Elevator – industrial lift truck – or stationary lift for vehicle – Having specific load support drive-means or its control – Includes linking support cable in drive-means
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-25
2002-12-03
Lillis, Eileen D. (Department: 3652)
Elevator, industrial lift truck, or stationary lift for vehicle
Having specific load support drive-means or its control
Includes linking support cable in drive-means
C187S251000, C187S256000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06488124
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a traction elevator which obviates the need for a machine house for installing a driving device.
Recently, to eliminate the need for a rope elevator machine house installed at the top of the elevator shaft in relation to a right to enjoy sunshine, various elevators such as a linear motor elevator and an elevator whose hoisting device is installed in the gap between the elevator car and the elevator shaft wall have been proposed.
FIG. 1
shows an outline of an elevator, such as described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2-23492, in which the armature of a cylindrical linear motor
51
is built into a counterweight
50
. A car
52
is moved up and down via a rope by the driving mechanism of the elevator, which is built into the counterweight
50
. This eliminates the need for a machine house in a conventional rope elevator.
The linear motor elevator shown in
FIG. 1
has the advantage of making a conventional machine house unnecessary. However, an overhead sheave for suspending a car must be installed above the car in the elevator shaft. This increases the height of the elevator shaft itself, so the elevator shaft protrudes from the roof of the building. This makes the elevator not satisfactorily effective. Additionally, since the driving device is attached to the counterweight, the plane size of the counterweight increases, and this increases the plane size of the elevator shaft. Consequently, the effective use area of the building decreases.
FIGS. 2
,
3
A, and
3
B show outlines of elevators, such as described in Jpn. UM Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 4-50297 and Japanese Pat. No. 2593288, in which a hoisting device
53
is installed in the gap between the elevator shaft wall and a side surface of a car
55
at the top of an elevator shaft
54
.
In the elevator disclosed in Jpn. UM Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 4-50297, as shown in
FIG. 2
, a motor is used as the driving device
53
, and the car
55
and a counterweight
56
are suspended like well buckets. A traction sheave
57
is placed in the upper portion of the elevator shaft
54
. The car
55
is attached to one end of a rope
58
wound around the traction sheave
57
, and the counterweight
56
is attached to the other end of the rope
58
. The traction sheave
57
is driven by the motor, and the driving force is transmitted to the rope
58
by the friction between the rope
58
and the traction sheave
57
, thereby vertically moving the car
55
and the counterweight
56
. In this structure, the driving device
53
is large. Therefore, a conventional machine house is eliminated by increasing the size of the elevator shaft
54
, and the driving device
53
is installed in an empty space of the elevator shaft
54
.
In the driving device support structure shown in
FIG. 2
in which the driving device is installed in the gap between the elevator shaft wall and the car, the rotating surface of the traction sheave
57
is perpendicular to the side surface of the car. Accordingly, the gap between the car and the wall must be larger than that in common elevators. This decreases the effective use area of the building.
The principle of operation of the elevator disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2593288 shown in
FIGS. 3A and 3B
is basically the same as the elevator shown in
FIG. 2. A
motor is used as a driving device
53
, and a car
55
and a counterweight
56
are suspended like well buckets. A traction sheave
57
is placed in the upper portion of an elevator shaft
54
. The car
55
is attached to one end of a rope
58
wound around the traction sheave
57
, and the counterweight
56
is attached to the other end of the rope
58
. The traction sheave
57
is driven by the motor, and the driving force is transmitted to the rope
58
by the friction between the rope
58
and the traction sheave
57
, thereby vertically moving the car
55
and the counterweight
56
. In this structure, however, as a method of installing the driving device
53
in an empty space of the elevator shaft
54
, the driving device
53
is attached to counterweight guide rails
59
a
and
59
b
via fixing members. Also, to install the driving device
53
in an empty space of the elevator shaft
54
, the rope
58
is extended via deflection pulleys
60
a
to
60
c.
With this arrangement, a conventional machine house is unnecessary.
In the structure shown in
FIGS. 3A and 3B
, if the rated loadage of the car increases, the thickness of the traction sheave
57
increases to make the traction sheave
57
unable to install in the gap between the car and the elevator shaft wall. Additionally, since the driving device is supported by the guide rails, the load on the guide rails increases. Then, the size of the elevator cannot be increased. Also, since the return sheave is mounted on the car, the driving device support structure is complicated, and the number of parts of the structure increases. This increases the cost and makes the installation maintenance troublesome.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a machine-houseless traction elevator by which the plane size and height of an elevator shaft can be decreased.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a machine-houseless traction sheave elevator by which the size of an elevator shaft is equivalent to that in a conventional elevator with a machine house and a driving device can be mounted without forming any projecting portion on the roof of a building, and which has a mounting structure for firmly supporting the driving device.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elevator comprising: a car moving up and down along car guide rails; a counterweight moving up and down along counterweight guide rails; ropes for suspending the car and the counterweight; a driving device installed at a top of an elevator shaft above the counterweight; and at least one traction sheave engaging with the rope and rotated by the driving device, the traction sheave being placed close to a wall surface of an elevator shaft wall, which is adjacent to a wall surface facing the counterweight and outside a horizontally projected plane of the car.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elevator comprising: a car moving up and down along car guide rails; a counterweight moving up and down along counterweight guide rails; ropes for suspending the car and the counterweight; and a driving device comprising traction sheaves engaging with the ropes, the driving device being installed in an upper portion of an elevator shaft, and the traction sheaves being attached to two ends of an output shaft of the driving device.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elevator comprising: a car moving up and down along car guide rails;
a counterweight installed close to a side surface of the car and moving up and down along counterweight guide rails; ropes for suspending the car and the counterweight like well buckets; a driving device installed at a top of an elevator shaft above the counterweight; and at least one traction sheave attached to an end portion of the driving device and engaging with and driving the rope, the traction sheave being positioned close to a wall surface of an elevator shaft wall, which is adjacent to a wall surface facing the counterweight, and outside a horizontally projected plane of the car.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elevator comprising: a car moving up and down along a pair of car guide rails; a counterweight moving up and down along a pair of counterweight guide rails; a plurality of ropes for suspending the counterweight; traction sheaves engaging with the ropes; a driving device for driving the traction sheaves attached to two ends of the driving device; and support beams for integrally connecting the car guide rails with the counterweight guide rails, the driving device being mounted on the support beams.
Accor
Asami Ikuo
Fujita Yoshiaki
Hayase Mitsuo
Ishikawa Yoshinobu
Kamimura Kosei
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Lillis Eileen D.
Tran Thuy V.
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