Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7703578 | Elevator apparatus An elevator apparatus has a car suspended by a main rope through the intermediation of a shackle spring. The car is equipped with a displacement sensor for measuring the displacement amount of the main rope with respect to the car. The displacement sensor is electri... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7413059 | Fire control system for elevator In a fire control system for an elevator, the time for the fire and smoke to reach the elevator hall of each floor of a building during fire is pre-calculated as the evacuation time of the floor. When the evacuation time of a floor is longer than the time for making... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7284639 | Passenger actuated elevator alarm device A signal for warning of danger in the car is sent to a monitoring chamber without a suspect noticing, and the interior of the car is monitored without alarming the suspect. A call for service is registered upon activating the car manipulating panel and an alarm is r... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7246689 | Self-powered elevator button An elevator hall call device inductively receives an electrical signal from an interlock wiring circuit by means of a coupling device. The elevator hall call device comprises a capacitive device which stores electrical charge based on the electrical signal received ... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7210564 | Fire control system for elevator In a fire control system for an elevator, the time for the fire and smoke to reach the elevator hall of each floor of a building during fire is pre-calculated as the evacuation time of the floor. When the evacuation time of a floor is longer than the time for making... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7182174 | Method and system for emergency evacuation of building occupants and a method for modernization of an existing building with said system A method and a system for emergency evacuation of building occupants and to a method for modernization of an existing building with the evacuation system. The system is used in a multi-story building having a plurality of floors and with at least one elevator positi... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7140470 | Safety system for monitoring the state of elevator landing doors To render the elevator landing doors fitted with an elevator control unit (5) safe, this system comprises: elevator landing door surveillance units (10), installed on each elevator landing door, to receive the state of the electrical contacts (11, 1... | 11/28/2006 |
| 6847292 | Method and device for remote unlocking of an access door of a building with an elevator An apparatus and method for the emergency release of passengers who are trapped in an elevator car due to an operational disturbance includes a remote alarm device in the elevator car for summoning help from outside the building and equipment for the remote actuatio... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6809650 | Method and device for determining the state of a rail stretch A method and a device for determining the state of a rail stretch utilize a receiver that is moved along the rail stretch to receive radio signals transmitted by at least three transmitters mounted in the elevator shaft. Spacing data is determined from the radio sig... | 10/26/2004 |
| 6737980 | Apparatus for monitoring speed and operating time of wafer lift of semiconductor fabricating equipment An apparatus that automatically monitors speed and operating time of a semiconductor fabricating equipment lift that lifts a wafer cassette up/down. The apparatus automatically indicates operational state of the lift including lift speed time, use time after motor r... | 05/18/2004 |
| 6630886 | Top of elevator car inspection station with alarm An improved top of car inspection station includes warning circuit for providing a warning signal whenever the elevator car is in the inspection mode and the emergency stop switch is deactivated and the mechanic is not commanding the car to move.... | 10/07/2003 |
| 6603398 | Hoistway access detection system An improved hoistway access detection system including three safety chains, one for monitoring door position on the even numbered floors, one for monitoring door position on the odd numbered floors, and one for monitoring the position of the pit door, whe... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6186280 | Lift safety system A vehicle lift assembly prevents accidental slippage of a vehicle therefrom. The vehicle lift assembly comprises a plurality of vertically disposed posts and a runway slidably coupled to the plurality of vertical posts. A hoist system supplies the force n... | 02/13/2001 |
| 6138798 | Elevator safety system incorporating false pit The elevator safety device creates a false pit beneath the elevator frame using left and right laterally-spaced, fixed stop members fixedly attached to the car frame, and left and right laterally-spaced safety columns affixed to the pit floor and pivotabl... | 10/31/2000 |
| 6056088 | Elevator safety circuit monitor and control for drive and brake Monitoring equipment for an elevator drive control includes two modules, a safety circuit sensor system and a motor-switching and/or brake-switching circuit, wherein the monitoring of a safety circuit and the consequential actions resulting therefrom take... | 05/02/2000 |
| 5979607 | Multiple level building with an elevator system operable as a means of emergency egress and evacuation during a fire incident A building having a plurality of floors, a plurality of detectors, such as smoke detectors, located on the floors, and an elevator system usable for moving building occupants between floors during an emergency condition, such as a building fire. The eleva... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5904227 | Method for continuously adjusting the architecture of a neural network used in elevator dispatching A method for adapting to observed special use patterns a neural network used to estimate quantities needed by an elevator dispatching system responsible for assigning the elevator or another elevator to a hall call. Rather than simply refining values of e... | 05/18/1999 |
