U.S. patent number 3,651,919 [Application Number 05/036,230] was granted by the patent office on 1972-03-28 for driven handrail means for escalators.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Rheinstahl Eggers-Kehrhahn GmbH. Invention is credited to Kurt Vollmer.
United States Patent |
3,651,919 |
Vollmer |
March 28, 1972 |
DRIVEN HANDRAIL MEANS FOR ESCALATORS
Abstract
An escalator having transparent balustrades and driven handrail
means in which a handrail shaft is immediately adjacent the shaft
which carries the driven sprockets for the step chains and is
provided with drive sprockets that are directly engaged by the step
chains so as to be driven by the latter. Handrails are guided
beneath sheaves that are fixedly mounted on the drive sprockets,
and guide roller sets support the handrails and maintain them in
driving engagement with the bottoms of the sheaves. In an area
remote from the handrail shaft are handrail tensioning means
including a self-adjusting tensioning sheave mounting.
Inventors: |
Vollmer; Kurt (Hamburg,
DT) |
Assignee: |
Rheinstahl Eggers-Kehrhahn GmbH
(N/A)
|
Family
ID: |
21887418 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/036,230 |
Filed: |
May 11, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
198/331;
198/336 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B66B
23/04 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B66B
23/00 (20060101); B66B 23/04 (20060101); B66b
009/12 () |
Field of
Search: |
;198/16,17,18,208,16MS
;104/25 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Blunk; Evon C.
Assistant Examiner: Goodman; Alfred N.
Claims
I claim:
1. In an escalator having a main frame with upper and lower end
portions connected by an inclined portion, transverse sprocket
shafts journalled in the upper and lower portions of the frame, a
pair of spaced lower step sprockets on the lower shaft, a pair of
spaced upper step sprockets on the upper shaft in the same vertical
planes with the lower step sprockets, a pair of endless step roller
chains trained about said sprockets, steps carried on said chains
for movement through an upper run in which they afford a flight of
moving stairs and a lower return run, means for driving one of said
pairs of sprockets, a pair of balustrades in vertical planes
flanking said upper run and having arcuate upper and lower end
guides adjacent the sprocket shafts which are connected by an
inclined guide for supporting a pair of moving handrails for said
moving stairs, driven handrail means comprising, in combination: a
transverse handrail shaft in the frame adjacent one of the sprocket
shafts; a pair of handrail drive sprockets on the handrail shaft in
the same vertical planes with the step sprockets, said drive
sprockets being drivingly engaged by the step chains; a pair of
handrail sheaves fixedly mounted on said drive sprockets in the
same vertical planes as the balustrades; a pair of endless
belt-like handrails trained beneath said sheaves and over said
balustrades; a pair of handrail guide means mounted on the frame
adjacent the sheaves, each of said guide means supporting one of
the handrails and confining it to a path in which it firmly engages
the sheave; and a pair of handrail tensioning means on the frame
remote from the sheaves, each said tensioning means including an
upright post, a sheave supporting carriage slidable on the post, a
sheave jornalled on the carriage and having its weight carried in
the handrail which passes beneath it, and means locking the
carriage against upward movement on the post.
2. The driven handrail means of claim 1 in which the carriage
includes a sleeve encircling the post and having a band of holes, a
cup secured to the sleeve which has a downwardly converging wall
surrounding the holes, and a set of balls projecting through said
holes and bearing on the post and the cup wall so that upon upward
movement of the sleeve the cup wall locks the balls against the
post.
3. The driven handrail means of claim 2 which includes a horizontal
web fixed on the sleeve at the bottom of the cup, and a sheave
supporting journal resiliently suspended beneath the web.
4. The driven handrail means of claim 3 which includes a pair of
upright bolts adjustably mounting the journal beneath the web, and
compression springs surrounding the bolts between the web and the
journal.
