Escalator

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For the album by Sam Gopal, see Escalator (album).

Escalators in a Copenhagen Metro station, Denmark, 2007

Play media
Escalator in action, 2011
Access escalators to Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
An escalator is a moving staircase a conveyor transport device for carrying people between
floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that
move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.
Escalators are used around the world to move pedestrian traffic in places where elevators would
be impractical. Principal areas of usage include department stores, shopping malls, airports,
transit systems, convention centers, hotels, arenas, stadiums and public buildings.
Escalators have the capacity to move large numbers of people, and they can be placed in the
same physical space as one might install a staircase. They have no waiting interval (except
during very heavy traffic), they can be used to guide people toward main exits or special
exhibits, and they may be weatherproofed for outdoor use. A non-functioning escalator can
function as a normal staircase, whereas many other conveyances become useless when they
break down.

2.1.2 Litigation

o 2.2 Legislation and escalators

2.2.1 United States

o 2.3 Codes and regulation

3 History

Design, components, and operation

Operation and layout
Escalators, like moving walkways, are often powered by constant-speed alternating current
motors[citation needed] and move at approximately 12 feet (0.30.6 m) per second. The typical angle
of inclination of an escalator to the horizontal floor level is 30 degrees with a standard
rise[clarification needed] up to about 60 feet (18 m). Modern escalators have single-piece aluminum or
stainless steel steps that move on a system of tracks in a continuous loop.

"Crisscross" layout

"Multiple parallel" layout

"Parallel" layout
Escalators have three typical configuration options: parallel (up and down escalators side by side
or separated by a distance, seen often in metro stations and multilevel motion picture theaters),
crisscross (minimizes space requirements by "stacking" escalators that go in one direction,
frequently used in department stores or shopping centers), and multiple parallel (two or more
escalators together that travel in one direction next to one or two escalators in the same bank that
travel in the other direction).[1]
As a safety measure, escalators are required to have moving handrails that keep pace with the
movement of the steps. This helps riders steady themselves, especially when stepping onto the
moving stairs. Occasionally, a handrail will move at a slightly different speed from the steps,
causing it to "creep" slowly forward or backward relative to the steps. The loss of
synchronization between handrail and step speed can result from slippage and wear.[2]
The direction of escalator movement (up or down) can be permanently set, or be controlled by
personnel according to the predominant flow of the crowd, or be controlled automatically. In
some setups, direction is controlled automatically by whoever arrives first, whether at the bottom
or at the top (the system is programmed so that the direction is not reversed while a passenger is
on the escalator).

Design and layout considerations

A number of factors affect escalator design, including physical requirements, location, traffic
patterns, safety considerations, and aesthetic preferences. Foremost, physical factors like the
vertical and horizontal distance to be spanned must be considered. These factors will determine
the length and pitch of the escalator. The building infrastructure must be able to support the
heavy components. The escalator should be located where it can be easily seen by the general
public. In department stores, customers should be able to view the merchandise easily.
Furthermore, up and down escalator traffic should be physically separated and should not lead
into confined spaces.
Traffic patterns must also be anticipated. In some buildings, the objective is simply to move
people from one floor to another, but in others there may be a more specific requirement, such as
funneling visitors towards a main exit or exhibit. The escalators must be designed to carry the
required number of passengers. For example, a single-width escalator traveling at about 1.5 feet
(0.5 m) per second can move about 2000 people per hour. The carrying capacity of an escalator

system must match the expected peak traffic demand, presuming that passengers ride single file.
This is crucial if there are sudden increases in the number of riders. For example, escalators at
stations must be designed to cater for the peak traffic flow discharged from a train, without
causing excessive bunching at the escalator entrance.
In this regard, escalators help in controlling the flow of people. For example, an escalator to an
exit effectively discourages most people from using it as an entrance[clarification needed], and may
reduce security concerns. Similarly, escalators often are used as the exit from airport security
checkpoints. Such an egress point would still generally be staffed to prevent its use as an
entrance during times of light pedestrian traffic.
It is preferred that staircases be located adjacent to the escalator if the escalator is the primary
means of transport between floors.[citation needed] It may also be necessary to provide an elevator lift
near the escalator for wheelchairs and disabled people. Finally, consideration should be given to
the aesthetics of the escalator.

Model sizes and other specifications

Escalator step widths and energy usage
Size

Width (between
balustrade
Single-step capacity
panels)

Applications

Power
consumption

A rare historic design found

One passenger, with
mostly in older department 3.7 kW (5 hp)
feet together
stores
Low-volume sites, uppermost
Small 600 mm (24 in) One passenger
levels of department stores, 3.7 kW (5 hp)
when space is limited
One passenger + one
Shopping malls, department
Medium 800 mm (31 in) package or one piece
7.5 kW (10 hp)
stores, smaller airports
of luggage
Two passengers
Mainstay of metro systems,
Large 1,000 mm (39 in) one may walk past larger airports, train stations, 7.5 kW (10 hp)
another
some retail usage
Very
400 mm (16 in)
small

Components
Landing platforms
These two platforms house the curved sections of the tracks, as well as the gears and
motors that drive the stairs. The top platform contains the motor assembly and the main
drive gear, while the bottom holds the step return idler sprockets. These sections also
anchor the ends of the escalator truss. In addition, the platforms contain a floor plate and
a comb plate. The floor plate provides a place for the passengers to stand before they step
onto the moving stairs. This plate is flush with the finished floor and is either hinged or
removable to allow easy access to the machinery below. The comb plate is the piece

between the stationary floor plate and the moving step. It is so named because its edge
has a series of cleats that resemble the teeth of a comb. These teeth mesh with matching
cleats on the edges of the steps. This design is necessary to minimize the gap between the
stair and the landing, which helps prevent objects from getting caught in the gap.
Truss
The truss is a hollow metal structure that bridges the lower and upper landings. It is
composed of two side sections joined together with cross braces across the bottom and
just below the top. The ends of the truss are attached to the top and bottom landing
platforms via steel or concrete supports. The truss carries all the straight track sections
connecting the upper and lower sections.
Tracks
The track system is built into the truss to guide the step chain, which continuously pulls
the steps from the bottom platform and back to the top in an endless loop. There are
actually two tracks: one for the front wheels of the steps (called the step-wheel track) and
one for the back wheels of the steps (called the trailer-wheel track). The relative positions
of these tracks cause the steps to form a staircase as they move out from under the
combplate. Along the straight section of the truss the tracks are at their maximum
distance apart. This configuration forces the back of one step to be at a 90-degree angle
relative to the step behind it. This right angle bends the steps into a shape resembling a
staircase. At the top and bottom of the escalator, the two tracks converge so that the front
and back wheels of the steps are almost in a straight line. This causes the stairs to lay in a
flat sheetlike arrangement, one after another, so they can easily travel around the bend in
the curved section of track. The tracks carry the steps down along the underside of the
truss until they reach the bottom landing, where they pass through another curved section
of track before exiting the bottom landing. At this point the tracks separate and the steps
once again assume a staircase configuration. This cycle is repeated continually as the
steps are pulled from bottom to top and back to the bottom again.
Steps
The steps themselves are solid, one piece, die-cast aluminum or steel. Yellow
demarcation lines may be added to clearly indicate their edges. In most escalator models
manufactured after 1950, both the riser and the tread of each step is cleated (given a
ribbed appearance) with comblike protrusions that mesh with the combplates on the top
and bottom platforms and the succeeding steps in the chain. Seeberger- or "step-type"
escalators (see below) featured flat treads and smooth risers; other escalator models have
cleated treads and smooth risers. The steps are linked by a continuous metal chain that
forms a closed loop. The front and back edges of the steps are each connected to two
wheels. The rear wheels are set further apart to fit into the back track and the front wheels
have shorter axles to fit into the narrower front track. As described above, the position of
the tracks controls the orientation of the steps.
Handrail
The handrail provides a convenient handhold for passengers while they are riding the
escalator. In an escalator, the handrail is pulled along its track by a chain that is connected
to the main drive gear by a series of pulleys. It is constructed of four distinct sections. At
the center of the handrail is a "slider", also known as a "glider ply", which is a layer of a
cotton or synthetic textile. The purpose of the slider layer is to allow the handrail to move
smoothly along its track. The next layer, known as the "tension member", consists of

either steel cable or flat steel tape, and provides the handrail with tensile strength and
flexibility. On top of tension member are the inner construction components, which are
made of chemically treated rubber designed to prevent the layers from separating. Finally,
the outer layerthe only part that passengers actually seeis the cover, which is a blend
of synthetic polymers and rubber. This cover is designed to resist degradation from
environmental conditions, mechanical wear and tear, and human vandalism.
In the factory, handrails are constructed by feeding rubber through a computer-controlled
extrusion machine to produce layers of the required size and type in order to match
specific orders. The component layers of fabric, rubber, and steel are shaped by skilled
workers before being fed into the presses, where they are fused together.
In the mid-twentieth century, some handrail designs consisted of a rubber bellows, with
rings of smooth metal cladding called "bracelets" placed between each coil. This gave the
handrail a rigid yet flexible feel. Additionally, each bellows section was no more than a
few feet long, so if part of the handrail was damaged, only the bad segment needed to be
replaced. These forms of handrail have largely been replaced with conventional fabricand-rubber railings.
Escalator components

An escalator being repaired at

Town Hall station in Sydney,
Australia

A "freestanding" escalator
reveals its inner components
through the transparent truss.

Escalator truss connects to the

Safety

Escalators have a grip at their side for passengers aboard to hold.

Safety is also major concern in escalator design. In India, where women wear saris, there are
heavy chances of getting the pallu entangled in the escalator.[3] As a result, a special sari guard is
built into most escalators.
There is a risk of foot injuries for children wearing footwear such as Crocs and flip-flops that
might get caught in escalator mechanisms.[4][5] This was due to the softness of the shoe's material
combined with the smaller size of children's feet.[6]
Fire protection of an escalator may be provided by adding automatic fire detection and
suppression systems inside the dust collection and engineer pit, in addition to any water sprinkler
system installed in the ceiling. To limit the danger caused by overheating, ventilation for the
spaces that contain the motors and gears must be provided, and small targeted clean agent
automatic extinguishing systems can be installed in these areas. Fire protection of an escalator
floor opening may be provided by adding automatic sprinklers or fireproof shutters to the
opening, or by installing the escalator in an enclosed fire-protected hall.

Accidents and litigation

Crisscross layout of escalator at Mahboonkrong Center, widely known as the MBK Center, in
Bangkok. Such layouts are used to minimize structural space requirements by "stacking"
escalators that go in one direction.

