Improvements relating to Doors and Guards for the Wells of Lifts.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left. 20th June, 1892-Accepted, 23rd July, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Doors and Guards for the Wells of Lifts.
I, EDWARD DONOUGH O'BRIEN, LORD INCHIQUIN, of the Carlton Club, Pall
Mall, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
:-
My invention relates to doors and guards for the wells of lifts, and is designed
to provide improved means for operating such doors automatically and to very
effectually guard the wells so as to prevent the possibility of persons accidentally
falling down the same or being injured by the ascending or descending lift.
According to my invention I provide the lift-well at each floor level with a
vertically sliding door arranged to work between suitable guides and I support and
balance the said doors by means of chains, or ropes, or the like passing over suitable
pulleys, and having balance weights attached to the ends thereof after the manner
of ordinary window sashes, suitable channels being provided in the sides of the well
wherein the said weights may slide up and down as the door is opened and closed.
I provide on each door one or more catches or brackets and I provide the cage of
the lift with a like number of similar catches or brackets so arranged that as the
cage ascends and approaches a floor level the said brackets on the cage will engage
with those on the door and will thereby automatically lift the door a sufficient
distance to allow of the passengers passing in and out when the cage is brought to
rest at the said floor level.
The catches or brackets on the door or on the cage or both on the door and cage
are constructed with spring supports and the faces of the said spring mounted
catches are made rounded or inclined so that when the door has been elevated to
the limit of its travel and the cage is required to ascend higher, the said spring
catches will be pushed inward and will slide over each other.
I also provide the cage with other projections or catches similar to those for
opening the doors and that project into the channels or recesses in which the balance
weights of the doors work, the said catches being arranged to engage with the
balance weights as the cage ascends past each floor level and to carry the said
weights upward, thereby automatically closing the door. When the door is shut,
the spring catches slide over the balance weights in the manner described with
reference to the catches for opening the door. When the cage is descending the
above described operations are reversed, that is to say the balance weights are
acted upon for opening the door, and the door catches for closing the door, but the
mode of action is precisely the same as that above described.
It will thus be seen that the well doors are opened and closed automatically by
the cage as the latter passes up or down and that therefore there is no risk arising
from the doors being left open accidentally.
To enable any floor level to be passed without opening the door at that level, I
provide the following device, that is to say, I so arrange that the operating catches
on the cage may be withdrawn so as to pass clear of the catches on the door and
the balance weights. I prefer to arrange that both sets of catches on the cage
shall be connected to and operated by a common handle for greater convenience,
which handle is placed in a convenient position for operation by the attendant in
the cage.
According to my invention I also provide a well guard for closing the opening
to the well during the interval between the ascent of the cage above the floor level
and the closing of the well door, or between the opening of the well door and the
descent of the cage to the floor level. For this purpose I fix to the front edge of

page_text: the cage floor an apron which hangs down the well and protects the opening
aforesaid.
Dated this 19th day of September 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Doors and Guards for the Wells of Lifts.
I, EDWARD DONOUGH O'BRIEN, LORD INCHIQUIN, of the Carlton Club, Pall
Mall, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to doors and guards for the wells of lifts, and is designed to
provide improved means for operating such doors automatically and to very
effectually guard the wells so as to prevent the possibility of persons accidentally
falling down the same or being injured by the ascending or descending lift.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown how my said invention can be
conveniently carried into practice.
Figure 1 is a front view of part of a lift well and the cage therein, provided with
doors arranged and operated according to my invention.
Figure 2 is a side view of the same, the cage being shown in section.
Figure 3 is a side view showing the cage at a different level, and
Figure 4 is a plan of the same.
In Figures 1 and 2 the cage is shown at the level of a floor in the building;
in Figure 3 the cage is shown occupying an intermediate position between two
floors.
Similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figures.
a is the cage; a¹ is the well; 6 is a door which is adapted to slide vertically in
guides and close the entrance to the well. It will be understood that the
arrangement of the doors at all the floors is similar to the one shown in the
drawings.
