US322452A - Automatic safety-guard for elevators - Google Patents

Description

(N0 Model.) F. P. HINDS.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY GUARD FOR ELBV'ATORS.

N0..322,452; Patented July 21,1885.

h UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANKLIN HINDS, OF BOSTON, 'MASSACHUSETTS AUTOMATIC SAFETY-GUARD FOR ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 322,452, `dated July 21, i885.

' Application ined May 23, 1885. (No moda.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, FRANKLIN P. HINDs, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Safety-Guards for Elevators, which will, in connection with the accompanying drawings, be hereinafter fully described, and specifically defined in the appended claims.

My invention relates to automatic safety-4 guards for elevators; and it consists in the construction and combination of the divers devices embodied therein, as hereinafter more I fully and particularly set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective view showing an elevator-guard embodying my invention, and representing the car descending from an upper story and approaching my improved devices, arranged to be operated thereby to raise andlower the entrance guard or bar. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side view of the guard shown in its vertical and open position; also by dotted lines in its horizontal and closed position. Fig. 3 is aview of a detached portion of the side of the car, as seen from the inside thereof, showing the irregular groove or channel which runs up and down the side of the car, and serves to operate the guardwheel as the car moves up and down the well; also showing the retaining-spring, by which the guard-wheel or pulley is kept from turn# ing when not in contact with the sides of said groove.` Fig. 4 isa vertical section taken as online x fr, Fig. 3, through the guard-operating wheel or pulley and retaining-spring.

A represents one of the side walls of the elevator-well. B is the elevator-car, which may be raised and lowered by any of the wellknown means usually employed for that purpose. A jointed bar or guard, C, is pivoted to a standard or bracket, D, secured at one side of the. entrance or doorway leading to the4 car, and is arranged to be raised and lowered by turning it on its pivoted support to open and close the passage-way to the car, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. l

The peculiar construction and arrangement of bar G, and the novel means employed for actuating it, constitute the chief features of -the outer end of the spindle, as shown.

my present invention. Bar C is in two parts, pivotally connected at E. The long arm of ,this jointed bar is pivoted in bracket D at F; and when the bar is serving as a guard, as in Fig. I, the outer end of the short arm rests in a notch or recess, G, in the opposite side of the doorway. A plate, H, having ears to which rods II are pivotally attached, is secured to the short arm of the guard, as shown. These rods I are also pivoted to bracket D at J. By means of rods I thus pivoted, the short arm of the guard, when the bar is raised to its vertical position, as shown in Fig. 2, is turned to the horizontal position shown, thus shortening the bar toaccommodate it to lowstudded doorways where the height is not in proportion to the width, as is frequently the case, particularly in freightelevators. To the wall A is rmly secured an iron plate, K, hav ing a projecting spindle, L, Fig. 4, upon which is mounted loosely the guard-wheel or pulley M, secured lineally thereon by a pin through The outer portion of this wheel serves as a frictionpulley, operated, as will be described, by the groove on the side of the car, while the inner portion is reduced in diameter, and serves as adrum upon which the guard chain or cord is wound when the pulley is thus operated. The chain N is secured at one end to the drum or pulley, and, being passed over or through a suitable intermediate guide, is attached at its opposite end to the guard C, as shown in Fig. l. Upon the side of the elevator-car adjacent to pulley M an irregular vertical groove or channel, P, is formed. This groove in the planking upon the side of the `car is formed with reference to the movement of the car and the xed position of pulley M, so that the axis of the pulley will be central to the path of the groove as the latter passes by the movement of the car up and down over and in contactwith the periphery of the pulley. Vhen the car in descending upon the pulley, as represented in Fig. 1, has reached the position where the pulley is within groove P, the side R, Fig. 3, of said groovev will be in contact with the periphery of the pulley, ,as indicated by the dotted circle representing the pulley at that point, and as the ear continues its de- Ico scent the frictional contact between the side R of the groove and the periphery of pulley M will cause the pulley to be rotated in the direction indicated, and the chain N to be wound upon its drum, and thereby guard C will be raised to its vertical position, as shown in Fig. 2, and thus the passage-way to the car will be unguarded and opened at the time the car reaches its proper place at the landing to receive freight or passengers. The frictional contact-edges R ofthe groove may be covered with leather or other suitable material to produce a proper friction-surface thereon. It is necessary or desirable to allow a free movement of the car to some extent (according to the construction and manner of using the elevator to which this guard is applied) without moving the guard. Therefore groove P is so widened at its middle portion, as shown in Fig. 8, that its sides do not come in contact with pulley M for a limited distance, according te the requirements of the elevator to which it is applied. During this interval of rest of pulley M in groove P a spring, S, is employed to act against the front face of the pulley, Figs-3 and 4, with sufficient force and duration of frictional contact to retain the pulley in the position which it was left in by the side of the groove last in contact with it, and thus to restrain it from turning and yielding to the strain of the guard, which is so arranged as to have a tendency to fall from its vertical into its horizontal position. This spring is secured at its ends to two bars eX- tending across groove P, attached to the inner face of the planking, as shown in Fig. 3, and moves with the car, being bent backward into the groove,and arranged so as to come in contact with the pulley at the proper time to accomplish the purpose stated. As the car moves downward, and spring Sis thereby carried past and out of contact with pulley M, side It of groove P comes into contact with the periphery of the pulley, as indicated byY the upper dotted circle in Fig. 8, and by such frictional contact turns the pulley in the direction there indicated, thereby unwinding chain N, and allowing the guard to gradually fall into its horizontal guarding position. (Shown in Fig. l.) The several stories being provided with like guards, the car passes downward, leaving the doorway just passed guarded, as described, and encounters and operates in like manner the guard on the next oor below, and in its upward movement, by a reversal of the order of contact with Vand direction of rotation of the guard-pulleys, it accomplishes the successive opening and closing of the guards on lthe various iloors in the manner described. Guard C is counterweighted in brackets D to facilitate its movement. A weight, T, is suspended by a chain from the end of said bar, Fig. 2, the chain passing between and alternately over two small pulleys, .so arranged that when the bar is vertical the chain draws over pulley U with a tendency to throw the bar forward; but as the bar falls it changes the position of the chain so that it draws over pulley V, as indicated by a dotted line, and thus, by its attached weight T, it counteracts the falling bar, restraining its movement downward and relieving the strain thereof on chain N, and also'serves to facilitate the raising of the bar. The diameter of pulley M and the length of chain or cord wound upon its drum are proportioned to the length of one of the contact sides R of groove P, and the requisite amount of take-up to raise bar C by winding from its horizontal to its vertical position.

