Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor or accessory therefor specialized to convey people – With means to facilitate passenger entry or exit
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-23
2001-02-20
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor or accessory therefor specialized to convey people
With means to facilitate passenger entry or exit
C198S324000, C049S324000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189673
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a floor used in escalators and passenger conveyors (hereinafter, referred to passenger conveyor as a general term), in particular to a floor for a passenger conveyor having a lift in a machine room for easily opening and closing the floor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A passenger conveyor is generally mounted inclined between stories or mounted horizontally for carrying passengers continuously.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the passenger conveyor includes balustrades
10
, a step unit
20
for carrying passengers, and a machine room
30
receiving a driving machine for driving the step unit
20
.
The step unit
20
includes a plurality of steps
21
for providing space of passengers to stand thereon, and a step chain
22
for connecting each of the steps
21
. Though not shown in the figure, a guide rail is mounted in the passenger conveyor for guiding the steps
21
.
The machine room
30
includes a motor
31
for providing rotating torque with use of electric power and a reducer
32
for amplifying the rotating torque of the motor
31
and reducing the rotating velocity of the motor
31
. In addition, a driving shaft
33
is connected to the step chain
22
in parallel with an axis of the reducer
32
in order to receive driving force from the axis of the reducer
32
through a driving chain
34
. By using the driving force transmitted to the driving shaft
33
, a driving terminal gear
35
drives the steps
21
.
Therefore, the driving force generated by the motor
31
in the machine room
30
is transmitted to the reducer
32
, and the rotating torque reduced by the reducer
32
is then transmitted to the driving shaft
33
through the driving chain
34
. Then, in accordance with rotation of the driving shaft
33
, the driving terminal gear
35
drives the steps
21
with rotating in engagement with the step chain
22
, so that the steps
21
may circulate.
The balustrade
10
includes panels
11
mounted in both sides of the steps
21
for serving as a side wall, and hand rails
12
mounted on the panels
11
for circulating along a regular path. When passengers moves on the steps
21
, the hand rail
12
serves as a grip for a passenger to take hold of, so moving correspondingly in same speed as the steps
21
for ensuring passengers safety.
Floors F are mounted in starting and ending position of the steps
21
where passengers get on or off. Referring to FIG.
1
and
FIG. 2
, it can be shown that the floor F is mounted upon the machine room
30
provided in both ends of the passenger conveyor. The floor F serves as a footing extended from the steps
21
when passengers get on or off, and in addition serves as a cover of the machine room
30
. Therefore, the floor F can be detached from the machine room
30
in case of repair or maintenance of devices in the machine room
30
.
The floor F is assembled with two or three plates, made of steel or aluminum, so having about 25 kg in weight. The floor F is fixed on an upper portion of the machine room and positioned in same height as surroundings such that passengers should not stumble at the floor F when boarding on the passenger conveyor.
FIG. 3
is a cross-section side view showing the floor F mounted in the passenger conveyor according to the conventional art. As shown in the figure, the floor F includes a cover plate
36
which can be opened, and a base plate
37
disposed on the upper portion of the machine room
30
for fixing and supporting the cover plate
36
. The cover plate
36
is firmly fixed to the base plate
37
by a connecting device such as a bolt in operation of the passenger conveyor. However, when it is needed to enter the machine room in order to repair any malfunction therein, the floor F can be opened by removing the bolt, inserting a bolt-shaped instrument into a bolt hole, and pulling the cover plate
36
with use of the bolt-shaped instrument.
However, the conventional floor F is too heavy and large for one person to carry, which can be sometimes cause of any accident. In addition, when detaching the floor F from the passenger conveyor, the floor F should be kept in a suitable place and a safety fence should be installed around a working spot. Therefore, in case of repair or maintenance, a lot of working place is required, so decreasing efficiency of working.
Moreover, in order to open the floor F, a man should remove the bolt and insert the bolt-shaped instrument into the bolt hole, so taking much time and energy to separate the floor F.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the present invention is invented to solve the above problems of the prior art. So, an object of the present invention is to provide a floor for passenger conveyors in which the floor can be easily opened and closed by only a person not requiring any other instruments in case of repair or maintenance, so enhancing efficiency of working.
Other object of the present invention is to provide a floor for passenger conveyors in which it is not needed to move the floor to another place after opening because the floor can stand upright in its place and to install a safety fence around a working spot in case of repair or maintenance, so improving efficiency of working.
The above objects of the present invention can be accomplished by providing a passenger conveyor comprising a plurality of steps for providing space for passenger to board on; floors disposed in starting and ending portions of the steps for serving as supports for the passengers getting on or off the steps; machine rooms disposed below the floors; lift means installed in the machine room to be in contact with a bottom of the floor for lifting the floor; floor rollers rotatably mounted in both side ends of a bottom of the floor; and floor roller guide rails mounted in both sides upon the machine room for guiding the floor rollers.
In the passenger conveyor of the present invention, the lift means can comprise a spool for supporting one end bottom of the floor; a spool guide mounted around the spool for guiding the spool vertically; a elastic member installed below the spool guide for providing elastic force such that the spool moves upward; and a locking pin pivotably mounted in an upper and outer position of the spool guide, the locking pin being rotatable to a locking position and a release position in order to locking or releasing the spool.
In the passenger conveyor of the present invention, the spool can also comprise a spool body having a predetermined length; a spring seat formed on an lower end of the spool body for supporting one end of the elastic member; an elastic bar integrated with the spool body and extended from the spring seat upwardly in parallel with the spool body; a latching protrusion protruding opposite to the spoon body from an upper end of the elastic bar; an elastic bar guide protrusion formed on a side of the spool body and protruding against the elastic bar for guiding and converting direction of the elastic bar when the elastic bar is pushed inward by the spool guide; and an upper limit protrusion protrusively formed at an upper portion of the spool body, a thickness of the upper limit protrusion gradually decreasing from top to bottom, the upper limit protrusion having a curved upper surface.
In the present invention, the spool guide can comprise a spool guide body for receiving the spool; a spring seat fitted into a lower end of the spool guide body; an upper limit protrusion guide channel formed at an upper outer circumference of the spool guide body for guiding and restricting movement of the upper limit protrusion; an inclined portion formed under the upper limit protrusion guide channel to be narrowed downwardly for guiding the latching protrusion of the spool to a direction; a latching protrusion guide channel extended vertically and downwardly under the inclined portion for guiding movement of the inclined latching protrusion; and a fixing hollow formed laterally at an lower end of the latching protrusion guide channel for interposing the latching protrusio
Ellis Christopher P.
LG Industrial Systems Co. Ltd.
Sharma Rashmi
LandOfFree
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