Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with elevator

Value of elevator access in four-story building

smich — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:07:38 -0800

[Posting for a friend] What is the value, monthly, of having elevator access to a fourth-floor residence? My friend rented an apartment in a four-story building in the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles for a year. It was marketed as an elevator building, but the elevator never worked while she was there; elevator access is part of what she was paying for.

What is this tv programme I watched as a child?

badmoonrising — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:29:08 -0800

[Irritating-mystery filter] Of magical elevators, murder mysteries, Kenwood mixers and time travel: please help me identify this tv programme I watched once as a child! O Noble MeFites, please help me with something that has been irritating me for years and years. I remember watching an episode of a tv programme many years ago, and for some reason random details have stayed in my mind. I have no idea why - I don't remember being particularly struck by the programme at the time. I can't remember if it was any good. It might be something incredibly obvious. Every now and again I try googling, but have never had any luck tracking down the name of the programme.

I'm 99.9% sure that I watched this with a babysitter, which makes it at least ten years old, very probably more. It was shown in the evening, or at night, (although probably not after midnight). I'm English, so it was definitely shown in the UK, although the series wasn't necessarily English. I think I was scared watching it, as a young child, although the babysitter probably wouldn't have let me watch it if it had been anything too horrific.

There was some form of time travel involved, possibly in a lift (elevator). The main characters were trying to solve or prevent a murder.

I remember that a female character visited a restaurant kitchen, and didn't want to give her real name so pretended to be called Miss/Mrs/Ms Kenwood, after glancing round the kitchen frantically and seeing a Kenwood kitchen mixer. I have a vague feeling she later got into trouble with her boss/colleague for this - I think she wasn't supposed to have gone to the restaurant. This may have been because they were worried about creating a time paradox.

At another point, Character A asked Character B if he/she had taken some medication with the words "have you taken it/them?". I think it was medication that A had tampered with. When later questioned about this, after B's death, A claimed he/she had been talking about Character B taking some letters to the postbox. The detective-type characters then debated about this, deciding it was strange grammar to use and rather suspicious.

Well, that's as much as I can remember. I realise these are all very minor details, and this is probably completely unsolvable, but thanks in advance for any light that can be shed!

a ride to to the moon?

buttercup — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:48:50 -0800

Where are all the novelty science education elevators? I know of the Stratavator at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and the Evolator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. What other simulated elevator rides are out there that demonstrate scientific principles? Bonus points for one in Vancouver, as I am visiting there in a few weeks.

grab keys

raztaj — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:27:51 -0800

I dropped my keys down the elevator in my apartment building. Is there any way I can retrieve them? I was carrying an armful of laundry down to the basement, and dropped my keys. They fell down the elevator shaft. I'm on the second floor. They fell down past the first floor, to the basement (laundry level). From the basement, I can see the "bottom" of the elevator shaft - about 4.

Is there any way I can retrieve them with some magnetic pole/magnet on a stick device?

I do have copies, but lost like, my "member pass" keychain things, as well as keys when I visit family (which can be remade). This is more of a convenience factor, than dire necessity.

But seriously... has anyone had any luck with this? What kind of magnetic pole devices can I poke down into the 2.5-3" crevice?

Italian Elevator Use Filter

sdsparks — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:59:58 -0800

Italian Elevator Use Filter: Why do the Italians living in my building always press the down button on the elevator when they want to go up? I'm living in an 8 story dorm this summer and a large group of dancers from Italy just moved in and their elevator behavior has perplexed my friends and I. On a few occasions there have been a group of people waiting to go up on the elevator with the up button already clearly lit. Then an Italian will go and press down, only to go up a couple of floors. Does anyone know why they would all be confused like that? Aren't there elevators in Italy? Do they work differently or something? I have nothing against the Italian people I just want to know why this whole group seems to be wrong.

Where do they hide the counterweights?

sbutler — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:23:11 -0800

I was at Water Tower Place mall in Chicago last weekend, watching the glass elevators go up and down. And then I wondered... where are the counterweights? Couple points I noticed about the construction:

1) There are three elevators grouped next to each other.
2) They cover 6 floors.
3) The enclosure was pretty thin with glass on all sides but one. I didn't see an obvious place to hide the weights.
4) Each elevator car had three cables attached to the top.
5) The elevators look out on the center of the mall, which is open from the first floor to the sixth. There's no room to hide the weights next to the elevators... although there are service corridors opposite the elevator doors on each level (maybe 8 to 10 feet away).

Anyone know? Is it possible they just don't have them?

STOP, in the name of a heated discussion!

nervestaple — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:26:35 -0800

Can you really push the "stop elevator" button without getting in trouble? I've been wondering about this romantic-comedy cliche: can you really stop an elevator without summoning the fire department? It seems like movie characters can simply jam the "stop elevator" button, have a discussion (or a "discussion"), then continue on their merry way. Sometimes a ringing bell sounds while the elevator is stopped, but there don't seem to be any repercussions after the fact.

What REALLY happens, besides forcing other annoyed patrons to use the stairs? Is only the local control system alerted, or does it notify emergency services? Or nothing at all?

Perpetually semi-broken elevators & PA building codes

Drastic — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:01:24 -0800

I've got a friend who works in a Univ. of Pennsylvania building with ongoing broken-elevator problems. I suspect the state of them is a legal no-no; how to go about filing complaints to straighten them out? Caveat: this is all second-hand information, errors are my own.

