Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators - Gizmodo Comments

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Thu, 29 May 2008 03:56:37 EDT

@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!

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

supercrap — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:25:58 EDT

I deliver food in Atlanta, and I can tell you that pretty much none of the elevators' door close buttons work. I sure wish they did, I'm usually in a hurry.

supercrap

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Paint Swatch — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:05:32 EDT

I think it would be freakier if the elevator flied out the roof like in Willy Wonka. I'd sue for all his gobstoppers!

Paint Swatch

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

prolax123 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:55:36 EDT

i think this gets the prize of worst (and most irrelevant) Gizmodo article of all time

prolax123

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Mr.Wilson — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:45:32 EDT

Not to be a know-it-all or anything, actually in the 1945 incident, the rescuers (firemen I think) told the woman to go into the elevator after the crash to get out of the building. The wires were weakened, so the expected "SNAP" came sometime after the doors closed. Blame/thank Uncle John's Bathroom Reader for my knowledge of that.
And all this talk about freefalling elevators ever makes me think about nowadays is perhaps the coolest elevators I've ever seen in the Tower of Terror rides. Otis was shocked when Disney turned to them for help!

Mr.Wilson

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

BigViper — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:08:54 EDT

@treetrunk: I stand corrected... Yes, if you jump straight up inside a moving train, plane, bus or other
closed vehicle moving at constant speed, you will theoretically land on
exactly the same spot. Experimentally, you will land very close to the same
spot; how close depends on how straight up you jumped and how well you can
measure the take off and landing spot. Also, if you rotate your body or
stick out your arms your feet will land in a slightly different spot since
it is your center of gravity that goes straight up and down.

BigViper

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

egyptiansushi — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:01:04 EDT

In my apartment building, the elevator door literally sits open for five entire minutes if you don't press the close door button. It closes instantly when pressed.

egyptiansushi

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

munan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:17:16 EDT

You can't survive a fall in an elevator by jumping, NOT because you wouldn't know when to jump or because you can't jump fast enough or any other reason like that. It's simple. If you're inside the elevator and it's falling at terminal velocity, so are you.
Jumping does not negate that. If you jump at exactly the right moment, and the elevator comes crashing into the basement, when you land, so will you.

munan

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Chagocal — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:36:17 EDT

@MONSTERGOC:
whats the hack? I need to know, I take an elevator to my office to the 60 floor eveyday.

Chagocal

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

yougottabekidding — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:29:52 EDT

Elevators are twenty times safer than escalators. There are twenty times more elevators than escalators, but only 1/3 more accidents

Maybe I'm over rationalizing this, but the numbers given in this statement do not include the number of people who ride elevators in a given period of time nor the number of people who ride escalators over the same period of time. Nor does the statement include actually statistical data on the total number of accidents that occur on each conveyance for that same time period.

So to theorize, if there are 10,000,000 people that ride elevators with let's say only 1000 accidents, and
1,000,000 people who ride escalators over the same time period, then the number of escalator accidents would have to be only 66% of the number of accidents that occurs in elevators which would come to 666 escalator accidents for every 1000 elevator accidents. But 10 times more people are riding elevators than escalators in this example so the ratio of accidents per total number of passengers on elevators is 1000/10,000,000 or a 1 in 10,000 chance of having an accident on an elevator where the chances on an escalator would be 666/1,000,000 or roughly 6.66 in 10,000 chance of having an accident on an escalator.

These numbers are purely fantasy, of course, but as you could see that even though the number of accidents on elevators is 1/3 more than that on escalators, you'd have about 6.66 times more chances to have an accident on an escalator than an elevator, making the elevator a safer conveyance.

The problem with with trying to rationalize how elevators are twenty times safer than escalators while outnumbering them 20 to 1 and with 1/3 more accidents is simply that you do not have enough information to solve the problem. You need the number of passengers per conveyance per a set time period along with the number of accidents for each conveyance in the same time frame.

At least that's how I see it.

yougottabekidding

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

aphex242 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:10:43 EDT

@gibbative: You're correct, that's just bad math. lol

aphex242

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ChromiumSwitch — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:54:13 EDT

@Gary_7vn: If you're here in NYC, I can assure you that most of them are disconnected (like your friendly neighborhood fire hydrant, probably).

