What's a Paternoster Lift?
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- A paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two people) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can step on or off at any floor they like.
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#paternoster
I rode one of these once in Belgrade and honestly it was TERRIFYING.
I looked it up and its terrifying 😱
It's not terrifying, you've just become a fearful person.
@uni blab If you fear me that's your problem a silly one, but yours nevertheless.
While interesting, in the US this would be a lawsuit generator.
Anywhere really, It's not too hard to imagine how someone would lose their limbs.
some country are allow since it was old law and you know the risk before getting on one... i would never used them.. more for throwing shit on it and it someoneelse problem...
They needs more of these things in low IQ countries where they dont know how to press buttons for the elevator.
@@rustystove8410 Where does one find a high IQ country? Only ones I can think of are being overrun by the stupid at the invitation of the left.
@@RS-ls7mm The left/right axis is purely an economic one, you gotta be more specific bud.
I used to use one of these about 45 years ago in a BEA building at Heathrow and thought it was called a Paternoster because you said your prayers before getting in to it!
LOL!
SHITE joke!
Yes I think I would be saying a few Our Fathers and Hail Marys before getting into one of those. That looks like one of those things that if it was invented today people would say you were crazy and too dangerous, like aircraft propellors or third rail power conductors at ground level on some electrified railways.
@@jslonisch Totally agree with you regarding 3rd rail electrification, it has been fatal to many animals and a few, usually drunk humans in the UK over time.
Whoever thought of mounting a completely uninsulated busbar energized with 750 V DC at ground level needs their heads examining. The 3rd rail looks so innocent as well, until you touch it. I expect that the EU thought of making the UK convert the entire Southern system to Overhead but knew that the upheaval and cost would be prohibitive.
The insulated 3rd rail system seems better, where the train picks up the current from underneath the rail as in the Docklands Light Railway and continental Metro systems.
😂
It's what you get when you combine the elevator and the escalator in such a way as to prevent the safety features of either of them from being implemented.
Exactly
Installing standard elevators disables the main feature of paternoster lifts: Darwin's Natural Selection.
@@BWolf00 A designer with that level of disregard for the well-being of others deserves to get sued at the very least.
@@guidestone1392 Meanwhile our "designers" have yet to make a vehicle that won't kill the occupant(s)/participant(s) nor pedestrians...
"with that level of disregard..." they must be "inconsiderate psychos who think IQ is more important than the capacity for Empathy." lol
The same for streets, guns, knives and bubblegum. Spare me the empathic fake outrage.
@@BWolf00There was one of these in Salford University. I last rode it at some point in the early 1980s. It's a bit freakish when you first used it but after a while you get the idea and everything is fine. The issue is that you begin to calm down once you get to use it.
looks like a good way to lose a limb.
Or, in my experience your head and your life.
I'LL BE BACK ! I cared at the time.
There are safety switches everywhere so it's very difficult to actually get harmed by a modern paternoster.
Is the head counted as a limb? Bend over = no more head.
@I'LL BE BACK ! Sure, it would at least reintroduce evolutionary pressure in favour of higher IQ.
Yeah, they are almost perfectly designed to make a fire go quickly through the entire building.
That's something that can be solved. Basically ensure that each floor has a foyer with a door that shuts in case of fire and most of that trouble is fixed. The other issues are harder to resolve and even in the case of adding the fire door, you're stuck with a bunch of extra firewall that wouldn't otherwise be needed.
all you need it fire doors to close off the shaft during fires. doesn't take much design changes.
and a stairway is not????
@@owlsayssouth 2nd genius.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade It can be solved by using lifts with doors too, but the point is this is faster.....BECAUSE THERE ARE NOT DOORS....oh, just simply solve the issue basically with some doors......automatic fire sensing doors even, genius.
Feel sorry for the person that sees a headless body going by.
Or the headless person itself
We all know it's going to happen someday
@@ticktockbam 😂😂
If you let a few of those go by, you’ll still be waiting less than for an elevator.
Similar, yet still better than the Hogwarts stairs...
