Guard device for escalator handrail

A guard device for a handrail in an entry zone of an escalator is disclosed, which assures safety of an entry of the escalator, sanitary maintenance of the handrail by sterilization, efficient advertisement of products and business corporations, and clean maintenance of air in the entry of the escalator. The guard device includes a guide channel at its bottom to receive a part of the handrail. The guard device further includes a sterilization unit to sterilize the handrail, an advertising display provided on a front face thereof, and an air-cleaning unit provided at a side wall thereof.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a guard device for a handrail in an entry zone of an escalator, which is intended to assure safety of an entry of the escalator, sanitary maintenance of the handrail by sterilization, efficient advertisement of products and corporations, and clean maintenance of air in the entry of the escalator.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, escalators are installed on plural stories of buildings in such a way that the escalator are connected to each other in the zigzag fashion, unlike elevators which travels between a riding story and a desired story. Accordingly, the escalators are predominantly used in department stores in which various products are sold, subways, airports, terminals and the like, to which people flock, rather than business buildings. Recently, moving walkways, which are horizontal traveling type of escalators, are used even in the same story, in order to reduce traffic.

Such an escalator is usually designed to travel only in one direction. As shown inFIG. 1, the escalator10includes a pair of skirt bases11, which are spaced from each other with a spacing of about 80 cm–120 cm therebetween, and a step belt consisting of a plurality of steps12, which travel continuously while maintaining the upper surfaces in the horizontal position and on which passengers mount.

Each of the pair of skirt bases11is provided thereon with a lateral balustrade13made of glass or metal. The lateral balustrade13is provided thereon with a handrail14, which travels in the same direction and at the same speed as those of the step belt12, and serves as a handgrip for passengers.

The handrails14, which serve as handgrip, are intended to prevent passengers from falling down or slipping. To prevent slippage by the passengers, the handrails14are commonly made of a rubber material.

Since the handrails14come into contact with hands of a multitude of people, if sanitary maintenance of the handrails14is not assured, various viruses, bacteria and the like harmful to humans are apt to propagate on the handrails14. Therefore, the handrails14must be always maintained in the clean condition. Up to now, sanitary maintenance of the handrails14has been fulfilled by frequently mopping and cleaning surfaces of the handrails14with neutral detergent or antiseptic solution.

However, since the conventional handrails of escalators must be frequently cleaned manually, there is a problem in that the maintenance of the handrail requires very high costs. In addition, since the cleaning work cannot positively sterilize and disinfect the handrails by a simple wiping operation, the passengers are exposed to hazard such as disease and bacterial infection due to viruses and bacteria existing on the handrails.

Since escalators are used to transport a multitude of people, it is possible to maximize the advertising effectiveness for products and corporations by providing advertising copies to the escalators. However, heretofore, there are only triangular guide plates positioned at intersections of crossed escalators to prevent passengers' heads from being caught in the intersections, and small advertising boards erected at transferring area between successive escalators, as the advertising copies.

By way of an example, Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0298362 discloses an advertising object “P” consisting of a printed layer attached on handrails14of an escalator, and a film cover attached to the printed layer, as shown inFIG. 2. However, since the advertising object “P” is attached to the handrails14rotating around balustrades of the escalator, the advertising object “P” comes into contact with a multitude of passengers' hands, leading to maculae and contaminant on the advertising object and color fading of the advertising object. For this reason, it is difficult to attract people's attention for the advertising object.

When getting on the escalator10, a passenger first grips handrails14in the entry zone of the escalator and then treads on a step12. At this point, because the elderly aged or weaker man or children have slow reflexes, his/her arms are pulled forward by the handrails14before treading on the steps12, thereby causing the passenger to be fall down or to be injured.

In addition of the above problems, since the escalators are used by a multitude of people, dust and various bacteria exist in the entry zone of the escalator, reading to unsanitary equipment. However, although the fact that the entry zone of the escalator is unsanitary has been recognized, a specific solution to overcome the problem cannot be achieved.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a guard device for an escalator handrail, which receives a part of the handrail in the entry zone of the escalator, to prevent safety hazards which may occur in the entry zone.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a guard device for an escalator handrail, which includes a sterilization unit therein to sterilize the handrail, thereby preventing passengers from being infected by bacteria, viruses and germs existing on the handrail.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a guard device for an escalator handrail, which includes an advertising display provided on an outer surface thereof to provide efficient advertising effects to passengers.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a guard device for an escalator handrail, which includes an air-cleaning unit provided at a side wall thereof to maintain air in the entry zone in the clean condition.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a guard device which is removably mounted on a handrail positioned in an entry zone of an escalator. The guard device includes a guide channel formed at its bottom to receive the portion of the handrail positioned in the entry zone, a sterilization unit to sterilize the handrail, and an advertising display provided on an outer surface thereof to provide efficient advertising effects to passengers.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 3is a perspective view showing guard devices for an escalator, according to an embodiment of the present invention, which are mounted on handrails in an entry zone of the escalator, andFIG. 4is a perspective view showing only one of the guard devices in detail. As shown inFIGS. 3 and 4, the guard device20according to the present invention includes a guide channel21with a predetermined depth, which is provided along the center line of an bottom surface of the guard device20and in which a handrail14is received. The guide channel21is formed to avoid interference with the guard device20during an operation of the handrail, thus assuring safe and smooth operation of the handrail.

As such, since the guard device20is installed on the handrail14, a portion of the handrail14in the entry zone of the escalator, is not exposed to an external environment and thus protected against the environment, thereby overcoming the above-mentioned prior art problem. More specifically, a safety hazard, in which passenger's arms gripping the handrails14are pulled forward before treading on the step12, thereby causing the passenger to fall down or to be injured, is efficiently prevented.

