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I've seen it mentioned here and there that one isn't supposed to ride it all the way around (that is, on the horizontal sections), but the reason escapes me. I

I've seen it mentioned here and there that one isn't supposed to ride it all the way around (that is, on the horizontal sections), but the reason escapes me. If you stay inside the cabin, what exactly can go wrong? (serious question) Getting stuck doesn't seem logical, why would the probability of the paternoster stopping increase when there is a (modest) load on the horizontal sections?

yabatopia 11y ago
Some people wrongfully believed the elevator cabin was fixed to the chain. So at the top or bottom the cabin would turn upsidedown, including the passenger, rather than moving horizontally.
TeMPOraL 11y ago
The reason is that the cabins are being cleaned on the bottom and top of the loop - there's a mesh of blades entering the cabin making sure there's nothing left on, or inside the walls and then the remnants of whatever it was that was not supposed to be there are dropped through an open hole in the floor to the recycling bin (waste from paternosters is obviously recycled, this is Germany we're talking about). ;). More seriously though, I guess it's not that you can't, only that you shouldn't, because there's always a shorter route to your destination that doesn't involve looping.
michaelt 11y ago
If you look at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paternoster_animated.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paternoster_animated... presumably, as the open-fronted compartments pass over the top of the mechanism, the red drive chain is exposed to people in the cabin. If you watch the video in the guardian article labelled "the loop: from the top" you see an exposed chain that looks easily strong enough to take off a few fingers without stopping. You could probably come up with an overlapping arrangement of guards, of course. And presumably anyone riding one of these things already knows not to put their limbs into trap points - I couldn't say if the danger of trapping at the top is any greater than the danger of trapping at one of the floors. Rescue might also be difficult if there's a power cut or breakdown.

yabatopia 11y ago

Some people wrongfully believed the elevator cabin was fixed to the chain. So at the top or bottom the cabin would turn upsidedown, including the passenger, rather than moving horizontally.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

The reason is that the cabins are being cleaned on the bottom and top of the loop - there's a mesh of blades entering the cabin making sure there's nothing left on, or inside the walls and then the remnants of whatever it was that was not supposed to be there are dropped through an open hole in the floor to the recycling bin (waste from paternosters is obviously recycled, this is Germany we're talking about). ;). More seriously though, I guess it's not that you can't, only that you shouldn't, because there's always a shorter route to your destination that doesn't involve looping.

michaelt 11y ago

If you look at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paternoster_animated.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paternoster_animated... presumably, as the open-fronted compartments pass over the top of the mechanism, the red drive chain is exposed to people in the cabin. If you watch the video in the guardian article labelled "the loop: from the top" you see an exposed chain that looks easily strong enough to take off a few fingers without stopping. You could probably come up with an overlapping arrangement of guards, of course. And presumably anyone riding one of these things already knows not to put their limbs into trap points - I couldn't say if the danger of trapping at the top is any greater than the danger of trapping at one of the floors. Rescue might also be difficult if there's a power cut or breakdown.