Elevating system
First Claim
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1. An elevating system for raising and lowering items, comprising:
- first support means for supporting an item to be raised and lowered;
at least two winch means, coupled to said support means at spaced locations, for raising and lowering said support means, each of said winch means includinga cable,a winch housing,rotatably mounted drum means, coupled to said winch housing, for dispensing and retracting said cable therefrom, andsynchronous motor means for rotating said drum means; and
control means, electrically coupled to each of said motor means, for operating each of said winch means, said control means includingsingle inverter means, electrically coupling each of said motor means in parallel, for starting and stopping said motor means by varying input frequency to slowly ramp the output of said motor means during starting and stopping of said motor means.
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Abstract
An elevating system especially designed for raising and lowering battens used in stages. The elevating system preferably uses two or more winch assemblies with synchronous motors coupled together in parallel to an AC inverter to provide smooth, ramped starting and stopping of the winch assemblies as well as torque boost, speed boost, and electric braking. Each winch assembly is provided with numerous safety features such as overload and underload protection, automatic releveling of the batten, thermal overload protection and cable drum lock protection.
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. An elevating system for raising and lowering items, comprising:
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first support means for supporting an item to be raised and lowered; at least two winch means, coupled to said support means at spaced locations, for raising and lowering said support means, each of said winch means including a cable, a winch housing, rotatably mounted drum means, coupled to said winch housing, for dispensing and retracting said cable therefrom, and synchronous motor means for rotating said drum means; and control means, electrically coupled to each of said motor means, for operating each of said winch means, said control means including single inverter means, electrically coupling each of said motor means in parallel, for starting and stopping said motor means by varying input frequency to slowly ramp the output of said motor means during starting and stopping of said motor means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An elevating system for hoisting items, the combination comprising:
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first support means for supporting an item to be raised and lowered; at least two winch means, coupled to said support means at spaced locations, for raising and lowering said support means, each of said winch means including a cable, a winch housing, rotatably mounted drum means, coupled to said winch housing, for dispensing and retracting said cable therefrom, and synchronous motor means for rotating said drum means; and control means, electrically coupled to each of said motor means, for operating each of said winch means, said control means including releveling means, coupled to each of said motor means, for individually and independently stopping each of said motor means after each of said winch means reaches a predetermined lower most position. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A winch assembly for hoisting items, the combination comprising:
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a winch housing adapted to be coupled to a first support member; drum means, rotatably coupled to said winch housing, for dispensing and retracting a cable therefrom, said cable having a first end fixedly coupled to said drum means and a second end coupled to a mounting member; motor means, coupled to said drum means, for rotating said drum means; a first sheave adapted to be rotatably mounted to a second support member spaced from the first support member for operatively engaging said cable; weight overload/underload protection means, coupled to said second end of said cable, for sensing weight overloads and weight underloads on said cable to stop said motor means, said weight overload/underload protection means including biasing means coupled between said second end of said cable and said mounting member, and switch means, electrically coupled to said motor means, for stopping rotation of said drum means upon a predetermined distance of deflection of said biasing means. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A winch assembly for hoisting items, the combination comprising:
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a winch housing adapted to be coupled to a first support member; drum means, rotatably coupled to said winch housing, for dispensing and retracting a cable therefrom, said cable having a first end fixedly coupled to said drum means and a second end coupled to a mounting member; motor means, coupled to said drum means, for rotating said drum means; and drum locking means, coupled to said drum means and said winch housing, for preventing rotation of said drum means upon stopping said motor means, said drum locking means including first stop means coupled to said drum means, second stop means coupled to said winch housing, and activating means for moving one of said first and second stop means so that said first stop means engages said second stop means to prevent a full rotation of said drum means. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. An elevating system for raising and lowering items, comprising:
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first support means for supporting an item to be raised and lowered; at least one winch means, coupled to said support means, for raising and lowering said support means, said winch means including a cable, a winch housing, rotatably mounted drum means, coupled to said winch housing, for dispensing and retracting said cable therefrom, and synchronous motor means for rotating said drum means; and control means, electrically coupled to said motor means, for operating said winch means, said control means including single inverter means, electrically coupled to said motor means, for starting and stopping said motor means by varying input frequency to slowly ramp the output of said motor means during starting and stopping of said motor means, and for increasing the normal operating speed of said motor means.
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Specification