US3065826A - Entranceway apparatus and closure means for elevators - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 27, 1962 B. w. TUCKER, JR 3,065,826 ENTRANCEWAY APPARATUS AND cLosuRE MEANS FOR ELEvAToRs Filed July so, 1958 ATTORNEY Nov. 27, 1962 B. w. TUCKER, JR

ENTRANCEWAY APPARATUS AND CLOSURE MEANS FOR ELEVATORS Filed July 30, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L FM4 mmm EENJH/N W/l/TEHED TUCKER J' E INVENTOR fwd ATTORNEY BdSZ Patented Nov. 27, 1962 fire Filed July 30, 1953, Ser. No. 752,092 9 Claims. (Cl. IS7-52) The invention relates to elevator installations and particularly to the construction of elevator entranceways and their closure means.

In an elevator installation an entranceway is provided at each floor of a building where it is desired to provide access to the elevator hoistway. An elevator car travelling in such hoistway has a corresponding entranceway which, when the car stops at a floor landing, is positioned opposite tothe hoistway entranceway to provide access to the car interior.

It is common practice to equip each of these entranceways with a horizontally sliding door composed of metal panels, which panels usually enclose a hollow central core space, and to suspend the door from a horizontally positioned overhead track by a hanger bracket attached to the top of the door which bracket has two or more main rollers riding on the top surface of the track. Optionally, upthrust rollers may be provided with a slight running clearance to the lower surface of the track for the purpose of conlining the assembly to close contact with the track and to prevent tilting or canting of the door. The bottom of the door is slidably confined in a groove formed in the top surface of the doorway threshold plate.

A door motor is usually mounted on top of the elevator car and is connected by linkage to the car door. When the car stops at a iioor, the car and hoistway doors are interconnected by a mechanical coupling so that both doors may be opened and closed together by the power that is applied by the door motor to the car door. A door lock and an interlock switch are mounted on the hoistway door between the car door and hoistway door to insure that the hoistway door is fully closed and locked -before the car may leave the floor.

The general relationship of these prior art car and hoistway doors and their respective overhead tracks, main rollers and hanger brackets and of the door motor, its linkage, the coupling mechanism, lock and interlock switch are indicated in FIGURE l of the drawing wherein the car is shown as being stopped at a oor landing. The oppositely disposed car door 11 and hoistway door 12 are spaced a considerable distance apart to permit the mounting of the coupling mechanism, consisting of vane 37 and lock assembly 38, the mounting of the interlock switch and keeper assembly 39 and the connecting of the door motor linkage 3S to the car door. Any reduction in this space between the car and hoistway doors makes available additional space which may be used for either increasing the passenger carrying capacity of the elevator car or for income production space.

Traditionally, the doors and brackets have been drilled and tapped, where necessary, in the factory and have then been brought into final assembly at the installation site. Because the plane of the vertical face of the hanger bracket must be parallel to the plane of the vertical door surface and the door must be in horizontal alignment with the overhead track and doorway threshold plate if the door is to operate properly, and because the manner of manufacture and assembly has often made this difficult to achieve, it is not uncommon for the assembly and hanging of the sliding doors to consume a disproportionate amount of highly experienced tield erection effort.

It is therefore an object of this invention to minimize the space required for elevator hoistways without reducing the passenger carrying capacity of the elevator cars.

It-is another object of this invention to increase the passenger carrying capacity of each elevator car without increasing the required amount of hoistway space.

tIt is still another object of this invention to provide a sliding door assembly which is adaptable to erection with a minimum of effort by relatively unskilled personnel.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a sliding door and its hanger devices which are of simplified construction and which are assembled with the requisite degree of parallelism in the factory Where the tools and fixtures for achieving the desired results are superior t0 those commonly available at the installation site.

