Improvements in Safety Checks for Elevators.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Apr., 1898-Accepted, 6th Aug., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Safety Checks for Elevators.
A communication from abroad by JAMES HURRELL and ROBERT W. HURRELL,
of the Borough of Brooklyn, Kings County, State of New York, United
States of America, Engineers.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
London, Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
This invention relates to checks or safety stops for elevators and particularly
to checks or stops operable preferably automatically immediately upon an elevator
car starting to fall or to descend at an unsafe speed.
The object of this invention is to mount safety stops or checks in the elevator
well normally out of the path of the car and to provide means for throwing them
into the path of the car when it attains a dangerous speed; this movement of
the stops to be effected manually or to be so connected with the elevator mechan-
ism that should a car start to fall the stops will be automatically thrown out
and catch the car within a few feet from the point where it attained the maximum
speed for which the automatic control shall have been set to act.
To this end the invention consists in the construction, combination and
arrangement of parts, substantially as hereinafter described and set forth in the
claims.
In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification;
Fig. 1, represents the interior of an elevator well in which the application
of this invention is indicated. Fig. 2, represents a plan view of the construction
illustrated in Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4, are detail views on an enlarged scale.
The preferred embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying
drawings wherein the upper and lower ends of an elevator well are indicated
at 5, and the elevator car at 6, the usual hoisting cables for the latter being
indicated at 7.
Within the well at either side thereof are represented vertical shafts 8, 8¹,
which are mounted at their lower ends in suitable step bearings 9, and are
retained in place at their upper ends by suitable bearings as 10. These shafts
may also be sustained throughout their length by bearings at suitable intervals.
Said intermediate bearings may be of any suitable form such for instance as
the bracket bearings indicated at 11, or those indicated at 11', which brackets
may be located on the face of the well walls or let into the same as circumstances
may require. These brackets or intermediate bearings may also be made to
support a portion of the weight of the shaft in which instance suitable anti-
friction devices may be employed, for instance as indicated in Fig. 4. Therein
one of the brackets as 11, is shown provided with a raceway for a ball bearing,
balls as 12, being placed therein for the support of a suitable stop as 13, rigidly
mounted in any suitable manner upon the shaft 8. Bracket 11, may also contain
a ball bearing, as indicated at 121, to lessen the lateral friction of the shaft 8.
These shafts may be supported at their lower ends in the well known way that
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page_text: is by mounting them upon one or more steel buttons in the step bearing as
indicated at 15.
The stops or projections for intercepting the car are indicated at 13, and may
be secured to the shaft as just described in connection with Fig. 4, or they may
be located entirely independently of the brackets 11. They should be placed,
however, at no greater distance apart than are the floors of the building in which
the elevator is located and may be placed at no greater intervals than the height
of the car.
In order to hold the stops or feet 13, normally out of the path of the car
any suitable retaining device may be employed. One such device is here illus-
trated as consisting of levers 14, which are fulcrumed upon suitable posts or
supports 15, and engage at their outer ends with arms 16, extending from the
shafts 8. The shafts 8, may be rotated by any suitable means to throw the stops
or feet into the path of the car such, for instance, as a strong spring or springs,
one as 17, being here shown and connected at its ends to said arms 16. For the
sake of clearness in illustration this spring has been omitted from Fig. 1.
As heretofore stated it is preferable to allow or produce the rotation of the
shafts 8, by automatic means. Such automatic means may be various.
A com-
mon and reliable means for this purpose consists as shown of a ball governor
the slide of which is indicated at 13, as connected to the levers 14, through the
band 19, and links 20, the governor shaft being supported in any suitable way,
as in the vertical bearing 21, and having on its lower end a bevelled pinion 22,
which co-acts with the bevelled pinion 23, on the end of shaft 24, a suitable
cable drum 25, being mounted on said shaft and wrapped about by one or more
turns of the cable 26, the ends of which are attached respectively to the upper
and lower ends of the car 6, and whose lower loop passes around pulley 27, at
the bottom of the well.
Any suitable construction may be employed for producing freedom of motion
between the ends of levers 14, and the arms 16. To this end there is represented
in the drawing a roller or wheel 28, mounted upon the end of each arm 16,
while the outer ends of the levers 14, are provided with sectors 29, to engage
said wheels.
