Abstract: An elevator car position indicator utilizes a plurality of indicating pins whereby a visually impaired passenger in the elevator car is able to determine the actual car position by touch. The pins are arranged in a Braille configuration at a face plate of the car control station. The indicating pins are connected with armatures of electromagnets and are guided in apertures formed in the face plate. The electromagnets are connected through a control circuit to a coding circuit to which is supplied the car position information wherein the car position is transformed into the corresponding number in Braille and the corresponding indicating pins are pushed out from the face plate.

Abstract: An apparatus is mounted on an elevator car for actuating a safety catch or a car brake when an excess car speed is detected in either a downward or an upward direction of travel, or when an unchecked movement of the elevator car takes place. The actuation takes place by movement of a pull rod cage connected to upper or lower pull rods, wherein the pull rod cage transmits a mechanical relative movement which is performed by a mechanical or an electromagnetic car speed monitoring device. Upper and lower sliding connections, which transmit tension forces and actuate the safety catch and the car brake respectively according to whether the car is moving downward or upwardly respectively, serve as connections between the pull rod cage and the upper and lower pull rods respectively.

Abstract: An apparatus for attaching a guide rail to a girder in an elevator shaft wall provides for vertical displacement of the guide rail relative to the walls of the elevator shaft. The apparatus includes a U-shaped intermediate plate of corrosion-proof metal positioned between the side surfaces of the flange of the guide rail and a U-shaped support bracket. The support bracket, the intermediate plate and the guide rail flange are held against the girder by a longer leg of a U-shaped rail clamp having a shorter leg attached to the girder. The friction coefficient between the side surfaces of the flange of the guide rail and the U-shaped intermediate plate is greater than the friction coefficient between the intermediate plate and the support bracket, so that when the guide rail is displaced vertically, the support bracket will slide on the intermediate plate.

Abstract: An apparatus for ventilating the passenger space of a rapidly moving elevator car generates an air flow through the car during the travel of the car in an elevator shaft. A plurality of ventilation slots are provided one above the other and open to the passenger space of the elevator car and to a ventilation channel extending vertically in one wall of the elevator car. The total cross-sectional area of the ventilation slots is approximately twice as great as the cross-sectional area of the ventilation channel. The ventilation slots are formed by carrier slots in a sheet metal carrier on which a plurality of strips of a laminated material plate are attached on a passenger space side thereof and on which a perforated metal reinforcing plate is spot-welded on a rear side thereof. The reinforcing plate has rows of apertures formed in generally V-shaped grooves aligned with the ventilation slots. The grooves space the apertures from the carrier.

Abstract: The load measuring apparatus is arranged at an elevator car and detects the car load brought about by passengers and/or goods transported by the elevator car. An upper crossbeam together with vertically extending supports and a lower crossbeam forms a support frame suspended at traction cables and moves within an elevator shaft along suitable guide rails. A floor frame mounted on isolation pads at the lower crossbeam carries the elevator car. At the roof of the elevator car there is centrally arranged a reference plate member which is part of the load measuring apparatus. A proximity sensor centrally arranged at the upper crossbeam has a predetermined frontal spacing from the reference plate member in the no-load condition of the elevator car. When the elevator car carries a load this predetermined frontal spacing increases as a function of compression of the isolation pads.

Abstract: A method of minimizing car bunching at any traffic flow level allocates closely adjacent stops to a given car which is favored by a variable, readjustable distributor bonus. The estimated lost time costs of all passengers are computed for each elevator and for each hall call, these costs are reduced by a variable distributor bonus concentrating adjacent stops in one car, and a hall call is then allocated for service to that elevator which displays the lowest, reduced estimated lost time costs. In order to assure the function of this method equally at high and low traffic levels, the variable distributor bonus (Bvn) is readjusted to the traffic flow level (Va) which serves as a tracking parameter by means of a tracking function according to the relationship Bvn=Bv.F(Va) and the readjusted variable distributor bonus is defined thereby. The tracking function F(Va) is determined by one of artificial intelligence methods and expert programs.

