Page 1 of 2 [ 18 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

Mountain Goat
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 May 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 14,202
Location: .

02 Oct 2020, 6:35 am

I avoid using them unless I really have to. I rarely come across the need to use them, but in my late teens to early 20's three times I ended up stuck in a lift in seperate places and two were within days of each other!
The first time the cable came off the winding at the top and we hit the ground. (Lifts do have emergency brakes but I think in this case we hit the ground just before they came in). A sudden stop. It was a small lift going up to a tower on a mine which housed a larger lift that went down the mine. It was a very deep mine. It was a college outing to look at the electrical winding gear of the main lift.
The lift said "Max 4 persons" and there was an old style phone in the middle of the lift. I asked why it was there and the man said "You don't want to know". (I did not ask why I don't want to know).
With the man there were five of us. I was concerned. The man said that it was ok.

When we got to the top of the tower we looked at what we came up to see, and I was not concentrating as I wanted to go back down! I did not want to use the lift, but the only other way down was climbing down many flights of metal stair type ladders which I could see straight through! I don't like heights!
So reluctantly I crammed in the lift. (I also do not like confined spaces!)
We went down and then the lift stopped just above the level of the ground so the railing type fence door things would not open. The man fiddled with the lift controlls and we suddenly fell down and BANG... We hit the ground which was below the floor level the lift was supposed to stop at. (The sudden falling was because the cable had come off the winding of the lift). We were now cramped in a tiny lift and the floor was close to waste height.
The man said "This is where we use the phone". He rang and rang. No answer. We were stuck there for 45 minutes as the ones in the office who would have answered were all on lunch. Finally someone came to the rescue.

The other two lifts were a few years later where I had no choice but to use them as we had to help dissabled people in wheelchairs. One was a big lift with lovely windows which only went one storey up and could take about four wheelchairs and the carers at the same time. There were two lifts side by side like this if I remember. The lift stopped ad we were stuck overlooking the swimming pool so we were watching the elderly blind man swim back and fore. He was a lovely man and his wife was also lovely. They were a joy to be with and a blessing! He would swim the length of the pool until he banged his head, and he turned aroundand swim back and fore like this bumping his head each time ecause he could not see. But he LOVED to swim! He didn't get brain damage. He was fine! I think we were stuck in there for around 15 to 20 minutes?
The third lift was a few days later and was in Woolworths in the town we stayed at.was a small old fasion lift to go between two floors. Just enough room for me and the person in his or her wheelchair (Don't remember who I was with. I think it was a nice elderly lady if I remember).
As the lift went down I saw a lady walk up to the fence like thing at the bottom and try to see if she could open it, which she could not because we were in the lift, and she walked off... But as she had moved the fence thing the lift stopped as that fence thing has to be shut properly efore the lift works, so we were stuck. Why don't people think before they do things like that! Ah well! We were not stuck for two long as someone came to the rescue when we pushed the bell.

But I try not to use lifts. I like them from a mechanical point of view, but I just don't like getting stuck in them and I will rather walk up 10 flights of stairs then use them. (I used to have to do that many times when I worked on the railway carrying my heavy kid bag and the machine which was almost as heavy, as the other option was the lift!)

Esculators or "Moving stairs" I am ok going up but I hate going down on them. In our town there is a clothss store which is a bit of a horrible experience for me, as clothes for me are upstairs. Fresh new clothss smell triggers off partial shutdowns so I will be fighting this trying to prevent myself from totally shutting down. My Mum would insist I go in if rhe trousers or whatever was for me to wear (Was not often I had to do it. Once a year at the most?)
But I would be in a partial shutdown so I would be struggling to walk and my balance was effected... And the ONLY way down for customers was a lift or a downward esculator. A nightmare!
They do have stairs but they are staff only. I asked and on no account was I allowed to use them. I do all I can to AVOID that shop! Managed to avoid it now for three or four years!


_________________
.


kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

02 Oct 2020, 7:37 am

I've had elevators get stuck on me. It's pretty unpleasant. You feel stuck.

But, in my big city with many big buildings, taking the elevator is a must.



Mountain Goat
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 May 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 14,202
Location: .

