Indian Patents. 257746:"ESCALATOR OR MOVING WALKWAY WITH HANDRAIL ENTRY, HANDRAIL ENTRY OF SUCH AN ESCALATOR OR MOVING WALKWAY, AND METHOD OF REDUCING A GAP IN THE HANDRAIL ENTRY"

Title of Invention	"ESCALATOR OR MOVING WALKWAY WITH HANDRAIL ENTRY, HANDRAIL ENTRY OF SUCH AN ESCALATOR OR MOVING WALKWAY, AND METHOD OF REDUCING A GAP IN THE HANDRAIL ENTRY"
Abstract	The invention relates to an escalator or moving walkway (1) with a handrail (3) and a handrail entry (5) having a finger contact protection cover (6), wherein the finger contact protection cover comprises corrugated bristles (8). (Fig. 3)

Full Text	Escalator or moving walkway with handrail entry, handrail entry of such an escalator or moving walkway, and method of reducing a gap in the handrail entry The invention relates to an escalator or moving walkway with a handrail and a handrail entry having a finger contact protection cover, a handrail entry for such an escalator, and a method of reducing a gap in the handrail entry, according to the definition of the independent patent claims. In the further description the expression "escalator" also describes moving walkway and the expression "step" also embraces moving walkway plates. The steps of a conventional escalator are fastened to two transport chains and form together therewith an endless, circulating step belt, which runs over a respective pair of transport chainwheels at the two ends of the escalator, wherein one transport chainwheel pair belongs to the drive station and drives the step belt and the other chainwheel pair is part of a step belt deflecting station. The individual steps of the step belt are equipped with two front and two rear guide rollers, at which the steps are guided by guide and deflecting cams, which are predominantly fastened to the support construction of the escalator, in a positionally-dependent defined location. In escalators or moving walkways the handrails must, according to regulation, move synchronously or almost synchronously with the step belt or plate belt. The advance of the handrails relative to the step belt amount can amount at most to 10%. The handrails consist of endless rubber belts or plastics material belts which are provided with tensile carriers and reinforcements, have a C-shaped cross-section and slide on specially shaped handrail guide profiles. Other materials can be used. Whereas in the past closed sheet steel balustrades were usual, which are wide and massive, in more recent time balustrades of safety glass have increasingly gained acceptance. These glass balustrades make possible a construction appearing slimmer and lighter without prejudicing the required stability. In the case of escalators and moving walkways of that kind there is placed on the glass plate, which forms the balustrade, a clamping plate which mounts the handrail by way of roller bearings and serves as a sliding guide. Laterally of the balustrade the clamping plate extends in U-shape respectively towards the ends of the C-shaped cross-section of the handrail. In order to provide compensation for tolerances a gap must be left between clamping plate and handrail, since a handrail end which bears there would produce considerable friction which, would lead to acceptable heating and would increase drive power as well as wear. For this reason a gap or air gap has to be left between the handrail entry and handrail. The handrail entry is an opening in the balustrade through which the endless handrail is guided in order to be led back. A gap or air gap of that kind is a safety risk. Due to the play present at both sides the gap width can reach finger thickness, so that insertion of a finger, particularly by children, and thus the risk of pinching and other injuries for the passenger are not excluded. According, tests have been undertaken to produce a deflector surface to prevent finger insertion into the gap. In the case in a escalator or a moving walkway with glass balustrade there was installed at the upper stair (framework) head and at the lower stair (framework) head or at the upper moving walkway head and at the lower moving walkway head a respective finger contact protection cover on each of the left and the right. It has become known from the specification US 3 835 977 to provide the finger protection cover of the handrail entry of an escalator with bristles. It has proved disadvantageous with this solution that such bristles have a very short service life due to the constant wear by the handrail. The forces exerted by the handrail or the hands of passengers damage the structure of the bristles, which have an insufficient stability of shape. Such bristles also have to be designed to be thin and then have poor discernability to the view of passengers. The invention is therefore based on the object of creating an escalator or moving walkway according to the introductory part of claim 1 which enables improved safety against insertion, with simple capability of manufacture and long service life, and which has a constant protection, which is stable in shape, against insertion. According to the invention this object is fulfilled by the independent claims. Advantageous developments are evident from the subclaims. According to the invention it is provided that an escalator or moving walkway with a handrail and a handrail entry, which has a finger contact protection cover, comprises a finger contact protection cover with corrugated bristles. The finger contact protection cover is the region of the escalator having an opening through which the handrail is guided. By corrugated bristles are meant bristles which are not straight in longitudinal direction and have a wavy structure. This is in contrast to the conventional bristles which are used for escalators and which are straight in longitudinal direction. Mechanical tests have shown that the friction with the handrail is reduced in that the corrugated bristles at the handrail entry offer a higher degree of stability of shape and have a longer service life than the straight bristles. The wave structure increases the mechanical strength of the bristles and enables better distribution of the forces exerted by the handrail or the hands of passengers. The wave structure stabilises the bristles against distortion obliquely relative to the longitudinal axis compared with straight bristles. If the straight bristles are pressed in the longitudinal axis, they distort and can no longer exert a counterforce. By contrast thereto, the corrugated bristles accept pressure in the longitudinal axis as resilient stress which is stored in the waves and maintains the bristles in the orientation thereof and the bristles are not distorted. The invention represents a substantial improvement of the handrail entry or the handrail introduction, because the finger contact protection cover is equipped with corrugated bristles. The finger contact protection cover is executed in this new invention with corrugated bristles. In unexpected manner the ends of the bristles exert on the passenger, should the passenger on occasion place fingers in the region, sensory stimuli of such a kind that the passenger involuntarily rapidly withdraws his or her hand and thus is protected against risk of trapping