US3587878A

US3587878A - Sectional component endless parking elevator

Info

Publication number: US3587878A
Application number: US809835A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lennart Strandberg; Maj Strandberg
Original assignee: AUTOLIFT GARAGE AB
Current assignee: AUTOLIFT GARAGE AB
Priority date: 1969-03-24
Filing date: 1969-03-24
Publication date: 1971-06-28
Anticipated expiration: 1988-06-28

Abstract

A PARKING ELEVATOR WHEREIN PLATFORMS FOR THE CARS ARE CIRCULATED ON AN ENDLESS BELT TO DIFFERENT HEIGHTS, THE HEIGHT OF THE ELEVATOR MAY BE INCREASED BY INTERMEDIATE SECTIONS LOCATED BETWEEN A BOTTOM SECTION AND A TOP SECTION. EACH OF THE ELEVATOR CAGES IS PROVIDED WITH A HORIZONTAL SHAFT WHICH LINK CHAINS CARRY OVER THE UPPER AND LOWER SPROCKETS. THE INTERMEDIATE SECTIONS HAVE POSTS OF A MULTIPLE OF THE LENGTH OF HALF THE LENGTH OF ONE OF THE CHAIN LINKS AND THE POSTS ARE ALSO PROVIDED WITH GUIDING TAPS FOR ENGAGING A FLANGE ON A SUCCEEDING SECTION OF THE ELEVATOR. THE SPROCKET WHEELS CARRY GUIDING ROLLERS AND THE GUIDING ROLLERS RUN IN GROOVES BETWEEN GUIDING RODS. THE GUIDING RODS ARE BENT TO ARCUATE SHAPE IN THE TOP AND BOTTOM SECTIONS OF THE STAND.

Description

United States Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Raymond B. Johnson AttorneyWenderoth, Lind and Ponack ABSTRACT: A parking elevator wherein platforms for the cars are circulated on an endless belt to different heights. The height of the elevator may be increased by intermediate sec tions located between a bottom section and a top section. Each of the elevator cages is provided with a horizontal shaft which link chains carry over the upper and lower sprockets. The intermediate sections have posts of a multiple of the length of half the length of one of the chain links and the posts are also provided with guiding taps for engaging a flange on a succeeding section of the elevator. The sprocket wheels carry guiding rollers and the guiding rollers run in grooves between guiding rods. The guiding rods are bent to arcuate shape in the top and bottom sections of the stand.

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I Ll llnvrl lv l ALLorneys SECTIONAL COMPONENT ENDLESS PARKING ELEVATOR This invention relates to a parking elevator and is a continuation-in-part of the disclosure of the application Ser. No. 51 l 838 filed Dec. 6, 1965 now abandoned.

An object of the invention is to improve a parking elevator which comprises a stand, elevator cages each having a horizontal shaft, link chains carrying said shafts, at least upper sprockets journaled on said stand over which said chains travel, the improvement comprising in said stand comprising a bottom section and an upper section having bearings for said upper sprockets, a plurality of flanged intermediate sections with elongated guiding members having a length of a multiple of half the length of saidchain link arms, said sections having interconnecting tapsfor engagement in adjacent upper and lower sections, each of said elevator cages being suspended in a shaft having an elongation at each end, said elongations carrying guiding means having a circumference surface in engagement with adjacent edges of said elongated guiding members.

A further object of the invention is to provide elongated guide members each comprising two rods or tubes of essentially circular cross section and guiding means comprising rollers having a circumferential groove corresponding to the shape of said rods or tubes.

The invention will now be described more in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are intended merely to elucidate the invention and not to limit the same. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the elevator, with certain por tions of certain parking cages broken away for clarity,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the elevator of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows on a somewhat larger scale a section approximately on the line III-III in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 shows in a view from above two parking cages, with some parts broken away and other shown semischematically,

FIG. 5 shows two sections of the elevator in perspective and in an exploded view, with certain cross braces omitted for clarity,

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the chain link arms for carrying the parking cages,

FIG. 7 shows the upper delinking sprocket, and

FIG. 8 shows on an enlarged scale the connection between two stand portions and a portion ofthe guiding means.