These and other desirable characteristics of the invention can best be understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which is made in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGURE l is a fragmentary cross-sectional schematic side elevational view illustrating a prior art construction .of the hoistway and car entranceways and their doors and associated apparatus with the elevator car standing at a -oorg FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary front elevational schematic view of the top portion of the prior art hoistway door and its suspending device shown in FIGURE 1 and taken approximately along line 2 2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View taken approximately along line 3 3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a somewhat simplified View in front elevation of the to-p portion of the car and hoistway entranceway structures embodying the invention and showing the elevator car positioned slightly above the floor landing;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the arrangement of the car and hoistway entranceway structure of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view in side elevation taken approximately along line 6-6 of FIGURE 4 but with the car standing at a oor landing; and

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View taken approximately along line 7-7 of FIGURE 6.

Before considering the improved arrangement of this invention, it may be best to consider the previously known type of apparatus and to understand its shortcomings.

The manner in which the car and hoistway entranceway structures, their respective hollow metal doors and associated apparatus are fashioned may be seen from FIGURES l to 3. As is there indicated, with the car standing at a floor, the car door l1 is spaced apart and oppositely disposed from the hoistway door i2. Each door is of similar construction and consists of a metal front panel I4 (FIGURE 3) and a metal back panel I5, the extreme vertical edges of which are bent into flange shapes I6 for mating engagements midway between the panels. When welded into a butting relation, these flange sections form the vertical side surfaces of the door. Welded between the front and back panels along their upper extremities is a U-shaped channel member 18 having a horizontal web 18a and upwardly extending flanges ISb and 18e. Immediately beneath the horizontal web 18a and attached to its bottom surface, as by welding, is a reinforcing bar 19 for distributing the weight load and reinforcing the web portion. This bar I9 as well as web 18a are drilled and tapped to receive bolts 2t) by which the hanger bracket 22 is attached to the top surface of the door. Lock washers 21 secure bolts 2i) in position. Filler bar 23 is welded within the U-shaped channel member I3 to provide a bearing surface for the under side of hanger bracket 22. Shims 25 are positioned between hanger bracket 22 and ller bar 23 to align properly the door with the overhead track and bottom door guide. Each door is suspended from its overhead track 24 by means of a pair of main rollers 27 which engage the top surface of track 24 and which are rotatably mounted on the upper portion of hanger bracket 22 by means of studs 28. A pair of upthrust rollers 29 for each door are also rotatably mounted on hanger bracket 22 by means of studs 3) in position to engage the bottom surface of overhead track 24 directly beneath main rollers 27. The car door overhead track 24 and the hoistway door overhead track 24 are secured to the elevator cab structure generally designated 31 and to the building superstructure generally designated 32, respectively. The bottom of each door is slidably confined in a groove formed in the top surface of its doorway threshold plate 34.

Positioned between the car door and hoistway door are mechanisms which serve to couple the doors together at a floor landing, lock the hoistway door in its fully closed position and permit energization of the elevator car operating circuits only when the hoistway doors are fully closed and locked. These mechanisms are shown in FIGURE 1 and comprise a vertically extending vane 37, a hoistway door lock assembly, generally designated 38 and an interlock switch and keeper assembly, generally designated 39. The aforementioned mechanisms are more fully illustrated and described in the patent to C. Norton et al. #1,950,150, issued March 6, 1934. The vane 37 is secured to bracket 40 which is in turn .fastened to the front `face of car door 11. Vane 37 cooperates with the hoistway door lock assembly 38 which assembly consists of two bell cranks 42 and `43 pivotably mounted on bracket 44 which in turn is secured to hoistway door 12. Rotatably secured to the end of each of the two downwardly extending arms of bell cranks 42 and 43 are rollers 46 and 47, respectively, for engaging vane 37 at opposite sides thereof. The interlock switch and keeper assembly 39 is secured to the hoistway structure 32. The upper arm of bell crank 42 extends horizontally and is so congurated at its end as to form a latch hook 45 to engage the keeper (not shown) and -actuate the interlock switch (not shown).

