The elevator shaft was invented before the elevator
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- Опубліковано 17 лис 2019
- It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. At the Cooper Union Foundation Building in New York, there's the world's first elevator shaft: constructed four years before the safety elevator was invented. • Thanks to Prof. O'Donnell and all the team at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art: you can find out more about the building here: cooper.edu/about/history/foun...
Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin)
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If you're browsing UA-cam in English (UK), then the title and description of this video will say "Lift": otherwise "Elevator". Unfortunately, I can't make the same changes to the video.
Can confirm.
Technology, eh?
1 week ago hmmmm
Do u even lift? 🤣
Doesn't work for me, title says Elevator and im in UK with no VPN.
It turns me off when a video assumes that I know something I don't, a lot of people might also feel the same, so I believe a better title would be: The elevator Shaft Was Invented Before The Elevator, here's why
“At the same time Elijah Otis was busy not building an elevator.”
Same.
Found the guy who works in the construction industry.
@@mguy19 or any industry lmao
I have spent my entire life not building elevators. It’s my life’s not work.
lmao this killed me
@@zaidlacksalastname4905 same here
Well it’s probably good that people in the 50s didn’t start designing roads and other infrastructure for flying cars....
Where they go, they don't need roads.
I swear I wrote my comment before reading yours. :)
Of course, the Empire State Building was famously envisioned to have a mooring mast for airships, which didn't quite work out.
Something we're doing _now_, which we are retrofitting old buildings for, is accessibility.
In the near future, in The Netherlands, houses are coming off the natural gas grid. Central heating will need a redesign. (Cooking much less so).
For the future? Drone landing platforms? Rising water levels?
or tubes for hyperloops
I don't know, with city centers evolving towards more pedestrian friendly planning, it might not have been that bad to not as much tarmac in cities as we do now.
“Boss, I invented the elevator shaft!”
“What’s it do?”
“I dunno.”
My dude probably held the "iiii" in "wait for iiiiiiit" for around 5 years.
It holds the promise of a future invention!
@@sirocco2810 found Shawn Spencer.
they could try the zero gravity launch like the other tower
"Well, let's throw things down it."
A round shaft would have allowed for a spiral staircase in case the whole safe elevator idea didn't pan out.
You can make a rectangle stairway. Ever been in a hotel or office building
@@danelisslow3269 rectangle stairways take much more space. A 2m wide 4m long rectangular shaft is a bit too small for a stairway.
mining, but how to make doors?
Round doors, so it was square
Revit, try to make it round? You got skills?
@@lucasrem1870 what?
@@lucasrem1870 what is wrong with you?
This Peter Cooper fellow seemed like a real decent guy.
Yes. You seem like a nice one too. Have a great day :)
Truly a descent guy
Truly a reliable guy
@@joshuapatterson4625 : I see what you did there. An uplifting comment, to be sure.
@@s19tealpenguin61 My name is Peter Cooper, but you don't have to remember
I find it absolutely fascinating that university buildings generally don‘t have enough or any power outlets because no one could possibly predict the number that are needed today.
Not here.
Also, battery lifetime of notebooks is increasing, or use a tablet with a os running headless on a server and log into it.
I started undergrad in the fall of 1988, the dorm rooms at my school didn’t have enough outlets then. I’m willing to bet the architects thought we only needed two at the desk for a lamp and an iron. It didn’t take into account a computer, monitor, printer, TV, VCR, answering machine, and boom box.
Now, that's interesting. Most buildings at the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk, Jayhawks!) were built in the 1960s or 1950s (some of course are much older). When I was a student there was ONE computer and it read IBM puch cards.
My college was smart, and when they built their new campus, the tables had Ethernet and power at every seat.
The university I attended was built in the 70s, after the Paris student riots of 1968, and finding an outlet there was close to impossible. I never realised this might have been the reason for it! So interesting to think about.
I really hope in 5 years someone announces an invention that none of us had any idea could exist, but one guy was like "Yep. Called it. Here's my prep for it." The world is incredible.
I mean an elevator wasn’t really a far fetched idea then. Elevators had been a thing for ages it was just about making one safe enough and reliable for humans. Everyone saw it coming, it was just a matter of when.
Can’t wait for my collection of belly button lint to finally have a purpose
@@rachelcookie321 mines definitely had elevators before then
Probably something technology related as that stuff is hard to predict than normal life things
@@0xsergy but like the video says, probably only used to move the ores and rocks mined
This is interesting as a programmer. Sometimes we need a ladder as a solution, but we will spend countless hours in meetings debating whether we need an extension ladder because it's more scalable. Or maybe a stairwell because it's more solid and reliable and we will end up spending 1000x more building an empty, round elevator shaft with a ladder running through it.