Lessons of the Kings Cross fire

Greenford station escalators (2006)

The King's Cross fire of 1987 illustrated the demanding nature of escalator upkeep and the
devices propensity to collect fluff when not properly maintained.[7]
In the official inquiry that followed, the Fennell Report, it was determined that the fire started
slowly, smoldered virtually undetected for a time, then exploded into the ticketing hall above in a
phenomenon known as the trench effect. In the escalators undercarriage, approximately 8,800
kilograms (19,400 lb) of accumulated detritus acted as a wick to a neglected buildup of interior
lubricants; wood veneers, paper and plastic advertisements, solvent-based paint, plywood in the
ticket hall, and melamine combustion added to the impact of the calamity.[8]
As a result of the report, older wooden escalators were removed from service in the London
Underground. Additionally, sections of the London Underground that were actually below
ground were made nonsmoking; eventually the whole system became a smoke-free zone.
Litigation
In the 1930s, at least one suit was filed against a department store, alleging that its escalators
posed an attractive nuisance, responsible for a childs injury.[9]

Legislation and escalators

United States
Despite their considerable scope, two Congressional Acts, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), did not directly affect escalators or their public
installations. Since Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act included public transportation systems,
for a few years, the United States Department of Transportation considered designs to retrofit
existing escalators for wheelchair access. Nonetheless, Foster-Miller Associates 1980 plan,
Escalator Modification for the Handicapped was ultimately ignored in favor of increased
elevator installations in subway systems. Likewise, the ADA provided more accessibility options,
but expressly excluded escalators as accessible means of egress, advocating neither their
removal nor retention in public structures.[10]

History
Inventors and manufacturers
Nathan Ames
Illustration from U.S. Patent #25,076: Revolving Stairs. Issued August 9, 1859 to Nathan Ames
Nathan Ames, a patent solicitor from Saugus, Massachusetts, is credited with patenting the first
"escalator" in 1859, despite the fact that no working model of his design was ever built. His
invention, the "revolving stairs", is largely speculative and the patent specifications indicate that
he had no preference for materials or potential use (he noted that steps could be upholstered or
made of wood, and suggested that the units might benefit the infirm within a household use),
though the mechanization was suggested to run either by manual or hydraulic power.[11]
Leamon Souder
In 1889, Leamon Souder successfully patented the "stairway", an escalator-type device that
featured a "series of steps and links jointed to each other". No model was ever built.[12] This was
the first of at least four escalator-style patents issued to Souder, including two for spiral designs
(U. S. Patent Nos. 723,325 and 792,623).
Jesse Wilford Reno, George A. Wheeler, and Charles Seeberger
On March 15, 1892, Jesse W. Reno patented the "Endless Conveyor or Elevator."[13] A few
months after Reno's patent was approved, George A. Wheeler patented his ideas for a more
recognizable moving staircase, though it was never built.[14] Wheelers patents were bought by
Charles Seeberger; some features of Wheelers designs were incorporated in Seebergers
prototype built by the Otis Elevator Company in 1899.
Reno, a graduate of Lehigh University, produced the first working escalator (he actually called it
the "inclined elevator") and installed it alongside the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island, New York
City in 1896.[15] This particular device was little more than an inclined belt with cast-iron slats or
cleats on the surface for traction, and traveled along a 25 incline. A few months later, the same
prototype was used for a month-long trial period on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Reno eventually joined forces with Otis, and retired once his patents were purchased outright.
Some Reno-type escalators were still being used in the Boston subway until construction for the
Big Dig precipitated their removal. The Smithsonian Institution considered re-assembling one of
these historic units from 1914 in their collection of Americana, but "logistics and reassembly
costs won out over nostalgia", and the project was discarded.[16]
Around May 1895, Charles Seeberger began drawings on a form of escalator similar to those
patented by Wheeler in 1892. This device actually consisted of flat, moving stairs, not unlike the
escalators of today, except for one important detail: the step surface was smooth, with no comb
effect to safely guide the rider's feet off at the ends. Instead, the passenger had to step off
sideways. To facilitate this, at the top or bottom of the escalator the steps continued moving

horizontally beyond the end of the handrail (like a miniature moving sidewalk) until they
disappeared under a triangular "divider" which guided the passenger to either side. Seeberger
teamed with Otis in 1899, and together they produced the first commercial escalator which won
the first prize at the Paris 1900 Exposition Universelle in France. Also on display at the
Exposition were Reno's inclined elevator, a similar model by James M. Dodge and the Link Belt
Machinery Co., and two different devices by French manufacturers Hall and Piat.
Early European manufacturers: Hall, Hocquardt, and Piat
Piat installed its "stepless" escalator in Harrods Knightsbridge store on Wednesday, November
16, 1898, though the company relinquished its patent rights to the department store. Noted by
Bill Lancaster in The Department Store: a Social History, "customers unnerved by the
experience were revived by shopmen dispensing free smelling salts and cognac."[17] The Harrods
unit was a continuous leather belt made of "224 pieces . . . strongly linked together traveling in
an upward direction," and was the first "moving staircase" in England.[18]
Hocquardt received European patent rights for the Fahrtreppe in 1906. After the Exposition,
Hall continued to sell its escalator device in Europe, but was eventually eclipsed in sales by
other major manufacturers.
Major competitors and product nomenclature
In the first half of the twentieth century, several manufacturers developed their own escalator
products, though they had to market their devices under different names, due to Otis hold on the
trademark rights to the word escalator. New York-based Peelle Company called their models
the Motorstair, and Westinghouse called their model an Electric Stairway. The Toledo-based
Haughton Elevator company referred to their product as simply Moving Stairs.
Manufacturing mergers and buyouts: the playing field narrows
Kone and Schindler introduced their first escalator models several decades after the Otis Elevator
Co., but grew to dominance in the field over time. Today, they, Mitsubishi, and ThyssenKrupp
are Otis' primary rivals.
Schindler now stands as the largest maker of escalators and second largest maker of elevators in
the world, though their first escalator installation did not occur until 1936.[19] In 1979, the
company entered the United States market by purchasing Haughton Elevator; nine years later,
Schindler assumed control of the North American escalator/elevator operations of Westinghouse.
Kone expanded internationally by acquisition in the 1970s, buying out Swedish elevator
manufacturer Asea-Graham, and purchasing other minor French, German, and Austrian elevator
makers before assuming control of Westinghouses European elevator business. As the last "big
four" manufacturers held on to the escalator market, KONE first acquired Montgomery Elevator
Company, then took control of Germanys Orenstein & Koppel Rolltreppen.

Model development and design types

Cleat-type escalators
Jesse Reno's escalators did not resemble modern escalators too closely. Passenger feet tilted
upward at an angle, and the treads consisted of cleated metal (initially) or wood (later models).
Reno worked on his own for several years, gaining success with installations from Toronto to
Cape Town, South Africa. Similar units of the day by other manufacturers resembled conveyor
belts more than moving staircases. For a time, Otis Elevator sold Reno's escalators as their own
cleat-type escalators.
Step-type escalators
Seeberger's model, bought by Otis, clearly became the first step-type escalator, named for its
visual likeness to a regular staircase. The company later combined the best aspects of both
inventions (guiding slats and flat steps) and in 1921 produced an escalator similar to the type
used today, calling it an L-type escalator. It was succeeded by the M-type, the O-type, and
current models by Otis such as the NCE-type escalator.
Spiral/helical escalators

A spiral escalator in Times Square, Hong Kong

Jesse Reno, in addition to being known for the first practical escalator in public use, also
designed the first escalators installed in any underground subway system in the form of a spiral
(actually a helical) escalator at Holloway Road tube station in London in 1906. The experimental
device never saw public use, and was forgotten for several decades. The remains of this are now
in the London Transport Museum's depot in Acton.[20]
Also the first fully operational spiral escalator, Renos design was nonetheless only one in a
series of several similar proposed contraptions. Souder patented two helical designs (see above),
Wheeler drafted helical stairway plans in 1905, Seeberger devised at least two different helical
units between 1906 and 1911 (including an unrealized arrangement for the London
Underground), and Gilbert Luna obtained West German, Japanese, and United States patents for
his version of a spiral escalator by 1973. When interviewed for the Los Angeles Times that year,
Luna was in the process of soliciting major firms for acquisition of his patents and company, but
statistics are unclear on the outcome of his endeavors in that regard.[21]

The Mitsubishi Electric Corporation was most successful in its development of spiral/helical
escalators, and has sold them exclusively since the mid-1980s. The world's first practical spiral
escalatora Mitsubishi modelwas installed in Osaka, Japan, in 1985.[22]
In use, a major planning advantage presented by spiral/helical escalators is that they take up
much less horizontal floor space than traditional units, which frequently house large machine
rooms underneath the truss.
Helixator, an experimental spiral/helical escalator design which currently exists as a prototype
scale model, could further reduce the floor space. The design has several innovations that offer
the possibility of a continuous helix. Driven by a linear motor instead of a chain system, the
Helixator spreads the force evenly along the escalator path, avoiding excessive force on the top
chain links and removing geometry, length and height limits.[23]
Freeform escalators
Levytator, a design originating at City University in London, can move in straight lines or curves
with or without rising or descending. The returning steps do not move uselessly underneath the
in-use steps: rather, they provide active steps for travel in the opposite direction.[24]

Etymology
Several authors and historians have contributed their own differing interpretations of the source
of the word escalator, and some degree of misinformation has heretofore proliferated on the
Internet. For reference, contradictory citations by seven separate individuals, including the Otis
Elevator Company itself, are provided below.[25]

Name development and original intentions

Charles Seeberger created the word "escalator" in 1900, to coincide with his devices debut at the
Exposition Universelle. According to his own account, in 1895, his legal counsel advised him to
name his new invention, and he then set out to devise a title for it on his own. As evidenced in
Seeberger's own handwritten documents, archived at the Otis Elevator Company headquarters in
Farmington, Connecticut, the inventor consulted "a Latin lexicon" and "adopted as the root of the
new word, 'Scala'; as a prefix, 'E' and as a suffix, 'Tor.'"[26] His own rough translation of the word
thus created was "means of traversing from", and he intended for the word to be pronounced,
"eskltr" (es-CAL-a-tor).[27]
"Escalator" was not a combination of other French or Greek words, and was never a derivative of
"elevator" in the original sense, which means "one who raises up, a deliverer" in Latin.[28]
Similarly, the root word "scala" does not mean "a flight of steps", but is defined by Lewis and
Shorts A Latin Dictionary as the singular form of the plural noun "scalae", which denotes any of
the following: "a flight of steps or stairs, a staircase; a ladder, [or] a scaling-ladder."[28]
The alleged intended capitalization of "escalator" is likewise a topic of debate. Seebergers
trademark application lists the word not only with the "E" but also with all of the letters

capitalized (in two different instances), and he specifies that, "any other form and character of
type may be employed . . . without altering in any essential manner the character of [the] trademark."[29] That his initial specifications are ostensibly inconsistent, and since Otis Elevator Co.
advertisements so frequently capitalized all of the letters in the word, suppositions about the
"capital e" are difficult to formulate.
Derivatives of 'escalator'
The verb "escalate" originated in 1922, and has two uses, the primary: "to climb or reach by
means of an escalator" or "to travel on an escalator", and the secondary: "to increase or develop
by successive stages; spec. to develop from 'conventional' warfare into nuclear warfare."[30] The
latter definition was first printed in the Manchester Guardian in 1959, but grew to prominent use
during the late 1960s and early 1970s.[31]

Loss of trademark rights

See also: Genericized trademark
In 1950, the landmark case Haughton Elevator Co. v. Seeberger precipitated the end of Otis's
reign over exclusive use of the word "escalator", and simultaneously created a cautionary study
for companies and individuals interested in trademark retention.[32] Confirming the contention of
the Examiner of Trademark Interferences, Assistant Commissioner of Patents Murphys decision
rejected the Otis Elevator Companys appeal to keep their trademark intact, and noted that "the
term 'escalator' is recognized by the general public as the name for a moving stairway and not the
source thereof", observing that the Otis Elevator Co. had "used the term as a generic descriptive
termin a number of patents which [had] been issued to them andin their advertising
matter."[33] All trademark protections were removed from the word "escalator", the term was
officially genericized, and it fell into the public domain.

Primary uses and application

Department stores/shopping
As noted above, a few escalator types were installed in major department stores (including
Harrods) before the Expo. Escalators proved instrumental in the layout and design of shopping
venues in the twentieth century.
By 1898, the first of Renos "inclined elevators" were incorporated into the Bloomingdale Bros.
store at Third Avenue and 59th Street. This was the first retail application of the devices in the
US, and no small coincidence, considering that Reno's primary financier was Lyman
Bloomingdale, co-owner of the department store with brother Joseph Bloomingdale.[34]

Public transportation

View from bottom of Porter Square escalator, 2010

The first "standard" escalator installed on the London Underground was a Seeberger model at
Earls Court. Noted above, London's Underground installed a rare spiral escalator designed by
Reno, William Henry Aston and Scott Kietzman for the Holloway Road Underground station in
1906; it was run for a short time but was taken out of service the same day it debuted.[35] The
older lines of the London Underground had many escalators with wooden treads (ca. 1930s) until
they were rapidly replaced following the King's Cross fire, noted above.

