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Things you didn't know about modern elevators (Read 350 times)
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Playmaker / nemesis
posted: 4/17/2008 at 4:35 PM
Utterly fascinating...

* The Door Close button is there mostly to give passengers the illusion of control. In elevators built since the early '90s. The button is only enabled in emergency situations with a key held by an authority.
* The only known occurence of an elevator car free falling due to a snapped cable (barring fire or structural collapse), was in 1945. A B25 Bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, severing the cables of two elevators. The elevator car on the 75th floor had a woman on it, but she survived due to the 1000 feet of coiled cable of fallen cable below, which lessened the impact.
* Elevators are twenty times safer than escalators. There are twenty times more elevators than escalators, but only 1/3 more accidents.
* Elevators are also safer than cars. An average of 26 people die in elevators each year in the U.S. There are 26 car deaths every five hours.
* Most people who die in elevators are elevator technicians.
* The Otis Elevator Company carries the equivalent of the world's population in their elevators every five days.
* The New York Marriott was the first to introduce a smart elevator system that assigned passengers to elevators depending on what floor they were heading to.
* Elevators used to require a two-man dispatcher/operator team to function. The advent of navigational buttons rendered those jobs obsolete.
* The area required for personal space is 2.3 feet. The average amount on elevators is generally 2 feet.
* Elevator hatches are generally bolted shut for safety reasons. In times of elevator crisis, the safest place is inside the elevator.
* The myth about jumping just before impact in a falling elevator is just that — myth. You can't jump fast enough to counteract the speed of falling. And you wouldn't know when to jump.
* Due to the laws of physics, elevators can't be any taller than 1700 feet. Hoist ropes become too heavy after that, snapping at 3200 feet.
20th Century: 800m: 2:04 |1600m: 4:37 |3200m: 10:06 |5k: 16:23 |10k: 35:38 |15k: 54:20 |25k: 1:35:59
21st Century: 5k: 19:42 |10k: 43:00

What are you doing?
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Its a New Season
posted: 4/17/2008 at 6:15 PM
That is 1 minute of my life I will never get back and this likely will push some useful knowledge out of my head that I might need later (FIFO). Wink

Illegitimis non carborundum
2008 goals:
1) run a fall marathon (Indy)
2) stay injury free
3) PR 5K, 10K, HM & M
4) get my kids to start running with me
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Girl On The Run
posted: 4/17/2008 at 6:18 PM
Wanna know what's scary...being drunk and alone on an elevator when it gets stuck between two floors. Yeah...that happened to me frosh year in college... Blush
Kirsten . . . --> GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS <--

Ladies Locker Room

.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
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Its a New Season
posted: 4/17/2008 at 6:20 PM
That helps explain some things ....... Wink

We just used to sell evelator passes to the freshman to raise beer money.
Illegitimis non carborundum
2008 goals:
1) run a fall marathon (Indy)
2) stay injury free
3) PR 5K, 10K, HM & M
4) get my kids to start running with me
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Playmaker / nemesis
posted: 4/17/2008 at 6:21 PM
Quote from zoom-zoom on 4/17/2008 at 6:18 PM:
Wanna know what's scary...being drunk and alone on an elevator when it gets stuck between two floors.

Well, at least you were drunk. Tongue
20th Century: 800m: 2:04 |1600m: 4:37 |3200m: 10:06 |5k: 16:23 |10k: 35:38 |15k: 54:20 |25k: 1:35:59
21st Century: 5k: 19:42 |10k: 43:00

What are you doing?
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Girl On The Run
posted: 4/17/2008 at 6:34 PM
Quote from jEfFgObLuE on 4/17/2008 at 6:21 PM:
Well, at least you were drunk. Tongue


Yes, there is that. I'm just glad I wasn't pukey drunk...that would have been REALLY bad! Shocked
Kirsten . . . --> GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS <--

Ladies Locker Room

.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
view log
Bugs
posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:05 PM
modified: 4/17/2008 at 10:05 PM
Last week I was trapped in an elevator. That emergency button, ya that did nothing. Kicking the door, ya that hurt my toe. Screaming, ya apparently I'm not the loud mouth everybody thinks I am.
Bugs
Marathon - October 5th goal stay with the pacer at mile 15, unliike last time.
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posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:18 PM
Quote from Bugs34 on 4/17/2008 at 10:05 PM:
Last week I was trapped in an elevator. That emergency button, ya that did nothing. Kicking the door, ya that hurt my toe. Screaming, ya apparently I'm not the loud mouth everybody thinks I am.


