WO2018185204A1

WO2018185204A1 - Handrail for a passenger conveyor

Info

Publication number: WO2018185204A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/058691
Authority: WO
Inventors: Csaba BOROS
Original assignee: Inventio Ag
Priority date: 2017-04-07
Filing date: 2018-04-05
Publication date: 2018-10-11

Abstract

A handrail (5) for a passenger conveyor (1) such as an escalator or a moving walkway is proposed. The handrail (5) comprises a plurality of rigid handrail members (11) and a plurality of soft handrail members (13) which are arranged alternately along a handrail path with one soft handrail member (13) being arranged intermediate to associated adjacent rigid handrail members (11), respectively. Therein, the rigid handrail members (11) and the soft handrail members (13) are designed such as to cooperate with each other such as to form a common outer handrail surface (29). Adjacent rigid handrail members (11) are mechanically connected to each other such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction (19) of the handrail path and such as to be spaced from each other at a fixed distance with respect to a neutral longitudinal axis (27) of the handrail (5). The handrail (5) may be easily assembled at various lengths, thereby enabling adaption to different types and sizes of passenger conveyors.

Description

Handrail for a passenger conveyor

The present invention relates to a handrail for a passenger conveyor, to a handrail arrangement comprising such handrail and to a method of assembling such handrail.

Passenger conveyors such as escalators or moving walkways serve for transporting passengers for example within a building along inclined or horizontal pathways, respectively. During transportation, the passenger generally stands on top of a moving step element or moving palette element.

Typically, a handrail arrangement is provided for the passenger conveyor. Such handrail arrangement comprises a handrail which may be moved in parallel to the moving step elements or moving palette elements such that the passenger may grab the handrail for support during transportation. Accordingly, the handrail arrangement represents an important safety feature of the passenger conveyor.

Various types of handrail arrangements have been developed. For example, conventionally, handrails are made with a belt which may be grabbed by the passenger. Therein, in a most common form of a handrail arrangement today, the handrail is provided in a closed-loop form, i.e. the belt may be provided as an endless ring.

Typically, the belts of such conventional handrail may be based on elastomers, such as vulcanized rubber, for example including steel fibers as reinforcement elements.

However, such closed-loop form may result in limitations or additional efforts being necessary for example upon assembly, maintenance or replacement of the handrail arrangement or its handrail.

Another approach for a handrail is disclosed in GB 1 268 589 A. Therein, an endless handrail for a passenger conveyor comprises a plurality of identically constructed and interlinked handrail members.

Further approaches for a handrail are disclosed in US 2 766 868 A, EP 0 931 753 Al and SU 660 912 Al . Therein, a handrail comprises rigid handrail members and soft handrail members which are arranged alternately along a handrail path with one soft handrail member being arranged intermediate to rigid handrail members, respectively.

For future passenger conveyors, different or advanced requirements may be set. For example, there may be a need for an alternative handrail or handrail arrangement which may be assembled, maintained and/or replaced with reduced efforts. Furthermore, there may be a need for an alternative handrail which may be applied for different types and sizes of handrail arrangements. Furthermore, in the future, passenger conveyors may have to be smaller, i.e. with minor dimensions, therefore requiring a different approach in developing an alternative handrail and its driving system.

Such needs may be met with the subject-matter of the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are defined in the dependent claims and the following specification.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a handrail for a passenger conveyor is proposed, the handrail comprising a plurality of rigid handrail members and a plurality of soft handrail members. Therein, the rigid handrail members and the soft handrail members are arranged alternately along a handrail path with one soft handrail member being arranged intermediate to adjacent rigid handrail members, respectively.

Furthermore, the rigid handrail members and the soft handrail members form a continuous outer handrail surface. Adjacent rigid handrail members are mechanically connected to each other such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction of the handrail path and such as to be spaced from each other at a fixed distance with respect to a neutral longitudinal axis of the handrail. At least some rigid handrail members are divided in lateral direction transverse to a direction of the handrail path in two rigid items. The two rigid items are arranged at a soft handrail member at two opposing sides thereof. Such a unit is preferably formed as a single piece by an injection moulding process using two polymers of different hardness. If the handrail belt would comprise a separation possibility between rigid and soft handrail members, this could result in deep gaps within the intermediate zone after a certain operation time. Such gaps are disturbing as the skin of holding hands could be pinched. Therefore, it is an advantage to have a separation possibility within the rigid handrail members, because the rigid items do not have to compensate elastically deformations and therefore relaxation behaviours do not occur between the rigid items.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a handrail arrangement for a passenger conveyor is proposed. Therein, the handrail arrangement comprises a support structure, an elongate guiding profile attached to the support structure and a handrail according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, the handrail extending along the elongate guiding profile.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a method for assembling a handrail according to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention is proposed. Therein, the method comprises the following steps, to be performed optionally but not necessarily in the indicated order: (i) mechanically connecting the plurality of rigid handrail members to each other such as to form a line of rigid handrail members and such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction of the line of rigid handrail members and such as to be spaced from each other at a fixed distance with respect to a neutral longitudinal axis of the handrail; (ii) interposing one of the plurality of soft handrail members between each of adjacent rigid handrail members; and (iii) arranging the line of rigid handrail members in a closed-loop configuration with a first rigid handrail member of the line of rigid handrail members adjacent to a last rigid handrail member of the line of rigid handrail members, and mechanically connecting the adjacent first and last rigid handrail members to each other such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction of the line of rigid handrail members.