ChromiumSwitch

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

TurboFool — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:19:31 EDT

I always knew that button didn't do anything. I had no specific proof, but after years of using elevators I had come to recognize no increase in the speed at which the doors closed when that button was pressed. I'm so glad to have that confirmed.

TurboFool

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

clalonde — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:58:18 EDT

As for the comment about elevators not being able to be taller than 1700 ft - that is only correct for cable driven elevators. The Burj Dubai and other super sky scrapers will use mag lev elevators.

clalonde

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

riqgeez — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:43:02 EDT

i'll never ride an escalator again!

riqgeez

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

MorganRW — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:30:25 EDT

The hack you are talking about is pressing the Door close and your floor number at the same time will set the elevator into express mode. It will take you right to your floor ignoring other calls on the way. It only works if activated the mode is activated in the elevators control logic so to find it is hit or miss. My friend used it in his apartment all the time and giggled with glee as he could hear people exclaim WTF as he passed their floor on his way to ground level from the 21st floor. Has anyone stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Time Square? I experienced that first hand and I can tell you it took over a half an hour at times to get to my floor.... pure hell. By mid week, I had figured out all the employee entrances and was taking the staff service elevators.

MorganRW

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

What is a man? — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:11:29 EDT

@ideaman2020: Don't feel bad... I almost did the same thing (correcting that math was the primary reason I checked out the comments), but was saved because your post appeared close enough to my text entry that I checked it first. ;) So, thanks.

What is a man?

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

SneakerFiend — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:43:43 EDT

@photophile: Thats true but what i think that they meant was that it speeds up the process but when someone has the key the door closes as soon as you press the button. If you press the button on an elevator it closes appx. 3-5 seconds later. 10-15 seconds later if they door has been opened for quite a bit of time.

SneakerFiend

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Totorototoro — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:01:20 EDT

the close button also works when someone blocks a closing door, forcing it to reopen-rather than sit there for the timed open period after the moron has forced it to re-open, pressing close will close the door immediately.

Totorototoro

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Chiper — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:57:54 EDT

I once rode on an elevator in a college library that opened it's doors to a brick wall. Apparently there was a combination of buttons that could be pushed to cause it to drop to the very bottom of the shaft.

It was pretty clear some other students had discovered this too, there was graffiti all over the wall.

Chiper

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ideaman2020 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:52:03 EDT

@ideaman2020: Yes, this has already been commented on, you fool.

But who has time to read thoroughly through >100 comments...?

ideaman2020

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Schalliol — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:31:33 EDT

One thing I wondered was what sequence of buttons the trapped man used to get out. As I read the article, it sounded like the person over the intercom told him to press a sequence of buttons and he was brought down. Something like that would be nice to know if someone were stuck. Further, placing those commands inside the phone area (or other place someone trapped could find) would be nice.

Schalliol

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ideaman2020 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:31:29 EDT

"Elevators are twenty times safer than escalators. There are twenty times more elevators than escalators, but only 1/3 more accidents."

Ok, I may be statistically challenged here, but if elevators are 20x safer than escalators and there are 20x more elevators, wouldn't you expect the same number of accidents?

a = rate of escalator accidents [per 100 escalators]
a / 20 = rate of elevator accidents [per 100 elevators]
Adjust for number of elevators: 20 x (a / 20) = a

Don't the numbers given imply that elevators are only, like, 15 times safer..?

ideaman2020

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

koralex90 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:19:54 EDT

did you know that Otis is made by LG Electronics? : )

koralex90

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Ashman — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:06:40 EDT

I didn't read all the comments so somebody could have said this already, but in Japan if you push a button for the wrong floor, you can push the button again to de-select it. And the close door buttons work there every time. Wish both statements were true here...

Ashman

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

zsleek7 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:46:56 EDT

so is it true that you can climb out of the elevator ala james bond by simply kicking out the vent on the top?

zsleek7

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Efflux — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:44:05 EDT

BS, the door close button totally works. I use the thing everyday. If you don't press it the doors stay open for like 30 seconds, if you do press it they close instantly. If thats an illusion, it's pretty magical.

