Integrated Elevator Construction

Abstract

Elevator guide rails are combined with the hatch door assemblies and fronts to form a complete front assembly which can be installed as a unit and secured to the building through floor angles. Auxiliary equipment such as corridor buttons, ducts and limit switches may be mounted on the front assembly as required. The car assembly employs a sling that integrates the door operator support and the front beam of the platform with the stiles.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to elevator construction and more particularly to an elevator construction in which the guide rails and front assemblies at each floor are combined into an integrated structure which may be installed as a unit.

2. Prior Art

Elevator cars of both the cable driven and hydraulic ram types are conventionally guided in a vertical path through the hoistway by guide rails connected directly to the side walls of the hoistway approximately midway between the front and back by brackets or some other form of connecting device. Front assemblies including hatch doors are then individually installed on the job at each floor. This practice requires a great deal of labor on the site. However it is generally the manner in which permanent elevators are installed.

In the temporary elevator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,055,902, the guide rails are supported in a conventional position, half-way back in the hoistway, by rectangular frames which are temporarily clamped to the walls adjacent the opening at each floor. In the self-supporting construction type elevators such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,658,042, the vertical supports guide the platform at the rear corners rather than midway on the sides.

The elevator car generally includes a sling which is a rectangular vertically oriented frame which encircles the cab approximately midway between the front and rear of the car in alignment with the guide rails. A platform is supported by the sling and a cab structure on the platform inside the sling. The vertical members of the sling, called stiles, carry guide rollers or guide shoes which cooperate with the guide rails. Generally today, the elevator cab is provided with automatic doors, which are powered by a door operator mounted on the top front part of the cab. It is common practice to provide a horizontal structural member across the top leading edge of the cab to support this door operator. In the portable elevator of the 2,055,902 patent mentioned above, the stiles are located in the rear corners of the platform where the guide rollers carried by them can cooperate with the guide rail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to this invention the guide rails and the front assemblies for each floor of an elevator installation are combined into an integrated structure which may be dropped into place as a unit. With the guide rails located in the forward corners of the hoistway, they are directly fastened to upper and lower horizontal members of the front assembly at each floor. The lower horizontal members at each floor are fastened directly to the building.

Vertical members between the upper and lower horizontal members at each floor form the doorways, and horizontal tracks incorporated into the upper horizontal members serve as guides for hangers on horizontally sliding doors. The front panels surrounding the doorways which complete the enclosure of the hoistway at each floor may be fastened to the vertical and horizontal members before installation or they may be installed later after the integrated structure is in place.

The car stiles are located at the front corners of the platforms and are integrated with a header on the platform and the door operator support to form a unique sling. A diagonal brace is connected between the stiles and a safety channel extending crosswise under the center of the cab. For a hydraulic elevator, the hydraulic ram acts against the safety channel which is located at the centerline of the total load on the elevator.

As another feature of the invention, a vertically extending duct can be connected to the integrated structure for the purpose of housing electrical conductors connected to various signalling devices along the hoistway. These signalling devices may include floor call buttons, annuciators which indicate to the passenger the position of the car and detectors of various types which detect the presence of the car at various points in the hoistway.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view with parts broken away and parts missing of an elevator installation embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of an integrated structure according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2 with parts cut away;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 3; and,

FIG. 5 is an isometric view with parts missing and parts cut away of an elevator car assembly according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Although this invention is equally applicable to elevators of the cable driven and the direct acting hydraulic ram varieties, it will be described as applied to the latter type of installation. FIG. 1 illustrates a building having a number of landings 1 and an elevator car 3 which moves up and down in a hoistway 5 to serve the floors. The elevator car is supported by a hydraulic ram 7 which is caused to move in and out of a hydraulic cylinder 9 under the influence of a hydraulic control system (not shown).

