tracks of said traveling wheels with the extremities thereof slightly projecting beyond the surfaces of the respectively associated guide rails, said shock absorbing members being adapted to assume positions flush with or below the surfaces of said associated guide rails upon completion of absorbing impact forces exerted by said wheels when said wheels are passing thereat, and said wheels being guided by said rails when said absorbing members assume said positions flush with or below the surfaces of said associated guide rails.

6. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, characterized by that said each shock absorbing member is made of rubber, its thickness being preferably 10 to 15 times said amount of projection beyond the surface of the associated rail.

7. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 1, characterized by that said each shock absorbing member is provided in juxtaposition with the associated guide rail, the width of said shock absorbing member being less than half that of said associated wheel.

10. Guide rail means, in an escalacalator or an electrically driven moving sidewalk of the type which comprises a plurality of stair elements each carried by front wheels and rear wheels travelling along respective rails, said stair elements being interconnected through an endless chain trained around an upper sprocket and a lower sprocket for drive engagement therewith, so that said stair elements be driven for circulatory movement cycles in an endless looped track, characterized by the provision of shock absorbing members which are positioned along the tracks of said travelling wheels with the exposed extremities thereof projecting slightly beyond the surfaces of said rails, said shock absorbing members being adapted to be positioned flush with or below said surfaces of the associated raIls only after having absorbed impact forces exerted by said travelling wheels.

11. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that said shock absorbing members are provided at least in the region where said wheels move from said sprockets to the guide rails.

15. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that the spring constant of each said shock absorbing member is 100 Kg/cm to 300 Kg/cm.

17. Guide rail means as set forth in claim 10, characterized by that said substantially wear resisting member is greater in width than the associated shock absorbing member while said wear resisting member being adapted to be positioned flush with the surface of the associated guide rail after impacts of the wheel having been absorbed by said shock absorbing member, thereby allowing said wheel to travel upon said wear resisting member.