and squeezing. The sensory stimuli produced by the corrugated bristles in compression are, thanks to their higher degree of mechanical stability, stronger than those produced by straight bristles, since the corrugated bristles cannot be simply bent about their longitudinal axis. In a preferred form of embodiment of the invention the end of the bristles is rounded. This is advantageous because the risk of injury of passenger fingers on contact with the bristles is diminished. In the case of contact, such bristles do not cause any wounds or woundings of the passenger. In a second preferred form of embodiment of the invention the corrugated bristles substantially reduce the gap between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover. That is advantageous, because the risk of penetration of a passenger finger into the air gap is further reduced. Through the use of the corrugated bristles there are also produced a more luxuriant accumulation of the bristles and an increased protection from view without, however, having to undertake an increased in the bristle quantity. The handrail entry or handrail introduction is tighter for the same number of bristles. A better protection against finger insertion is thereby achieved. In a further preferred form of embodiment of the invention the handrail entry is mounted at an end cap fastened to the balustrade. This solution enables the quickest and simplest mounting of the corrugated bristles at the escalator and therefore reduces costs in production and mounting. In a further preferred form of embodiment of the invention a handrail entry for escalators or moving walkways has a finger contact protection cover with corrugated bristles. This solution enables a rapid, simple and economic equipping of a conventional escalator with a new handrail entry with the corrugated bristles. In a last preferred form of embodiment of the invention the gap between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover of a handrail entry of an escalator or moving walkway is substantially reduced by corrugated bristles. This is advantageous, because a conventional escalator can be modernised and the risk of penetration of a passenger finger into the air gap between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover is further reduced. An example of embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 and explained in more detail in the following description. Fig. 1 shows a schematic arrangement of an escalator, Fig. 2 shows the region of the handrail entry of the escalator in detail, Fig. 3 shows the handrail entry and Fig. 4 shows the finger contact protection cover. The most significant components of an escalator 1 are schematically illustrated in Fig. 1. A circulating, endless step belt, which is driven by a drive unit by way of a transport chain drive wheel unit, is integrated in an escalator support construction. In Fig. 1 there can be seen an escalator 1 with a glass balustrade 2, as well as a handrail 3 and a framework 4, also as a detail A and a second detail A' which localise the finger contact protection covers 6 in the escalator. In Fig. 2 there can be seen the detail A and/or the second detail A', which shows or show the handrail entry 5 with the finger contact protection cover 6. In Fig. 3 the detail A can be seen to enlarged scale, which shows the finger contact protection cover 6 and the handrail 3 as well as the corrugated bristles 8 plus the front (end) plate or front cap 7. A gap or air gap 9 is present between the handrail 3 and the finger contact protection cover 6. In Fig. 4 there can be seen the finger contact protection cover 6 as an individual part. The corrugated bristles 8 are particularly readily apparent here. As Fig. 4 clarifies, the finger contact protection cover 6 comprises corrugated bristles 8 which are characterised by better shape stability, higher mechanical strength and longer service life than those of the straight bristles. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the end of the bristles is rounded. This is advantageous, because the risk of injury to a passenger finger on contact with the bristles is reduced. The finger contact protection cover 6 carries out, according to the invention, several tasks at the same time. It prevents penetration of foreign bodies: pieces of newspaper, plastic bag components, pebbles, clothing threads and coarser pieces of dirt as well as snow and ice. Reaching in by persons, particularly small children, is prevented by the corrugated bristles. As a consequence thereof, it is not possible to follow the driven handrail 3 up to the handrail entry or the handrail introduction 5. Moreover, the finger contact protection cover forms the visual closure of the escalator or the moving walkway relative to the glass balustrade 2. The corrugated bristles substantially reduce, by their density, the gap or air gap 9 between the running, driven handrail 3 and the finger contact protection cover 6, wherein the risk of penetration of a passenger finger into the gap or air gap 9 is further reduced. Moreover, through the use of the corrugated bristles 8 and the density thereof there is given a better protection from view, which perfectly conceals or encloses the running in or the disappearance of the driven handrail 3 into the front (end) plates or front caps or end caps 7. The handrail entry or the handrail introduction 5 is usually hidden and not visible to the eyes of passengers or users of the escalator or moving walkway 1. Through use of the waved bristles 8 there is effected a more luxuriant accumulation of the bristles, without, however, having to undertake an increase in the bristle (number) quantity. The handrail entry or handrail introduction 5 is tighter for the same number of bristles. As is shown in Fig. 3, it is of advantage if the handrail entry 5 is mounted at an end cap 7 which fastened to the balustrade 2. This solution enables the quickest and simplest mounting of the corrugated bristles 8 at the escalator and reduces costs for production and mounting. Claims 1. Escalator or moving walkway (1) with a handrail (3) and a handrail entry (5) having a finger contact protection cover (6), characterised in that the finger contact protection cover comprises corrugated bristles (8). 2. Escalator or moving walkway according to claim 1, characterised in that the corrugated bristles substantially reduce the gap (9) between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover. 3. Escalator or moving walkway according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the handrail entry is mounted at an end cap (7) fastened to a balustrade (2). 4. Escalator or moving walkway according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the end of the bristles is rounded. 5. Handrail entry (5) for an escalator or moving walkway (1) with a finger contact protection cover (6), characterised in that finger contact protection cover has corrugated bristles. 6. Method of substantially reducing a gap (9) between a handrail (3) and a finger contact protection cover (6) of a handrail entry (5) of an escalator or moving walkway (1), characterised in that corrugated bristles (8) are mounted at the finger contact protection cover.