Efflux

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

tundraboy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:31:50 EDT

That list is sad evidence of how innumerate we are. Identifying the mathematical errors/fallacies is left to the reader as an exercise.

tundraboy

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

atomx — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:17:57 EDT

@BigViper: If you start jumping around in the isle of an airplane, you're going to land on your back after an air marshall tackles you to the ground for being a weirdo.

atomx

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Beard Police — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:00:38 EDT

@LJN: i live in boston as well, close door button works like a charm in some of these silly new england brownstones.

Beard Police

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bbfreak — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:38:23 EDT

@dhlt25: You've never watched Mallrats have you? Damn kids!

bbfreak

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

CEOself — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:34:39 EDT

@goodevans:

My buddy work for them here in Colorado. I believe you.

CEOself

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Eschguy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:13:51 EDT

Why would he lose his job, money, and apartment just for being gone (trapped nonetheless) for 41 hours?

Eschguy

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

xyz — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:10:41 EDT

I was going to study Elevator Physics but I didnt because I like girls. Oh and I love the Elvator Hack, been using it for years.

xyz

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

hagrun — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:09:21 EDT

@whiter3: Amen to that! Hitting the wrong button in a hydraulic elevator is baaaaaaad news.

hagrun

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

treetrunk — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:59:36 EDT

@BigViper:

Um, not quite. If you jump in an enclosed moving vehicle (train, plane, whatever) which is going at constant speed you'll come back down in exactly the same place since there's no force acting on you while in the air (unless the plane had an open-air cabin). What could happen is if you jump while the plane is accelerating then you'd come down in a different place, though unless you did it on take-off/landing (not advisable!) then the difference probably wouldn't be noticeable.

treetrunk

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

superbryant — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:55:57 EDT

@Gary_7vn: Nope I'm sure they don't....The university I attend split the campus between a busy road Its suicide to cross I've almost been hit like 10 times

superbryant

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

92BuickLeSabre — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:42:55 EDT

Adrian, in case you haven't noticed: this post is pure happy goodness.

92BuickLeSabre

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

BigViper — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:33:36 EDT

and then there's terminal veolcity... weeee

BigViper

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

BigViper — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:33:00 EDT

@VaccaFoeda: newtons first law: a body in motion tends to stay in motion therefore even if you jumped out of a plummiting elevator at that key moment your still moving at a rate of speed conducive with the elevator and will therefore still die.
A fun little side test, next time your in an airplane stand up in the isle and jump straight up you will not come down in exactly the same place. Although you are traveling at the same speed as the plane when you leap as soon as your body is in free space it immediately begins to slow down. Odds are tho you would probabally not visually notice it.

BigViper

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

BigViper — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:38:22 EDT

If you go chasing rabbits...

BigViper

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ParaXnoia — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:28:14 EDT

@goodevans: As I said, my dad is an elevator tech. He actually worked for them for about 20 years, until he left and moved to one of the bigger companies.

ParaXnoia

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

strider_mt2k — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:19:43 EDT

@JohnOB1:

hmmm...blue skies on Mars...

(Good one!)

strider_mt2k

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

strider_mt2k — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:18:34 EDT

@AmplifiedHustler: I LOVE that trick!

It doesn't work in all elevators, but it was the first thing I tried when i would check in at a new hotel on my old job.

People would always be into it when I showed 'em.
-until we passed their floor. ;)

strider_mt2k

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Stalhandske — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:11:34 EDT

as Giolon and theharlotfelon wrote about the door close button in japan, it´s ALWAYS working in China, and chinese ppl press it like crazy!

Stalhandske

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Mandatory_Field — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:51:20 EDT

@qbrad: Yes.

Mandatory_Field

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

JohnOB1 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:49:41 EDT

No one ever mentions THIS part of how dangerous elevators are!

JohnOB1

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

LegosJedi — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:35:19 EDT

Wasn't there some sort of hack for elevators where you would push a button as you were pushing the button of the floor you wanted to go to, and it would go to that floor before every one else's?

