CHAIR FOR A CABLE TRANSPORTATION INSTALLATION

Abstract

 A chair for a cable transportation system; the chair comprising: a row of seats placed side by side; a protection device movable with respect to the seats between a first distal position wherein it does not hinder the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and a second position proximal to the seats wherein it performs the function of protecting passengers during transportation; and at least one cord device coupled to the protection device and configured to be grasped and moved manually by the passengers seated on the seats for moving the protection device by pulling from the first position to the second position; wherein the cord device is configured in such a way that for a first movement section it has an elastic behaviour generating an elongation without pulling the protection device and for a second movement section, subsequent to the first one, it has a rigid behaviour generating the pulling of the protection device.

Description

Cross-reference to related applications

[0001] This patent application claims priority from Italian patent application no. 102020000018013 filed on 24/07/2020.

Technical field

[0002] The technical field of the present invention relates to aerial cable transportation systems in which passengers are transported along a predefined path in transportation units fed in succession one after the other suspended in mid-air, i.e., raised above the ground below, hanging from a cable.

[0003] Within this specific technical field, the present invention relates to a particular type of transportation unit known as a chair. These chairs include protection devices that must be operated manually by passengers at the start of the journey after embarkation. The present invention will therefore address the problems associated with the handling of the aforementioned protection devices in order to offer a new and inventive solution compared to what has been proposed so far by the prior art.

State of the art

[0004] As indicated in the above description, the present invention relates to a chair for an aerial cable transportation system. A chair of this type, well known to the person skilled in the art, comprises a plurality of seats placed side by side and a suspension arm which, on one side, is connected to the row of seats, and on the other side, is provided with a device for coupling to the cable of the transportation system. Embarkation and disembarkation of passengers on/from the chair takes place at appropriate stations located at the opposite ends of the system and possibly also at intermediate positions. To facilitate embarkation and disembarkation at the stations, the chairs are temporarily stopped or moved forward at low speed without interrupting the advance.

[0005] In a known way, in addition to the seats and the suspension arm, the chairs also comprise passenger protection devices. In particular, the chair can comprise a safety bar, usually equipped with a footrest, configured to protect passengers from accidental falls during the journey. Alternatively, or in combination with the safety bar, the chairs may optionally be equipped with a protective dome configured to protect passengers from external atmospheric agents.

[0006] It is known that such protection devices, i.e., both the safety bar and the dome, are movable between two positions. In a first position, the protection devices do not hinder the embarkation and disembarkation of the passengers, and in a second position, when the passengers are seated, the protection devices are in such a position with respect to the passengers as to perform their protective function. In the first position, the safety bar, for example, is in a position distal from the seats, substantially above them. In the second position, instead, the safety bar is in a position proximal to the seats, substantially in front of them. Usually, the movement between the first and the second position is of the rotary type. In fact, the safety bar is connected by means of a suitable frame to a rotation pin generally positioned behind the back of the seats. Both the movement of the protective dome and its rest and working positions are similar to those of the safety bar. In fact, the dome comprises a dome-shaped protective portion which ends at a front-end bar which in the first position is substantially in the same position as the safety bar described above. At the station and during embarkation and disembarkation, the safety bar and the front bar of the dome are in the first, raised position so as not to hinder the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers. When the embarkation is complete, the safety bar and the front bar of the dome must be in the second position until the next disembarkation procedure. The passage from the first to the second position takes place through manual operation by the passengers. The obligation to close the bar is indicated along the exit area of the station by special signs. At the disembarkation, the passage from the second to the first position can take place automatically or again through manual operation by the passengers. The movement of the dome takes place in the same way with the only difference that the closing of the dome is not mandatory but at the discretion of the passengers.

[0007] As described above, in the first position the safety bar or the front bar of the dome is in the above-mentioned position distal from the seats (above the seats) . This distal position represents a compromise between two different requirements. The first requirement would be that these bars should be as far as possible (above the passenger's silhouette) in order not to interfere with the disembarkation and embarkation of passengers. However, this distance must take into account the other requirement, namely the obligation (EN 13796 standard) that these bars must be reachable so that also children or passengers of low stature can close them. For this reason, at present the bars cannot be more than 850 mm from the seats. To facilitate the grasping of the bars, these are equipped with handles and/or cords configured to protrude locally towards the seats and provide grasping points closer to the passengers. According to the prior art, to all intents and purposes, these cords are simple cords made of a non-deformable material (non-elastic fabric or plastic) so that the pulling of the cord immediately generates a corresponding dragging of the safety bar or of the protective dome.

[0008] The above condition of the prior art, wherein the position of the bars, as said, is a compromise between the two aforesaid requirements and the aforesaid cords made of non-elastic fabric or plastic, has some drawbacks linked to the first phases of pulling of the cords.

