Otis Elevator Company

Otis Elevator

Frederick H Barker

Joseph Bittar

Bruce A Powell

Anthony Cooney

Samuel C Wan

Paul Bennett

Richard C McCarthy

John K Salmon, Deceased

Gilbert W Wierschke

LucyMary Salmon

Richard E Peruggi

Paul A Simcik

Hugh James O'Donnell

Peter O Erlandsen

Thomas J Hoffman

LucyMary Salmon, Executor

David I Perl

Michael D Silverberg

A safety device to arrest movement of an elevator car guided by non-metallic guide rails employs a friction surface mounted on a wedge. The wedge is located in proximity to an angular horizontal locator when in the unengaged position. Upon activation of the wedge during an overspeed condition the horizontal locator urges the friction surface of the wedge into contact with the guide rail.

Concrete rail safety device for an elevator car

An integrally poured concrete rail guidance system enables the elimination of traditional metal rails by pouring the concrete rail at the same time as the hoistway is poured. Time and expense is avoided in the construction and the concrete rails are durable. A guidance system is also disclosed

Concrete elevator rail and guidance system

The estimation of the amount of time required by a given elevator to reach a given hall call, known as remaining response time (RRT), can be improved by using not only the present car position, its direction, and the number of intervening stops for already boarded passengers, but also the destination of each waiting passenger. An elevator controller is shown with an algorithm for estimating RRT using such detailed destination information.

Hallway-entered destination information in elevator dispatching

An elevator rope tension monitoring assembly is disclosed. The rope tension monitoring system includes a plurality of sensors that produce an output corresponding to the level of tension in each of the ropes. A controller compares the relative levels of sensed tension and generates a warning signal if a sufficient deviation in the relative level of tension in the ropes is observed.

Rope tension monitoring assembly and method

Cabs, such as passenger and freight cabs, are transferred from one horizontal transport bogie that is moving along a track to another horizontal transport bogie moving at the same speed on an adjacent track. The cab may be transferred from one train or shuttle of moving bogies to another train of moving bogies, or may be transferred from a train of moving bogies to an auxiliary shuttle or bogie on a siding so as to permit the cab to be brought to a stop, either to allow transfer of passengers, to be moved into the car frame of an adjacent elevator for vertical transport within the building, or to simply await the coming of another train, traveling in either the same or in opposite direction, to which the cab may then be transferred.

Transferring freight or passenger cabs between moving bogies

An elevator system comprises a plurality of low rise elevators providing service between a lobby floor and the highest floor of a low rise in the building, high rise elevators providing express service between a lobby floor and the lowest floor of a high rise in the building as well as providing service to floors between the lowest floor of the high rise and the highest floor of the high rise, and a plurality of high-only elevators which provide service only to floors between the lowest floor of the high rise and the highest floor of the high rise, having no express zone to extend service downward to the lobby. Hall calls are entered as up calls, down calls, or lobby calls distinct from the down calls. The lobby calls are assigned only to the high rise elevators having express zones to provide service to the lobby. Up calls and down calls (not to the lobby) may be preferentially assigned to the high-only elevators.

Elevator system having high rise elevator without express zone

Passenger or freight cabs 9 can roll on bridge rails 24, 25; 54, 55; 64, 65, between a pair of platforms such as an elevator car frame 19, a horizontal transport bogie 41, or a stationary platform 68. The bridge rails may move from a first position to a second position where they are parallel to, coaligned with and overlapping rails on one of the platforms so as to permit transferring a cab, either by individually rotating through corresponding axes passing through each rail, or by rotating a pair of such rails together about an axis passing between them.

Bridge rails for horizontally moveable passenger or freight cab

An elevator system provides service between a ground level and each of three upper levels through a single elevator shuttle hoistway system. Three elevator cabs 34-36, B, D, F are moved in a triple deck elevator car frame 35, or a four deck elevator car frame 75 in a low hoistway 26, 76; two cabs are moved in a double deck elevator car frame 30 or four deck car frame 76 in a mid hoistway 27, 52; and one cab is moved in a single deck car frame 31 or triple deck car frame 77 in a high hoistway 28, 53. Other embodiments have other car frame arrangements.

Integrated, multi-level elevator shuttle

To prevent elevator rope stretch effects when a horizontally transferable elevator cab (18) is rolled onto and off of an elevator car frame (10), an elevator car/floor lock (31) includes a bolt (47) which extends across the interface between the car frame and the building and engages a strike (39). Jack screw (44) and solenoid (60) embodiments are shown. To take the weight off the lock bolts so that they may be retracted to permit moving the car frame vertically in the hoistway, strain gages (64, 65) or load sensors (62, 63) provided in or adjacent the bolts sense the weight supported thereby, and a pretorque program (FIG. 6) provides armature current to the hoisting motor to raise or lower the car frame sufficiently to reduce the load on the bolts to nil.

