Intermediate member for fixing the guide rails to an elevator shaft

Abstract: The invention relates to a procedure for fixing the guide rails of an elevator and/or counterweight. The guide rails (1) are fixed to intermediate members (2) placed transversely across the elevator shaft and attached by their ends to opposite walls of the shaft. Each intermediate member is provided with a slot (3) whose edges are bent in to form a seat for a fixing element (14). The slots permit attachment and adjustment of the guide rails (1) relative to the intermediate member (2). The position and size of the guide rails can be selected according to the situation.

Description: The present invention relates to an intermediate member for fixing the guide rails of an elevator and/or counterweight to the elevator shaft by means of an intermediate member. Intermediate members are used e.g. to divide an elevator shaft into two or more compartments, each accommodating a different elevator car travelling along guide rails fixed to the intermediate members. Guide rails fixed to intermediate members can also be used for counterweights or to accommodate an elevator car in an oversized shaft. Elevator or counterweight guide rails are generally fixed to the intermediate members by welding, using various bars and/or plates to attach the vertical guide rails to the horizontal intermediate members. The intermediate member itself is also fixed by welding it by the ends onto mounting ledges on opposite walls of the shaft, or during construction by imbedding the member in the wall structures in connection with concreting. Previously known procedures for the fixing of guide rails have the drawbacks that adjustment of the rails is difficult because of the welded joints and that the safety considerations regarding the installation work require great accuracy of the person performing the welding, who is generally an elevator installer and not a welder by profession. In practice, when fixing the guide rails, allowance has to be made for rather large tolerances of the intermediate members and the associated fixing elements, which retards the installation of the rails. Further problems result from the difficulty of providing electricity for the welding operations at different locations in the shaft, and generally from the fact that the structures (e.g. intermediate members of open cross-section) involved in the welding often have an insufficient rigidity against the torsional load arising from the normal and frictional forces of the guide rail load. This ultimately leads to curvatures in the guide rail line and to jerky travel of the elevator car. In one of the previously known solutions, a C-section rail is welded by its back onto the intermediate member. However, this structure cannot withstand the sliding forces of the rail clips without additional bracing. Welding at the site of installation is practically impossible. Automated manufacture is also difficult to implement because of the multitude of small parts. Besides, the intermediate member used in this solution has an open cross-section and is therefore not rigid enough to withstand the torsional load arising from the normal and frictional forces of the guide rail attachments. US-4,577,729 discloses a guide rail clamping assembly for elevator guide rails, in which an intermediate mounting member having tapped openings and bolts attach rail clips to the guide rails while thereafter permitting this whole assembly to be positionally adjusted as unit. However, this intermediate structure is not very rigid and does not allow to be used as supporting structure by more than one elevator. The object of the present invention is to avoid the drawbacks referred to above and to achieve an intermediate member for fixing the guide rails and the structures supporting them in an elevator shaft that will allow the rails to be accurately and easily aligned and securely mounted without welded joints. The intermediate member of the invention is characterized by the features presented in claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are subject matter of the other claims. The present invention provides e.g. the following advantages: The number of guide rail attachments used is halved because the same attachments can be used for an alevator regardless of whether the rails are attached to an intermediate member or to a C-profile bar in the shaft wall. As the intermediate member has a closed cross-section, it is sufficiently rigid under torsional load. The horizontal position of the rails on different sides of the intermediate member can be freely selected. As the solution is independent of the external dimensions of the intermediate member, narrow members can be used in small spaces and the height of the member can be changed so as to achieve the required torsional strength. Manufacture of the intermediate member can be automated. The intermediate member is cheap because it has a light construction and the attachments are simple, and because no material is wasted in oddments. In the following, the invention is described in detail by the aid of examples by referring to the attached drawings, in which figure 1a presents the guide rail attachment of the invention in side view, figure 1b presents the same attachment in top view, figure 2a presents an intermediate member of an elevator bank along with the fixing structures in front view, figure 2b presents the same intermediate member in top view, figure 3a presents the wall attachment of an intermediate member in front view, and figure 3b presents the same attachment in top view. Figures 1a and 1b illustrate a common embodiment of the system of the invention for the fixing of elevator guide rails. In this embodiment, the intermediate member has been made by welding two opposite channel bars together so as to form a tube with a rectangular cross-section, the height of the intermediate member being preferably larger than or equal to its width. During manufacture, the edges of the channel bars have been provided with cut-outs placed mutually symmetrically on the two bars so as to form slots in the finished member. The edges have been bent inwards to equal angles before the joining of the bars, so that the joint surface 12 in a finished intermediate member lies symmetrically at the middle of the slots 3. Upon the joining of the channel bars, the slot 3 is formed between the bent edges and is thus recessed to some depth into the side wall of the intermediate member. In a finished member, the slot has an elongated shape and lies longitudinally relative to the member, one of the bent edges forming the upper edge of the slot and the other its lower edge. Each intermediate member is mounted in a horizontal position in the elevator shaft so that the slot 3 lies on that side of the intermediate member which faces the elevator car to be installed in the shaft. When the intermediate member lies horizontally, each slot is also in a horizontal position. The vertical distance between the bent edges of the slot 3 is such that it allows a T-bolt 14 used as a fixing element to be passed through the slot. The head of the T-bolt is locked between the upper and lower edges of the slot inside the intermediate member, preventing the T-bolt from rotating when the rail attachment is being tightened with a nut. The shank and the threaded part of the T-bolt extend substantially horizontally outside the side wall of the intermediate member. Each slot 3 normally accommodates two T-bolts 14, which are used to attach a steel plate 6 to the side wall of the intermediate member 2, said steel plate being provided with mounting holes for the T-bolts. The horizontal distance between these mounting holes is less than the length of the slot 3 to permit the guide rails to be aligned and adjusted during installation and even later when necessary. The head of the T-bolt is of a rectangular shape and is inserted in a horizontal position through the slot, then turned through 90 degrees and pulled backwards so the bent edges remain under the head, preventing the bolt from rotating when the nut is turned. For adjustment and alignment of the guide rails, the steel plate 6 can be moved horizontally with the T-bolts sliding in the slot 3. In this way, the position of the guide rail can be adjusted as required. Each steel plate 6 is provided with two mounting and adjustment screws 13, which hold a rail bracket 4, to which a guide rail is attached by means of rail clips 7 in a manner known in itself. Figure 2b shows how two guide rails 1 are attached to opposite sides of an intermediate member 2 in an elevator bank when the same shaft accommodates several elevator cars placed side by side. The position of the guide rails 1 on opposite sides of the intermediate member 2 can be freely adjusted in the lateral direction. This provides an advantage e.g. when the dimensions of one of the cars do not allow the guide rails to be placed squarely oppositely to each other. In the case illustrated by figure 2b, each side wall of the intermediate member is provided with a slot 3 for rail attachment. In large elevator shafts, the intermediate member may have two or more successive slots. Normally, the elevator shaft is provided with intermediate members placed at even distances from bottom to top. Naturally, the slots in the intermediate members must be roughly aligned in the vertical direction to permit the guide rails to be mounted in a straight line. However, the shaft wall may not be exactly straight, in which case the intermediate members will not be exactly aligned vertically. In the solution of the invention, this is no problem because the guide rails can be moved laterally in the slots 3. Figures 3a and 3b show how the intermediate member 2 is attached to the shaft wall. A holding plate 10 of a U-shaped cross-section as seen from above is attached with T-bolts to a C-bar 11 in the shaft wall or alternatively with drill bolts directly to the shaft wall 5. The sides of the holding plate 10 extend far enough to cover the ends of the side walls of the intermediate member 2 and are higher than these, the edges of the holding plate extending above and below the side walls of the intermediate member. The holding plate is provided with holes for the securing bolts 8 of the intermediate member, the vertical distance between said holes exceeding the height of the intermediate member so as to leave a sufficient clearance for the latter to go between the securing bolts 8 to be inserted through the holes. To mount an intermediate member in the shaft, the upper securing bolt 8 is removed and the member 2 is lowered onto the lower bolt 8. The upper bolt is then inserted back into the holes and both securing bolts 8 are tightened, causing the clearances to disappear. This manner of fixing the intermediate member is sufficiently rigid. It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that different embodiments of the invention are not restricted to the examples described above, but that they may instead be varied within the scope of the claims presented below. Instead of a bent edge, other edge structures can be used, but they require more stages of operation. The materials may vary according to the situation. The intermediate member 2 may also be of a different shape. However, a tubelike construction is easiest to manufacture.