Exactly.
Just wanted to let you know you accidentally wrote “weather” instead of “whether”
@@rachelcookie321 I liked the idea of "debating weather" though.
And then months later, a new renovation is done making the ladder unusable, and it has to be junked. Hundreds of hours of sprint & scrum meetings wasted.
@@rachelcookie321 I fixed it 8 months later, I hope it didn't take two long ;)
The really should have commissioned a round lift, for that second square shaft.
you are evil
The saying is that you can't fit a round peg through a square hole (or vice versa), but you totally can - the diameter just has to be less than the width of the hole.
That's right!
The Square hole!
But that’s really expensive added cost when it wasn’t architecturally significant. Not just the elevator itself but also any maintenance would have to be specialized. Also that round elevator doesn’t look super disability friendly, So I’d imagine that’s what the square one is for.
@@HAWXLEADER where does the triangle fit?
The square hole!
Next week: Why the escalator was invented before the stairs
Germaphobe Or why the cart was invented before the horse
Escalators were invented so Mitch Hedberg could make awesome jokes.
no goes way back to the incline plain. :)
Why the car was invented before the wheel
Fun fact: Escalator in german is "Rolltreppe" which means "Rolling stairs"
The Colosseum in Rome had 24 elevators almost 2,000 years ago. They were used to raise animals up into the arena, so unlike Otis elevators, they didn't have to be safe. If men were ever transported on them, the Romans presumably didn't care if the elevators were safe or not. They were most likely going up to die in the arena anyway.
Oh the Romans didn't want the gladiators to die, they wanted them to get superficial injuries that looked really dramatic but wouldn't be fatal. I don't know if they actually cared about them as individuals; the training costs were more than the upkeep costs so it was just more profitable to keep them alive.
There were manual safe elevators through history. The problem is automatic and electric elevators. Those romans elevators were quite safe. The romans made sturdy stuff but they were also moved by men or beasts so they were constantly monitored.
One thing you should not forget is that at the end of the day, the Colisseum had a role to fulfill.
They very much cared about the animals in those elevators making it through the elevator, at the very least.
Because an animal costs a lot of money to import, keep alive and then put on to be part of the show (in which it will get slaughtered, but until then it has to stay alive). So it's not exactly correct to think that they weren't making sure that the elevators were safe.
@@OzixiThrill They were safish. They were only 28 feet tall and probably routinely maintained, but since it was such a short distance, they could overengineer in a way that we can't generally with a modern elevator. The cabling alone for an elevator that goes from the bottom tot he top of a skyscraper is problematic and for the tallest buildings not even possible. It's part of why alternate designs are still of interest even though cable based systems are so well established. A cable based system can't move to the sides and is limited by the linear density of the cabling. Eventually the weight of the cable alone becomes so heavy that it can't support itself, or an elevator car.
I do think that cog based elevators are rather interesting and probably will be the way of the future eventually as they can be made as high as you like, and can be powered from the side. The only limitation there is just the throughput on the passengers and freight that you want to put into it as the taller an elevator is the more floors it has to go through and the more wasted space involved with its existence.
The Romans did a good job making everyone believe they acutally sent people into arenas to die and not the acutal historical fact that gladiators are just WWE wrestlers in ancient times
There's plenty of round elevators in apartment buildings here in Stockholm. Usually the main staircase in apartment buildings are spiral staircases, so a round elevator fits perfectly in the center of the stairway.
Often in futuristic Sci-Fi movies or video games we see people use exclusively round elevators, meaning that Peter Cooper was not only way ahead of his time in constructing the elevator shaft, but also ahead of _our_ time.
Round elevators seem really impractical though. What do you do with the space around the elevator shaft? Do you have empty triangles of where the elevator meets square rooms?
@@rachelcookie321 I guess if the entire building is designed as a cylinder, then rooms could be parts of the circle sectors, each sharing a door with the elevator shaft
Turbolift! Deck nine!
@@josephjohannes3240 Even if its not cylindrical, you can still have square rooms with circular rooms in them.
@@rachelcookie321 looks cool
I hope that lady at 4:44 managed to get her bus.