Pretorque to unload elevator car/floor locks before retraction

Elevator cabs are transferred between elevators, which may be shuttles, in various levels of a building, such as transport floors, in response to car calls registered in the cabs and hall calls registered on the transport floors. The cabs may be transferred from carriages or bogeys onto elevator car frames in a lateral direction, which is perpendicular to the motion of the cab on a carriage or bogey, or in a longitudinal direction which is the same as the direction of motion of a cab on a carriage or bogey. The horizontal/vertical control and transfer may be effected in response to the arrival at transport floors of elevators having cabs therein, or in response to the arrival at an elevator of a bogey carrying a cab which must be transported between a transport floor on one level of a building and a transport floor on another level of a building, in order to serve the need of a car call registered therein or a hall call. The horizontal transportation may occur on transport floors within a building, or may extend between different building segments or between different buildings.

Horizontal and vertical passenger transport

Tension of compensating ropes in an elevator system is electively changed to minimize horizontal vibration of the compensating ropes in tall buildings. The tension of compensating ropes is changed by a tensioning mechanism either when the horizontal movement of the compensating ropes exceeds a preset limit or when the building sway exceeds a predetermined amount. Additionally, the tension of compensating ropes can be changed when the elevator car is parked within certain predetermined top floors. The tension can be applied to a compensating sheave supporting the compensating ropes by a tensioning mechanism such as a hydraulic jack.

System and method for minimizing horizontal vibration of elevator

A first slidable auxiliary pinion (58a) on the bottom of a horizontally moveable elevator cab A (FIGS. 2-6) disposed on a car frame (14) or a landing is moved out from under the cab toward another car frame (13) or landing by means of a motorized pinion (56) until it engages a motorized pinion (57) on the adjacent car frame (13) or landing, which then pulls the auxiliary pinion and the entire cab toward the other car frame or landing until a main rack (45) fixed to the bottom of the cab engages a motorized pinion (34) on the other car frame (13) or landing, which pinion then pulls the entire cab onto the other car frame or landing. The auxiliary racks (58a, 58b) may be mounted on a common auxiliary rack member (58), or may be separate. The auxiliary motorized pinions (55, 56, 57) may be bidirectional, or may be; and auxiliary pinions (32C, 33C, 34C) may be; mounted on the same shaft with main pinions (32b, 33b, 34b).

Fail-safe movement of elevator cabs between car frames and landings

A plurality of express shuttle elevators S1-S4 exchange elevator cabs at a transfer floor 26 with local elevators L1-L10 by means of a carriage 107, the casters of which 93 are guided by tracks 70-83. The transfer floor has linear induction motor (LIM) primary segments 60-67 disposed on the transfer floor; the carriage has a LIM secondary 128 thereon for propulsion. The carriages can be locked 91, 92 to the transfer floor for loading, and cabs can be locked 131 onto the carriages for stability when being moved. A controller (FIGS. 10-13) keeps track of the progress of the cabs from one elevator to another.

Shuttle elevators feeding local elevators

The arrival of each of four dual-hoistway shuttle elevators S1-S4 is synchronized with a selected one of ten local elevators L1-L10, or ten low rise elevators L1-L10 and ten high rise elevators H1-H10 at a transfer floor 26 by limiting 140 the speed of the shuttle, gradually 149, or rapidly 154, 155 decreasing the speed of the shuttle, delaying a local elevator by holding its doors open for extra time, or controlling the speed of a local elevator, by cancelling or avoiding hall calls. Empty local elevators may be allowed to remain at the high end of the building, or compelled to travel to the lobby if needed. Elevators approaching a transfer floor may be synchronized by adjusting the speed of one of them until the remaining distance is the same for both. Hall calls may be prevented, cancelled, or negatively biased in dependence upon the tardiness of a local elevator. Synchronization may be achieved between shuttle elevators and local elevators, between portions of multi-hoistway shuttle elevators, and amongst elevator combinations employing three or more hoistways.

Synchronizing elevator arrival at a level of a building

To prevent elevator rope stretch effects when a horizontally transferable elevator cab (18) is rolled onto and off of an elevator car frame (10), an elevator car/floor lock (31) includes a bolt (37) which extends across the interface between the car frame and the building and engages a strike (39). Jack screw (44) and solenoid (60) embodiments are shown. The bolt may extend from the car frame to the building (FIGS. 1-4) or from the building to the car frame (FIG. 5).

Growing community of inventors

Bristol, CT, United States of America

Frederick H Barker