Also positioned between the doors is door motor linkage 35 having one end secured to the door motor drive shaft (not shown) and the other end pivotally secured to the top of hanger bracket 22 of the car door to open and close the car door. With the doors in their closed position and the car standing at a landing, vane 37 is in a vertical plane intermediate rollers 46 and 47. The first motion of the car door, as it is moved from its closed position toward its open position by the door motor linkage 35, engages roller l46 which causes rotation of bell crank 42 to unlatch the hoistway door latch 45 and actuate interlock switch 39 interrupting the elevator car operating circuits. As the car door moves toward its open position, bell crank 43 rotates causing vane 37 to be gripped between rollers 46 and 47 to propel the hoistway door in an opening direction with the car door.

During the door closing operation, as the car door moves toward its closed position, vane 37, being gripped by rollers 46 and 47, propels the hatchway door toward its closed position and in its final movement, rotates bell crank 42 to lock the hoistway door and actuate interlock switch 39, completing the elevator car operating circuits to enable the car to depart from the floor landing.

Such an arrangement as the prior art entranceway structure and closure means just described necessitates leaving a considerable space between the hoistway and car doors in order to mount the Various aforementioned mechanisms and results in the loss of building space .at each iioor landing which space could otherwise be utilized to increase the passenger carrying capacity of the elevator car or for greater income production. The proportion of this space loss to the total building space available increases in tall but relatively narrow buildings, which is undesirable. An awareness of the magnitude of this space loss may be had by considering that the width of the average passenger elevator hoistway is 99 inches and the spacing between doors is usually 5.25 inches, for a total of 519.75 square inches or 3.63 square feet of unavailable floor space per car per floor landing.

Besides this space loss, such an arrangement also necessitates the expenditure of considerable effort by skilled personnel to install the doors with the required degree of parallelism. For example, the hanger bracket 22, channel member 18, ller bar 23 and reinforcing bar 19 must be correctly drilled and tapped for bolting the hanger bracket 22 to the top of the door in vertical alignment with the door face. Incorrect positioning of the hanger bracket ...2 relative to the door 11 may result in one vertical door edge protruding in a horizontal direction more than the other door edge causing increased friction between the door and the doorway threshold plate 34. In many instances, the bolts 20 have to be adjusted and shims 25 used in order to install the door at the correct height and in horizontal alignment with overhead track 24 and doorway threshold plate 34.

The present invention provides improved entranceway and closure apparatus which facilitates the installation of the doors in the field by relatively unskilled personnel and which minimizes the space loss between the doors. The preferred embodiment of such an improved apparatus is shown in FIGURES 4 to 7 wherein center opening car and hoistway doors are shown in their fully closed position.

Referring to FIGURE 4, elevator car 50 which is illustrated in a position slightly above a floor landing, is provided with a pair of center opening car doors 51 and 52. Elevator car 50 is provided with a framework 53 above the elevator cab and suitably secured to the car frame. Upon framework 53 is mounted an engine assembly comprising an electric motor and reduction gearing, generally designated 54. Engine assembly 54 operates to open and close car doors 51 and 52 and hoistway doors 55 and 56. Car doors 51 and 52 are supported on track 57 by main rollers 58. Hoistway doors 55 and 56 are similarly supported on track 61 by main rollers 58. Motion of car door 51 is transmitted to car door 52 by means of wire cord 63 which passes over pulleys 64 and 65 and is securely fastened to the respective doors at points 66 and 67. Hence as car door 51 moves towards the left, car door 52 moves towards the right. Hoistway doors 55 and S6 are similarly connected for movement in synchronization by means of wire cord 70 which passes over pulleys 71 and 72 and is securely fastened to the respective doors at points 68 and 69.

The construction of the doors may be seen by referring to FIGURE 6 wherein car door 51 and hoistway door 55 are shown in side elevation. Each door is of similar construction and consists of a metal front panel 74 and a metal back panel 75 each panel having flanges 76 formed along its extreme vertical side edge for mating engagement midway between the panels to form the body portion of the door. When welded into butted relationship, these ange sections form the vertical side edge surfaces of the door. The top or supporting portion of each door consists of a metal plate 79 having substantially a J cross-sectional shape, the lower curved portion of which is welded between the front and back panels 74 and 75 to form the top edge surface of the door. The upper vertical portion of plate 79 is substantially in the plane of back panel 75 and extends upwardly above the top surface of the overhead track. Plate 7 9 extends horizontally almost the width of the door.