Full Text

Escalator or moving walkway with handrail entry, handrail entry of such an escalator or moving walkway, and method of reducing a gap in the handrail entry
The invention relates to an escalator or moving walkway with a handrail and a handrail entry having a finger contact protection cover, a handrail entry for such an escalator, and a method of reducing a gap in the handrail entry, according to the definition of the independent patent claims.
In the further description the expression "escalator" also describes moving walkway and the expression "step" also embraces moving walkway plates.
The steps of a conventional escalator are fastened to two transport chains and form together therewith an endless, circulating step belt, which runs over a respective pair of transport chainwheels at the two ends of the escalator, wherein one transport chainwheel pair belongs to the drive station and drives the step belt and the other chainwheel pair is part of a step belt deflecting station. The individual steps of the step belt are equipped with two front and two rear guide rollers, at which the steps are guided by guide and deflecting cams, which are predominantly fastened to the support construction of the escalator, in a positionally-dependent defined location.
In escalators or moving walkways the handrails must, according to regulation, move synchronously or almost synchronously with the step belt or plate belt. The advance of the handrails relative to the step belt amount can amount at most to 10%.
The handrails consist of endless rubber belts or plastics material belts which are provided with tensile carriers and reinforcements, have a C-shaped cross-section and slide on specially shaped handrail guide profiles. Other materials can be used.
Whereas in the past closed sheet steel balustrades were usual, which are wide and massive, in more recent time balustrades of safety glass have increasingly gained acceptance. These glass balustrades make possible a construction appearing slimmer and lighter without prejudicing the required stability.
In the case of escalators and moving walkways of that kind there is placed on the glass plate, which forms the balustrade, a clamping plate which mounts the handrail by way of roller bearings and serves as a sliding guide. Laterally of the balustrade the clamping plate extends in U-shape respectively towards the ends of the C-shaped cross-section of the handrail. In order to provide compensation for tolerances a gap must be left between clamping plate and handrail, since a handrail end which bears there would produce considerable friction which, would lead to acceptable heating and would increase drive power as well as wear.
For this reason a gap or air gap has to be left between the handrail entry and handrail. The handrail entry is an opening in the balustrade through which the endless handrail is guided in order to be led back.
A gap or air gap of that kind is a safety risk. Due to the play present at both sides the gap width can reach finger thickness, so that insertion of a finger, particularly by children, and thus the risk of pinching and other injuries for the passenger are not excluded.
According, tests have been undertaken to produce a deflector surface to prevent finger insertion into the gap. In the case in a escalator or a moving walkway with glass balustrade there was installed at the upper stair (framework) head and at the lower stair (framework) head or at the upper moving walkway head and at the lower moving walkway head a respective finger contact protection cover on each of the left and the right. It has become known from the specification US 3 835 977 to provide the finger protection cover of the handrail entry of an escalator with bristles.
It has proved disadvantageous with this solution that such bristles have a very short service life due to the constant wear by the handrail. The forces exerted by the handrail or the hands of passengers damage the structure of the bristles, which have an insufficient stability of shape. Such bristles also have to be designed to be thin and then have poor discernability to the view of passengers.
The invention is therefore based on the object of creating an escalator or moving walkway according to the introductory part of claim 1 which enables improved safety against insertion, with simple capability of manufacture and long service life, and which has a constant protection, which is stable in shape, against insertion.
According to the invention this object is fulfilled by the independent claims. Advantageous developments are evident from the subclaims.
According to the invention it is provided that an escalator or moving walkway with a handrail and a handrail entry, which has a finger contact protection cover, comprises a finger contact protection cover with corrugated bristles.
The finger contact protection cover is the region of the escalator having an opening through which the handrail is guided.
By corrugated bristles are meant bristles which are not straight in longitudinal direction and have a wavy structure. This is in contrast to the conventional bristles which are used for escalators and which are straight in longitudinal direction.
Mechanical tests have shown that the friction with the handrail is reduced in that the corrugated bristles at the handrail entry offer a higher degree of stability of shape and have a longer service life than the straight bristles. The wave structure increases the mechanical strength of the bristles and enables better distribution of the forces exerted by the handrail or the hands of passengers. The wave structure stabilises the bristles against distortion obliquely relative to the longitudinal axis compared with straight bristles. If the straight bristles are pressed in the longitudinal axis, they distort and can no longer exert a counterforce. By contrast thereto, the corrugated bristles accept pressure in the longitudinal axis as resilient stress which is stored in the waves and maintains the bristles in the orientation thereof and the bristles are not distorted.
The invention represents a substantial improvement of the handrail entry or the handrail introduction, because the finger contact protection cover is equipped with corrugated bristles. The finger contact protection cover is executed in this new invention with corrugated bristles.