Tom probably has the footage. I really want to know
Don't worry it's the terminal
Tom scott is a former new ass hold
i don't know maybe you do
Jay Z - Otis
Fantastic video, as always, Tom. I particularly love the fact you say "Things you MIGHT not know" as apposed to "Things you DIDN'T know" which is a phrase I really hate because it's a presumption and, in almost all instances it is used, must be untrue. So I respect you for choosing those the word "might".
This. It's even more annoying when it is a fact that you have heard multiple times as not something you are not supposed to know.
We need to start leaving enough space under the floorboards for anti-grav plating
There's already LOADS of space between floors.
Unfortunately it's gonna have to go into the ceiling
@@robinhodson9890 below my floor is just straight up concrete. It’s the carpet and then below that directly is the concrete foundation.
I'm going to poke a hole in my brain, so that the memory chip coming in the future can fit in
Maybe it's going to be circular
Nah it'll be triangular
Nah, it'll be hexagonal
A 9mm or 0.45 inch circular hole.
@@bzqp2 Well, thats going to be painfull
Might aswell take your whole brain out of that box so there is enough space for everything that could be needed there
My university had a new building added in 2013 or so. The thing must be an enormous faraday cage. Sitting next to a window (or anywhere else), you can't get reception on your phone, and the wifi access points can't handle the mass of people. This seems like such an incredible oversight.
I think that we'll have to have wire shafts going through every room everywhere, easily serviceable, too. For everything from ethernet to wireless charging in basically all surfaces.
Hate to break it to ya, but likely isn't an oversight. Blocking cell reception is hard. But possible. Look at hospitals, they block service even right next to a window. The university likely sees phones as a distraction, and/or wants to force people onto their wifi to charge money and/or harvest data.
It's not at all uncommon. Every single building with a stucco exterior has a mesh cage to which the stucco is applied, which means every single stucco building has a Faraday cage.
It's common among buildings with mostly metal construction too, which many modern universities have.
does it happen to be UTS?
Tom, I love the way you end your videos with questions proposed and say "I don't know, maybe you do."
It's always encouraging me to think about new things and explore the world around me. Thank you.
"A square peg in a round hole"?
I can see why you were drawn here, Tom.
You do love your bodges.
Hey believe it or not it works quite well at supersonic speeds. Seriously they make Square slugs for 12ga and they are quite accurate and lethal, hahaha.
His what now?
The Atomic Cherry the easiest way to form a dowel is by taking square pegs and forcing them through round holes.
@@Atypical-Abbie
Oh, you must be new here.
You don't know of the art of the bodge.
@@Her_Imperious_Condescension No, and still don't know what it is.
You're really bringing these elevator stories to a new level.
liopleurodon 155 it's a very uplifting tale
An epic elevated to greater heights
Damn you.
Is it a tale or a storey?
Take your damn like before I change my mind
For the present it's wifi: 20 years ago we didn't know we want mobile internet reception in every room in a building.
I had WiFi 20 years ago.
I'm just glad that someone invented dry risers.
I think its neat that instead of renovating again and removing the round shaft for a square one, they kept it and put in a round elevator, along with a second more common square one.
the amount of confidence and sales skills to get ppl to build building with a shaft with the hopes of "something should be invented soon and it should work" =)
"Sales skills" aka: Having money
It would have been a dandy trash chute or laundry chute if they never put a lift in it.
elevators were a thing back then, just not safe enough for humans. so it was a fair bet that someone would make them human rideable sooner or later
It’s definitely a ridiculous waste of space and effort, I’d say quite ill advised. Like Tom said, just wait and retrofit the building, it makes a million times more sense
I suppose if nothing else, the elevator shaft could be converted into a series of closets.
0:54 Such a lifelike statue! They got every last detail, down to his chronic case of head pigeons!
However circular elevators would become quite popular in the 1980s with certain types of architecture such as in shopping centres built at the time with Crystal Palace architecture for example! There’s also some elevator shafts that are round because of them being drilled into the ground and built using tunnelling shields such as the elevators in the deep level tube stations for example but a lot of them have new square elevator shafts or have square elevators in the original circular shafts! :)
If I'm not mistaken, the Salt Lake Temple had shafts built in, now used for elevators.
I’ve heard that too.
Yep And they tried to claim it was 'insprired' to use as a faith promoting false story
@@richardjones1699 I've heard that
@@camronthackeray9654 keep digging if you dare
I like elevator stories.
So many ups and downs!
Elevator puns never fail to lift my spirits.
@@GerardMenvussa that's not uplifting.
that's wrong on so many levels
You never know what story you'll end up on.