Main rollers 58 are adjustably secured to the top portions 79 of the doors by means of eccentric studs 81. A pair of upthrust rollers 77 are also adjustably secured to the top portion 79 of each door by means of eccentric studs 78 and are adjusted for a slight running clearance with the bottom surface of the track to prevent canting of the door. The bottom of each door is slidably confined in a groove formed in the top surface of its respective doorway threshold plate 82.

Coupling mechanism is provided for coupling car door 51 to hoistway door 5S, as the car approaches a floor landing at which a stop is to be made, so that the hoistway doors 55 and 56 may be operated in unison with car doors 51 and 52 by engine 54. This coupling mechanism consists of members mounted on the car and hoistway doors adapted for mating engagement with each other, the driving member being in the form of two spaced parallel, vertically extending vanes or cams 83 and 84 mounted on car door 51 in position to engage rollably a driven member in the form of two rollers 86 and 87 mounted on bell crank 89 which in turn is pivotally mounted on hoistway door 55. The vanes S3 and 84 each consist of a vertically disposed angle member having one iiange 90 extending in a plane parallel to the car door front face 74 and the other iiange 91 projecting towards the hoistway door 55 at right angles to the car door front face 74. Vanes 83 and 84tare connected together by means of two bell cranks 93 and 94 which are ,rotatably attached to the top portion 79 of car door 51. One arm of each bell crank 93 and 94 is pivotally connected to flange 90 of vane 83 and the other arm is pivotally connected to iiange 90 of vane 84 thereby enabling the vanes to be translated towards each other. Engine 54 is connected to one end of door operating arm 97 by means of linkage 98. The other end of door operating arm 97 is pivotally secured to auge 90 of vane 84. Varies S3 and 84 are biased toward each other by spring 99 which is attached to flange 90 of vane 84 and the top portion 79 of car door 51. Limit stop 101 secured to car door 51 limits the movement of the vanes. Latching lever 102 is spring biased by spring 103 to latch the vanes 83 and 84 loosely in their engaged position by rotating clockwise into locked position on surface 105 of bell crank 93. Stop 104 secured to the car superstructure 53 rotates latching lever 102 counterclockwise into unlatched position against the spring action as the doors approach their fully closed position permitting vanes 83 and 84 to move apart. With the doors in their fully closed position, door motor operating arm 97 maintains vanes 83 and S4 spread apart with enough clearance on either side of rollers 36 and S7 to enable the vanes to clear the rollers on the hoistway doors as the car passes by successive oors. Bell crank S9 is pivotally secured to the top portion 79 of hoistway door 55 by means of pivot 106 upon which is rotatably secured roller 86. Roller 87 is rotatably secured at the end of the downwardly extending arm of bell crank 89. The end of the horizontally extending arm of bell crank 89 is formed into a latch hook 107' (FGURE 7) and has a bridging contact 109 thereon. The end of this arm extends through an aperture formed in the housing of the interlock switch and keeper, generally designated 110. The interlock switch and keeper is secured to track 61. Bell crank 09 is biased by means of spring 111 in its latched position which position is illustrated by the broken lines in FIGURE 7. Keeper 113 formed in the interlock switch and keeper housing cooperates with latch hook 107 to lock the hoistway doors in their fully closed position. Bridging contacts 109 engage contacts 114 of the interlock switch to complete a circuit for the elevator car operating circuits for permitting the car to depart from the floor landing when the hoistway doors 56 and 55 are fully closed.

