Safety device for passenger conveyor
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to improvements in a safety device for a balustrade of a passenger conveyor such as an escalator, a moving footway or the like disposed on a guide port thereof through which a moving handrail involved enters the interior of the mechanical portion of the passenger conveyor. 
     In order to prevent one portion of a cloth of any person or his or her finger from being pulled into a guide port of the type referred to, it has been previously practiced to dispose a barrier member in front of the guide port on the associated leaving landing. The barrier member has been generally formed into a box approximating a cube of a material capable of being easily broken with a very low pressure, for example, foamed polystyrene. The barrier member serves as a safety device. If any person has one portion of his or her cloth or his or her finger pulled into a gap formed between the barrier member and the adjacent portion of the moving handrail then the barrier member can readily be broken with the resulting pressure to sound and scatter. Thus the person tends to surprisedly jump back or aside or to retract his or her finger. At that time the barrier member has already scattered and therefore this retracting operation can be performed without any hindrance. In this way the person has been able to be prevented from undergoing serious accidents of the human body. 
     Also if any person falls down on the floor adjacent a departure landing of an escalator to tend to be partly pulled into a gap between the landing and that portion of the associated moving handrail turned in its traveling direction then that portion of his or her body tending to by pulled into the gap is blocked by the barrier member thereby to be prevented from being caught by the turned portion of the moving handrail. 
     However, in order to facilitate the installation thereof, conventional barrier members have been shaped to form the gap between the same and the mated parts sufficient to permit a passenger&#39;s finger to be readily pulled thereinto. Further since passengers go past the departure landing for the escalator, the provision of the barrier member in the form of a box approximating a cube on the landing might cause a danger that some of the persons would fall down on the landing because they stumble over the barrier member. At that time the barrier member might be broken. This has led to an objection that the safety device would have been broken for reasons other than those proper therefor. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety device for a balustrade of a passenger conveyor including an improved barrier member constructed so that a finger of any passenger is prevented from being pulled into a gap around the barrier member while the passenger does not stumble over the latter. 
     The present invention accomplishes this object by the provision of a safety device or guard for a balustrade of a passenger conveyor including a moving handrail traveling around the periphery of the balustrade to be turned in the traveling direction thereof on a departure landing, and a guide port for introducing the moving handrail into the mechanical portion of the passenger conveyor, the safety device comprising a barrier member disposed in front of the guide port and formed of a material capable of being easily broken with a very low pressure, and a groove disposed on the barrier member to have an opening narrower than the width of the moving handrail, and an inner portion dimensioned to receive the moving handrail loosely therein, the barrier member being formed of at least two barrier sections divided in a sectional plane extending lengthwise of the groove and reaching the groove, said barrier sections being connected together into a unitary structure. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a fragmental perspective view of an escalator provided with a conventional safety device for a balustrade involved with parts broken away; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II--II of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating a modification of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a fragmental side elevational view of a passenger conveyor including a safety device constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V--V of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI--VI of FIG. 4; 
     FIGS. 7 and 8 are sectional views of different modifications of the arrangement shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but illustrating another modification of the present invention; 
     FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 9; and 
     FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along the line XI--XI of FIG. 10. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the drawings and FIG. 1 in particular, there is illustrated an escalator including a conventional safety device for a balustrade involved. The arrangement illustrated comprises a plurality of treads 10 in the form of a stairway moving in a predetermined direction, in this case, in the down direction and at a predetermined fixed speed, and a pair of balustrades disposed in spaced parallel relationship on both sides of the stairway and including glass panels 12. Only the balustrade on the viewer&#39;s side is illustrated for purposes of clarity of illustration. Each balustrade has its upper edge and both end portions defined by a frame 14 which, in turn, guides a moving handrail 16 therealong to travel in the same direction at the same speed as the treads 10. The handrail 16 is turned in its traveling direction adjacent a departure landing 18 on a floor 20 and then introduced into the mechanical portion of the escalator through a guide port 22. 
     In order to prevent any passenger&#39;s clothing, finger or the like from being pulled into the guide port 22, it has been previously practiced to dispose a barrier member generally designated by the reference numeral 24 on the departure landing 18 in front of the guide port 22. The barrier member 24 has been formed into a box approximating a cube of a material capable of being easily broken with a very low pressure for example, foamed polystyrene. The barrier member 24 has served as a safety device. If a passenger&#39;s clothing or finger tends to be pulled into a gap A formed between the turned portion 16a of the moving handrail 16 and the barrier member 24 then the barrier member 24 can easily be broken with the resulting low pressure to sound and scatter. Thus the passenger tends to surprisedly jump back or aside or to retract his or her finger. At that time the barrier member has already scattered and therefore this retracting operation can be performed without any hindrance. In this way any serious accident of the human body is prevented from happening to the passenger. 
     Also if any person falls down on the floor 20 adjacent to the departure landing 18 for the escalator to tend to be partly pulled into the gap between the turned portion 16a of the moving handrail 16 and the landing 18 then that portion of his or her body tending to be pulled into this gap is blocked by the barrier member 24 thereby to be prevented from being caught by the turned portion 16a of the moving handrail 16. 