In the construction just described it will be seen that as the balls of the
governor are thrown outwardly to a certain extent the sectors 29, on the levers 14,
will be depressed and the arm 16, released when the spring 17, will swing said
arms inwardly thereby rotating the shafts 8, and carrying the feet or stops 13, into
the path of the car.
As above stated it is preferable to automatically throw the stops into the path
of the car, but it is not intended to limit this invention to such automatic action
since it is entirely feasible to trip the retaining levers 14, by means of a cable
extending through the car. Such cable is shown at 30, and has branches at its
upper end connected to said levers. This cable may be used as an adjunct to the
automatic trip or not as desired. It may be extended through the car and secured
at its lower end to the bottom of the well, so that should the car start to fall it
will be simply necessary for the attendant on the elevator to catch hold of the
cable and trip the retaining levers.
The stops may be restored to their normal position in any suitable manner,
one convenient way of doing so being to provide said stops with means such as
sockets 31, for the insertion or connection therewith of suitable levers as indi-
cated at 32, in Fig. 1, whereby at any floor of the elevator well said levers may be
inserted and the shafts S, rotated into their normal position. To provide for the
return of the wheels 28, into the proper engagement with the sectors 29, curved
projections such as 33, may be added to said sectors whereby when the shafts 8,
are returned to normal position the wheels 28, will roll over said projections
thereby depressing levers 14, and allowing said wheels to reach their normal
position. By suitable adjustment of parts the time at which the levers 14, will
be tripped to allow the shafts 8, to rotate may be regulated. This may be

page_text: accomplished in various ways as for instance by the vertical adjustment of the
arms 16, upon the ends of the shafts 8.
The shock incident to the car being stopped by feet 13, may be lessened by
using upon said feet, or preferably upon the lower end of the car, suitable
buffers as indicated at 34.
Instead of mounting the stops or feet rigidly upon the shafts 8, they may be
mounted to rotate thereon, but held normally against such rotation by means
of a spring as 35, and a stop as 36, Fig. 3, which stop may engage the set screw
that retains in place a band or collar 37, employed to support the foot 13'. By
this construction provision is made for the complete rotation of a shaft 8, even
though the retaining device should be tripped while the car is opposite one of
the feet or stops since the step or foot that would be thrown against the car
would not, because of its spring connection to the shaft, prevent the shaft from
rotating and throwing the remaining stops thereon into the path of the car.
In the drawing the shafts 8, have been shown as located at the sides of the
car which would be the natural location thereof in those elevator constructions
wherein the guides for the car are located at the corners as indicated at 38.
Should said guides be located at the sides of the car, as in some elevator con-
structions, the shafts 8, with their stops may be located at the sides of the
guides or at the corners of the well as circumstances may require.
It is obvious that in elevator constructions where the car runs close to the
walls of the well that the shafts may if necessary be set into the walls.
It is also obvious that the system of stops just described may, if desired, be
employed to stop an elevator should it start to ascend at a dangerous speed.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim as our invention is:-
1. The combination with an elevator well, of horizontally movable stops
located at intervals throughout the length of the well and normally held out
of the path of the car, and means for throwing said stops into the path of the
car when it attains a dangerous speed.
2. The combination with an elevator well, of one or more vertical 'shafts
located therein and carrying stops or feet adapted to project into the well, and
means for rotating said shafts to project said feet into the well.
3. The combination with an elevator well and car, of one or
more vertical
shafts located in the well and having each a series of stops or feet projecting
therefrom, means tending to throw said feet into the path of the car, a retaining
device for holding them against such tendency, and means for tripping said
retaining device for the purpose set forth.
4. The combination with an elevator well, of vertical rotary shafts therein
having bearings at intervals throughout their length, feet or stops connected to
said shafts and projecting laterally therefrom, and means for rotating said shafts
and stops, whereby the latter may be thrown into the path of the car, for the
purpose set forth."
5. The combination with an elevator well, of a vertical rotary shaft located
therein, stops or feet projecting from the shaft and having a spring connection
therewith, as and for the purpose set forth.
6. A safety catch or stop for elevator cars, substantially as herein set forth.
D
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1000
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.