LegosJedi

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

wayno007 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:32:32 EDT

When I see statements like "The button is *only* enabled...", that means they're generally full of it. My office has older elevators, and the door close buttons on all three work just fine.

wayno007

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

daived — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:22:42 EDT

i have resolved to not push the close door button again.

daived

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

JasonOT — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:22:20 EDT

20 times safer? That's some awful math going on right there.

If there are 20 times as many elevators, and only 1/3 more accidents, that would be FIFTEEN times safer. 20/1.33 == 15

If there are 100 escalators, and 30 escalator accidents, for an accident rate of .3, that would mean 2000 elevators and 40 accidents for an accident rate of .02. Again, .3/.02 == 15.

JasonOT

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Blakamin — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:49:12 EDT

Another stupid fact... The Otis Elevator company in Wellington, New Zealand is in a 2 level building... with no elevators.

Blakamin

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

flipobrien — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:30:49 EDT

No one else was bothered by the fact that personal space "area" was measured in units of feet? What the hell is 2.3 feet of area for my personal space?

flipobrien

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

goodevans — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:59:02 EDT

Are you aware that there is a Swiss elevator manufacturer called Schindler?

That's right, Schindler's Lift.

I swear to God.

goodevans

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Fierock — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:43:41 EDT

@Set to evil: I'd never seen the full version of that clip... The sad part is its true.

Why the hell must people stop? At least move the hell over to the side and get out of my way so I can get by you lazy jerks.

Same with moving sidewalks at airport terminals - they aren't there so you can be lazy, they are for to get to the gate faster.

Fierock

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

elislider — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:27:04 EDT

i dont see how the one about elevators being more safe than cars can be a valid point. by the same reasoning, my new "death box" is safer than cars because its only killed 1 person, me, on the test run, and it was destroyed in the process

elislider

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

GadgetPlay — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:18:35 EDT

@nutbastard: "right, this myth needs some rest."

Mythbusters already did a number on this one in their not so rigorous way. Needless to say, "Buster" took quite a beating.

GadgetPlay

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ParaXnoia — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:14:50 EDT

The close door/open door buttons are used in fire service mode... They are disabled in normal mode. Chances are that, due to many different variables, you just think they work.

ParaXnoia

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

GadgetPlay — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:12:21 EDT

@VaccaFoeda: "You cant jump in a free falling elevator , not because you cant jump "fast enough" but because you'd no longer be standing on the floor. You'd be floating above it."

That wouldn't seem right unless some other force, in addition to gravity, was acting on the car, but not you, like if you did jump, putting downward force on the car (and upward force on yourself).

GadgetPlay

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

jewsrock — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:10:17 EDT

the close door button ALWAYS works!

jewsrock

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

joch — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:03:00 EDT

is it that the door close buttons only don't work for OTIS elevators? otherwise, they seem effective for me

joch

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ParaXnoia — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:57:43 EDT

@Elliuotatar: When a fire alarm goes off, the elevator doesn't just come to a screeching halt. It continues service. Hence the big "Use stairs in case of fire" plaques up next to all elevators. Some elevators automatically ground themselves in case of a fire, otherwise, the fire department or security has to ground them with a fireman's key (I'm sure you've all seen the locks under the up/down buttons in front of elevators). When the correct key is used, and it's put into fire mode, the car goes to the floor the key was used on, it opens the doors, they don't close again, and the alarm goes off inside.

As for stopping in between floors, you're better off staying inside the elevator. There are several ton counterweights moving up and down, cabling, and one hugeass fall. It's not like you see in the movies.

My dad's an elevator tech, btw.

ParaXnoia

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ninjatales — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:44:07 EDT

It's about time they included a camera and lcd screen in elevators. That way when it drops, you know when to jump. But until then, you can just try jumping multiple times in the hope that you get it right.