In unexpected manner the ends of the bristles exert on the passenger, should the passenger on occasion place fingers in the region, sensory stimuli of such a kind that the passenger involuntarily rapidly withdraws his or her hand and thus is protected against risk of trapping and squeezing. The sensory stimuli produced by the corrugated bristles in compression are, thanks to their higher degree of mechanical stability, stronger than those produced by straight bristles, since the corrugated bristles cannot be simply bent about their longitudinal axis.
In a preferred form of embodiment of the invention the end of the bristles is rounded. This is advantageous because the risk of injury of passenger fingers on contact with the bristles is diminished. In the case of contact, such bristles do not cause any wounds or woundings of the passenger.
In a second preferred form of embodiment of the invention the corrugated bristles substantially reduce the gap between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover. That is advantageous, because the risk of penetration of a passenger finger into the air gap is further reduced.
Through the use of the corrugated bristles there are also produced a more luxuriant accumulation of the bristles and an increased protection from view without, however, having to undertake an increased in the bristle quantity. The handrail entry or handrail introduction is tighter for the same number of bristles. A better protection against finger insertion is thereby achieved.
In a further preferred form of embodiment of the invention the handrail entry is mounted at an end cap fastened to the balustrade. This solution enables the quickest and simplest mounting of the corrugated bristles at the escalator and therefore reduces costs in production and mounting.
In a further preferred form of embodiment of the invention a handrail entry for escalators or moving walkways has a finger contact protection cover with corrugated bristles. This solution enables a rapid, simple and economic equipping of a conventional escalator with a new handrail entry with the corrugated bristles.
In a last preferred form of embodiment of the invention the gap between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover of a handrail entry of an escalator or moving walkway is substantially reduced by corrugated bristles. This is advantageous, because a conventional escalator can be modernised and the risk of penetration of a passenger finger into the air gap between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover is further reduced.
An example of embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 and explained in more detail in the following description.
Fig. 1 shows a schematic arrangement of an escalator,
Fig. 2 shows the region of the handrail entry of the escalator in detail,
Fig. 3 shows the handrail entry and
Fig. 4 shows the finger contact protection cover.
The most significant components of an escalator 1 are schematically illustrated in Fig. 1. A circulating, endless step belt, which is driven by a drive unit by way of a transport chain drive wheel unit, is integrated in an escalator support construction.
In Fig. 1 there can be seen an escalator 1 with a glass balustrade 2, as well as a handrail 3 and a framework 4, also as a detail A and a second detail A' which localise the finger contact protection covers 6 in the escalator.
In Fig. 2 there can be seen the detail A and/or the second detail A', which shows or show the handrail entry 5 with the finger contact protection cover 6.
In Fig. 3 the detail A can be seen to enlarged scale, which shows the finger contact protection cover 6 and the handrail 3 as well as the corrugated bristles 8 plus the front (end) plate or front cap 7. A gap or air gap 9 is present between the handrail 3 and the finger contact protection cover 6.
In Fig. 4 there can be seen the finger contact protection cover 6 as an individual part. The corrugated bristles 8 are particularly readily apparent here.
As Fig. 4 clarifies, the finger contact protection cover 6 comprises corrugated bristles 8 which are characterised by better shape stability, higher mechanical strength and longer service life than those of the straight bristles.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the end of the bristles is rounded.
This is advantageous, because the risk of injury to a passenger finger on contact with the bristles is reduced.
The finger contact protection cover 6 carries out, according to the invention, several tasks at the same time. It prevents penetration of foreign bodies: pieces of newspaper, plastic bag components, pebbles, clothing threads and coarser pieces of dirt as well as snow and ice.
Reaching in by persons, particularly small children, is prevented by the corrugated bristles. As a consequence thereof, it is not possible to follow the driven handrail 3 up to the handrail entry or the handrail introduction 5.
Moreover, the finger contact protection cover forms the visual closure of the escalator or the moving walkway relative to the glass balustrade 2.
The corrugated bristles substantially reduce, by their density, the gap or air gap 9 between the running, driven handrail 3 and the finger contact protection cover 6, wherein the risk of penetration of a passenger finger into the gap or air gap 9 is further reduced.
Moreover, through the use of the corrugated bristles 8 and the density thereof there is given a better protection from view, which perfectly conceals or encloses the running in or the disappearance of the driven handrail 3 into the front (end) plates or front caps or end caps 7.
The handrail entry or the handrail introduction 5 is usually hidden and not visible to the eyes of passengers or users of the escalator or moving walkway 1.
Through use of the waved bristles 8 there is effected a more luxuriant accumulation of the bristles, without, however, having to undertake an increase in the bristle (number) quantity. The handrail entry or handrail introduction 5 is tighter for the same number of bristles.
As is shown in Fig. 3, it is of advantage if the handrail entry 5 is mounted at an end cap 7 which fastened to the balustrade 2. This solution enables the quickest and simplest mounting of the corrugated bristles 8 at the escalator and reduces costs for production and mounting.