Other applications
Factories and other industrial production environments
In 1905, the American Woolen Companys Wood Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts (then "the
largest single worsted mill in the world") utilized Otis' Seeberger-type "reversible" escalators to
carry its workers between floors four times a day.[36] The machines did not run all day: rather,
escalators ran solely to transport employees to/from midday meals and in/out of the mill. In its
advertising, Otis Elevator Company hailed this unconventional use for its unique benefits to both
workers and owners: "The profitable and practicable feature of the Escalator, from the viewpoint
of the owner, is the increased efficiency of each operator due to the elimination of stair
climbing."[37]

Military use
In San Francisco, an escalator at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was used to convey personnel
between the first and third floors. At the time of its construction in 1948, it was touted thus: "[it
has the] highest lift of any industrial building in the world. It rises 42 feet (12.8 meters)."[38]
Escalators were also utilized on aircraft carriers such as the USS Hornet (CV-12), to transport
pilots from "ready rooms" to the flight deck.[39]

Extant historic escalator models

Macy's Herald Square store in New York City holds some well-known historic escalators. The
model shown here, retrofitted with metal steps in the 1990s, is among the oldest of the store's 40
escalators. Otis "L-type" escalators with distinctive wood treads (not shown) have operated in the
store since 1927.

Wooden treads on a 1930s Otis escalator at Wynyard railway station, Sydney, Australia
A few notable examples of historic escalators still in operation include:

Australia

Town Hall Railway Station, Sydney, Australia

Wynyard Railway Station, Sydney, Australia

Europe

St. Anna Pedestrian Tunnel underneath the Schelde in Antwerp, Belgium. This tunnel
was opened in 1933.

Tyne Cyclist and Pedestrian Tunnel, Tyne and Wear, England

These escalators, manufactured by Waygood Otis in 1951, were "believed to be the
longest single lift escalators in the world", at the time of installation. Presumably the first
escalators in Britain designed specifically for cyclists, they were also the longest in the

United Kingdom. At most, they may be the longest extant wooden escalators in the
world, though they are no longer in working order.[40]

Baumanskaya metro station in Moscow, Russia contains the oldest (1944) escalator of
tonnel type still in use, with length of 65 m (213 ft) and vertical rise of 32.5 m (107 ft).

North America

Macy's Herald Square department store, Otis L-type units with wood treads and
replacement metal treads, New York, New York (only in escalators heading upwards from
the first to the seventh stories)

Kaufmann's department store (now Macy's), two 16-inch (406 mm) Otis L-type units
with original floorplates, several 40-inch (1,016 mm) Otis escalators ca. 1950s,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Westfield San Francisco Centre (formerly The Emporium), chrome-and-glass escalator

by Eleanor LeMaire for Otis, San Francisco, California[dubious discuss]

The Land Pavilion-Epcot,Glass escalator by Otis. Has stairs next to them. Not single file
but is separated[dubious discuss]

Tokyo Sesame Place-Glass escalator with Big Bird's mouth as the entrance. First
escalator in a theme park[dubious discuss] (now closed)

Escalators: superlatives
Longest systems

Central-Mid-Levels escalator: in Hong Kong, tens of thousands of commuters travel each

work day between Central, the central business district, and the Mid-levels, a residential
district hundreds of feet uphill, using this long distance system of escalators and moving
walkways. It is the world's longest outdoor escalator system (not a single escalator span),
at a total length of 2,600 feet (790 m). It goes only one way at a time; the direction
reverses depending on rush hour traffic direction.

In December 2011, a network of six escalators of 1,260 feet (380 m) length, equivalent to
28 stories high, was opened in Medellin, Colombia, offering the 12,000 residents of
Comuna 13 a six-minute ride to the city center compared to their previous 35-minute
climb on foot.

Cascade, Yerevan: an escalator system of 774 ft (236 m) length and 387 ft (118 m)
height.

Ocean Park, Hong Kong: a long escalator system connecting two parts of the Park, with
an overall length of 730 feet (220 m).

Longest individual escalators

The longest escalators in the Western Hemisphere, at the Wheaton station, Washington DC Metro
World

The longest escalators in the world are installed in deep underground stations of the Saint
Petersburg Metro. Three stations have escalators up to 137 m (449 ft) long and 68.5 m
(225 ft) high: Ploshchad Lenina, Chernyshevskaya, and Admiralteyskaya.
o See also Kiev Metro in the Europe section.

The longest freestanding (supported only at the ends) escalator in the world is inside
CNN Centers atrium in Atlanta, Georgia. It rises 8 stories and is 205 feet (62 m) long.
Originally built as the entrance to the amusement park The World of Sid and Marty Krofft,
the escalator is now used for CNN studio tours.[41]

Asia

The longest escalator in Bangkok, Thailand and Southeast Asia is in Bangkok Metro's Si
Lom Station. It connects the concourse level with platform 1 which in turn connects to
Hua Lam Phong. It is 43 m (141 ft) in length and 21.5 m (71 ft) in depth.

The Rustaveli station in the Tbilisi Metro has one of the world's longest escalators. It is
60 meters high and 120 meters long.

Australia

The longest set of single-span uninterrupted escalators in the southern hemisphere is at

Parliament underground railway station in Melbourne.

Europe
Several metro or subway systems in Central and Eastern Europe feature very long escalators.

The Kiev Metro Kreschatik station's lower-level second exit escalator (a type -2, circa
1965), lifts riders 65.7 metres (216 ft), or 743 steps, up a 131.4-metre (431 ft) long
incline.[citation needed]

In the Park Pobedy station of the Moscow Metro, the escalators are 126.8 m (416 ft) or
740 steps long, and 63.4 m (208 ft) high. It takes three minutes to transit.

Three stations in Saint Petersburg Metro have escalators up to 138 m (453 ft) long and
69 m (226 ft) high: Ploshchad Lenina, Chernyshevskaya, and Admiralteyskaya.

The longest escalator in Prague, and in European Union, is at the Nmst Mru station at
285 feet (87 m) long and 142.5 feet (43.4 m) high.

The longest escalator of a European shopping mall is at MyZeil, Frankfurt, Germany,

with a length of 150 feet (46 m).

The tallest escalator on the London Underground system is at Angel station with a length
of 200 feet (61 m), and a vertical rise of 100 feet (30 m).

The longest wooden escalators in the United Kingdom are at the Tyne Tunnel, with a
length of 197 feet (60 m). (See above)

The longest escalators in Western Europe are in the Stockholm Metro, at Vstra skogen
with a length of 220 feet (67 m) and in Helsinki Metro, at Kamppi station with a length of
210 feet (64 m).

The largest "single truss escalator" is in the Bentall Centre in Kingston upon Thames in
Greater London, UK. It connects the ground floor with the second floor with only top and
bottom supports.

Elevator
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Elevators)
For other uses, see Elevator (disambiguation).
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help
improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced
material may be challenged and removed. (September 2013)

A set of elevators in the lower level of the Borough station on the London
Underground. The "up" and "down" arrows indicate each elevator's position and
direction of travel.

This elevator to the Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station in Berlin is built with glass walls,
exposing the inner workings.

Glass elevator traveling up the facade of Westport Plaza. The HVAC is on top of the
carriage because the elevator is completely outside.

Freight elevator at North Carolina State University. The doors open vertically.

An elevator (lift in British English) is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently
moves people or goods between floors (levels, decks) of a building, vessel, or other structure.
Elevators are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables or
counterweight systems like a hoist, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a
jack.
In agriculture and manufacturing, an elevator is any type of conveyor device used to lift
materials in a continuous stream into bins or silos. Several types exist, such as the chain and

bucket bucket elevator, grain auger screw conveyor using the principle of Archimedes' screw, or
the chain and paddles or forks of hay elevators.
Languages other than English may have loanwords based on either elevator (e.g., Japanese and
Korean) or lift (e.g., Cantonese, Russian and Thai).

Elevator lobby at the Forest Glen Washington Metro station in Silver Spring,
Maryland

Because of wheelchair access laws, elevators are often a legal requirement in new multistory
buildings, especially where wheelchair ramps would be impractical.
Contents

1 History
o

1.1 Pre-industrial era

1.2 Industrial era

2 Design
o

2.1 Elevator doors

2.2 Machine room-less (MRL) elevators

2.2.1 Detriments

2.2.2 Facts

2.3 Elevator traffic calculations

2.3.1 Round-trip time calculations

2.3.2 Simulation

2.3.3 Elevator traffic patterns

3 Types of hoist mechanisms

o

3.1 Traction elevators

3.2 Hydraulic elevators

3.3 Climbing elevator

4 Controlling elevators
o

4.1 General controls

4.2 External controls

4.3 Floor numbering

4.4 The elevator algorithm

4.5 Destination control system

5 Special operating modes

o

5.1 Anti-crime protection

5.2 Up peak

5.3 Down peak

5.4 Sabbath service

5.5 Independent service

5.6 Inspection service

5.7 Fire service

5.8 Medical emergency/code-blue service

5.9 Emergency power operation

5.9.1 Traction elevators

5.9.2 Hydraulic elevators

6 Elevator modernization

7 Elevator safety
o

7.1 Cable-borne elevators

7.2 Hydraulic elevators

7.3 Mine-shaft elevators

8 Uses of elevators
o

8.1 Passenger service

8.1.1 Types of passenger elevators

8.1.2 Capacity

8.2 Freight elevators

8.3 Sidewalk elevators

8.4 Stage lifts

8.5 Vehicle elevators

8.6 Boat lift

8.7 Aircraft elevators

8.7.1 Elevators for aircraft

8.7.2 Elevators within aircraft

8.8 Limited use & limited application

8.9 Residential elevator

8.10 Dumbwaiter

8.11 Paternoster

8.12 Scissor lift

8.13 Rack-and-pinion elevator

8.14 Material handling belts and belt elevators

9 Social impact

10 Elevator convenience features

o

10.1.1 Concept

10.1.2 Drawbacks

10.1.3 Energy

10.1.4 Condensation

10.2 Methods of removing condensed water

10.2.1 Atomizing

10.2.2 Boiling

10.2.3 Cascading

10.2.4 Drainage system

11 ISO 22559
o

10.1 Elevator air conditioning

11.1 U.S. and Canadian elevator standard specifics

12 Unique elevator installations

o

12.1 World statistics

12.2 Eiffel Tower

12.3 Taipei 101

12.4 The Gateway Arch

12.5 New City Hall, Hanover, Germany

12.6 Luxor incline elevator

12.7 Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

12.8 "Top of the Rock" elevators

12.9 The Haunted Mansion

12.10 Elevators for urban transport

13 See also

14 References

14.1 Notes

14.2 Bibliography

15 External links

History
Pre-industrial era

Elevator design by the German engineer Konrad Kyeser (1405)

The earliest known reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius,
who reported that Archimedes (c. 287 BC c. 212 BC) built his first elevator probably in 236
BC.[1] Some sources from later historical periods mention elevators as cabs on a hemp rope
powered by hand or by animals. It is supposed that elevators of this type were installed in the
Sinai monastery of Egypt.
In 1000, the Book of Secrets by al-Muradi in Islamic Spain described the use of an elevator-like
lifting device, in order to raise a large battering ram to destroy a fortress.[2] In the 17th century
the prototypes of elevators were located in the palace buildings of England and France. Louis
XV of France had a so-called 'flying chair' built for one of his mistresses at the Chateau de
Versailles in 1743.[3]
Ancient and medieval elevators used drive systems based on hoists or winders. The invention of
a system based on the screw drive was perhaps the most important step in elevator technology

since ancient times, leading to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first screw drive
elevator was built by Ivan Kulibin and installed in Winter Palace in 1793. Several years later
another of Kulibin's elevators was installed in Arkhangelskoye near Moscow.
Industrial era

The development of elevators was led by the need for movement of raw materials including coal
and lumber from hillsides. The technology developed by these industries and the introduction of
steel beam construction worked together to provide the passenger and freight elevators in use
today.
Starting in the coal mines, by the mid-19th century elevators were operated with steam power
and were used for moving goods in bulk in mines and factories. These steam driven devices were
soon being applied to a diverse set of purposes - in 1823, two architects working in London,
Burton and Hormer, built and operated a novel tourist attraction, which they called the
"ascending room". It elevated paying customers to a considerable height in the centre of London,
allowing them a magnificent panoramic view of the city centre.[4]
Early, crude steam-driven elevators were refined in the ensuing decade; - in 1835 an innovative
elevator called the "Teagle" was developed by the company Frost and Stutt in England. The
elevator was belt-driven and used a counterweight for extra power.[5]
The hydraulic crane was invented by Sir William Armstrong in 1846, primarily for use at the
Tyneside docks for loading cargo. These quickly supplanted the earlier steam driven elevators:
exploiting Pascal's law, they provided a much greater force. A water pump supplied a variable
level of water pressure to a plunger encased inside a vertical cylinder, allowing the level of the
platform (carrying a heavy load) to be raised and lowered. Counterweights and balances were
also used to increase the lifting power of the apparatus.
Henry Waterman of New York is credited with inventing the "standing rope control" for an
elevator in 1850.[6]
In 1845, the Neapolitan architect Gaetano Genovese realized in the Royal Palace of Caserta the
"Flying Chair", an elevator ahead of its time, covered with chestnut wood outside and with maple
wood inside, accompanied by a light, two benches and hand signal to the plan, and can be
activated from the outside, without any effort on the part of the occupants. The traction was
ensured by a motor mechanic with a complex of toothed wheels, and was equipped with a system
to prevent the consequences of the splitting of the strings: the jaggies in iron plates along the
walls between which is inserted a beam would be placed under railroad the cab and pushed
outwards by a spring system in steel.

