Abstract: An embodiment includes a method for net shape forging of a large rotor shaft that includes a reduced central cylindrical section and integrally forged segments along the longitudinal length thereof. In an embodiment, the net shaped forging is produced by sequentially pressing the work piece such that a near net shaped forging of the machined work piece is produced, including upset geometries such as eccentric or concentric disks. This permits a reduction in waste material (e.g., due to the machining process) and improves the strength of the upset geometries. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Abstract: A mine elevator is provided having an anti-explosion traction system, an anti-explosion lift car protection system, a flexible guide rail guiding system, a compound lift car, and a counterweight system. The anti-explosion traction system comprises a traction rope tension regulating device, an anti-explosion traction machine, and an anti-explosion control cabinet. The anti-explosion lift car protection system comprises a rope holder, a speed limiter, two hydraulic buffers, a safety clamp, a brake rope, and a brake rope tension buffer device. The flexible guide rail guiding system comprises a steel wire rope guide rail, a guide rail tension device connected to the steel wire rope guide rail and fixed to the an upper platform, a guide rail connection device connected to the steel wire rope guide rail and fixed to a lower platform, and a flexible guide rail guide sleeve fixed to the compound lift car and the counterweight system.

Abstract: A fall arrestor for use with a vertical lift door includes a pair of latching dogs selectively pivoted into and out of contact with a vertical rail by cam members and a compression mechanism actuated by a change in tension between a lift cable and the vertical lift door. The fall arrestor further includes a ground locking system for locking the door when the vertical lift door is completely closed. The fall arrestor is capable of preventing of free fall of the vertical lift door in a catastrophic failure of a lift mechanism or the lift cable.

Abstract: A card elevating/lowering device for use with cards may include a card storage part in which the cards are stacked and accommodated, and an elevating/lowering mechanism by which the cards accommodated in the card storage part are elevated and lowered. The elevating/lowering mechanism may be provided with a placing table on which the cards accommodated in the card storage part are placed and an urging member which urges the placing table in an upper direction, and a spring constant of the urging member may be substantially equal to a weight per unit thickness of the card.

Abstract: A safety device brakes an elevator car with a guide rail exhibiting an oblong guide flange. The safety device includes a base carrying a retaining element and an abutment with the guide flange positioned therebetween. A mechanism squeezes, when braking, a braking element blocking roller between the guide flange and the abutment. The mechanism, co-operating with an electromagnet, moves the braking element in a controlled way between different positions associated with different operating conditions of the safety device.

Abstract: An emergency brake apparatus for an elevator system is installed on an elevator cage or a balance weight of the elevator system and includes a grip member with slant surfaces and a pressing surface sandwiching a guide rail, a pressing member disposed movably between the slant surfaces of the grip member and the guide rail, and an electric solenoid connected to the pressing member and actuated by an electric signal. The electric solenoid positions the pressing member away from the guide rail in a non-braking operation while pushing the pressing member between the slant surfaces and the guide rail in a braking operation.

Abstract: A safety device includes a trigger mechanism for triggering a braking wedges attached to first and second double levers to stop an elevator car. A retaining spring detents with a pin on the first double lever and a tension spring engages either the first double lever or the second double lever. The retaining spring maintains the double levers unactuated during normal operation of the elevator and the spring element actuates the double levers after an actuation of the trigger mechanism by a speed limiter.

Abstract: In an elevating mechanism 14 where an elevating mechanism 17 carried so as to rise and fall along a fixed surface 16 is moved up and down through a suspension member 18, a braking mechanism 18 is born by the elevating mechanism 17 so as to pivot vertically. A tensile spring 32 is provided on the braking mechanism 31, for pivotally urging it to the direction close to the fixed surface 16, while the suspension member 18 is connected to the braking mechanism 31, for pulling the braking mechanism 31 in the direction apart from the fixed surface 16 due to the weight of the elevating mechanism 17, in opposition to the tensile spring 32. When the suspension member 18 is cut off, then the braking mechanism 31 comes into contact with and digs into the fixed surface 16 by action of the tensile spring 32, so that the elevating mechanism 17 can be stopped from falling.

