Old School Elevator

[thenetwork]

Only 4 manual elevators still exist in the USA.  One of them: https://landmarkhunter.com/199537-bellin-building/

I seriously doubt there being only 4 manual elevators left in the entire country.  I know of at least 3 manually-controlled elevators -- two in the same building in Cleveland, OH -- as well as countless numbers of freight elevators where your hands or fingers must be on some sort of control to move the elevator.

Likely its one of 4 manual elevators left in the Green Bay area, as I doubt the entire state of Wisconsin has only 4 manual elevators left as well.

[1995hoo]

Speaking of the Empire State Buildings 86-102 caged elevator, I see in the late 2010s, that it's been replaced with a glass elevator.  Plus an extra $20 to ride it as the admission only covers the visit to the 86th Floor.

Forty years ago, the price of admission covered both observatories.

Then there is the special 103d floor observatory that's not open to the public.

They allow celebrities up there. It was originally intended as the platform for embarking and disembarking from moored dirigibles.

[1995hoo]

BTW, one of the more interesting elevators I've ridden is at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The elevators themselves don't look so interesting at first until you realize that because of the way the building is shaped, the elevators run at an angle (I believe something like 7° off vertical), which is very unusual in the USA for elevators inside a building.

[Road Hog]

I haven't seen one in person, but the Paternoster Lift is even old schoolier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster_lift

You haven't lived until you ride a Paternoster. They used to be huge in Germany. A woman was killed in one in Frankfurt about two weeks after I rode the same one.

[skluth]

BTW, one of the more interesting elevators I've ridden is at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The elevators themselves don't look so interesting at first until you realize that because of the way the building is shaped, the elevators run at an angle (I believe something like 7° off vertical), which is very unusual in the USA for elevators inside a building.

Going up the Arch in St Louis is much like that except the car shifts on the way up to compensate for the change in angle as the Arch curves towards the top. Adding to the thrill ride-like nature, it's a shaky ride not to mention cramped if you're a bigger person (which I'm not and even I felt a bit claustrophobic).

[1995hoo]

^^^^

I agree, I felt very cramped in that tram thing.


(Edited when I noticed autocorrect had changed "tram" to "team.")

[catch22]

BTW, one of the more interesting elevators I've ridden is at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The elevators themselves don't look so interesting at first until you realize that because of the way the building is shaped, the elevators run at an angle (I believe something like 7° off vertical), which is very unusual in the USA for elevators inside a building.

Going up the Arch in St Louis is much like that except the car shifts on the way up to compensate for the change in angle as the Arch curves towards the top. Adding to the thrill ride-like nature, it's a shaky ride not to mention cramped if you're a bigger person (which I'm not and even I felt a bit claustrophobic).

My wife and I have been up in the arch a couple of times.  The last time, we were paired with an older Japanese couple who spoke no English.  The first time our car re-leveled they got real upset. I did my best "don't panic" body language to try to calm them down for the rest of the trip to the top but I'm not sure how well I did.

[jeffandnicole]

BTW, one of the more interesting elevators I've ridden is at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The elevators themselves don't look so interesting at first until you realize that because of the way the building is shaped, the elevators run at an angle (I believe something like 7° off vertical), which is very unusual in the USA for elevators inside a building.

The Luxor in Las Vegas has inclinators that run at a 39 degree angle.

[abefroman329]

BTW, one of the more interesting elevators I've ridden is at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The elevators themselves don't look so interesting at first until you realize that because of the way the building is shaped, the elevators run at an angle (I believe something like 7° off vertical), which is very unusual in the USA for elevators inside a building.

There is (was?) a similar elevator at the Huntington Metro station, running from the south end of the platform to the south parking lot.

[1995hoo]

BTW, one of the more interesting elevators I've ridden is at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The elevators themselves don't look so interesting at first until you realize that because of the way the building is shaped, the elevators run at an angle (I believe something like 7° off vertical), which is very unusual in the USA for elevators inside a building.

There is (was?) a similar elevator at the Huntington Metro station, running from the south end of the platform to the south parking lot.

That's still there. I view that as being a somewhat different beast. It's more like a funicular or an "inclinator" than a conventional elevator inside a building because it doesn't run in an enclosed elevator shaft the way the ones at the Masonic Memorial do. They look like regular elevators in all ways and most tourists wouldn't recognize the angled shafts if the docents didn't mention them.

[roadman65]

Doesn't the Eiffel Tower have those elevators in each of the four legs?

[Georgia Guardrail]

Have any of you been on an elevator that goes from side to side not just up and down?

[Big John]

^^ SeaTac airport has a horizontal tram which travels horizontally.

[Bruce]

^^ SeaTac airport has a horizontal tram which travels horizontally.

Are you referring to the automated people movers?

[kphoger]

Have any of you been on an elevator that goes from side to side not just up and down?

[Dirt Roads]

Have any of you been on an elevator that goes from side to side not just up and down?

^^ SeaTac airport has a horizontal tram which travels horizontally.

Are you referring to the automated people movers?

Otis Elevator developed a "horizontal elevator" concept in the mid-1970s, both in a cable-hauled version and a linear inductor motor (LIM) version.  These vehicles do not have wheels, but rather are air-levitated and equipped with rubber "landing pads" that serve as brakes.  As best as I can tell, the only LIM system ever sold was the one that used to be here in Duke Medical Center that originally ran from the PG1 Parking Garage -to- Duke Hospital -to- Duke South Clinic (and later as two independent shuttles in both directions to/from Duke Hospital).  It had a traditional [train control system] that was essentially the same as used on the Los Angeles Green Line automated light rail system.  The Duke system also a hydraulic vehicle elevator to access Floor Zero, which is the basement of the main hospital (specificially used for the transport of bariatric patients to get imaging scans). 