Ideas underlying embodiments of the present invention may be interpreted as being based, inter alia and without restricting the scope of the invention, on the following observations and recognitions.

The handrail proposed herein comprises or is composed of a plurality of rigid handrail members and a plurality of soft handrail members. The rigid handrail members and the soft handrail members are arranged alternately along a handrail path, i.e. along an elongate path along which the handrail is to be displaced. In a completely assembled state, such handrail path typically is a closed-loop path. Specifically, at least one soft handrail member is arranged intermediate to associated adjacent rigid handrail members, i.e. is interposed between two rigid handrail members. Accordingly, while two adjacent rigid handrail members may be locally mechanically connected to each other, they do not abut to each other along major portions of their lateral surfaces (which may also be referred to as flange surfaces). Instead, these lateral surfaces mainly abut to an opposing lateral surface of the associated interposed soft handrail member.

The interposed soft handrail members have a substantially lower rigidity than the rigid handrail members. Particularly, the soft handrail members may be flexible enough to absorb or compensate changes in a gap between their adjacent rigid members. In other words, while adjacent rigid handrail members of the proposed handrail are generally arranged along the handrail path such as to include a gap in between them and such gap may change its geometry for example during motion of the handrail along bendings or curves, an associated interposed soft handrail member may be flexible or soft enough such as to compensate such geometry variation of the gap. Accordingly, even upon adjacent handrail members being displaced relative to each other, the soft handrail member may always substantially fill the gap between the adjacent rigid handrail members.

Specifically, the rigid handrail members and the soft handrail members are designed such as to cooperate with each other such as to form a common outer handrail surface. Therein, the outer handrail surface may be the surface of the handrail to be grabbed by a passenger, i.e. generally the surface of the handrail directed in an upward direction. In other words, the outer handrail surface shall not only be formed by the rigid handrail members alone or by the soft handrail members alone. Instead, such outer handrail surface shall be formed by a combination of both type of rigid and soft handrail members being alternately arranged along the handrail path. Accordingly, a passenger grabbing the handrail will generally touch at least a part of one or more rigid handrail members as well as at least a part of one or more soft handrail members.

More specifically, the common outer handrail surface may be formed by the cooperating rigid and soft handrail members in such a way that it is substantially smooth, i.e. the cross-section of the handrail profile is equally the same along the entire length of the handrail or the handrail surface comprises only minor depressions formed for example by soft handrail members being interposed between larger adjacent rigid handrail members. Preferably, there should be no substantial gaps in between adjacent rigid handrail members in which for example a finger or portions of a hand of a passenger may be inserted and, in worst cases, clamped. But it may be possible as well that the outer handrail surface has a wavy contour. Such wavy contour may result from "hills" formed by larger rigid handrail members and "valleys" formed by intermediate smaller soft handrail members, or vice versa. Particularly, no sharp edges or gaps shall be present between soft and rigid handrail members at the outer handrail surface.

In the proposed handrail, adjacent rigid handrail members shall be mechanically connected to each other such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction of the handrail path. In other words, adjacent rigid handrail members may be mechanically interconnected in order to be aligned with each other such that they cannot be substantially displaced with respect to each other in the lateral direction. Thus, the mechanical interconnection may be in such manner that the resulting handrail may at most be slightly bent while its adjacent rigid handrail members are still sufficiently aligned with each other.

Therein, the lateral direction may be defined as being orthogonal to a plane in which the handrail path, particularly a closed- loop handrail path, extends. Alternatively, the lateral direction may be defined as being transverse to the direction of the handrail path and substantially parallel to the plane of the outer handrail surface.

Furthermore, the mechanical connection shall be established such that the adjacent rigid handrail members are spaced from each other at a fixed distance at least when measured along a neutral longitudinal axis of the handrail. In other words, the mechanical interconnection between adjacent rigid handrail members may be established in such manner that the distance between the adjacent rigid handrail members remains fix even upon longitudinal forces acting onto portions of the handrail.

This shall be true at least for a distance measured along the neutral longitudinal axis. Such neutral longitudinal axis occurs when for example adjacent rigid members are tilted or change their orientation with respect to each other. For example, due to such modified orientation, a gap between the adjacent rigid handrail members may be deformed such that the rigid handrail members come closer to each other at one side of the gap whereas being more distant from each other at an opposing side. However, somewhere between these extremes, a distance between the rigid handrail members shall remain constant over time even upon such tilting or reorientation of the rigid handrail members. In other words, the mechanical interconnection between rigid handrail members may be such that an average distance between the rigid handrail members remains substantially constant over time even upon longitudinal forces or bending forces acting onto the handrail.

