Multi-bank elevator system having motion and position indicator

Claim 2

In a vehicular system comprising a structure having a plurality of landings, a plurality of banks of vehicles, each of said banks including a plurality of vehicles, means for moving said vehicles and stopping said vehicles at a plurality of said landings to provide transport for said landings, display means for substantially simultaneously displaying the status of the vehicles in any one of said banks in relation to the structure, and control means for each of said banks for coupling the display means selectively to each of the banks, said display means comprising a first display device responsive to the control means for indicating the specific bank to which the display means is coupled, and a second display device common to said banks and having first and second display conditions, anD supervising means responsive to a predetermined condition of the bank to which the display means is coupled for operating the second display device from the first to the second display condition, and sequence means operating the control means to couple the display means sequentially to the banks for sequentially presenting displays corresponding to a predetermined condition for each of said banks.

Claim 3

A vehicular system as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said displays of the second display device includes means representing vehicle position.

Claim 4

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 1 in combination with preference means responsive to a predetermined condition for controlling said display means to present continuously displays specific to one of said banks.

Claim 5

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said preference means is responsive to an improper operation occurring in one of said banks.

Claim 6

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said preference means comprises a manually-operable device and means responsive to a manual operation of said last-named device for controlling said display means to present continuously one of said displays specific to one of the banks.

Claim 7

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said second display device comprises a common display unit, said supervising means being responsive to the position of a vehicle in each of the banks to which the display means is coupled by the control means for sequentially portraying on said common display unit the position of a vehicle in each of said banks.

Claim 8

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 6 wherein each of said banks serves a different group of said landings, said supervising means controlling said common display unit to portray sequentially the position of a vehicle in each of said banks with respect to a different landing.

Claim 9

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said display means comprises a separate first display device for each of said banks, said control means including means operating the first display device corresponding to the bank to which the display means is coupled.

Claim 10

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said display means comprises second display devices equal in number to the maximum number of landings served by any of the vehicles.

Claim 11

A vehicular system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said vehicles comprise elevator cars, each of said banks serving a different group of said landings, said display means comprising a row of up landing-call indicating devices equal in number to the maximum number of landings from which up landing calls may be registered for any of said banks, a row of down landing call indicating devices equal in number to the maximum number of landings from which the down landing calls may be registered for any of said banks, and a plurality of rows of car position indicating devices, the number of rows of car position indicating devices being equal to the maximum number of cars in any of said banks, said sequence means being effective for each step of the sequence for rendering the display means effective for indicating landing calls registered and car positions corresponding to the associated step of said sequence.

Claim 12

A system as claimed in claim 10 in combination with means for indicating the specific bank under display by the display means.

Claim 13

A system as claimed in claim 11 wherein each of a plurality of said landing-call indicating devices represents a different landing for each of said banks, in combination with means indicating the landing represented by each of the landing-call indicating devices for each of the banks coupled to the display means.

Claim 14

A system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said display means comprises identification means for displaying a separate identification display continuously for the duration of each sequence step associated with a separate one of said banks.

Claim 15

A system as claimed in claim 13 wherein said common display unit when activated represents a Different landing for each of said banks, a plurality of spaced associating means each representing a separate one of said different landings, each of said identification displays being located to point out the effective one of the associating means.

Claim 16

A system as claimed in claim 1 in combination with a separate signal device having three display conditions for each of said vehicles, means for transferring each of the vehicles from inoperative to operative condition and for transferring the associated signal device from a first to a second of the display conditions, and means responsive to an abnormal condition of each of said vehicles for transferring the associated signal device to a third of the display conditions.

Claim 17

A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of the banks comprises a plurality of elevator cars serving a separate group of landings in a building, said display means comprising a plurality of vertical rows of first signal devices, each row indicating car position for a separate one of the cars in one of the banks, a vertical row of second signal devices each indicating in signal-ling condition a call for up service from a separate landing served by the cars in one of the banks, a vertical row of third signal devices each indicating in signalling condition a call for down service from a separate landing served by one of the banks, a plurality of vertical rows of landing designators, each of said last-named rows designating the landings served by a separate one of said banks, said signal devices and designators being arranged in horizontal rows with each of the horizontal rows including the signal devices specific to a separate landing for each of said banks and including a separate designator for each of said banks to designate a separate landing for each of the banks, and a separate depicting signal device for each vertical row of said designators for depicting when in signalling condition that the associated row of designators is effective.