Otis going up and down in his grave
I definitely wish we'd been thinking "put every cable in conduit so it can be easily upgraded and put conduit everywhere so we can add stuff later" a long time ago.
And *not* use that tiny half inch pipe for it everywhere, either.
What do these words mean? :)
@@volbla basically, put pipes down with cables inside them rather than the cable directly so that cable can be taken out, added to, changed out, etc without having to dig it back up along the whole length. And make the pipes big so they can accommodate that change/the work to change it
@@volbla they are talking about cables(wires) for internet or power or speakers or whatever. And they are suggesting that instead of just putting them in the wall to run them through pipes(conduit) so that its really easy to add more cables later for what ever you might need in the future. Also if the conduits are placed when the house is built then it's a lot easier than having to place them after(once the walls are closed in)
@@SlocketSeven But it sure beats pulling it through a masonry wall without a conduit.
Right, I guess I'll go and build my garage with the door facing up for my future flying car.
I grew up in a house in Stockholm, Sweden where many old elevators use round shafts. The elevators are usually square with cut corners. In my house I was told the shaft was built before the elevator, so it was just an elevator shaft for many years. But it's still running a hundred years later.
I will now retrofit every one of my buildings in City Skylines with round elevators.
Thanks Tom.
It would be funny if you could actually design buildings in cities skylines
What do you think modded buildings are?
"Otis Elevator: We never let you down!"
😂 Perfect 😂
But do they ever give you up?
@@iLikeTheUDK Well I think they wouldn't run around and desert you
Wishva de Silva Elevators would never make you cry or say goodbye
@@supermoris194 Neither did they make us run around or desert us
I'm imagining the designer in a video to his son, standing next to the square elevator
"I'm limited by the technology of my time"
The round elevator is certainly a good choice for use as a freight elevator, moving oversize computer servers and refrigerators and furniture can be a pain in a regular elevator
The elevator before elevator shaft was invented : *_"People bungie jumping up and down of the building"_*
No they jumped into a 1 by 1 meter cube of water
Everyone knows that the only way to get from one floor to the next before the elevator was invented was by rocket jumping.
@@OMalleyTheMaggot by Abraham Lincoln no less!
why are you everywhere
@@T4C0RIFFIC *Y E S*
2:08
I, too, am often busy working on _not_ inventing an elevator, except I prefer to call it _procrastination_ ...
It's been two years... Have you invented an elevator yet?
@@VestinVestin No, but I have *not* invented an elevator instead! Multiple times!
We still have many old historic buildings in Winnipeg where the horse and buggy both used to go up the old freight elevators
What buildings need to have that'll be considered obvious in the future is a roof that can support the weight of soil so they can be retrofitted with a rooftop garden or solar panels without having to reconstruct the entire roof.
if your building doesn’t have a roof that can support solar panels or soil I wouldn’t recommend spending much time under that roof.
This reminds me of how the can opener was invented a full *FORTY-EIGHT YEARS* after the invention of the tin can.
(Obviously, before then, people just used a chisel and a hammer to open it, but it's still one of those "huh" facts)
it was a bloody 48 years
good thing stuff in cans stays "fresh" for a long time.
it might've been even better if the can opener had been invented 48 years BEFORE the tin can … "L@@K what i've invented!" "what's it do?" "i have no idea!" … "you suck at this"
@sizano;
clever inventor: "L@@K! i've safely stored food in this tin can!"
skeptical associate: "let's see how it tastes"
ci:
sa:
ci: "shut up!"
Still waiting on more loos for women in public buildings to reduce queues. And I can remember when can (tin)openers were little metal triangles that people had on keyfobs.
Both of my parents are alumni of The Cooper Union! In fact, just the other day I was visiting for a School of Engineering open house, and my dad told me this exact story.
hope u get in!
In my hometown, there is a store with two round glass elevator shafts and round elevator cabs that go upwards using a spiral below. The shaft wall has a lot of wheels, and the cab mechanism "screws itself upward" through the shaft.
Series: Things You Might Not Know
Ending: Things You Might Know
Who watches this crap?
@@GoogleGoogle-fd6do you, apparently
"What should we be designing for now?"
WALKING & CYCLE INFRASTRUCTURE
I'd say "a dichotomy between local & regional". Failing to embrace the dichotomy is the actual failing. You don't reduce traffic by designing for bicycles, you reduce traffic by going for "arcology" design around the village-scale (~50-200 houses), and then linking these "arco-villages" with more conventional transit. That way you don't go to the supermarket for tonight's dinner, you go to the neighborhood convenience store. Similarly, you only get much traffic congestion at the merge zones with major thoroughfares, because most traffic just doesn't go very far.
