US1215524A - Safety device for elevators. - Google Patents

Description

E. A. HANFF.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION men JULY 30.19M-

1,215,524. Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

2% f c 5 Pk a E y E LP 11 noon H 4 WlTNESSES: INVENTOR gzafl [fl'Wd/d A. Ham? BY ATTORNEY OF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN OR TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR ELEVATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

Application filed July 30, 1914. Serial No. 854,017.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. HANFF, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of \Vilkinsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Iennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety Devices for Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to safety devices for elevators and it has for its object to provide a simple. means for preventing injury to persons whose bodies may be interposed between the car and the elevator shaft.

In the operation of elevators, it sometimes occurs that persons, either through accident or inadvertence, are caught between the moving car and the casing of the door or opening in the elevator shaft. In such cases, it is practically impossible for the operator to stop the car in time to prevent serious injury to the person placed in such a position.

According to the present invention, I provide a buffer which may be located either upon a car or upon the walls of the elevator shaft, or both, and which operates, upon its engagement with an object between it and the car or the shaft, as the case may be, to open the circuit of the motor and bring the car to rest. While my invention is intended primarily to prevent injury may operate equally as well to prevent damage to the elevator mechanism, in case some object be interposed between the car and the elevator shaft.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view, partially in elevation and partially in section, of a portion of an elevator system with my invention attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the mechanism of Fig. 1, taken at right angles thereto. Fig. 3 is a view, in elevation of a modification, parts being broken away. Fig. 4c is a diagrammatic view of circuits and apparatus embodying my invention Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, an elevator car 1, which is adapted to operate in a shaft having side walls 2,'is provided with the usually manually operable controller 3. The elevator shaft is provided, at each floor, with the usual door or opening 4: and a sliding gate A safety device 6 comprises a buffer 6 having a rod 7 which is slidably mounted in supports 8 that are attached to the walls 2 above the opening 4. Normally, the bufl'er to persons, it

6 is retained in the position shown by a spring 9. The upper end "of the rod 7 is adapted to engage a roller 10 which is mounted at one end of a lever 11. The opposite end of the lever 11 carries a contact member 12 which coacts with a stationary contact member 13. The contact members 12 and 13 are arranged in a manner to be later described, to control the circuit of the motor which operates the elevator.

A similar safety device 20 is attached to the floor of the car 1 and projects downwardly therefrom. The second safety device difl'ers from that described above only in that it comprises two springs 9 which operate to maintain it in the position illustrated.

A modification is illustrated in Fig. 3 in which similar numerals are employed to designate corresponding parts. The buffer 6 and the coacting contact members 12 and 13 controlled by it are mounted upon the top of the elevator car 1 instead of being mounted upon the stationary wall 2 and 'above the door 4, as in Figs. 1 and 2. This form of my invention difiersmaterially in no other respect from the structure described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2.

The circuits and apparatus embodying my invention are diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 4. Line conductors 14 and 15, which may be connected to any suitable source of current, supply energy to an electric motor 16. The motor circuit is controlled by a two-pole electromagnetic switch 17 comprising an actuating coil 18. The circuit of the coil 18, which is normally controlled by the controller 3, comprises also the contact members 12 and 13 of the safety devices.

It will be readily understood that, if, during the operation of the car, the body of a person or other object is interposed between either the top or the bottom of the car and the walls of the elevator shaft, the corresponding buifer 6 will be actuated to separate the contact members 12 and 13 and thereby open the circuit of the coil 18. The switch 17 opens the circuit of the motor 16,. and the car is immediately brought to rest by the usual automatic brake (not shown). IVhen either of the safety devices has been actuated, the controller 3 is inoperative to complete the circuit of the motor until the corresponding buffer 6 has been released to complete the controller circuit at the contact members 12 and 13. The force required to separate the contact members 12 and 13 may be predetermined by a proper selection of the spring 9. It may be desirable, under some circumstances, to provide means for actuating the car in the reverse direction to release the person or object after the car has stopped.

While I have shown and described my invention as applied to an elevator system employing electric motors, it may be adapted, by obvious changes, for use in connection with elevator systems employing other forms of motive power.

The advantages of my invention are that it is simple in construction and automatic in its operation to bring the car to rest quickly when any object is interposed between the car and the walls of the elevator shaft and thus prevent injury to persons entering or leaving the car and damage to the elevator mechanism.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an elevator system, the combination with a car, a structure for inclosing said car, a motor for actuating said car and a controller for said motor, of means for rendering said controller and said motor inoperative when an object is interposed between said car and said inclosing structure, said means comprising an electromagnetic switch for controlling the motor circuit having an actuating coil in series with said controller and a yielding member for controlling the circuit of said coil.

2. In an elevator system, the combination with a car, a structure for inclosing said car, a motor for actuating said car and a controller for said motor, of means for rendering said controller and said motor inoperative when an object is interposed between said car and said inclosing structure, said means comprising an electromagnetic switch for controlling the motor circuit having an actuating coil in series with said controller, a switch forcontrolling the circuit of said coil and said controller and a yielding member for controlling said switch.

3. In an elevator system, the combination with a car, a structure for inclosing said car, a motor for actuating said car and a controller for said motor, of means for rendering said controller and said motor inoperative when an object is interposed be tween said car and said inclosing structure, said means comprising an electromagnetic switch for controlling the motor circuit having an actuating coil that is normally energized when the controller occupies an operative position and ayielding member for efiecting the opening of the circuit of said coil under predetermined conditions.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 22nd day of July, 1914.

EDIVARD A. HAN F F.

\Vitnesses:

W. B. BASSETT, B. B. HINES.

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