Transport apparatus

Claim 1

TRANSPORT APPARATUS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF ELEVATOR UNITS EACH INCLUDING A RECTANGULAR PLATFORM, AND DRIVE AND GUIDE MEANS ENGAGING SAID ELEVATOR UNITS FOR SAID PLATFORMS TO BE DRIVEN AND GUIDED IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION ALONG AN ENDLESS PATH COMPRISES AT LEAST TWO LOW SPEED ZONES SITUATED AT DIFFERENT LEVELS, A PAIR OF RELATIVELY HIGH SPEED ZONES BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE LOW SPEED ZONES, AND A VARYING SPEED ZONE CONNECTING EACH END OF EACH LOW SPEED ZONE WITH THE ADJACENT END OF A RELATIVELY HIGH SPEED ZONE, SAID DRIVE AND GUIDE MEANS INCLUDING GUIDE MEANS EXTENDING IN SAID LOW SPEED ZONES AND ENGAGING SAID UNITS TO GUIDE THEM FOR HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT THROUGH EACH SAID LOW SPEED ZONE WITH SAID PLATFORMS ALIGNED AND CLOSELY ADJACENT EACH OTHER, SAID GUIDE MEANS FURTHER EXTENDING IN SAID RELATIVELY HIGH SPEED ZONES AND ENGAGING SAID UNITS TO GUIDE THEM FOR SUBSTANTIALLY ALIGNED VERTICAL MOVEMENT THROUGH EACH SAID RELATIVELY HIGH SPEED ZONE, AND SAID GUIDE MEANS EXTENDING THROUGH SAID VARYING SPEED ZONES CONNECTING SAID LOW AND RELATIVELY HIGH SPEED ZONES AND ENGAGING SAID UNITS TO GUIDE THEM FOR VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT THROUGH EACH SAID VARYING SPEED ZONE WITH THE CORRESPONDING SIDES OF SAID PLATFORMS MAINTAINED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER AND SAID PLATFORMS IN STEPPED RELATION WITH DIFFERENCE IN ELEVATION OF SAID PLATFORMS BEING AT A MAXIMUM VALUE AT THE HIGH SPEED END OF EACH SAID VARYING SPEED ZONE AND VARYING PROGRESSIVELY TO ZERO AT THE LOW SPEED END THEREOF, SAID DRIVE AND GUIDE MEANS FURTHER INCLUDING DRIVE MEANS ENGAGING SAID ELEVATOR UNITS FOR DRIVING SAID UNITS AT LOW SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT SPEED HORIZONTALLY THROUGH EACH SAID LOW SPEED ZONE, DRIVE MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID UNITS AT RELATIVELY HIGH SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT SPEED THROUGH EACH SAID RELATIVELY HIGH SPEED ZONE, AND DRIVE MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID UNITS FROM ONE TO THE OTHER OF SAID LOW AND RELATIVELY HIGH SPEED ZONES VERTICALLY AND HORIZONTALLY THROUGH EACH SAID VARYING SPEED ZONE AT A SPEED WHICH PROGRESSIVELY VARIES FROM ONE OF SAID LOW AND RELATIVELY HIGH SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT SPEEDS AT ONE END OF SAID VARYING SPEED ZONE TO THE OTHER OF SAID LOW AND RELATIVELY HIGH SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT SPEEDS AT THE OTHER END OF SAID VARYING SPEED ZONE.