+
Multi-scale public transportation that isn't just diesel buses and trains
A system of democracy which isn't vulnerable to vested interests with huge amounts of money
A more diverse system of energy generation and distribution
@@absalomdraconis Nope doesn't work, much of the Nordics designed their cities like that in the 50's until now. All that we have gotten out of it is people driving everywhere since their place of work isn't where you live and commuting takes too long. It also has lead to suburbs no one want to live in as the fun stuff is in the city so people move ut and drive housing costs in the central parts to almost the levels of London and Hong Kong. Instead we got people with lower incomes living in the suburbs which created crime and other social problems. 50-200 houses, even multi family ones like low rise apartment buildings isn't enough to be able to operate a store these days, especially since most people are expecting their store to carry more than milk and eggs.
People who live in downtown New York rarely owns cars or drive anywhere, that's what we should be striving for, denser and higher, not lower and sprawled. Someone who makes 200k a year is using the subway in NY, this isn't true in Stockholm as commuter traffic is frowned upon and the only real way you transport yourself is by car. And all of this is because the fetishizing of the car post WW2.
@@00O3O1B it's also also for people with such disabilities. With less car traffic and roads designed for wheeled vehicles they can make use of scooters instead of needing a car
“What’s the thing that is gonna seem obvious in 20 or 30 years that no one can see coming now” I’ll answer that in 2040 or 2050
I constantly forget those are real years I'm gonna live to.
The thing that makes me insane is when in old buildings they did not think about cables at all and just enclosed them in the wall and mortar. Cable-shafts, cable-shafts, cable-shafts! Build more cable-shafts! If you build a house now, please do cable-shafts. They are very handy. It is super nice to be able to replace or add cables easily and having wired-LAN in the rooms you need it is also really nice.
On a related note, in the house I grew up in, Dad intentionally put office-style suspended ceilings in the basement and below the bedrooms, because he wanted the access to run new wires as needed. It came in handy several times, to hook up TVs, a phone and a (dial-up) modem, and eventually ethernet. And it helped with fixing a pipe or two. 😎
Starfleet thought it was a good idea too. All of the turbolifts were round.
Turbolifts rotate around thetr vertical axis and move horizontally other than vertically. They're kinda like little cars that can go from any turbolift access to any other turbolift access anywhere else in the ship. A cylinder makes sense for that kind of application.
It's debatable, though, if it makes that much sense to waste space on a ship to have all the infrastructure that it would be required to allow cabins pass each other to achieve that, especially with transporters being a thing.
@@captainufo4587 At least the turbolifts actually worked when they needed them, unlike the transporters. By the same thought you might as well get rid of the corridors as well then.
@@captainufo4587 I'm guessing the transporters use more energy. And the turbolifts probably work on easier tech, making them more reliable.
Wasn't there even an episode on TNG with the turbo lifts going crazy? But it would have been only one.... Transporter Accidents happened far more often.
@Resurrected Again maybe it can rotate
Round elevators would look way cooler
Just the fact that there is a circular cab elevator in that spot shows just how forward thinking Cooper was.
I work at cooper union (former student) It's crazy riding this elevator every day. Unfortunately it's often breaking down- and as you may imagine, it takes a while to get replacement parts.
We need more round elevators!
I agree! It looks so cool. Only place I remember that I've ever seen round elevators is in a legendary videogame called Portal, but that takes place in the distant future.
You do understand why elevators are square, right? Round things don't pack without wasted space. That's why motor oil, which used to be distributed in round cans, is now distributed in rectangular bottles. It's also why milk, which used to be distributed in round bottles, is now distributed in square jugs. So, now you have a round elevator, what do you do with the weird irregular space you need to make that round elevator fit in a building where everything else is rectangular?
@@jonathanguthrie9368 from a astethic view.. I didnt claim they where better in any way.. According to your reasoning I see very little room for design architecture at all, only practically.
@@jonathanguthrie9368 You put a stair case around it (as indeed there often is, frequently with one external curved wall). Rooms do not need to be rectangular. The main argument for the rectangular lift would rather be so you can roll large things straight through the door; we don't want to puzzle too much on the way out. Often smaller shafts such as ventilation and garbage chutes take up the corners, which are impractical for traversal anyway.