I first encountered these lifts when I was studying at the London School of Economics in the early 1980s. I was convinced that there were two separate lifts and if I didn't get off at the top floor in time, the lift car would flip upside down into the dark before it started over again. My husband, who knew how they worked, came with me one day and made me take it to the top floor with him and NOT get off. That's when I found out that the lift just moved laterally. V anticlimactic.
Thank you for sharing that with all of us that were too scared to try it ourselves!
haha that's a lot of trust to put in your husband! was it spooky, that moment of truth?
@@SpaceMissile Fortunately for me, I'm married to the best husband in the world and it's easy to trust him! 😉
@@NicknameOnly 🤢
Haha I kid. 👍
We had one at university... I had never seen one before, so, went to the top to have a look... My mates had a laugh when I came back down the other side doing a handstand! 😏😏
We had something where I worked called a man-lift. It was like a conveyor belt, going straight up and down. There were foot pads to stand on, and a hand grip to hold onto. You had better get off at the top, or it would carry you right over to the down side, only standing on your head. Scary thing, it was.
I rode one of these in the middle of the night at an industrial plant that I was guarding alone years ago and got out on a pitch-black floor. I was afraid to get back on with almost no light coming thru the floor shaft but more afraid to stay. It was a great relief to reach the ground safely, and based on what you said, I was probably close to being dragged over the top in the dark.
I worked for a few months in a place that had one of those, years ago. I used it once and then took the extra time to use the stairs every time I had change floors after that.
I saw such a thing on a video where they went to an abandoned sugar beet mill, or whatever it was. I thought they were kidding around!
I remember using those in a huge pulp mill when I had to to go to various factories to work on programming PLC's. I never liked it, but the place was so huge you could easily get lost and I had to use it to get to the machine I was fixing or I couldn't find it. I tried avoiding it by taking a staircase once and ended up wandering around for an hour totally lost so I was basically forced to use the man lift to not get lost. It was kind of fun to use I suppose but it went up 6 floors so it was pretty scary looking down when you only had a tiny platform just barely big enough to stand on.
I never heard of these until this video! Seeing them in action, I can understand why they never were approved in America.
They were: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster_lift#USA
I can see why it was a common thing beside that garage in San Fran, it looks real unsafe, that is a lawsuit waiting to happen especially here in America
The 450 Sutter in SF is a "manlift" not a paternoster. It's a vertical conveyor belt used by parking valets to quickly move between floors -- it's not for public use.
There's one used in the beginning of the film The Driver.
I've heard of "Shabbat Elevators" in which a standard elevator would be switched to a mode that the car would automatically stop at each floor and open and close it's doors without the rider touching a single button in concurrence with Rabbinical interpretations of the Jewish laws involving the Sabbath. (Much like an Eruv acts as the extension of the doorposts and walls, allowing observant Jews to carry items or push baby strollers to and from the synagogue.)
I saw one of these in the 1962 movie The Counterfeit Traitor. I wondered how such a thing could exist without the occasional person stumbling and having their head taken off.
Wonderful spy film.
This kind is also seen in the original "the Omen" film.
These would really have a positive impact on my health.
I'd be using the stairs.
They used to be in the University of Aston in Birmingham, UK in the late 1960's. they took a little getting used to. A couple of us stayed in as it went 'over the top' just for the experience. The things you do as a student...
Likewise. However they were very slow going down. I could get down 10 floors quicker than the lift. Sometimes the same going up.
Love it 😻
They were popular at Universities, Salford had one too. If you were going to the top floor and missed getting off you always had the bonus of going over the top. They were great fun over normal lifts and no waiting too.
Leicester University has one of these.
There was also one at Birmingham Poly at Perry Barr.
There have been one too many fatalities in them. We had a paternoster lift at Leeds University and I used it a few times but it never really floated my boat. I believe it was decommissioned after a fatal accident.
