Brake device, e.g. with a wedge-shaped brake element, for braking a travelling body that can be moved in a guided manner along a guide rail in a movement direction

A brake device for braking a traveling body of an elevator system, the traveling body being movable in a guided manner along a guide rail in a movement direction, the brake device comprising:

• a holder adapted to be attached to the traveling body;
• a brake element;
• a pretensioning element;
• a release element;
• a pressing element;
• wherein the brake element is held and mounted on the holder and has a brake surface directed toward the guide rail when the holder is attached to the traveling body, the brake element being movable relative to the holder between a free-running position and a braking position, wherein the brake surface is spaced laterally apart from the guide rail in the free-running position and is pressed laterally against the guide rail in the braking position;
• wherein the pretensioning element, in a deactivated configuration, does not exert a force on the brake element to move the brake element toward the braking position and, in an activated configuration, exerts a force on the brake element that moves the brake element toward the braking position;
• wherein the release element holds the pretensioning element in a holding state and, when the release element is activated into a released state, reconfigures the pretensioning element from the deactivated configuration into the activated configuration;
• wherein the pressing element, in an unactuated state, does not generate a force on the brake element in a direction oriented toward the guide rail and, in an actuated state, generates a force on the brake element in a direction oriented toward the guide rail;
• and
• wherein the release element is a pawl movable between a latched position and an unlatched position, and wherein the pawl, in the latched position, holds the pretensioning element in the deactivated configuration, and the pawl, in the unlatched position, releases the pretensioning element into the activated configuration.