Accordingly, while the mechanical interconnection between adjacent rigid handrail members may allow that the rigid handrail members may be re-orientated with respect to each other by small angles of for example less than 10°, they may not be substantially moved away from each other in the direction of the longitudinal axis. The soft handrail members which are located between the rigid handrail members may be arranged in a pre-stressed manner to compensate effectively gap differences during the aforementioned discussed re- orientation phases.

According to an embodiment, the handrail further comprises an elongate rope member extending along the handrail path and extending through openings in each of the rigid handrail members, thereby mechanically connecting adjacent rigid handrail members to each other such as to be aligned with each other in the lateral direction.

In other words, the rigid handrail members may be mechanically interconnected using the elongate rope member. Such rope member may for example comprise or be composed of a plurality of cords or fibers made with for example metal such as steel or load-resistant polymeric materials such as for example aramid. Particularly, the elongate rope member may be adapted and/or dimensioned such as to be strong enough to absorb tension forces typically effected in a handrail. Each of the rigid handrail members may comprise one or more openings through which the rope member may extend. Accordingly, due to the rope member running through the openings in the rigid handrail members, these rigid handrail members are connected with each other such as to be aligned in the lateral direction.

It may be beneficial to provide the openings in the rigid handrail members and the elongate rope member such that the elongate rope member extends along the neutral longitudinal axis of the handrail. Accordingly, upon any bending of the handrail, the position of each of the rigid handrail members with respect to the elongate rope member may not be influenced.

Specifically, according to an embodiment, the handrail comprises a splice portion in which opposing ends of the elongate rope member are mechanically fixed to each other.

In other words, while the rigid handrail members may for example first be arranged linearly in neighborhood to each other along the rope member, i.e. in a non-closed-loop, the ends of the rope member may finally be mechanically fixed to each other such as to close the loop, thereby finalizing an assembly process for the handrail. The region in which the opposing ends of the rope member are fixed to each other is referred to herein as splice portion. Therein, the expression "splicing" may refer to any type of

mechanically stable interconnecting both rope ends, including for example clamp connections, glue connections, etc.

According to a specific embodiment, the rigid handrail members may be kept at the fixed distance with respect to the neutral longitudinal axis of the handrail by one of the following measures:

As a first option, protrusions protruding from a surface of each of the rigid members and extending in the direction of the handrail path such as to abut to a surface of a adjacent rigid member may be provided. In other words, the rigid members may be designed such that for example from one or both of its lateral surfaces, protrusions are provided such as to protrude in a direction of an adjacent rigid handrail member. Accordingly, both adjacent rigid handrail members may contact each other or abut to each other at such protrusion. Therein, the protrusions define and keep a predetermined distance between the adjacent rigid handrail members.

As a second option, spacing members may be interposed between each of two adjacent rigid members such as to abut to surfaces of both adjacent rigid members. In other words, in contrast to the preceding option in which the protrusions protrude directly from one of the rigid members and are for example integrated portions of the rigid members, in this second option, the spacing members may be separate devices. One or more of such spacing members may be interposed between adjacent rigid members. Particularly, the spacing members may be set in parallel to or throughout the intermediate soft handrail members. However, in contrast to the soft handrail members, the spacing members have a significant rigidity which may be same or similar to the rigidity of the rigid handrail members. Accordingly, the spacing members may not be significantly compressed and may therefore keep a fixed spacing between the adjacent rigid members even upon strong longitudinal forces acting thereon. For example, the spacing members may be made of the same or a similar material as the material of the rigid handrail members.

In a third option, clamping members may be provided, these clamping members fixing each of the rigid handrail members at a predefined position along the elongate rope member extending through the openings in the rigid handrail members. In other words, for example one or more ferrules may be provided as clamping members for fixing a rigid handrail member at the rope member. The fixation may be nonpositive, i.e. a force-fit. Alternatively, a positive fit, i.e. a form- fit, may be applied. Similar ferrules may be provided as a clamping member for clamping overlapping portions of the opposing ends of the elongate rope member in the splicing portion, thereby fixing these opposing ends to each other.

According to an embodiment, each of the soft handrail members abuts with a first lateral surface to a lateral surface of a first associated rigid handrail member and abuts with an opposing second lateral surface to a lateral surface of a second associated rigid handrail member.

In other words, each soft handrail member may abut at its opposing lateral surfaces to one of both adjacent rigid handrail members. This implies that the soft handrail member has a thickness at least corresponding to a width of a gap provided between two adjacent rigid handrail members.

Preferably, dimensions of the soft handrail members, particularly their thicknesses, are selected such that each soft handrail member is held between the adjacent rigid handrail members in a pre-pressed condition. This implies that the thickness of the soft handrail member in a non-pressed state is at least slightly larger than the width of the gap between the adjacent rigid handrail members. Preferably, these dimensions are such that in all conditions typically occurring in a handrail upon operating the handrail arrangement, i.e. for example in each of possible bendings of the handrail during its operation, the soft handrail members are dimensioned such as to completely fill out the gap between adjacent rigid handrail members, even in cases when this gap is temporarily widened at least in portions thereof.

