DESCRIPTION
Title of Invention: PASSENGER CONVEYER AND FOOTSTEP THEREOF
5 Technical Field
I
I T h e p r e s e n t i n v e n t i o n r e l a t e s t o p a s s e n g e r c o n v e y e r s s u c h
as escalators and footsteps thereof and more particularly
I relates to a side edge demarcation structure provided at the
I
, 10 right and left edges of a footstep.
Background Art
Fig. 2 shows a side view and top view of a footstep in
15 a conventional escalator. Cleat bases 21 as reinforcing
members supporting a cleat 16 are provided under the cleat 16
and united with the cleat 16 by spot welding. A demarcation
pain-ted yellow or a similar color is provided around the cleat
16 in a way to surround it in order to urge passengers to be
20 careful. A front demarcation 17 and a rear demarcation 18 are
directly fixed on the cleat bases 21 with fixing bolts 20 at
the front and rear edges of the footstep. Ribs 25 are formed
on the cleat 16. The left and right edges of the cleat 16 are
flat without ribs 25 and have an edge bending 22 to increase
25 the rigidity against the load of passengers applied to the top
surface of the cleat. A pair of left and right side edge
demarcations 19 are fixed on the cleat bases 21by fixing bolts
20 with the above cleat edges between them.
[0003]
5 A footstep 2 has such dimensions that even when it meanders
on a traveling rail (not shown), normally it does not touch
combplates (not shown) provided on a top platform 11 and a bottom
platform 12. However, considering that due to wear with time
of components for suppressing meandering, the amount of
10 meandering increases or due to incorrect installation
dimensions or the like, collision against the combplates may
occur, drilled holes 23 are made at the edges of the cleat 16
and convex parts 24 provided on the bottom of the side edge
demarcation 19 are fitted into the drilled holes 23.
15 Consequently, even if collision against the combplate should
occur, the colliding force is received by the convex parts 24,
thereby preventing fixing bolts 20 and cleat base screw holes
27 frombeing broken and the side edge demarcation 19 fromcoming
off due to such broken bolts and holes.
20 [0004]
In addition to the example illustrated in Fig. 2, Patent
Literature 1 and so on show examples which use side edge
demarcations.
25 Citation List
[0005]
Patent Literature 1: JP-A No. 2003-89493
Summary of Invention
5 Technical Problem
[0006]
However, intheaboveconventional structure illustrated
in Fig. 2, an edge bending 22 formed by bending edges of the
cleat and drilling work for making the drilled holes 23 as
10 mentioned above are needed, posing the problem that it takes
time to fabricate components and manufacturing efficiency is
thus low. In addition, a special shaping die and pressing
machine fortheabovefabricationprocessareneeded, resulting
in costly equipment investment and high maintenance cost.
15 [0007]
An object of the present investment is to provide a step
structure which solves the above problem and increases
-- manufacturing efficiency and reduces manufacturing cost.
[0008]
2 0 Issues of the invention other than the above issue will
fully appear from the description in this specification and
drawings.
Solution to Problem
25 [0009]
4
In order t o achieve t h e above o b j e c t , the present invention
provides a s t r u c t u r e i n which a p o r t i o n of s i d e edge demarcations
1 provided a t both l e f t and r i g h t edges of a c l e a t of a f o o t s t e p
I is p r o j e c t e d downward and t h e p r o j e c t i n g p o r t i o n is f i t t e d i n
I 5 between neighboring c l e a t bases.
, The above s t r u c t u r e is j u s t an example and t h e invention
may be modified a s a p p r o p r i a t e without d e p a r t i n g from t h e
t e c h n i c a l i d e a t h e r e o f . Furthermore, a n e x a m p l e o f a s t r u c t u r e
10 o t h e r than t h e above s t r u c t u r e w i l l f u l l y appear from t h e
d e s c r i p t i o n i n t h i s s p e c i f i c a t i o n and drawings.
