The invention relates to elevators and lifts for the transport of people to and from their homes in terrassed semi-detached houses built on hillsides,or between floors in hotels and other buildings erected on the same principle.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE.

In the past few decades it has become the fashion to erect buildings on slopes of hills and mountains which up to then were thought unsuitable for this kind of settlement.

The solution was building so-called terrassed semi- detached homes in the form of apartments built with certain portions overlapping and with large terrasses.

This kind of building ensures the occupant much privacy without direct neighbours and presents him with the possibility to tend a small garden.

As in most multi-storey buildings elevator service must be provided, and these inclined elevators are being built in the form of a cabin running on rails on the floor in the open or in a tunnel; the cabin is pulled up and down by cable means and electric machinery, similar to that used with elevators running in vertical shafts. Now experience has shown that a relatively slow travelling speed of the inclined elevator had to be chosen in order to prevent the occupants from being pushed back and fore by the inertia forces during deceleration and acceleration of the cabin near the different stations.

The same effect does not occur in cable cars or mountain railways where the inertia forces are greatly reduced by the relative long braking and starting distances which do not much influence the average travelling speed owing to the large distance between stations. This does not apply to speed regulation of inclined elevators connecting the floors in terrassed homes where the distance between stations is only a few meters. With lifts in vertical shafts only vertical inertia forces are felt, and they do not throw the occupants sideways, but with the inclined elevator for terrassed homes it becomes necessary to choose a rather low speed. Now low speed means a longer travel time and long waiting periods for the persons at various stations or stories, and it is the object of the present invention to provide means that allow an inclined elevator to travel at higher speed while considerably reducing the action of the inertia forces on the occupants.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION.

The inclined elevator for terrassed semi-detached homes, according to the present invention. is designed for higher speed without the unpleasantness of horizontal inertia forces acting on the passengers.It includes a cabin pivot- ally suspended from a carriage'which preferably runs on rails attached to the top of a tunnel or inclined shaft.

As an alternative the carriage will travel on rails on the tunnel floor with the cabin suspended from a horizontal axle at the top of a structure erected on the carriage.

The pivot from which the cabin is suspended is a horizontal axle with its axis perpendicular to the direction of travel, causing the cabin to swing about this pivot during start and stop periods of the elevator near each station. Deceleration before a stop and complete halt at the station will deviate the cabin about a maximum angle without effect on the passengers. However the swing- back motion might be unpleasant, especially since the cabin has to be brought to vertical position at the station door at the end of the return swing. Similarly during start from a station the cabin would swing back- wards which would not affect the passengers, but it would continue to swing during the rest of the travel towards the next halt, again an unpleasant experience.

With a view to avoiding pendulous swinging of the cabin and to prevent strong inertia forces from acting on the passengers, the angular swinging motion of the cabin is controlled by an electrically operated linear actuator connecting a portion of the cabin with the carriage. The actuator is preferably controlled by sensor means sensitive to acceleration and deceleration of the carriage and the cabin, so as to regulate the speed at which the cabin is brought into vertical position again. As an alternative the sensor may control the actuator by sensing the angular deviation of the ' cabin relative to the carriage, selectively at start and at stop, during uphill and downhill travel. Or there may be a combination of sensor means of both kinds controllimg the actuator motor speed by means of an electronic controller.

As an alternative to the linear actuator it is proposed to mount a rotary actuator in concentric alignment with the pivot axle supporting the cabin, which is to moven the cabin in a direction and at a rotational speed required to obtain minimal inertia forces acting on the passengers.

It appears that both during starting and stopping of the cabin motion to a maximum deviation may go unhindered, but that during the return to vertical position, both during straight travel and complete standstill the cabin is to be controlled by the actuator assembly with a view to minim- ize horizontal inertia forces acting on the passengers. In order to reduce the magnitude of the acceleration or deceleration the time required for returning the cabin into vertical position may be different fromn the swing- back time without actuator control.

As an alternative the elevator cabin can be mounted on wheels that travel on an upwardly curved pair of rails which form the top portion of a carriage running on rails on the tunnel floor. The curvature has a focus non the vertical canterline of the cabin, and it becomes evident that the inertia forces would force the cabin to travel up and down the curved rails while rotating about the focus.