The elevator car is guided along its vertical path by guide rails 11 which extend substantially the full length of the hoistway 5. The channel shaped guide rails are located in the forward corners of the hoistway with the channel openings facing each other.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 it can be seen that the guide rails 11 form a part of an integrated structure identified generally by the reference character 12. This integrated structure 12 includes lower horizontal members 13 and upper horizontal members 15 associated with each floor which are rigidly connected to the guide rails 11 by welding or other suitable means. Spaced apart vertical members 17 extend between the lower horizontal member 13 and the upper horizontal member 15 at each floor. These vertical members together with a horizontal panel 19 form the doorway through which passengers gain access to the elevator. The horizontal panel 19 and vertical members 17 are connected to the upper horizontal member by brackets 21. Vertical members 17 are connected directly to the lower horizontal member 13 which is in the form of an angle. The vertical members 17 are set back from the edge of the horizontal member 13 toward the hoistway. A door sill 23 is mounted on the horizontal member 13 between the vertical member 17 and the edge of the horizontal member toward the hoistway.

The doorway formed by the vertical member 17 and the horizontal panel 19 is closed and exposed by horizontally sliding door panels 25. Although a single panel door can be utilized, biparting sliding door panels have been illustrated. In FIG. 1, the vertical members 17, horizontal panel 19 and door panels 25 have only been shown for the lowest floor for the sake of clarity. It should be understood that these components would be duplicated at all floors at which there is to be access to the elevator car. The door panels 25 are supported by conventional roller hangers 27 which roll along horizontal tracks 29 formed in the lower portion of the upper horizontal members 15. As seen best in the cut away section of the door panel 25 in FIG. 3, conventional door gibs 31 ride in a groove 33 in the sill 23 to prevent transverse displacement of the door panels 25.

The integrated structure 12 described to this point, with but preferably without the door panels 25, can be fabricated in a factory or on the job and then installed as a unit. The unit is secured to the building by shelling and then grouting the lower horizontal members 13 into the floors. This eliminates the need for rail brackets and inserts. Once in place the door panels 25 can be hung and as shown in FIG. 3 the openings surrounding the door way may be enclosed by suitable paneling 35 connected to the horizontal and vertical members by brackets 36. This paneling could also be preassembled in the factory to provide a complete front elevator door assembly.

The integrated structure 12 may also include a vertical duct 37 extending vertically through the hoistway along side one or both of the guide rails 11. The duct 37 may be connected to the integrated structure through horizontal ducts 39 or by any other suitable means. As shown in the preferred embodiment of the invention the horizontal ducts 39 extend out to support a control box 41 at each floor so that it is flush with the front panels 35. The control boxes may be used to house various signalling devices such as up and down floor call buttons 43 and 45 as shown in FIG. 4. The control box 41 may also house other signalling devices such as the annunciator 47 which informs the passengers waiting at the landing of the position of the car in the hoistway. Such devices are well known in the elevator art.

Electrical conductors 49 shown as dashed lines in FIG. 1, are routed through the horizontal and vertical ducts 39 and 37 respectively to connect the signalling devices in the control boxes 41 with a common junction box 51. This common junction box 51 could be located either at the bottom or the top of the hoistway where the elevator supervisory system is conventionally located. Alternatively the conductors could be connected directly to the elevator supervisory system. Limit switches 53 may be connected to the integrated structure at selected points along the hoistway to indicate the passage or presence of the elevator car. Such limit switches are well known in the elevator art and are conventionally of the electromagnetic or mechanical type.

The elevator car 3 includes a platform 55, a sling denoted generally by the reference character 57 and a cab structure 59. The sling as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 includes vertical stiles 57 connected to the forward corners of the platform 55, the door operator support 61 which extends horizontally between the stiles just above the cab structure and the diagonal braces 63 connecting the stiles 57 to a safety channel 65 extending horizontally under the platform beneath the center of mass of the car. Roller guides 67 connected to the top and the bottom of each of the stiles cooperate with the guide rails 11 to guide the car laterally as it moves through the hoistway. Additional roller guides 69 mounted to the top and bottom of each of the stiles at right angles to the roller guides 67 cooperate with the guide rails 11 to give front to back guidance of the elevator car as it moves through the hoistway.