What? A guy can't try to save his own life?

ninjatales

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

luagh45 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:44:02 EDT

@gibbative: My math is fuzzy, but I think it would come out to be about 13x safer. I know that for it to be 20x safer that the accident ratio would have to be 1:1. In school it was always my favorite thing to correct teachers on their math.

luagh45

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

theharlotfelon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:41:31 EDT

Close door button works in Japan. America Loses. *Just kidding*

theharlotfelon

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Set to evil — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:26:46 EDT

@bandit:

Set to evil

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

x23 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:21:46 EDT

or several different episodes of MacGyver.

x23

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

x23 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:21:32 EDT

this author has apparently never seen Die Hard.

x23

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Set to evil — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:08:55 EDT

More trivia:In 1853, American inventor Elisha Otis demonstrated a freight elevator equipped with a safety device to prevent falling in case a supporting cable should break. This increased public confidence in such devices. Otis established a company for manufacturing elevators and patented (1861) a steam elevator.-Mary Bellis [inventors.about.com]

Set to evil

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

yakuza278 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:06:21 EDT

@TJ:

Have you seen Oldboy?

yakuza278

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

P3nnst8r — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:03:21 EDT

@frigg: *knee slap*

P3nnst8r

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bandit — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:59:09 EDT

@daversW: Lighter/stronger cable probably doesn't exist or isn't legal. I bet the building code requires steel cable of a certain thickness and that at 1700 feet, it's simply too weak to support its own weight.

bandit

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

frigg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:57:34 EDT

@P3nnst8r: "My grandfather was an elevator operator for like half his life."

I've heard that's a job with lots of ups and downs.

frigg

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bandit — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:56:38 EDT

People fall off escalators. They are stairs that are moving, and it is possible to fall down stairs and break your neck or hit your head. Indeed, if people at the top or bottom don't clear the landing quickly, people can pile up behind, causing a lot of injuries very quickly. Also, there are idiots who try to slide down the rails.

Examples:

bandit

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

frigg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:55:40 EDT

@ARP: Or if we spent that money developing the so-called "space elevator" we would be able to place Rosie O'Donnell in geosynchronous orbit where she would be in a far better position to deflect the Apophis asteroid from colliding with Earth and destroying all of mankind.

frigg

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

TJ — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:53:30 EDT

I haven't bothered to read any comments regarding the guy loosing everything save for a couple hundred grand but honestly they should have given him a lot more. Granted, loosing your whole livelihood is a heavy price to pay, but he was entitled to way more.

First off, imagine being in jail. Now imagine not knowing how long you're going to be in jail (I've been in this situation). It friggin' sucks. Now imagine doing absolutely nothing wrong to end up in jail. It generally requires you to interact with someone or some interactive object to accomplish this. The guy wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, just riding the elevator. I understand it's a bit extreme for an analogy but so is 41 hours in a 6 x 6 box while 8 security guards maintain a thumb firmly in their asses while failing to notice the guy sleeping on the floor of an elevator.

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

P3nnst8r — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:53:15 EDT

My grandfather was an elevator operator for like half his life.

Pretty nifty.

P3nnst8r

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Giolon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:51:13 EDT

In Japan, the door close buttons actually work, and they work immediately. It's quite nice actually.

Giolon

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

daversW — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:49:15 EDT

oh and how can the longest elevator be a max of 1700 feet? what if they make lighter/stronger cable?

daversW

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

desostros — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:48:54 EDT

I vote a solid "yes" for more interesting articles like these, theyre a good read Giz !

desostros

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bandit — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:47:00 EDT

1700 feet is approximately 150 stories. Who needs an elevator to rise 150 stories?

bandit

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

frigg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:45:02 EDT

@dhlt25: "how do people get accidents on a escalator?"

There was a freak accident where an escalator in Brooklyn, I think, opened up and a woman was ground to death by its gears.

frigg

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bandit — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:44:44 EDT

@ARP: Likewise aviation accidents. (Witness last week's FAA clusterfuck concerning wiring that's actually been fine for many years -- did we really need to fix all the planes all at once??) We would be far better off doing something to address the 40,000 annual deaths (and countless injuries) resulting from automobile accidents. 2007 American commercial aviation fatalities: 0. It's all psychology.

bandit

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

daversW — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:43:44 EDT

the close door buttons defiantly work in some elevators, i know of one elevator where the door wont close unless you press it, and lots of others where it closes right when you press it... but i bet there are some out there that do nothing

daversW

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

ARP — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:34:12 EDT

@nutbastard: @frigg:

There are a lot of ways to die that are more rare, and yet we spend so much more money to prevent. Most of it is psychological. We've spent hundreds of billions on a war that had little to no chance of impacting us (because NO WMD's, no Al Queda link, etc.). If we used that money for cancer research, heart disease, automotive safety, etc. we could have saved thousands, if not millions (possibly even more than the fake "mushroom cloud" they feared).