Claims
1. Escalator or moving walkway (1) with a handrail (3) and a handrail entry (5) having a finger contact protection cover (6), characterised in that the finger contact protection cover comprises corrugated bristles (8).
2. Escalator or moving walkway according to claim 1, characterised in that the corrugated bristles substantially reduce the gap (9) between the handrail and the finger contact protection cover.
3. Escalator or moving walkway according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the handrail entry is mounted at an end cap (7) fastened to a balustrade (2).
4. Escalator or moving walkway according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the end of the bristles is rounded.
5. Handrail entry (5) for an escalator or moving walkway (1) with a finger contact protection cover (6), characterised in that finger contact protection cover has corrugated bristles.
6. Method of substantially reducing a gap (9) between a handrail (3) and a finger contact protection cover (6) of a handrail entry (5) of an escalator or moving walkway (1), characterised in that corrugated bristles (8) are mounted at the finger contact protection cover.

Documents:

1006-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 23-04-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 26-08-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 03-09-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 FORM-3 03-09-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 FORM-3 26-08-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 OTHER PATENT DOCUMENT 26-08-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY 26-08-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 26-08-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 AMENDED CLAIMS 26-08-2013.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 ABSTRACT.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 CLAIMS.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

1006-CHE-2005 DRAWINGS.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 FORM 1.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 FORM 18.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 FORM 3.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 FORM 5.pdf

1006-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY.pdf

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Patent Number

257746

Indian Patent Application Number

1006/CHE/2005

PG Journal Number

44/2013

Publication Date

01-Nov-2013

Grant Date

31-Oct-2013

Date of Filing

26-Jul-2005

Name of Patentee

INVENTIO AG

Applicant Address

SEESTRASSE 55, CH-6052 HERGISWIL.

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	THIERER, WALTER	RUEPPGASSE 5/16, AT-1020 VIENNA.
2	SAILER, PAUL	FRIEDMANNGASSE 62/12, AT-1160 VIENNA, AUSTRIA

PCT International Classification Number

B66B 23/04

PCT International Application Number

N/A

PCT International Filing date

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1	04405476.5	2004-07-26	EUROPEAN UNION