summarizing the operation of the mechanisms, as engine 54 (FIGURE 4) rotates, door motor operating arm 97 moves toward the left causing Vane 84 to rotate bell cranks 93 and 94 clockwise about their pivots moving vanes 83 and 84 toward each other. Flange 91 of vane 84 engages roller 87 causing bell crank 89 also to rotate clockwise about its pivot unlatching the door and disabling the elevator car operating circuits to prevent the elevator car from departing from the floor landing while the hoistway doors are open. As vanes S3 and 84 continue to move toward each other, flange 91 of vane 84 engages roller 86 coupling the hoistway doors to the car doors and moving roller 87 into vertical alignment with roller 86, as illustrated in FIGURE 7. As the vanes are translated closer to each other, they grasp rollers 86 and 87. As the car doors move toward their open position, latching lever 102 moves away from its stop 104 rotating clockwise due to the force exerted by spring 103 and moving along surface 105 on bell crank 93 to latch vanes 83 and 84 in their gripping position. Spring 99 assists in maintaining vanes S3 and 84- in their gripping position and prevents chattering of the vanes. The force exerted by springs 99 and 103 on vanes 33 and 84 is of a magnitude which permits rolling movement of rollers and 07 along the surfaces of vane flanges 91. This permits the doors to be opened, as the car approaches a iioor at which it will stop, in advance of its actually coming to a stop at that floor. Latching lever 102 maintains the vanes in gripping engagement With the rollers until the doors return to their fully closed position. As the doors approach their fully closed position, latching lever 102 strikes its stop 104` and rotates counterclockwise to unlatch the vanes. Door motor operating arm 97 separates vanes 83 and 345 against the force exerted by spring 99 rotating bell cranks 93 and 94 counterclockwise about their pivots until Vane 84 strikes limit stop 101. As the vanes separate, bell crank 89 is rotated counterelockwise about its pivot under the force of spring 111 into latched position. As seen in FGURE 7, with bell crank 39 in its broken line position, latch hook 107 engages keeper 113 and bridging contacts 109 engage interlock switch contacts 114 to lock the'hoistway doors in their fully closed position and complete the elevator car operating circuits.

It may be noted that the pivot points of bell cranks 93 and 94 where they are connected to the anges 90 of vanes 83 and 84 may be positioned so that the hoistway doors 55 and 56 may be made to move slightly in advance of the car doors 51 and 52 or may be made to lag the car doors by a predetermined distance during the opening and closing operation. Such a leading or lagging operation of the hoistway doors in relation to the car doors is desirable in entranceways equipped With proximity type protective mechanism which detects the presence of a person in the closing path of the doors and which are operable to safeguard that person from being struck by a closing door. In such installations, it is sometimes necessary to have the hoistway doors lag the car doors to avoid having the hoistway door reduce the eifectiveness of the safety device. By adjusting the position of the aforementioned bell crank pivot points, flange 91 of vane 84 can be made to engage roller 86 and move the hoistway doors toward their open position before the car doors start to move. Likewise flange 91 of vane 83 can be made to engage roller 86 before flange 91 of vane 84 engages roller 86. Thus, as bell cranks 93 and' 94 are rotated by door motor operating arm 97, the force exerted by arm 97 is transmitted through the vanes to open the car doors in advance of the hoistway doors. As the car doors 51 and S2 are thus moved toward their open position, flange 91 of vane 84 will then engage roller S7 rotating bell crank 89 to unlatch the hoistway doors 55 and 56. As bell crank S9 rotates clockwise, flange 91 of vane 34 engages roller 86 and translates the hoistway doors toward their open position at a predetermined distance behind the car doors. This leading or lagging relationship of the car and hoistway doors is maintained in their closing movements.

Unlike the prior art apparatus previously described, the apparatus of the present invention minimizes installation effort and also minimizes the amount of hoistway space which is unavailable either to increase the passenger carrying capacity of the elevator cars in a building orto increase the amount of income producing floor space available.