ARP

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

mikeysnipa — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:33:24 EDT

lol @ everyone using math to prove that you cant jump to save your life...

even if it WAS possible (which it isn't) who the hell would think "its falling i should jump when its about to hit"

mikeysnipa

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

mikeysnipa — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:31:32 EDT

@photophile: i agree with everyone who said the door close button works, i've gone to the wrong floor and hit the button to close the door (it closed them immediately).

mikeysnipa

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bosskev — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:25:11 EDT

@Petezah: Nor should you take an elevator during a biohazard containment issue.

bosskev

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

whiter3 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:20:31 EDT

YES! IT'S REVOLUTIONARY! I can't believe it has taken so long to figure this one out? How have the engineers never selected the wrong floor and gone..."huh, that sucks, wish I didn't hit that button."

@klew:

whiter3

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Gary_7vn — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:18:18 EDT

The real question is, "Do the buttons on crosswalks actually do anything?".

Gary_7vn

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

kaikai34 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:16:15 EDT

@whiter3:

mitsubishi elevators have the cancelling feature by double tapping the lit floor number.

kaikai34

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

nutbastard — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:15:38 EDT

@icelight:
right, this myth needs some rest. If you're traveling downward at 32 feet per second squared for say, 5 seconds (something like 150 feet per second), and you manage to 'jump' up at a rate of 6 feet per second you're still traveling down at 144 feet per second.

nutbastard

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

VaccaFoeda — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:13:30 EDT

@icelight - even if you're not floating off the floor, you wont be able to bend your knees to jump, because that would require pushing your body down towards the floor which is falling away from you. The amount of slowing due to friction would surely be negligible.

VaccaFoeda

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

grimgrassofhome — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:10:39 EDT

in my building, double-tapping a lit number deselects it. and yes, the close button definitely works.

grimgrassofhome

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

dhlt25 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:07:58 EDT

how do people get accidents on a escalator?

dhlt25

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

icelight — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:54:39 EDT

@VaccaFoeda: Only if the elevator was falling at a consistent 9.8m/s^2. Since there will always be some friction, the elevator won't accelerate that fast, and so gravity will still pull you to the floor. Should the elevator hit some terminal velocity, you'd even be pulled down with your full weight. Of course, jumping still won't help you.

icelight

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bandit — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:54:29 EDT

New elevator in my apartment building. The Close Door button definitely makes the door close faster, especially if you hit it right when it opens (it closes almost immediately if nobody enters).

I recall one office elevator I used to use that would clear all selections if you pressed three floors at the same time. Sort of like CTRL-ALT-DEL.

bandit

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

drewheyman — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:53:31 EDT

@gibbative: Yikes, that's a wierd story considering the guy only fell 2 stories!

And we used to shake and break the elevator in my college dorm room as a prank. In 2 years, I probably spent around 40 hours in there if not more. 'Course, each stay was only around 30 minutes.

drewheyman

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Petezah — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:40:08 EDT

@bailey_ca: That, and the fact that you shouldn't take the elevator during a fire. The stairway is always more advisable.

Petezah

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

VaccaFoeda — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:37:29 EDT

You cant jump in a free falling elevator , not because you cant jump "fast enough" but because you'd no longer be standing on the floor. You'd be floating above it.

VaccaFoeda

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

vertibraker — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:34:44 EDT

They forgot to write when an elevator malfunctions, they usually go upward instead of freefalling because of the weights used to counterbalance the elevators.

vertibraker

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

gibbative — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:23:26 EDT

This reads a little like some "50 ways beer is better than women" email. A quick Google search reveals there are elevators in S African mines that are over 3000m deep. And how can elevators be 20x safer than escalators if there are 20x as many elevators and 33% more accidents? I'm not a statistician, but that seems wrong. Right?

And here's another elevator freefall accident -- in 2003: [www.projo.com]

gibbative

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

frigg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:12:39 EDT

@nutbastard: "as far as elevators being safer than cars - not nearly as many people spend as much time in elevators as they do cars. it's like saying skydiving is safer than cars because thousands die in cars but only a few people die skydiving."