@@jonathanguthrie9368 Whilst this isn't entirely wrong, the main reason that most elevators are square is that they are a hell of lot easier and cheaper to manufacture, maintain and refurbish (when the lift gets older). Round elevators exist but are usually there for astetic reasons, for example scenic elevators that are often glass to look at a view in tall buildings.
Source: I design lifts for a living.
High speed networking cables in every room. even if its just the wires in the ceiling, it will be so much easier in 5-10 years when everyone wants to stream 8k60fps video from every room in every building.
t
There's not too big of a reason to stream 8k. Even today 4k is enough in most cases. Apart from cinema projectors and maybe huge TV's.
@@SpaghettiniFiveMillion i know, its just an example. if its not video, my guess we'll be streaming something else. regardless, we will want to have the bandwidth available to us.
Nah don't put in the cables, cables are upgraded over time, what you need to do is run conduit so you can pull out and install new cable when we switch from copper to fiber inside the home or whatever happens
@@WowCoolHorse good point. a good electrician should do that anyway.
Why stop there? Let's future proof it a bit. 16k144fps. That should do it for the next 20 years.
I loved this story growing up. It was inspirational in the concept of computer programing and design. You leave open options for variables.
Tom, I can just binge the hell out of your videos. Thanks for all the dedication.
Predicting a cylindrical elevator seems like a scientist's way of thinking instead of an engineer's. The scientist will think about optimization of space. The engineer will think about production ease where right angles are everywhere. Except when you want something to rotate, think right angles before anything else.
For 2050, I predict we'll need less and less space for personal cars, and more and more space for commodity transportation (especially bikes and shared cars). I wouldn't be surprised if current parking spaces are retrofitted to provide such shared commodities, and if new buildings start being designed so that you can access the parking spaces from both within and outside the building itself depending on your being a customer or living there. That would typically require some form of access-control, a buffer zone etc.
Yes, I can imagine the engineers thinking about having the internal doors which have to move, catch the external doors and easily slide both pairs open and closed being curved. It obviously can be done, but the possibility of binding or derailing goes up.
A production engineer would prefer right angles, another type of engineer might prefer circular (or better: oval to additionally prevent twisting) to reduce the chance of an overly-tight elevator getting bound up in the shaft.
At any rate, parking doesn't really need that much change. What you'll see a change with is a growth of charging stations, a slow shift towards cities being composed of multiple arcology-villages linked by both conventional roads & trains (street cars would mostly stay within the bounds of an individual arcology or quasi-arcology), and both deisel & gasoline being replaced by natural gas.
What you _won't_ see in 2050 is hydrogen being a common fuel (it honestly sucks for usage away from it's production site), or batteries, solar, or wind completely replacing fuels- the three of them don't look like they'll ever be up for _that_ job (though Solar Power Satellites would presumably do the job for the electric grid). Also, you should expect that the various steam heating systems will either maintain or even _grow_ their popularity, as they're just superior to most of their competitors (including "central" heat & air, as long as you're in dense developments).
What I see in the future is simple: short race courses at the edge of cities. Why? When it will be forbidden to drive a car due to autonomous cars, motoring enthusiasts will need a place to enjoy themselves. Just like horseback riding is still a thing, but it is very very unlikely to see someone on horse in urban areas.
In Singapore, existing parking spaces are already being retrofitted with electric charging stations for shared electric cards (Bluesg)
Cars don't fit in cities. Most cities that tried to equip everybody with a car eventually had to admit defeat and reverse course
i'm dutch and we underestimated how many two wheel motorized vehicles we would get.
the US is preparing for bikes. please don't repeat our mistakes and add 45/60KMH motorbikes to that list! cuz you'll get them for sure!
We already have lots of "two wheel motorized vehicles", some of which go over 300 km/h (200 mph). We call them motorcycles.
We also have lots of 30 mph vehicles. We call them mopeds. They both have been around a long time.
It's like Eric said, the low-speed and high-speed vehicles are usually not treated the same. It's been like this for decades, specifically to try to reduce crashes.
@@Eric14492 These aren't bike road legal, genius. The problem is with vehicles that aren't quite bike, aren't quite motorcycle - you need to plan what you do with them before they start to be a problem by using unsuited infrastructure...
"the US is preparing for bikes " nice joke bro
My dad went and worked at this school. It truly an amazing institution…
What amazes me about elevators, or lifts, as we call them in the U.K. is that they are amazingly safe. I am 77 years of age. I have NEVER seen a news report of say, a snapped cable and a elevator / lift plunging down the lift shaft, with consequences better imagined than described. How come they are SO safe, compared with other modes of travel ?