She's worked on the 8th floor of one of the U of Penn's Philly buildings for a few years now, and I keep hearing tell of the elevators there being in horrible shape. Frequently they get stuck; the doors often won't close without heavy manual "assistance," etc. Most recently, she was giving a tour to prospective grad students when the elevators up and refused to close the doors. Very entertaining description of their eyes taking on a look of slow horror.

My gut feeling (and thus bound to be accurate!) is that surely there's regulations against this kind of state of affairs remaining as-is. I've been doing some research to see about that, found the state of PA's building codes page here but finding anything useful on it makes my brain hurt. FAQs don't seem to help, and where to direct questions, much less file complaints, seems to be obfuscated on it.

So, this is sort of a multistage question:
1) is my gut feeling accurate, or are run-down elevators A-OK in PA's book?

2) if my gut turns out to be right on this, what can she, and other folks in the building, do to go about rectifying the situation?

Why does standing in front of an elevator give me vertigo?

unknowncommand — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 15:41:00 -0800

Why does standing in front of an elevator give me weird vertigo? It's as though the floor were moving up and down slightly. Is it just my brain anticipating the elevator motion and landing? Or am I sensing vibrations in the floor? Or some sort of air pressure thing? Or something about a vertical line dominating my field of vision? It is really dizzying and odd. Am I insane?

elevator malfunction

docpops — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 05:58:07 -0800

I am currently renting a home that has an installed elevator built by American Crescent, that spans three floors. It appears to be 'jammed'... ...and is not ascending or descending when asked. The elevator chamber closes off using a simple acordion style door, after which an external door closes. I've checked all three floors, all doors are closed. I'm able to jimmy the lock to peer into the shaft and cannot see any 'reset' buttons. I've confirmed that all the locks on each floor are engaged so it doesn't appear that the elvator is tricked into thinking there is an open connection somewhere keping it from operating. I've tried resetting the fuse at the box. I've checked the website and cannot find anything via Google on troubleshooting.

Any itinerant elevator mechanics out there with advice?

Moral Nitpicking

prettyboyfloyd — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 22:05:46 -0800

What's worse, manners wise? (Elevator behavior / Train behavior) So which behavior is less ethical/more misanthropic?

A) 'A' gets in an elevator and pushes the button, moving to the side and looking at the wall. 'A' does this because he doesn't feel like holding the door open in case anyone comes, thereby delaying the elevator door's closing.

Or:

B) 'B' gets on the interurban train. she puts her medium sized bag on the seat next to her and opens the newspaper. The train continues to get increasingly crowded as the train passes through downtown. B reads the paper and doesn't move her bag to share the seat until someone asks her to.

Name that ubiquitous, cheesy elevator music.

odinsdream — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 10:52:32 -0800

Name that ubiquitous, cheesy elevator music:
duuuuummmm....dedeee da duuuuummmmm....
de deeee da DUUuuuummmmm da Dooo.....
...da de DUUmmmmm da doooo.... da de duuummmm (i really don't know, and you guys seem very musically helpful)

Elevator noise in our condo

eurasian — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 09:20:17 -0800

We just bought a condo in a 4 story apartment. The one downside is that it shares a wall with the elevator, and it makes quite a loud noise when it brakes (stopping at a floor), but not when it's in motion.
What would be the best solution? Is there one? Is it too costly to buy whatever part is needed to quiet that elevator and have a elevator professional fix it? As we are new, I'm loathe to ask the strata to impose a levy (also because it's probably only a problem for the 3 other people who share a wall with the lift).

Interior monologue, externalized.

grumblebee — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 07:04:53 -0800

How many of you frequently talk to yourself? Why do you do it? Do you do it more when you're completely alone or do you do it when people are around? Are you halfway talking to yourself and halfway talking to the other people? [more inside.] Okay, after offending people with my classist comment about spitting, I'm going to jump headfirst into the fire and offend even more people with
(what some may perceive as) a racist comment: where I live (NYC), it's almost exclusively African Americans who consistently talk to themselves in public (I'm excluding crazy people from this discussion). This must be a normal part of black culture (at least in this part of the country). I don't understand it.

I have a couple of questions about it:
(1) Do you think this is natural human behavior? Have I just been trained out of it by my upbringing? (I know, it's the same question I asked about spitting...) The few times I have talked to myself in public (usually at times of high emotion), I'm gotten embarrassed and glanced around to see if anyone heard.

(2) Is talking to yourself 100% talking to YOURSELF? Sometimes I'm in an elevator with a self-talker, and I hear him say something like, "Man! What a DAY!" or "Damn this elevator is SLOW!" Although the talker is not looking at me, I always get the feeling that the talk is partly for my benefit. And I wonder a couple of things: (a) am I being rude by not responding (I never do). Should I "talk to myself" too ("yeah, this IS a slow elevator!?!") Should I talk directly to the self-talker? Should I ignore it? If two of these self-talkers are in the elevator together, what do they do? (b) do self-talkers engage in self-talk when they are completely alone? I guess this is the heart of the question. I'm wondering whether it's really just for them, or if it's a social thing masquerading as a personal thing.

Again, I hope I don't offend anyone. I think a great thing about forums like this is that we can ask these questions. I could never go up to someone on the street and say, "excuse me, but why do you talk to yourself?"