Neil Williams wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 12:53:47 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

Very small lift in a Paris hotel: only one door, hinged and opening
outwards. The front of the lift is open and allows passengers to "rub
past" the doors and walls on the way up. I've seen similar lifts
elsewhere.

I have as well, including in the UK. There's a not dissimilar one
(where you have to hold the button down to keep it moving up or down,
and if you let go it stops) in my gym.

That is primarily for disabled people, is it not?

Neil Williams wrote:
On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 12:53:47 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

Very small lift in a Paris hotel: only one door, hinged and opening
outwards. The front of the lift is open and allows passengers to "rub
past" the doors and walls on the way up. I've seen similar lifts
elsewhere.



I've seen them in Finland.


Set of lifts in a Cairo 5* hotel. Calling the lift is done by pressing a
centrally-located button in the lobby that requests a particular floor.
You are then directed to the relevant lift when it arrives. Once inside
the lift you can't "redirect" it to any additional floors.

I've seen one like that myself - I think it was in the office building
next to the NH hotel in Den Haag.


I've also seen those on the continent? Is there any particular advantage
to the centrally located button, over just pushing the button for the
desired floor in the lift?

Neil Williams wrote:
On Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:46:57 +0000, "
wrote:

Are new paternoster lifts still allowed? They always struck me as
dangerous, though I gather that a few older ones remain in service in
the UK. Are any open to the public?

Safety, safety, safety.

Accessibility. A paternoster is not particularly
wheelchair-accessible, nor accessible to anyone not sure of their
footing. Given that lifts (in smaller buildings, at least) tend to be
provided primarily for such people, a paternoster is a bit useless.

I'm not sure one is all that much more dangerous than an escalator,
though I suppose there is the chance to get squashed on
boarding/alighting that isn't there with an escalator.

But where are they in the UK? I've not come across one for ages.

Neil

Doesn't some BAA admin building out in Heathrow have one? Off limits to
the public, of course.

In message , at 20:37:25 on Sun, 6
Dec 2009, " remarked:
Set of lifts in a Cairo 5* hotel. Calling the lift is done by
pressing a centrally-located button in the lobby that requests a
particular floor. You are then directed to the relevant lift when it
arrives. Once inside the lift you can't "redirect" it to any
additional floors.
I've seen one like that myself - I think it was in the office
building
next to the NH hotel in Den Haag.


I've also seen those on the continent? Is there any particular
advantage to the centrally located button, over just pushing the button
for the desired floor in the lift?

The bit everyone's trimmed, and was the main point of my posting (in the
context of this thread) was the extremely rapid door closing.
--
Roland Perry

On Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:33:14 +0000, "
wrote:

That is primarily for disabled people, is it not?

It is, but it is a full-height enclosed lift, not one of those small
open stairlift things. Just the "car" in the lift isn't itself
enclosed, though the inside of the shaft is very smooth, presumably to
make it safe.

There's a similar one in a Scout building in Kettering. I guess
they're just cheaper than the "real thing".

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:37:25 +0000, "
wrote:

I've also seen those on the continent? Is there any particular advantage
to the centrally located button, over just pushing the button for the
desired floor in the lift?

Presumably, if the control electronics are up to much, they can make
more efficient use of the available lifts to take people to the
required floors rather than everything being an "all stations
stopper", as it were.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

I'm not sure one is all that much more dangerous than an escalator,
though I suppose there is the chance to get squashed on
boarding/alighting that isn't there with an escalator.

But where are they in the UK? I've not come across one for ages.

Neil


There was a whopper of one at Sheffield Uni ... don't know (but I doubt)
if it's still working.

AFAIAA no-one's actually explained what happens at the limit of travel -
quite boring really, if you're going up the car just goes sideways and
starts down the down side ... at the bottom the car goes sideways and
then starts up ... the car DOES NOT INVERT, only the jokers used to
stand on their heads during the sideways phase ...

Hth

C.

Set of lifts in a Cairo 5* hotel. Calling the lift is done by pressing a
centrally-located button in the lobby that requests a particular floor.
You are then directed to the relevant lift when it arrives. Once inside
the lift you can't "redirect" it to any additional floors.

I've seen one like that myself - I think it was in the office building
next to the NH hotel in Den Haag.

Neil


Heroically bonkers lifts in a Hotel in Manchester a few years ago
(overlooks Piccadilly Gardens - if you're local you'll know which one)
which seemed to go to the nearest floor when a button was pushed even
if you were IN TRANSIT and had ALREADY PASSED IT travelling in the
opposite direction ... ie. if you started on floor six, going down, and
were passing floor three when the button was pressed on floor four, then
the lift would stop and go back up to floor four. This then cancelled
any previous instructions, and you had to start again by pushing buttons
on floor four to go down ... unless someone pressed on floor five before
you got there ... on one occasion it was nearly half-an hour before a
car full of an increasing number of increasingly baffled and bewildered
passengers actually made it to the Ground floor ...

To add to this, the stairs were not an alternative, as they did not go
to ground level (oh yes, we tried ...) they dumped you out of an
emergency exit door (out only - you couldn't get back in !) onto a car
park deck two floors above the street level ! There was no further
pedestrian route ... you had to walk down the car ramps to get out ...
It might have satisfied the emergency regulations but it was NBU to
their Guests ...

C.

In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:

Set of lifts in a Cairo 5* hotel. Calling the lift is done by pressing a
centrally-located button in the lobby that requests a particular floor.
You are then directed to the relevant lift when it arrives. Once inside
the lift you can't "redirect" it to any additional floors. The lift
doors also *very* fierce. Snapping shut in less than a second with a
*whoosh* that looks like it would cut your appendages off (although I
didn't see anyone caught in them). I've never seen either of these
design features anywhere else.

If you visit Centre Point you will be given a magstripe card at the
reception desk. You put the card into a turnstile which tells you which
lift to use, and then that lift stops at whatever floors the people who
have been told to use it need to get to.

Sam