Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor or accessory therefor specialized to convey people – By support means having a zone of varying speed
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-18
2003-07-15
Bidwell, James R. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor or accessory therefor specialized to convey people
By support means having a zone of varying speed
Reexamination Certificate
active
06591959
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an escalator with a high speed inclined section in which the steps move faster in the intermediate inclined section than in the upper and lower landing sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, a large number of escalators of great height are installed in subway stations or the like. In an escalator of this type, the passenger is obliged to stand on a step for a long period of time, which is often rather uncomfortable. In view of this, a high-speed escalator has been developed. However, in such a high-speed escalator, there is a limitation regarding the traveling speed from the viewpoint of allowing the passengers to get off and on safely.
In view of this, there has been proposed an escalator with a high speed inclined section which is driven at low speed in the upper and lower landing sections where the passenger gets on or of f, accelerated or decelerated in the upper and lower curved sections, and driven at high speed in the intermediate inclined section, whereby the requisite time for the passenger to ride on the escalator is shortened. An example of such an escalator with a high speed inclined section is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Sho 51-116586.
However, conventional escalators with a high speed inclined section only exhibit a mechanism for realizing a change in the speed of the steps. Thus, if this speed changing mechanism is simply applied to an ordinary escalator, there is the danger, for example, of a gap being generated between a tread and a riser of an upper adjacent step or interference occurring between adjacent steps.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain an escalator with a high speed inclined section which is capable of preventing interference of a tread with a riser of an adjacent step or generation of a gap between the riser and the tread in upper and lower landing sections and intermediate inclined sections.
To this end, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an escalator with a high speed inclined section, wherein assuming that an upper-step-side end of a tread is the origin of a coordinate system when a step is seen from a side with the tread being horizontal and on the upper side, a riser passes a point whose horizontal and vertical coordinates can be expressed as follows:
(
kr
cos &agr;
m
, −kr
sin &agr;
m
)
(where k is a speed change ratio; r is a distance between the step link roller shafts of the steps adjacent to each other in upper and lower landing sections; and &agr;
m
is an inclination angle of a intermediate inclined section).
Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the tread from interfering with the riser of the adjacent step and to prevent generation of a gap between the riser and the tread in the upper and lower landing sections and the intermediate inclined section.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an escalator with a high speed inclined section, wherein assuming that, when steps are seen from a side, a point spaced apart horizontally by −r and vertically by −R
1
from a border point which is in movement locus of an axis of a step link roller shaft and which is between an upper landing section and an upper curved section is the origin of a coordinate system and that the horizontal and vertical coordinates of one end M and the other end M′ of a movement locus of a link connection point in a speed changing region of an upper curved section are:
M
(
x
M
,y
M
),
M
′(
x
M
′,y
M
′)
the following equations hold true:
x
M
={r
2
+L
1
2
−(
kr−L
1
)
2
}/2
r,
y
M
=R
1
−{square root over ( )}(
L
1
2
−x
M
2
),
x
M
′=r+R
1
sin &agr;
m
+L
1
cos &agr;
m
, and
y
M
′=R
1
cos &agr;
m
−L
1
sin &agr;
m
(where r is the distance between the step link roller shafts in the upper and lower landing sections; L
1
is the length between the step link roller shaft and the link connection point in a first link; k is a speed change ratio; and R
1
is a radius of curvature of the upper curved section in the movement locus of the axis of the step link roller shaft).
Accordingly, in the upper and lower landing sections and an intermediate inclined section, it is possible to prevent interference of the tread with a riser of the adjacent step and generation of a gap between the riser and the tread.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an escalator with a high speed inclined section, wherein assuming that, when steps are seen from a side, a point spaced apart horizontally by r and vertically by R
2
from a border point which is in movement locus of an axis of a step link roller shaft and which is between a lower landing section and a lower curved section is the origin of a coordinate system and that horizontal and vertical coordinates of one end N and the other end N′ of a line indicating a movement locus of a link connection point in a speed changing region of the lower curved section are:
N
(
x
N
,y
N
),
N
′(
x
N
′,y
N
′)
the following equations hold true:
x
N
=−r+{r
2
+L
1
2
−(
kr−L
1
)
2
}/2
r,
y
N
=−R
2
−{square root over ( )}(
L
1
2
−x
N
2
),
x
N
′=−r−R
2
sin &agr;
m
−(
kr−L
1
)cos &agr;
m
, and
y
N
′=−R
2
cos &agr;
m
+(
kr−L
1
)sin &agr;
m
(where r is the distance between the step link roller shafts in the upper and lower landing sections; L
1
is the length between the step link roller shaft and the link connection point in a first link; k is a speed change ratio; and R
2
is a radius of curvature of the lower curved section in the movement locus of the axis of the step link roller shaft).
Accordingly, in the upper and lower landing sections and an intermediate inclined section, it is possible to prevent interference of the tread with a riser of the adjacent step and generation of a gap between the riser and the tread.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3709150 (1973-01-01), Colombot
patent: 4953685 (1990-09-01), Johnson
patent: 5115899 (1992-05-01), Nakatani
patent: 51-116586 (1976-10-01), None
Haruta Yasumasa
Nagaya Shinji
Nakamura Joichi
Ogura Manabu
Yoshikawa Tatsuya
Bidwell James R.
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
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