5. In an escalator having a main frame with upper and lower end
portions connected by an inclined portion, transverse sprocket
shafts journalled in the upper and lower portions of the frame, a
pair of spaced lower step sprockets on the lower shaft, a pair of
spaced upper step sprockets on the upper shaft in the same vertical
planes with the lower step sprockets, a pair of endless step roller
chains trained about said sprockets, steps carried on said chains
for movement through an upper run in which they afford a flight of
moving stairs and a lower return run, means for driving one of said
pairs of sprockets, a pair of balustrades in vertical planes
flanking said upper run and having arcuate upper and lower end
guides adjacent the sprocket shafts which are connected by an
inclined guide for supporting a pair of moving handrails for said
moving stairs, driven handrail means comprising, in combination: a
pair of handrail sheaves in the same vertical planes as the
balustrades; means for driving said sheaves from the driving means;
a pair of endless belt-like handrails trained in driving engagement
with said sheaves and over said balustrades; and a pair of handrail
tensioning means on the frame remote from the sheave, each said
tensioning means including an upright post, a sheave supporting
carriage slidable on the post, a sheave journalled on the carriage
and having its weight carried in the handrail which passes beneath
it, and means locking the carriage against upward movement on the
post.
6. The driven handrail means of claim 5 in which the carriage
includes a sleeve encircling the post and having a band of holes, a
cup secured to the sleeve which has a downwardly converging wall
surrounding the holes, and a set of balls projecting through said
holes and bearing on the post and the cup wall so that upon upward
movement of the sleeve the cup wall locks the balls against the
post.
7. The driven handrail means of claim 6 which includes a horizontal
web fixed on the sleeve at the bottom of the cup, and a sheave
supporting journal resiliently suspended beneath the web.
8. The driven handrail means of claim 7 which includes a pair of
upright bolts adjustably mounting the journal beneath the web, and
compression springs surrounding the bolts between the web and the
journal.
9. The driven handrail means of claim 5 which includes roller guide
means supporting the handrail adjacent both sides of the handrail
tensioning means.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One of the relatively recent escalator developments is escalators
having transparent balustrades which harmonize with modern building
architecture. Such escalator structures require novel means for
guiding and driving the moving handrails, because the entire
handrail drive must be mounted below the moving stairway where it
may be concealed by the escalator sideplates that conceal the
frame, the step chain sprockets, the return runs of the step chains
and steps, and the drive mechanism. Various mechanisms for driving
the handrails of transparent balustrade escalators are disclosed in
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,049,213, (Re. 25,531), 3,170,557 and
3,283,878.
The present invention comprises an improved and simplified driven
handrail means for escalators which is particularly applicable to
escalators having transparent balustrades. In addition, the
invention includes handrail tensioning means with a novel
self-adjusting sheave mounting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The principal object of the present invention is to provide
improved driven handrail means for escalators in which the handrail
drive is concealed beneath the moving stairway so the arrangement
is particularly applicable to escalators having transparent
balustrades.
In accordance with the invention a handrail shaft is mounted in the
escalator frame immediately adjacent the shaft which carries the
driven sprockets for the step chains, and drive sprockets on the
handrail shaft are directly engaged by the step chains so as to be
driven by the latter. The apparatus eliminates the separate belt
drives or chain drives which have heretofore been employed in the
prior art to drive the handrails.
