Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor or accessory therefor specialized to convey people
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-02
2002-03-19
Valenza, Joseph E. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor or accessory therefor specialized to convey people
C198S839000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06357572
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continuous conveying apparatus in which going and returning ways are unified three-dimensionally, so as to contribute to saving of materials, simplification of structure, reduction of installation expenses and reduction of energy consumption in an escalator, a moving walk, a moving slope, and a conveyer for articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
In known escalators, moving walks and the like of an unified going/returning way type, tread faces move two-dimensionally in a turning around section. Therefore, those escalators and the like can not be provided with driving elements (roller chains, link series or racks) on both sides of steps as in ordinary escalators and the like, and they are allowed to have a continuous driving element only at one position in an inner or central area of the steps. This makes the tread faces unstable during traveling and complicates the structure of the escalators and the like. Thus, many inventions have been made on this type of escalators and the like, but there is not any invention in practical use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a continuous conveying apparatus of unified going/returning ways type, which has continuous driving elements on both sides of the tread faces in a turning around section.
A three-dimensional structure is necessary for turning around a straight-traveling belt member without stretching the same. Practically, there are a way of revolving tread faces helicoidally by 180° to reverse it, and a way of twisting the tread faces by 90° to stand it up. First, the way of 180° reversing will be described. In
FIG. 1
a
, a belt member
1
traveling straight on a horizontal plane is wound on a horizontal cylinder
30
in contact with the belt member
1
on the lower side thereof with its axis inclined at an angle A to the traveling direction
1
a
of the belt member
1
. The tread faces of the belt member
1
turns by 180° to form a helicoid, and then horizontally travels in a direction
1
b
which is inclined at an angle of 2(90°−A) with respect to the direction
1
a
. Then, the belt member
1
is wound onto a horizontal cylinder
40
(having the same diameter as the cylinder
30
) in contact with the belt member
1
on the upper side thereof with its axis inclined at an angle B with respect to the direction
1
b
. The tread faces of the belt member
1
turns by 180° to form a helicoid, and then horizontally travels in a direction
1
c
. In order that the direction
1
a
and the direction
1
c
are parallel to each other, the following equation has to be satisfied based on the theorem of parallel lines.
2(90
°−A
)+2(90
°−B
)=180°
From this equation, A+B=90° is derived. Here, B is an angle formed by the horizontal cylinder
40
and the belt member
1
traveling in a direction
1
c
parallel to the direction la after the turn. If A=B, A=B=45°. This case is advantageous in respect of design and manufacture. The description will be hereinafter made on this case. In a case where a train of conveying members traveling on rails is used in place of a belt member, the train of conveying members are guided by helicoidal rails running around the axis
3
a
of the cylinder
30
and the axis
4
a
of the cylinder
40
instead of the cylinders
30
,
40
. Use of round bars or round pipes as rails facilitates the design and manufacture of the apparatus. In the following description, a horizontal plane is replaced by a slope plane in a case of running of the tread faces on a slope.
As shown in a plan view of
FIG. 1
b
and a side view of
FIG. 1
c
, when A=B=45°, the belt member
1
is guided helicoidally around the axis
3
a
which is below and parallel to the tread faces and inclined at an angle of 45° with respect to the traveling direction
1
a
toward the opposite traveling way, and a driving force transmitting mechanism operates. The contiguous tread faces are formed on twistable belt member
1
. After the tread faces travel in the direction
1
b
, the belt member
1
moves to the opposite way by a helicoidal revolution around the axis
4
a
inclined at an angle of 45° in the opposite direction of the axis
3
a
, to complete the turn. With the three-dimensional structure, the belt member
1
can be turned with its driving mechanism maintained. A guide surface of the guide member operates to prevent the belt member from dropping off the course in the folding section. When the driving elements and supporting elements are provided on the back side of the belt member
1
, enveloping surface of their movement generally form a helicoid. It is possible to increase the stability of operation by guiding the belt member by a guide face on the basis of a part of the helicoid.
In a case where a belt member is substituted by a train of steps interconnected and driven by roller chains, a left portion driven by a left roller chain and a right portion driven by a right roller chain have to take a twisted positional relationship in the helicoidal revolution. In this case, each step
5
is divided into left and right halves
51
,
52
, and the left and right halves are connected by a transverse cylindrical shaft
53
so that they can take the twisted positional relationship. Supporting rollers may be brought into contact with a cylindrical guide surface at one point and with an inclined posture, and guide rails may be formed of cylindrical tubes so as to simplify the guide surface.
In the case of twisting the tread faces by 90° to stand up, as shown in a side view of
FIG. 13
a
and a plan view of
FIG. 13
b
, a belt member
1
is helicoidally turned or twisted by 90° about an axis
2
a
which coincides with a central line of its traveling way in a sloping traveling section E→F, so that the tread faces stand up. After passing a buffer section FG, the belt member
1
is driven and guided circularly by a sprocket S
1
and a circular guide S
2
around an axis
2
b
in a circular turning section GG′, and proceeds to a re-tuning section F′E′ through a buffer section G′F′. In the re-turning section F′E′, the belt member
1
is helicoidally turned or twisted with its tread faces laid, by 90° about an axis
2
c
which is parallel to the axis
2
a
, to travel on the opposite way.
REFERENCES:
patent: 629289 (1899-07-01), Dodge
patent: 747090 (1903-12-01), Schmidt et al.
patent: 3179238 (1965-04-01), Patin
patent: 4655340 (1987-04-01), Steel
patent: 5622246 (1997-04-01), Kubota
patent: 6145653 (2000-11-01), Mensch
patent: 0443039 (1996-08-01), None
patent: 58-2181 (1983-01-01), None
patent: 2-282186 (1990-11-01), None
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Valenza Joseph E.
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