The guard device20, which is constructed to prevent the safety hazard which may occur in the entry zone of the escalator, has a predetermined length corresponding to a distance between a front end of the handrail14and a front edge of the foremost step12of the escalator. Therefore, the guard device20can prevent a passenger from gripping the handrail14in advance of treading on the step12, thus avoiding safety hazards caused by pulling passenger's arms forward.

As shown inFIG. 5a, the guard device20is provided therein with a sterilization unit30to sterilize the handrail14. The sterilization unit30is preferably installed at an entrance side22or an exit side23in the guide channel21, and is spaced from the handrail14by a certain distance while facing the handrail14.

Although the sterilization unit30is preferably embodied by ultraviolet lamps31, as shown inFIG. 5a, the sterilization unit30may be embodied by a sprayer32to spray bactericidal liquid on the handrail14, as shown inFIG. 5b, or an applicator33to apply bactericidal liquid to the handrail14, as shown inFIG. 5c, if necessary.

The ultraviolet lamps31are effective in eliminating most bacteria, viruses and funguses but do not change properties of irradiated objects. Furthermore, since the sterilization unit30using the ultraviolet lamps31can be operated by a simple manipulation of turning on the ultraviolet lamps31, its usage is relatively easy, and costs of installation and maintenance are reduced.

In the sterilization unit30using the ultraviolet lamps31, the sterilization unit30is preferably provided with a reflecting plate31ato irradiate ultraviolet light to side surfaces as well as an upper surface of the handrail14. The reflecting plate31ais preferably made of a stainless plate or a metal plate which is effective in reflecting lights.

As shown inFIG. 5b, the sprayer32includes nozzles32athrough which bactericidal liquid is applied to the handrail14. At this point, the bactericidal liquid is atomized through the nozzles32a, and the atomized bactericidal liquid is applied to the handrail14. Therefore, even though a passenger grips the handrail14immediately after application of the bactericidal liquid, the passenger's hands are not stained with an excessive amount of the bactericidal liquid.

As shown inFIG. 5c, the applicator33includes a roller33awhich is in contact with the handrail14to apply bactericidal liquid to the handrail14. The roller33ais supplied with the bactericidal liquid. As the handrail14is operated, the roller33acontaining the bactericidal liquid is correspondingly rotated by direct contact with the handrail14.

The guard device20according to the present invention further includes an advertising display40, which is provided at a front face of the guard device20to face upward and forward. The advertising display40may be embodied by any one selected from a group consisting of an LED, an LCD, an organic EL sheet and a hologram. Where the advertising display40is embodied by the LED, the advertising display40includes a plurality of pixels, each being comprised of an LED, and the advertising display40is programmed such that the LEDs are selectively blinked to display a desired character or logo.

Meanwhile, where the advertising display40is constructed by the LCD or the organic EL sheet, the advertising display40can display a moving picture as well as the character and the logo by selectively irradiating a backlight to a plurality of cells constituting a screen of the advertising display40.

The advertising display40according to the present invention enables the advertising contents to be easily substituted with new different contents by changing the program input to the advertising display40. Alternatively, the advertising display40may be provided with the hologram displaying a stereoscopic image or an advertising sticker. The advertising display40is covered with a transparent cover41to protect the screen of the advertising display40against the environment. The transparent cove41is made of plastic, synthetic resin, glass or acrylic resin, and removably attached to the screen of the advertising display40. Accordingly, the advertising display40enables the advertising contents to be quickly and easily substituted with new contents according to changes of the advertising provider or production of new brands.

As shown inFIG. 6, the advertising device20according to the present invention is further provided at its side wall with an air cleaning unit50, which functions to draw air in the entry zone of the escalator, remove bacteria and dust from the air, and discharge the cleaned air outside the guard device50. The air cleaning unit50is comprised of a pump51to draw outside air and discharge the air outside the guard device50, an ultraviolet lamp52to sterilize the drawn air, and a filter53to remove dust from the drawn air.

More specifically, the air cleaning unit50fulfills the air-cleaning process in such a way that outside air is drawn into the air cleaning unit50through a plurality of through-holes24formed at the side wall of the guard device20by the pump51, the drawn air is sterilized by ultraviolet lights emitted from the ultraviolet lamp52, dust contained in the sterilized air is removed through the filter53, and the sterilized and filtered air is discharged outside the guard device20through a plurality of through-holes25formed at the other side wall of the guard device20. Consequently, the air in the entry zone of the guard device20is maintained in a clean condition, thereby having little bad effect on passengers.

Electricity required to drive the sterilization unit30, the sprayer32, the applicator33, the advertising display40and the air-cleaning unit50may be diverged from the main electric power supplied to the escalator. The above components may be controlled by a control unit (not shown) additionally provided in the guard device20or mounted on an outer surface of the guard device20. The control unit is preferably operated to control the sterilization unit30, the sprayer32, the applicator33, the advertising display40and the air-cleaning unit50while the escalator is driven.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the present invention provides a guard device, which is mounted on a handrail positioned in an entry zone of an escalator to prevent safety hazards which may occur in the entry zone.

Since the guard device according to the present invention includes a sterilization unit therein to sterilize the handrail, it is possible to prevent passengers from being infected by bacteria, viruses or germs existing on the handrail.

Furthermore, since the guard device according to the present invention includes an advertising display on an outer surface thereof, it is possible to achieve efficient advertising and informing effects for corporations and products.

In addition, since the guard device according to the present invention includes an air-cleaning unit at a side wall thereof, which is intended to draw outside air in an entry zone of an escalator, eliminate undesired substances such as bacteria, viruses and dust from the drawn air and discharge the cleaned air outside the guard device, it is possible to maintain air in the entry zone of the escalator in the sanitary condition.