     However, in order to facilitate the installation thereof, conventional barrier members have been constructed such as shown in FIG. 2 so that the U-shaped groove 26 is disposed on that surface thereof opposing the frame 14 or the upper surface 24a as viewed in FIG. 2 to form a passageway along which the handrail 16 travels. With such a grooved barrier member 24 operatively associated with the handrail 16 having a C-shaped cross section, a relatively broad space 28 is formed on the upper portion of the front surface of the barrier member 24. This has resulted in a disadvantage in that a finger or fingers of any person is or are easily pulled into the space 28. 
     With the grooved barrier member 24 installed on an escalator with transparent balustrades, a space 30 is also formed between the upper surface 24b of the barrier member 24 and the associated frame 14 as shown in FIG. 3. This is because the frame 14 is narrow in width A. This has led to the same disadvantage as above described in conjunction with FIG. 2. 
     Further since persons go past the departure landing 18, the disposal of the barrier member 24 in the form of a box approximating a cube on the landing might lead to a danger that some of the persons would fall down on the landing because they stumble over the barrier member. At that time, the barrier member might be broken. This has resulted in an objection that the safety device would have been broken for reasons other than those proper therefor. 
     The present invention contemplates to eliminate the disadvantages of and objection to the prior art practice as above described. 
     Referring now to FIG. 4 there is illustrated a passenger conveyor embodying the principles of the present invention. In FIG. 4 et seqq. like reference numerals designate the components identical or similar to those shown in FIGS. 1 through 3. As in the arrangement of FIG. 1, the moving handrail 16 is introduced into the mechanical portion of the passenger conveyor through a grooved barrier member 24 and a guide port 22. The barrier member 24 is also formed of a material capable of being easily broken with a very low pressure. As best shown in FIG. 6, the barrier member 24 is formed of a pair of barrier section 24c and 24d each being a mirror image of the other section with respect to the central longitudinal plane B of the barrier member 24 in which both barrier sections are connected together into a unitary structure. The barrier sections 24c and 24d have respective upwardly projecting portions 24e and 24f which, in their assembled position bilaterally embrace the moving handrail 16 lengthwise thereof while a narrow clearance is left therebetween. The free ends of the projecting portions 24e and 24f somewhat extend toward each other to form an opening having a spacing C smaller than the width D of the handrail 16. Thus the projecting portions 24e and 24f in their assembled position form a C-shaped groove 32 in the upper portion of the barrier member 24. 
     Upon assembling the barrier member 24, the barrier sections 24c and 24d are disposed in front of the guide port 22 on the departure landing 18 to bilaterally embrace the turned handrail 16a and then connected together into a unitary structure along the junction plane B by any desired means. The barrier member 24 thus assembled is suitably fixed on the floor 20 or the like as shown in FIG. 5. In this way the moving handrail 16 is inserted into the C-shaped groove 32 with a narrow clearance maintained therebetween. Since the projecting portions 26e and 26d sufficiently embrace the handrail 16 as shown in FIG. 6, the space 28 or 30 shown in FIGS. 2 or 3 is not formed. Therefore a possibility that a person&#39;s finger or fingers will be pulled into a gap around the barrier member 24 becomes less. 
     An arrangement as shown in FIG. 7 is substantially identical to that shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 except that the barrier sections 24c and 24d are provided on the lower portions with a pair of opposite hollow portions 34 in order to save the material thereof. 
     FIG. 8 shows an arrangement different from that illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 only in that the junction plane B is disposed in either one of the projecting portions in this case, the righthand portion 24e to reach the corresponding inner lateral surface of groove 32. 
     In a passenger conveyor as shown in FIGS. 9 through 11, the barrier member 24 also formed of an easily destructable material such as foamed polystyrene is provided on each of the outer and inner side surfaces of the skirt with a notch 24g or 24h in the form of a semi-arch as best shown in FIG. 11. The groove 32&#39; is of a U-shaped cross section but not of a C-shaped cross section and has the turned handrail 16a loosely disposed therein with a clearance maintained between the same and the surface of the handrail 16. 
     In other respects the arrangement is substantially similar to that shown in FIGS. 4 through 6. 
     Persons are frequently coming and going on that portion of the floor adjacent to the departure landing because those persons leaving the associated passenger conveyor walk not only straight there but also walk on the floor along either of the balustrades thereof after having turned in their walking direction. Under these circumstances, the provision of the semi-arch-shaped notch on either side of the barrier member is effective for preventing persons from undergoing a danger due to their stumbling over the barrier member and also for eliminating an objection that the barrier member will be broken for reasons other than those proper for the safety device, for example, the reason that any person strikes his or her footwear against the barrier member. 
     While the present invention has been illustrated and described in conjunction with a few preferred embodiments thereof it is to be understood that numerous changes and modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, the barrier member may be provided on either one of the side surfaces of the skirt with the semi-arch-shaped notch in accordance with a stream of people. Such a notch may be formed on either one or each of the inner and outer side surfaces of the skirt of the barrier member shown in each of FIGS. 6 through 8.