A Paternoster lift (or elevator) is an open fronted people mover similar to a conveyor belt. It moves continuously. There were hundreds built since 1868 but very few are still in use, most in Germany. Only a handful still work in the UK.
Northwick Park Hospital in London turned theirs off in 2013 but have put it back on again to help staff move around without contact with patients.
https://www.lnwh.nhs.uk/news/paternoster-lifts-hospitals-spirits-2154/
I used to use one at Sheffield University when I was there.
Quote from: tigercat on September 14, 2020, 10:57:40 AM
I used to use one at Sheffield University when I was there.
Oh yeah, we used to use that to get to their Materials Lab on the third floor or so. A cracking piece of kit. :thumbsup:
I always wondered what would happen if you stayed aboard it when the thing went over the top and down the other side. Did the compartments ALWAYS stay right way up, or did the floor become the roof and vice versa? ;D
What happens at each end? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoCQ6tq5wJE)
OSHA (the US Occupational Safety and Health Agency) would have a field day. As would the ambulance chasers.
My building in Trenton is 2 passengers per lift car. Between that and temperature check in, it ought to make getting to your cube on time interesting; if and/or when we're required to return.
Quote from: Martin H on September 14, 2020, 02:42:42 PM
What happens at each end? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoCQ6tq5wJE)
Fascinating, thanks for the link OGL. :thumbsup:
That drive wheel looked pretty lethal! :o
Quote from: scooter on September 14, 2020, 02:58:16 PM
OSHA (the US Occupational Safety and Health Agency) would have a field day. As would the ambulance chasers.
That was my first thought. I think you could make a modern paternoster that stopped with doors and would be pretty efficient in a heavily used lift.
I had a short time between jobs when I worked for three weeks as a theatre lift porter in the local hospital. It would have made my job redundant which would have been fine by me. :thumbsup:
I rode on endless belt manlifts at more than one mill where I worked.
The longest was the equivalent of 11 stories.
(https://www.whatifmodellers.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.feedandgrain.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2F_framed%2Femployee-belt-manlift-650-1975-4ef2200e933aaf7a4a845c310ac2c040.png&hash=4c6a476ec2dfe0b799946bcdbd1e16907c4a33ce)
Those WOULD have been dangerous to 'ride over the top' though. :-\
I think wheelchair users could cope with a paternoster lift but an elderly person with a walking frame might get into trouble.
I'd be tempted to set up a cafe table and two chairs and spend all day sitting with a mate and a bottle going round and round and round and round...
There used to be such a lift in the Carpark of the John Martins' Department Store in Adelaide, here in South Australia. It was only used for packages. I remember seeing it still running, over a decade after it was stopped being used. I suspect it was because no one knew how to turn it off!
There was one at Leicester University when I visited many moons ago. Looks like it was closed some time ago. There's one in Eduskunta, the Finnish Parliament.
Quote from: joncarrfarrelly on September 14, 2020, 10:00:18 PM
I rode on endless belt manlifts at more than one mill where I worked.
I rode on one at the WVS (German Steel Association) office in Dusseldorf back in the day. One person per step. Only one I've ever been on.
Quote from: rickshaw on September 15, 2020, 06:12:41 AM
There used to be such a lift in the Carpark of the John Martins' Department Store in Adelaide, here in South Australia. It was only used for packages. I remember seeing it still running, over a decade after it was stopped being used. I suspect it was because no one knew how to turn it off!
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
There was a very small one like that (the compartments were maybe a 2 ft cube) in the old Co-Op in Queen St on Oxford in the 60s.
They also had one of those overhead cable arrangements to fire money in bomb things back to a central cash desk for customer's change. Perhaps they didn't trust their shop assistants all that much? :-\
The whole place looked as if it was still in the 30s!
