When we think of elevators, we think of the typical machine that moves people between floors of a building. The doors open, you step in, the doors close, and you’re lifted up or down to your destination. What you may not know is that the traction elevator is not the only type of elevator that exists. The paternoster elevator is a cyclic elevator that runs on a continuous loop, with two columns of small, doorless, closet-sized chambers that are in constant motion, one going up and one going down. A rider steps into a moving chamber to ride the elevator, and steps carefully off when the desired floor is reached. It doesn’t require much more dexterity than riding an escalator, but the consequences of failure are gruesome to imagine. Functioning paternosters today have safety switches to prevent passengers from being crushed. Paternoster elevators were developed in the second half of the 19th century, but today they are banned in most countries due to safety issues.
The Elevator That Never Stops
When we think of elevators, we think of the typical machine that moves people between floors of a building. The doors open, you step in, the doors close, and you’re lifted up or down to your destination. What you may not know is that the traction elevator is not the only type of elevator that exists. The paternoster elevator is a cyclic elevator that runs on a continuous loop, with two columns of small, doorless, closet-sized chambers that are in constant motion, one going up and one going down. A rider steps into a moving chamber to ride the elevator, and steps carefully off when the desired floor is reached. It doesn’t require much more dexterity than riding an escalator, but the consequences of failure are gruesome to imagine. Functioning paternosters today have safety switches to prevent passengers from being crushed. Paternoster elevators were developed in the second half of the 19th century, but today they are banned in most countries due to safety issues.