6 ms·

Please explain how my arms or legs won't be easily cut off when using one of these? I've always wondered about the safety issues with these types of lifts.

sz4kerto 12y ago
Because you're careful, that's how :)
ta82828 12y ago
Well, there's a video game that helps you practice avoiding something similar: http://www.linusakesson.net/games/klamrisk/index.php http://www.linusakesson.net/games/klamrisk/index.php
funkyy 12y ago
Creators assume you have enough self control to get on without hurting yourself and enough common sense to avoid getting your legs and hands cut off. If you are one of those people that lack both of them - you should take the stairs.
- marcosdumay 12y ago
  People do manage to kill themselves on stairs all the time...
  - Crito 12y ago
    Which really drives home the point that we as a society have decided to accept a certain level of risk. That, at a certain point, we don't allow safety concerns to get in the way of getting shit done. I mean, we could make stairs safer. We could install foam pits at every landing, cover the steps with tons of padding like at a climbing gym, then make everyone ascending or descending put on a harness and clip onto a guide wire. We have the technology to do all of those things, and it probably reduce the number of people who fall down the stairs and crack their skull on the concrete, but we don't. We don't because we accept that a few people dying on occasion is a better outcome than spending the time and money to completely sterilize our world.
    - Dylan16807 12y ago
      It's more complex than that. Installing safety systems requires additional work, which adds additional risk of injury. Being risk free is not only prohibitively expensive, it's impossible. And that's not even getting into the fact that people take fewer precautions when things seem safer...
    - calibraxis 12y ago
      Yeah, there's even many ways we could stop spending, and save lives: - Slash military spending. (At least militant nations which send killers to other countries.) - Use efficient transportation systems, not each person drives some clumsy car which is even mostly unused. - More efficient healthcare system.
- lifeformed 12y ago
  But there are a lot of accidental ways to get hurt. Backpack straps or loose clothing getting caught, or just simply tripping, or having impaired mobility (seniors and handicapped people).
- achamayou 12y ago
  Wheelchairs, prams, crutches etc.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    Consider it an alternative to an escalator.
informatimago 12y ago
There's no safety. Those types of lifts are natural selection: the idiots and weaks get their arms and legs cut off easily. The strong and smart ones not. It's good to improve the bred.
- varjag 12y ago
  When I was a student, me and a classmate went to a McDonalds for lunch. He buys some sort of jam filled hot pierog in a cardboard envelope which has "CAUTION HOT CONTENTS" inscribed over it. He says, "see, that's how safety nuts try to undo natural seletion". Takes a good, contrarian bite, badly burning his chin, lips and tongue.
  - Gifford 12y ago
    That's called a fried apple pie in the USA.
Someone 12y ago
That's the main reason the lower-capacity 'normal' elevators replaced them. Google gave me both a nice video showing a paternoster in action and a different way to (attempt to) improve safety: regulations. Apparently (https://youtu.be/1z7rp5OXFnU https://youtu.be/1z7rp5OXFnU), in Frankfurt, Germany, they introduced rules such as 'one person in a cabin' and 'take your backpack off during a ride'. They also require one to take an 'exam' that consists of reading a single-sheet of paper and deployed personnel checking that (I checked the date on the video; it's from nowhere near April, 1. Also, it's from a series called 'real lunacy')
- shiggerino 12y ago
  A Paternosterschein, how German.
  - wolfgke 12y ago
    Paternosterführerschein, please.
    - stadeschuldt 12y ago
      Ich muss Ihren Paternosterführerschein sehen!
      - shiggerino 12y ago
        I just don't see how you can be the Führer of something that moves at constant speed along a fixed track.
  - frik 12y ago
    True, though they stopped the "Paternoster-Führerschein" in 2011. "Im November 2011 wurde der „Paternoster-Führerschein“ allerdings wieder abgeschafft, da nun zusätzliche Warn- und Hinweisschilder für die Sicherheit der Paternoster- Benutzer ausreichend sein sollen." http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternosteraufzug
Wintamute 12y ago
I've been on the largest one, which is in the Arts Tower of Sheffield University, UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_Tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_Tower There are a few safety features that help you to not get chopped in half. The front of each platform flaps up on a hinge, so if you got a limb under it while its moving down it just flaps up (the red board on the photo). Also there's a sort of trip wire along the upper edge (you can just see it in the photo) so if a limb of a rider is protruding while they're riding up and touches the wire the whole thing emergency stops. We felt quite safe on it, and even perfected some fancy dismounting techniques (backward rolls and such) :)
- Toenex 12y ago
  Yah for the Arts Tower paternoster! I was based in the Mappin building but still found time to lark about on that thing. Sadly the Arts Tower also had a reputation for jumpers.
  - basicallydan 12y ago
    Ditto!
dfox 12y ago
Both cabin roof and the panel above entryway are not mounted rigidly, but free to move upwards. Such movement triggers emergency stop. Edit: It's quite visible on this image if you know what to look for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster#/media/File:Paternoster_kartouzska.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster#/media/File:Paterno... Notice the (large-ish) "micro-switch" in front of the perforated panel on the right and quite large gap between cabin roof and paneling between cabins on the left.

