Abstract: A caliper brake set engages a disk on the machine shaft or drive sheave to hold the elevator car in place at a landing. The brake set is biased by one or a pair of springs to a "brake-on" condition, and a solenoid assembly is provided to hold the brake set in a "brake off" condition when power is supplied to the solenoid. Camming levers are used in conjunction with the solenoid to provide a mechanical advantage which allows use of smaller solenoids. The brake shoes are spring biased for improved operation on the disk.

Abstract: A polyurethane coated nylon sheet is folded medially to form the pressure cuff. The urethane coated surface forms the inner surface of the inflation chamber of the cuff. A hook and loop fastener assembly for securing the cuff about the patient's limb is secured to the cuff. The hook and loop sheets are both provided with fusable polymer back coatings. The hook and loop sheets are fused to the polyurethane coated surfaces on the cuff. The hooks and loops are accessible on opposite sides of the cuff. An inflation fitting is also fused to the interior of the pressure chamber and projects through an opening in the cuff.

Abstract: A mechanical sensor is placed beside the return run of the steps on an escalator or moving walk, The sensor is biased toward the steps so as to bear against each step passing thereby. If a step in the series is missing from its normal position, the sensor will move in the direction of the step run and will open a switch in the escalator power circuit thereby shutting off power to the escalator. The switch can only be manually reset by a mechanic from a location which is closed off to the public.

Abstract: In a curved escalator which has a return step run which is below the passenger-bearing run, the reversal step chain sprockets are of different diameters, the outer step chain sprockets being larger than the inner step chain sprockets. Since the steps are all tied together by the inner and outer step chains, the two chains must engage the inner and outer reversal sprocket teeth as the steps reverse their direction of movement. This results in a tipping of the step axles and steps during the turnaround, whereby a problem relating to engagement between the step chain rollers attached to the step axles and the sprocket teeth can occur. In order to maximize area contact between the tipped step chain rollers and the horizontal sprocket teeth, the step chain rollers which engage the sprocket teeth are formed with an external base-to-base truncated conical profile. This ensures that 50% of the surface of each profile roller will fully engage the sprocket teeth on the reversal sprockets.

Abstract: A grip device to guide and support a traveling cable on a construction elevator assembly includes an outer metal sleeve having an inner polyvinylchloride liner. The sleeve is formed in two mating parts which telescopingly receive the traveling cable. A plurality of tightening clamps are mounted on the sleeve and bear against one of the liner parts. The liner can thus be tightened onto or loosened from the traveling cable. The construction elevator assembly includes a machine room assembly which operates an elevator for ferrying men and equipment throughout the building during its construction. The machine room is periodically craned upwardly in the building as the latter continues to rise in height. The traveling or power cable must be supported in the hoistway and must be lengthened each time the machine room is lifted, and the sleeve of this invention provides good support for the cable, and can be loosened from the cable each time the latter is lengthened during a jump.

Abstract: Centrifuged material layer measurements are made in an evacuated glass or clear plastic tube which contains a float. When possibly contaminated materials, such as blood, are being tested the use of the evacuated tube allows the measurements to be made without the technician being exposed to the blood. The tubes are large enough to hold approximately one ml of blood, and are filled with an inert gas at low pressure. Dimensional tolerances relative to those of a capillary tube are relaxed for the tube and float due to the larger sample capacity. The cell bands are stabilized by a layer of a flowable material which settles onto the plasma layer during centrifugation and forms a pellicle thereon.

Abstract: The mirror assembly uses a reflective coating as a heating element for preventing fog formation on a mirror exposed to a humid environment such as is found in a bathroom. As compared to other typically reflective mirror coatings, the coating used in this invention has a relatively high resistance. The coating may be split into separate conductive elements with one or more scribe lines in order to control the length of the conductive path from inlet bus to outlet bus. The buses are made from an ultra thin foil tape which can be adhered to the reflective coating and which is solderable for securement of power lines thereto. The bus tape possesses both in plane and through plane conductive characteristics and can simply be cut to any length desired for the mirror sizes being produced.

Abstract: The elevator car is suspended on cables which are entrained on a pulley, and which have ends distal of the car anchored to the hoistway floor. The pulley is journaled on an upper end of a lift tube which is telescoped into a cylindrical housing anchored to the hoistway walls. A ball screw drive is mounted inside of the lift tube and is rotated therein by a reversible DC motor housed in the hoistway pit below the ball screw. A ball nut assembly is mounted on the ball screw and fixed to the lift tube so that rotation of the ball screw results in raising and lowering the lift tube and pulley. This causes concurrent raising and lowering of the elevator car in the hoistway. An electromagnetic brake selectively acts on the DC motor to hold the elevator car in place in the hoistway at landings.

Abstract: Air deflectors are mounted on the top and bottom of the counterweight assembly in an elevator system to deflect air in the elevator hoistway to the sides of the counterweight as the latter moves up and down in the hoistway. The deflectors ensure that air turbulence is not directed toward the car as the car and counterweight pass each other in the hoistway. A quieter and smoother passenger ride is thus accomplished. In an ultra high-speed elevator system, the counterweights may be completely enclosed in an aerodynamic jacket. Cable connections and compensating rope connections to the counterweight are all made inboard thereof to ensure that the counterweight is free of turbulence-inducing protuberances.

