Slashdot Mirror
Vacuum-Controlled Elevator Developed
Aenox writes "Vacuum Elevators of Florida have released a one-man elevator system that easily slots into buildings. It has gone on sale in the U.S. for around $20,000 and uses only electricity to power vaccum-inducing suction turbines that can lift 204Kg several floors up. They claim it provides a smooth ride but from the video it looks like it could use some oil."
Does NewScientist.com have editors?
Call me picky, but if you're doing a professional publication, there are some standards you ought to uphold.
But O'Connor adds that a series of mechanical breaks will activate should there be a sudden loss of pressure, to prevent the capsule falling.
Well. this certainly doesn't sound promising. I would think that in the event of a sudden loss of pressure, the elevator would 'break' quite satisfactorily on its own, without the need for additional mechanical help.
The elevator costs between $20,000 and £22,000.
That's actually quite a large price range, once you figure out the exchange rate.
Clearly someone over at NewScientist.com is asleep at the switch. The sad fact is that this is nothing new....even sadder is the fact that this sort of thing is now acceptable, even in professional publications.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
The only thing to wonder about is, are these "failsafes" activated electronically anyway? In which case a powerfailure will lead to...
It seems there's no shield between the occupant and the sides of the stationary tube.
If that is true there could be risks if stuff (like clothing) gets caught at the wrong places... Not very high I suppose - it's just like using an escalator - if you careless/stupid enough to get something caught you better hope it rips rather than you rip...
Use your imagination... sad, but true.
Simpy
Because people who use walkers love running up and down the stairs.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
450 lbs
well that rules out the American market
also elevators are supposed to employ a 2:1 safety ratio, do USA elevator manufacturers have to re-calculate their people counts due to the obesity epidemic ?
The primary market for residential elevators is for the elderly and wheelchair bound. From what I can see, this elevator isn't stable or safe enough for a frail elderly person, and it isn't large enough to fit a wheelchair or scooter.
So the only market for this thing is going to be for rich people who'd rather blow money on a toy than take the stairs. While I'm sure there's a market for that, it's not going to be a big one.
There is nothing so pathetic as seeing a beautiful young theory roughed up by a tough gang of facts.
news flash:
elevators don't run on guinea pig droppings. All modern elevators (excepting perhaps the Space Elevator) run on ONLY electricty.
Did I miss something here?
The truth about Led Zep should never be told on
He stole my story I tried to post yesterday, and I had a better tag line too:
2005-05-06 18:01:29 Elevator from Futurama! (Hardware,Technology) (rejected)
and a better description.
This elevator comes in 2 modes: 2 floor mode and a 3 floor mode. It is easy to install, you only need to make a round hole in the floor/ceiling and put the round tube-shaft through it. It works by pumping the air out of the tube from the top (a pump generates 87dBA of noise,) and since the pressure underneath the cabin stays the same, the cabin goes up.
Safety is guaranteed by a mechanical lock that stops the cabin dead in case if pressure under the cabin becomes weaker than the pressure from above. On the other hand if electricity cut off from the pump, the cabin wouldn't get stuck between the floors, it would slide down slowly due to slow pressure venting.
There is a clever cabin ventilation scheme...
anyway, this thing looks a lot like the mode of transportation used in Futurama and my last sentence was:
Now I wish someone came up with an american favorite Suicide Booth, then my day would be complete.
You can't handle the truth.
if you watched the video you would see this isnt marketed towards the handicapped but to rich/dumb office execs, if you look at the tube you would of seen there isnt enough room to open a newspaper never mind walkers/wheelchairs
but then again this is slashdot where people comment first before thinking about what they are actually saying (much like the current USA president (perhaps its a culture thing))
This company is from florida. As someone else stated before, a piston elevator would need a hole as deep as the elevator is high. When you are in florida, if you dig down, water comes out. This elevator is good for homes that cant dig for a pneumatic piston and cant have a huge pulley system to pull the elevator. They'll probably use it for two floor hotel suites and things like that.
... Using a sentence fragment.
I agree with you, in this particular case. Although no one particularly cares about grammatical rules, which really are flexible, the article is just wrong. Breaks are very different from brakes, and dollars are not pounds. This isn't a small spelling/grammar issue, it's factual inaccuracy.