Patent Application
20100115740
This invention generally relates to passenger conveyors. More particularly, this invention relates to making a handrail for a passenger conveyor.
Passenger conveyors have proven effective for carrying people between' different levels within a building or across an elongated pathway, for example. Typical arrangements include a handrail that rides over a balustrade and provides a surface for an individual to grab onto for increased confidence, better stability or both, for example. Typical handrail driving arrangements cause the handrail to move in unison with the steps or belt that carry passengers along the path of the conveyor. Typical handrail drive mechanisms rely upon pinching rollers that engage oppositely facing sides of the handrail to generate enough friction to drive the handrail in the desired direction.
There are several problems with conventional handrail driving arrangements. The pinching rollers engage the gripping surface side of the handrail, which tends to scratch and cause wear in the gripping surface. Another shortcoming is associated with the need for friction to cause appropriate movement of the handrail on the one hand and the need for a low friction cooperation between the handrail and the balustrade on the other hand.
There is a need for an alternative arrangement for driving handrails. One alternative is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,224, which includes a toothed belt for driving a handrail. While such arrangements can provide an enhancement to the driving of a handrail, they introduce other complexities.
For example, traditional handrails are manufactured by taking a length of handrail stock and splicing together two ends to form a belt or loop. Typical splicing techniques have relatively relaxed tolerances and do not require precise placement of the two ends relative to each other during the splicing operation. Most known arrangements include components to take up any slack in a handrail. With the use of a toothed driving wheel or belt and a correspondingly toothed handrail, further refinements must be made during manufacture. For example, it is necessary to establish an appropriate relationship between the teeth on the one end of the belt stock with the teeth on the other end of the belt stop to ensure a consistent tooth pitch even across the spliced portion. An interruption of the pitch along a splice may prevent appropriate cooperation with the drive mechanism eventually used to drive the handrail, for example.
This invention provides the ability to splice together ends of handrail stock to form a handrail that is capable of being driven by a profiled drive mechanism, for example.
An example device for joining ends of a passenger conveyor handrail stock includes a plurality of mounting members that each have a configuration for cooperating with a portion of a driven surface on the handrail. At least one of the mounting members is moveable relative to the other. A mover selectively moves at least one of the mounting members relative to the other to establish a desired distance between the mounting members that corresponds to a desired spacing between the portions of the driven surface of the handrail before the ends are spliced together.
In one example, the mounting members each have at least one tooth that is adapted to cooperate with at least one tooth on the driven surface of the handrail.
In one example, the mover is manually controlled to achieve the desired distance. One disclosed example includes a threaded member such that the mover can be infinitely adjustable within a range of movement of the mover. A disclosed example allows for adjusting the relative positions of the portions of the driven surface of the handrail in increments of 0.01 mm.
The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a currently preferred embodiment. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows.
The passenger conveyor 20 includes a handrail 30 that can be grasped by an individual to increase their confidence, comfort or stability, for example, as they are carried by the conveyor 20. As can be appreciated best from
One example process of making the handrail 30 includes molding an elongated piece of handrail stock that has the teeth 36 formed on the driven surface 34. Two ends of the stock are then spliced together to form a continuous loop that is useful with the example conveyor 20 of
At least one of the mounting members 54 or 56 is moveable relative to the base 52 for adjusting a spacing between the mounting members 54 and 56 and, therefore, a spacing between the ends 58 of the handrail stock. In the illustrated example, both of the mounting members are moveable relative to the base 52 and relative to each other.
One mover 62 is associated with the mounting member 54. The mover 62 includes a handle 64 that allows manual adjustment of the position of the mounting member 54 relative to the base 52. In this example, the mover 62 includes a threaded rod 66 and a correspondingly threaded follower 68. As the rod 66 is rotated, the follower 68 tends to move longitudinally along the rod (e.g., to the left or the right in the drawing). The follower 68 is appropriately associated with the mounting member 54 so that the mounting member 54 moves responsive to rotation of the threaded rod 66.
The illustrated example also includes a mover 72 having a handle 74, threaded rod 76 and follower 78 associated with the mounting member 56.
Using threaded rods in the movers 62 and 72 allows for an infinite amount of adjustment of the position of the mounting members relative to each other within a range of movement provided by the movers 62 ands 72. The example arrangement allows for adjusting the spacing between the ends 58 of the handrail stock to within a tolerance level of 0.05 mm. It is possible with such an arrangement, for example, to adjust the position of either end 58 relative to the other in increments of approximately 0.01 mm. Such an arrangement allows for precisely positioning the ends of the stock 58 relative to each other to achieve the desired end result of a handrail once the ends 58 are spliced together.
Because the example handrail 30 includes a toothed driven surface 34, it is necessary for an appropriate relationship between the teeth 36 associated with the ends 58 to be established to have a consistent pitch along the entire length of the handrail 30, for example. The example mounting members 54 and 56, as best appreciated from
In one example, the mold 60 includes at least one mold half having a toothed configuration for establishing one or more teeth 36 along the spliced portion of the handrail. In another example, the mold 60 does not establish any teeth 36 along the spliced portion. Depending on the particular drive device 40, it may not be necessary to have one or more teeth 36 along the spliced portion established by the mold 60 provided that the overall relationship between the teeth 36 is accurate enough to ensure proper cooperation with the drive mechanism 40.
In the illustrated example, each positioning member 80 has a plurality of teeth 82 with a pitch corresponding to a pitch of the teeth 36.
The preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart from the essence of this invention. The scope of legal protection given to this invention can only be determined by studying the following claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US05/27399 | 8/2/2005 | WO | 00 | 1/17/2008 |
