Section 7.73. Automatic control passenger elevators

(a) Automatic control passenger elevators shall not be constructed and installed unless a special permit is first obtained from the Department. Their use is at all times subject to any special regulations applied to them by the Department for the protection of the public and employes.

(b) Such elevators are subject to all of the requirements covering electric passenger elevators, except as to door interlocks, emergency releases, emergency stop switches, and operators.

(c) The landing doors of automatic control passenger elevators shall be equipped with approved interlocking switches so arranged that the elevator car is held immovable while any landing door is opened or unlocked, and so that such door or doors are not opened after the elevator car has left the landing. Retiring cams are not required on one story two-landing elevators erected prior to January 1, 1954. Such devices shall not be affected by ordinary deviation from true alignment of either the car or the landing doors and shall not project into the shaftway to such an extent as to create a hazard. On all elevators installed subsequent to December 15,1924, the operation of such a device shall not cause the unlocking of the landing door as the car passes the landing with the power on.

(d) The cars of automatic control passenger elevators shall not have openings on more than two sides. Sliding or rolling doors or collapsible gates are required at all car openings; and such gates shall be equipped with switches so connected to the car control circuit as to hold the car immovable while the gates are open.

(e) The control circuit shall be so arranged as to make it impossible for the elevator car to be started automatically upon the manual closing of any landing door, car door, or gate, but will operate only by the buttons or switches at the landing or in the elevator car. Such doors or gates shall also be so connected to the control circuit that if the car is started for a given landing no impulse may be given from any landing to send the car in the reverse direction until it reaches the destination corresponding to the first impulse. An exception exists when the car has stopped at an intermediate landing to take on or discharge passengers desiring to go in the direction determined by the first impulse when the closing of the car gate may be sufficient to start the car.

(f) In new installations, in addition to the directional buttons in the cars of automatic controlled elevators, a switch or button shall be provided to enable passengers to stop the car at any point of its travel. When a self-restoring switch or button is used and the car has been started from within, releasing the switch or button shall not permit restarting the car except by the operating device in the car, unless the car gate or hoistway landing door has been opened and closed. Switches and buttons shall be plainly marked ‘‘stop,’’ and the operating button or handle shall be of a different color from any other switch in the car. For new construction, contacts of emergency stop switches or buttons shall be directly opened mechanically and such operation shall not be dependent upon springs. In existing installations, in addition to the directional buttons in the cars of automatic-controlled elevators a switch or button shall be provided to enable passengers to stop the car at any point of its travel.

(g) Independent constant-pressure control buttons shall be provided in the cars of collective pushbutton elevators, which permit the car to be operated in either direction without interference from landings or normal car control buttons. The necessary controlling switches to make such buttons operative shall be located in the penthouse or on the main control board. When existing installations are provided with such switches in the cars, these switches may remain if they are properly marked and placed under glass cover. In new installations, independent constant-pressure control buttons shall be provided in or on top of all electric automatic-controlled elevators which permit the car to be operated in either direction at a speed not to exceed 150 feet per minute without interference from landing or normal car control buttons. If these control buttons are located on top of the car, a red manual stop button or switch shall be provided. Buttons shall be plainly marked to indicate their purpose.

(h) Pushbuttons shall not control the operation of elevators in school buildings, sanitariums for the mentally deficients, and similar classes of buildings where there is danger of the abuse of the purpose of such buttons, unless the pushbuttons are made inaccessible to the occupants or are key operated. A decision on this point all be made at the time of the approval of the plans for such elevators.

(i) Automatic operation elevators shall be provided with an audible emergency signal gong, at least 4 inches in diameter, operative from the car and located outside of the hoistway, or with a telephone connected to a central exchange.

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 34 Pa. Code § 7.71 (relating to conflicts) 34 Pa. Code § 7.149 (relating to hoistway doors); 34 Pa. Code § 7.189 (relating to hoistway doors); and 34 Pa. Code § 7.293 (relating to automatic and dual control freight elevators).