Patent ID: 7287626

Claim:
A buffer device for an elevator apparatus, comprising: a hydraulic buffer that alleviates shock generated when a traveling body of the elevator apparatus impacts the hydraulic buffer, the hydraulic buffer including a cylinder, a plunger at least partially within the cylinder and reciprocating along an axial direction of the cylinder, and a return spring having upper and lower ends and urging the plunger along the axial direction, outward from the cylinder, the upper end of the return spring being directed toward the plunger and the lower end being directed toward the cylinder; and an elastic member located between the traveling body of the elevator apparatus and the bottom of a hoistway in which the traveling body of the elevator apparatus moves, to alleviate shock generated by impact of the traveling body of the elevator apparatus with the hydraulic buffer, wherein the elastic member includes a coil spring having upper and lower ends and that is arranged to act mechanically in series with the hydraulic buffer, when the coil spring is elastically compressed, almost all of the coil spring, between the upper and lower ends of the coil spring, is within a vertical dimension of the hydraulic buffer along the axial direction, and the lower end of the coil spring is located lower in the hoistway than is the upper end of the return spring and transmits a compressive force applied to the coil spring to the plunger of the hydraulic cylinder.