For viewing and riding, this exterior or atrium elevator would swiftly and safely raise and lower passengers in twin glass cabins. The giant seesaw would utilize the mechanics of the lever, but instead of changing or moving the loads, the length of the lever arms would change by moving the fulcrum underneath. For a ten story elevator, start with a five story column, topped with a platform. On the platform are two rollers and on them a third roller and on it the beam holding the cabins. This construction allows the fulcrum roller trio to move back and forth, while the lever beam is not moved sideways but only rotates.
With a loaded cabin at street level, the fulcrum trio rolls in that direction shortening its lever arm, and as its weight (force) decreases, it is raised to the correct floor. To lower a load, the fulcrum trio rolls away, lengthening that lever arm to increase its weight.
The fulcrum movement would be quite sensitive to allow soft starts and stops, to “hover” at intermediate floors and to hold steady during loading and unloading. Also the rollers would be geared to eliminate slippage.-- FarmerJohn, Aug 13 2002 Teetertotter http://www.dictiona...arch?q=teetertotterregional names for seesaw [FarmerJohn, Aug 13 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004] But Bliss, this one has no cables to snap, so chances of plummeting helplessly to the ground floor are greatly reduced.
Sounds safe enough to me, although it would require a LOT of room to lift to different heights, the elevator "shaft" would have to be twice as wide as the height of the highest floor. Also, the lift end would travel in an arc, so the doors would be in different positions on every floor. Chaos ensues.. I love it!-- Mr Burns, Aug 13 2002 I would expect that this, like a draw bridge or ferris wheel, would be fascinating to watch and therefore visible from one side.-- FarmerJohn, Aug 13 2002 How long would the teeter have to be to reach 10 stories high? How do you keep the teeter from falling off the fulcrum when it's vertical?-- phoenix, Aug 13 2002 " I got in this lift ten years ago and it hasn't stopped at my floor yet. Is the war over?"-- po, Aug 13 2002 phoenix: Since the fulcrum is at the fifth floor, the teeter would tilt at most 45 degrees and is geared to the roller fulcrum. The teeter "half" from the fulcrum to the ground (or tenth floor) would build a hypotenuse and therefore be about 30m (calculating approx. 4.2m/floor).
po: Is this a well-known quote or are you enjoying the ride?-- FarmerJohn, Aug 13 2002 enjoying the ride? yes as always; but every time it gets near my floor somebody gets on at the floor below/above and we go up/down again. motion sickness tablet, anyone?-- po, Aug 13 2002 Sounds like bad childhood memories from the playground.-- FarmerJohn, Aug 13 2002 do we all have those? what a concept.-- po, Aug 13 2002 random, halfbakery