US1824340A - Garage elevator - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1931. E. GEIGER GARAGE ELEVATOR Filed Nov. 3, 1927 WIT E SES A INVENTOR Ernst 6e. er

ATTORN EY Patented Sept. 22, 1931 UNETED STATES PATENT orrice 4 ERNST GEIGlBR, OF IRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY GARAGE ELEVATOR Application filed liovember 3, 1927., Serial No. 230,847.

It will be recalled that in'the prior patent I showed a 'ara e structure in which .an r

endless chain of storage cabins or elevators ran around a central space, which space pro- 0 vidcd receiving and delivery floors for cars to be stored in the cabins. In accordance with the patent, receiving and delivery floors were arranged at different levels- Cars on the receiving floors were driven into the cabins,

and the cabins transferred to the opposite side of the structure, so that the stored cars could be driven out on to the. opposite side of the delivery floor, whereby the necessity for backing the carsg'either into or out of the cabins was eliminated.

In accordance with the present invention I have devised an improved type of storage cabin or elevator for use in the endless cabin chains, which will permit the cars to be loaded in the cabins and unloaded therefrom without the attendance of an operator in the car.

The new type of cabin greatly facilitates handling of the cars insofar as loading and unloading them is concerned, permits the use of relatively smaller cabins or elevators, and consequently eliminates loss of time in the manipulation of the endless elevator chain.

Other objects'of the invention are to pro-- vide an elevator or cabin of the character noted above, of extremely simple, practical construction, which will be highly efficient in use.

Vith the above noted and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and]combinationsv and arrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth and pointed out.

in the claims. The invention may be more fully understood from the following descripl5 tion in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional View through the lower part of a skyscraper garage showing cabins constructed in accordance with the present invention in use.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through one of the ca bins and associated portion's'of the shaftway and receiving floor, the dotted lines indicating the position of one bridgeand its associated handle when the bridge has been swung downwardly.

Fig. 1, which is for the most part diagrammatic, shows a building 10 having shaftways 11 and 12 atopposite sides thereof.

Guided for movement in these shaftways are series of car-storage cabins or elevators 13, these cabins being connected together on an endless chain i l or other operating device. As the endless chain is driven, cabins pass from one shaftway to another through a shaftway-connccting space 15 in the basement of a; building, and through a similar space (not illustrated) near the building roof. The

space between the shaftways may be divided into a number of floors. Certain of the floors such as 16 and 1'? may be used. for offices or for purposes entirely foreign tothe garage business, but-preferably the lower floor 18 and the superjacent floor 19 constitute re-, ceiving and delivery floors respectively for automotive vehicles to be received and stored in the cabins of the garage. 7

The construction as thusfar describedis entirely 'conyentional, and disclosed in my prior patent above referred to; the present invention being more particularly concerned with the construction of the elevators of cal ins proper, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 2. This cabin is preferably, although not necessarily, of the two-deck type including side walls 20 connected by upper and lower cross decks 21 and 22 upon which the cars are tobe received. The cabin is preferably roofed if desired, but may include only a skeleton roof at 25 by steel beams, suspension wires, or

discharging ends of the elevators. Each floor adjacent its discharge end includes a tilting platform section 26 mounted on a rock shaft 27 and controlled by a hand lever 28 associated with a sector rack 29. The tilting platform sections 26 are long enough to slightly overlap the delivery floor 19 when the handles are swung to move them into the horizontal dotted line position of Fig. 2. In order to clear the building floors and permit free passage of the cabins up and down the vertical shaftways 11 and 12, the platform sections 26 must be swung upwardly to the full line position of Fig. 2.

These swinging platform sections 26 serve a dual function. In the first place, when a car such as the car 30 is rolled from the receiving floor into one of the cabins, it will roll gravitationally across the floor of the cabin until checked by the up-turned platform 26 which stops it. \Vhen a car. such as the car 81 in Fig. 1, is to be discharged on to the delivery floor 19. an attendant on the delivery fioor grasps the handle 28 and swings the platform 26 downwardly as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. In this position the platform serves as a bridge over which the discharged car gravitationally rolls on to the delivery floor.

By virtue of the construction described above, the cabins may be comparatively small, since there is no necessity for the driver remaining in the car during a loading and unloading operation. The cars may be manu ally rolled on to the elevators and will roll off under their own momentum when the bridges are lowered. Considerable time is also gained, particularly in unloading the cars. This time factor is of course important in a large plant where there is an almost continuous stream of cars awaiting storage and delivery.

Obviously, various changes and alterations might be made in the general form and arrangement of the parts described without departing from the invention. Hence I do not wish to limit myself to the details set forth, but shall consider myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall withinthe spirit and scopeof the appended claims.

I claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the class described having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardly toward the door opening, and a tiltable floor section adjacent the door opening normally blocking gravitational rolling movement of a car through the door.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the class described having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardly toward the door opening, and a tiltable floor section adjacent the door opening normally blocking gravitational rolling movement of a car through the door, said tiltable section being movable to a position where it constitutesa bridge over which acar may gravitationally roll from the elevator onto a floor with which the elevator is approximately registered.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the class described having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardly toward the door opening, and a tiltable floor section adjacent the door opening normally blocking gravitational rolling movement of a car through the door, said tiltable section being movable to a position where it constitutes a bridge over which a car may gravitationally roll from the elevator onto a floor with which the elevator is approximately registered, said tiltable section in the latter position projecting beyond the elevator proper.

4. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the class described having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardly toward the door opening, and means normally blocking gravitational egress of a car from the elevator, said means comprising a bridge adapted in one position to block movement of the car and in another position to serve as a gang-plank over which the car leaves the elevator.

Signed at New York, inthe county of New York and State of New York this 1st day of November A. D. 1927.

ERNST GEIGER.

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