Glossary of BUILDING
TRANSPORTATION
TERMS And Safety
Features
Provided by the National
Elevator Industry, Inc.
ASME A17.1/CSA B44 – The Safety Code for
Elevators and Escalators, published by ASME
and the basis for all local elevator codes in North America.
ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7 – Performance-Based
Safety Code (PBC) for Elevators and Escalators, published by ASME, assures equivalent safety requirements along
with ASME A17.1/CSA B44. It provides Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs)
with an objective and structured method for approving new technology while
ensuring continued elevator safety.
Accredited Elevator/Escalator
Certification Organization (AECO) - An ANSI or SCC accredited, independent
organization concerned with product safety evaluations, that awards elevator
companies with certificates of conformance with ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7.
Alarm Bell
– A bell operated by a push button in an elevator car. It is mounted
either in a hoistway or adjacent to a landing where it may be heard at any time
to call attention to the need for assistance in the elevator.
Car Operating Panel – The assembly of
buttons, switches and indicator lights inside the elevator car used for
operation and control.
Code Compliance Document (CCD) – A document provided
by the manufacturer for each design of an elevator system, sub-system,
component or function that describes how compliance with the ASME A17.7/CSA
B44.7 is achieved.
Counterweight – Weight connected
by the hoist ropes to counterbalance the weight of the car. The counterweight
is equal to the weight of the car plus approximately 40 percent of its rated
load.
Door Operator – A motor-driven device
mounted on the elevator car that opens and closes the car doors. On freight
elevator doors the device is mounted on the hoistway door assembly.
Door Reopening Device – The device on an automatic
closing door that senses an obstruction, and changes the door motion by
stopping it or causing it to reverse.
Double-Wrap – A common roping
arrangement on traction elevators. To increase the traction, the hoist ropes
pass around a secondary sheave mounted beneath the main drive sheave and back
over the drive sheave again.
Drive Chain Tensioning Device – Controls the
correct tension of the drive chain.
Drive
Machine
– The power unit that applies the energy necessary to raise
and lower any elevator, material lift, or dumbwaiter car or to drive an
escalator, an inclined lift, or a moving walk.
Drive
Sheave
– The grooved wheel of a traction-type hoisting machine over
which the hoist ropes pass, and by which motion is imparted to the car and
counterweight by the hoist ropes.
Drum – The cylinder of a
drum type-hoisting machine in which the elevator car hoist ropes and drum-counterweight
ropes wind and unwind to raise and lower the car and counterweight.
Drum Counterweight – On winding-drum
machines, a counterweight which balances part or all of the weight of the
elevator car depending on whether or not a car counterweight is used, along
with part of the capacity load: also called a machine counterweight.
Elevator -
A hoisting or lowering mechanism, designed to carry passengers, equipped with a
car or platform which moves in fixed guides and serves two or more landings. On average, an
elevator travels 4-5 floors, or 40 feet and carries an average of five people
per trip.
Emergency Stop Switch
- A device located in the car which, when manually
operated, causes the electric power to be removed from the driving-machine
motor and brake of an electric elevator or from the electrically operated
valves and/or pump motor of a hydraulic elevator. This device is not found in
modern passenger elevators.
Emergency Exit –
An opening at the top of an elevator used by elevator and emergency personnel.
The top-emergency-exit can be opened only from the top of the car.
Elevator Brake – An electromechanical
device used to prevent the elevator from moving when the car is at rest and no
power is applied to the hoist motor. It must stop a fully loaded elevator.
Fault Finder – A display for
elevator personnel that indicates elevator functions and malfunctions.
Fire Fighters Emergency Operations:
- Phase I Emergency Recall
Operation: The
operation of an elevator when it is automatically or manually summoned to
the recall level and removed from normal service because of firefighters’
emergency operation activation.
- Phase II Emergency In-Car
Operation: The
operation of an elevator by firefighters in which the elevator is under
their control.
Geared Traction Machine – A traction machine in
which the power from the motor is transmitted to the drive sheave through
reduction gears. A mechanically applied electrically released friction brake is
part of the machine.
Gearless Traction Machine – A type of elevator
hoisting machine where the hoist ropes pass over a traction drive sheave, an
integral part of the armature. It is called gearless because no geared
reduction unit is used. A mechanically applied electrically released friction
brake is part of the machine.
Global Essential Safety Requirement
(GESR)
– ASME
A17.7/CSA B44.7 requirements that identify safety objectives but provide
flexibility in the method of attaining compliance with the GESR.
Governor – A constant
operating speed monitoring and detection device that, at predetermined speeds,
provides signals to the controller and imparts a retarding force to activate
the car or counterweight, safely stopping the moving elevator.
Guide Rails – Steel T-shaped,
round, or formed sections with guiding surfaces installed vertically in a
hoistway to guide and direct the course of travel of an elevator car and
elevator counterweights.
HELP Button – A device, found on
modern elevators in place of the alarm button,
used for emergency communications. When
pressed, it initiates a call for assistance and establishes two-way
communications.
Hoist Ropes – The wire ropes used
to raise and lower an elevator car.
Hoistway – The opening or
path through which the elevator travels. It is also referred to as the shaft.
Hydraulic Elevator –Hydraulic elevators
move the car by pumping oil in and out of a steel cylinder, raising or lowering
the elevator car. Used in buildings with two to five floors.