The doors of the subject invention may be assembled at the factory where the tools and iixtures are superior to those commonly available at the installation site. Also, the main rollers S8, upthrust rollers 77 and their respective eccentric studs 81 and 78 may be mounted on each door at the factory and the entire assembly shipped as a unit to the installation site. At the installation site, all that need be done by an installer to install each door in the elevator entranceway is to turn eccentric studs Si. and 78 to increase the vertical distance 'between main rollers S and upthrust rollers 77 suiciently to suspend the door from its respective overhead track 57 or 61 and then simply turn the eccentric studs until the door is in horizontal alignment with the overhead track and doorway threshold plate 82. This door assembly also dispenses with the necessity of using a considerable amount of hardware to install a door, namely, the apparatus shown in the prior art device of FIGURE 3 which apparatus consists of: shims 25, bolts 20, lock washer 21, reenforcing bar 19, iiller bar 2,3, U-shaped channel member 18 and hanger bracket 22.

The subject invention minimizes the space between the car door front face 74 and the hoistway door front face 74, reducing that space from 5.25 inches, previously given for the prior art arrangement, to 1.75 inches for a saving of 3.5 inches between doors or 2.4 square feet of floor space for each car and for each oor in a building equipped with passenger elevators of average size. This new arrangement makes only l.2 square feet of floor space unavailable in each hoistway at each floor of such a building; whereas the prior art arrangement left 3.63 square feet unavailable. In relatively tall buildings equipped with several elevators, this space saving is considerable. This space may be used to increase the passenger carrying capacity of the elevators and in borderline cases may, all other things remaining equal, result in the elimination of one elevator car and hoistway while still providing adequate elevator service. If it is not desired to increase the passenger carrying capacity of the elevator cars, this savings in hoistway space may be utilized to increase the oor space which is available for income production.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown on the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. An elevator closure installation in which the elevator car door and the hoistway door are moved by a door operating mechanism mounted atop the elevator car simultaneously in a horizontal direction on supporting tracks mounted on the car and on the hoistway wall respectively, a supporting member for each of said doors attached to the top of the door for which it is provided, a pair of main rollers mounted on each of said supporting members and adapted to engage the supporting track for that door for rolling movement thereon, coupling means for co-operatively coupling said doors for simultaneous movement by said door operating mechanism, said coupling means including two spaced vertically extending vanes secured to said car door supporting member and a co-operating roller secured to said hoistway door supporting member, said vanes being disposed in overlapping relationship with 4said co-operating roller in the space defined by the planes of the adjacent door faces and only a portion of said vanes extending between the two doors when the doors are coupled, and a door -operating arm operatively connected on one end to said door operating mechanism and on the other end pivotally connected to one of said vanes `for moving said car door and in turn by means of said couplingV means said hoistway door simultaneously.

2. In combination, an elevator car serving a landing, a car door and means mounting said car door on said car for sliding horizontal movement thereon, a hoistway door and means mounting said hoistway door at said landing for sliding horizontal movement parallel to the movement of said car door, door operating mechanism mounted on said car and connected operatively to said car door, latching mechanism mounted above the top of said hoistway door and operative to latch said hoistway door in its closed position, and means operatively effective in response to actuation of said door operating mechanism and mounted on said car door and hoistway door for cooperatively coupling said doors for simultaneous movement by said door operating mechanism, said last mentioned means acting to unlatch said hoistway door latching mechanism when so responsive, said last mentioned means including movable members in overlapping engagement and adapted for relative vertical motion therebetween when in contact, only said movable members of said last mentioned means extending beyond the planes of adjacent surfaces of said car and hoistway doors.

3. In combination, an elevator car serving a landing, a car door consisting of a body portion and a supporting portion attached to the top of said body portion, means mounting said car door on a supporting track mounted on said car for horizontal movement thereon, a hoistway door consisting of a body portion and a supporting portion attached to the top of said body portion means mounting said hoistway door on a supporting track at said landing for horizontal movement parallel to the movement of said car door, a reversible door motor mounted on top of said car, a door operating arm driven by said motor, said arm `being connected operatively to said car door, latching mechanism axed to said hoistway door supporting portion and its supporting track at a level above the top of said hoistway door and operative to latch said door in its closed position, and coupling means operatively effective in response to actuation of said operating arm and mounted on said car door and hoistway door supporting portions for cooperatively coupling said hoistway door to said car door for simultaneous movement by said motor and for unlatching said latching mechanism when so responsive, said coupling means including a gripping member and a gripped member in overlapping relationship, said members being adapted for vertical motion relative to each other when the doors are coupled while maintaining said doors so coupled and only said gripping and gripped members protruding between the parallel planes of the adjacent faces of said car door and hoistway door.

