SPECIFICATION/DESCRIPTION PASSENGER CONVEYOR
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001]
The present invention relates to a passenger conveyor, such as an escalator and a moving walkway, and specifically relates to a configuration of a support member of a movable handrail (handrail).
BACKGROUND ART
[0002]
Conventionally, a handrail guide that supports the movable handrail of the passenger conveyor comprises a pair of members located on the left and right in the width direction, and the top surface of those members is held by a bracket, and the bracket is fixed onto the guide frame by using bolts. Such a method of fixing the handrail guide is described in, for example. Patent Document 1 described below.
[0003]
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 5 (1993)-78080 (FIG.3 and the like)
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION
[0004]
However, the above-mentioned handrail guide fixing method requires a large number of bolts along the longitudinal direction of the movable handrail to immobilize the handrail guide onto the guide frame, which makes installation work difficult. Further, there are occasions that require the replacement of the handrail guide as the result of the wear of the outer peripheral surface of the handrail guide due to the sliding of the handrail guide and the movable handrail, and the replacement work is not easy. Furthermore, if the handrail guide wears, the movable handrail comes in contact with metal bolts and brackets and damages the canvas on the inner peripheral surface of the movable handrail, which may adversely affect the drive condition of the movable handrail and may shorten the replacement period of the movable handrail.
[0005]
Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to provide a passenger conveyor in which a handrail guide can be easily installed and replaced while the safety and life of a movable handrail are increased.
MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS
[0006]
To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the present invention is a passenger conveyor comprising a movable handrail which moves circularly in synchronization with steps, a balustrade panel installed along the direction in which the movable handrail moves, a guide frame attached to the peripheral edge of the balustrade panel, and a handrail guide which covers the outer peripheral side of the guide frame and guides the movable handrail, wherein a recess is provided in a part of the outer peripheral side of the guide frame, the handrail guide comprises a pair of guiding pieces located on the left and right in the width direction, and the sides of the guiding pieces facing each other are extended toward the inner peripheral side and the inner peripheral side ends are inserted into the common recess.
ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION [0007]
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a passenger conveyor in which a handrail guide can be easily installed and replaced while the safety and life of a movable handrail are increased.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0008]
FIG.l is a drawing that shows an entrance floor 1 area of an escalator according to this embodiment.
FIG.2 is a drawing that shows in detail the upper end area of a balustrade of an escalator according to this embodiment.
FIG.3 is a drawing that shows how to install a handrail guide of an escalator according to this embodiment.
LEGEND
[0009]
1...Entrance floor, 2...Step, 3...Movable handrail, 4 ... Balustrade panel, 5...Guide frame, 5a and 5b...Claw, 6a and 6b...Projecting portion, 7...Recess, 8...Handrail guide, 8a and 8b...Guiding piece, 9a and 9b...Grappling portion, 10...Groove.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0010]
In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an escalator which is an example of a passenger conveyor, and FIG.l shows the entrance floor 1 area. The escalator according to this embodiment is constructed such that endlessly connected steps 2 move circularly
from the entrance floor 1 to another entrance floor (not shown) and the movable handrail 3 also moves circularly in synchronization with the steps 2. Furthermore, a balustrade is installed at both ends of the longitudinal direction of the steps 2, and the movable handrail 3 and the detailed support structure on the upper end area of the balustrade are as shown in FIG.2. That is, the balustrade comprises a balustrade panel 4 installed along the direction in which the movable handrail 3 moves, a guide frame 5 attached to the peripheral edge of the balustrade panel 4, and a handrail guide 8 which covers the outer peripheral side of the guide frame 5 and guides the movable handrail 3. Moreover, this embodiment adopts a glass panel as a balustrade panel 4.
[0011]
Further, the inner peripheral side of the guide frame 5 is nearly a horseshoe shape, and the nearly horseshoe-shape portion is inserted into the upper end of the balustrade panel 4 and fixed. On the other hand, a recess 7 is provided near the center of the outer peripheral side of the guide frame 5, and claws 5a and 5b are provided at both ends of the width direction of the outer peripheral side of the guide frame 5. Herein, the "inner peripheral side" means the inner side with regard to the moving path of the movable handrail 3 and the
"outer peripheral side" means the outer side with regard to the moving path of the movable handrail 3.
[0012]
And, near the entrance of the recess 7 of the guide frame 5, projecting portions 6a and 6b which project toward the inner side in the width direction are created. Herein, the "inner side in the width direction" means the location close to the middle of the width direction of the movable handrail 3 and the "outer side in the width direction" means the locations close to both ends of the width direction. Moreover, for example, aluminum is used for material of the guide frame 5.
[0013]
Further, the handrail guide 8 comprises a pair of guiding pieces 8a and 8b located on the left and right in the width direction of the movable handrail 3, and both guiding pieces 8a and 8b are made of resin such as plastics and function as slide members of the movable handrail 3. And, the sides of the guiding pieces 8a and 8b facing each other, that is, the inner sides in the width direction are extended toward the inner peripheral side, thereby creating opposed portions abutting to each other. Furthermore, the inner peripheral side ends of the guiding pieces 8a and 8b on the inner side of the width direction or at least a part of the opposed
portions is inserted into the common recess 7. Furthermore, a part of the portion of the guiding pieces 8a and 8b that is inserted into the recess 7 projects toward the outer side in the width direction thereby creating hook-shaped grappling portions 9a and 9b. Moreover, on the outer side in the width direction of the guiding pieces 8a and 8b, bent portions that have deformed toward the inner peripheral side are provided.