Advantageous E f f e c t s of Invention
[OOll]
15 Asdiscussedabove, a c c o r d i n g t o t h e s i d e e d g e d e m a r c a t i o n
s t r u c t u r e i n t h e p r e s e n t invention, edge bending work and
d r i l l i n g work f o r t h e c l e a t of t h e f o o t s t e p can be eliminated
and p o r t i o n s of t h e c l e a t a t bojzh l e f t and r i g h t edges thereof
where r i b s a r e no longer needed, so t h e c l e a t s i z e i n t h e
20 l e f t - r i g h t d i r e c t i o n can be reduced and the s t r u c t u r e a t both
edges of t h e c l e a t need not be complicated, which means t h a t
t h e t i m e t o f a b r i c a t e components can be shortened and the
equipmentinvestmentcostofa specialshapingdieandpressing
machine is saved, thereby making it p o s s i b l e t o provide a
25 passenger conveyer which i n c r e a s e s fabrication e f f i c i e n c y a n d
reducesmanufacturing cost, and a foctstepthereof. The other
effects of the present invention will fully appear from the
description in this specification.
5 Brief Description of Drawings
[0012]
Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of an escalator.
Fig. 2 is a side view and top view of a footstep of a
conventional escalator.
10 Fig. 3 is a side view and top view of a footstep showing
an embodiment of the present invention.
Description of Embodiments
[0013]
15 Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be
described referring to drawings. In the drawings, the same
orsimilarelementsaredesignatedbythesamereferencenumerals
- and repeated de-scxiptions there& ar-e nmitted, -
[0014]
2 0 Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of an escalator as
an example of a passenger conveyer to which the present invention
is applied. The escalator 1 has a frame 5 which is installed,
bridging the space between an upper floor 31 and a lower floor
32 of a building structure. It has a top machine chamber 6
25 and a bottom machine chamber 7 at both edges of the frame 5
i n i t s l o n g i t u d i n a l direction, i n which a top platform 11 and
a bottomplatform12 a r e p r o v i d e d t o coverthemachine chambers
from above r e s p e c t i v e l y . In t h e s e machine chambers, a p a i r
of l e f t and r i g h t top terminal s p r o c k e t s 62 and a p a i r of l e f t
5 and r i g h t bottom terminal s p r o c k e t s 71 a r e l o c a t e d r e s p e c t i v e l y .
The t e r m i n a l s p r o c k e t s a r e e n d l e s s l y connected by a p a i r of
l e f t and r i g h t f o o t s t e p c h a i n s 8 . A f o o t s t e p s h a f t (notshown)
connecting t h e l e f t and r i g h t f o o t s t e p chains 8, f r o n t wheels
9 located a t both ends of t h e f o o t s t e p s h a f t , and a f o o t s t e p
10 2 r o t a t a b l y a t t a c h e d t o t h e f o o t s t e p s h a f t a r e r o t a t e d e n d l e s s l y
by a d r i v i n g machine 61 l o c a t e d i n t h e top machine chamber 6.
[0015]
Balustrade panels 4 1 a r e i n s t a l l e d upright on t h e frame
5 a t b o t h s i d e s along t h e d i r e c t i o n o f movement o f t h e f o o t s t e p s
15 2. Also, moving h a n d r a i l s 4 which a r e driven synchronously
with t h e f o o t s t e p s 2 a r e provided along t h e p e r i p h e r i e s of t h e
b a l u s t r a d e panels 4 1 .
LOP1 1 - - -
Fig. 3 shows a s i d e view and top view of a f o o t s t e p as
20 anembodiment o f t h e p r e s e n t i n v e n t i o n . The f i g u r e is t h e same
a s Fig. 2 i n t h a t c l e a t bases 21 a s r e i n f o r c i n g members f o r
supporting t h e c l e a t 16 a r e provided under t h e c l e a t 16 and
u n i t e d with t h e c l e a t 16 by spot welding.
[0017]
In t h e p r e s e n t i n v e n t i o n , o n l y r l b s 25 a r e formed on the
conventional structure are eliminated. The cleat size is
shortened by removing the portions of the cleat at both the
left and right edges where there are no ribs 25, and the side
5 e d g e d e m a r c a t i o n s 1 9 p r o v i d e d o n t h e l e f t a n d r i g h t o f t h e c l e a t
16 are directly fixed on the cleat bases 21. Also, in order
to compensate for insufficiency of the rigidity against the
I
I
load of passengers attributable tothe elimination ofthe edge I
bending 22, a projecting portion 26 is provided on the bottom
I
10 of the side edge demarcation 19 and the projecting portion 26
is fit in between neighboring cleat bases 21. Consequently,
even if the footstep 2 meanders and should collide against the
combplates (not shown) of the top platform 11 andbottomplatform
12, the engagement of the projecting portion 26 with the cleat
15 bases 21 permits the projecting portion 26 to receive the
colliding force, thereby preventing the fixing bolts 20 and
cleat base screw holes 27 from being broken and preventing the
side _edge demarcations 19 fmm coming of-f d-ue _to such-br_ok_en -
bolts and holes.