Wow, Bugs, you've had a hard time of it lately!
Maine Coast HM, September 21
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Bif! Bam! Pow!
posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:47 PM
Quote from zoom-zoom on 4/17/2008 at 6:18 PM:
Wanna know what's scary...being drunk and alone on an elevator when it gets stuck between two floors. Yeah...that happened to me frosh year in college... Blush


Wanna know what's scary...being drunk and with 20 other drunk people in an elevator when it gets stuck between floors because it is only rated to carry 7 people. Yeah..that happened to ME frosh year in college... Blush
Beware the Pink Boxing Gloves of DOOM!
"It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds" - Captain Hammer
2008 Goals New PR's in 5K 10K HM, M
Faster than a speeding toddler.....
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Girl On The Run
posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:51 PM
Ha, that IS worse! All it takes is for one person to puke... Tongue
Kirsten . . . --> GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS <--

Ladies Locker Room

.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
view log
Its a New Season
posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:54 PM
Quote from zoom-zoom on 4/17/2008 at 10:51 PM:
Ha, that IS worse! All it takes is for one person to puke... Tongue


or pee Big grin
Illegitimis non carborundum
2008 goals:
1) run a fall marathon (Indy)
2) stay injury free
3) PR 5K, 10K, HM & M
4) get my kids to start running with me
view log
Playmaker / nemesis
posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:56 PM
Quote from Ennay on 4/17/2008 at 10:47 PM:
Wanna know what's scary...being drunk and with 20 other drunk people in an elevator when it gets stuck between floors because it is only rated to carry 7 people. Yeah..that happened to ME frosh year in college... Blush


Wow, I hope no one hurled, because if someone else caught a whiff of it, man.. they'd spew. And if that person blew chunks, chances are someone else would've honked. And that would've set off a parastolic reaction.

20th Century: 800m: 2:04 |1600m: 4:37 |3200m: 10:06 |5k: 16:23 |10k: 35:38 |15k: 54:20 |25k: 1:35:59
21st Century: 5k: 19:42 |10k: 43:00

What are you doing?
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Girl On The Run
posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:58 PM
Quote from CarmelRunner on 4/17/2008 at 10:54 PM:
or pee Big grin


DON'T BREAK THE SEAL, man!
Kirsten . . . --> GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS <--

Ladies Locker Room

.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
view log
Hurdle the Dead
posted: 4/17/2008 at 11:33 PM
Interesting.

And strangely enough, I just came across a truly bizarre ... scary ... terrifying ... elevator story.

I'm not posting the story. I'm not even posting a link.

It's that disturbing.

But if you feel like the creepiest, most soul-rending true elevator related story you could imagine ...

Google the names Frauke Punz and Ulf Lech. No typos - they're German names.

Not for the faint of heart. Or those who like sleeping at night. Or those who ever want to use an elevator again.

Consider yourself warned.

Note to Scout: it involves sex. Sort of.

I should have saved this for Halloween.

Last warning: don't do it. But if you do, don't blame me. Or complain when Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" is permanently ruined.



E-mail: JakeKnight2002@aol.com
-----------------------

"The past is nothing but a series of recollections; it does not own you ... if we are prisoners of the past, we are jailer as well."
~~ Jack Kerley, The Hundredth Man
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posted: 4/17/2008 at 11:51 PM
wow that IS kinda strange and deranged and weird!!!
Training is futile... i've seen the error in my ways...
Bring on the Monkey!
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