Elisha Otis demonstrating his safety system, Crystal Palace, 1853

In 1852, Elisha Otis introduced the safety elevator, which prevented the fall of the cab if the
cable broke. The design of the Otis safety elevator is somewhat similar to one type still used
today. A governor device engages knurled roller(s), locking the elevator to its guides should the
elevator descend at excessive speed. He demonstrated it at the New York exposition in the
Crystal Palace in a dramatic, death-defying presentation in 1854,[6][7] and the first such passenger
elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in New York City on March 23, 1857.

Elisha Otis's elevator patent drawing, 15 January 1861

The first elevator shaft preceded the first elevator by four years. Construction for Peter Cooper's
Cooper Union Foundation building in New York began in 1853. An elevator shaft was included
in the design, because Cooper was confident that a safe passenger elevator would soon be
invented.[8] The shaft was cylindrical because Cooper thought it was the most efficient design.[9]
Later, Otis designed a special elevator for the building. Today the Otis Elevator Company, now a
subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical
transport systems.
The Equitable Life Building completed in 1870 in New York City was the first office building to
have passenger elevators.[10]

The first electric elevator was built by Werner von Siemens in 1880 in Germany.[11] The inventor
Anton Freissler developed the ideas of von Siemens and built up a successful enterprise in
Austria-Hungary. The safety and speed of electric elevators were significantly enhanced by
Frank Sprague who added floor control, automatic elevators, acceleration control of cars, and
safeties. His elevator ran faster and with larger loads than hydraulic or steam elevators, and 584
electric elevators were installed before Sprague sold his company to the Otis Elevator Company
in 1895. Sprague also developed the idea and technology for multiple elevators in a single shaft.
In 1882, when hydraulic power was a well established technology, a company later named the
London Hydraulic Power Company was formed. It constructed a network of high-pressure mains
on both sides of the Thames which, ultimately, extended to 184 miles and powered some 8,000
machines, predominantly elevators (lifts) and cranes.[12]
In 1874, J.W. Meaker patented a method which permitted elevator doors to open and close safely.
[13]
In 1887, American Inventor Alexander Miles of Duluth, Minnesota patented an elevator with
automatic doors that would close off the elevator shaft.
In 2000, the first vacuum elevator was offered commercially in Argentina [14]
Design

Some people argue that elevators began as simple rope or chain hoists (see Traction elevators
below). An elevator is essentially a platform that is either pulled or pushed up by a mechanical
means. A modern day elevator consists of a cab (also called a "cage" or "car") mounted on a
platform within an enclosed space called a shaft or sometimes a "hoistway". In the past, elevator
drive mechanisms were powered by steam and water hydraulic pistons or by hand. In a "traction"
elevator, cars are pulled up by means of rolling steel ropes over a deeply grooved pulley,
commonly called a sheave in the industry. The weight of the car is balanced by a counterweight.
Sometimes two elevators are built so that their cars always move synchronously in opposite
directions, and are each other's counterweight.
The friction between the ropes and the pulley furnishes the traction which gives this type of
elevator its name.
Hydraulic elevators use the principles of hydraulics (in the sense of hydraulic power) to
pressurize an above ground or in-ground piston to raise and lower the car (see Hydraulic
elevators below). Roped hydraulics use a combination of both ropes and hydraulic power to raise
and lower cars. Recent innovations include permanent magnet motors, machine room-less rail
mounted gearless machines, and microprocessor controls.
The technology used in new installations depends on a variety of factors. Hydraulic elevators are
cheaper, but installing cylinders greater than a certain length becomes impractical for very-high

lift hoistways. For buildings of much over seven storys, traction elevators must be employed
instead. Hydraulic elevators are usually slower than traction elevators.
Elevators are a candidate for mass customization. There are economies to be made from mass
production of the components, but each building comes with its own requirements like different
number of floors, dimensions of the well and usage patterns.
Elevator doors

Elevator doors protect riders from falling into the shaft. The most common configuration is to
have two panels that meet in the middle, and slide open laterally. In a cascading telescopic
configuration (potentially allowing wider entryways within limited space), the doors run on
independent tracks so that while open, they are tucked behind one another, and while closed, they
form cascading layers on one side. This can be configured so that two sets of such cascading
doors operate like the center opening doors described above, allowing for a very wide elevator
cab. In less expensive installations the elevator can also use one large "slab" door: a single panel
door the width of the doorway that opens to the left or right laterally. Some buildings have
elevators with the single door on the shaft way, and double cascading doors on the cab.
Machine room-less (MRL) elevators

Kone EcoDisc. The entire drive system is in the hoistway.

Machine room-less elevators are designed so that most of the components fit within the shaft
containing the elevator car; and a small cabinet houses the elevator controller. Other than the
machinery being in the hoistway, the equipment is similar to a normal traction elevator. The
benefits are:

creates more usable space

use less energy (70-80% less than hydraulic elevators)

uses no oil

all components are above ground similar to roped hydraulic type elevators
(this takes away the environmental concern that was created by the hydraulic
cylinder on direct hydraulic type elevators being stored underground)

slightly lower cost than other elevators

can operate at faster speeds than hydraulics but not normal traction units.

Detriments

Equipment can be harder to service and maintain.

No code has been approved for the installation of residential elevator

equipment.

Facts

Noise level is at 50-55 dBA (A-weighted decibels), which can be lower than
some but not all types of elevators.

Usually used for low-rise to mid-rise buildings

The motor mechanism is placed in the hoistway itself

The US was slow to accept the commercial MRL Elevator because of codes

National and local building codes did not address elevators without machine
rooms. Residential MRL Elevators are still not allowed by the ASME A17 code
in the US. MRL elevators have been recognized in the 2005 supplement to the
2004 A17.1 Elevator Code.

Elevator traffic calculations

Round-trip time calculations

The majority of elevator designs are developed from Up Peak Round Trip Time calculations as
described in the following publications:- CIBSE Guide D: Transportation Systems in Building[15]
Elevator Traffic Handbook, Theory and Practice. Gina Barney[16] The Vertical Transportation
Handbook. George Strakosch[17]
Traditionally, these calculations have formed the basis of establishing the Handling Capacity of
an elevator system.
Modern Installations with more complex elevator arrangements have led to the development of
more specific formula such as the General Analysis calculation.[18]

Subsequently this has been extended for Double Deck elevators.[19]

Simulation

Elevator traffic simulation software can be used to model complex traffic patterns and elevator
arrangements that cannot necessarily be analysed by RTT calculations.[20]
Elevator traffic patterns

There are four main types of elevator traffic patterns that can be observed in most modern office
installations. They are up peak traffic, down peak traffic, lunch time (two way) traffic and
interfloor traffic.
Types of hoist mechanisms

Elevators can be rope dependent or rope-free.[21] There are at least four means of moving an
elevator:
Traction elevators

Geared and gearless traction elevators

Geared traction machines are driven by AC or DC electric motors. Geared machines use worm
gears to control mechanical movement of elevator cars by "rolling" steel hoist ropes over a drive
sheave which is attached to a gearbox driven by a high-speed motor. These machines are
generally the best option for basement or overhead traction use for speeds up to 3 m/s
(500 ft/min).[22]
Historically, AC motors were used for single or double speed elevator machines on the grounds
of cost and lower usage applications where car speed and passenger comfort were less of an
issue, but for higher speed, larger capacity elevators, the need for infinitely variable speed
control over the traction machine becomes an issue. Therefore DC machines powered by an
AC/DC motor generator were the preferred solution. The MG set also typically powered the
relay controller of the elevator, which has the added advantage of electrically isolating the
elevators from the rest of a building's electrical system, thus eliminating the transient power
spikes in the building's electrical supply caused by the motors starting and stopping (causing
lighting to dim every time the elevators are used for example), as well as interference to other
electrical equipment caused by the arcing of the relay contactors in the control system.
The widespread availability of variable frequency AC drives has allowed AC motors to be used
universally, bringing with it the advantages of the older motor-generator, DC-based systems,
without the penalties in terms of efficiency and complexity. The older MG-based installations are
gradually being replaced in older buildings due to their poor energy efficiency.

Gearless traction machines are low-speed (low-RPM), high-torque electric motors powered
either by AC or DC. In this case, the drive sheave is directly attached to the end of the motor.
Gearless traction elevators can reach speeds of up to 10 m/s (2,000 ft/min), or even higher. A
brake is mounted between the motor and drive sheave (or gearbox) to hold the elevator stationary
at a floor. This brake is usually an external drum type and is actuated by spring force and held
open electrically; a power failure will cause the brake to engage and prevent the elevator from
falling (see inherent safety and safety engineering).
In each case, cables are attached to a hitch plate on top of the cab or may be "underslung" below
a cab, and then looped over the drive sheave to a counterweight attached to the opposite end of
the cables which reduces the amount of power needed to move the cab. The counterweight is
located in the hoist-way and rides a separate railway system; as the car goes up, the
counterweight goes down, and vice versa. This action is powered by the traction machine which
is directed by the controller, typically a relay logic or computerized device that directs starting,
acceleration, deceleration and stopping of the elevator cab. The weight of the counterweight is
typically equal to the weight of the elevator cab plus 40-50% of the capacity of the elevator. The
grooves in the drive sheave are specially designed to prevent the cables from slipping. "Traction"
is provided to the ropes by the grip of the grooves in the sheave, thereby the name. As the ropes
age and the traction grooves wear, some traction is lost and the ropes must be replaced and the
sheave repaired or replaced. Sheave and rope wear may be significantly reduced by ensuring that
all ropes have equal tension, thus sharing the load evenly. Rope tension equalization may be
achieved using a rope tension gauge, and is a simple way to extend the lifetime of the sheaves
and ropes.
Elevators with more than 30 m (98 ft) of travel have a system called compensation. This is a
separate set of cables or a chain attached to the bottom of the counterweight and the bottom of
the elevator cab. This makes it easier to control the elevator, as it compensates for the differing
weight of cable between the hoist and the cab. If the elevator cab is at the top of the hoist-way,
there is a short length of hoist cable above the car and a long length of compensating cable below
the car and vice versa for the counterweight. If the compensation system uses cables, there will
be an additional sheave in the pit below the elevator, to guide the cables. If the compensation
system uses chains, the chain is guided by a bar mounted between the counterweight railway
lines.
Hydraulic elevators

Conventional hydraulic elevators. They use an underground cylinder, are

quite common for low level buildings with 25 floors (sometimes but seldom
up to 68 floors), and have speeds of up to 1 m/s (200 ft/min).

