Apparatus for guiding a conveyor

Claim 2

A moving stairway comprising: an endless belt; a supporting structure for supporting said endless belt for an upper load bearing run and a lower return run; first and second skirts fastened to the supporting structure in spaced relation to form essentially vertical walls along the edges of the load bearing run of the endless belt; stairway steps pivotally mounted on said endless belt, between Said first and second spaced skirts; and guide means extending laterally at spaced intervals from said endless belt, on predetermined sides of each of said first and second skirts which are opposite the step sides of the skirts, said guide means including guide rollers mounted for rotation against the predetermined sides of said first and second skirts; whereby, the endless belt and the first and second skirts are directly coupled together at spaced intervals to provide a positive lateral guide for the endless belt along the load bearing run, and to preclude objects from spreading the skirts away from stairway steps and from becoming wedged between the skirts and the steps by relative movement between them.

Claim 3

The moving stairway of claim 1, wherein the endless belt comprises a series of rigid linkages, a plurality of transverse axles for pivotally connecting said linkages and upon which the stairway steps are pivotally mounted, and main rollers on each end of each axle for supporting said linkages, said combination wherein the guide rollers of the guide means extend from a plurality of said linkages.

Claim 4

The moving stairway of claim 2, wherein the main rollers are mounted for rotation in a vertical plane parallel to the direction of movement of the endless belt; and including a first set of tracks for giving vertical support to the main rollers.

Claim 5

The conveyor system of claim 3: wherein the first set of tracks guide the main rollers for vertical positioning on the return run as well as in the load bearing run; and including a second set of tracks having vertical guiding surfaces located on either side of the return run, said second set of tracks cooperating with the guide rollers to control the lateral positioning of the endless belt on the return run.

Claim 6

In a moving stairway: a supporting structure; a pair of spaced parallel flexible endless units composed of pivotally connected rigid linkages; a plurality of axles transverse to the flexible endless units for pivotally connecting corresponding adjacent rigid linkages in each flexible unit; main rollers on each end of each axle; a pair of tracks on the supporting structure for guiding the main rollers with respect to the supporting structure in an endless path; stairway steps pivotally connected to each axle between said flexible endless units; skirt means extending vertically downward from the supporting structure on either side of the steps between the steps and the flexible endless units forming essentially vertical walls along the edges of the steps; and guide means connected to a plurality of corresponding linkages in each of said flexible endless units, said guide means bearing against the adjacent skirt, on the side of the skirt opposite to the step side; whereby the steps are laterally guided by the cooperative guide means and skirts and objects on the steps cannot become drawn into the space between the step and the skirts by spreading the two apart.

Claim 7

In a moving stairway: a supporting structure; a pair of spaced parallel flexible endless units composed of pivotally connected rigid linkages; a plurality of axles transverse to the flexible endless units for pivotally connecting corresponding adjacent rigid linkages in each flexible unit; main rollers on each end of each axle; a pair of tracks on the supporting structure for guiding the main rollers with respect to the supporting structure in an endless path; stairway steps pivotally connected to each axle between said flexible endless units; skirt means extending vertically downward from the supporting structure on either side of the steps between the steps and the flexible endless units forming essentially vertical walls along the edges of the steps; and guide means connected to a plurality of corresponding linkages in each of said flexible endless units, said guide means bearing against the adjacent skirt, on the side of the skirt opposite to the step side; whereby the steps are laterally guided by the cooperative guide means and skirts and objects on the steps cannot become drawn into the space between the step and the skirts by spreading the two apart.

Claim 8

The moving stairway of claim 6 wherein the guide means comprises rollers mounted for rolling against the sides of the skirts away from the steps.