Abstract: A centrifugally operated clamping device for clamping a reversible blade insert in a planing tool ensures positive engagement between the clamp and the blade. The clamping device includes a clamping wedge which has an inverted T-shaped cross-section and is positioned in a similarly configured groove in the tool. The wedge is biased relative to the bottom of the groove so that the clamp will be easily disconnected from the blade.

Abstract: The handrail of an escalator is continuously monitored for movement by a sensor assembly. In the event that the handrail stops moving, the escalator steps are stopped so as to provide a safe environment for passengers on the escalator. The system can also be used with moving walkways equipped with moving handrails.

Abstract: The working platform is set up on the highest floor slab in a building being erected so as to cover the elevator hoistway. Extensible finger beams serve to position the platform properly over the hoistway. The platform serves as a template for rail plumb lines and landing door assemblies, and carries winches which are used to lift the rails and door assemblies into place in the hoistway. A false car is suspended in the hoistway below the platform and runs up and down in the hoistway on a hoisting rope. Workers use the false car to install rails and landing door assemblies which have been lifted into place by the winches on the working platform.

Abstract: The reentry port where an escalator handrail passes out of view at the exit newel of the escalator is provided with an elastomeric reentry guard in the form of a collar surrounding the handrail. The collar has an elastomeric bumper part which is accessible from the exterior of the assembly, and which is mounted on a holder assembly which is contained inside of the escalator skirt housing. The holder and bumper are mounted for limited lateral movement concurrently with the handrail, and such movement is controlled by rollers mounted on the holder assembly, which rollers contact the sides of the handrail. The result is that lateral movements of the handrail as it moves past the reentry guard cause like lateral movements of the housing assembly and bumper. The handrail thus will not rub on the bumper, thereby providing a safer and longer lasting reentry guard.

Abstract: The improvments are applicable to elevator doors and even to doors of vehicles, either made out of two leaves which move in the same direction for the opening and closing thereof, or made out of four leaves each pair of the four leaves opening in the center. The improvements are centered on the use of a single track for both leaves or door panels, a track which may have a rectangular or circular section, located in a box with rolling or movement components which are fastened to the corresponding hanger support of the panel or door. Another improvement consists of the two panels of the door being exactly the same, each one of them including a sound absorbing element. The door frame unit is removable with preassembled active elements so that the same may be transported in a compact, easy manner from the factory to the place of use.

Abstract: An adjustable device for vibration damping and leveling of machines consisting of an elastic element with a constant thickness, with notches which facilitate its separation in order to obtain the correct support surface and so that the deformation in all the supports is constant, maintaining the horizontal leveling of the machine and good absorption of vibrations. The elastic elements include cavities distributed along the length thereof, in which elastic inserts adjusted to the geometry thereof can be housed in order to appropriately increase the total contact surface and resistance to deformation of the device.

Abstract: An elevator car speed governor is mounted on the top of the car assembly, and measures car speed by contacting a fixed element in the hoistway. The fixed element can be a taut cable extending from the top of the hoistway to the pit, or one of the car guide rails, for example. The governor has a centrifugally operated connection with emergency brakes on the car. When overspeed is detected, the connection is actuated to cause the brakes to engage the guide rails and stop the car. The governor can operate at relatively low overspeed rates, and can be used on elevator systems which do not have an overhead machine room, such as hydraulic and linear induction motor elevators.

Abstract: A rotary encoder engages the circumferential periphery of an elevator sheave to monitor the rotational speed of the sheave. The encoder is mounted on an adjustable mounting assembly which biases the rotor against the sheave circumference along a line passing through the axis of rotation of the sheave.

Abstract: An escalator which follows a curvilinear path with a fixed center constant radius in plan must have steps with specially configured risers. The step risers will have vertical cleats which mesh with trailing edges of adjacent steps, which meshing must be performed without risk of jamming. The escalator has an outer step chain which changes its effectual length over the path of travel of the escalator, whereby it is shorter in the inclined zone and longer in the landing zones of the escalator. The radii of the step risers, in elevation must thus decrease along the step riser cleats as the cleats descend away from the step tread.

Abstract: Elevator hoist ropes are continuously cleaned by a rotatable generally cylindrical wire brush assembly mounted in the machine room or hoistway along the path of travel of the hoist ropes. The axis of rotation of the wire brush is skewed to the direction of movement of the hoist ropes so as to cause the brush bristles to enter the rope strand valleys whereby grease and other materials are cleaned out of the inter-strand valleys on the rope.

Abstract: In the entranceway between an elevator car and a floor are two oppositely sliding doors. The approach of these doors is controlled by a detection system that senses the presence of objects between the doors. This system includes, on each door, a plurality of emitters which are vertically spaced apart the door edge, for radiating noncollimated light towards the edge of the other door. At the top and bottom portions of each door edge there is a sensor which can receive the radiation from the emitters on the other door edge. The emitters on each door edge are sequentially turned on and the sensors on the opposite door edge provide a corresponding signal as they are turned on, unless an obstruction is in the way, causing the detection system to generate a signal that thus indicates than an object is between the doors.