Holeless hydraulic elevators were developed in the 1970s, and use a pair of
above ground cylinders, which makes it practical for environmentally or cost
sensitive buildings with 2, 3, or 4 floors.

Roped hydraulic elevators use both above ground cylinders and a rope
system, allowing the elevator to travel further than the piston has to move.

The low mechanical complexity of hydraulic elevators in comparison to traction elevators makes
them ideal for low rise, low traffic installations. They are less energy efficient as the pump works
against gravity to push the car and its passengers upwards; this energy is lost when the car
descends on its own weight. The high current draw of the pump when starting up also places
higher demands on a buildings electrical system. There are also environmental concerns should
the lifting cylinder leak fluid into the ground.[23]
The modern generation of low cost, machine room-less traction elevators made possible by
advances in miniaturization of the traction motor and control systems challenges the supremacy
of the hydraulic elevator in their traditional market niche.
Climbing elevator

A climbing elevator is a self-ascending elevator with its own propulsion. The propulsion can be
done by an electric or a combustion engine. Climbing elevators are used in guyed masts or
towers, in order to make easy access to parts of these constructions, such as flight safety lamps
for maintenance. An example would be the Moonlight towers in Austin, Texas, where the
elevator holds only one person and equipment for maintenance. The Glasgow Tower an
observation tower in Glasgow, Scotland also makes use of two climbing elevators.
Controlling elevators

Early elevators had no automatic landing positioning. Elevators were operated by elevator
operators using a motor controller. The controller was contained within a cylindrical container
about the size and shape of a cake container and this was operated via a projecting handle. This
allowed some control over the energy supplied to the motor (located at the top of the elevator
shaft or beside the bottom of the elevator shaft) and so enabled the elevator to be accurately
positioned if the operator was sufficiently skilled. More typically the operator would have to
"jog" the control to get the elevator reasonably close to the landing point and then direct the
outgoing and incoming passengers to "watch the step". Some older freight elevators are
controlled by switches operated by pulling on adjacent ropes. Safety interlocks ensure that the
inner and outer doors are closed before the elevator is allowed to move. Most older manually
controlled elevators have been retrofitted with automatic or semi-automatic controls.
Automatic elevators began to appear as early as the 1930s, their development being hastened by
striking elevator operators which brought large cities dependent on skyscrapers (and therefore

their elevators) such as New York and Chicago to their knees. These electromechanical systems
used relay logic circuits of increasing complexity to control the speed, position and door
operation of an elevator or bank of elevators. The Otis Autotronic system of the early 1950s
brought the earliest predictive systems which could anticipate traffic patterns within a building to
deploy elevator movement in the most efficient manner. Relay-controlled elevator systems
remained common until the 1980s, and their gradual replacement with solid-state
microprocessor-based controls which are now the industry standard.

Typical freight elevator control station

Typical passenger elevator control station

Using the emergency call button in an elevator. There is Braille text for visually
impaired people and the button glows to alert a hearing impaired person that the
bell is ringing and the call is being placed.
General controls

A typical modern passenger elevator will have:

Space to stand in, guardrails, seating cushion (luxury)

Overload sensor prevents the elevator from moving until excess load has
been removed. It may trigger a voice prompt or buzzer alarm. This may also
trigger a "full car" indicator, indicating the car's inability to accept more
passengers until some are unloaded.

Electric fans or air conditioning units to enhance circulation and comfort.

A control panel with various buttons. In the United States and other countries,
button text and icons are raised to allow blind users to operate the elevator;
many have Braille text besides. Buttons include:
o

Call buttons to choose a floor. Some of these may be key switches (to
control access). In some elevators, certain floors are inaccessible
unless one swipes a security card or enters a passcode (or both).

Door open and Door close buttons.

The operation of the door open button is transparent, immediately opening

and holding the door, typically until a timeout occurs and the door closes. The
operation of the door close button is less transparent, and it often appears to
do nothing, leading to frequent but incorrect [24] reports that the door close
button is a placebo button: either not wired up at all, or inactive in normal
service.[25][26][27][28] Working door open and door close buttons are required by
code in many jurisdictions, including the United States, specifically for
emergency operation: in independent mode, the door open and door close
buttons are used to manually open or close the door. [24][29] Beyond this,
programming varies significantly, with some door close buttons immediately

closing the door, but in other cases being delayed by an overall timeout, so
the door cannot be closed until a few seconds after opening. In this case
(hastening normal closure), the door close button has no effect. However, the
door close button will cause a hall call to be ignored (so the door won't
reopen), and once the timeout has expired, the door close will immediately
close the door, for example to cancel a door open push. The minimum
timeout for automatic door closing in the US is 5 seconds, [30] which is a
noticeable delay if not overridden.
o

An alarm button or switch, which passengers can use to warn the

premises manager that they have been trapped in the elevator.

A set of doors kept locked on each floor to prevent unintentional access into
the elevator shaft by the unsuspecting individual. The door is unlocked and
opened by a machine sitting on the roof of the car, which also drives the
doors that travel with the car. Door controls are provided to close
immediately or reopen the doors, although the button to close them
immediately is often disabled during normal operations, especially on more
recent elevators. Objects in the path of the moving doors will either be
detected by sensors or physically activate a switch that reopens the doors.
Otherwise, the doors will close after a preset time. Some elevators are
configured to remain open at the floor until they are required to move again.

Elevators in high traffic buildings often have a "nudge" function (the Otis
Autotronic system first introduced this feature) which will close the doors at a
reduced speed, and sound a buzzer if the "door open" button is being
deliberately held down, or if the door sensors have been blocked for too long
a time.

A stop switch (not allowed under British regulations) to halt the elevator while
in motion and often used to hold an elevator open while freight is loaded.
Keeping an elevator stopped for too long may set off an alarm. Unless local
codes require otherwise, this will most likely be a key switch.

Some elevators may have one or more of the following:

An elevator telephone, which can be used (in addition to the alarm) by a

trapped passenger to call for help. This may consist of a transceiver, or
simply a button.

Hold button: This button delays the door closing timer, useful for loading
freight and hospital beds.

Call cancellation: A destination floor may be deselected by double clicking.

Access restriction by key switches, RFID reader, code keypad, hotel room
card, etc.

One or more additional sets of doors. This is primarily used to serve different
floor plans: on each floor only one set of doors opens. For example, in an
elevated crosswalk setup, the front doors may open on the street level, and
the rear doors open on the crosswalk level. This is also common in garages,
rail stations, and airports. Alternatively, both doors may open on a given
floor. This is sometimes timed so that one side opens first for getting off, and
then the other side opens for getting on, to improve boarding/exiting speed.
This is particularly useful when passengers have luggage or carts, as at an
airport, due to reduced maneuverability.

Dual Door open and Door close buttons, in an elevator with two sets of
doors.
In case of dual doors, there may be two sets of Door open and Door
close buttons, with one pair controlling the front doors, from the
perspective of the console, typically denoted >< and <>, with the
other pair controlling the rear doors, typically denoted with a line in the
middle, <|> and >|<. This second set is required in the US if both
doors can be opened at the same landing, so that the doors can both
be controlled in independent service.[24][31]

Security camera

Plain walls or mirrored walls.

Glass windowpane providing a view of the building interior or onto the

streets.

An audible signal button, labeled "S": in the US, for elevators installed
between 1991 and 2012 (initial passage of ADA and coming into force of
2010 revision), a button which if pushed, sounds an audible signal as each
floor is passed, to assist visually impaired passengers. No longer used on new
elevators, where the sound is obligatory. [32]

Other controls, which are generally inaccessible to the public (either because they are key
switches, or because they are kept behind a locked panel), include:

Fireman's service, phase II key switch

Switch to enable or disable the elevator.

An inspector's switch, which places the elevator in inspection mode (this may
be situated on top of the elevator)

Manual up/down controls for elevator technicians, to be used in inspection

mode, for example.

An independent service/exclusive mode (also known as "Car Preference"),

which will prevent the car from answering to hall calls and only arrive at
floors selected via the panel. The door should stay open while parked on a
floor. This mode may be used for temporarily transporting goods.

Attendant service mode.

Manual pushbutton elevator controls

Otis 1920s controller, operational in NYC apartment building

Large buildings with multiple elevators of this type also had an elevator
dispatcher stationed in the lobby to direct passengers and to signal the
operator to leave with the use of a mechanical "cricket" noisemaker.

External controls

An external control panel

Elevators are typically controlled from the outside by a call box, which has up and down buttons,
at each stop. When pressed at a certain floor, the button calls the elevator to pick up more

passengers. If the particular elevator is currently serving traffic in a certain direction, it will only
answer calls in the same direction unless there are no more calls beyond that floor.
In a group of two or more elevators, the call buttons may be linked to a central dispatch
computer, such that they illuminate and cancel together. This is done to ensure that only one car
is called at one time.
Key switches may be installed on the ground floor so that the elevator can be remotely switched
on or off from the outside.
In destination control systems, one selects the intended destination floor (in lieu of pressing "up"
or "down") and is then notified which elevator will serve their request.
Floor numbering

Elevator buttons showing the missing 13th floor

Further information: Floor numbering
The elevator algorithm

The elevator algorithm, a simple algorithm by which a single elevator can decide where to stop,
is summarized as follows:

Continue traveling in the same direction while there are remaining requests
in that same direction.

If there are no further requests in that direction, then stop and become idle,
or change direction if there are requests in the opposite direction.

The elevator algorithm has found an application in computer operating systems as an algorithm
for scheduling hard disk requests. Modern elevators use more complex heuristic algorithms to
decide which request to service next. An introduction to these algorithms can be found in the
"Elevator traffic handbook: theory and practice" given in the references below.

Destination control system

Some skyscraper buildings and other types of installation feature a destination operating panel
where a passenger registers their floor calls before entering the car. The system lets them know
which car to wait for, instead of everyone boarding the next car. In this way, travel time is
reduced as the elevator makes fewer stops for individual passengers, and the computer distributes
adjacent stops to different cars in the bank. Although travel time is reduced, passenger waiting
times may be longer as they will not necessarily be allocated the next car to depart. During the
down peak period the benefit of destination control will be limited as passengers have a common
destination.
It can also improve accessibility, as a mobility-impaired passenger can move to his or her
designated car in advance.
Inside the elevator there is no call button to push, or the buttons are there but they cannot be
pushed except door opening and alarm button they only indicate stopping floors.
The idea of destination control was originally conceived by Leo Port from Sydney in 1961,[33] but
at that time elevator controllers were implemented in relays and were unable to optimise the
performance of destination control allocations.
The system was first pioneered by Schindler Elevator in 1992 as the Miconic 10. Manufacturers
of such systems claim that average traveling time can be reduced by up to 30%.[34]
However, performance enhancements cannot be generalized as the benefits and limitations of the
system are dependent on many factors.[35] One problem is that the system is subject to gaming.
Sometimes, one person enters the destination for a large group of people going to the same floor.
The dispatching algorithm is usually unable to completely cater for the variation, and latecomers
may find the elevator they are assigned to is already full. Also, occasionally, one person may
press the floor multiple times. This is common with up/down buttons when people believe this to
be an effective way to hurry elevators. However, this will make the computer think multiple
people are waiting and will allocate empty cars to serve this one person.
To prevent this problem, in one implementation of destination control, every user gets an RFID
card to identify himself, so the system knows every user call and can cancel the first call if the
passenger decides to travel to another destination to prevent empty calls. The newest invention
knows even where people are located and how many on which floor because of their
identification, either for the purposes of evacuating the building or for security reasons.[36]
The same destination scheduling concept can also be applied to public transit such as in group
rapid transit.