Tim Hancock. One fatality in the UK and one in the Nederland's. That's it for Europe. They removed them because of the POTENTIAL for accidents. In fact they are far more serious accidents and fatalities recorded in conventional lifts but of course there are far more of them. However it was the HSE concern for potential accidents the caused many of them to be removed but they are still legal. As with all lift accidents the human element is crucial. Not sure about the UK one but the Dutch one was caused by corrosion of the bearing plate from too much water when cleaning and lack of preventative maintenance. The actual function of the lift was not the primary cause. Every lift incident I attempted as a fire officer involved human error be it on the part of the lift passenger (they do some very strange things like riding beneath the cage on a rope and standing on top of the cage) or lack of maintenance by the engineering company. Many are badly abused in council tower blocks and quite frankly they were used more as urinals that a useful function in the building, not that a urinal is not useful, but urine splashed all over the operating panel is not desirable maintenance. We had one Paternoster Lift in a bank building on King St in Manchester but I am not aware if it's still there. I am not aware of any serious incidents with it but I could be wrong as I didn't spend too much of my service in or around Manchester City centre.
indeed the fun of the interchange in the Roger Stevens block brings back many happy memories
@@Biffo1262 It always amazes me that here in the UK we always (well sometimes) seem to wait for a fatality before we take action to improve a potentially dangerous situation. I live in Basingstoke, Hampshire and as an example the A33 to Reading has a dual carriageway section with a 70 mph speed limit (same as a motorway) but features no crash barriers in the central reservation so there's potential every day for a 150 + mph (being realistic) head on crash. But it's been like that for as long as the dual carriageway has been open (more than 35 years).
Yes remember them at Leeds University back in 1980
SAFETY is better than convenience.
My brother and I delivered phone books in the '70s here in the Twin Cities, and saw a lot of cool things not generally open to the citizenry. One was an old flour mill on the Mississippi near downtown Minneapolis. Pretty much the whole place was run by a series of belts, snaking up and around the entire plant. There were two paternosters that we saw (still operating!). Not as fancy as the ones pictured here, these were basically steps bolted to a wide canvas belt that slowly moved through four floors. We spent a fair amount of time just joy-riding! Really clever how the whole mill used one giant engine to power all these belts and pulleys that ran the whole place!
@blinkvideo Your comment brings back fond memories of Minneapolis where I grew up in the '50s. My dad worked for "General Mills" flour division, which was located near St Anthony Falls, between 1st S. & Washington ave S. on the East side of 3rd Ave. Pillsbury flour mills also were located in that section of the city. Back then Minneapolis was known as the "Mill City". When the flour mills left the city, the grain elevators were converted to expensive apartments, which had a beautiful view of the downtown river front!
🍺 I miss Grain Belt Beer, the real stuff, the recipe used before Irwin Jacobs bought it. For Minnesota, that was pretty good beer! 🍻
There's one of these in Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, London. Used to be fascinated by it as a kid.
You see, kids are small enough to get into them.
How would wheelchair people ride then?
Brilliant! I only heard about these elevators from my father, who thought they were a very good idea. Now I feel like an expert! :-)
When used properly, I'm sure the are a good idea. But, there's numerous issues including the fact that people in wheelchairs, walkers and those carrying large boxes aren't able to use them.
Years ago, I worked at a warehouse where we used a horizontal version of these things to move boxes around and you had to be careful as getting a finger stuck between the cages could result in it being lost. Very efficient for moving things around, but not terribly safe.
As a kid I used to dream of elevators without doors, shallow compartments, nightmares usually. Years later I went to a Museum in Berlin (the Stasi-museum) and found out these things really exist.
These are shown in use in the 1920s film Metropolis.
That's an amazing film.
Ahh yes, someone took my nightmares and made them into reality.
I like how you didn'T share the mystery of the turning points... That is a secret only to be uncovered by the ones brave enough!
irgendwieanders1 Or , like me , a bit hesitant in stepping off at the top floor at Aston University , so finding out by accident that it doesn’t tip over !
ua-cam.com/video/YgJBD1wf-YQ/v-deo.html
I remember first seeing this type of lift in a movie when I was a kid. Scared me then, scares me now. :)
I see this as a great idea that’s still functional today. As the narrator said it takes a bit of concentration, but it’s an elevator you’re not waiting for. “Crush” bars and other safety mechanisms can easily be retrofitted into the them.
Same here, i think the movie i saw it in was one of the Omen movies.
