11–20 of 70 posts
The article cites no statistics on actual injuries. Neither do the politicians wanting to ban them out of safety concerns. For something around for this long, you'd think they'd be able to at least give an example of someone getting hurt.
It also had round "slopecase" instead of staircases. This thing was surprisingly cool.
I made a special detour to ride one of these in Kobenhavn in the Axelborg building. If the statistics show them to be safe, I think they should be preserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T49PsI6maMg For most human traffic, they are less tedious than elevators: less waiting, no stop and go, a constant sense of motion. I don't think their riders would feel trapped the way I sometimes do in slow, busy elevators. I th…
However, I must wonder whether they can be used by the elderly or disabled. How do you board one with a wheelchair? Or do they just run alongside modern elevators in buildings where handicapped accessibility is a requirement?
They are quite rare actually. I have never seen one (living in Germany all my life). You'd have to actively seek one out to encounter them.
This being said, according to German Wikipedia in May 2015 there were still 240 paternosters in operation. You can browse the list at: http://www.flemming-hamburg.de/patlist.htm
I think paternosters are really, really cool. I'd love to ride one. However, I must wonder whether they can be used by the elderly or disabled. How do you board one with a wheelchair? Or do they just run alongside modern elevators in buildings where handicapped accessibility is a requirement?
I guess no one would use a paternoster without exercising care.
I don't know how much truth there is to this, but my father once told me there had been very few fatalities on the original 7 mile bridge in the Florida keys. But since the new bridge opened in 1982, there have been fatal accidents every few years. The reason being the old bridge was so narrow (originally it was a railroad bridge), folks really paid attention driving it, but with the new wider bridge, drivers became…
It seems like there should be a fancier name for this effect.
I made a special detour to ride one of these in Kobenhavn in the Axelborg building. If the statistics show them to be safe, I think they should be preserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T49PsI6maMg For most human traffic, they are less tedious than elevators: less waiting, no stop and go, a constant sense of motion. I don't think their riders would feel trapped the way I sometimes do in slow, busy elevators. I th…
While that does look incredibly unsafe (and would get vandalised/abused a lot of left unattended) it also looks quite fun to use and I can see why people like them.
They are fun - so fun I went up and down a few times. (It was late, and the building was almost empty.)
They feel reliable. You hop on, you go up/down, you hop off.
You don't wait to see if the button you pushed actually did something, you don't try to find a place in a small herd of anxious people with decreased personal space, none of whom are talking, you don't get claustrophobia or any other phobia, and the jump on/off experience adds a frisson of excitement to your day.
And it's hard to get trapped in one. (Not impossible. But certainly hard.)
I suppose contact/proximity sensors at the limb/head-chopping edges would add to the cost, but conventional elevators are hardly 100% safe, so I don't really see the rationale for killing them off.
I don't know how much truth there is to this, but my father once told me there had been very few fatalities on the original 7 mile bridge in the Florida keys. But since the new bridge opened in 1982, there have been fatal accidents every few years. The reason being the old bridge was so narrow (originally it was a railroad bridge), folks really paid attention driving it, but with the new wider bridge, drivers became…
I've heard a similar argument about bike helmets. It seems like there should be a fancier name for this effect.