A destination dispatch control station, outside of the car, on which the user presses
a button to indicate the desired destination floor, and the panel indicates which car
will be dispatched
Special operating modes
Anti-crime protection

The anti-crime protection (ACP) feature will force each car to stop at a pre-defined landing and
open its doors. This allows a security guard or a receptionist at the landing to visually inspect the
passengers. The car stops at this landing as it passes to serve further demand.
Up peak

During up-peak mode (also called moderate incoming traffic), elevator cars in a group are
recalled to the lobby to provide expeditious service to passengers arriving at the building, most
typically in the morning as people arrive for work or at the conclusion of a lunch-time period.
Elevators are dispatched one-by-one when they reach a pre-determined passenger load, or when
they have had their doors opened for a certain period of time. The next elevator to be dispatched
usually has its hall lantern or a "this car leaving next" sign illuminated to encourage passengers
to make maximum use of the available elevator system capacity.
The commencement of up-peak may be triggered by a time clock, by the departure of a certain
number of fully loaded cars leaving the lobby within a given time period, or by a switch
manually operated by a building attendant.
Down peak

During down-peak mode, elevator cars in a group are sent away from the lobby towards the
highest floor served, after which they commence running down the floors in response to hall
calls placed by passengers wishing to leave the building. This allows the elevator system to
provide maximum passenger handling capacity for people leaving the building.
The commencement of down-peak may be triggered by a time clock, by the arrival of a certain
number of fully loaded cars at the lobby within a given time period, or by a switch manually
operated by a building attendant.
Sabbath service

A switch to turn Sabbath elevator mode on or off

In areas with large populations of observant Jews or in facilities catering to Jews, one may find a
"Sabbath elevator". In this mode, an elevator will stop automatically at every floor, allowing
people to step on and off without having to press any buttons. This prevents violation of the
Sabbath prohibition against operating electrical devices when Sabbath is in effect for those who
observe this ritual.[37]
However, Sabbath mode has the side effect of using considerable amounts of energy, running the
elevator car sequentially up and down every floor of a building, repeatedly servicing floors
where it is not needed. For a tall building with many floors, the car must move on a frequent
enough basis so as to not cause undue delay for potential users that will not touch the controls as
it opens the doors on every floor up the building.
Some taller buildings may have the Sabbath elevator alternate floors in order to save time and
energy; for example, an elevator may stop at only even-numbered floors on the way up, and then
the odd-numbered floors on the way down.
Independent service

Independent service is a special service mode found on most elevators. It is activated by a key
switch either inside the elevator itself or on a centralized control panel in the lobby. When an
elevator is placed on independent service, it will no longer respond to hall calls. (In a bank of
elevators, traffic is rerouted to the other elevators, while in a single elevator, the hall buttons are
disabled). The elevator will remain parked on a floor with its doors open until a floor is selected
and the door close button is held until the elevator starts to travel. Independent service is useful
when transporting large goods or moving groups of people between certain floors.
Inspection service

Inspection service is designed to provide access to the hoistway and car top for inspection and
maintenance purposes by qualified elevator mechanics. It is first activated by a key switch on the
car operating panel usually labeled 'Inspection', 'Car Top', 'Access Enable' or 'HWENAB'. When
this switch is activated the elevator will come to a stop if moving, car calls will be canceled (and
the buttons disabled), and hall calls will be assigned to other elevator cars in the group (or
canceled in a single elevator configuration). The elevator can now only be moved by the
corresponding 'Access' key switches, usually located at the highest (to access the top of the car)
and lowest (to access the elevator pit) landings. The access key switches will allow the car to
move at reduced inspection speed with the hoistway door open. This speed can range from
anywhere up to 60% of normal operating speed on most controllers, and is usually defined by
local safety codes.
Elevators have a car top inspection station that allows the car to be operated by a mechanic in
order to move it through the hoistway. Generally, there are three buttons: UP, RUN, and DOWN.
Both the RUN and a direction button must be held to move the car in that direction, and the
elevator will stop moving as soon as the buttons are released. Most other elevators have an
up/down toggle switch and a RUN button. The inspection panel also has standard power outlets
for work lamps and powered tools.
Fire service

Depending on the location of the elevator, fire service code will vary state to state and country to
country. Fire service is usually split up into two modes: phase one and phase two. These are
separate modes that the elevator can go into.
Phase one mode is activated by a corresponding smoke sensor or heat sensor in the building.
Once an alarm has been activated, the elevator will automatically go into phase one. The elevator
will wait an amount of time, then proceed to go into nudging mode to tell everyone the elevator
is leaving the floor. Once the elevator has left the floor, depending on where the alarm was set
off, the elevator will go to the fire-recall floor. However, if the alarm was activated on the firerecall floor, the elevator will have an alternate floor to recall to. When the elevator is recalled, it
proceeds to the recall floor and stops with its doors open. The elevator will no longer respond to

calls or move in any direction. Located on the fire-recall floor is a fire-service key switch. The
fire-service key switch has the ability to turn fire service off, turn fire service on or to bypass fire
service. The only way to return the elevator to normal service is to switch it to bypass after the
alarms have reset.

KONE Ecodisc elevator in fireman's mode

Phase-two mode can only be activated by a key switch located inside the elevator on the
centralized control panel. This mode was created for firefighters so that they may rescue people
from a burning building. The phase-two key switch located on the COP has three positions: off,
on, and hold. By turning phase two on, the firefighter enables the car to move. However, like
independent-service mode, the car will not respond to a car call unless the firefighter manually
pushes and holds the door close button. Once the elevator gets to the desired floor it will not
open its doors unless the firefighter holds the door open button. This is in case the floor is
burning and the firefighter can feel the heat and knows not to open the door. The firefighter must
hold door open until the door is completely opened. If for any reason the firefighter wishes to
leave the elevator, they will use the hold position on the key switch to make sure the elevator
remains at that floor. If the firefighter wishes to return to the recall floor, they simply turn the key
off and close the doors.
Medical emergency/code-blue service

Commonly found in hospitals, code-blue service allows an elevator to be summoned to any floor
for use in an emergency situation. Each floor will have a code-blue recall key switch, and when
activated, the elevator system will immediately select the elevator car that can respond the
fastest, regardless of direction of travel and passenger load. Passengers inside the elevator will be
notified with an alarm and indicator light to exit the elevator when the doors open.
Once the elevator arrives at the floor, it will park with its doors open and the car buttons will be
disabled to prevent a passenger from taking control of the elevator. Medical personnel must then
activate the code-blue key switch inside the car, select their floor and close the doors with the
door close button. The elevator will then travel non-stop to the selected floor, and will remain in
code-blue service until switched off in the car. Some hospital elevators will feature a 'hold'

position on the code-blue key switch (similar to fire service) which allows the elevator to remain
at a floor locked out of service until code blue is deactivated.
Emergency power operation

Many elevator installations now feature emergency power systems which allow elevator use in
blackout situations and prevent people from becoming trapped in elevators.
Traction elevators

When power is lost in a traction elevator system, all elevators will initially come to a halt. One
by one, each car in the group will return to the lobby floor, open its doors and shut down. People
in the remaining elevators may see an indicator light or hear a voice announcement informing
them that the elevator will return to the lobby shortly. Once all cars have successfully returned,
the system will then automatically select one or more cars to be used for normal operations and
these cars will return to service. The car(s) selected to run under emergency power can be
manually overridden by a key or strip switch in the lobby. In order to help prevent entrapment,
when the system detects that it is running low on power, it will bring the running cars to the
lobby or nearest floor, open the doors and shut down.
Hydraulic elevators

In hydraulic elevator systems, emergency power will lower the elevators to the lowest landing
and open the doors to allow passengers to exit. The doors then close after an adjustable time
period and the car remains unusable until reset, usually by cycling the elevator main power
switch. Typically, due to the high current draw when starting the pump motor, hydraulic elevators
are not run using standard emergency power systems. Buildings like hospitals and nursing homes
usually size their emergency generators to accommodate this draw. However, the increasing use
of current-limiting motor starters, commonly known as "soft-start" contactors, avoid much of this
problem, and the current draw of the pump motor is less of a limiting concern.
Elevator modernization

Most elevators are built to provide about 20 years of service, as long as service intervals
specified and periodic maintenance/inspections by the manufacturer are followed. As the elevator
ages and equipment become increasingly difficult to find or replace, along with code changes
and deteriorating ride performance, a complete overhaul of the elevator may be suggested to the
building owners.
A typical modernization consists of controller equipment, electrical wiring and buttons, position
indicators and direction arrows, hoist machines and motors (including door operators), and
sometimes door hanger tracks. Rarely are car slings, rails, or other heavy structures changed. The

cost of an elevator modernization can range greatly depending on which type of equipment is to
be installed.
Modernization can greatly improve operational reliability by replacing mechanical relays and
contacts with solid-state electronics. Ride quality can be improved by replacing motor-generatorbased drive designs with Variable-Voltage, Variable Frequency (V3F) drives, providing nearseamless acceleration and deceleration. Passenger safety is also improved by updating systems
and equipment to conform to current codes.
Elevator safety
Cable-borne elevators

Statistically speaking, cable-borne elevators are extremely safe. Their safety record is
unsurpassed by any other vehicle system. In 1998, it was estimated that approximately eight
millionths of one percent (1 in 12 million) of elevator rides result in an anomaly, and the vast
majority of these were minor things such as the doors failing to open. Of the 20 to 30 elevatorrelated deaths each year, most of them are maintenance-related for example, technicians
leaning too far into the shaft or getting caught between moving parts,[38] and most of the rest are
attributed to other kinds of accidents, such as people stepping blindly through doors that open
into empty shafts or being strangled by scarves caught in the doors.[38] In fact, prior to the
September 11th terrorist attacks, the only known free-fall incident in a modern cable-borne
elevator happened in 1945 when a B-25 bomber struck the Empire State Building in fog,
severing the cables of an elevator cab, which fell from the 75th floor all the way to the bottom of
the building, seriously injuring (though not killing) the sole occupant the elevator operator.[39]
However, there was an incident in 2007 at a Seattle children's hospital, where a ThyssenKrupp
ISIS machine-room-less elevator free-fell until the safety brakes were engaged.[40] This was due
to a flaw in the design where the cables were connected at one common point, and the kevlar
ropes had a tendency to overheat and cause slipping (or, in this case, a free-fall). While it is
possible (though extraordinarily unlikely) for an elevator's cable to snap, all elevators in the
modern era have been fitted with several safety devices which prevent the elevator from simply
free-falling and crashing. An elevator cab is typically borne by six or eight hoist cables, each of
which is capable on its own of supporting the full load of the elevator plus twenty-five percent
more weight. In addition, there is a device which detects whether the elevator is descending
faster than its maximum designed speed; if this happens, the device causes copper brake shoes to
clamp down along the vertical rails in the shaft, stopping the elevator quickly, but not so abruptly
as to cause injury. This device is called the governor, and was invented by Elisha Graves Otis.[39]
In addition, a hydraulic buffer is installed at the bottom of the shaft to somewhat cushion any
impact.[38] However, In Thailand, in November 2012, a woman was killed in free falling elevator,
in what was reported as the "first legally recognised death caused by a falling lift".[41]
Hydraulic elevators

Past problems with hydraulic elevators include underground electrolytic destruction of the
cylinder and bulkhead, pipe failures, and control failures. Single bulkhead cylinders, typically
built prior to a 1972 ASME A17.1 Elevator Safety Code change requiring a second dished
bulkhead, were subject to possible catastrophic failure. The code previously permitted only
single-bottom hydraulic cylinders. In the event of a cylinder breach, the fluid loss results in
uncontrolled down movement of the elevator. This creates two significant hazards, being subject
to an impact at the bottom when the elevator stops suddenly and being in the entrance with a
potential shear if the rider is partly in the elevator. Because it is impossible to verify the system
at all times, the code requires periodic testing of the pressure capability. In the event of Another
solution to protect against a cylinder blowout is to install a plunger gripping device, one
commercially available is known by the marketing name "LifeJacket". This is a device which, in
the event of an uncontrolled down speed, nondestructively grips the plunger and stops the car. A
device known as an overspeed or rupture valve is attached to the hydraulic inlet/outlet of the
cylinder and is adjusted for a maximum flow rate. If a pipe or hose were to break (rupture), the
flow rate of the rupture valve will surpass a set limit and mechanically stop the outlet flow of
hydraulic fluid, thus stopping the plunger and the car in the down direction.
In addition to the safety concerns for older hydraulic elevators, there is risk of leaking hydraulic
oil into the aquifer and causing potential environmental contamination. This has led to the
introduction of PVC liners (casings) around hydraulic cylinders which can be monitored for
integrity.
In the past decade, recent innovations in inverted hydraulic jacks have eliminated the costly
process of drilling the ground to install a borehole jack. This also eliminates the threat of
corrosion to the system and increases safety.
Mine-shaft elevators

Safety testing of mine shaft elevator rails is routinely undertaken. The method involves
destructive testing of a segment of the cable. The ends of the segment are frayed, then set in
conical zinc molds. Each end of the segment is then secured in a large, hydraulic stretching
machine. The segment is then placed under increasing load to the point of failure. Data about
elasticity, load, and other factors is compiled and a report is produced. The report is then
analyzed to determine whether or not the entire rail is safe to use.
Uses of elevators

An elevator in a residential building in Singapore

Passenger service

A passenger elevator is designed to move people between a building's floors.