According to an embodiment, the rigid handrail members and their adjacent soft handrail members at least partly overlap with each other in the direction of the handrail path in regions with an overlapping portion arranged close to the outer handrail surface.

Due to such longitudinal overlap of the soft handrail member, on the one side, and the rigid handrail member, on the other side, in their overlapping portion, formation of any gaps at the outer handrail surface may be avoided. Particularly, for example a protrusion may extend in the longitudinal direction away from a lateral surface of the rigid handrail members and may form the overlapping portion, i.e. may overlap a adjacent soft handrail member, or vice versa. Therein, the protrusion may be arranged at or close to the outer handrail surface.

Accordingly, even when adjacent rigid handrail members are slightly displaced with respect to each other, changes in such gap between these adjacent rigid handrail members are at least partly absorbed by the intermediate soft member such that generation of a significant gap at the outer surface is either prevented at all or such gap is covered by the overlapping portion of one of the rigid and soft handrail members. For example, such overlapping portion may have a width of more than 1 mm or more than 3 mm in the longitudinal direction.

According to an embodiment, the rigid handrail members are made with, or consist of, a rigid polymeric material or a metal material. Examples of suitable rigid polymeric materials are POM (polyoxymethylene), PA (polyamide), PEEK (polyetheretherketone) or fibre-reinforced polymeric material. Examples of suitable metal materials may be for example steel or other iron-based alloys, aluminium, etc. In case of polymeric materials rigid means inherently stable i.e. the polymeric material is harder than 90 Shore A according to DIN EN ISO 868 and DIN ISO 7619-1. According to an embodiment, the soft handrail members may be made with, or consist of, an elastomeric material. Such elastomeric material may have a high degree of mechanical elasticity and/or flexibility such as to be temporarily deformable. For example, the elastomeric material may be fluororubber, NBR (nitrile rubber), optionally comprising flame-retarding additives or thermoplastic rubber, e.g. based on polyurethane (PU) rubber, which is suitable for injection moulding. In case of polymeric materials, soft means inherently elastically i.e. the material is softer than 50 Shore A.

Optionally, the soft handrail members may include cavities, through-holes or similar measures in order to further increase their electrical conductivity to eliminate static charge and/or flexibility at least in portions thereof.

According to an embodiment, at least 95% of the rigid handrail members are identical in shape and/or at least 95% of the soft handrail members are identical in shape.

In other words, a majority of the rigid handrail members and/or of the soft handrail members are provided with identical shapes, respectively. Accordingly, such handrail members may be produced in large numbers and may therefore be provided at low costs and/or stable quality.

Particularly, upon assembling a handrail, a large number of rigid handrail members being identical to each other in their shapes and/or a large number of soft handrail members being identical to each other at least with respect to their shapes may be alternately stacked until a desired length of the handrail is obtained. Therein, as all rigid handrail members are identical and/or as all soft handrail members are identical, no confusion between for example a variety of handrail components having different shapes and characteristics may occur. The assembling work for installation stuff may be simplified and automatized. Furthermore, efforts and/or logistics upon producing, storing, transporting, etc. may be reduced due to the limited number of different handrail components.

Particularly, at least 95%, or preferably 100%, of all rigid handrail members and/or of all soft handrail members may be identical in shape with respect to their outer surface forming the outer handrail surface. Accordingly, a "look and feel" of the handrail at its outer handrail surface may be uniform along the entire length of the handrail.

Preferably, at least 95%, or even 100%, of all rigid handrail members are identical to each other and at least 95%, or preferably a 100%, of all soft handrail members are identical to each other, not only with respect to their shapes but also with respect to other characteristics. Accordingly, a large number of single-type rigid handrail members and/or soft handrail members may be produced, stored, transported and finally assembled to form a handrail.

To prevent in the assembled belt lateral sliding between two adjacent arranged rigid items, one of the two rigid items can comprise a pattern and the other item a

corresponding pattern in the sense of a plug-in connection. The patterns of course are directed away from the soft handrail member.

According to an embodiment, the rigid handrail members comprise at least one channel at its inner surface, the channel preferably comprising an undercut geometry.

In other words, at an inner surface directed in an opposite position to the outer handrail surface, each of the rigid handrail members may comprise a channel. The channel may be open at the inner surface, i.e. may be accessible from outside the rigid handrail member. Such channel may be dimensioned and/or shaped such that for example a portion of a guiding profile may engage into such channel.

For example, according to an embodiment of the handrail arrangement of the second aspect of the invention, a guiding profile may be provided and may comprise at least one protruding portion engaging with the channels at the inner surfaces of each of the plurality of rigid handrail members. Accordingly, upon engaging with channels in the rigid handrail members, the guiding profile may guide the rigid handrail members preferably along the entire length of the handrail.

Particularly, the channel may be formed such as to comprise an undercut and the protruding portions at the guiding profile may be configured such that they may engage in a clipped- in manner into such undercut channels. For example, a protrusion provided at one of the channel in the rigid handrail member and the protruding portion of the guiding profile may be adapted for engaging with a recess provided at the other one of the channel in the rigid handrail member and the protruding portion of the guiding profile, thereby establishing a clipped-in mechanical connection between both components.

