whilst in a lift the other day, my friend remarked that you never ever see those little escape hatches in the top of lifts that are omnipresent in movies. we sailed up to the third floor while his girlfriend courageously ran up the stairs because she was frightened of enclosed spaces and this lift is by reputation temperamental.

I suggested to my friend that there should be a door in the side of the lift compartment that could be opened in the event of a breakdown and that it must be feasible for a smaller pod attached to the side of the liftcar (is that what they are called?) to shunt you down to the bottom of the shaft independent of the main lift.

so, imagine a pod in the shape of an egg-timer with nicely padded walls and enough space for one person to be able to clamber from one compartment in the bottom of the pod to another compartment above it via a small ladder.

wound round the entire pod vertically is enough cable to enable the pod to reach the bottom of the lift shaft.

in the event of breakdown, one traveller (if there are more than one) opens the escape hatch to the pod and disengages whatever mechanism holding the pod to the side of the main lift and then proceeds to move the pod downwards by climbing to the topmost compartment via the ladder flipping the pod over and uncoiling the cable. the rider will continually move from the bottom most compartment to the top one to keep the momentum going although he/she may of course stop for breath.
-- po, Jan 17 2006

All NY elevators in banks* have small doors in the side (sometimes artfully disguised, sometimes not) to remove passengers to adjacent elevator cars in the event of failure. (I guess you have to do the James Bond thing in single elevators.)

And what happened to your shift key? One of the kids ate it?

* Banks of multiple elevators, not money-type banks or river banks.
-- DrCurry, Jan 17 2006


shift key? hah!

I can't use that thing while I dry my nail polish.

drat, I smeared my nails climbing through these damn pods...
-- po, Jan 18 2006


A few elevators I've been in do have a hatch in the roof. I've always thought, however, that they are not so much a means of escape but an access panel for repairs and such. If the elevator doesn't have a hatch, that means that there's probably an alternate means of access to the elevator shaft (i.e. a door somewhere through which one could enter the shaft) In any case I would think the access panels would require some kind of tool or key to open-but thankfully I've never been in a situation where I had to look for a hatch! I wouldn't try and do that anyhow unless there was a real emergency since I'm not claustrophobic at all, but I am however afraid of heights!
-- Dickcheney6, Mar 16 2011



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