US706826A - Elevator-operating mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

A Patented Aug. |2, l902.

W. W. HUBBABD. ELEVATDH OPERATING MECHANISM.

(Application led Apr. 12, 1902.)

(No Model.)

e- INVENTUR:

ITNEEEEISI UNITED STATES UFFICE.

WILLIAMV. HUBBARD, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ELEVATORm-UPERATINGI lVlECHANlSll/l.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 706,826, dated August 12, 1902.

Application filed April 12, 1902. Serial No. 102,555. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern.: i

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. HIIBBARD, of Manchester, in the county of Hillsboro and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Elevator-Operating,.Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide :means for advantageously utilizing the weight of a personen an elevator-car or lift in imparting upward movement to the car; and it further has for its object to provide means for regulating the descent of the car or lift.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l represents a side elevation of a lift-operating mechanism embodying my invention, the lift being shown in section. Fig. 2 represents a section on line 2 2 of Fig. l and an elevation of the mechanism at the left of said line. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the iigures.

In the drawings, @represents an elongated vertical rack-bar, which is rigidly secured in a space corresponding tothe elevator well or passage of a building and extends vertically the distance which the elevator or 'lift hereinafter described is intended to traverse.

h represents a structure which is movable relatively to the rack-bar o. and is here shown as having the general construction of an elevator car or platform; but inasmuch as this structure may be variously'modified and'may be made in any form adapted to support one or more persons in either a standing or a sitting position I prefer to designate it as a lift.A

having a box cl', which extends over the shaft 4engages the gear c, as shown in Figs. l and 3. The other arm of the lever d is preferably longer than the arm carrying the pawl c and constitutes a treadle adaptedlto be depressed by a person carried by the lift.

It will be seen that when the treadle end of the lever cl is depressed the pawl e is raised and imparts to the gear c a partial rotation in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3. During this operation the shaded portion of the gear c (shown in Fig. 3) constitutes a secondary lever, having its fulcrum on one or more of the teeth of the rack-bar a. Said rack-bar is, as already stated, rigidly supported independently of the lift, so that the weight of a person applied to the treadle end of the lever d and operating to' raise the pawl e is in effect supported by the fixed fulcrum-namely, the teeth of the rack-barthe lift being therefore for the time being relieved of the weight of the operator. The lift is suitably counterbalanced bya weight (not shown) connected with a cord gf, secured to the lift and passing overa suitable system of guide-pulleys n. It will be seen, therefore, that by providing two levers d, eachequipped with a pawl e, as shown in Fig. 2, a person on thelift by standing on the treadle ends of the two levers and moving his feet and legs alternately can readily impart an upward movement to the lift, said movement being practically unretarded by the weight of the operator.v 'To prevent backward rotation of the gear c and downward movement of the lift, l provide a stop-pawlf, which, as here shown, is affixed to the sleevef, mounted to turn loosely on a rod f f2, affixed to supports on the lift. A stop-pawlfautomatically engages the teeth of the gear c.

Means are provided whereby the operator may simultaneously disengage the pawls e andf from the gear c to permit the descent of the lift. I here show as such means a bellcrank lever h, pivoted at h to asupport which moves with the lift, the arm 2 of said lever serving as a handheld or grip, a chain h2, connecting the otherl arm 3 of said lever with `an arm 4, attached to the sleeve f', and a chain h3, connecting the arm 4 with arms 5, formed on the pawls e. When the arm 3 is raised, it imparts movement through the described connections to the pawls f and e and disengages said pawls simultaneously from the gear c. Means are also provided for enabling the operator to control the descent of the lift, said means, as here shown, comprising a fixed elongated vertical friction member, secured beside and extending paral` lel with the rack-bar a', and a coperating friction member, suitably engaged with the lift and adapted to be pressed against the fixed member to create a retarding friction. The member t" may be composed of two sections collectively forming a handpiece or handle surrounding the member il and adapted to be pressed thereon by the hand of the operator. In this embodiment of my invention I show as a means for preventing separation of the gear c from the rack a an antifriction-roll 7c in rolling contact with the back of the rack-bar a, and links k', connecting the trunnions of the roll 7c with the shaft c2, supporting the gear c.