Machine-Room-Less (MRL) Elevator – A type of elevator
where a separate machine room is not needed. The driving machine is typically
located within the hoistway.
Pit – The portion of the
hoistway extending from the lowest landing sill to the bottom of the hoistway.
Safety, Car or Counterweight - A mechanical device
attached to the car frame or an auxiliary frame, or to the counterweight frame,
to stop and hold the car or counterweight in case of the following conditions:
predetermined overspeed, free fall, or if the suspension ropes slacken.
Terminal Landing – The top and bottom
elevator landing.
Traction Elevator – Traction elevators
consist of a car and counterweight attached to opposite ends of a hoist rope,
moved by a traction machine. Used in buildings with more than five floors.
Traction Machine – An electric machine
which uses the friction between the hoist ropes and the machine sheave to move
the elevator car.
Travel (Rise) – The vertical
distance between the bottom and top terminal landing of an elevator.
Balustrade – The sides of the
escalator, which are usually made of stainless steel, aluminum, glass or
plastic. It includes the skirt panels, decks and handrails.
Balustrade Lighting – A lighted panel on
an escalator, located parallel to and immediately above the skirt panel, which
runs the full length of the balustrade from newel to newel, or full-height
transparent panels with a lighting system behind them.
Broken Step Chain and Drive Chain
Device
– A switch mounted on the lower end of an escalator designed to stop the
escalator if the step chain breaks.
Broken Step Device – Detects broken,
damaged or misaligned steps and shuts down the escalator before it can affect
passengers.
Cleated Risers – Vertical cleats on
escalator step risers that mesh with slots on the adjacent step treads as the
steps move from vertical to horizontal.
Controlled Stop – An escalator
braking system that provides a smooth, controlled stop regardless of passenger
load or direction of travel. This device is also activated in the event of a
power failure, when other safety devices have been activated or when the
escalator is manually turned off.
Comb – The toothed
portion of an escalator combplate designed to mesh with a grooved step. They
are often a highly visible color to alert passengers of the transition between
the moving steps and the fixed combplate.
Combplate – The portion of the
landing adjacent to the escalator step that consists of one or more plates
attached to combs.
Comb Segments – Metal or composition
plates with teeth that project into the grooves of the step tread on an
escalator. The plates are fastened to the inner edge of the combplate.
Combstep Impact Device – Detects when an
object is caught beneath or hits the combplate in the direction of travel and
shuts down the escalator.
Combplate Lighting – Lights mounted in
the escalator skirt panels on each side of the upper and lower combplate that
illuminate the area where the steps enter or leave the combplates.
Escalator Brake – Applies a
controlled force to stop and hold the escalator system under normal and
emergency stopping conditions.
Fault Finder – A display for
elevator personnel that indicates escalator functions and malfunctions.
Handrail – Provides a secure
handhold for escalator passengers. It glides along the top of the balustrade
and moves in synch with the speed of the steps. An escalator handrail is a
continuous belted handhold for passengers made of laminated rubber, canvas, and
a stainless steel cord that moves over the top of the balustrade and newels. An
elevator handrail is a railing serving as a support handhold in an elevator
car.
Handrail Entry Device – Helps prevent hand
injuries by automatically stopping the escalator if an object approaches or
gets caught between the handrail and balustrade at the location where the
handrail enters the newel.
Handrail Guards – Helps prevent
items from becoming entrapped in the handrail opening in the newel. A guard is
usually made of rubber and fits over the outside of the handrail at a point
where the handrail enters or leaves the balustrade; it is designed to keep a
person’s fingers out of the handrail opening.
Handrail Guide – Ensures the
correct alignment of the moving handrail while preventing the lifting of the
handrail from its steel guide.
Handrail Speed Monitoring Device – Electronically
monitors handrail speed and shuts down the escalator if the handrail and step
speeds are not synchronized.
Missing Step Device – Detects missing
escalator steps before the opening is visible to passengers and shuts down the
escalator.
Newels – Extensions of the
balustrade, located at both the lower and upper limits of the escalator, that assist
passengers in boarding and exiting the escalator.
Skirt Panels – Panels located
parallel and immediately adjacent to the sides of the steps. They reduce
potential for step/skirt entrapment.
Skirt Obstruction Devices – Automatic switches
located within or behind the skirt panels that are activated when an object
becomes caught between the skirt and step as the step approaches the upper and
lower combplate. They stop the escalator once activated.
Step Chain – An endless steel
chain that forms the connecting links between each of the steps and the drive
machine. Escalator motion is transmitted to the steps through the step chain.
Step Demarcation Lights – Green fluorescent
lights mounted below the steps at the entrance and exit of the escalator. They
illuminate the joint between the steps.
Step Level Device – A sensing device
that shuts down the escalator in the event that the horizontal level of a step
has dropped by more than 1/8 of an inch.
Step Tread – The top surface of
an escalator step on which passengers stand. The surface has narrow slots into
which the comb teeth mesh.
Truss – The escalator
frame.
Vertical Transportation
Moving Walk – A type of
passenger-carrying device on which passengers stand or walk. The
passenger-carrying surface remains parallel to its direction of motion and is
uninterrupted.
NOTES:
(1) These definitions
are intended to assist the layperson in understanding industry terminology and
do not necessarily reflect the definitions found in ASME A17.1/CSA B44 and ASME
A17.7/CSA B44.7.
(2) See NEII-1 for additional definitions.
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