The HOVAIR LIM system was installed at Duke in 1977 and officially completed in 1979, with lots of technical issues.  It really didn't fully running until 1982, and even then many of the original features that were supposed to make it function like a train were abandoned.  The South Clinic portion was shut down in November 2008 and the remainder shut down in 2010.  The Duke system was internally branded as the Duke Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system, but the vehicles had a nominal capacity of about 16 passengers.  The original system had four vehicles, one of which burned in a nasty fire caused by overheating of a vehicle LIM motor.  Fortunately, nobody was on the system at the time of the incident.  Like the West Virginia University PRT system, the one at Duke is categorized as an automated guideway transit (AGT) system in the subcategory of Group Rapid Transit (GRT), a term which hasn't seen use since the late 1970s. 

The same HOVAIR LIM technology was adapted to the amusement industry with the Tower of Terror at (then) MGM Studios in Disneyworld, which first opened in 1994.  Another HOVAIR LIM system was opened at DisneyLand in 2004 (closed in 2017), and a third was opened in Disney Paris in 2007.  These function as smaller amusement ride vehicles and incorporate cable-grip technologies for the tower elevator portion of the rides.  Needless to say, the Tower of Terror version is not considered to be an AGT system.

[Dirt Roads]

I shouldn't forget that Otis also constructed many cable-hauled linear elevator AGT systems, including several that were part of a joint venture with the POMA cablecar subsidiary out of Grenoble, France.  To the best of my knowledge, all of these are two-dimensional and do not have any vertical elevator components. 

Tampa Harbour Island (1985-1999)
U-Bahn Serfaus (Austria) (1985)
Sun City Casino/Report (South Africa) (1987)
Getty Museum in Los Angeles (1997)
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (1994)
Narita International Airport (Japan) (1992-2013)
Cairo International Airport (Egypt) (2000)
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (2001)
Huntsville Hospital (2002)
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (2002)
Zurich International Airport (Switzerland) (2003)

I had extensive work on the Sun City, MSP and Duke systems, plus a little bit on the Detroit system.  Our experience at Sun City proved that the horizontal elevator equipment was not sufficient for systems that have multiple horizontal and vertical curves, and Otis was forced to adapt its system to use traditional European-standard funicular equipment on the more complex systems.  I've always suspected that the partnership with POMA was intended to bring some funicular engineering experience to the product line.  It certainly helped.

[thenetwork]

I saw a YouTube video a while back of an elevator in Europe whose cab goes both horizontal and then switches to a vertical lift.  I forget where it was.

I also hear that Thyssen/Krupp has developed an elevator modern day system of multiple elevator cabs that share the same vertical shafts and ones that also do vertical and horizontal movements.

[roadman65]

Have any of you been on an elevator that goes from side to side not just up and down?

The Wonkavator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_TY7s7lWPg

[1995hoo]

The so-called "Wonkavator" is more properly–because it's the name used in the books–called the "Great Glass Elevator." The far-lesser-known sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Highly unlikely that'll ever be made as a movie, though, for several reasons, including Roald Dahl and his estate not being happy with how the film studios made major changes to the first book, the story not being as good as the first book, and the story containing some rather un-PC elements that some people consider racist (e.g., the President calls the wrong number twice when calling China and is told, "It is very hard to call someone in China. The country is so full of Wings and Wongs that every time you wing, you get the wong number.").

[Rothman]

The so-called "Wonkavator" is more properly–because it's the name used in the books–called the "Great Glass Elevator." The far-lesser-known sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Highly unlikely that'll ever be made as a movie, though, for several reasons, including Roald Dahl and his estate not being happy with how the film studios made major changes to the first book, the story not being as good as the first book, and the story containing some rather un-PC elements that some people consider racist (e.g., the President calls the wrong number twice when calling China and is told, "It is very hard to call someone in China. The country is so full of Wings and Wongs that every time you wing, you get the wong number.").

The Dahl Estate was more satisfied with the Johnny Depp version.

[abefroman329]

I saw a YouTube video a while back of an elevator in Europe whose cab goes both horizontal and then switches to a vertical lift.  I forget where it was.

This one?

[1995hoo]

The so-called "Wonkavator" is more properly–because it's the name used in the books–called the "Great Glass Elevator." The far-lesser-known sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Highly unlikely that'll ever be made as a movie, though, for several reasons, including Roald Dahl and his estate not being happy with how the film studios made major changes to the first book, the story not being as good as the first book, and the story containing some rather un-PC elements that some people consider racist (e.g., the President calls the wrong number twice when calling China and is told, "It is very hard to call someone in China. The country is so full of Wings and Wongs that every time you wing, you get the wong number.").

The Dahl Estate was more satisfied with the Johnny Depp version.

Understandably, as it is (in general) far more faithful to the book. One thing Dahl himself apparently really disliked about the 1971 version is that it put the focus on Willy Wonka as the protagonist, rather than on Charlie Bucket (consider how they changed the name of the story).

[1995hoo]

A very spiffy elevator in the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon. Court personnel told me it's the original cage installed about 100 years ago, although the elevator itself has been upgraded.

[6a]

This isn't an elevator itself, but it relates to one. The floor markers at State Auto Insurance in Columbus had these (sadly, they've been replaced). The "ball"  inside rotated almost like you'd imagine a magic 8-ball or something. Not a single clue how it worked, but it was cool.