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Every link i’ve seen to this story annoys the hell out of me because they don’t explain HOW the elevator eventually stopped. That’s literally all I want to know

Every link i’ve seen to this story annoys the hell out of me because they don’t explain HOW the elevator eventually stopped. That’s literally all I want to know.

CydeWeys 8y ago
It reached the bottom. Probably hit one of these: http://elevation.wikia.com/wiki/Buffers http://elevation.wikia.com/wiki/Buffers Note that it wasn't descending particularly quickly; one cable snapped but other safety systems were still operable.
- vvillena 8y ago
  The article says it went from the 95th to the 11th floor. It appears it stopped before reaching the bottom buffer.
gonzo 8y ago
Entering “elevator safety mechanism” into google will bring up several links with explainations. The first link for me references this story.
nsxwolf 8y ago
I’d also like to know what they meant by “plunges”. How fast did it descend? Was it in free fall?
- thaumasiotes 8y ago
  You can easily tell that it wasn't in free fall, because if it fell 84 floors in free fall and then stopped, the passengers would have died.
  - nsxwolf 8y ago
    It could have slowed down gradually and stopped. The articles I’ve read don’t do a good job describing anything.
    - thaumasiotes 8y ago
      If it slows down gradually, it's not in free fall.
      - dedotated 8y ago
        Guess again. The cable could break at floor 84, and the elevator car could travel through the next 50 floors, and not slow it’s descent until the 34th floor, at which point, given ten vertical feet per floor, it would still have a total stopping distance of nearly 200 feet, or 2/3 (66%) of a football field. So, 500 feet of freefall is still substantial. That puts the situation on par with a bungee jump.
djsumdog 8y ago
There was an elevator hacking talk that went into the buffers at the bottom of the elevator. You may have seen them in elevators that have glass on the outside of the shaft like in malls and hotels. The elevator never rests on those. Those are to take the impact of an elevator that crashes. Inspectors will often test the buffers as well as part of routine maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvGfuLlZus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvGfuLlZus
neffy 8y ago
The best book ever for understanding how Elevators work is a wonderful late 20th century work of fiction called The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, which was described by its author as what you would expect to happen if you let a child grow up reading elevator manuals.
Too 8y ago
The basic theory is that between the car and the wire there is a spring connected to brakes. When the car hangs in the wire this spring is loaded and the brakes disengage, if the wire breaks, the spring returns and brakes engage. All this is mechanical. What I never understood is how elevators can travel downwards so quickly without such a system engaging. Can they block it somehow or are they never accelerating fast enough down?

Every link i’ve seen to this story annoys the hell out of me because they don’t explain HOW the elevator eventually stopped. That’s literally all I want to know.

CydeWeys 8y ago

It reached the bottom. Probably hit one of these: http://elevation.wikia.com/wiki/Buffers http://elevation.wikia.com/wiki/Buffers Note that it wasn't descending particularly quickly; one cable snapped but other safety systems were still operable.

vvillena 8y ago
The article says it went from the 95th to the 11th floor. It appears it stopped before reaching the bottom buffer.

gonzo 8y ago

Entering “elevator safety mechanism” into google will bring up several links with explainations. The first link for me references this story.

nsxwolf 8y ago

I’d also like to know what they meant by “plunges”. How fast did it descend? Was it in free fall?

thaumasiotes 8y ago
You can easily tell that it wasn't in free fall, because if it fell 84 floors in free fall and then stopped, the passengers would have died.
- nsxwolf 8y ago
  It could have slowed down gradually and stopped. The articles I’ve read don’t do a good job describing anything.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    If it slows down gradually, it's not in free fall.
    - dedotated 8y ago
      Guess again. The cable could break at floor 84, and the elevator car could travel through the next 50 floors, and not slow it’s descent until the 34th floor, at which point, given ten vertical feet per floor, it would still have a total stopping distance of nearly 200 feet, or 2/3 (66%) of a football field. So, 500 feet of freefall is still substantial. That puts the situation on par with a bungee jump.

djsumdog 8y ago

There was an elevator hacking talk that went into the buffers at the bottom of the elevator. You may have seen them in elevators that have glass on the outside of the shaft like in malls and hotels. The elevator never rests on those. Those are to take the impact of an elevator that crashes. Inspectors will often test the buffers as well as part of routine maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvGfuLlZus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvGfuLlZus

neffy 8y ago

The best book ever for understanding how Elevators work is a wonderful late 20th century work of fiction called The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, which was described by its author as what you would expect to happen if you let a child grow up reading elevator manuals.

Too 8y ago

The basic theory is that between the car and the wire there is a spring connected to brakes. When the car hangs in the wire this spring is loaded and the brakes disengage, if the wire breaks, the spring returns and brakes engage. All this is mechanical. What I never understood is how elevators can travel downwards so quickly without such a system engaging. Can they block it somehow or are they never accelerating fast enough down?