CA2048552A1 - Elevator door lock - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A door operating unit for opening and closing elevator doors is provided with a linkage which moves simultaneously with the motion thereof to unlock the hoistway doors as the door operating unit starts to provide motive force, before opening one of the hoistway doors, and to lock the hoistway doors after the doors are closed.

Description

2~

Description Elevator Door Lock Technical Field This device relates to elevator doors, and more particularly to a lock for locking and unlocking either a car or hoistway door.

Background ~rt Center opening elevator doors systems consist of a pair of car doors and a pair of hois-tway doors. Each pair of doors opens and closes about a central point in an elevator doorway.
A door operating unit, disposed atop an elevator car, is attached to each car door via a four bar linkage. Each car door, in turn, is coupled by a pair of linked rollers to a vane attaching to the hoistway doors. Operation of the door operating unit opens and closes the door.
Simultaneous with the opening of the elevator doors, the hoistway doors must be unlocked. Typically, a door operating unit, such as a solenoid, operates a lever which forces the doors to unlock. Such an operation is cumbersome, must be coordinated closely vith the opening of the doors, and is expensivs to run, install and maintain.

Disclosure Of The Invention It is an object of the invention to provide a simple, reliable and easy to install mechanism to lock and unlock a hoistway or car door.
It is a further object of the invention to lock and unlock a hoistway or car door while minimizing energy consumption.

OT-1036 ~1-It is a further ob~ect of the invention to coordinate the opening and closing of elevator doors with the locking and unlocking of the elevator doors.
According to the invention, a door operating unit for opening and closing elevator doors is provided with a linkage which moves simultaneously with the motion of the door operating unit to unlock the hoistway or car doors as the door operating unit starts to provide motive force, before opening one of the car or hoistway doors, and to lock the hoistway or hoistway doors after the doors are closed.
The mechanism is comprised of a cam, which follows a cam surface attached to the unit, and a linkage which urges an actuator to engage and disengage a door locX.
By coupling the locking and unlocking of the doors with the unit which provides the force to open and close the doors, eneryy consumption is minimized and coordination between opening and closing the doors and locking and unlocking the doors is assured. The mechanism provides a simple, reIiable and easy to install Iinkage.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of a best mode embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

Brief Description Of The Drawings Figure 1 shows a plan view, partly in perspective, and partly in schematic form, of an elevator door system embodying the invPntion;
Figure 2 is a side view of a door unlatching mechanism of Figure 1: and Figure 3 is an expanded view of a portion of Figure 2.

2~ 2 Best Mode For Carrying Out The Invention Re~erring to Figure 1, an embodiment of the invention is shown. A bi~directional door operating unit 10 is mounted, by conventional means, atop an elevator car 12. The door operating unit has an output sheave 14 which is attached at its outer periphery 16 thereof to a pair of linkages 18. Each linkage attaches by means of a coupling device ~0 to a car door 22 and to a vane (not shown) which is connected to a hoistway door (not shown).
Referring now to Figures 1-3, a strike arm 100 is fixedly attached, by conventional means, to the output sheave 14 to rotate therewith. The strike arm controls the motion of a retiring cam 102 to lock and unlock the hoistway doors (not shown) as will be discussed infra.
The strike arm has a cam surface 104 for engaging a first roller 106 which is attached to a first end portion 108 of a lever 110. The lever rotates about an axle 112. A stop 114 limits the motion of the first roller to control the motion of the retiring cam 102 as will be discussed in~ra. A cable 116 attaches ko a second end portion 11~ of the lever via an adjustment screw 120. The cabla extends about an idler pulley 122 mounted atop the elevator car 12. The idler pulley directs the cable downwardly where it attaches to the retiring cam 102.
The retiring cam 102, as shown in Fig. 2, consists of a parallelogram having a vertical first leg 124, a vertical second leg 126, an uppar conn~cting leg 128 and a lower connecting leg 130. The cable attaches to the first leg 124 by conventional means.
As the strike arm 100 rotates in a clockwise direction, at the start of the door latching operation, the first roller 106 moves in a counterclockwise direction along the cam surface 104 causing the cable 2~485~

116 to lower the first leg 124 into the position shown in Figure 2. The ~irst leg engages a second roller 132 which rotates a locking tab 136 via a shaft 13~ to unlock a hoistway door 137 (see also Fig. 3). The second roller 132 is spring loaded to block the motion of the hoistway door should the second roller not be in contact with the first leg 12~.
As the doors close, the strike arm 100 engages the first roller 106 causing it to move in the clockwise direction thereby causing the cable 116 to raise the first leg (shown in phantom in Fig. 2) away from the second roller. The locking tab 136, as a result rotates to lock the hoistway door 137.
While the present invention has been illustrated and described with respect to a particularly preferred embodiment thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various other changes, omissions, and additions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. One of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that such a door lock may be utilized to lock either the inner or the outer doors of a door system and that such a system may be utilized in other than elevator door systems.

Claims (4)

1. Apparatus for locking and unlocking a door in an elevator door system having hoistway and car doors comprising:
an operating unit disposed upon said car for opening and closing said hoistway and car doors, said operating unit providing movement prior to opening said hoistway and car doors and after closing said hoistway and car doors, means attached to said door operating unit for utilizing said movement for unlocking said hoistway doors prior to opening said hoistway and car doors and for locking said hoistway door after closing said hoistway and car doors.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means comprises:
a first cam surface fixedly attached to said operating unit, a cam follower for following the motion of said cam surface, an actuator attaching to said cam follower, and a lock for locking and unlocking said hoistway doors, said lock locking and unlocking said hoistway door in response to motion of said actuator.

3. Apparatus for locking and unlocking a door in a door system having inner and outer doors comprising:
an operating unit fixed in relationship to one of said inner and outer doors for opening and closing said inner and outer doors, said operating unit providing movement prior to opening said inner and outer doors and after closing said inner and outer doors, means attached to said operating unit for utilizing said movement for unlocking an other of said inner and outer doors prior to opening said inner and outer doors and for locking said other of said inner and outer doors after closing said inner and outer doors.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means comprises:
a first cam surface fixedly attached to said operating unit, a cam follower for following the motion of said cam surface, an actuator attaching to said cam follower, and a lock for locking and unlocking said other of said inner and outer doors, said lock locking and unlocking said other of said inner and outer doors in response to motion of said actuator.--