In addition to its being unusually simple, cheap, durable, and reliable, this friction safety-guard movement is much superior, in point of safety, to a positive movement operating by means of gearing or other unyielding devices, as in all such guards there is liability of persons and things being accidentally caught in the movement of the guard,in which case my device, although being operated with sufficient power by said frictional contact of the car and guard-pulley to secure perfect action of the guard, yet incase of such accidental obstruction it will yield by the slipping of the car upon the pulley, and thus avoid damage or injury to the article or person so obstructing it, or injury to or derangement of the guard itself, whereas a positive movement of the guard under like circumstances would most likely be attended with serious consequences.

I claiml. The combination of a vmovable guard, adapted to extend, when closed, acrossY the passage-way to an elevator-car, with a combined friction-wheel and drum mounted upon a fixed axis, a car provided with means for actuating said wheel by direct frictional contact, and a cord directly connecting the wheel and drum with the guard, whereby the movement of the car causes the rotation of the wheel,the winding and unwinding of the cord, and the raising andY lowering of the guard, substantially as described.

2.V The combination of a movable guard, C, a friction pulley or drum, M, mounted upon a fixed spindle, a connecting cord or chain, N, suitably guided, and a ca'r constructed with a groove, P,arranged to actuate the friction-pulley as the car moves up and down the elevator-well, and thereby to raise and release the guard, all substantially-,as and for the purposes specified.

3; The combination of car B,provided with a groove, P, pulley M, mounted upon aXed axis arranged to project into the path of said groove, and spring S, secured to the car and arranged to engage the front face of said pulley in the manner and for the purpose specified.v

4. A guard, C, jointed, as at E and pivoted as at F, and provided with rods I, pivoted to the short arm of the guard, as at H,

IOO

IIO

and to a fixed standard, as at J, whereby the connecting-chain, which acts alternately on,a guard, when raised to its vertical position, pulleys U and V, as and for the purposes will have its short arm turned to a horizontal specified.

position, as and for the purpose speeied. FRANKLIN P. HINDS. 5. In combination with the tilting guard Witnesses: l

C, operated as described, the counter-weight T. W. PORTER,

T, suspended from the end of the guard by a EUGENE HUMPHREY.

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