Hereby the same effects as with the cabin suspension would be attained, and the same remedy would be used to 54 duce unpleasant forces on the passengers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

Figure 1 is a schematic side view of an inclined elevator travelling on rails attached to the roof of a tunnel, Figure 2 is a section along lie 2-2 of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a schematic side view of an inclined elevator travelling on floor rails with the cabin suspended from a cabin structure, and Figure 4 is a schematic side view of an inclined elevator having the cabin supported in a curved cradle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

The inclined elevator shown in Figures 1 and 2 travels on rails 16 which are attached to the top 1 of a tunnel or an inclined shaft by a support structure 17. The elevator cabin 2 is suspended from a wheeled carriage 15 by means of a horizontal pivot in the form of an axle 3 which permits angular motion in forward and rearward direction as indicated by angle 6. The carriage is attached to a cable 13 which is pulled up and down by electric machinery at the top of the tunnel with its movements controlled by control means known to the art. A counterweight 14 is attached to the end of the cable running on rails 12 on the floor of the tunnel or shaft.

As said in the beginning, the pivotal suspension of the cabin has been chosen with a view to reducing the horizontal inertia forces on the passengers during stops and starts of the elevator. On the other hand, the cabin would swing pendulum-like at every stop until coming to a final rest, a feature to be avoided by the provision of a

linear actuator 8 connecting a point on the cabin with a point on the carriage. It is the task of the actuator to control the angular deviation and the angular velocity of the cabin so as to reduce the inertia forces on the passengers to a agreeable degree. The motion of the actuator is either controlled by sensor and computer means or, as an alternative, pre-designed and programmed in accordance with the cabin behavior during stops and starts. The present drawing shows a sensor 19 mounted on the carriage which is onfigured to measure the carriage acceleration. A sensor 18 on the bottom portion of the cabin measures the acceleration perpendicular to the passengers' axis, and sensor 20 next to pivot 3 measures the angular deviation of the cabin from the vertical at every moment. The sensors transmit corresponding signals to a control system which transmits signals to the actuator motor and to the elevator drive motor respect- ively controlling the speed of the actuator and of the carriage. A more detailed description of the control operation will be tendered with reference to the embodiment illustrated in Figure 4.

Another embodiment of the inclined elevator is illustrated in FIgure 3 of the drawings,wherein a cabin 2 is supported by a carriage 4 travelling on rails on the floor of the shaft or tunnel. A steel structure 7 is erected on the carriage surrounding the cabin and supporting it on a horizontal pivot axle 3. The carriage is pulled up and down by cable 13, and a counterweight is provided at the other end of the cable in a manner known to the art, but is not shown in the drawing. The motion of the cabin is controlled by a linear actuator 8 which is connected to

the structure by way of a sideways extending arm 9 to the bottom of cabin 2. Sensors 18 and 19 are attached to the bottom of the cabin and to the carriage 4 respectively.

Operation of the actuator is the same as described with reference to the first embodiment of Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 finally illustrates an embodiment wherein the cabin is not suspended from the carriage, but moves along a circular path about a focus 23. For this purpose the carriage 24 features a pair of rails 27 having a curvature around focus 23, along which the cabin can travel back and fore by means of wheels 30 and counterwheels 31. As in the afore described embodiments, there are provided actuator and sensors for the control of the actuator. Operation of the elevator by electric machinery and angular deviation control are the same as described with reference to the elevator of Figure 1.

Reducing the inertia forces on the passengers with the aid of linear actuators and sensors placed in different locations will now be described with reference to all three embodiments of the elevator:- Sensor 19 (or 29)is mounted on the carriage and measures the acceleration of the carriage and signals are transmitted to and from the control system of the elevator assembly. At zero acceleration the cabin should be in vertical position as recorded by sensor 20 on top of the cabin.

Sensor 18 (or 38) at the cabin's bottom measures the acceleration perpendicular to the passengers' bodies, which is to be reduced to a minimumm by action of the

ctuator. In fact the center of gravity of an adult person- about 0.8 m above the floor - and the sensor could advantageously be mounted on the cabin at that level. On the other hand the actual acceleration at this level is readily calculated by the control system.

The signals emitted by the sensors are transmitted to the control system which is programmed to calculate the optimum angle for a minimum acceleration force on the passengers. Then it measures the actual angle 6 by means of sensor 20 and corrects any deviation from the desired condition.

In an alternative control system the sensor can be omitted and the actuator motion pre-designated and programmed. It is evident that owing to the backwards swinging of the cabin during starting and forward tilting during stopping of the elevator the inertia forces on the passengers are mainly in vertical direction and therefore not disturbing.

On the other hand, rightening of the cabin from tilting position, especially the last phase will cause horizontal forces trying to push people sidewards. It is, therefore the task of the actuator to provide smooth landing of the cabin into vertical position by controlling the speed to be gradually reduced at the end of the return path.