Abstract: The governor ropes on an elevator are actuated by an emergency tripping system when motion away from a landing zone of the car is detected while the car doors remain open. If the elevator controller receives a "door open" signal and a "car moving out of landing zone" signal concurrently, a solenoid tripper is actuated which causes the governor rope blocks to set on the governor ropes thereby activating the car's emergency brakes. Conventional governor actuation systems can be retrofitted with the solenoid tripper of this invention.

Abstract: The governor rope on an elevator is provided with an auxiliary brake which is a fail-safe brake and which operates to stop movement of the governor rope when the elevator car moves away from a landing with its doors open. The brake includes two rope gripper jaws in the machine room beneath the governor sheave, which jaws are held away from the governor rope by a solenoid so long as power is supplied to energize the solenoid. When the power supply to the solenoid is interrupted, the jaws are released to fall by gravity toward each other to grip the governor rope. The car emergency brakes are thus tripped and movement of the car stops. The brake may also be provided to control the counterweight governor rope.