The door is suitably balanced or nearly balanced by weights which are
suspended from ropes or chains 63 that are attached to the door and pass over guide
pulleys. The said balance weights slide up and down in channels or guides b.
On the door 6 I provide parts e which project into the well of the lift. On the
front of the top of the cage I provide corresponding rounded spring catches & which
are opposite to and can engage with the projecting parts c. I moreover provide
similar spring catches e situated in the lower part of the sides of the cage which
catches are adapted to engage with the balance weights 6 for a purpose herein-
after described. The ends of the catches d are pivoted to arms d' which are, fixed
to a rod d² supported in bearings dx secured to the top of the cage. The rod d'
carries arms d arranged one at each side of the cage which arms are joined by
rods d to levers pivoted to the cage at da. Other rods connect the tail ends
of the levers d³ with arms d' fixed on rods de supported in bearings d** fixed to the
floor of the cage. d' d'are short levers fixed on the rods ds and pivotally connected
to the spring catches e. do is a handle provided at the end of the lever do. It will
be easily understood that when either of the handles do is depressed thus turning
the corresponding lever d' about its pivot both sets of catches d, e will be retracted
so as to be disengaged respectively from the projecting parts c and the balance..
weights b².
The operation of the mechanism is as follows; Assuming the cage to be.
ascending, then as soon as the catches d on the cage engage with the projecting
parts c on the door 6 the said door will be raised thereby until when the floor of the
cage is brought to rest at the level of a floor of the building the door will be fully.
The catches don the cage are arranged in such a position in relation to the
open.

page_text: parts c on the door that the door will be raised a sufficient distance as above
described to allow of the passengers passing in and out of the cage.
The cage is
shewn in this position in Figures 1 and 2. The door cannot be raised higher than
the position shown by reason of stops provided for the purpose.
On the cage being started upward from this position the door is kept from being
raised by the said stops and the rounded catches are thereby pressed inwards
and are disengaged from the projecting parts c on the door. The catches e at the
sides of the cage now engage with the lower ends of the balance weights 6 and raise
the said weights as shewn in Figure 3 thus reclosing the door. When the door is
closed, the rounded catches,e are disengaged from the balance weights in the
same manner as the catches d are disengaged from the projecting parts c of the
door. The catches d, e are acted upon by springs d, el respectively which
operate to force the said catches out again when they have passed the projec-
tions C, and weights b³.
When the cage is descending the above described operations are reversed, that
is to say, the balance weights are acted upon by the catches e so as to open the
door, and the projecting parts c are acted upon by the catches d for closing the
door, but the mode of action is precisely the same as that above described. It is
obvious that by depressing either handle d so as to retract the catches d and e
any floor may be passed either ascending or descending without the door being
opened.
I sometimes arrange that the projecting parts c on the doors of different floors of
a building shall be of different lengths and that the lever d' shall be arranged so
that it can be set in different positions so as to enable the distance the catches d, e
project to be varied, and set to any desired amount. The said catches can in this
manner be set to only open certain of the doors which have parts projecting
sufficiently far into the well to be acted upon by the catches. Thus by setting and
fixing the lever do the attendant may arrange beforehand at what floors he will
stop the cage. In order to close the opening to the well during the interval between
the ascent of the cage above the floor level and the closing of the well door, or
between the opening of the well door and the descent of the cage to the floor level,
I fix to the frout of the cage floor an apron or guard f which hangs down the well
and protects the opening aforesaid.
It is evident that if I furnish the door on both sides with recesses g such as are
usually provided on window sashes, the door may be opened by hand if desired
instead of by the automatic spring catches.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The means substantially as herein described for opening and closing the door
for the well of a lift during the ascent and descent of the cage, for the purpose
specified.
2. The means whereby the operating catches on the cage may be retracted and
in some cases set so as to pass clear of the projections on the door and the balance
weights, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.
3. The combination of the devices herein described with reference to the drawings
operating as, and for the purpose, specified.
ST 1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.