Another object of the invention is to provide tensioning means for
an escalator handrail in which a vertically movable tensioning
sheave is supported on a carriage which permits the weight of the
sheave to be carried in the return run of the handrail so the
weight of the sheave tensions the handrail; and the carriage is
provided with a unique anti-reverse arrangement so that the
tensioning sheave is self-adjusting as the handrail stretches
during use.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of a transparent
balustrade escalator embodying the present invention with parts of
the escalator sideplate broken away for clarity;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating details of the
handrail drive and is taken substantially as indicated along the
line 2--2 of FIG. 4;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section taken substantially as indicated
along the line 3--3 of FIG. 4;
FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially as
indicated along the line 4--4 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse section on an enlarged scale
which is also taken substantially as indicated along the line 4--4
of FIG. 1 to afford more detailed disclosure of the handrail drive
structure;
FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view with parts broken
away illustrating the handrail tensioning means and is taken
substantially as indicated along the line 6--6 of FIG. 7; and
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary section on an enlarged scale taken
substantially as indicated along the line 7--7 of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to the drawings in detail, and referring first to FIGS. 1
and 4, an escalator is provided with a frame, indicated generally
at 10, which includes structural members 11 and sideplates 12, and
has a lower end portion 13, an upper end portion 14, and an
inclined portion 15. The lower end portion of the escalator is
supported on building structural members S which carry the ceiling
of a floor below that at which the lower end of the escalator is
located, and the lower end portion of the escalator is entirely
below the level of a floor F which is the lower floor served by the
escalator. Similarly, the upper end portion 14 of the escalator
frame is substantially entirely below the floor of the upper floor
served by the escalator and supported upon the building structural
members which carry the ceiling of the lower floor served by the
escalator. For purposes of the present disclosure the frame 10 also
includes cover plate means 16 which extends continuously from the
lower end to the upper end of the frame to cover the mechanism
which is at two sides of the escalator. The two cover plates 16 are
surmounted by balustrades, indicated generally at 17, which include
a transparent balustrade plate 18 the upper edges of which support
handrail guides 19. The balustrades are seen to include arcuate
lower ends 20, arcuate upper ends 21, and inclined portions 22; and
the handrail guides 19 extend continuously around the arcuate
portion 20, up the inclined portion 22, and around the arcuate
portion 21.
Supported in the frame structural members 11 are a lower sprocket
shaft 23 and an upper sprocket shaft 24 adjacent the ends of which
are identical lower step chain sprockets 25 and upper step chain
sprockets 26, respectively. The sprockets 25 and 26 include large
grooves such as the grooves 25a, alternating with small grooves
such as the grooves 25b. A pair of endless step roller chains 27
are trained above the lower and upper sprockets 25 and 26 and have
links connected by pins 27a which engage the small grooves 25b,
while rollers 28 engage the large grooves 25a in the sprockets. The
chains 27 support steps 29 between them, and the rollers between
the sprockets 25 and 26 are supported by inclined guide rails 30
which carry the chains through an upper run in which the steps 29
afford a flight of moving stairs, with the chains and steps
returning in a lower run wherein they are supported and tensioned
by conventional means between sprockets 25 and 26. As seen in FIG.
5 the steps 29 also have rollers 29a which are carried on guide
rails 30a which parallel the rails 30.
Drive means for the escalator includes an electric motor 31 which
is supported upon the frame 10 adjacent the lower shaft 23, a drive
sprocket 32 on the motor shaft, an input sprocket 33 on the lower
shaft 23, and a drive chain 34 which is trained around the
sprockets 32 and 33.
The structure as described up to this point is essentially that of
any transparent balustrade escalator, and provides only the setting
for the present invention which will now be described.
A transverse handrail shaft 35 is best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 to be
mounted in the structural members 11 of the frame 10 on mounting
brackets 36 in close proximity to the lower sprocket shaft 23, and
journaled on the shaft 35 in the same vertical planes with the step
chain sprockets 25 and 26 is a pair of handrail drive sprockets 37
which are identical with the sprockets 25 and thus include large
roller engaging notches 37a and small pin engaging notches 37b
which engage, respectively, the rollers 28 and the pins 27a of the
step chains 27 as seen in FIG. 3. The step chains 27 are so
supported by the lower step chain guide means as to engage with the
sprockets 37 around a considerable arc at the lower portions of the
sprockets as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, so that the handrail sprockets
are positively driven by the step chains.