My invention is not limited to the form and relative arrangements of the essential parts of the invention here shown, and the same may be variously modified without departing from the spirit of my invention. Ibelieve myself to be the rst to combine a fixed vertical rack-bar and lift movable relatively to the rack-bar and pivotally connected with the lift and carrying a pawl which constitutes an extension of the lever, and a gear also pivotally connected with the lift and engaged both with the pawl and the rack-bar, said gear constituting a secondary leverv which when in operation is fulcrumed on the rack-bar, thereby relieving the lift of the weight which depresses or operates the lever. This combination of elements enables movements of the body which are equivalent to those required in walking to be utilized in raising the body and the lift or elevator on which it is supported, the mechanism of my invention, including the stop-pawl f, preventing the loss in the operation of this mechanism of the power which in walking is lost by the settling of the body of the walker in taking each step.

It will be seen that in case the rope that balances the car should break the car cannot fall while the pawls are in engagement with the gear.

Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, although without having attempted to set forth all the forms in which it may be embodied or all the modes of its use, I declare that what I claim isl. The combination of a fixed vertical elongated rack, a vertically-movable. lift, a pair of primary operating-levers each formed as a treadle pivoted on the lift and carrying a pawlwhich constitutes an extension of the lever, and a gear journaled on the lift and engaging both the pawls and the rack, said gear constituting asecondary lever which has the fixed rack for its fulcrum, whereby the weight of a passenger on the lift exerted alternately on the two primary levers and applied to rotate the gear is supported wholly by the rack and caused to raise the lift, the latter being relieved of the weight of the pas# senger while the lift is rising.

2. The combination of a fixed vertical elongated rack, a vertically-movable lift, a pair of primary operating-levers each formed as a treadle pivoted on the lift and carrying a pawl constituting an extension of the lever, a gear journaled on the lift and engaging both the pawls and the rack, said gear being rotatable in a forward direction by the levers and pawls, and means for preventing backward rotation of the gear.

3. The combination of a fixed vertical elongated rack, a vertically-movable lift, a pair of primary operating-levers each formed as a treadle pivoted on the lift and carrying a lpawl constituting an extension of the lever,

a gear journaled on the lift and engaging both the pawls and the rack, said gear being rotatable in a forward direction by the levers and pawls, a stop-pawl pivoted on the lift and adapted to prevent backward rotation of the gear, and means for simultaneously disengaging the pawls from the gear to permit the descent of the lift. f

4. The combination of a fixed vertical elongated rack, a vertically-movable lift, a pair of primary operating-levers each formed as a treadle pivoted on the lift and carrying a pawl constituting an extension of the lever, a gear journaled on the lift and engaging both the pawls and the rack, said gear being rotatable in a forward direction by the levers and pawls, a stop-pawl pivoted on the lift and adapted to prevent backward rotation of the gear, means for simultaneously disengaging the pawls from the gear to permit the descent of the lift, and means for retarding the descent of the lift.

5. The combination of a fixed vertical elongated rack, a vertically-movable lift, a pair of primary operating-levers each formed as a treadle pivotedon the lift and carrying a pawl constituting an extension of the lever, a gear journaled on the lift and engaging both the pawls and the rack, said gear being rotatable in a forward direction by the levers and pawls, a stop-pawl pivoted on the lift and adapted to prevent backward rotation of the gear, means for simultaneously disengaging the pawls from the gear to permit the descent of the lift, and brake mechanism comprising a fixed vertical elongated friction member and a complemental sliding friction member movable with the lift and adapted to coperate with the said xed member.

6. The combination of a fixed vertical elongated rack, a vertically-movable lift, a pair IOO IIO

both the pawl and the rack, said gear being ILE of primary operating-levers each formed as a treadle pivoted on the lift and carrying a pawi constituting an extension of the lever, a gear journaled on the lift and engaging rods connecting said roll with the axis ofthe gear. l 1o In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM WV. IIUBBARD. Witnesses: i

FREDERIC S. NUTTING,

rotatable in a forward direction by the levers and pawls, an antifriction-roil in rolling contact with the back of the rack, and tensioni C. E. BISCO.

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