4. In combination, an elevator car serving a landing, a car door consisting of a body portion and a supporting portion secured to the top of said body portion, means mounting said car door on an overhead track on said car for sliding horizontal movement thereon, a hoistway door consisting of a body portion and a supporting portion secured to the top of said body portion, means mounting said hoistway door on an overhead track at said landing for sliding horizontal movement parallel to the movement of said car door, a reversible electric door motor mounted on said car, means for cooperatively coupling said hoistway door to said car door for simultaneous movement therewith, said coupling means including a driving member mounted on said car door supporting portion in overlapping engagement with a driven member mounted on said hoistway door supporting portion, said members being adapted for vertical movement relative to each other when in contact and only said members of said coupling means extending beyond the vertical planes of adjacent surfaces of said car and hoistway doors, an operating arm operatively connected to said driving member and driven by said door motor to actuate said coupling means and in turn operate said doors, and latching mechanism a portion of which is mounted on said hoistway `door supporting portion and a second portion of which is mounted on said .hoistway door overhead track for latching said hoistway door in its closed position, said latching mechanism being operatively responsive to actuation of said coupling means by said operating arm to unlatch said hoistway door.

5. In an elevator installation in which an elevator car traveling in an elevator hoistway serves a floor landing, in combination, a horizontally sliding car door having a vertically extending portion attached to its top and a front face disposed in a vertical plane displaced from the plane of said supporting portion toward and facing said floor landing, a horizontally sliding hoistway door having a vertically extending supporting portion attached to its top and a front face displaced from the plane of said hoistway door supporting portion toward and adjacent to said car door front face, car door suspending means supporting and guiding said car door during door operation, said car door suspending means being positioned on the car side of said car door supporting portion, hoistway door suspending means supporting and guiding said hoistway door during door operation, said hoistway door suspending means being positioned on the floor landing side of said hoistway door supporting portion, door operating means propelling said car door during door operation, said operating means being positioned on `the car side of said car door front face, and coupling means cooperatively connecting said car door to said hoistway door for simultaneous movement by said operating means as said car approaches said oor landing and said operating means is actuated, said coupling means including two bell cranks pivotally secured to said car door supporting portion, two spaced vertically disposed vanes, one of said vanes being p-ivotally secured to one arm of each of said bell cranks and the other of said vanes being pivotally secured to the other arm of said bell cranks for movement relative to each other and to said car door, and a third bell crank pivotally secured to said hoistway door supporting portion, said third bell crank having two rollers secured thereon and disposed between said vanes, only a portion of said vanes extending between said adjacent car door and hoistway door front faces when said doors are coupled.

6. A device as claimed in claim wherein each sliding door comprises front and back panels of metal in which the top surface of said door is composed of a metal plate having substantially a J cross-sectional shape, the lower curved portion of which is fastened between said front and back panels and the plane of the upper vertical portion of which is in substantially the plane of said back panel.

7. In combination, an elevator car serving a floor landing, a horizontally sliding car door having a vertically extending supporting portion attached to its top surface and a front face disposed in a vertical plane displaced from the plane of said supporting portion toward and facing said floor landing, car door suspending means supporting and guiding said car door during door operation, said car door suspending means being positioned on the car side of said car door supporting portion, a horizontally sliding hoistway door having a vertically extending supporting portion attached to its top surface and a front face displaced from the plane of said hoistway supporting portion to a plane adjacent and parallel to said car door front face, hoistway door suspending means supporting and guiding said hoistway door during door operation, `said suspending means including an overhead track, said hoistway door suspending means being positioned on the landing side of said hoistway door supporting portion, door operating means for propelling said car door during door operation, said -operating means being positioned on the car side of said car door front face, coupling means connecting said car door to said hoistway door for engagement therewith as said elevator car approaches said oor landing, said coupling means including a driving member mounted on said car door supporting portion and a driven member mounted on said hoistway door supporting portion, only said driving and driven members of said coupling means being positioned between the planes of said front faces of said car and hoistway doors for engagement with each other for transmitting the propelling force of said operating means to said hoistway door, and a hoistway door lock and interlock assembly, a portion of which is mounted on said overhead track on the landing side of said hoistway door front face for co-operation with a second portion connected to said driven member, said assembly being actuated to its unlocked condition by said coupling means as said car door opens and being returned to its locked condition by 'said coupling means as said car door closes.

