Moving staircase (escalator)

Compared with the frequent stoppage of the moving staircases of the previous type, the moving staircases according to the proposed principle are to bring an improvement. This consists essentially in the fact that the step formation is obtained merely by retention as a result of different revolving speeds inside an endless, hinge-like slat conveyor. Fig. 1 shows an escalator which only works in the ascending direction. The step formation by retention is initiated via a driver chain (Fig. 4), and in fact in such a way that at most an angle can occur between two adjacent slats. Every second slat is equipped with two rubber-tyred rollers (Fig. 6) which are supported on tracks (Fig. 7) to the left and right of the actual stair. In the slow-speed, step-forming section, the movement of the escalator is effected via chain-drawn driver carriages (Fig. 10), while in the faster section the slats are driven via driver discs (Fig. 2). The foot drive can either be designed in such a way that the moving staircase conveys only in the ascending direction (Fig. 1) or in such a way that ascending as well as descending conveying is also possible.