| 5821478 | Generation of an elevator door close warning An acoustic signal in an elevator door system is provided if a door close signal is present and a door has not closed within a determined time. A switching frequency of a pulse width modulation signal is reduced such that a motor is caused to provide the ... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5806633 | Elevator safety system incorporating false pit The elevator safety device creates a false pit beneath the elevator frame using left and right laterally-spaced, fixed stop members fixedly attached to the car frame, and left and right laterally-spaced safety columns affixed to the pit floor and pivotabl... | 09/15/1998 |
| 5780787 | Monitoring of manual elevator door systems A method for monitoring a manual elevator door system comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of sensor signals; detecting the sensor signals; determining in response to detecting the sensor signals that an elevator car is stopped at a landing; det... | 07/14/1998 |
| 5780788 | Special emergency service control arrangement for elevator car An electronic controller arrangement for an elevator car includes an auxiliary controller including instructions for disconnecting a main operational controller from a door operator when either a Phase I (emergency car recall operation); or a Phase II (in... | 07/14/1998 |
| 5644111 | Elevator hatch door monitoring system An elevator door monitoring system determines if any hatch door at any floor along an elevator shaft or any other door leading to the shaft is opened while an elevator cab is away from the door. The system includes a plurality of non-contact hatch door mo... | 07/01/1997 |
| 5578801 | Apparatus and method for sensing slippage of elevator drive cable over a traction sheave An elevator includes an evaluation unit. A pair of position pick-ups are connected to the cable assembly and/or driving pulley of the elevator and coupled to the input of the evaluation unit. The elevator is accelerated or decelerated for checking adhesio... | 11/26/1996 |
| 5551533 | Audio direction and information for elevator passengers A speaker system is provided adjacent to the gate of each of a plurality of elevator cars on each floor of a building. The speaker systems announce messages such as the car number of the next car in either direction, the estimated time of arrival of the c... | 09/03/1996 |
| 5412542 | Down lighting systems and fixtures therefor An emergency illumination device for elevator cabs and the like that includes a low voltage power source defined by the secondary winding of a stepdown transformer having its primary winding connected across a primary power source. When the primary power ... | 05/02/1995 |
| 5347094 | Elevator shaftway intrusion device There is provided an elevator shaftway intrusion detector which utilizes a proximity detector including an energy source for generating a detection field within a zone of detection including the elevator shaft-side roof and floor and a corresponding recei... | 09/13/1994 |
| 5345046 | Voice communication for elevator Upon detection of a trapped passenger in an elevator car, a resident monitoring device initiates communication between the car and a telephone in the building and between the car and a remote monitoring center. Upon detection of the first responsive telep... | 09/06/1994 |
| 5283400 | Elevator shaftway intrusion device There is provided an elevator shaftway intrusion detector which utilizes a proximity detector including an energy source for generating a detection field within a zone of detection including the elevator shaft-side roof and floor and a corresponding recei... | 02/01/1994 |
| 5086450 | Emergency intercommunication system for elevator An emergency intercommunication system for an elevator has an interphone unit and an intercommunication command switch located in an elevator car. A telephone number input apparatus for inputting the desired telephone number is provided in an elevator hal... | 02/04/1992 |
| 5025895 | Elevator car top intrusion device There is provided a detection system for detecting attempted entry onto the shaft-side roof of an elevator cab which includes a power supply for supplying power to the system, a proximity detector in electrical connection with the power supply which is di... | 06/25/1991 |
| 5023409 | Elevator control safety device A device for rendering elevator "call" buttons inaccessible during an emergency via a swinging or sliding panel or a rotating device which rotates the buttons from view. In all cases, safety instructions/information is displayed in place of the elevator "... | 06/11/1991 |
| 4928021 | Elevator control apparatus An elevator control apparatus comprises a torque control device for calculating a torque command for a motor for hoisting an elevator cage, a brake which operates in response to a braking command so as to restrain the motor, a brake abnormality detector a... | 05/22/1990 |
| 4862997 | Wheel chair with elevating seat having a high lift capability A wheel chair with elevating seat having a high lift capability includes a frame assembly having a plurality of wheels attached to and normally supporting the frame assembly. A pair of opposed, vertical track members are atached to and project upwardly fr... | 09/05/1989 |
| 4225117 | Device for detecting cable breaks in a lift In a lift wherein a carriage is raised up a mast by at least one cable, a safety device is proposed which is attached to the mast and which comprises a push member, which is urged towards the cable so as to press sideways against it, so that if the cable ... | 09/30/1980 |
| 4145920 | Apparatus for detecting abnormal condition of wire rope An apparatus for detecting an abnormal condition of a wire rope comprises a detecting element, a part of which is disposed adjacent to an outer surface of the wire rope for longitudinally moving and the other part of which is held on a supporter and which... | 03/27/1979 |
| 3993166 | Overload signalling system for fork lift trucks and the like An electrical alarm system, which responds to improper and/or unsafe loading of a fork-lift truck or other load-sustaining apparatus equipped with a suitable sensing transducer, is controlled by a high-gain electronic differential switch whose comparisons... | 11/23/1976 |