Passenger elevators capacity is related to the available floor space. Generally passenger elevators
are available in capacities from 5002,700 kg (1,0006,000 lb) in 230 kg (500 lb) increments.
[citation needed]
Generally passenger elevators in buildings of eight floors or fewer are hydraulic or
electric, which can reach speeds up to 1 m/s (200 ft/min) hydraulic and up to 152 m/min
(500 ft/min) electric. In buildings up to ten floors, electric and gearless elevators are likely to
have speeds up to 3 m/s (500 ft/min), and above ten floors speeds range 310 m/s (500
2,000 ft/min).[citation needed]
Sometimes passenger elevators are used as a city transport along with funiculars. For example,
there is a 3-station underground public elevator in Yalta, Ukraine, which takes passengers from
the top of a hill above the Black Sea on which hotels are perched, to a tunnel located on the
beach below. At Casco Viejo station in the Bilbao Metro, the elevator that provides access to the
station from a hilltop neighborhood doubles as city transportation: the station's ticket barriers are
set up in such a way that passengers can pay to reach the elevator from the entrance in the lower
city, or vice versa. See also the Elevators for urban transport section.
Types of passenger elevators

The former World Trade Center's twin towers used skylobbies, located on the 44th
and 78th floors of each tower

Passenger elevators may be specialized for the service they perform, including: hospital
emergency (code blue), front and rear entrances, a television in high-rise buildings, doubledecker, and other uses. Cars may be ornate in their interior appearance, may have audio visual
advertising, and may be provided with specialized recorded voice announcements. Elevators may
also have loudspeakers in them to play calm, easy listening music. Such music is often referred
to as elevator music.
An express elevator does not serve all floors. For example, it moves between the ground floor
and a skylobby, or it moves from the ground floor or a skylobby to a range of floors, skipping
floors in between. These are especially popular in eastern Asia.
Capacity

Residential elevators may be small enough to only accommodate one person while some are
large enough for more than a dozen. Wheelchair, or platform elevators, a specialized type of
elevator designed to move a wheelchair 3.7 m (12 ft) or less, can often accommodate just one
person in a wheelchair at a time with a load of 340 kg (750 lb).[42]
Freight elevators

A specialized elevator from 1905 for lifting narrow gauge railroad cars between a
railroad freight house and the Chicago Tunnel Company tracks below

The interior of a freight elevator. It is very basic yet rugged for freight loading.

A freight elevator, or goods lift, is an elevator designed to carry goods, rather than passengers.
Freight elevators are generally required to display a written notice in the car that the use by
passengers is prohibited (though not necessarily illegal), though certain freight elevators allow
dual use through the use of an inconspicuous riser. In order for an elevator to be legal to carry
passengers in some jurisdictions it must have a solid inner door. Freight elevators are typically
larger and capable of carrying heavier loads than a passenger elevator, generally from 2,300 to
4,500 kg. Freight elevators may have manually operated doors, and often have rugged interior
finishes to prevent damage while loading and unloading. Although hydraulic freight elevators
exist, electric elevators are more energy efficient for the work of freight lifting.[citation needed]
Sidewalk elevators

A sidewalk elevator is a special type of freight elevator. Sidewalk elevators are used to move
materials between a basement and a ground-level area, often the sidewalk just outside the
building. They are controlled via an exterior switch and emerge from a metal trap door at ground
level. Sidewalk elevator cars feature a uniquely shaped top that allows this door to open and
close automatically.[43]
Stage lifts

Stage lifts and orchestra lifts are specialized elevators, typically powered by hydraulics, that are
used to raise and lower entire sections of a theater stage. For example, Radio City Music Hall has
four such elevators: an orchestra lift that covers a large area of the stage, and three smaller lifts
near the rear of the stage. In this case, the orchestra lift is powerful enough to raise an entire
orchestra, or an entire cast of performers (including live elephants) up to stage level from below.

The pit beneath the orchestra lift at Radio City Music Hall

Orchestra lift at Radio City Music Hall as viewed from beneath the stage
Vehicle elevators

Vehicular elevators are used within buildings or areas with limited space (in lieu of ramps),
typically to move cars into the parking garage or manufacturer's storage. Geared hydraulic chains
(not unlike bicycle chains) generate lift for the platform and there are no counterweights. To
accommodate building designs and improve accessibility, the platform may rotate so that the
driver only has to drive forward. Most vehicle elevators have a weight capacity of 2 tons.
Rare examples of extra-heavy elevators for 20-ton lorries, and even for railcars (like one that was
used at Dnipro Station of the Kiev Metro) also occur.
Boat lift
Main article: Boat lift

In some smaller canals, boats and small ships can pass between different levels of a canal with a
boat elevator rather than through a canal lock.
Aircraft elevators

An F/A-18C on an aircraft elevator of the USS Kitty Hawk

Elevators for aircraft

On aircraft carriers, elevators carry aircraft between the flight deck and the hangar deck for
operations or repairs. These elevators are designed for much greater capacity than other
elevators, up to 91,000 kg (200,000 lb) of aircraft and equipment. Smaller elevators lift
munitions to the flight deck from magazines deep inside the ship.
Elevators within aircraft

On some passenger double-deck aircraft such as the Boeing 747 or other widebody aircraft,
elevators transport flight attendants and food and beverage trolleys from lower deck galleys to
upper passenger carrying decks.
Limited use & limited application

The limited-use, limited-application (LU/LA) elevator is a special purpose passenger elevator

used infrequently, and which is exempt from many commercial regulations and accommodations.
For example, a LU/LA is primarily meant to be handicapped accessible, and there might only be
room for a single wheelchair and a standing passenger.
Residential elevator

A residential elevator with integrated hoistway construction and machine-room-less

design

A residential elevator is often permitted to be of lower cost and complexity than full commercial
elevators. They may have unique design characteristics suited for home furnishings, such as
hinged wooden shaft-access doors rather than the typical metal sliding doors of commercial
elevators. Construction may be less robust than in commercial designs with shorter maintenance
periods, but safety systems such as locks on shaft access doors, fall arrestors, and emergency
phones must still be present in the event of malfunction.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has a specific section of Safety Code
(ASME A17.1 Section 5.3) which addresses Residential Elevators. This section allows for
different parameters to alleviate design complexity based on the limited use of a residential
elevator by a specific user or user group. Section 5.3 of the ASME A17.1 Safety Code is for
Private Residence Elevators, which does not include multi-family dwellings.[44]
Some types of residential elevators do not use a traditional elevator shaft, machine room, and
elevator hoistway. This allows an elevator to be installed where a traditional elevator may not fit,
and simplifies installation. The ASME board first approved machine-room-less systems in a
revision of the ASME A17.1 in 2007. Machine-room-less elevators have been available
commercially since the mid 1990s, however cost and overall size prevented their adoption to the
residential elevator market until around 2010.[45]
Dumbwaiter

Main article: Dumbwaiter (elevator)

Dumbwaiters are small freight elevators that are intended to carry food rather than passengers.
They often link kitchens with rooms on other floors.
Paternoster

A paternoster in Berlin, Germany

Main article: Paternoster

A special type of elevator is the paternoster, a constantly moving chain of boxes. A similar
concept, called the manlift or humanlift, moves only a small platform, which the rider mounts
while using a handhold seen in multi-story industrial plants.
Scissor lift

A mobile scissor lift, extended to near its highest position

The scissor lift is yet another type of lift. These are usually mobile work platforms that can be
easily moved to where they are needed, but can also be installed where space for counterweights, machine room and so forth is limited. The mechanism that makes them go up and down
is like that of a scissor jack.
Rack-and-pinion elevator

Rack-and-pinion elevator are powered by a motor driving a pinion gear. Because they can be
installed on a building or structure's exterior and there is no machine room or hoistway required,
they are the most used type of elevator for buildings under construction (to move materials and
tools up and down).[46]
Material handling belts and belt elevators

Material transport elevators generally consist of an inclined plane on which a conveyor belt runs.
The conveyor often includes partitions to ensure that the material moves forward. These
elevators are often used in industrial and agricultural applications. When such mechanisms (or
spiral screws or pneumatic transport) are used to elevate grain for storage in large vertical silos,

the entire structure is called a grain elevator. Belt elevators are often used in docks for loading
loose materials such as coal, iron ore and grain into the holds of bulk carriers
There have occasionally been belt lifts for humans; these typically have steps about every 2 m
(6 ft 6.7 in) along the length of the belt, which moves vertically, so that the passenger can stand
on one step and hold on to the one above. These belts are sometimes used, for example, to carry
the employees of parking garages, but are considered too dangerous for public use.
Social impact

Before the widespread use of elevators, most residential buildings were limited to about seven
stories. The wealthy lived on lower floors, while poorer residentsrequired to climb many flights
of stairslived on higher floors. The elevator reversed this social stratification, exemplified by
the modern penthouse suite.[47]
Early users of elevators sometimes reported nausea caused by abrupt stops while descending, and
some users would use stairs to go down. In 1894, a Chicago physician documented "elevator
sickness".[47]
Elevators necessitated new social protocols. When Nicholas II of Russia visited the Hotel Adlon
in Berlin, his courtiers panicked about who would enter the elevator first, and who would press
the buttons. In Lifted: A Cultural History of the Elevator, author Andreas Bernard documents
other social impacts caused by the modern elevator, including thriller movies about stuck
elevators, casual encounters and sexual tension on elevators, the reduction of personal space, and
concerns about personal hygiene.[48]
Elevator convenience features

LCD elevator floor indicator

A typical elevator indicator located in the Waldorf Astoria New York. This elevator
was made by Otis.