According to FIGS. 1 and 2 the posts 21 of the bottom section 21 of the stand are interconnected by means of a crossbar 28 and support bearings 22 for a lower shaft 23 having

sprockets

24,25. The bearings 22 are shaped with a device for stretching the chain of parking cages 29 and each one of these cages comprises a shaft 30, hinge irons 31 and a platform 32. The bottom section of the stand also comprises a crossbar 33 and a longitudinal beam 34. Above the bottom section 21 the stand comprises an arbitrary number of intermediate sections 16 and this number defines the height of the stand. Thus, the height of the stand depends on the chosen number of elevator cages 29 and thus on the number of parking places for motor vehicles 35. Each intermediate section 16 comprises light stand posts.

The spaced stand posts or members of sections 16 are inter connected, see FIG. 5, and are channel-shaped with two guiding tubes 36 provided at one end with vertical taps fitting into the corresponding tubes 36 of the section 16 therebelow. The tubes 36 form between them a guide path for rollers 38 mounted on the carrying shafts 30 of the cages 29.

The chain carrying the cages 29 comprises

link arms

17 and 18 and rollers 39 are arranged between the link arms on the ends of the shafts 30 for engagement with the

sprockets

24, 25 on the bottom section 21 of the stand and

sprockets

49,50 on the the top section 46 of said stand. The

link arms

17 and 18 have a length which is a multiple of half the length of the posts of the intermediate sections 16.

Each intermediate section also comprises

cross stays

42 and 43 in the shape ofe.g. stretching screws for rendering possible an adjustment and stabilization of the stand.

The upper portion 46 of the stand is shaped in the same way as the stand posts with tubes 36 forming a guide for the rollers 38. The upper portion 46 further has a crossbar 47 carrying bearings 48 for the

upper sprockets

49,50. The crossbar 47 also carries a motor 27 driving a sprocket 26 cooperating with a cogwheel 26' on or connected with the sprocket 49 and thus driving the chain for displacing the parking cages 29. Cross stays 43 also serve for strengthening the intermediate sections of the stand. An upper longitudinal stand. An upper longitudinal stay 51 keeps the upper portion 46 together.

By means of the construction described of the stand portions of the elevator according to the invention the various parts could be manufactured in series at low costs and simultaneously the mounting can be carried out quite simply without the use of external scaffolds.

A ladder 52 extends from the crossbar 28 up to the crossbar 47 of the upper stand portion 46. Climbing steps 53 are arranged on the bottom posts 21 so as not to interfere with the driving in and off of cars 35 to and from the cages 29. Thus, the whole stand could easily be reached for service.

A's shown in FIG. 8 the guide path in the posts 16 comprises two tubes 36. These tubes are between two sections of the stand interconnected by means of taps l5, compare also FIG. 3, such that there is obtained a continuous and very stable guide path for the rollers 38 on the cage shaft 30.

The mounting can be carried out very easily whereby first bottom section 21 is arranged on the ground and then a first intermediate section 16, e.g. by means of a crane is placed on top of the bottom section 21 such that the lower taps 15 of the first intermediate section 16 are brought into engagement with the guide tubes 36 of the bottom section 21. The

flanges

59, 60 on the posts of said sections are then bolted to each other and a first cage 29 is put with its rollers 38 in the guide path between the tubes 36 of the sections thus mounted. In the same way further sections 16, each stabilized by a transverse longitudinal connecting bar 41, are mounted on the top of each other as many as desired and the stand thus obtained is stabilized by means of the sets of cross stays 42, 43. As sections are placed on the top of each other, cages 29 are inserted into the guide path formed by the tubes 36 and interconnected by means of

link arms

17 and 18. Finally a top section 46 is mounted and the

link arms

17,18 are connected such that they form an endless chain along the guide path. Thus, there is formed such an endless chain at each side of the stand.

The invention provides a very stable parking elevator, which is easy to mount and to build up to any desired height and all intermediate sections 16 are of identical shape which highly facilitates the mounting and considerably lowers the manufacture costs and the costs for the stock-keeping.