[0009] The length of the cords cannot be excessive because otherwise the condition of there being a hindrance to the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers would occur once again, and therefore the first phases of operation/handling of the known cords are not ideal for people of low stature. In fact, for these passengers, the first grasping of the cord occurs with the arm being in a substantially extended position, and in this position, it is not easy to generate a pulling force such as to drag the bar or dome. The arm grasping the cord assumes a position which is more angled and therefore capable of generating a pulling force without particular effort only after a first phase of handling of the bars. For people of low stature, the generation of the pulling force for the first movement of the cord is such that these passengers often perform this procedure by leaning out of the seat and generating a potentially risky situation.

[0010] DE202011003078U1 discloses a chair of a chair lift with a protection bar which extends transversely to the seat and is movable from an open position to a closed position.

[0011] FR2969100 discloses a seat for a lift system comprising a frame and a restraint bar capable of assuming a first, lowered end position defining a closed space which prevents the passenger from falling, and a second, raised end position in which the restraint bar clears the front space of the seat to allow one or more passengers to disembark.

Description of the invention

[0012] Starting from this prior art, one object of the present invention is to provide a chair for an aerial cable transportation system which can overcome the above-mentioned problem of the prior art. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chair in which the movement of the safety bar or the protective dome by means of a cord does not require particular efforts in the first operating phase in which, for passengers of low stature, the arm is almost completely extended and therefore unable to generate a pulling force in a simple way.

[0013] In accordance with this object, the present invention relates to a chair for a cable transportation system, wherein the chair comprises:

• a row of seats placed side by side;
• a protection device movable with respect to the seats between a first distal position wherein it does not hinder the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and a second position proximal to the seats wherein it performs the function of protecting passengers during transportation; and
• a plurality of cord devices coupled to the protection device; each cord device being configured to be grasped and moved manually by the passengers seated on the seats for moving the protection device from the first position to the second position.

[0014] A non-exhaustive list of protection devices includes a safety bar, configured to protect passengers from falling during transport, and a dome for protection against any external atmospheric agents. The person skilled in the art is well aware of these protection devices, their conformation and their use. In a nutshell, both the safety bar and the protective dome (in particular the front bar of the protective dome), during embarkation and disembarkation of passengers in the station, are in a position distal from the seats, substantially above them. This distance must avoid encumbrance during embarkation and disembarkation of the passengers and must allow the passengers, even those of low stature or children, to operate them manually. To facilitate grasping, it is known to provide a plurality of cords constrained to the safety bar and to the dome, which hang down towards the passengers by gravity. This allows passengers to grasp the end of the cords, which are closer to them than the bar. The movement of the protection devices can be rotatory around a pin located behind the seats, or of another type. The only required obligation is that at the end of the movement the protection devices are in a position proximal to the seats so as to provide their protective function.

[0015] In this configuration, the present invention inventively introduces an improvement by replacing the known and simple cord made of substantially inextensible textile or plastic material with a real "cord device". Therefore, according to the main aspect of the present invention, each classic cord for moving the safety bars and the protective domes in the chairs of an aerial cable transportation system is replaced by a cord device configured in such a way that, due to manual pulling by the passengers, it has an elastic behaviour during a first movement section so as to extend without dragging the protection device. The cord device is configured so as not to extend further and to have a rigid behaviour only in a second movement section following the first one, so as to drag the protection device connected thereto.

[0016] The advantage of this cord device is therefore that of postponing the request for pulling force to move the protection device from the initial phase of grasping and moving the cord to a second phase in which the passenger's arm is no longer in the extended configuration but is in a more angled configuration and therefore more able to generate an adequate pulling force. During the first section with the arm extended, the required force is only that necessary to lengthen the cord device, whereas in the second section the required force must be able to move the protection device.

[0017] A cord device capable of exhibiting the aforesaid two behaviours in series (initially elastic and subsequently rigid and non-extendible) can be made in various ways. The present invention provides two preferred embodiments which will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0018] According to a first embodiment of the invention, the cord device comprises a cord integrated into an elastic element or in a spring and/or made of a material configured to elongate elastically due to manual pulling by the passengers until reaching a maximum elongation beyond which no further elongation is possible. Therefore, elastic property herein is not intended to mean the intrinsic elastic property of almost every material that exhibits such a behaviour with small elongations, but for the purposes of the present invention, reference is made to a material which guarantees an elongation at least equal to about 10% of the length at rest.

[0019] According to another embodiment of the invention, the cord device comprises two elements joined together in series, i.e., a spring device having a first end secured to the protection device and a cord made of standard non-extensible material (fabric or plastic) connected to the second end of the spring device. In this case, the elongation of the first pulling section is delegated to the spring device, which is therefore configured to elongate or deform elastically due to manual pulling by the passengers until reaching a maximum elongation or deformation beyond which no further elongation is possible.

