Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 24th May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 24th May, 1893-Accepted, 29th July, 1893
WELLINGTON PARKER KIDDER, Manufacturer, of 26 Norfolk Avenue
Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, one of the United
States of America, 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 improvement is designed to provide a means for preventing the opening of
the doors of elevator cars and wells except when the car is stationary and in line
with a well-door; whereby the many dangerous accidents now caused by starting
the car before the door is closed will be prevented, and the invention consists in the
peculiar construction, arrangement and combinations of parts hereinafter more
particularly described and then definitely claimed.
In the accompanying drawings which show what I now consider the preferable
forms of my invention-
Figure 1 is a vertical section of an elevator constructed according to my
invention.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the same on the line of Figure 1.
Fig. 2 is a detail showing some of the parts in Fig.
scale.
in elevation on a larger
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of part of an elevator taken at right angles to that
shown in Fig. 1.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section of a modification.
Fig. 5 is a front view of the door, rope, &c., of the same.
Fig. 6 is a side view of the same parts as in Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 is a similar view with the parts in a different position.
Fig. 8 is a horizontal section of another arrangement in which a swinging well
door is employed, showing the door closed.
Fig. 9 is a similar view with the door open.
Fig. 10 is a vertical section of the same with the door closed.
Fig. 11 is a similar view with the door open.
Fig. 12 is a horizontal section of another modification with the door closed.
Fig. 13 is a similar view with the door open.
Fig. 14 is a vertical section also with the door open.
Referring now to the details of the drawings by letter-A represents an elevator
well, in which travels the elevator car B, which may be raised and lowered by any
suitable means, but as these means form no part of my present invention, it is
unnecessary to describe them.
CC represent the doors of the well, each of which may be provided with a
hooked latch D, pivoted at d and catching over a pin E on the frame surrounding
the doorway. It may be provided with a knob F to turn it when desired and a

page_text: pin G should be set in the door to prevent the hooked end of the latch from falling
too low when the door is open.
At H is shown the ordinary operating rope, by which the valve controlling the
operating mechanism is moved. This is connected with a companion rope H', in
any convenient way, but at present I prefer to connect it as shown in Fig. 1, by
making the two ropes of one continuous piece and passing it over a pulley J above
and under another one (J¹) below-the last one being mounted on a shaft ; that
operates the valve. Attached to the companion rope are several blocks or
projections L, preferably set between guides on the walls of the well, so as to work
freely within said guides. These blocks are so set that when the valve is closed
and the car at rest, the upper and lower ones are slightly above and below lines
drawn even with the top and bottom of the doors respectively, and the intermediate
blocks are set just between lines drawn even with the top of one door and the
bottom of the one next above it. With this arrangement it is evident that when
the operating rope is moved to give motion to the car, the companion rope will
carry the tops of the blocks L either above a line drawn even with the bottoms of the
car and well doors or the bottoms of the blocks below a line drawn even with the
tops of said car and well doors, as the case may be, and thus prevent any opening
of the same. It will also be seen that when any one of the well doors is open, that
said door will be between two of the blocks and thus the operating rope cannot be
set in motion until the well door is closed.
As a further security, I set doors K in the elevator car, which project
slightly from the car, as shown in Fig. 1 ; aud I attach flanges M to the front walls
of the well, so arranged that the door passes by the side of these flanges as the car
ascends and descends, but cannot be opened when the car is in motion, as the edge
of the door would come in contact with said flanges M. When, however, the car is
at rest and on a level with either of the doors in the elevator well, the door can be
readily opened. It will further be seen that the door in the elevator car, when
opened, will also act as a stop to prevent the movement of the operating rope, as
said door will then be between two of the blocks and thus prevent any motion
being given to the rope, so that the car cannot be set in motion when the car door
is open.
By the combination of the blocks L and flanges M, the maximum of safety is
obtained, because the flanges M prevent the car door being opened when the car is
between the well doors, and the blocks L prevent its being open even when opposite
a well door if the car is in motion. If the blocks L did not prevent this, the door
might be opened or partially opened when the car was in line with either of the
well doors although the car was in motion.
In some cases, I may use the arrangement shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7. In this
case, at each door of the well, a three-armed lever N is pivotally connected at its
centre to a bracket O attached to the wall of the well, and is also pivotally
connected to a block L' on the rope. These blocks may be attached to a companion
rope, as in the form shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, but I have them shown attached, in
this case, to the operating rope, which, in this instance, is preferably arranged
outside the car. The latter is provided with an aperture 6 in its side, through
which the operator can pull the rope to stop or start the car. The lever N has
two of its arms n n in line with each other, and a third (n') at right angles to the
other two.
When the car is at rest, the arms n n of the lever N stand vertically and then
the car door can be opened. When opened, the car cannot be started, as the
arms n n of the lever will press against the door if any attempt is made to pull the
operating rope, so that the latter cannot be moved, nor the car started with
the door open. As soon as the door is closed, the rope can be pulled, and then one
of the arms n of the lever will pass behind the edge of the door, as shown in Fig. 7,
in which position the door cannot be opened until the rope has been again
manipulated so as to move the lever into the position shown in Fig. 6, in which
case the car is stopped.