As best seen in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, the handrail drive sprockets 37
are provided with a plurality of hollow bosses 38 to which handrail
sheaves 39 are secured by means of brackets 40 which are integral
with the sheaves, and bolts and nuts 41. The sheaves 39 have their
outer surfaces faced with rubber tires 42 to provide high
frictional driving engagement with conventional endless rubber
handrails 43 which are seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 to be guided around
the bottoms of the sheaves 39, completely around the balustrades 17
on the guides 19, around upper guide roller means 44, through
handrail tensioning means, indicated generally at 45, over
intermediate guide roller means 46 and back to the sheaves 39. The
term "sheave" is used herein in a nontechnical sense, since it is
quite apparent that the element 39 is a wheel rather than a sheave;
but because of its function in driving the endless belt-like
handrail 43 it is thought that the term "sheave" is appropriate in
the present disclosure.
As best seen in FIG. 2, in addition to the drive sprockets 37 and
handrail sheaves 39 the handrail drive includes handrail
supporting, guiding, and confining means including a first upper
guide means in the form of a roller set 47a, a second upper guide
means in the form of a roller set 47b, and lower guide means
consisting of an articulated roller set 47c. Each of the upper
roller sets 47a and 47b includes a yoke 48a or 48b, respectively,
said yokes being respectively supported upon brackets 49a and 49b
and carrying handrail guide rollers 50a and 50b, respectively,
which support the handrails 43 and guide them into engagement with
the sheaves 39 substantially at opposite ends of a horizontal
diameter of the sheaves.
The lower handrail guide supporting and confining roller set 47c
includes a series of bifurcated chain links 51 which are pivotally
connected by pins 52 that serve as journals for rollers 53. One
endmost chain link 51a is pivoted on a mounting arm 54 which in
turn is carried by a pivot 55 on the frame; while the link 51b at
the opposite end of the chain is provided with means 56 for
adjustably and resiliently connecting it to a bracket 57 on the
frame 10. It is seen that the handrail 43 is compressed against the
rubber tire 42 of the sheave 39 by means of the rollers 53 through
an arc of approximately 120.degree. around the bottom of the
sheave.
Turning now to FIGS. 6 and 7, the handrail tensioning means 45 is
seen to include an upright post 58 having upper and lower flanges
59 and 60 by means of which it is mounted on the frame 10. A
carriage, indicated generally at 61, is slidably mounted upon the
post 58 so that a tensioning sheave 62 which is journaled on the
carriage may have its weight supported in the handrail 43 to
tension the handrail between the upper roller guide 44 and the
intermediate roller guide 46. The endless handrail 43, of course,
tends to stretch somewhat as it is used, and in order to avoid the
need for periodically adjusting the positioning of the tensioning
sheave 62 the tensioning assembly 45 is made self-adjusting by the
means which will now be described.
The carriage 61 consists of a sleeve 63 which makes an easy sliding
fit on the post 58 and is provided with a band of holes below which
a web 65 is welded to the sleeve and supports a cup, indicated
generally at 66, which has a tapered side wall 67 surrounding the
band of holes 64 in the sleeve. A set of balls 68 is mounted in the
holes 64 and confined between post 58 and the tapered wall 67 of
the cup; and a ball retaining snapring 69 fits into a groove in cup
wall 67 above the balls. This arrangement permits the sleeve to
slide freely downwardly on the post 58; but the sleeve is locked
against upward movement because such movement causes the balls to
be locked against the surface of the post by the tapered wall 67 of
the cup.
A sheave journal block, indicated generally at 70, is provided with
a stub shaft 71 upon which the tensioning sheave 62 is journalled,
and a pair of arms 72 on the journal block 70 are apertured to
receive bolts 73 which also impale holes in the web 65 and receive
nuts 74. Compression springs 75 surround the bolts 73 and are
confined between the web 65 and the arms 72 so that the journal
block is adjustably and resiliently suspended from the web 65.
As is clear from the foregoing description, the structure of the
carriage 61 permits the tensioning sheave 62 to move downwardly to
compensate for stretch in the handrail 43; but the carriage locks
against reversal as heretofore described.
The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of
understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be
understood therefrom for some modifications will be obvious to
those skilled in the art.
* * * * *