There are lots of design redundancies, to the point where failure requires gross negligence, some simultaneous disaster, or deliberate sabotage.
For a typical elevator even if the multiple sets of steel ropes broke at once (which is already crazy unlikely) or went into freefall somehow there are built-in safety break wheels on the cab itself that engage when the elevator is moving too fast. Then there are electromagnetic breaks that engage when you stop the car, that actually function by holding the brakes in the open position, not closed, which means that if the elevator loses power the brakes engage. Then there's an additional breaking system at the top and bottom of the elevator shaft if the car moves too far in either direction. THEN, if all else fails there's a shock absorber system at the bottom of the shaft.
This is why they never fall but everyone has a story of being stuck in an elevator. They're designed to stick at the slightest provocation.
I heard about a distant relative who suffered several crushed vertebrae when the elevator he was in dropped several floors. This was about 50 years ago.
I always love how you don't just show something interesting, but put it into an even more interesting context!
Something that all buildings will have 20 years from now: a Tom Scott poster with "Our Supreme Leader" written on it
I'm totally in favour of this weird cult that will totally freak Tom out and probably undermines the educational and social value of his videos.
@@neolexiousneolexian6079 I say let's start a kickstarter campaign to build a Tom Scott statue in Mansfield!
@@sam08g16 I'm sure Mr Furze would be only too happy to oblige for a few quid :-)
"Vote red, or else!"
Sorry that title is reserved for my grandson
Thank you for this video. Here is a topic that I had never thought of, and yet you brought it to life with history and good story-telling.
This is really cool. I’ve been on thousands of elevators but only a couple round ones like this.
From the title, it sounds quite sensible. Unless you’re attaching rockets to the bottom of the lift, then it’s got to get up somehow
Willy wonka and chocolate factory flashbacks
Hydraulic rams are used too (usually for buildings with less than five floors). They are cheaper than electric lifts to install.
Tiny helipads on the roof, for hat-copters.
I like the positive impact the round cab has on the door clearances. These decisions are not always so obvious!
So cool to see this. My grandparents met as students at Cooper Union in the late 40s
As always fascinating story, Mr Scott.
Cylindrical elevator looks so awesome ! Got a retro vibe to it.
You know you like a content creator, especially and educative one, when you see the topic and say "oh I know all about that" and still watch the whole thing
It’s really interesting to see the ups and downs of future proofing your designs. Not sure why my landlord won’t let me tear out my kitchen appliances to make room for my quantum computer powered laser oven, every one will have one in 10 years.
The inside of that lift has seen some serious violence. 4:50
@word Do architecture students actually build things, and with real wood?
@@petehiggins33 hell no
people trying to fit rectangular objects in this damned round elevator.
I love watching these types of videos just as background noise, so relaxing and interesting
I'll bet it was worth doing, to us at least if not to him. And judging by your description of him, I'd guess that's enough to make him happy. His elevator shaft probably encouraged the development of elevators for the common people, and likely accelerated the growth of the modern skyscrapers we see everywhere today.
1975 "renovation" = remove and replace interior
Yes…. That is a renovation
Amazing video Tom. I'm a New Yorker and I have passed Cooper Union numerous times but never knew this until today.
In 1965 Otis and the Elevators had the number one hit with "Baby, we've had our ups and downs"
Let's not forget the song that only got to #2 because of Otis and The Elevators. That classic single: NO MATTER WHAT SHAPE YOUR STOMACH'S IN by Pepto and The Bismols!
Dude! These videos are so fun - congratulations on the cool two mill. :)
Was someone trapped in that elevator? Looks beat to hell
a square room would have been easier to build, that's why square has become the standard, especially when you have multiple, only tend to see round ones when it's free standing like some large shopping malls with a big glass tube
I used to use a hydraulic lift at the Royal institute in London (when I worked there as an electrician) - I think it was invented by Faraday - it had a rope that travelled through the corner of the lift from top to bottom of the shaft that had two knots designed to stop the lift by shutting the water valves that drove the lift
1:09 Peter Cooper is the pigeon whisperer
Well would you look at that, i hadn't noticed yet. Tom has now over 2M subscribers to his channel! Proud to be one of them. Congratulations, Mr. Scott!
The thing of future, a society built on the principles of Tom Scott videos. Awesome.