Accordingly, for example upon assembling the handrail arrangement, the handrail with its rigid handrail members may first be assembled and may then be pressed onto the guiding profile until clipped-in engagement is obtained. In such manner, the handrail may be kept at the guiding surface such as to be able to slide along its longitudinal direction but to be fixed in directions transverse thereto.

According to an embodiment, the soft handrail members are retracted with respect to the rigid handrail members at a common inner handrail surface such as to form a toothed structure.

In other words, at their inner surface, the rigid handrail members and the soft handrail members do not form a common smooth surface. Instead, the inner surface of the soft handrail members may be retracted such as a stepped inner handrail surface is formed with protrusions being formed by the rigid handrail members and depressions being formed by the soft handrail members. Such toothed structure at the inner handrail surface may be used for driving the handrail. For example, a gear drive comprising a gear wheel or toothed gear belt may engage with the handrail via such toothed structure.

For assembling the handrail as proposed herein, the rigid handrail members may be mechanically connected to each other and at least one soft handrail member may be interposed between two adjacent rigid handrail members, wherein the soft handrail members are inseparably connected with the rigid handrail members. A separation afterwards may only be possible within the two rigid items of a rigid handrail member.

Therein, a stacking of the rigid and soft handrail members may be performed in various manners. For example, first, all of the rigid handrail members may be mechanically connected to each other and, subsequently, the soft handrail members may be inserted and interposed between already mechanically connected rigid handrail members. Alternatively, rigid and soft handrail members may be stacked one after the other until a line of alternating rigid and soft handrail members is obtained.

For example, according to an embodiment, the rigid handrail members may be stringed along an elongate rope member.

Therein, for example, each rigid handrail member may be attached to the rope member by feeding the rope member through an opening provided in the rigid handrail member. Subsequently, each of the plurality of soft handrail members may be inserted between the pre-installed rigid handrail members.

Alternatively, also these soft handrail members may comprise an opening through which the elongate rope member may be fed such that rigid and soft handrail members may be fed alternately onto the rope member.

Finally, opposing ends of such elongate rope member may be fixed to each other in the splice region, thereby closing the loop of the handrail.

It shall be noted that possible features and advantages of embodiments of the invention are described herein partly with respect to a handrail, partly with respect to a handrail arrangement and partly with respect to a method for assembling the handrail. One skilled in the art will recognize that the features may be suitably transferred from one embodiment to another and features may be modified, adapted, combined and/or replaced, etc. in order to come to further embodiments of the invention.

In the following, advantageous embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the enclosed drawings. However, neither the drawings nor the description shall be interpreted as limiting the invention.

Figure 1 shows a passenger conveyor comprising a handrail arrangement according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a handrail according to an embodiment of the invention. Figure 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view through a splice portion of a handrail according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 shows a front view onto a rigid handrail member and a cooperating guiding profile of a handrail arrangement according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 5 shows a front view onto a soft handrail member for a handrail according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 6 shows a front view onto a rigid handrail member to be applied in a splice portion of a handrail according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 7 shows a longitudinal sectional view through a portion of a handrail with divided rigid handrail members according to an embodiment of the invention.

The figures are only schematic and not to scale. Same reference signs refer to same or similar features.

Figure 1 shows a passenger conveyor 1 formed by an escalator. The passenger conveyor 1 may transport passengers coming from a lower level El and stepping onto stair elements 3 to an upper level E2, or vice versa. During a travel, the passenger may grab with his hand a handrail 5 of a handrail arrangement 7. The handrail 5 may be guided and driven along a support structure 9 formed by a balustrade made for example of glass and/or metal.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view onto the handrail 5.

Figure 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view in a vertical plane through the handrail 5.

The handrail 5 comprises a plurality of rigid handrail members 11 and a plurality of soft handrail members 13 (the soft handrail members 13 being visualised in a partly translucent manner in order to improve visibility of details of the rigid handrail members 11). One soft handrail member 13 is interposed between two adjacent rigid handrail members 1 1. Accordingly, the rigid and soft handrail members 1 1 , 13 are arranged alternately along a handrail path extending in a direction 19.

Each of the rigid handrail members 1 1 has an opening 15 forming a through-hole. An elongate rope member 17 such as a steel rope extends through the openings 15 of adjacent rigid handrail members 1 1. Accordingly, the rope member 17 extends substantially parallel to the direction 19 of the handrail path. Thereby, the rigid handrail members 1 1 are mechanically connected to each other such that they are aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to the direction 19 of the handrail path.

Furthermore, in the example shown, each of the rigid handrail members 1 1 comprises a protrusion 21 protruding from a lateral surface 23 of the rigid handrail member 1 1 in a direction towards the adjacent rigid handrail member 11. This protrusion 21 abuts to an opposed lateral surface 25 of the adjacent rigid handrail member 1 1. Accordingly, a minimum distance between adjacent rigid handrail members 1 1 along the direction 19 of the handrail part is defined by a thickness of the rigid handrail members 1 1 at this protrusion 21. Accordingly, when all rigid handrail members 1 1 are lined up one behind the other, the rigid handrail members 1 1 are spaced from each other at a fixed distance with respect to a neutral longitudinal axis 27 of the handrail 1 , this neutral longitudinal axis 27 substantially coinciding with the extension of the rope member 17.