8. In an elevator system in which the elevator car door and each hoistway landing door are moved horizontally on individual supporting tracks stationarily mounted at a level higher than the top of the respective door and each door includes a body portion and a top supporting portion, means for mounting said doors in close coupled configuration and for moving them simultaneously by power applied from a door operating engine atop the elevator car, said means comprising, door supporting rollers rotatably attached to said top supporting section of each door, each of said rollers resting on its respective supporting track in a vertical plane exterior to the plan of the door, a pair of vertically positioned vanes movably connected to each other for translation toward and away from each other, said vanes being movably attached to the top supporting portion of said car door at a point above the body portion of said door, an operative linkage between said door engine and one of Said vanes whereby said vanes are moved toward each other when door opening pressure is exerted by said engine, latching means individual to and attached to each hoistway door and its stationary supporting structure at a point above and within the thickness confines of the body of said hoistway door, and a pair of movable rollers pivotally mounted on the top supporting portion of each hoistway door in operative connection with its associated latching means, each pair of said rollers extending beyond the face of the hoistway door for which that pair is provided in a direction toward said car door to an extent sufcient for overlapping engagement with the movable vanes on said car door in the space above and between the contiguous surfaces of the car and hoistway doors, said movable vanes when in such overlapping position and actuated by said engine in their closing motion toward each other iirst acting to move the companion rollers to unlatch the hoistway door and then grasp said rollers to move the hoistway door in unison with the car door.

9. In an elevator system in which there is provided at each hoistway landing a horizontally movable door suspended from an overhead track iixedly mounted to the building structure on the landing side of the respective hoistway door and in which the elevator car is provided with a horizontally movable door supported on an overhead track axed to the car structure on the car side of said car door, means for mounting said doors in close passing proximity and for selectively moving a hoistway door and said car door simultaneously by power applied from a door operating engine on top of the elevator car, said means comprising, door supporting rollers ailxed to the top supporting portion of each door and projecting beyond the contines of said door in a direction toward the supporting structure for said door, each of said rollers resting on its supporting track in a vertical plane exterior to the plane of the door, latching mechanism individual to each hoistway door attached to that door and its stationary supporting structure at a point above and within the thickness contines of the body of said door, a pair of movable rollers mounted on said door in the space above the body of said door and in operative connection with its latching mechanism, said movable rollers extending in the direction toward said car door and beyond the thickness confines of said hoistway door, said car door having mounted on its top supporting portion a pair of vanes in parallel vertical position and adapted for movement toward and away from each other, an operating arm connecting one of said vanes and said door engine whereby said vanes are moved toward each other when opening pressure is exerted by said engine, said vanes extending toward said hoistway doors and beyond the thickness contines of the car door, said vanes and said movable rollers on each of said hoistway doors being so proportioned that they are in overlapping position with the movable rollers intermediate said vanes when the car door is at a level opposite one of said hoistway doors, said movable vanes when in such overlapping position and when actuated by said engine rst operating to move the hoistway door rollers to unlatch that door and then grasp said rollers to move them and the associated hoistway door in unison with movement of said vanes and car door.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Winter July 20, Werner Sept. 6, Boedtcher May 30, McCormick Nov. 28, Tamsitt June 4, Trautvetter Mar. 14, DiGiovanni Dec. 9, Galanty Oct. 11, McCormick Dec. 17, Bruns et al. Sept. 2, Borden Nov. 11, OGrady Aug. 11,

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