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Posts Tagged “

Elevators

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space elevator

Japanese Team Creates Working Space Elevator... Made of Lego Blocks

For those of you who know what a space elevator is, you also know how difficult (some would say impossible) it will be to create one. Well, don't tell that to the starry-eyed guys in Redmond this weekend, who are attending the annual Space Elevator Conference 2008. And they have a blog! And in this blog today I found... a working space elevator! Made of Lego blocks! Sadly, it was only a working model, not the real thing, meaning Jesus' lifelong dream of a Lego space elevator carrying him to a life-sized Lego Galaxy Explorer space ship is postponed, indefinitely. More »

1:00 PM on Sun Jul 20 2008
By Jack Loftus
36,615 views, 32 comments

Latest by Barry99705: @gizmodohomepage: From the stuff I've read, the "cable" is going to be pretty thick. Think multi-story office building, that just keeps going up. more »

elevators

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Earlier today we posted on a New Yorker piece about a man trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. But the real gem of the article was the mountain of "Did you know..." facts laced throughout. Like that Door Close button you're always pushing? Yeah, it doesn't work. Here's the full list: More »

10:40 PM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Adrian Covert
80,651 views, 133 comments

Latest by B: @dhlt25: "how do people get accidents on a escalator?" Didn't you see Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure? They warned Socrates to be careful with his flowing toga or risk getting sucked under the escalator! more »

elevators

Guy Trapped in Elevator: 41 Hour Ordeal Caught On Tape

A quick cigarette break by Business Week employee Nicholas White turned into a nightmare when his elevator stopped dead in its shaft and trapped him there for a crazy 41 hours—all of it caught on a security camera. It seems like all of the technological developments in elevator design, from Archimedes through Otis' security brake to modern 35-mph cars couldn't help him: even the alarm system didn't work properly. Though it happened a while ago, over at the New Yorker they're running a time-lapsed video of the security footage, and it will send chills down your spine, let me tell you. More »

2:40 PM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Kit Eaton
50,468 views, 119 comments

Latest by Way: I work in that building. I'm surprised they dug up that 9-year old story. Still, though, it's pretty f'n scary. more »

going up

Taipei 101 Elevator, Fastest in the World


We thought that elevator zipping us to the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower was fast, but this one in the Taipei 101 building has been named the world's fastest by the Guinness Book of World Records. This one moves so quickly, it needs to be aerodynamically designed, roaring from the fifth floor to the 89th floor at a breakneck speed of 37.7mph. So is that treacly music they're playing supposed to make our descent seem even faster, or magical? Ha. Enough of that. Let's look at some pics of the elevator's innards. More »

10:20 AM on Wed Nov 14 2007
By Charlie White
21,169 views, 38 comments

Latest by demonwolf: the camera dude did it wrong when it start going down your supposed to jump more »

bravery

World's Tallest Outdoor Glass Elevator Provides Great Views, Sheer Terror

Afraid of heights? Then you'll probably want to stay the hell away from the Bailong Elevator, a glass elevator built onto the side of a huge cliff in Zhangjiajie, China, that takes you a whopping 1,070 feet high. This stomach-dropping ride is the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world, and its future isn't certain; apparently it's bad for the cliffs to have a gigantic elevator stuck on the side of them. So if you feel like experiencing the pants-crapping good time that riding in this thing would provide, you'd better do it now while you still have the chance, as it might be dismantled in the near future. Hit the jump for an impressive picture of the elevator from the ground.

More »

12:25 PM on Wed Oct 3 2007
By Adam Frucci
38,336 views, 41 comments

Latest by ColdAsIce: Looking at the face that they put it on, it is going to look like crap if they take this thing down. It looks like they made the face smooth for the elevator.... more »

going up...without you

Video Proof of the Elevator Floor Skipping Hack


Here's proof of that urban legend, the floor-skipping elevator hack, that we heard about a few months ago. This also proves most of the world is full of selfish a'holes (including us). In case you forgot, holding your destination floor and the close buttons simultaneously is said to put elevators into an express mode, passing all other stories like Superman flying up the side of the building. We have no clue whether this will work on some, most or all elevators, and our home ownership offers us no way to test the theory. So to anyone living in an apartment or vising the office today, try this hack out and let us know if it works in the comments. Because we're all on a need to know basis here.

4:35 PM on Sat Jul 7 2007
By Mark Wilson
21,232 views, 61 comments

Latest by king_of_fools: might work well but that video was missing one thing, calls from different floors. None of the floor buttons were lit which means there were no calls for the elevator when he made the video, notice no one else is more »

gadgets

Buttonless Elevators Creep People Out

From a design standpoint, these new buttonless elevators in populated metro areas are great. Enter in the floor you want, and the central computer aggregates adjacent floors so people get where they're going faster. The problem comes when people get on board, change their minds, and freak due to a lack of control. And unlike S&M, there's no safe-word here. More »

6:15 PM on Fri Dec 1 2006
By Jason Chen
526 views, 15 comments

gadgets

Say Goodbye to Elevator Traffic

elevator.jpgThis is an odd piece of news, but Fujitec America has announced a new elevator system that it says can ease the bottlenecks of people waiting in lobbies and other "high-traffic areas." Called the Destination Floor Guidance System, it's actually working right now in the Metropolitan Park West Tower in downtown Seattle, and is meant to make your elevator trip faster by grouping people together who are going to the same floors. So basically, there are self-standing and wall-mounted kiosks with touch screens in common waiting areas and you just touch the screen to tell the system where you're going. A message will then appear to tell you which car to ride. Predictive logic software is also installed and should lead the elevators to start stopping more frequently at the floors which get the most traffic. Next up is the New York Times building in Manhattan. Good times folks, good times. More »

4:57 PM on Fri Jan 27 2006
By tgrumet
309 views, 4 comments

Latest by elbaso: I've experienced this in Downtown Los Angeles a few months ago, in the Jewelry Building at 550 South Hill Street. It was a bit confusing at first, since there's no up/down buttons. After a couple of visits, I started to really more »

gadgets

Tokyo's Premier "Maglev" Elevator


If you're constantly worried you'll end up like the picture above, you may want to check out Tokyo's newest addition to its high-tech stable of crap called the "maglev" elevator. Though it won't be up and running until 2008, this technology will basically suspend you in mid-air through what they say is a combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion. As of now, the technology has only been used for high-speed trains (in Pudong International Airport in Shanghai) and you'll be happy to know that the Brits actually scrapped their maglev shuttle in 1995 because of "technical glitches." But let's face it, if anyone can do it, the Japanese can. AND, the new elevators will be quieter and travel 984 ft. per minute. Someone should comission Brian Eno to write a suite of music for these elevators, no? More »

9:44 AM on Wed Jan 18 2006
By tgrumet
486 views, 6 comments

Latest by macdeth: You want to talk about fun? How about makin gyour way up to the 30th floor and the power goes out? more »