In the example shown, the protrusion 21 has a form of a sleeve or hollow cylinder and encloses the rope member 17. The protrusion 21 is unitary with the rest of the rigid handrail member 1 1. For example, the entire rigid handrail member 1 1 including the protrusion 21 may be made as a single piece, for example by moulding or casting.

In other examples not shown herein, such fixing of the rigid handrail members 1 1 at predetermined spacings with respect to each other may be established using for example spacing members interposed between adjacent rigid handrail members 1 1 or using a clamping members fixing each of the rigid handrail members 1 1 at a predetermined position along the rope member 17.

With the proposed alternating arrangement of rigid handrail members 1 1 and soft handrail members 13 at predetermined spacings with respect to each other and the rigid handrail members 11 being mechanically connected such as to be aligned in the lateral direction, the handrail 5 may, on the one hand, has a substantially fixe length but, on the other hand, may be bent in directions transverse to the neutral longitudinal axis 27. Therein, the length of the handrail 5 is determined by the fixed positions of the rigid handrail members 11. In the given example, this length is mainly influenced by the length of the protrusions

21 of the rigid handrail members 11.

However, in order to enable that the rigid handrail members 11 may be reoriented with respect to each other, thereby enabling bending of the handrail 5, portions of adjacent rigid handrail members 11 in regions further away from the neutral longitudinal axis 27 are spaced from each other in a direction parallel to the neutral longitudinal axis 27. The intermediate spaces formed thereby are substantially filled by the interposed soft handrail members 13. To prevent gaps between the soft handrail members 13 and rigid handrail members 11, the soft handrail members 13 are inseparably connected with the rigid handrail members 11. A separation afterwards may only be possible within the two rigid items of a rigid handrail member, as it is described in relation to figure 7. The inseparable connection between soft handrail members 13 and rigid handrail members 11 may be made already during the manufacturing process or by using glue, snap-fit connections and so on.

Accordingly, the proposed handrail 5 may have a structure and function similar to a spinal column. The rigid handrail members 11 corresponds to the vertebrae and the soft handrail members 13 correspond to the intervertebral discs. Therein, a geometry and structure of the rigid handrail members 11 and the soft handrail members 13 may be configured such that these handrail members 11, 13 may cooperate with each other such as to form a common outer handrail surface 29. This outer handrail surface 29 is not necessarily completely flat but may be sufficiently smooth and may have a wavy profile with portions formed by the rigid handrail members 11 extending slightly further upwards than portions of the intermediate soft handrail members 13.

Further improvements to avoid any gaps potentially occurring between a lateral surface of a rigid handrail member 11 and an opposed lateral surface of the associated soft handrail member 13 which may be accessed for example by a passenger's hand, can be achieved by an overlapping portion 37 extends from each of the rigid handrail members 13. This overlapping portion 37 runs circumferentially along a core of the rigid handrail member 11 and may form a part of the outer handrail surface 29 and is provided at or close to this outer handrail surface 29. It covers at least an edge portion of the intermediate soft handrail member 11, thereby covering any potential gaps.

Furthermore, the geometry and structure of the rigid handrail members 11 and the soft handrail members 13 may be configured such that, at an inner handrail surface 31 , the soft handrail members 13 are retracted in comparison to the rigid handrail members 11, thereby forming a toothed structure 34. Dents 33 of such toothed structure 34 are formed by the lower portions of the rigid handrail members 11, whereas intermediate recesses 35 of the toothed structure 34 are formed by the retracted portions of the soft handrail members 13. Such toothed structure 34 may be used for driving the handrail 5 using for example a toothed belt or a toothed gear.

Figure 3 furthermore shows a splice portion 39 in which opposing ends 41, 43 of the rope member 17 are mechanically fixed to each other. In the example shown, the ends 41, 43 are clamped by ferrules 45 enclosing both ends 41, 43. Such ferrules 45 may also serve as spacing members 47 longitudinal the interposed in between adjacent rigid handrail members 11 in the splice portion 39. Similarly, specific types of ferrules 49 which do not enclose two ends 41, 43 but only a single portion of the rope member 17 may be provided adjacent to the splice portion 39 and may be used for example during assembling the handrail 5 for pulling and tensioning the ends 41, 43 in directions towards each other. Figure 4 shows a front view onto a rigid handrail member 11. The opening 15 is provided at a centre of the rigid handrail member 11 and is extended by the cylindrical sleeve-type protrusion 21. The overlapping portion 37 extends along the entire upper portion of the rigid handrail member 11 forming the outer handrail surface 29. At a lower side, i.e. at the inner handrail surface 31 , the rigid handrail member 11 comprises two channels 51. The channels 51 extend parallel to each other. Next to each channel 51, a flexible clipping portion 53 is provided. This flexible clipping portion 53 comprises a clipping protrusion 55 extending towards the inside of the channel 51. Accordingly, the channel 51 is undercut. The clipping portion 53 may be moved in a direction 57 away from the clipping protrusion 55.