Abstract: A device for locking the descent of a reel-holder trolley along a sliding guide under the control of a traction belt in a fixed column winding apparatus. The device includes a clamp connection between belt and trolley, that is attached to the belt and is mobile with respect to the trolley between a first raised position in which the clamp is held by the upward traction exerted by the belt and holds in turn a pair of levers in such a position as not to interfere with side walls of the sliding guide of the trolley and a second position in which it moves automatically by gravity in the event the traction of the belt is released and in which it permits the pair of levers to be elastically stressed in such a position to enter transversally openings of the side walls of the sliding guide of the trolley to lock the descent of the latter.

Abstract: An elevator brake that utilizes the elevator platform weight to generate the necessary clamping force for stopping the elevator is disclosed. Electromagnetically released safety systems that have been considered for ropeless linear motor elevator systems rely on resilient or spring members to generate the clamping force. As the weight of the platform increases, the clamping forces and the size of the springs have to be appropriately increased. In the gravity-assisted elevator brake, the clamping force is generated by the total cargo and elevator platform weight, while small springs are used to activate the brake. It is unlikely that a ropeless elevator platform will tethered to a large power cable, so supplying large amounts of power to the safety systems could be a problem. The force needed to release and set the gravity-assisted elevator brake under normal operations would be minimal so the brake can be operated from a low power source.

Abstract: A safety lock device including a clover mechanism mounted on a rotating shaft to be used with an unbalanced free-fall dog that precludes rotation of the rotating shaft upon rapid acceleration or excessive speed of the rotation of the shaft. The free-fall dog is pivotally mounted on a fulcrum upon which the free-fall dog may teeter in an unbalanced seesaw motion. At opposite ends of the fulcrum are a locking finger and an arm. The free-fall dog is unbalanced such that the arm contacts the clover mechanism as it rotates while the locking finger does not contact the clover mechanism at slow rotating speed. At a slow rotative speed, the arm is only slightly deflected. With great acceleration, the arm is deflected farther from the clover mechanism thereby causing the locking finger on the opposite side of the fulcrum to be pivoted into the clover mechanism.

Abstract: An apparatus for moving a car along a travel path along guide rails includes a linear drive having a fixed first platform attached to the car and connected by springs with a movable second platform. Holding-units are attached to both platforms for engaging the guide rails and operating-units are connected between the platforms for relative movement. The holding-units and the operating-units include piezoelectric actuators that are selectively energized to move the car.

Abstract: A mount for the safety device in a lift cage comprises an assembly for maintaining a catch system in a readiness position and for the movement thereof in at least one plane during the braking process. A catch housing is supported horizontally fixed in the readiness position and is held in the readiness position by a resilient plate lightly braced against the catch housing. When the safety device is triggered into a braking process the catch housing is urged upwardly against the resilient plate, out of the readiness position wherein the horizontal fixing is cancelled and self-centering of the catch housing in relation to the guide rails can occur. The transmission of braking/catching forces to the cage is damped and progressively sprung through the compression of the resilient plate.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for braking a carriage which travels on rails of an inclined or vertical elevator. The elevator includes a cable driving device having cables connected to the carriage for moving the carriage along the rails. The carriage has a main frame assembly and a movable frame assembly, mounted to slide along the main frame assembly. The braking device comprises a cam disk assembly having eccentric disks rotatably mounted to the movable frame assembly and held in a first position at a predetermined distance away from a surface of each of the rails for frictionally engaging the rails when released from the first position. The cam disk assembly then causes a plurality of brake blocks of the brake device to engage frictionally the rails when the eccentric disks frictionally engage the rails. A first releasing device causes the eccentric disks to release from the first position and engage frictionally the rails when at least one of the cables breaks.