[0020] In this second embodiment of the invention, the spring device preferably comprises a leaf spring. Even more preferably, this leaf spring is shaped like a hook with a curved end connected to the bar so that at rest the spring is substantially horizontal, and the cord is therefore in a position even closer to the seats.

Description of one embodiment of the invention

[0021] Further features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of some non-limiting embodiments thereof, with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

• Figure 1 shows a chair for an aerial transportation system equipped with a protective dome and a first embodiment of a cord device according to the present invention;
• Figure 2 shows the chair in Figure 1 after a first phase of operation of the cord device;
• Figure 3 shows a chair for an aerial transportation system equipped with a protective dome and a second embodiment of a cord device according to the present invention;
• Figure 4 shows the chair in Figure 3 after a first phase of operation of the cord device;
• Figure 5 shows the chair in Figure 3 after a second phase of operation of the cord device;
• Figure 6 shows a chair for an aerial transportation system equipped with a safety bar and a cord device of the type shown in Figures 3-5;
• Figures 7-9 show enlarged views of a cord device of the type shown in Figures 3-5.

Best mode for carrying out the invention

[0022] With reference to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a chair 1 for an aerial cable transportation system. As is well known to a person skilled in the art, a chair 1 of this type comprises a plurality of seats 2 placed side by side along a substantially continuous row. In Figure 1, the arrow F1 indicates the direction of movement of the chair 1, the arrow F2 indicates the direction of gravity, and the arrow F3 indicates the direction transverse to the direction of movement F1. The seats 2 are placed side by side along the transverse direction F3. Figure 1 shows a schematic view of the chair 1 along the transverse direction F3, therefore only one seat 2 occupied by its passenger is visible. Figure 1 also shows, in a known way, the presence of a footrest 3, an armrest 4 and a protection device in the form of a dome 5 configured to protect the passenger from atmospheric agents during transport. As is known, a chair 1 of this type (i.e., for an aerial cable transportation system) also comprises a suspension arm which, starting from the seats 2, extends along the vertical direction F2. The opposite end of the suspension arm comprises a vice for selective coupling to the cable of the transportation system. For the sake of simplicity, this suspension arm 6 is only partially visible in Figure 6. As shown, and as known, the dome comprises a front bar 7, a rear bar 8, and a curved portion 9 joining these bars and is configured to protect passengers. The dome is movable around a transverse pin 10 (shown schematically in Figure 1) for passing from the shown position to the working position (shown in Figure 5). In particular, Figure 1 shows the dome in a first position in which it is not a hindrance to passengers who have to board or leave the chair 1. In fact, as can be seen, in this position the front bar 7 is substantially above the passengers' silhouette. As described above, the position of the bar 7 is a compromise (subject to regulations) to avoid encumbrance to the passengers and to allow manual handling of the dome 5. In fact, before leaving the station, the dome 5 must be moved by the passengers from the position in Figure 1 to its correct use position in which the bar 7 is substantially close to the passenger (for example, see Figure 5). To provide assistance to passengers, especially those of low stature or children, the bar 7 is equipped with a plurality of cords through which passengers can move the dome 5 without directly reaching the bar 7. The present invention particularly relates to this cord which, from a simple fabric and plastic element, is replaced by a truly innovative device. Figure 1 shows a first example of a cord device according to the present invention identified with reference numeral 11. As can be seen, this cord device 11 comprises a first end constrained to the bar 7 of the dome 5, and a second free end 12 (possibly provided with a small knob) which hangs down towards the passenger by gravity. The position of the second end 12 is substantially the same position currently provided for known cords in which, in order to grasp the cord, the passengers seated on the seats 2 (as mentioned above, especially passengers of low stature) must extend their arm almost completely.

[0023] Figure 2 shows a subsequent step of use of the cord device 11 following the grasping step shown in Figure 1. This figure shows that the cord device 11 has lengthened due to the passenger's pulling without however dragging the dome into rotation until reaching a length such that the arm of the passenger is no longer in an extended condition but in an angled condition. In this position shown in Figure 2, the passenger can generate a pulling force much more easily than in the position shown in Figure 1 with the arm extended. This lengthening of the cord device 11 is allowed because the cord device 11 of this example incorporates a spring or is made of a material configured to elongate elastically due to manual pulling by the passengers until reaching a maximum elongation beyond which no further elongation is possible. Starting from the configuration shown in Figure 2, any further pulling action on the cord device 11 will generate a movement of the dome 5. However, the force required for such dragging will be easily supplied by the passenger as his/her arm will no longer be extended but will be angled.

