Elevator – industrial lift truck – or stationary lift for vehicle – Having specific load support drive-means or its control
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-09
2003-09-16
Lillis, Eileen D. (Department: 3652)
Elevator, industrial lift truck, or stationary lift for vehicle
Having specific load support drive-means or its control
C226S170000, C226S172000, C182S133000, C074S6650GC
Reexamination Certificate
active
06619432
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to apparatuses for transporting objects and particularly to an object transport apparatus used for transporting objects with their cross sections different in size from each other.
BACKGROUND ART
A cable transport apparatus
101
as shown in
FIGS. 24-26
has been employed for installing an electric cable by using a temporary overhead cable or for installing an electric cable in an underground pipe. This cable transport apparatus
101
is used as shown in
FIG. 23
by being mounted on a support platform
210
that is placed on the lower part of a utility pole
160
.
According to a method of using this cable transport apparatus
101
on an installation site, an electric cable
200
is transported by being successively fed to the left in
FIG. 23
by cable transport apparatus
101
to the extent that tension is generated on electric cable
200
while electric cable
200
is hung on rings
180
provided on a temporarily installed overhead cable
170
that is suspended on respective top parts of poles
160
. Then, electric cable
200
is removed from a pulley
220
when cable transport apparatus
101
causes electric cable
200
to fall in a state of tension, and this cable transport apparatus
101
is further used to successively feed electric cable
200
to the left by using a next pole (located further to the left of FIG.
23
). This operation is repeated for each pole to accordingly install electric cable
200
on each pole. It is noted that a cable transport apparatus
2
used in a second embodiment of the present invention is employed in FIG.
23
.
A structure of this cable transport apparatus
101
is now described in conjunction with
FIGS. 24 and 25
. As shown in
FIGS. 24 and 25
, cable transport apparatus
101
is constructed of a pedestal
110
and a transport unit
105
. A power unit is provided within pedestal
110
. Further, transport unit
105
has rotational axes
120
a
,
120
b
,
120
c
and
120
d
on a main surface of pedestal
110
. Around rotational axes
120
a
,
120
b
,
120
c
and
120
d
, there are provided wheels
125
a
,
125
b
,
125
c
and
125
d
for conveying turning forces of rotational axes
120
a
,
120
b
,
120
c
and
120
d
and transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
for conveying turning forces of rotating wheels
125
a
,
125
b
,
125
c
and
125
d
by means of frictional forces on the peripheries of wheels
125
a
,
125
b
,
125
c
and
125
d.
In use of cable transport apparatus
101
, a turning force of a motor causes wheels
125
a
and
125
b
to rotate about respective rotational axes
120
a
and
120
b
in opposite directions respectively. At this time, respective turning forces of wheels
125
a
and
125
b
are conveyed from the peripheries of wheels
125
a
and
125
b
to transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
respectively, and transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
then circulate respectively around wheels
125
a
and
125
c
and
125
b
and
125
d
. Frictional forces on the surface of circulating transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
feed electric cable
200
shown in
FIG. 23
in the direction of transportation. At this time, wheels
125
c
and
125
a
rotate in the same direction while wheels
125
d
and
125
b
rotate in the same direction. Wheels
125
b
and
125
d
rotate in directions opposite to each other to assist transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
in circulating in opposite directions respectively.
A cable transport apparatus
102
as shown in
FIGS. 27 and 28
is another cable transport apparatus having a transport unit structured differently from that of the above cable transport apparatus
101
. Cable transport apparatus
102
includes as its transport unit spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
provided around rotational axes
220
a
and
220
b
as shown in
FIGS. 27 and 28
on the main surface of pedestal
110
shown in
FIG. 24
for conveying the turning force of the power unit. Spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
are formed of rubber containing therein air or the like, with their peripheral surfaces deformable according to the diameter of an electric cable. The electric cable is fed in a certain direction by a frictional force between spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
and the electric cable.
As for cable transport apparatus
101
shown in
FIGS. 24 and 25
, the distance W
1
between rotational axes
120
a
and
120
b
and the distance W
1
between rotational axes
120
c
and
120
d
are constant and thus the gap W
2
between transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
is also constant. Therefore, if both of a thin cable
100
and a thick cable
200
are used simultaneously, cable transport apparatuses
101
should separately be prepared to be available all the time for respective thin cable
100
and thick cable
200
in order to employ the apparatuses according to need on an installation site.
If only one cable transport apparatus
101
is used for both of thin cable
100
and thick cable
200
, cable transport apparatus
101
should have another mechanism capable of changing the distance W
1
between rotational axes
120
a
and
120
b
and between axes
120
c
and
120
d.
If the diameter of thin cable
100
is smaller than the distance W
2
between transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
, thin cable
100
could deviate in the direction of the arrows as shown in FIG.
25
. Consequently, cable
100
could meander up and down between transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
as shown in
FIG. 26
which results in a lower transport speed. Alternatively, if thin cable
100
significantly deviates in the direction of the arrow, thin cable
100
would escape from the part between transport belts
140
a
and
140
b.
For installation of a thick electric cable, usually a thin rope is first installed temporarily for drawing the thick cable to be installed actually, and the thick cable
200
is pulled via an adapter on the end of the rope having both ends to which respective ends of the rope and the cable with different diameters can be attached, the adapter having its diameter changing continuously. In this case, cable transport apparatus
101
should temporarily be stopped for replacing it with another cable transport apparatus having a greater distance between transport belts
140
a
and
140
b
on the installation site. Such a replacement of cable transport apparatus
101
on the installation site is laborious and deteriorates working efficiency.
Cable transport apparatus
102
shown in
FIGS. 27 and 28
is employed as one conventional art for solving the problem above. Cable transport apparatus
102
includes spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
that deform according to the diameter of thin cable
100
and thick cable
200
in order to allow both of thin cable
100
and thick cable
200
to successively be fed without changing the distance W
3
between rotational axes
220
a
and
220
b
, i.e., without employing another cable transport apparatus, and without employing any mechanism for changing the distance between rotational axes
220
a
and
220
b.
Although this cable transport apparatus
102
can transport an object or cable according to the diameter of the cable if the diameter is in a predetermined range, an extremely thin cable
100
could deviate in the directions indicated by the arrows shown in
FIG. 27
because of the ball-like shape of spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
, so that cable
100
escapes from spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
. On the other hand, if cable
200
is thick enough to dramatically change the shape of spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
, spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
deform greatly to increase rotational resistance that hinders rotation of spherical wheels
225
a
and
225
b
. Consequently, the feeding speed of thick cable decreases. In order to reduce the rotational resistance, another mechanism should be provided for changing the distance W
3
between rotational axes
220
a
and
220
b
as employed by cable transport apparatus
101
.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made to solve the problems above. One object of the present inventi
Fasse W. F.
Fasse W. G.
Lillis Eileen D.
Tran Thuy V.
Yasui Takako
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