Car door panels 71, again either single or biparting panels, are supported by hangers 73 which ride on a horizontal track 75 formed in the lower portion of the door operator support 61. As shown best in FIG. 5, conventional door gibs 77 slide in a groove 79 in the front beam 81 of the platform to prevent transverse movement of the car door panels 71. The car door panels 71 are driven by a door operator including an electric motor 83 mounted on a door operator support 61 and connected to the door panels through a mechanical linkage as represented by the dashed line. Such door operators are well known in the elevator art. A vane 85 located on one of the car door panels slides into engagement with a drive block 87 on the hatch door as the car approaches a landing so that the motor 83 serves to operate both the car doors and the hatch doors. Such an arrangement is well known in the elevator art and is referred to as a master door operator.

The unique construction of the car sling eliminates the conventional top beam and moves the stiles to the edge of the platform thereby leaving a clear work area on the platform so that the cab can be installed more readily. The usual interference between the car ventilating fan and the top beam is also eliminated.

The jack assembly which is seen best in FIG. 2 combines the hydraulic jack 6 with the buffers 89 which are energy absorbing devices, for slowing the car down gradually should it overtravel in the downward direction. No footing channels are required to straddle the rails and interfere with the jack assembly since the guide rails are adequately supported and lie in a different plane. A base plate 91 allows the load to be distributed over a wide area of the pit slab through plate 93 which eliminates the need to backfill the hole with sand.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination for a building having a plurality of vertically spaced floors and a hoistway having front, back and side portions for an elevator car which serves the floors,

front assemblies for a plurality of the floors,

first and second vertically extending, horizontally spaced guide rail members rigidly connected to each of said front assemblies, providing a plurality of integrated structures which may be individually installed in the building,

and means mounting said integrated structures in the building adjacent the front portion of the hoistway, controlling access to the hoistway from the associated floor, with said means aligning said first and second guide rail members of each integrated structure with the first and second guide rail members, respectively, of the other integrated structures, to provide a first and second guide rail means in the front corners of the hoistway immediately adjacent the front portion of the hoistway for guiding an elevator car in the hoistway.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said front assemblies form doorways between the hoistway and said plurality of floors and including hoistway door means for closing and exposing said doorways.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein the front assemblies include first horizontal members connecting said first and second guide rail members at substantially floor level and second horizontal members connecting said first and second guide rail members at a predetermined height above said floor level.

4. The combination of claim 3 including two horizontally spaced vertical members connected between associated first and second horizontal members to form said doorway.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said door means includes door panels and hangers connected adjacent the top of said door panels, said combination wherein said second horizontal members include a horizontal track along which said hangers may be guided whereby the door panels are supported from the associated second horizontal member through the hangers and are horizontally movable to close and expose said doorways.

6. The combination of claim 5 including door sills mounted on said first horizontal members and door gibs mounted on the bottom of the door panels, said sills having a groove lying parallel to the direction of movement of the door panels for receiving said gibs and preventing displacement of a bottom of said door panels transverse to the direction of movement of the panels.

7. The combination of claim 1 including electro-responsive signalling devices connected to the integrated structure adjacent a plurality of floors, vertically extending duct means connected to and supported by said integrated structure and electrical conductors connected to said electro-responsive signalling devices and routed through the duct means.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein said electro-responsive devices may include any of the following types of devices, first electro-responsive devices responsive to the presence of an elevator car adjacent the device, second electro-responsive devices to be operated by a prospective passenger at the floor and third electro-responsive devices to convey information to said prospective passengers.

9. The combination of claim 7 wherein the electro-responsive devices are connected to the integrated structure by rigid substantially horizontal ducts communicating with said vertical duct and wherein said electrical conductors are routed from said electro-responsive devices to said vertical duct through said substantially horizontal ducts, said substantially horizontal ducts supporting said electro-responsive devices in a position where they are accessible to prospective passengers at the associated floor.

10. The combination of claim 4 wherein the hoistway is generally rectangular in cross section with a front face, a back face and two side faces wherein said front assembly is adapted to be mounted across the front face of the hoistway and wherein said first and second guide rail members are connected to said first and second horizontal members adjacent the front corners of the hoistway with corresponding guiding surfaces parallel to the side walls and facing each other.

11. The combination of claim 10 wherein the front assembly at each landing includes paneling mounted to said members around said doorway with the plane of said panels parallel to the front face of the hoistway whereby access to the hoistway at each landing is limited to the doorway.