I love the floors made of access panels in Sheridan college, the thought of being able to run anything above or below is amazing
My university has a bunch of panels in the floor which can be lifted up to access plug sockets underneath, lets the uni have larger rooms without any worry about not having plug socket access in the centre of the room!
"it's only a couple floors, people can survive that jump, right?"
just put a pool at the bottom
NO way
@@flobb91 That's how you do it in minecraft
Just be like Shakespearicles, who invented the two-story building and rocketjumping
You should test it out with a friend, let me know the result and post your video on youtube
Round elevator seems like a good idea though, really space efficient
Not when two or more must be side by side.
Is it, though? We don't live in round buildings, or even rooms for that matter.
Most buildings are square, so not really
the round shape is nice for the elevator but bad for everything around it
Not really when inserted into something else, very space wasteful if you need to put it side by side with square rooms.
What do we need built into buildings now? Outer walls and other structural material that has better radio insulation on frequencies that are used for personal/local things such as Wi-Fi to reduce interference between individual property units but also better at passing long range/public signals like mobile phone/5G broadband etc.
“I don’t know… maybe you do.” Best line EVER!
I love the idea of designing for the future. The construction industry is starting to catch up with technology and with BIM, digital twins and internet of things new things are coming.
i think in 20 years pedestrians are gonna walk not only on ground floor but also levels above it and bridges between the catwalks are gonna be the cross walks
That already exists in a lot of places, but it's extremely expensive for minimal gain, except in a few very high traffic areas where it can be justified. Those sky bridges are almost never publicly funded either. They usually only get built to increase productivity (profits) when one company has two buildings on either side of a street.
Elijah Otis: "i want my elevator to be safe"
Paternosters: "hold my endlessly circling beer"
Thank you, that's what I expected to see.
Excellent stuff. And good research to find the right interviewee. Thank you.
0:52 solid comedic reveal.
Dumbass didnt even see square elevators coming ahah, fool.
**dies after getting hit by flying app-controlled-rental-airbnb-workspace-farm**
We should design buildings with decontaminations rooms from now on. Just in case of new pandemics
This effer has the most interesting videos of the most everyday things. Concise and full of information in a short vid. Well deserved the 5.5m subs.
Tom keep up the good work, love your vids.
I rode in a circular elevator when I was 14. It was in the central tube of the "Atomium" in Brussels. The car had no cables. Compressed air forced it up and down at high speed. It really was quick.. quite tummy-wrenching when starting descent. And you didn't just feel the speed. You could see the interior of the shaft whistling towards you and away, through glass panels in the ceiling and floor.
That was all 60 years ago. I remember it as if it was last week.
That seems a lot less safe.
@@rachelcookie321 Latest pictures suggest it is now cable hauled. Maybe the compressed- air/suction method didn't stand the test of time. I don't know what speed it attains now, but in the 50s it was 5 metres per second (18 kph).
@@effyleven thank god. If there had been an emergency that elevator would of plummeted to the ground killing or severely injuring everyone inside.
@@rachelcookie321 Gotta love assumptive people. Perhaps it had breaks on the car....
@@istankimjong-unbutcantstan3398 even with breaks it’s definitely less safe than a regular elevator. But I don’t think there’s a point in arguing with someone with a username like that, i doubt you can see to reason.
Probably some kind of utility connection, like how we have water, gas, electric and internet.
A thermal connection would pair up well with electric, especially as our homes get more and more efficient.
@@rhamph Local geothermal aside, what form of energy delivery could be more efficient for supplying heat than just electricity flowing through a ceramic block?
@@neolexiousneolexian6079 Geothermal can be used everywhere, and I think it will be massively more important in the coming years. But there are quite a few different options in addition to that. Heat pumps capturing heat from outside air is a great idea that can allow you to reduce the electricity needed for heating by 60-75%. If there already is air conditioning in the building, the required upgrade is not that big. Speaking of Manhattan (and other cities with rivers), I predict that river heat is going to be more important in the coming years. Using cold river water for cooling is much more efficient than radiators and fans, and when needing heat, the river will be a good source for that as well. Here in Norway, many places get remote heat supplied from high-efficiency garbage incineration facilities. Some of these facilities provide both electricity and heat.
Coal, nuclear and other fossil electricity plants create immense amounts of heat that they need to spend a lot of energy on dissipating. Using that heat instead of wasting it would increase the overall plant energy efficiency. We should of course try to phase out those plants, but heat scavenging techniques would be a good stop-gap measure nonetheless.
4:46 was more inspirational than any and every inspirational speech/video that has ever been played in my years at school