Elevator guide rail fixing clip

Abstract

An elevator guide rail fixing clip has a u-shaped clip body configured to encompass a side edge of an elevator guide rail and a fastening element. The fastening element is fastened to the clip body and is configured to mount the clip body to a fixed structure of an elevator runway. The clip body includes a base wall, a side wall and a cover wall forming the three members of the u-shaped body. At least one of these walls has at least one projection protruding from the respective wall configured to contact the guide rail, which projection has a contact face for contact with the elevator guide rail. The fixing clip allows the fastening of a guiderail in a horizontal plane but with reduced friction against vertical sliding of the guide rail to compensate for building shrinkage.

Claims

1. An elevator guide rail fixing system, comprising: the elevator guide rail; and an elevator guide rail fixing clip, comprising: a u-shaped clip body configured to encompass a side edge of the elevator guide rail; and a fastening element including a bolt and a bolt head, the fastening element being fastened to the clip body and configured to mount the clip body to a fixed structure of an elevator runway, wherein the clip body comprises a base wall, a cover wall, and a side wall connecting the base wall and the cover wall, the base wall, the side wall and the cover wall forming three members of the u-shaped body, and the fastening element is fastened to the base wall of the clip body, and wherein the bolt head forms a projection protruding from the base wall and configured to contact the guide rail via a contact face being a tip of the bolt head.

2. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 1, wherein the contact face is a rounded element.

3. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 1, wherein the side wall is connected to the base wall at a first edge and the cover wall is fixed to the side wall at a second edge which is parallel to the first edge.

4. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 3, wherein a distance between the cover wall and the base wall on a side of a free edge, opposite to the second edge, of the cover wall is equal to or smaller than a distance between base wall and cover wall on a side of the second edge.

5. The elevator guide rail fixing clip according to claim 1, wherein the side wall and the cover wall each further include a projection different from the projection formed by the bolt head.

6. The elevator guide rail fixing clip according to claim 5, wherein the projection formed by the bolt head of the bolt is larger than the projections in the side wall and cover wall.

7. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 1, wherein the projection is a sphere segment.

8. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 1, wherein the u-shaped clip body is a one-piece part.

9. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 8, wherein the one piece part is a metal sheet with a thickness of 2 to 15 mm.

10. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 8, wherein the one piece part is a spring metal sheet.

11. An elevator, comprising: at least one of the elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 1, wherein the elevator guide rail fixing clip of the at least one of the elevator guide rail fixing system is part of a guide fixing bracket located in an elevator runway.

12. The elevator according to claim 11, wherein each guide fixing bracket has two guide rail fixing system mounted to a horizontally extending bracket member of the guide fixing bracket opposite to each other.

13. A method for mounting an elevator guide rail, said method comprising the steps of: providing two of the elevator guide rail fixing clips of the elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 1; mounting the two fixing clips to opposite sides of the guide rail, respectively; mounting the two fixing clips to a bracket member of a guide fixing bracket; and mounting the bracket member to a fixed structure in the elevator runway.

14. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 8, wherein the one piece part is a metal sheet with a thickness of 3 to 10 mm.

15. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 2, wherein the side wall is connected to the base wall at a first edge and the cover wall is fixed to the side wall at a second edge which is parallel to the first edge.

16. The elevator guide rail fixing system according to claim 15, wherein a distance between the cover wall and the base wall on a side of a free edge, opposite to the second edge, of the cover wall is equal to or smaller than a distance between base wall and cover wall on a side of the second edge.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention is now described in detail by the aid of the schematic drawing.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an inventive elevator guide rail fixing clip,

(3) FIG. 2 shows a side view of the fixing clip of FIG. 1,

(4) FIG. 3 shows a side view of the fixing clip of FIGS. 1 and 2 encompassing a side edge of a guide rail and mounted to a guide rail fixing bracket.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(5) The inventive elevator guide rail fixing clip is now described via FIGS. 1 to 3. The fixing clip 10 comprises a u-shaped clip body 12 consisting of a base wall 14, a side wall 16 and a cover wall 18. The side wall 16 is connected to the base wall 14 along a first edge 15 and the side wall is connected to the cover wall 18 along a second edge 17, which two edges 15,17 are parallel to each other. Thus, the cover wall 18 and the base wall 14 are about parallel to each other and are connected via the edges 15, 17 to the sidewall 16 which extends perpendicular to them. The u-shaped clip body 12 is a one piece body made of a metal sheet bent along the first and second edge 15, 17 and having a thickness of preferably 2 to 15 mm, particularly 3 to 10 mm. The base wall is penetrated by a fastening bolt 20 having a sphere segment bolt head 22 and a threaded bolt shaft 24 to which a nut 26 and a washer 28 can be mounted to fix the fixing clip 10 to a fixed structure 38 in an elevator runway, for example to a fixing bracket. The tip 30 of the sphere segment bolt head 22 provides a punctual contact face for a guide rail 42. Also the side wall 16 carries side projection 32 and the cover wall 18 carry an upper projection 34 which are preferably made by punching. The side projection and upper projection 32, 34 have a sphere-segment geometry. Accordingly, the side projection and cover projection 32, 34 are made in the corresponding walls 16, 18 in a very simple but reliable manner.

(6) FIG. 3 shows a part of a fixing bracket having a bracket member 38 extending horizontally which bracket member 38 is fixed to an elevator shaft structure in a not shown manner. The fixing clip 10 is mounted to the bracket member 38 via the fastening bolt 20 which penetrates a perforation, preferably a horizontal long hole, in the support wall 40 of the bracket member 38. The horizontal long hole of the bracket member allows the mounting of two fixing clips 10 with adjustable mutual distance.

(7) The vertical extending guide rail 42 is a conventional T-profile having a central member 44 which is mounted to the center of a base member 46. The two fixing clips 10 encompass the outer side edges 48 of the guide rail 42 so as to fix the guide rail in the horizontal plane. Thereby, the tip 30 of the bolt head 22 of the fastening bolt 20, of the side projection 32, as well as of the upper projection 34 come into contact with the base member 46 of the guide rail 42. Therefore, the fixing clip contacts the guide rail 42 only at three points which leads to a reduced frictional force that allows an easy vertical sliding of the guide rail 42 with respect to the fixing clips 10. Preferably, the clip body 12 of the fixing clip 10 is made of a spring metal sheet so that between the tip 30 of the bolt head 22 of the fastening bolt 20 and of the upper projection 34, a certain defined clamping force is applied to the base member 46 of the guide rail 42 for securing the guide rail against the bracket member 38.

(8) The invention can be varied within the scope of the appended patent claims. Particularly, the fixing clip may have more than one projection at each wall 14, 16, 18. Furthermore, the clip body 12 must not exactly be a u-shape, but may also be a v-shape or the side wall may have a round shape instead of flat shape as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

(9) 10 fixing clip 12 clip body 14 base wall 15 first edge 16 side wall 17 second edge 18 cover wall 20 fastening bolt 22 sphere segment bolt head 24 bolt shaft 26 nut 28 washer 30 tip of bolt head 32 side projection 34 upper projection 38 bracket member 40 support wall of bracket member 42 guide rail 44 central member 46 base member 48 outer side edge of base member of guide rail