Abstract: A method of controlling a group of elevators allocates target calls definitively and immediately to the individual elevators for serving the call according to higher rank and lower rank function requirements and these allocations are indicated immediately at the call input floors. A weighted sum corresponding to higher rank function requirements is formed from partial operating costs, this sum is modified into operating costs in the sense of lower rank function requirements by means of variable bonus and penalty point factors and a target call is allocated to the elevator with the lowest operating costs. A target call allocation algorithm with subordinate algorithms for the bonus and penalty point tracking and the costs computation implements this method in a computer. The bonus and penalty point factors are continuously made to follow the traffic volume or the car load group by group or elevator by elevator with the tracking algorithm.

Abstract: A control panel is detachably connected by a retaining bracket to a housing which is mounted in an aperture formed in a support structure such as a wall. The positioning of the panel adjacent an outer surface of the support structure is independent of the depth of insertion of the housing in the aperture. The bracket is U-shaped with a generally vertical base portion and first and second legs extending horizontally from opposite ends of the base portion. Each leg has a hook formed at a free end thereof for detachably engaging a spring clip mounted on a rear surface of the panel. A pair of spring plates are attached to the base portion by fasteners and each plate has two pairs of spring tabs formed thereon for engaging a roughened surface on opposite side walls of the housing. After the insertion of the bracket into the housing, the fasteners can be loosened to permit positioning of the panel relative to the housing.

Abstract: A call registering and indicating device located at an elevator entryway issues a ticket to assist an inattentive or diverted passenger on a floor who overlooks the optical indication of the allocated elevator or forgets the noted indication prior to the arrival of an elevator. A printer and a ticket-issuing device are connected by a control circuit with the elevator group control. After the call entry and upon the call allocation, the printer and the ticket-issuing device are actuated and a ticket is issued the imprint of which indicates the selected destination floor and the allocated elevator.

Abstract: A fireproof shaft door for an elevator installation has an improved heat insulation towards the shaft side in the case of a fire at the floor side of the door. A door is filled with heat insulating spaces and heat insulating mat and is positioned at the floor side of a framework which is carried by a door suspension. The framework is horizontally displaceable on a roller and is guided at a lower edge by a sliding guide engaging a recess in a threshold. Horizontal spars, which are provided with ventilation apertures, are attached to the door box at the shaft side. Heat insulating plates are attached to the spares to cover the shaft side of the framework. A first hollow space is formed between the door box and the heat insulating plates and functions as natural chimney in which fresh air circulates. A vertically extending recess is formed in a closing edge of the door box to form a second hollow space in which fresh air circulates when the door is closed.

Abstract: A method for controlling a sliding door system determines the masses and the frictional forces of all movably interconnected parts of the sliding door system. The system has a door leaf which is moved in an opening learning travel and a closing learning travel and guided without drive over respective first and second test sections. First and second energy balances are determined from the detected speed and distance travelled data of the first and second test sections respectively. The energy balances equate the kinetic energy at the beginning of a test section with the kinetic energy at the end of the test section plus the frictional energy plus the potential energy of a closing weight connected to the door leaf. The potential energy is added with a positive sign for opening travel and a negative sign for closing travel. The dynamic mass and the mean frictional force of the sliding door system can then be determined from the first and second energy balances.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting and signaling the function and the status of an electronically actuated two-circuit safety disk brake for elevators includes an axially moveable spring centering bolt and a sliding block attached to each of a pair of brake shoes for actuating position sensors. A force imbalance due to breakage of a brake pressure spring displaces the spring centering bolt from its neutral position and actuates a microswitch of a first position sensor by way of sliding block attached to the bolt to generate a signal to a monitoring circuit. A double switching arm formed on the sliding blocks attached to the brake shoes signals not only the normal closure and opening movements of the brake, but causes, on exceeding an admissible wear of the brake lining for the first time, an alarm switching cycle of a microswitch of a second position sensor.

Abstract: With this safety disc brake all regulatory safety requirements can be fulfilled with a constructional expenditure approximately like that expended for a simple construction of brake. Fulfillment of the essential safety requirements is attained by providing two partial systems which mechanically operate completely independent of one another and comprise two identical brake levers each provided with a respective separate compression spring braced at a common central impact member fixedly connected with a machine part. As a further feature for fulfilling the safety requirements both of the partial systems are devoid of any mutual mechanical penetrations and overlapping. Opening or release of the brake is accomplished electromagnetically with a pot magnet fixedly secured to one brake lever and an armature plate likewise fixedly secured to the other brake lever.