You're over-exaggerating in the other direction.

The statistic in the story is "An average of 26 people die in elevators each year in the U.S. There are 26 car deaths every five hours."

But people in the U.S. spend far more time in elevators in a year than the number of people driving during a 5 hour period. If you adjust for car vs. elevator manhours, many more people still die in cars than elevators by an order of magnitude.

frigg

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

robbyburty — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:09:59 EDT

Hey, the "door close" button works on the elevators at my work. Gotta push it all the frigging time, else the doors don't close.

And sometimes the hampsters run out of food on the wheel that runs the elevator pulleys.

FLINTSTONE!!!!!

robbyburty

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Papsky — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:05:24 EDT

@LastVigilante: that wasnt a good article to read before goin to bed... pretty nasty.

Papsky

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

scarbrtj — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:05:08 EDT

@LastVigilante: Damn! I used to be a resident! Lucky to survive, evidently.

scarbrtj

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

bailey_ca — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:04:35 EDT

@Elliuotatar: Like the article says, you're safer inside the elevator. It's not going to come to a grinding halt the moment the fire alarms go off. If anything, it'll dump you out at the nearest floor.

Also, it strikes me that there's many more potential law suits if you start letting people out into the elevator shaft. What happens if the elevator suddenly comes back on as you're wandering around on the roof? Or up an access ladder?

bailey_ca

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Joetimek — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:01:23 EDT

They actually enabled the close-door button in the elevators in my college apartment building. Apparently because of people trying to hold the doors open too long using the motion sensors, the elevators would go into panic mode and shut down. This resulted in a lot of bitching and long lines from tenants. To fix this problem, the building manager enabled the button (why, I don't know...) and disabled the panic mode. It's kind of scary how much control we have of the elevators now. I almost chopped of the hand of some idiot that took forever to get on. If they disabled the motions sensors, THAT would be a mess.

Joetimek

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Faforce — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:57:04 EDT

I promise you all that the CLOSE DOOR BUTTON WORKS in the elevators in my university, and they are recent.

Faforce

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

steven5737 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:54:16 EDT

Another interesting fact I heard, elevators are required to be able to hold seven times that "maximum weight" number that is posted inside the elevator.

steven5737

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Jing_ta — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:53:17 EDT

At least SOME of the door close buttons are real. The ones in my building are, but they only have an effect if you have them held about two seconds before the doors open and if you're on the main floor where there's a considerable delay.

Jing_ta

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Elliuotatar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:49:48 EDT

"Elevator hatches are generally bolted shut for safety reasons. In times of elevator crisis, the safest places is inside the elevator."

Are you shitting me?

So when there is a fire and the elevator stops between floors, you won't be able to climb up out of that hatch to escape because they've bolted it shut? Because people would climb up there all the time, right? Not.

Lawsuit waiting to happen.

Elliuotatar

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

LastVigilante — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:47:13 EDT

Sure, they're the largest elevator manufacturer in the world, but I don't trust Otis elevators. Especially after reading about the guy who was decapitated by an Otis elevator in 2003!

At the same time that story came out I was in college, and our dorm had Otis Elevators that were seemingly possessed by Lucifer. About once a week someone got trapped in an elevator in our building, to which we had to pry the doors open to get them out. On one occasion, my friends and I got on the Death Box to go downstairs, the doors shut, and we sat there for 30 seconds, motionless. The doors opened again, so we started filing out to take the stairs instead, but as I walked out the doors closed on me, trapped my leg, and would not let go! I pried myself out with all my limbs intact, but that was the last time I took the elevator in that building.

LastVigilante

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

klew — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:43:45 EDT

@whiter3: unselecters rejoice!

klew

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

archercc — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:40:00 EDT

@photophile:Same here. I used to work for the college I attended and routinely used the elevator and if you didnt push the button it would wait about 15 seconds, bing, and then 5 seconds later the door would close.

If you pushed it the bing came immediately and then it took about 5 seconds to close the door.

archercc

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

qbrad — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:37:42 EDT

@Mandatory_Field: Dude, just search for it. Are you THAT lazy?

qbrad

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Bokusatsu_Tenshi — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:33:35 EDT

Wow Adrian... congrats on reading the whole article.