[0024] Figure 3 shows a chair 1 very similar to that of the preceding figures. The only difference is the presence of a second example of a cord device 13 according to the present invention. In this example again, the general principle of the present invention is guaranteed as shown in Figure 4, wherein during the first operating steps the dome 5 is not dragged and the passenger's arm passes without particular effort from the extended to the angled configuration. This cord device 13 will be described in detail with reference to Figures 7-9, but already in Figures 3 and 4 it is possible to appreciate that, according to this example, the cord device 13 comprises a spring 14 coupled to the bar 7, and a cord 15 made of non-extensible material coupled to the other end of the spring 14. Due to the extension of the spring along the direction F1 toward the seats 2, as shown in Figure 3, the end 12 of the cord device 13 is not in the vertical axis (direction F2) with the bar 7 but in a position even closer to the passenger. The first section of movement of the cord device 13 without the dragging of the dome 5 takes place by overcoming the strength of the spring 14 which passes from the horizontal configuration to the vertical configuration along the direction F2. As in the previous example, only beyond such extension/deformation of the spring 14 does a further pull generate the rotation of the dome 5. Figure 5 shows exactly the position of the dome 5 after the second movement of the cord device 13. This figure shows that in the second position the spring 14 (released) assumes a vertical extension along the direction F2 so that the first end of the cord 15 is in a raised position with respect to the bar 7. In this way, the free end 12 of the cord 15 is also in a higher position and above the position of the passenger's feet. Advantageously, therefore, said cord device 13 can also be arranged on the bar 7 at the position of the seats 2 and not between the seats, as is the case nowadays.

[0025] Figure 6 shows a different chair 1 in which the dome 5 is not present but a safety bar 16 (of a known type) is visible. As with the dome 9 of the previous examples, the bar 16 is also in the raised position during embarkation and disembarkation and must be lowered by the users before leaving the station. Figure 6 also shows that said bar 16 can be provided with the cord device according to the present invention, for example provided with a cord device 13 or 11. The operation dynamics, first the elongation without the dragging of the bar 16 and then the dragging step, are identical to what is described in the previous figures. It is of course possible to provide a chair equipped with both the safety bar 16 and the dome 9, wherein both the protection devices are equipped with cord devices according to the present invention.

[0026] Finally, Figures 7-9 show enlarged views of the cord device 13 mentioned with reference to Figures 3-5, in which it is possible to see that the spring 14 is a leaf spring having a hook-shaped end which at least partially embraces the respective bar to be dragged.

[0027] Lastly, it is clear that modifications and variations may be made to the invention described herein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A chair for a cable transportation system; the chair (1) comprising:

- a row of seats (2) placed side by side;

- a protection device (5, 16) movable with respect to the seats (2) between a first distal position wherein it does not hinder the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and a second position proximal to the seats wherein it performs the function of protecting passengers during transportation; and

- a plurality of cord devices (11) coupled to the protection device (5, 16); each cord device (11) being configured to be grasped and moved manually by the passengers seated on the seats (2) for moving the protection device (5, 16) by pulling from the first position to the second position; characterized in that

each cord device (11) is configured in such a way that for a first movement section it has an elastic behaviour generating an elongation without pulling the protection device (5, 16) and for a second movement section, subsequent to the first one, it has a rigid behaviour generating the pulling of the protection device (5, 16);
wherein the cord device (11) comprises:

- a cord made of a material configured to elongate elastically due to manual pulling by the passengers until reaching a maximum elongation which is at least equal to about 10% of the length at rest; or

a spring device (13) connected to the protection device (5, 16) and a cord made of non-extendible material; the spring device (13) being configured to elongate elastically due to manual pulling by the passengers until a maximum elongation is reached.

2. The chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protection device (5, 16) is a safety bar (16) configured in such a way that in the second position it protects the passengers from falling off the seats (2); the cord device (11) being directly connected to the safety bar (16) or to handles protruding from the safety bar (16).

3. The chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protection device (5, 16) is a dome (9) configured in such a way that in the second position it protects the passengers from atmospheric agents; the dome (9) comprising a front bar (7), the cord device (11) being directly connected to the front bar (7) or to handles protruding from the front bar (7) .

4. The chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spring device (13) comprises a leaf spring (14) having a first end coupled to the protection device and a second free end coupled to the cord.

5. The chair as claimed in claim 4, wherein the leaf spring (14) is shaped so that at rest it is substantially horizontal and the cord (15) is in an intermediate position between the first end of the spring and the seats and in the working position it is substantially vertical.

6. The chair as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the cord devices (11) are coupled to the protection device at the position of each seat (2).

7. The chair as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 1 to 7, wherein the cord devices (11) are coupled to the protection device at positions between the seats (2).

Drawing