02 Oct 2020, 7:46 am

Do they have stairs?


_________________
.


kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

02 Oct 2020, 7:48 am

All buildings have stairs---but many buildings are 30 storeys or more.

London really doesn't have that many very tall buildings in most parts.



renaeden
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jun 2005
Age: 47
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,173
Location: Western Australia

03 Oct 2020, 1:36 am

As a baby and then later as a child, I used to scream in lifts. I guess it was the motion I didn't like. My parents used to dread taking me in them but the ophthalmologist I saw was in a tall building at the children's hospital.

I don't scream in lifts now but I still don't like them much.

Can't believe you got stuck so many times, MG! It's never happened to me.



Dear_one
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Feb 2008
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,717
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines

03 Oct 2020, 5:37 am

This is the first time I've heard first-hand about getting stuck. When I was at college, we used to go into the elevator control room and watch the electro-mechanical brains at work. I used to use a slow, manually controlled freight elevator and quite liked it. Now, I can't remember the last time I was in an elevator. Probably one 14 years back, but the previous one was the Space Needle in Seattle in 1999. Once we got to the revolving restaurant, my GF revealed that she was terrified of heights. Before that it was also many years. Here we have grain elevators, but I guess that they just make the land look flat, because nobody climbs even the ones in museum grounds.



Mountain Goat
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 May 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 14,202
Location: .

03 Oct 2020, 5:53 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
All buildings have stairs---but many buildings are 30 storeys or more.

London really doesn't have that many very tall buildings in most parts.


Here a building is considered tall if it has four storeys high or higher.
Strangely my nephew works in a high position. He works as a chef in the tallest building in Wales. I once went up to see him there. I took the stairs!


_________________
.


Dear_one
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Feb 2008
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,717
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines

03 Oct 2020, 6:09 am

I heard that an architect in the USSR forgot to put elevators in a 13 storey building. He got quarters on the top floor.
I like the new elevators that are separate electric cars, so that several can use the same shaft, and they can also move sideways.
BTW, the safety brake on a standard elevator is quite simple. A strong spring holds the brake on, and is pulled back by the cable attachment. If the cable breaks, the brake goes on.
Otis Elevator Co does business in a one-storey building.



Mountain Goat
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 May 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 14,202
Location: .

03 Oct 2020, 7:42 am

Some of the brakes are very simple. They work like bicycle pawls from the sound of them. (That is if I am right).


_________________
.


MaxE
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,224
Location: Mid-Atlantic US

03 Oct 2020, 12:02 pm

Elevator Safety System

Quote:
An inspired piece of engineering, Otis’ safety brake kept the elevator from falling if the hoisting rope broke. If the rope went slack, the release of tension triggered the safety brake – a large leaf spring that snapped into notches cut into rails that supported the elevator on opposite sides of the elevator car.

It's quite possible that elevators in older buildings in the UK aren't equipped in this manner.

It occurs to me that my mother's uncle was reportedly in an elevator that fell when its cable broke, I suppose when he was young. He was probably born around 1980, if he was born the same time as his wife. He apparently had some psoriasis that developed afterwards (drawing on old childhood memories).


_________________
My WP story


ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,137

03 Oct 2020, 5:46 pm

Some of the people in my workplace started a "stairobics" movement for keeping fit by using the stairs rather than the lifts. My approval for that clashed with my view that "why use your own energy to get somewhere when you can make your employer carry you?" In the end I took to using the stairs because some of the lifts were oversubscribed and I got tired of waiting for them. Before that I'd impatiently watch the indicator showing the lift stopping at other floors before it arrived, which would bring out the worst in my feelings about my fellow workers. That would also happen when I'd entered the lift and just as it was about to start, somebody would arrive in the nick of time. But I mellowed over time when I realised I got a bit of a buzz from helping them catch the lift by blocking the doors from closing.

Sometimes I'd have to use the lift because I had a trolley to lug to my destination. I often wondered how they managed to rig things so that the lift floor wasn't aligned properly with the real floor, which created a step - not ideal when my trolley was carrying glassware full of liquid chemicals and bacterial cultures. Lifting one end of the trolley to better get over the step often resulted in one of the wheels dropping off.