Something very similar is used in American industrial facilities somewhat often. No cars, just a little platform to stand on and a rail to grab, the belt or chain is sometimes surrounded by a cage or shaft, but you just step on or off at whatever level you choose. They can be a little scary. They're mostly being phased out by now, but I've been in places that still use them recently.
Imax Junior yes, it was in the first Omen movie.
Lul, same here. I thought you would get smooshed at the top. I thought the compartments got folded at the top and bottom.
I do t like regular elevators. This one is nope. Nope. Nopity nope.
How about a conveyor belt eighteen inches wide, going up, up up?
Linda Terrell HOW IS THIS ALLOWED?!? There’s just no way.
Don't be such wusses.
James Faulkner II I've used man-belts, they actually are a little unnerving, haha!
@@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney That's what they are called! I couldn't remember for my other post, we called them 'man-lifts'. Fun, but just scary enough at times to give tingles. One guy said that he would sometimes carry a fifty pound /22.5kg bag on them. Nutters!
I was fascinated to see this type of lift in the early 90s when I worked as a temp at Unipart Oxford. Always volunteered to take papers so I could have a go.
It clearly stated not to stay on above the top floor or the bottom one, but one lunch break I did the whole round. Honestly wasn't convinced I wouldn't be tipped upside down but I can confirm that it didn't and it was just a bit dark with lots of bricks
My first thought was it was called paternoster because you said a prayer for your safety right before trying to get on or off the thing.
As someone with a mild case of claustrophobia, I see these as a valid alternative to the existential terror I feel when I get into a windowless metal coffin that can snap and pulverize me at any time.
I'm just a bit scared of the warp gate at the end that teleports the elevator back to its starting position.
I never knew about this type of elevator before this video. It really doesn’t look safe.
The Finnish Parliament House has these. It's really weird.
And only MPs are allowed to use it.
Its Finland.... there's nothing strange about it
They need to install these things everywhere in the country of Turkey.
how many has it killed?
NwO 4LiFE Happiest country on earth.
Saw one of those in use on _The Prisoner_ when Number Six escapes The Village and reports to his superiors in the _Many Happy Returns_ episode.
This was in the (now demolished) GEC building in Borehamwood, just a short walk from Elstree Studios, and the Prisoner Appreciation Society occasionally came for a visit to see it. I used to work there in the late 90s and rode the paternoster most days. It was a rite of passage to do a full circuit, going over the top and round the bottom. Shortly before I left to work elsewhere the paternoster broke down and it wasn't allowed to be repaired.
@@JohnMonsteur I "rode" on that during a training course there back in the 90's. Quite an experience. If I remember, there was a wooden flap on the floor which had a one way hinge such that if you leaned too far forward on the way up, the flap would hinge so the worst you would get was a smack on the top of your head (rather than having your head taken off!)
I used to work there in the sixties and used it a lot. Once saw a chap get on carrying a long florescent tube - Too late he realised it didn't fit
I used the paternoster regularly in Newcastle Uni. in the early 1970s. All I can say is, it never killed me.
That is one very dodgy idea. Talk about an accident waiting to happen!
They were pretty much banned in the EU by 1995 and completely shut down and banned in 2014.
Ngl I would rather use the stairs than to ride this death machines
It looks like a crash stop bar with switches and a light beam could be fitted in the top to stop the elevator. Also light beams to slow elevator or provide an entry door.
This looks incredibly dangerous. You'd never see this in the U.S., Land of the litigious
Land of the litigious! 🤣🤣🤣
I’ve only seen and used this once when visiting a friend in Hamburg Germany. He was a lawyer so must have been working in legal offices or something like that. We both got in for a laugh and I had no idea what would happen once the lift got to the top.
At the ripe old age of 4 or 5 I was on one of these in the early 50s in Germany. As I grew older, I was always confused as to why elevators had doors. It wasn't until I was in my 60s that I read an article about the paternoster elevator and finally realized where my confusion had originated. One of the many grand and glorious memories of my childhood that I still cherish to this day in my 70s. Never forget the past; it is the pathway to the future.
I rode one many times in the old "I.G. Farbin Building" on the U.S. Military base in Frankfurt Germany. I was 8-10 years old with no problems riding. This is included riding over the top.