20 [0018]
Here the side edge demarcation 19 is a resinmolded article
and the projecting portion 26 can be easily formed by making
a die. As compared with the cost involved in the edge bending
22 and drilling for the drilled holes 23 in the conventional
1 25 structure, the rise in material cost due to the projecting
portion 26 of the side edge demarcation 19 in the present
invention is small and the total manufacturing cost can be surely
reduced.
[0019]
5 Furthermore, whereas the height of the conventional
convex part 24 shown in Fig. 2 is almost the same as the plate
thickness of the cleat 16 and the size of the convex part 24
in the direction of movement of the footstep 2 is not so large,
the height and the size in the direction of movement of the
10 footstep 2 of the projecting portion 26 shown in Fig. 3 can
belargerthanthoseofthe convexpart24, leadingto increased
strength.
[0020]
Although it is desirable to provide a plurality of
15 projecting portions 26 as shown in Fig. 3, if only two cleat
bases 21 are provided, only one projecting portion 26 may be
provided. It is desirable fromthe viewpoint of strength that
a projecting portian 26-be-putb etween _eve= two neighbo-ring
cleat bases 21; however, the invention is not limited thereto
20 and a projecting portion 26 may be omitted between certain
neighboring cleat bases 21.
[OOZl]
The present invention canbe appliedtoa structure which
does not include the front demarcation 17 and rear demarcation
25 18 as demarcations other than the slde edge demarcations 19.
The present inventionmay be applied not only to escalators
but also to footsteps of a moving road as another example of
a passenger conveyer (which may be called footplates but they
I 5 are referred to as footsteps in this specification).
[0023]
So far the present invention has been described in
reference to an embodiment thereof, but the above structure
I
accordingtothe embodiment is just anexampleandthe invention
10 may be modified as appropriate without departing from the
technical idea thereof.
List of Reference Signs
1 Escalator
15 2 Footstep
4 Moving handrail
5 Frame
6 - - - - - - -Top machinechamber - - - -
7 Bottom machine chamber
20 8 Footstep chain
8V Footstep shaft
9 Front wheel
10 Rear wheel
11 Top platform
25 12 Bottom platform
16 Cleat
17 Front demarcation
18 Rear demarcation
19 Side edge demarcation
5 20 Fixing bolt
21 Cleat base
22 Edge bending
23 Drilled hole
24 Convex part
10 25 rib
26 Projecting portion
27 Cleat base screw hole
31 Upper floor
32 Lower floor
15 41 Balustrade panel
61 Driving machine
62 Top terminal sprocket
71 Bottom terminal-sxrocket

11
Claims
[Claim 1]
A passenger conveyer comprising:
a frame installed in a building structure;
platformsprovidedatbothlongitudinalendsoftheframe;
a footstep chain with a footstep shaft being endlessly
connected between the platforms and moving cyclically;
a footstep attachedtothe footstep shaft rotatably; and
balustrades installed upright on the frame at both sides
10 along a direction of movement of the footstep,
wherein the footstep includes a cleat, a plurality of
cleatbases forsupportingthecleat, andsideedgedemarcations
provided on the left and right of the cleat; and
wherein the side edge demarcation includes a projecting
15 portion as a portion thereof projecting downward and the
projecting portion is fitted in between the neighboring cleat
bases.
[Claim 2]
The passenger conveyer according to Claiml, wherein the
20 projecting portion of the side edge demarcation is provided
in plurality.
[Claim 3]
The passenger conveyer accordingtoClaimlor2, wherein
the side edge demarcation is directly fixed on the cleat bases.
25 [Claim 4]
4 footstep of a passenger conveyor comprising:
a cleat;
a plurality of cleat bases for supporting the cleat; and
side edge demarcations provided on the left and right
of the cleat,
wherein the side edge demarcation includes a projecting
portion as a portion thereof projecting downward and the
projecting portion is fitted in between the neighboring cleat
bases.
[Claim 5]
The footstep of a passenger conveyer according to Claim
4, wherein the projecting portion of the side edge demarcation
is provided in plurality.
[Claim 6]
The footstep of a passenger conveyer according to Claim
4 or 5, wherein the side edge demarcation is directly fixed
on the cleat bases.