Elevators may feature talking devices as an accessibility aid for the blind. In addition to floor
arrival notifications, the computer announces the direction of travel, and notifies the passengers
before the doors are to close.
In addition to the call buttons, elevators usually have floor indicators (often illuminated by LED)
and direction lanterns. The former are almost universal in cab interiors with more than two stops
and may be found outside the elevators as well on one or more of the floors. Floor indicators can
consist of a dial with a rotating needle, but the most common types are those with successively
illuminated floor indications or LCDs. Likewise, a change of floors or an arrival at a floor is
indicated by a sound, depending on the elevator.
Direction lanterns are also found both inside and outside elevator cars, but they should always be
visible from outside because their primary purpose is to help people decide whether or not to get
on the elevator. If somebody waiting for the elevator wants to go up, but a car comes first that
indicates that it is going down, then the person may decide not to get on the elevator. If the
person waits, then one will still stop going up. Direction indicators are sometimes etched with
arrows or shaped like arrows and/or use the convention that one that lights up red means "down"
and green means "up". Since the color convention is often undermined or overridden by systems
that do not invoke it, it is usually used only in conjunction with other differentiating factors. An
example of a place whose elevators use only the color convention to differentiate between
directions is the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, where a single circle can be made to
light up green for "up" and red for "down". Sometimes directions must be inferred by the
position of the indicators relative to one another.
In addition to lanterns, most elevators have a chime to indicate if the elevator is going up or
down either before or after the doors open, usually in conjunction with the lanterns lighting up.
Universally, one chime is for up, two is for down, and none indicates an elevator that is 'free'.
[citation needed]

Elevator with a virtual window affording a view of the City of London

Observatory service elevators often convey other facts of interest, including elevator speed,
stopwatch, and current position (altitude), as with the case for Taipei 101's service elevators.
There are several technologies aimed to provide better experience to passengers suffering from
claustrophobia, anthropophobia or social anxiety. Israeli startup DigiGage uses motion sensors to
scroll the pre-rendered images, building and floor-specific content on a screen embedded into the
wall as the cab moves up and down.[49] British company LiftEye provides a virtual window
technology to turn common elevator into panoramic. It creates 3d video panorama using live
feed from cameras placed vertically along the facade and synchronizes it with cab movement.
The video is projected on a wall-sized screens making it look like the walls are made of glass.[50]
Elevator air conditioning

Elevator airflow diagram

Concept

Elevator air conditioning is fast becoming a popular concept around the world. The primary
reason for installing an elevator air conditioner is the comfort that it provides while traveling in
the elevator. It stabilizes the condition of the air inside the elevator car. Some elevator air

conditioners can be used in countries with cold climates if a thermostat is used to reverse the
refrigeration cycle to warm the elevator car.
Drawbacks

Heat generated from the cooling process is dissipated into the hoistway. The elevator cab (or car)
is ordinarily not air-tight, and some of this heat may reenter the car and reduce the overall
cooling effect.
Energy

The air from the lobby constantly leaks into the elevator shaft due to elevator movements as well
as elevator shaft ventilation requirements. Using this conditioned air in the elevator does not
increase energy costs. However, by using an independent elevator air conditioner to achieve
better temperature control inside the car, more energy will be used.
Condensation

Air conditioning poses a problem to elevators because of the condensation that occurs. The
condensed water produced has to be disposed of; otherwise, it would create flooding in the
elevator car and hoistway.
Methods of removing condensed water

There are at least four ways to remove condensed water from the air conditioner. However, each
solution has its pros and cons.
Atomizing

Atomizing, also known as misting the condensed water, is another way to dispose of the
condensed water. Spraying ultra-fine water droplets onto the hot coils of the air conditioner
ensures that the condensed water evaporates quickly.
Though this is one of the best methods to dispose of the condensed water, it is also one of the
costliest because the nozzle that atomizes the water easily gets choked. The majority of the cost
goes to maintaining the entire atomizing system.
Boiling

Disposing of condensed water works by firstly collecting the condensed water and then heating it
to above boiling point. The condensed water is eventually evaporated, thereby disposing of it.
Consumers are reluctant to employ this system because of the high rate of energy used just to
dispose of this water.

Cascading

The cascading method works by flowing the condensed water directly onto the hot coils of the
air conditioner. This eventually evaporates the condensed water.
The downside of this technology is that the coils have to be at extremely high temperature for the
condensed water to be evaporated. There is a chance that the water might not evaporate entirely
and that would cause water to overflow onto the exterior of the car.
Drainage system

Drainage system works by creating a sump to collect the condensed water and using a pump to
dispose of it through a drainage system.
It is an efficient method, but it comes at a heavy price because the cost of building the sump.
Moreover, maintaining the pump to make sure it operates is very expensive. Furthermore, the
pipes used for drainage would look ugly on the exterior. This system also cannot be implemented
on a built project.
ISO 22559

a symbol for elevator

The mechanical and electrical design of elevators is dictated according to various standards (aka
elevator codes), which may be international, national, state, regional or city based. Whereas once
many standards were prescriptive, specifying exact criteria which must be complied with, there
has recently been a shift towards more performance-based standards where the onus falls on the
designer to ensure that the elevator meets or exceeds the standard.

National elevator standards:

Australia AS1735

Canada CAN/CSA B44

Europe EN 81 series (EN 81-1, EN 81-2, EN 81-28, EN 81-70, EN 12015, EN

12016, EN 13015, etc.)

USA ASME A17

converged in ISO 22559 series, "Safety requirements for lifts (elevators)":[51][52]

Part 1: Global essential safety requirements (GESRs).

Part 2: Safety parameters meeting the global essential safety requirements

(GESRs).

Part 3: Global conformity assessment procedures (GCAP) -- Prerequisites for

certification of conformity of lift systems, lift components and lift functions

Part 4: Global conformity assessment procedures (GCAP) -- Certification and

accreditation requirements

ISO/TC 178 is the Technical Committee on Lifts, escalators and moving walks.[53][54]
Because an elevator is part of a building, it must also comply with building code standards
relating to earthquake resilience, fire standards, electrical wiring rules and so forth.
The American National Elevator Standards Group (ANESG) sets an elevator weight standard to
be 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).
Additional requirements relating to access by disabled persons, may be mandated by laws or
regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Elevators marked with a Star of Life are
big enough for a stretcher.[55]
U.S. and Canadian elevator standard specifics

A typical elevator style found in many modern residential and small commercial
buildings

In most US and Canadian jurisdictions, passenger elevators are required to conform to the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Standard A17.1, Safety Code for Elevators and
Escalators. As of 2006, all states except Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, and South Dakota
have adopted some version of ASME codes, though not necessarily the most recent.[56] In Canada
the document is the CAN/CSA B44 Safety Standard, which was harmonized with the US version
in the 2000 edition.[citation needed] In addition, passenger elevators may be required to conform to the
requirements of A17.3 for existing elevators where referenced by the local jurisdiction.
Passenger elevators are tested using the ASME A17.2 Standard. The frequency of these tests is
mandated by the local jurisdiction, which may be a town, city, state or provincial standard.
Passenger elevators must also conform to many ancillary building codes including the Local or
State building code, National Fire Protection Association standards for Electrical, Fire Sprinklers
and Fire Alarms, Plumbing codes, and HVAC codes. Also, passenger elevators are required to
conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act and other State and Federal civil rights
legislation regarding accessibility.

Residential elevators are required to conform to ASME A17.1. Platform and Wheelchair lifts are
required to comply with ASME A18.1 in most US jurisdictions.
Most elevators have a location in which the permit for the building owner to operate the elevator
is displayed. While some jurisdictions require the permit to be displayed in the elevator cab,
other jurisdictions allow for the operating permit to be kept on file elsewhere such as the
maintenance office and to be made available for inspection on demand. In such cases instead of
the permit being displayed in the elevator cab, often a notice is posted in its place informing
riders of where the actual permits are kept.
Unique elevator installations
World statistics
Country
Italy

United State
China
Russia
Spain

As of January 2008, Italy is the nation with the most elevators installed in the world, with
850,000 elevators installed[58] that run more than one hundred million lifts every day, followed by
United States with 700,000 elevators installed and China with 610,000 elevators installed since
1949.[59] In Brazil, it is estimated that there are approximately 300,000 elevators currently in
operation.[60][61] The world's largest market for elevators is Italy, with more than 1,629 million
euros of sales and 1,224 million euros of internal market.
In Spain, the elevators in maintenance, invoice 4.mil mill a year and 250 mill in repairs,
followed by 300 mill in export-2012. The existing building market in Spain is 25 mill, with
Law 8/2013, of 26 June, rehabilitation, regeneration and renovation of existing buildings, this
law is anticipated that boost the installation of 700,000 new elevators in buildings existing
without elevator in the next few years.[citation needed]
Eiffel Tower
Main article: Eiffel Tower Passenger lifts

An elevator pulley in the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower has Otis double-deck elevators built into the legs of the tower, serving the
ground level to the first and second levels. Even though the shaft runs diagonally upwards with
the contour of the tower, both the upper and lower cars remain horizontally level. The offset
distance of the two cars changes throughout the journey.
There are four elevator cars of the traditional design that run from the second level to the third
level. The cars are connected to their opposite pairs (opposite in the elevator landing/hall) and
use each other as the counterweight. As one car ascends from level 2, the other descends from
level 3. The operations of these elevators are synchronized by a light signal in the car.
Taipei 101

The observation deck elevator floor indicator in the Taipei 101

Double deck elevators are used in the Taipei 101 office tower. Tenants of even-numbered floors
first take an escalator (or an elevator from the parking garage) to the 2nd level, where they will
enter the upper deck and arrive at their floors. The lower deck is turned off during low-volume

hours, and the upper deck can act as a single-level elevator stopping at all adjacent floors. For
example, the 85th floor restaurants can be accessed from the 60th floor sky-lobby. Restaurant
customers must clear their reservations at the reception counter on the 2nd floor. A bank of
express elevators stop only on the sky lobby levels (36 and 60, upper-deck car), where tenants
can transfer to "local" elevators.
The high-speed observation deck elevators accelerate to a world-record certified speed of 1,010
metres per minute (61 km/h) in 16 seconds, and then it slows down for arrival with subtle air
pressure sensations. The door opens after 37 seconds from the 5th floor. Special features include
aerodynamic car and counterweights, and cabin pressure control to help passengers adapt
smoothly to pressure changes. The downwards journey is completed at a reduced speed of 600
meters per minute, with the doors opening at the 52nd second.
The Gateway Arch

The interior of one of the Gateway Arch tramway cars

Main article: Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, has a unique elevator system which
carries passengers from the visitors' center underneath the Arch to the observation deck at the top
of the structure.
Called a tram or tramway, people enter this unique tramway much as one would enter an
ordinary elevator, through double doors. Passing through the doors the passengers in small
groups enter a horizontal cylindrical compartment containing seats on each side and a flat floor.

A number of these compartments are linked to form a train. These compartments each
individually retain an appropriate level orientation by tilting while the entire train follows curved
tracks up one leg of the arch.
There are two tramways within the Arch, one at the north end, and the other at the south end. The
entry doors have windows, so people traveling within the Arch are able to see the interior
structure of the Arch during the ride to and from the observation deck. At the beginning of the
trip the cars hang from the drive cables, but as the angle of the shaft changes, they end up beside
and then on top of the cables.

View up the shaft of the elevator at the New City Hall, Hannover, Germany
New City Hall, Hanover, Germany

Elevator in the new city hall, Hannover, Germany, showing the cabin at the bottom
and the top

The elevator in the New City Hall in Hanover, Germany, is a technical rarity, and unique in
Europe, as the elevator starts straight up but then changes its angle by 15 degrees to follow the
contour of the dome of the hall. The cabin therefore tilts 15 degrees during the ride. The elevator
travels a height of 43 meters. The new city hall was built in 1913. The elevator was destroyed in
1943 and rebuilt in 1954.
Luxor incline elevator

The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, has inclined elevators. The shape of this
casino is a pyramid. Therefore, the elevator travels up the side of the pyramid at a 39-degree
angle. Other locations with inclined elevators include the Cityplace Station in Dallas, Texas, the
Huntington Metro Station in Huntington, Virginia, and the San Diego Convention Center in San
Diego, California.
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Main article: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is the common name for a series of elevator attractions at the
Disney's Hollywood Studios park in Orlando, the Disney California Adventure Park park in
Anaheim, the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris and the Tokyo DisneySea park in Tokyo. The
central element of this attraction is a simulated free-fall achieved through the use of a high-speed
elevator system. For safety reasons, passengers are seated and secured in their seats rather than
standing. Unlike most traction elevators, the elevator car and counterweight are joined using a
rail system in a continuous loop running through both the top and the bottom of the drop shaft.
This allows the drive motor to pull down on the elevator car from underneath, resulting in
downward acceleration greater than that of normal gravity. The high-speed drive motor is used to
rapidly lift the elevator as well.
The passenger cabs are mechanically separated from the lift mechanism, thus allowing the
elevator shafts to be used continuously while passengers board and embark from the cabs, as
well as move through show scenes on various floors. The passenger cabs, which are automated
guided vehicle or AGVs, move into the vertical motion shaft and lock themselves in before the
elevator starts moving vertically. Multiple elevator shafts are used to further improve passenger
throughput. The doorways of the top few "floors" of the attraction are open to the outdoor
environment, thus allowing passengers to look out from the top of the structure.