Elevator – industrial lift truck – or stationary lift for vehicle – Having specific arrangement or connection of electrical or...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-17
2004-09-07
Lillis, Eileen D. (Department: 3652)
Elevator, industrial lift truck, or stationary lift for vehicle
Having specific arrangement or connection of electrical or...
C187S266000, C187S270000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06786306
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to elevator control mechanisms, and more specifically to a cable guide for retaining the control, communication, power, and other cables extending from the base of the structure to the elevator car (commonly called “trailing cables”). The present guide may be used with virtually any elevator structure, but is particularly useful with elevators of tall latticework structures (e.g., tall television antenna towers) where the trailing cable would otherwise be subject to deflection by the wind. The present invention provides secure cable management for elevators operated by hard wired, direct connection cables.
2. Description of the Related Art
Elevator cables in relatively low structures conventionally comprise hard wired trailing cables extending between the base of the elevator structure and the elevator car. These elevator systems can be either cable hoisted or rack and pinion driven. However, with the development of taller structures, the use of cable hoisted systems became the only feasible system, since there was no way to manage the trailing cables on tall structures.
Since trailing cables could not be used, these elevator systems turned to the use of wireless radio systems to transmit control and communication between the base of the elevator structure and the elevator car. Obviously, if no trailing cable could be used, there could be no means of getting power to an elevator car, such as is needed for a rack and pinion system. Consequently, no rack and pinion systems using a trailing cable can be used on these tall lattice structures. (The present inventor knows of one system which uses a gas driven generator to provide power to the drive motor on a rack and pinion system. However, this has not become widely used or popular, for obvious safety reasons.)
This has particularly been the case with elevators used in tall open (latticework) structures, such as television antenna towers and the like, which may extend to well over one thousand feet above the surface. Obviously, some form of elevator, and accompanying lift and control systems, are virtually essential for workers and maintenance crews to travel to the top of the tower. In such open structures, any cables (lift, control, power and communication, etc.) which extend between the base of the elevator shaft and the elevator car, are exposed to the wind, and are subject to being blown against the structure with some accompanying risk of damage. Accordingly, nearly all such structures use a wireless radio link between the elevator car and the base for control. Wireless is used because there currently is no system available for hard wiring a positive circuit for these elevator systems.
These wireless radio controlled systems are subject to interference from outside transmissions and frequency shift, thus diminishing their reliability. The interference risk increases as the elevator and tower height increases, due to the greater line of sight range to the horizon with increasing height. Moreover, while the transceiver at the base may have a reliable power source, the transceiver in the elevator car must be powered by batteries, with the accompanying possibility of low battery power disabling the system. These are serious safety concerns associated with a wireless control system which are eliminated by the present invention.
The present invention provides a solution by providing a means for protecting a hard wired trailing cable in an elevator system. The present invention includes a cable guide in which the power, control, and communication cable(s) is/are routed through a guide which restrains the cable(s) and protects the cable(s) from the wind or other force(s) which might otherwise cause the cable(s) to come in contact with the structure. The present cable guide may also be used to contain a conventional lift cable mechanism for an elevator, in addition to or in lieu of its use for containing communications and/or control cables. The present cable guide system also includes means for precluding jamming or breaking of the cable, in the event the takeup system malfunctions or the cable jams in some manner.
A discussion of the related art of which the present inventor is aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, is provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,017,372 issued on Oct. 15, 1935 to James J. Morrison, titled “Guideway,” describes a device for holding control cables within a guideway immediately adjacent the elevator car, to preclude their moving outwardly from the guideway and coming into contact with the car. Morrison recognizes the problem of the relatively slack control and/or communication cables moving laterally within the elevator shaft (or “hatch,” as he calls it). However, the Morrison guideway system allows the cable to pass therefrom at any point, and Morrison requires a roller at the bottom of the elevator car to bear against the cable within the guideway, to hold the cable within the guideway only at that point in order to preclude escape of the cable from the guideway at that point and possible contact with and damage due to the moving elevator car. Morrison does nothing to retain the cable within the guide at other locations along the guide. In contrast, the present system retains the cable within the guide at all points except immediately adjacent to the car, where the cable bundle narrows to pass through the gap in the side of the guide. This is possible because the cable moves within the guide in the present system, whereas the cable is relatively stationary (excepting the moving loop) in the Morrison system. In the Morrison system, the slot or gap in the side of the guide must be sufficiently large to allow the cable bundle to pass therethrough at any location therealong, whereas the present guide need only have a slot sufficiently wide to allow the smaller end of the cable to pass therethrough.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,832 issued on Jan. 3, 1967 to John H. Fowler, titled “Cable Guide Means,” describes a relatively short guide having a longitudinal slot therein sufficiently wide for a cable contained therein, to pass therethrough. A conical or funnel-shaped component is attached to each end, with the funnel ends also having lateral cable passage slots therethrough. The slots of the funnel ends are turned so they are not in registry with the slot of the guide, thereby holding the cable within the guide. The Fowler device thus teaches away from the present invention, as the cable cannot pass through the wall of the guide at all, but can only pass from either end of the Fowler guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,888 issued on Oct. 3, 1967 to Edward J. Connelly et al., titled “Elevator Car, Its Machine Room, And An Elevator Traveling Cable Including Both Electrical And Fluid Conductors Connected Therebetween,” describes a cable construction and suspension means in which a plurality of cable casing strands or wires are secured to an anchor to support the cable. No cable guide is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,862 issued on May 16, 1972 to Harry S. Poller, titled “Guide Rope Stabilizer,” describes pairs of flexible shoes which secure a guide rope within a guide channel attached to an elevator car. The shoes or stabilizers can flex out of the way when the car moves upwardly or downwardly in the shaft, as the guide channel encounters a fixed guide along the guide rope. The guide ropes in the operating environment of the Poller device are fixed at each end, and do not move, as do the cables in the elevator mechanism of the present invention. The elevator car in the Poller system moves upwardly and downwardly along the fixed guide ropes, with the guide channel being affixed to the elevator car and the guide ropes being fixed relative to the elevator shaft. This is generally opposite the present system, where the guide is fixed to the elevator shaft and the cable(s) move(s) upwardly and downwardly within the fixed guide. Poller does not provide any means for his guide ropes to exit a guide and attach to the ele
Lillis Eileen D.
Litman Richard C.
Tran Thuy V.
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