Integrated, multi-level elevator shuttle

An elevator shuttle system comprising:

• a number, N, of hoistways for providing elevator service between a first level of a building and N other levels of a building, vertically remote from said first level and each vertically remote from the other, each of said hoistways except the lowest comprising an upper hoistway having its lower end contiguous and overlapping with the upper end of another one of said hoistways, each of said hoistways except the highest having its upper end overlapping and contiguous with the lower end of another one of said hoistways;
• a car frame for each of said hoistways, the car frame of the lowest hoistway having N decks, the car frame for each other hoistway having one less deck than the number of decks of the car frame in the hoistway below it in said shuttle system;
• a plurality of elevator cabs, there being one elevator cab for each of said hoistways;
• the elevator cabs in each of said upper hoistways being horizontally moveable;
• and
• horizontal motive means for moving said horizontally moveable elevator cabs between a car frame in any one of said hoistways and a car frame in another one of said hoistways which overlaps and is contiguous therewith.

An elevator shuttle system comprising:

• a number, N, of hoistways for providing elevator service between a first level of a building and N other levels of a building, vertically remote from said first level and each vertically remote from the other, each of said hoistways except the lowest having its lower end contiguous and overlapping with the upper end of another one of said hoistways, each of said hoistways except the highest having its upper end overlapping and contiguous with the lower end of another one of said hoistways;
• 2N landings at said first level and 2 landings at each other one of said levels;
• a multideck car frame for each of said hoistways, the decks of said car frames being vertically aligned with said landings when said car frames are brought to rest at said levels;
• a plurality of horizontally moveable elevator cabs, the number of said elevator cabs equaling three plus H elevator cabs for each of said hoistways, where H equals the number of hoistways below said each hoistway in said system;
• and
• horizontal motive means for exchanging said elevator cabs between the car frame of any one of said hoistways and the car frame of another one of said hoistways which overlaps and is contiguous therewith at a given level, said cabs exchanged at each given level including one downwardly traveling cab and one upwardly traveling cab for each of said levels above said given level, for exchanging N upwardly traveling cabs with N downwardly traveling cabs between the landings at said first level and the car frame of said lowest hoistway, and for exchanging one upwardly traveling cab with one downwardly traveling cab between the landings at said other levels and the corresponding car frame.