Claims: Intermediate member for fixing the guide rails of an elevator or counterweigh to an elevator shaft, said intermediate member (2) having the form of a rectangular tube in cross-section and being securely attached by its ends e.g. to opposite walls (5) of the elevator shaft, wherein at least one of the sides of the intermediate member (2) is provided with an elongated slot (3) placed longitudinally relative to the intermediate member, said slot (3) having a length that allows the fixing elements (14) holding the guide rail to be moved horizontally in the slot. Intermediate member according to claim 1, characterized in that the upper and lower edges of the slot (3) are bent in towards the inside of the member to such an angle that part of the T-bolt (14) used as a fixing element and seated in the slot extends to the outside of the member while the head of the T-bolt remains inside the member between the bent edges of the slot (3), preventing the T-bolt from rotating. Intermediate member according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it consists of two channel bars placed oppositely, the edges of the slots (3) having been bent in prior to the joining of the channel bars, so that each edge has an equal bent and the slot lies symmetrically relative to the joint face between the channel bars. Intermediate member according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that for securely attaching the ends to opposite walls (5) of the shaft a holding plate (10) of a preferable U-shaped cross-section as seen from above is attached to the opposite shaft walls, the sides of the holding plate (10) extending far enough to cover the ends of the side walls of the intermediate member (2) and the edges of the holding plate extending above and below the side walls of the intermediate member, the holding plate being provided with holes for securing bolts (8) of the intermediate member, the vertical distance between said holes exceeding the height of the intermediate member so as to leave a sufficient clearance for the latter to go between the security bolts (8).

Inventors: KORHONEN HELGE, KORHONEN, HELGE
Applicants: KONE ELEVATOR GMBH
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B66B7
IPC codes: B66B19, B66B7