I tried to, but ultimately gave up after 1/3rd... proceeded reading only Mr White's story, skipping everything else.

Felt like a book on elevator's statistics. Not very exciting...

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

AmplifiedHustler — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:32:12 EDT

@Mandatory_Field: Oh you mean like how when you press the door close button and the floor you want to go to at the same time and hold them both for a few seconds, then the elevator goes directly to your floor and skips all the other ones? Tried it in a Marriott a few times during a big expo in Indianapolis, it worked every time.

I laughed at the hundreds of people in the lobby and those behind me in the elevator as I got to my bed in a timely manner while they still couldn't figure out why it skipped all of their floors.

I was beaming with Win.

AmplifiedHustler

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Arvin Bautista — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:31:31 EDT

I'd be pretty annoyed at the kids who choose to be morons and unselect the floor I was supposed to stop off at (or if it's a crowded elevator, someone sitting right next to it, and I wouldn't even be able to see him unselect it)

Arvin Bautista

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Papsky — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:30:30 EDT

@nutbastard: 609,756.10/hr... yea i was bored

Papsky

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

mysteryboy2k — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:30:22 EDT

In fact the best way to survive a falling lift is to lay atop a fatter person. Or something that absorbs a lot of kinetic energy.

(If you cannot understand the above, then please replace the word lift with the word elevator.)

mysteryboy2k

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

legerdemain — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:26:08 EDT

@whiter3: Some elevators will clear every selection if you press every floor button. Of course, if you have an elevator that doesn't, you look like a colossal tool.

legerdemain

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Mandatory_Field — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:22:30 EDT

I read somewhere a couple of months ago, a posting on Elevator Hacks... How about a re-posting Giz? Seems timely....

Mandatory_Field

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

nutbastard — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:22:20 EDT

ha! fuck that guy, trying to sue for $25 MILLION. what does he think his time is worth? (and if anyone does the math to figure that out, i will slap them, like, virtually)

as far as elevators being safer than cars - not nearly as many people spend as much time in elevators as they do cars. it's like saying skydiving is safer than cars because thousands die in cars but only a few people die skydiving.

safety (or lack thereof) is not exclusivey a quantitative quality - it's a function of danger, randomness and time. enumerating the number of deaths from a given activity is useless compared to giving the number of deaths per manhour.

nutbastard

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Mandatory_Field — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:21:04 EDT

@photophile: Depends on the elevator. According to the Nrw Yorker article, that applies to MOST elevatorst built since the 1990's. The close door button DOES work in my work building; and it truly sucks to see people obviously pressing it, while watching you walk towards the elevator door. Bastards....

Mandatory_Field

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

LJN — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:18:46 EDT

@whiter3: Ahmen on the unselect.

I've also noticed that the close door button didn't work. That was until I moved to Boston and started taking ancient elevators. In a lot of these gems the button actually works. It's amazing.

LJN

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

photophile — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:13:34 EDT

Nice bit of info there. Only thing though, the close button does work.

My parents apartment is a good example. The door always takes the same amount of time to close, but press the button, and it closes right away.

Me: 1
The New Yorker: 0

photophile

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

smcallah — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:08:41 EDT

I wouldn't say that ALL door close buttons do not function.

In one elevator in a parking garage I used every day for a year, it definitely closed sooner than if you just let it sit there without pressing the door close button.

smcallah

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

whiter3 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:06:06 EDT

Why can't I UN-select an elevator button? Where's the love for the drunk and or obesely fat-fingered people of the world?

whiter3

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

CW — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:02:29 EDT

Also, if there's less than 75% of the max capacity in the car, there's a greater chance of it falling up than down.

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

davidfbecker — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:56:53 EDT

I think I can safely say that this is significantly more information than I had planned on learning about elevators today. Kudos, Gizmodo. Kudos.

davidfbecker

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

klaybc — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:54:37 EDT

He went crazy after being John Malkovich for 41 hours.

klaybc

Things You Don't Know About Modern Elevators

Evangelion — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:52:55 EDT

Cool.

Evangelion