Accordingly, upon assembling the handrail 5 onto a support structure 9 formed for example by a glass panel of a balustrade, a guiding profile 59 may be attached to the support structure 9. The guiding profile 59 comprises engaging portions 61 which may be clipped into the undercut channels 51. Accordingly, the handrail 5 may be easily and reversibly attached to the support structure 9. Furthermore, during operation of the handrail arrangement 7, the handrail 5 may slide along the guiding profile 59 with the rigid handrail members 11 being guided due to an interaction of the clipped-in engaging portions 61 and the undercut channels 51.

Figure 5 shows a front view onto a soft handrail member 13. The soft handrail member 13 comprises a similar outer contour as the rigid handrail members 11. Furthermore, it comprises an opening 16 through which the rope member 17 may extend.

The specific soft handrail member 13 shown in the figure is adapted for being applied in the splice portion 39 of the handrail 5 and therefore comprises an elongate hole forming the opening 16, such that both ends 41, 43 of the rope member 17 may be enclosed.

In cases where the soft handrail members 13 are to be inserted into a pre-assembled line of multiple rigid handrail members 11 being already interconnected with each other, the soft handrail member 13 may have a slit 63 along which the opening 16 may be temporarily opened such that the soft handrail member 13 may be pressed in a lateral direction onto the rope member 17 or any other means serving for longitudinally interconnecting adjacent rigid handrail members 11.

Furthermore, the soft handrail member 13 comprises a circumferential recess 65. This recess 65 is substantially complementary to the overlapping portion 37 of the rigid handrail members 11.

Figure 6 shows a specific example of a rigid handrail member 11 to be used in the splice portion 39 of the handrail 5. Therein, both the opening 15' and the sleeve-like protrusion 2Γ have a cross-section of an elongate hole such that the two ends 41, 43 of the rope member 17 may be enclosed therein.

For assembling a handrail 5 as proposed herein, all of the plurality of rigid handrail members 11 may be threaded with their openings 15 onto the rope member 17, similar to forming a pearl necklace. Subsequently, soft handrail members 13 may be interposed between adjacent rigid handrail members 11. Finally, opposing ends 41, 43 of the rope member 17 may be mechanically interconnected thereby forming the splice portion 39. As a result, a closed-loop handrail 5 is prepared.

Alternatively, both the rigid handrail members 11 and the soft handrail members 13 may be alternately threaded onto the rope member 17 before interconnecting the ends 41, 43 of the rope member.

Figure 7 shows a longitudinal sectional view through a portion of a handrail with the already aforementioned divided rigid handrail members 11. It might be an advantage to have a separation possibility within the rigid handrail members 11. This can be achieved that at least some rigid handrail members 11 are divided in lateral direction transverse to a direction of the handrail path 19 in two rigid items 11 A, 1 IB. The two rigid items 11A, 1 IB are arranged at a soft handrail member 13 at two opposing sides 13', 13" thereof, forming a handrail member unit 70. Such a handrail member unit 70 can be formed as a single piece by an injection moulding process using two polymers of different hardness. Of course other solutions like gluing, welding, plug connections, snap fit connections and thereof are suitable as well to attach the rigid items 11A, 1 IB to the opposing sides 13', 13" of the soft handrail member 13.

To prevent in the assembled handrail 5 lateral sliding movements between two adjacent arranged rigid items 11A, 1 IB, one of the two rigid items 11A can comprise a pattern 71 and the other item a corresponding pattern 72 in the sense of a plug- in connection. The patterns 71, 72 of course are directed away from the soft handrail member 13 to be able to engage with rigid items 11A, 1 IB of adjacent arranged units 70.

Due to improved injection moulding manufacturing processes it might be possible as well to produce at least one rigid handrail member and at least one soft handrail member together as one single piece. Such manufacturing based solutions are within the scope of the present invention.

The handrail 5 proposed herein may provide for several benefits. For example, a non- closed-loop arrangement of alternate rigid and soft handrail members 11, 13 may first be prepared by stacking the handrail members 11, 13 up to a desired length. Accordingly, upon interconnecting the rope ends 41, 43 of such line, closed-loop handrails 5 of any desired dimension may be prepared. Thus, handrails 5 for various types and sizes of passenger conveyors may be easily provided. Additionally, installing the handrail 5 to a support structure 9 may be easily done for example by clipping the rigid handrail members 11 onto the guiding profile 59 provided at the support structure 9. Furthermore, for example upon any damages or wear occurring at one or some of the handrail members 11, 13, the mechanical interconnection in the splice portion 39 may be temporarily opened and the faulty handrail members 11, 13 may for example be replaced before then re-joining the ends 41, 43 of the rope element 17. Accordingly, the handrail 5 may not only be assembled but also be repaired easily and at low costs.