page_text: In those forms of my invention, shown in Figs. 8 to 14, I employ a moving
door Chinged or pivoted in any convenient manner to the wall of the elevator
well, as shown at z.
C
In Figs. 8 to 11, I attach to the door an arc-shaped bracket c the outer edge of
which substantially corresponds to an arc of a circle of which the pintle of the
hinge forms the center. In combination with this I employ blocks L' whose outer
edges run in guides in the elevator well wall, and have a notch of sufficient size
to allow of the bracket freely passing through said notch, when the rope is in
proper position to keep the car at rest. With this construction when the door is
opened, the bracket will pass through the notch and thus prevent the rope being
operated until the door is closed but when the door is closed, the rope can be
operated, and as the block descends the notch passes out of line with the bracket
and thus the door cannot be opened until the rope is again operated and the car
brought to rest.
In Figs. 12, 13 and 141 employ a slide S running horizontally in suitable
guides in the well wall, which slide is connected by a link T to an arm U
attached to the swinging door C¹. With this device I employ another series of
blocks L", each of which has a notch which admits of the passage through it
of the slide S (as shown in Figs. 13 and 14) when the car is at rest and the door
may thus be opened at that time; but when the rope is in such position as to give
the car motion, the end of the slide S would come in contact with the block L"
and thus the opening of the door would be prevented.
For convenience in stating my claims, I shall refer to the blocks and levers,
generically, as " stops," and mean to include thereby not only the devices shown
but any equivalent ones for the same purpose, except in such claims where the
devices shown are specifically named.
I have shown different ways of carrying out my improvement, but it is evident
that other means may be employed, and I do not, therefore, intend to limit myself
to those shown in the drawings. For instance, instead of the rope shown, a wire
or rod may be employed to carry the blocks L, and this rod or wire may form part
of the operating rope, or be operated by any suitable connection therewith, and I
should consider such rod or wire as an equivalent for the rope in the following
claims.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination in an elevator and with the well doors, the car and valve
operating devices, of a series of stops connected with said operating devices and
moving simultaneously with the same and adapted to fasten the well doors closed,
substantially as described.
2. The combination in an elevator and with the well-doors, the car and operating
devices thereof, of a rope connected with said operating devices, and a series of
stops on said rope having the double function of keeping the well-doors closed when
the car is in motion and preventing the movement of the operating devices when the
doors are open, substantially as described.
3. The combination in an elevator and with the car thereof, of doors in both the
car and well openings, a rope connected with the operating devices, and stops
moved by said rope for fastening both doors in the car and well closed when the car
starts, substantially as described.
4. The combination in an elevator and with the car thereof, of doors opening
into the well, a rope connected with the operating devices, and a series of stops
moved by the rope and adapted to pass behind the edge of the doors when the car
is started, substantially as described.
5. The combination in an elevator and with the car thereof, of the door of the
car and fixed stops secured to the well arranged to prevent the opening of the car
door except when in line with the well doors, substantially as described.

page_text: 6. The combination in an elevator and with the car, the door thereof and the
operating rope, of a series of blocks L secured to said rope, arranged to pass
behind the edge of the car door when the rope is moved to operate the car,
substantially as described and shown.
7. The combination in an elevator and with the operating rope and car thereof,
of a series of blocks L connected to said operating rope, and a door for said car
projecting from the body of the car and passing between two of the blocks when
opened, whereby the rope is fastened in position while the door is open, substantially
as described.
Dated this 24th dox of April 1893