I remember using these in Czechoslovakia back in the 1980s. I'll say this, if you are a cellphone zombie or a text message zombie, I suggest taking the stairs. 😉😉😉
The life you save may be your own.
Great vlog as always! In Oslo there were a Max of four lifts, all privat companies. One in a bank, one at a hangar at FBU, the former airport in Oslo. Now none are left.
The legend says if you stay inside over the turning point you can cross to a parallel universe.
There’s one in the Leica Microsystems factory in Wetzlar Germany. Actually a lot of fun but you do need to focus on getting on and off. Apparently when the iron curtain came down in 1990, there were a ton of them in what was East Germany (too many to shut down completely) so the new government decided that since it was impractical to close hundreds of them, they improved the safety features and kept them running. What I was told anyways.
The Netflix show "Babylon Berlin" features one of these....
Steven! That's where I saw it, Thanks, it was driving me nuts trying to remember. How could anyone not take one look at the design and think, "yep, folks will lose arms, toes and the occasional pecker" ?
Great show!
Probably inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis
I enjoyed using this, I felt adventurous.
Cool - the Paternoster in the opening shots is in a building I worked in for 5 years. I used this thing multiple times daily and loved it! Memories :)
Very cool!
Stop lying! I believe you used it, but you didn't love it!🤔🤨😂
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@@rhuttrho88 - You do know people who worked and used these things in the past also watch UA-cam.
There is one in our government building. I used to ride it when I was interning there. It was very exciting!
The former headquarters of Stasi in former East Berlin has one of these.
Also Rathaus Schöneberg has one of the few publicly accessible ones.
I wonder how many prisoners suffered unfortunate but convenient accidents on it?
"Too Far Afield," a novel by Günter Grass, is about two old guys who used to work in Berlin for the Stasi, set after the end of East Germany, and mentions the paternoster many times. I thought it was maybe a metaphor (probably was, also) and not real until I found out they really exist!
I see the logo sign "Hitachi" on the side of the paternoster. Wow, I am a Japanese, but I've never seen it before. Is there still demand? Is there any self stopping mechanism or any on it? I don't see any different to a guillotine.
I can remember as a kid getting on one of these in the netherlands in the seventies in a department store either C&A (clothes) or V&D( household) cant remember which one but never forgot it, it scared the crap out of me when my father told me that if you got your head stuck it would be ripped off 😬
I have never seen that type of lift before! I did not know that the first paternoster lift was used in Liverpool!
Imma call it the “natural selector”
I saw one in an administration building in Hamburg in the 2010's. I went for the stairs.
That looks WAY too easy to cut yourself in half. Or lose a foot. You've got what, a 3 second window? What if someone is drunk?
Being drunk is dangerous. Everywhere. Just don't drink and drive or use a paternoster.
Friends don’t let friends use paternosters drunk. 😂
Don't drink and walk. You'll get your walking license taken away anyway.
when I was a kid, I took a tour of Quaker Oats factory. They had freight elevators(which the tour group took) and this other type for employees to hop on or off
I wonder how many still exist. I had never heard of paternoster lifts before
Only a couple sadly. :(
Nolanevator - As he says in the video, there’s quite a few scattered across Europe and the U.K.
Atheist Orphan Yeah I know that’s why I said only a couple
I don't recall hearing about more than one paternoster in Finland. But, there is that one, in eduskuntatalo, and I think it is still kept running.
In Czech Republic we have few running left, feel free to test them. :)
I have been on one last December in Prague. It was quite fun actually.
A fascinating technology none the less.
It's a great devise for amputations.
Paternoster:
Final Destination: Hi there!
final destination 6: AHHHHHHHHH IT WONT STOP HELP *gets Crushed*
Kids must have been super brave back then to play with this!!
Can't even imagine the terror one must feel trying to use one of these as an older person with limited mobility.
I used the paternosters in the IG Farben Building, also known as the Poelzig Building and Abrams Building in Frankfurt Germany for almost 6 years in the 80s and 90s, formerly informally called The Pentagon of Europe. There were 6 paternosters with 16 or 18 cars on everyone and 8 floors including the 1st basement. They were simple to use, noisy, and a little scary until you got used to them, and were a maintenance nightmare for the local nationals that had been servicing them since the 30s. While I was stationed at HQ V Corps and working in the basement a young female service member was killed because she freaked out and tried getting out at the wrong time.