Finally, it should be noted that the term "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps and the "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. Also elements described in association with different embodiments may be combined. It should also be noted that reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. Handrail (5) for a passenger conveyor (1), the handrail comprising:

a plurality of rigid handrail members (11);

a plurality of soft handrail members (13);

wherein the rigid handrail members (11) and the soft handrail members (13) are arranged along a handrail path with one soft handrail member (13) being arranged intermediate to adjacent rigid handrail members (11);

wherein the rigid handrail members (11) and the soft handrail members (13) form a continuous outer handrail surface (29);

wherein adjacent rigid handrail members (11) are mechanically connected to each other such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction (19) of the handrail path and such as to be spaced from each other at a fixed distance with respect to a neutral longitudinal axis (27) of the handrail (5),

characterised in that at least some rigid handrail members (11) are divided in lateral direction transverse to a direction (19) of the handrail path in two rigid items (11A, 1 IB) and wherein the two rigid items (11A, 1 IB) are arranged at a soft handrail member (13) at two opposing sides thereof.

2. Handrail of claim 1, further comprising an elongate rope member (17) extending along the handrail path and extending through openings (15, 16) in each of the rigid handrail members (11), thereby mechanically connecting adjacent rigid handrail members (11) to each other such as to be aligned with each other in the lateral direction.

3. Handrail of claim 2, further comprising a splice portion (39) in which opposing ends (41, 43) of the elongate rope member (17) are mechanically fixed to each other.

4. Handrail of one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the rigid handrail members (11) are kept at the fixe distance with respect to a neutral longitudinal axis (27) of the handrail (5) by one of the following measures:

- protrusions (21) protruding from a surface (23) of each of the rigid handrail members (11) and extending in the direction (19) of the handrail path such as to abut to a surface (25) of a adjacent rigid handrail member (11);

- spacing members (47) being interposed between each of two adjacent rigid handrail members (11) such as to abut to surfaces (23, 25) of both adjacent rigid members (11); and

- clamping members fixing each of the rigid handrail members (11) at a defined position along the elongate rope member (17) extending through the openings (15, 16) in the rigid handrail members (11).

5. Handrail of one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the soft handrail members (13) abuts with a first lateral surface to a lateral surface (23) of a first rigid handrail member (11) and abuts with an opposing second lateral surface to a lateral surface (25) of a second rigid handrail member (11).

6. Handrail of one of the preceding claims, wherein the rigid handrail members (11) and their adjacent soft handrail members (13) overlap with each other in the direction (19) of the handrail path in regions with an overlapping portion (37) arranged close to the outer handrail surface (29).

7. Handrail of one of the preceding claims, wherein the rigid handrail members

(11) are made with one of a rigid polymeric material and a metal material and wherein the soft handrail members (13) are made with an elastomeric material.

8. Handrail of one of the preceding claims, wherein one of the rigid items (HA) comprises a pattern (71) and the other item (1 IB) a corresponding pattern (72) in the sense of a plug- in connection and wherein the patterns (71, 72) are directed away from the soft handrail member (13).

9. Handrail of one of the preceding claims, wherein the rigid handrail members (11) comprise at least one channel (51) at its inner surface (31), the channel (51) preferably comprising an undercut geometry.

10. Handrail of one of the preceding claims, wherein the soft handrail members (13) are retracted with respect to the rigid handrail members (11) at a common inner handrail surface (31) such as to form a toothed structure (34).

11. Handrail arrangement (7) for a passenger conveyor (1), the handrail arrangement (7) comprising:

a support structure (9);

an elongate guiding profile (59) attached to the support structure (9); and

a handrail (5) according to one of claims 1 to 10 extending along the elongate guiding profile (59).

12. Handrail arrangement of claim 11, wherein the guiding profile (59) comprises at least one engaging portion (61) engaging in channels (51) at the inner handrail surfaces (31) of each of the plurality of rigid handrail members (11).

13. Handrail arrangement of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of rigid handrail members (11) engaging in a clipped- in manner with undercut channels (51) at the inner handrail surfaces (31) of each of the plurality of rigid handrail members (11).

14. Method for assembling a handrail (5) according to one of claims 1 to 10, the method comprising the following steps:

(i) mechanically connecting the plurality of rigid handrail members (11) to each other such as to form a line of rigid handrail members (11) and such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction (19) of the line of rigid handrail members (11) and such as to be spaced from each other at a fixed distance with respect to a neutral longitudinal axis (27) of the handrail (5);

(ii) interposing one of the plurality of soft handrail members (13) between each of adjacent rigid handrail members (11); and

(iii) arranging the line of rigid handrail members (11) in a closed-loop configuration with a first rigid handrail member (11) of the line of rigid handrail members (11) adjacent a last rigid handrail member (11) of the line of rigid handrail members (11), and mechanically connecting the adjacent first and last rigid handrail members (11) to each other such as to be aligned with each other in a lateral direction transverse to a direction (19) of the line of rigid handrail members (11).

15. Method of claim 14, wherein, in step (i), the rigid handrail members (11) are stringed along an elongate rope member (17), and wherein, in step (iii), opposing ends (41, 43) of the elongate rope member (17) are fixed to each other in a splice portion (39).