[0014]
Further, at a part of the outer peripheral surface of the guiding pieces 8a and 8b, specifically, on the inner side in the width direction of the outer peripheral surface, a groove 10 which is of nearly the same width as that of a roller of handrail drive equipment (not shown) is provided. And, the location of the groove 10 in the width direction is almost the same as that of the roller of the handrail drive equipment in the width direction. That is, the portion of the inner peripheral surface of the movable handrail 3 that is press-bonded by the roller of the handrail drive equipment is created such that the portion does not come in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the handrail guide 8, thereby suppressing the effect on the friction coefficient between the roller of the handrail drive equipment and the movable handrail 3 as well as suppressing the
reduction of life of the movable handrail 3. Furthermore, it is also possible to efficiently obtain a drive force from the handrail drive equipment by processing the surface of the groove 10 so that the friction coefficient of that surface becomes higher than that of other surfaces of the handrail guide 8.
[0015]
Herein, the method of attaching the handrail guide 8 to the guide frame 5 will be described with reference to FIG.3. First, the bent portion of a guiding piece 8a is fitted into a claw 5a of the guide frame 5, the grappling portion 9a of the guiding piece 8a is moved downwardly and inserted into the recess 7 of the guide frame 5, and the grappling portion 9a and the above-mentioned projecting portions 6a and 6b are latched together to hold the guiding piece 8a onto the guide frame 5.
[0016]
Next, when the guiding piece 8b is attached to the guide frame 5 in the same manner as the guiding piece 8a, opposed portions of the guiding pieces 8a and 8b are pressed together, thereby making it possible to prevent the guiding pieces 8a and 8b from becoming detached from each other. Further, due to the projecting portions 6a and 6b of the guide frame 5 and the grappling portions 9a and 9b of the handrail guide 8, even when an outer force
is horizontally applied while the movable handrail 3 is traveling, the handrail guide 8 will not be dislocated and the safety of the escalator can be ensured.
[0017]
As mentioned above, according to this embodiment, without using a fixing means such as bolt, the handrail guide 8 can be secured to the guide frame 5, which makes installation work easy and will result in the reduction of production costs due to the decreased number of parts. Further, replacement work of the handrail guide 8 will become easy when the handrail guide 8 wears due to the sliding of the handrail guide 8 and the movable handrail 3.
[0018]
Further, even when the top surface of the groove 10 comes in contact with the movable handrail 3 due to the wear of the handrail guide 8, unlike the situations in which the top surface comes in contact with bolts or the like, there are fewer possibilities that the canvas of the inner peripheral surface of the movable handrail 3 will become damaged. Therefore, it is possible to avoid an adverse effect on the drive condition of the movable handrail 3 and to lengthen the replacement period of the movable handrail 3; as a result, it is possible to provide an escalator in which the safety and life of thmovable handrail 3 are increased.
[0019]
Moreover, in the above-mentioned embodiment, an escalator that makes a difference between the steps 2 has been described, however, the same configuration can be applied to a moving walkway which is another example of the passenger conveyor. Therefore, the term "step" used in this specification also includes the meaning of the pallet of a moving walkway.

Claims
1. A passenger conveyor comprising a movable handrail which moves circularly in synchronization with steps, a balustrade panel installed along the direction in which the movable handrail moves, a guide frame attached to the peripheral edge of the balustrade panel, and a handrail guide which covers the outer peripheral side of the guide frame and guides the movable handrail, wherein a recess is provided in a part of the outer peripheral side of said guide frame, said handrail guide comprises a pair of guiding pieces located on the left and right in the width direction, the sides of the guiding pieces facing each other are extended toward the inner peripheral sides and the inner peripheral side ends are inserted into said common recess.
2. A passenger conveyor comprising a movable handrail which moves circularly in synchronization with steps, a balustrade panel installed along the direction in which the movable handrail moves, a guide frame attached to the peripheral edge of the balustrade panel, and a handrail guide which covers the outer peripheral side of the guide frame and guides the movable handrail, wherein a recess is provided in a part of the outer peripheral side of said guide frame, said handrail guide comprises a pair of guiding pieces located on the left
and right in the width direction, each guiding piece has an opposed portion abutting each other, and at least a part of the opposed portion is inserted into said recess.
3. The passenger conveyor according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein a portion of said guiding piece that is inserted into said recess has a grappling portion, said guide frame has a projecting portion near the entrance of the recess, and said guiding pieces and said guide frame are latched together by said grappling portion and said projecting portion.
4. The passenger conveyor according to Claim 3, wherein said grappling portion is created such that a part of said guiding piece inserted into said recess projects toward the outer side in the width direction.
5. The passenger conveyor according to Claim 3, wherein said projecting portion is created such that it projects toward the inner side in the width direction.
6. The passenger conveyor according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein a groove is provided on a part of the outer peripheral surface of said handrail guide.
7. The passenger conveyor according to Claim 6, wherein said groove is provided on the inner side in the width direction of said handrail guide.
8. The passenger conveyor according to Claim 6, wherein the location of said groove in the width
direction is almost the same as that of a roller of handrail drive equipment in the width direction.