A passenger conveyor having a high speed central portion and initial and terminal portions of gradually building up and slowing down speeds including a means for effecting this speed variation comprising articulated parallelogram frame members which are adjustable, according to the spacing of guides along which they travel, to thereby vary the relative positioning of overlapping adjacent plates forming the passenger supporting surface.
A plate for conveyors employing sliding plates has longitudinal ribs and grooves on its upper face and on at least one terminal portion of its lower face for sliding in the grooves and on the ribs of the upper face of the adjacent lower plate. The grooves of the lower face are directly beneath the ribs of the upper face. The upper part of the plate above the lower terminal portion has a top chamfer so that the top chamfer above the lower plate forms a continuous surface for each of two successive upper ribs and a lower rib which they straddle. Each upper groove is situated between two successive continuous surfaces and the corresponding lower rib terminates in a common lower chamfer situated below the continuous surfaces so that the plates are engaged in each other while forming a horizontal surface adjacent ingress and/or egress stationary rakes of the conveyor. The construction provides in every two grooves a passage for the teeth of the rakes through these plates above their lower chamfers.
The invention relates to a moving sidewalk or article conveyor comprising a continuous belt capable of differential speeds along a portion of the surface of the belt. Discrete arcuate units forming the continuous belt tilt relative to the plane of the belt and mutually overlap in interdigitating fashion over a variable portion of the surface areas of the units to provide a level surface, the end portions of which surface travel at a constant first rate of speed while the intermediate portions therebetween accelerate to and decelerate from a second, more rapid constant rate of speed.
A variable speed conveyor having an endless conveyor member composed of longitudinally spaced load-bearing sections which are relatively movable with at least a component of relative motion parallel to the conveyor path. The conveyor member is driven endwise in a manner such that the velocity of each load-bearing section parallel to the conveyor path varies along the path between the conveyor in-feed and out-feed stations to maximize the average conveyor velocity along the path and/or to provide the conveyor with different in-feed and out-feed velocities. The conveyor is useful both as an article conveyance and a pedestrian conveyance.
A funicular type transport device including a variation chain and at least one tractor chain. The variation chain includes a plurality of variation links of variable length forming a continuous loop and a plurality of mobiles interconnected with the plurality of variation links. Each of the plurality of mobile components is provided with an interconnection device selectively engageable with the at least one tractor chain. A sensor measures the tension in the variation chain. A control device responds to the sensor to maintain the tension in the variation chain below a predetermined maximum level.
