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Climbing Stairs

 The stairs climb, not you.
 
(+1, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

You want to go to the third floor? Go to the stairwell and if the stairway is there ready to load passengers, it’ll be lying flat, flush with the floor. Stand on a marked step and grab the banister. Guardrails fold out at both ends, and hydraulic pistons smoothly raise one end of the stairway up to the second floor where it locks in place.

Your stair step swivels during the rotation, and the banister moves with you to give a secure ascension. The stairway’s other end then loosens from the first floor and also lifts up to the second floor. Two more people enter the now level stairway, and one leaves before the guardrails go up, and the stairway raises itself 45 degrees to the third floor.

You’re thoroughly enjoying the ride as the stairway silently angles its way up floor by floor, and you decide to take the climbing stairs to the top before returning to your destination. Harry Potter never had it so good.

—FarmerJohn, May 19 2004

illustrating three phases of stairway movement http://www.geocitie...limbingstairs.html?
stairsteps not drawn to scale, to improve visibility [FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

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       can we have barrels and apes?
—po, May 19 2004
   

       Is that a trick question?
—FarmerJohn, May 19 2004
   

       wow. hold on tight.
—neilp, May 19 2004
   

       + Genius! I love the fact that not only is it lazy, but it would take forever and be a pleasure to use - an idler's dream! Would look fantastic, seeing several of these moving up the side of a building.   

       Would you need something to indicate direction of travel, and which end will rise/fall? Flashing LED arrows, perhaps?
—Saveloy, May 19 2004
   

       <rubs eyes>this is all so moving<rubs eyes>
—skinflaps, May 19 2004
   

       Escalators do a similar job except i imagine its probably harder to get an occupied wheelchair or buggy up a flight of escalotors. Perhaps using the lift would be a fairer alternative
—abraxas, May 19 2004
   

       [DrCurry] That's why I mentioned it in the idea, but maybe you didn't read that far.   

       [Saveloy] Good, I missed that.   

       [abraxas] Hardly the halfbakery spirit.
—FarmerJohn, May 19 2004
   

       How does one get on and off of the stairway? Surely, you aren't going to say that I have to walk?!
—Gromit, May 19 2004
   

       nice illustrations farmer
—etherman, May 19 2004
   

       How can you tell if the stairs you stepped on are going up or down?
—k_sra, May 20 2004
   

       FJ: I only look at the pictures.
—DrCurry, May 20 2004
   

       what movie?
—po, May 20 2004
   

       Harry Potter, presumably.   

       But those staircases just seemed to swivel from side to side. And were moved by magic. [FJ]'s idea is substantially different, and details a workable mechanism to boot.
—lostdog, May 20 2004
   

       Woah thats sweet. +
—Letsbuildafort, May 20 2004
   

       Reminds me a bit of a huge, more elegant, gravity-defying slinky. +
—igirl, May 20 2004
   

       He did that one Monday.
—DrCurry, May 20 2004
   

       [k_sra] Saveloy had a good solution to that.   

       [po] I answered it with a question which you haven’t answered.   

       [PhDPeter] You disappoint me. I took up Potter in a futile attempt to beat a delete-marker to the punch and indicate that this is not magic but a workable scheme. It’s neither similar to nor inspired by the book/movie.
—FarmerJohn, May 20 2004
   

       You can't win around here, but I was only asking a question: if this wasn't inspired by the books/films, then it doesn't apply.   

       But I did think the Hogwarts stairs could wander vertically as well as laterally. I didn't read the books that closely, though (like your ideas, really), and I can't really bring myself to go back and check.
—DrCurry, May 20 2004
   

       //You can't win around here// My sentiments exactly. I could only find in the books that there were 142 staircases at Hogwarts, some of which led to other places on Fridays. My eleven-year-old assures me that the stairs in the movie only moved horizontally.
—FarmerJohn, May 21 2004
   

       sorry FJ. it reminds me of the old video game, was it called Kong?
—po, May 21 2004
   

       Gotcha, though I think Donkey Kong used ladders, ramps and vines.
—FarmerJohn, May 21 2004
   

       hydraulics that lift you one floor at a time.   

       sound familiar???(elevator)
—Arcanus, Nov 15 2008
   


 

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