Quote from: PR19_Kit on September 15, 2020, 09:23:51 AM
They also had one of those overhead cable arrangements to fire money in bomb things back to a central cash desk for customer's change. Perhaps they didn't trust their shop assistants all that much? :-\
Oh those things were great. Loads of shops still had them in Croydon in the late 50'. early 60's. I think one or two, maybe Hewitt's (who had and still have all the school uniform concessions in the area) and Grants had them until the early 70's ? Can you imagine Health and Safety's reaction if you wanted to install one now ? ;D
I've an idea Gamages in Holborn had one of those freight Paternostas ?
I can remember the one in Grants from my time in Croydon too.
And the other 'technology' of the time was the vacuum tube thingy, where they popped the money bomb into a small hatch, and it went SLURRRRP up into a maze of pipework overhead, eventually returning, with a KERPLUNK, with your change if you were lucky.
I think Allders in Croydon had one like that, didn't they?
Quote from: PR19_Kit on September 16, 2020, 07:00:06 AM
I can remember the one in Grants from my time in Croydon too.
And the other 'technology' of the time was the vacuum tube thingy, where they popped the money bomb into a small hatch, and it went SLURRRRP up into a maze of pipework overhead, eventually returning, with a KERPLUNK, with your change if you were lucky.
I think Allders in Croydon had one like that, didn't they?
A lot of banks here still have a variation for the drive-up lanes.
Quote from: PR19_Kit on September 16, 2020, 07:00:06 AM
I can remember the one in Grants from my time in Croydon too.
You can probably remember the children's zoo in Grant's arcade as well the Kit ? Eclectic store to say the least. I can still smell the coffee being roasted in their coffee shop and that must be 50 odd years ago !
Quote from: PR19_Kit on September 16, 2020, 07:00:06 AM
And the other 'technology' of the time was the vacuum tube thingy, where they popped the money bomb into a small hatch, and it went SLURRRRP up into a maze of pipework overhead, eventually returning, with a KERPLUNK, with your change if you were lucky.
I think Allders in Croydon had one like that, didn't they?
Yup they did.
We also had one in the office, in fact at least two offices, that was used to send telexes from the telex room to it's addressee and also to send your telexes to the room for transmission in the days before faxes. Used well into the 70's as a lot of smaller firms were still using them to send us stuff. I got hit a couple of times as I reached in to take a tube out and a second one came flying through. H&S where were you :rolleyes:
Quote from: NARSES2 on September 16, 2020, 07:24:46 AM
I can still smell the coffee being roasted in their coffee shop and that must be 50 odd years ago !
Oh crumbs yes, that REALLY brings it back. :thumbsup:
Quote from: PR19_Kit on September 16, 2020, 08:28:47 AM
Quote from: NARSES2 on September 16, 2020, 07:24:46 AM
I can still smell the coffee being roasted in their coffee shop and that must be 50 odd years ago !
Oh crumbs yes, that REALLY brings it back. :thumbsup:
There is still a coffee roaster in the middle of Carlisle. When Kendalls are roasting, you can smell it all over the city centre!
As to the vacuum thingies, I think they are called Lamson Tubes. The same company did Cash Ball and Rapid Wire systems ; more info here:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamson_Engineering_Company_Ltd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamson_Engineering_Company_Ltd)
Pneumatic tubes are still commonly used in hospitals to convey samples to labs quickly. For documents & bills they've mostly been replaced by email.
A girl I used to work tells a story of how she got her hand stuck in one when she worked in bank. A container got wedged, she freed it but her hand got pulled in. She wasn't hurt but they had to call the fire brigade. :angel:
Quote from: Rheged on September 16, 2020, 09:48:32 AM
As to the vacuum thingies, I think they are called Lamson Tubes.
That's it. Lamson tubes. :thumbsup:
Quote from: PR19_Kit on September 14, 2020, 03:04:06 PM
Quote from: Martin H on September 14, 2020, 02:42:42 PM
What happens at each end? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoCQ6tq5wJE)
Fascinating, thanks for the link OGL. :thumbsup:
That drive wheel looked pretty lethal! :o
Out of curiosity, I once rode through the top part of that cycle in my sometimes mildly misspent youth. Seeing and hearing that wheel in action up close and personal ensured that I never did that again.
I also always felt somewhat uneasy stepping on and off the cabins.