12 November 2018

Riding full circle on a paternoster


"A paternoster or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two persons) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can step on or off at any floor they like. The much smaller belt manlift which consists of an endless belt with steps and rungs but no compartments is also sometimes called a paternoster.

The name paternoster ("Our Father", the first two words of the Lord's Prayer in Latin), was originally applied to the device because the elevator is in the form of a loop and is thus similar to rosary beads used as an aid in reciting prayers.

The construction of new paternosters was stopped in the mid-1970s due to safety concerns, but public sentiment has kept many of the remaining examples open. By far most remaining paternosters are in Europe, with 230 examples in Germany, and 68 in the Czech Republic. Only three have been identified outside Europe: one in Malaysia, one in CEB Sri Lanka and another in Peru."

7 comments:

  1. At least as of 1978 or so (when I was 8), a local parking garage had one of these (the strap kind, not the full compartment kind) in downtown Washington, DC. It wasn't for the use of the general public, employees only, to get to and from the lower levels of the garage quickly.

    I recall being terrified of the idea of using it, imagining being cut to bits in the hidden parts of the mechanism if I were to ride it and miss my opportunity to get off at the correct point.

    I imagine the chances of it still existing today at that garage are close to zero, most of the buildings in that area (near Dupont Circle) were torn down long ago.

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    Replies
    1. Here's some reading that might creep you out -

      http://www.elevatorbobs-elevator-pics.com/manlifts_p2.html

      Delete
  2. I moved to Munich in 1978 and one of the the first things I had to do was go to the police HQ at Ettstrasse to get my residents permit. I got in one of these things and went up to the third floor, pulled a ticket and realised there were about 30 people ahead of me. No problem. I just rode the Paternoster until it was time. I took lots of pictures. A video would have been better: There were different people standing at every floor each time, and once or twice the same people at the ground floor who were probably thinking 'maybe I should take the stairs'.
    It was an interesting and wonderful contraption. I havn't seen another one since then, But your post awoke my interest again and makes me want to find some really old ones. I will send you pictures and/or videos when I have them.

    (Don't ask for the original pictures, You have no idea how many old shoe boxes I would have to go through to find the negatives...)

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    Replies
    1. Do you have an heir with OCD that you don't like? Leave the boxes to him.
      :)
      Lurker111

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    2. Actually I do have a sometimes annoying grandson: But I imagine him hearing the will, "Before you receive any benefits, you will sort out these boxes of negatives". He goes 'Wow, cool!"
      I hope whereever I am then I will still be able to snigger.

      Delete
  3. One of these was installed in the six-storey university building in the UK where I studied in 1985-86. We were told that it could jam if one went over the top and moved about in the car. As I recall it wasn't particularly popular as, at busy times, students from the top couple of floors took all the compartments. The part of the floor facing each step was hinged and could move upwards rather than trap a foot that was over the edge when ascending. It fell with quite a bang if raised in that way. I've no idea whether it is still there.

    We heard rumours about a fatality, and I've just read on Wikipedia that "in September 1975 the paternoster in Newcastle University's Claremont Tower was taken out of service after a passenger was killed when a car left its guide rail at the top of its journey and forced the two cars ascending behind it into the winding room above. A conventional lift was installed in its place." Oddly enough, a decade later the same university had another paternoster operating nearby, in another part of the same building complex.

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  4. "Only three have been identified outside Europe"

    As late as 1959 OR 1964 the Pentagon used to have single-person lifts like this, only for official use (like for couriers) and not for visitors. I was a child at the time and remember these weird elevators distinctly.

    Lurker111

    ReplyDelete

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