sz4kerto 12y ago

Because you're careful, that's how :)

ta82828 12y ago

Well, there's a video game that helps you practice avoiding something similar: http://www.linusakesson.net/games/klamrisk/index.php http://www.linusakesson.net/games/klamrisk/index.php

funkyy 12y ago

Creators assume you have enough self control to get on without hurting yourself and enough common sense to avoid getting your legs and hands cut off. If you are one of those people that lack both of them - you should take the stairs.

marcosdumay 12y ago
People do manage to kill themselves on stairs all the time...
- Crito 12y ago
  Which really drives home the point that we as a society have decided to accept a certain level of risk. That, at a certain point, we don't allow safety concerns to get in the way of getting shit done. I mean, we could make stairs safer. We could install foam pits at every landing, cover the steps with tons of padding like at a climbing gym, then make everyone ascending or descending put on a harness and clip onto a guide wire. We have the technology to do all of those things, and it probably reduce the number of people who fall down the stairs and crack their skull on the concrete, but we don't. We don't because we accept that a few people dying on occasion is a better outcome than spending the time and money to completely sterilize our world.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    It's more complex than that. Installing safety systems requires additional work, which adds additional risk of injury. Being risk free is not only prohibitively expensive, it's impossible. And that's not even getting into the fact that people take fewer precautions when things seem safer...
  - calibraxis 12y ago
    Yeah, there's even many ways we could stop spending, and save lives: - Slash military spending. (At least militant nations which send killers to other countries.) - Use efficient transportation systems, not each person drives some clumsy car which is even mostly unused. - More efficient healthcare system.
lifeformed 12y ago
But there are a lot of accidental ways to get hurt. Backpack straps or loose clothing getting caught, or just simply tripping, or having impaired mobility (seniors and handicapped people).
achamayou 12y ago
Wheelchairs, prams, crutches etc.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  Consider it an alternative to an escalator.

informatimago 12y ago

There's no safety. Those types of lifts are natural selection: the idiots and weaks get their arms and legs cut off easily. The strong and smart ones not. It's good to improve the bred.

varjag 12y ago
When I was a student, me and a classmate went to a McDonalds for lunch. He buys some sort of jam filled hot pierog in a cardboard envelope which has "CAUTION HOT CONTENTS" inscribed over it. He says, "see, that's how safety nuts try to undo natural seletion". Takes a good, contrarian bite, badly burning his chin, lips and tongue.
- Gifford 12y ago
  That's called a fried apple pie in the USA.

Someone 12y ago

That's the main reason the lower-capacity 'normal' elevators replaced them. Google gave me both a nice video showing a paternoster in action and a different way to (attempt to) improve safety: regulations. Apparently (https://youtu.be/1z7rp5OXFnU https://youtu.be/1z7rp5OXFnU), in Frankfurt, Germany, they introduced rules such as 'one person in a cabin' and 'take your backpack off during a ride'. They also require one to take an 'exam' that consists of reading a single-sheet of paper and deployed personnel checking that (I checked the date on the video; it's from nowhere near April, 1. Also, it's from a series called 'real lunacy')

shiggerino 12y ago
A Paternosterschein, how German.
- wolfgke 12y ago
  Paternosterführerschein, please.
  - stadeschuldt 12y ago
    Ich muss Ihren Paternosterführerschein sehen!
    - shiggerino 12y ago
      I just don't see how you can be the Führer of something that moves at constant speed along a fixed track.
- frik 12y ago
  True, though they stopped the "Paternoster-Führerschein" in 2011. "Im November 2011 wurde der „Paternoster-Führerschein“ allerdings wieder abgeschafft, da nun zusätzliche Warn- und Hinweisschilder für die Sicherheit der Paternoster- Benutzer ausreichend sein sollen." http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternosteraufzug

Wintamute 12y ago

I've been on the largest one, which is in the Arts Tower of Sheffield University, UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_Tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_Tower There are a few safety features that help you to not get chopped in half. The front of each platform flaps up on a hinge, so if you got a limb under it while its moving down it just flaps up (the red board on the photo). Also there's a sort of trip wire along the upper edge (you can just see it in the photo) so if a limb of a rider is protruding while they're riding up and touches the wire the whole thing emergency stops. We felt quite safe on it, and even perfected some fancy dismounting techniques (backward rolls and such) :)

Toenex 12y ago
Yah for the Arts Tower paternoster! I was based in the Mappin building but still found time to lark about on that thing. Sadly the Arts Tower also had a reputation for jumpers.
- basicallydan 12y ago
  Ditto!

dfox 12y ago

Both cabin roof and the panel above entryway are not mounted rigidly, but free to move upwards. Such movement triggers emergency stop. Edit: It's quite visible on this image if you know what to look for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster#/media/File:Paternoster_kartouzska.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster#/media/File:Paterno... Notice the (large-ish) "micro-switch" in front of the perforated panel on the right and quite large gap between cabin roof and paneling between cabins on the left.