Claim 18

A system as claimed in claim 16 in combination with a plurality of vertical rows of fourth signal devices, a separate one of such rows being aligned with each of the verti-cal rows of first signal devices, the fourth signal devices being arranged in a plurality of horizontal rows, a separate one of the last-named rows being provided for each of the banks, each of said depicting signal devices when in signalling condition depicting a separate horizontal row of said fourth signal devices, whereby each of the fourth signal devices may be arranged to indicate the condition of a separate one of the cars, said sequence means including means for operating the appropriate one of the depicting signal devices and the appropriate horizontal row of the fourth signal devices, means for operating each of the vertical rows of first signal devices in response to the position of the appropriate car for each of the sequence steps, and means for operating the second and third signal devices to represent calls for service from the landings for each of the sequence steps.

Claim 19

A system as claimed in claim 17 in combination with preference means responsive to a predetermined condition in any of said banks for rendering said sequence means in-effective and for conditioning said display means to display continuously the status of the vehicles in the bank having said predetermined condition, said preference means including means manually operable for conditioning the display means to display continuously the status of the vehicles in any one of said banks.

Claim 20

In a position and motion indicator for a plurality of banks of elevator cars, each of the banks comprises a plurality of elevator cars serving a separate group of landings in a building, a first legend indicating car position, a plurality of vertical rows of first signal devices associated with said legend, whereby each row can indicate car position for a separate one of the cars in one of the banks, a second legend indicating up calls, a vertical row of second signal devicEs associated with said second legend, whereby each second signal device can indicate in signalling condition a call for up service from a separate landing served by the cars in one of the banks, a third legend indicating down calls, a vertical row of third signal devices associated with said third legend, whereby each third signal device can indicate in signalling condition a call for down service from a separate landing served by one of the banks, a fourth legend indicating landings, a plurality of vertical rows of landing designators associated with said fourth legend whereby each of said last-named rows can designate the landings served by a separate one of said banks, said signal devices and designators being arranged in horizontal rows with each of the horizontal rows including the signal devices specific to a separate landing for each of said banks and including a separate designator for each of said banks to designate a separate landing for each of said banks, and a separate depicting signal device for each vertical row of said designations for depicting when in signalling condition that the associated row of designations is effective.

Claim 21

In a position and motion indicator for a plurality of banks of elevator cars, each of the banks comprises a plurality of elevator cars serving a separate group of landings in a building, a first legend indicating car position, a plurality of vertical rows of first signal devices associated with said legend, whereby each row can indicate car position for a separate one of the cars in one of the banks, a second legend indicating up calls, a vertical row of second signal devicEs associated with said second legend, whereby each second signal device can indicate in signalling condition a call for up service from a separate landing served by the cars in one of the banks, a third legend indicating down calls, a vertical row of third signal devices associated with said third legend, whereby each third signal device can indicate in signalling condition a call for down service from a separate landing served by one of the banks, a fourth legend indicating landings, a plurality of vertical rows of landing designators associated with said fourth legend whereby each of said last-named rows can designate the landings served by a separate one of said banks, said signal devices and designators being arranged in horizontal rows with each of the horizontal rows including the signal devices specific to a separate landing for each of said banks and including a separate designator for each of said banks to designate a separate landing for each of said banks, and a separate depicting signal device for each vertical row of said designations for depicting when in signalling condition that the associated row of designations is effective.

Claim 22

A system as claimed in claim 19 in combination with a plurality of vertical rows of fourth signal devices, a separate one of such last-named rows being aligned with each of the vertical rows of first signal devices, the fourth signal devices being arranged in a plurality of horizontal rows, a separate one of the last-named row being provided for each of the banks, each of said depicting signal devices when in signalling condition depicting a separate horizontal row of said fourth signal devices, whereby each of the fourth signal devices may be arranged to indicate the condition of a separate one of the cars, said sequence means including means for operating the appropriate one of the depicting signal devices and the appro-priate horizontal row of the fourth signal devices, means for operating each of the vertical rows of first signal devices in response to the position of the appropriate car for each of the sequence steps, and means for operating the second and third signal devices to represent calls for service from the landing for each of the sequence steps.