Abstract: In an elevator system with the immediate allocation of the floor calls, car calls are processed according to an algorithm implemented in a process computer. A preliminary processing of the car calls occurs upon entry of each of the car calls and a final processing occurs before the car call destination floor. A car call with a destination floor which coincides with the destination floor of an allocated call is allocated immediately during the preliminary processing. If there is no coincidence, the car call is shortened by one floor and registered. A car call registered during the preliminary processing is allocated with its original trip length during the final processing if there is coincidence with a destination floor of an allocated call. If no coincidence exists, the car call is allocated with a new destination floor which depends upon the allocated calls before and/or after the original car call destination floor.

Abstract: A door drive apparatus with a locking mechanism for elevator doors permits the opening of the car door situated in the region of a floor together with a coupled-on shaft door, driven automatically in the normal case or manually in the case of a power failure. If the elevator car is situated outside a floor region, the car door remains locked. A control cam mounted at the upper end of a car door leaf is connected with a door drive by a belted drive means and causes a low-jerk opening and closing of the car door at the closing end of travel. The control cam is connected by a pull rod to an entraining member parallelogram for the coupling of the shaft door to the car door. A locking mechanism on the upper end of the same door leaf has an actuating roller which is actuated by a double lever connected to the control cam and the pull rod for the unlocking when the car is located in the door opening region of a floor.

Abstract: A two-channel forked fail-safe light barrier generates shaft position information in the region of the floors for the premature opening of the doors on arrival of an elevator car and includes a cyclical dynamic self-monitoring circuit by means of which a prophylactic fault recognition is possible. The self-monitoring circuit is responsive to the arrival and standstill of the car at a floor and periodically simulates genuine operational sequences as a brief emergence of the switching vane by an optical short-circuit of the fail-safe light barrier. The simulation effects interruption of the light barrier relay power which is, however, shorter than the release time of the relays so that the relays do not release when the circuit is intact.

Abstract: A protective railing assembly for an elevator shaft door opening includes a railing which is secured to the floor at the shaft door opening by two hinged parallelogram linkages. The protective railing can be moved between two different horizontally spaced positions and thus be displaced through a predetermined distance without being removed from the shaft door opening. The railing can be mounted while the shaft door opening is still barricaded to permit the barricading to be removed and a shaft door mounted. The railing provides a continuous protection against the falling of persons into the shaft during the shaft door assembly. The protective railing is extensible for adaptation to different opening widths and the parallelogram linkages are maintained at a constant spacing one from the other to permit installation in openings of different widths.

Abstract: An escalator is formed of a plurality of steps traveling in a continuous conveyor between a pair of spaced apart skirt plates. Each step has lateral safety boundaries attached to the side edges thereof. Spring inserts are positioned between the outermost ribs of the tread plate and the riser of the step to maintain the safety boundaries in contact at all times with the skirt plates. Thus, differences in the distance between the skirt plates and deviations of the travel path of the steps are equalized and the air gaps between the skirt plates and the side edges of the steps are closed at all times. The material from which the safety boundaries are made is selected to provide the lowest possible friction losses and to prevent scraping noises during operation. However, the safety boundaries will wear down before the skirt plates and worn out safety boundaries can be replaced without having to dismantle the corresponding step from the step conveyor.

Abstract: First and second indirect contact condensing heat exchangers are used to separate gases from a mixture of condensible and non-condensible gases, such as the vapor from the last stage of a black liquor evaporation plant of a pulp mill. The mixture of gases passes over the first heat exchanger to cool and condense, producing a first condensate and a first remaining gas stream. The condensate is removed from the first remaining gas stream, the gas stream then being passed over the second heat exchanger. A medium for absorbing at least one non-condensible gas in the first gas stream--such as an NaOH liquid solutino--is passed over the surface of the second heat exchanger to absorb gas, and produce a second remaining gas stream (containing primarily air). The second gas stream is separated from the solution with absorbed gas. The solution with absorbed gas may be used as white liquor in kraft pulping in a pulp mill, without concentrating the solution.