The IG Farben building? Wasn't that the people who made Zyklon B?
Great new channel, looks like there'll be endless material here in the future. Never seen this lift/elevator before, fascinating.
Were you able to go around all the way at top and bottom?
Generally it's unsafe to go all the way over or under. It's possible to destabilize the thing because of the angles, or something to that effect. But there are plenty of 'up and over' videos out there which show what's up and down there - a big old slab of wall, usually.
I did it on my first ever trip in one: missed my exit on the ground floor and was taken down into total darkness where I then lost all sense of direction, due to the movement of the car at the bottom of the loop, until daylight reappeared at the top of the lift as it rose back to the ground floor. I didn’t miss my exit a second time - quite unnerving!
Yes
Philips Natlabs in Eindhoven used to have paternoster lifts. I had an opportunity use them on one of my visits. It was scary n fun at the same time.
For those who never used one, it was perfectly safe to go over the top or under the bottom - the actual ‘cage’ moved sideways and across and they had a light in the area for those frightened of the dark 😀
TBH, I'm not sure why that wouldn't be safe. They'd have to go out of their way to make it unsafe as the box itself has walls on 5 sides making it difficult for objects to penetrate the car. At least, not any more so than the other areas between floors.
RICHARD WILSON Thank you. I always wondered what happened but was too scared to try it!
Siemens has (or maybe had) one in Berlin that I rode in 2016. They are interesting with a ton of safety features but they are slow and yes you have to be careful getting on and off as the step is always changing.
Interesting. Watch the series "Babylon Berlin" to see the characters getting on and off these lifts.
I worked in a paper mill and they had "Man Lifts". Like a Paternoster, but just a belt with platforms and hand-holds. Not appropriate for the public, but convenient and fun!
I rode one as a student at the U. of Vienna in the 1970s. I just looked it up and as of 2015, still going. That surprised me. My first impression of it was that if you weren't careful, you could lose a limb or be decapitated. But you get used to it. It was more convenient not having to wait long, and open feeling compared to a regular elevator.
We have one where I work and I absolutly love it!
Very interesting. I only heard of these because I saw a documentary , think it was Stephen Fry demonstrating one still in use in Britain. Love these videos 👍
There was one in an office block in Portsmouth dockyard when I went for an interviw in 1973.
There's one in one of the Uni buildings in Sheffield.
Yes, the arts tower
@@andreasphotiou1886 Is that one still going?
@@paulmagpie7601 yep it is
Thank you. A very quirky topic.
With my poor balance I struggled with the paternoster lifts at Oriel Chambers in Liverpool and at the Science Block of Salford University in the early 1980s but there was a male wheelchair user at Salford who was able to use them without incident. He reversed in and went out forward.
The last paternoster I used in the UK was at the University of Sheffield but I have used them in Germany and the Czech Republic.
There is one in Sheffield in one of the University buildings
The Arts Tower, at any rate in the Sixties where I used it for 4 years (not continuously). 19 floors!
@@bobdoney2963 it was still there in 2012, at least.
I first saw one of these at the ICI computer building in Billingham (Cleveland, UK) in 1964.
Last time I went on one was in the far East, Hong Kong I think. You just need some commonsense and be nimble enough to get on/off as they move very slowly.
1 death a year: GOTTA SHUT IT DOWN
cars: 1.3 million people die a year. Yeah they're alright
have you ever beaten with a hair dryer ?? well you about to be if you trynna take away my miata
Loved messing around on the one in the Arts Tower at Sheffield Uni as a school kid
When the new Civic Centre in Southend-of-Sea opened, back in the early 60s, it had a paternoster lift for papers. If you wanted to send documents to another floor you pressed the button on the next available carrier to select the floor and put your papers on the carrier. When the carrier reached the selected floor it would tip up and the papers would be ejected into a receiving container.
Alejandra y Alan Bowman
They had something similar in Bart's Hospital, London, for medical records; Always jamming because people would put x-ray films in then, and these were too big/heavy for the system.
