Posted on 07/30/2019 7:52:26 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Around the second floor, the elevator suddenly dropped a foot or two and stopped. Debris crashed against the roof and it sounded like the elevator was “caving in,” Bird said. “It went down seemingly fine,” said Bird, 37. Then the elevator "felt like it dropped suddenly about a foot or so.”
After several calls to building security and finally police, fire crews pried open the elevator’s door and helped the people get out through a 4-foot gap.
Neither appeared to be as dramatic as one in November, when a cable on an express elevator broke and it dropped about nine floors before stopping. Firefighters broke through a brick wall from the parking garage to get to the six passengers.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Hopefully in five-gallon plastic buckets and extra napkins, please.
And here is a fun(?) article about a guy majorly stuck!
Up And Then Down
The lives of elevators.
...He also began hearing unlikely oscillations in the ringing: aural hallucinations. Before long, he began to contemplate death...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/04/21/up-and-then-down
I hope self driving cars aren’t designed by the people who designed elevators.
Death traps. No fail safe provisions. No redundancy. Difficult rescue.
The 2010 movie ‘Devil’ about a stuck elevator is a fantastic thriller if you haven’t seen it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7l3nzjHYTg
Good job. I can never remember where I parked my elevator cab in the parking garage.
Glad it didn't start dropping from the eighth floor.
I don’t even want to think about self-driving cars. I don’t trust them.
I’ve been on those elevators at the Hancock building all the way to the 95th floor. It was such a smooth ride.
actually there are fly brakes specifically required in case the cables break, which is why it only dropped a foot.
The prior six foot drop was likely due to the speed the elevator was moving and required longer to stop. Note the one in the article was only on the 2nd floor, while the other was much higher.
Early brakes were not as reliable as now since they relied more on mechanical acceleration changes. Now they are electromagnetic and only open with power. If power is lost then the magnet releases and the brake will naturally close. Also multiple brakes in place so plenty of redundancy.
Rescue can indeed be difficult.
Didn’t the movie Speed start like this?
Otis did not invent the elevator.
He invented a braking system which made it
not suicidal for human beings to ride in them.
Guessing that they have several levels below grade?
That said, a friend was supervising the construction of a Chicago high rise when a length of large heavy pipe fell down the elevator shaft!
He said it penetrated the concrete floor and was stuck!
They cut it off and repaired the concrete over it.
Four feet is almost the normal elevator opening size. Now, if Michael Moore or Jerry Nadler was on board, it might be considered a gap.
Why did this take several calls? I was once stuck in a Russian elevator and was immediately gotten out.
Bunker buster!
Because of collusion.
I worked in a coal-fired power plant that had about a 190 foot elevator shaft that went to the top of our boiler. One day, fourteen contractors squeezed into the car, and it went into free-fall for about 160 feet, by my estimation. Fortunately, you know how elevators downshift as they’re approaching a stop? Well, the elevator downshifted and gave them a soft landing.
One of the contractors told me later, “You should have heard the screaming in there”!
I told him I would have been more concerned about the smell...
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