I don't approve of the names "elevator" and "lift" because they can take you down as well as up, but an alternative word hasn't yet occurred to me.



Mountain Goat
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 May 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 14,202
Location: .

03 Oct 2020, 6:00 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
Some of the people in my workplace started a "stairobics" movement for keeping fit by using the stairs rather than the lifts. My approval for that clashed with my view that "why use your own energy to get somewhere when you can make your employer carry you?" In the end I took to using the stairs because some of the lifts were oversubscribed and I got tired of waiting for them. Before that I'd impatiently watch the indicator showing the lift stopping at other floors before it arrived, which would bring out the worst in my feelings about my fellow workers. That would also happen when I'd entered the lift and just as it was about to start, somebody would arrive in the nick of time. But I mellowed over time when I realised I got a bit of a buzz from helping them catch the lift by blocking the doors from closing.

Sometimes I'd have to use the lift because I had a trolley to lug to my destination. I often wondered how they managed to rig things so that the lift floor wasn't aligned properly with the real floor, which created a step - not ideal when my trolley was carrying glassware full of liquid chemicals and bacterial cultures. Lifting one end of the trolley to better get over the step often resulted in one of the wheels dropping off.

I don't approve of the names "elevator" and "lift" because they can take you down as well as up, but an alternative word hasn't yet occurred to me.


A vertical transportation device.


_________________
.


KT67
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2019
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,807

03 Oct 2020, 6:05 pm

I'm not scared of lifts.

I'm scared of stairs.

Esp spiral stairs and stairs with stairwells.

I can't tell very easily where the gap in the stairwell ends and where the stairs begin. Even with a banister. Every time I climb them, I'm convinced I'll fall. So I end up sitting on a step at some points.

Imagine how awful it would be if you were scared of both 8O Or disabled and scared of lifts 8O

Glass lifts are quite scary too. There's one in the shopping centre of my home town. I avoid it. As a kid, I thought of it when I read 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator' - if any lift could go wherever it wanted, it was that one.


_________________
Not actually a girl
He/him


ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,137

03 Oct 2020, 7:19 pm

Mountain Goat wrote:
A vertical transportation device.

Vertiport?



AuroraBorealisGazer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 May 2015
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,082
Location: Fluidic Space

03 Oct 2020, 7:29 pm

KT67 wrote:
I'm not scared of lifts.

I'm scared of stairs.

Esp spiral stairs and stairs with stairwells.

I can't tell very easily where the gap in the stairwell ends and where the stairs begin. Even with a banister. Every time I climb them, I'm convinced I'll fall. So I end up sitting on a step at some points.

Imagine how awful it would be if you were scared of both 8O Or disabled and scared of lifts 8O

Glass lifts are quite scary too. There's one in the shopping centre of my home town. I avoid it. As a kid, I thought of it when I read 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator' - if any lift could go wherever it wanted, it was that one.


I have this problem with stairs too. I take much longer to use them than others because I'm very cautiously watching my feet and placing them careful with each step. I feel like I used to be better with stairs when I was a kid. But I feel off balance and like I'm not very aware of the position of my feet.



Dear_one
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Feb 2008
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,717
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines

03 Oct 2020, 9:01 pm

Does anybody else remember elevator operators? You'd tell them which floor you wanted, and they would announce them upon arrival, opening the doors when it was safe and they had the floors level. (pushbutton elevators count turns on the drum, and guess at the resulting location) They wore uniforms, and acted like servants even to children. The last of their kind were called "vertical engineers."

Apparently escalators draw a large audience when they first arrive in a city, as people struggle to get on and off smoothly. One tourist encountered such a scene, and joined in, really hamming it up as if he was terrified, but being as adept as a trapeze artist. The crowd loved him as he "fell" back several times before finally staggering off. Then a line of Buddhist monks arrived, and did it all as smoothly as if born to the motion.
Escalators evolved from conveyor belts, and I used to ride one that was just a wide chain made of many wooden blocks, interleaved with gaps as wide as the boards were thick, and worn down to being not close to level, in the city's finest department store, old section.