However, the most eminent advantage in the present construction is to be seen in the safety obtained. It could happen that a

chain link arm

17 or 18 bursts and in most previous constructions of parking elevators such a burst would cause a falling down of all the parking cages, this causing great damage. In the present construction the rollers 38 are as shown in the drawings in good engagement with the guide path 36 and the link arms prevent any long displacement of the guide rollers 38 in event of a burst, as the link arms will be piled upon each other and the only possible displacement of the rollers 38 will be the one caused by the plays of the joints between the link arms.

It should be noted that the arrangement of the motor 27 at the top section 46, gives the advantage that the chain of cages 29 are lifted at their travel rather than being pushed as if the motor were arranged on the bottom section 21. This contributes to guide the movements of the mobile parts in a way which prevents a clamping or binding of the guiding rollers 38 in the guiding path 36.

The invention has been described in the aforegoing for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be restricted by this description or otherwise CIICEPI as defined in the appended claims. The link arms could be given many different shapes and do not'necessarily have to be straight and a possible shape of them is the U-shape illustrated in FIG. 2. Further,

the guide path for the rollers 38 must not necessarily comprise two circular tubes or rods 36 but could comprise side elements of other cross section as long as the guiding means on the parking cage shafts has a corresponding cross section for obtaining the necessary engagement for preventing a derailing at a burst of a chain link arm. At the bottom of the stand, there are arranged ramps 62 pivoted at 64 for the driving of vehicles onto and off the platforms 32.

We claim:

1. A vehicle parking elevator comprising in combination a stand; elevator cages each having vehicle support means and a horizontal support shaft; rigid elongated link arms forming chains carrying said shafts of said cages in series; at least upper sprockets journaled on said stand over which said chains travel; said stand comprising a bottom section and an upper section each having convex surfaced guiding means; said upper section having bearings for said upper sprockets; at least one flanged intermediate section of the stand, with said intermediate section having elongated guiding members with oppositely spaced side edges and which also have correspondingly convexed surfaces for alignment with those guiding members on said bottom and upper sections of the stand; each intermediate section being of an upright length of a multiple of one-half the length of one of the link arms; said guiding means being connected with the respective bottom and upper section guiding means; each intermediate section comprising two pairs of oppositely spaced flanged post members with means interconnecting each pair in substantially coplanar relationship, and further means interconnecting said two pairs of members in opposed relationship sufficiently apart to ac commodate said elevator parking cage therebetween, said guide members of each intermediate section being mounted on said post members; each of said sections having interconnected taps for relative cooperative engagement in adjacent upper and lower sections; each of said elevator cages including and being suspended on said shaft and having at each shaft end an extension carrying other guiding means of antifriction character for coaction with the first-mentioned guiding means, said other guiding means having a circumference or peripheral surface in antifriction engagement with the opposed side edges of said elongated guiding members.

2. A parking elevator as defined in claim 1 wherein the combination further comprises like elongated convex guiding members disposed in an endless circuit including two parallel rods of essentially circular cross section and the other guiding means on the cage shaft extension are in the shape of guiding antifriction rollers having a circumferential groove the radius of which complementally corresponds to the radius of the cross section of the guiding rods.

3. A parking elevator as defined in claim 2 further including a plurality of stacked intermediate sections between the lower and upper sections, and a pair of taps (15) on the lower ends of the guiding members (36) of each section for engagement in corresponding recesses in the ends of guiding members (36) of the next lower section.

4. A parking elevator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the combination furl-her comprises U-shaped rigid chain link arms (17,18) which, due to the rigidity and guiding means confining same provides safety means to preclude excessive drop in the event a link breaks.

5. A parking elevator as defined in claim 1 wherein the combination further comprises a driving motor (27) and means therewith arranged at the top section (46) adapted to cause the travel of the chain of parking cages (29) in an upward pulling direction to facilitate more friction free movement of the elevator cages in the guiding means by precluding the guiding rollers from otherwise having a tendency to bind against the rod guiding means.

6. A parking elevator as defined in claim 1 wherein the parking cages include a platform support, and further including a pivotal ramp means at the bottom of the elevator stand, and pivotally movable for disposition adjacent the vehicle support platform to facilitate driving onto and off of said parking cages when in predetermined loading and unloading COl'ldltions respectively.