I've dreamt of a similar idea, a loop public transportation system that you don't need to wait for your bus, just get on the belt and get off whenever you want.
That looks like the sort of device that would eventually gain the nickname "The Decapitator".
When commonsense where still a thing.
The University of Salford (UK) had Paternoster lifts in the Chemistry Tower in the '70s. I believe they lasted up until the building was demolished in (I think) the '80s. They were very popular and no injuries occurred as far as I know. I seem to remember that if someone's body wasn't fully in the car an automatic sensor immediately halted the motion for maybe 5 seconds to give someone time to get their leg or whatever out of the way. Many people happily travelled "over the top" beyond the 12th floor through the winding compartment and back down the other side just for a laugh, and similarly at the bottom end under the basement. No real danger at all. Happy days! :)
I remember using one during an interview/open day at Salford Uni in 1983.
I recall once riding one at Birmingham polytechnic in the 80s
Yes, I was there in the early 70s and we had them then. Never thought they were dangerous at the time. Oh the ignorance of youth!
I like them and use them whenever possible (which is, unfortunately, hardly ever). They make you more aware of their moving parts than a regular lift - and they are more egalitarian as the CEO can't commandeer them for a private ride from the underground car park to his top floor office with his privilege key.
Hi, I enjoyed the presentation. Hope it's OK if I add another dimension to what you have here. My father was a millwright during the interwar years here in Southern Ontario, Canada. He told us of using a simpler version within the flour mills. It was simply a flat belt running between floors with small foot pads projecting from the belt. Someone wanting to change floors would simply step on one of the pads and grab onto the belt. In his version of the story the Paternoster title came from the fact everyone stepping on to the lift (lower) always gave a little prayer in hopes it would secure a safe trip. :-)
Thanks for sharing Ronald!
The live pictures of the Paternoster shown running in this video is located in the Central Administrative Office for Citizens in MÜNSTER/GERMANY, the city were the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648.
In my country they call that "Snipthose Naughtykids Fingers Lift".
One is in the building of the former STASI, in Berlin...
I remember travelling in one ,it was in St Thomas's hospital, very handy in case of accidents! I was about ten at the time went right round full circle ,fancy being more sensible 58 yrs ago than people today.
Thank you so much, Sir for this informative video. Regarding accidents and deaths, I guess it was in past (Like saying 30% risk than conventional) . What about now, still running Paternoster lift vs conventional one. If possible , plz make a video on "now" running ones.
This is an amusement ride, not a practicality elevator.
That's not true. They are practical, because they don't have time stopping or opening or closing doors, for journeys of just one or two floors they are faster than a normal lift. People didn't instal them in many buildings just for fun, but because they are practical.
The old Granada tv head office building in Bedford used to have them.
I love these and wish there were more of them. No annoying waiting until the lift reaches your floor, and no annoying ding dongs. But sadly people are too stupid...
There is also one remaining in Switzerland that was renewed in 2015, but now it only work at a 33% of its original speed for safety reasons...
We had one in the police headoffice in Rotterdam up till the 90s. As long as grease them well they are very low energy and practically without maintanance. Very funny to ride.
Well at a paper mill in Minnesota they basically have more dangerous versions of those lifts. They only have handles and tiny foot platforms no walls. Only made for 1 person a platform. Looks like a straight up and down conveyor belt with the foot platforms and handles. I never understood how OSHA didn’t shut it down
The London Eye is a round version. Only a lot slower and the cars moving more sideways at entry than up or down.
Not sure if it's still there, but I found one still in use at University Leicester about 6 years ago.
That's gone now, got stripped out last year IIRC
in times of paternoster we had trams in Prague that only slowed down at station and people hoped in/out... golden times of healthy people with exclusion of unhleathy ones... :D
Such "golden times" when we excluded disabled people... 😒
@@LittleCar sure, cause they are minority... in normal world its ok, world where majority is adapting to minority is now, evertybody knows its bad, cause requirements of minorities are neverending, but nobody tell it (Fear)
You can also see these in use in the movie Babylon Berlin. Great movie.
back in the 1970's I heard a story that these were popular with orthodox Jews as there was no button to press ( work) on the Sabbath.