And the elevator is energy-efficient—the counterweight does a great deal of the work, and the new systems these days regenerate electricity. The elevator is a hybrid, by design.

Well, whaddayaknow?! Damn interesting read, I'd say.

Very interesting. Pretty long too. But, yeah, quite interesting!

Of course it's long! That just makes room for more interestingness!

Some woman rang our doorbell at work the other day (it's a secure facility, we do tissue recovery in the back and we don't want Joe Schmoe just walking into the OR), and she asked how she could get upstairs. I told her that she could use the elevator, or she could use the stairs, both of which were out in the foyer behind her on the left.

She claimed that while she did see the elevator, there was no button to summon the elevator to her floor. After may explanation attempts, I had to just go out there and show her. She laughed and said that our elevators aren't like those where she's from, San Antonio. And I just don't get this. You push a button, the elevator comes. Do Texans have to yell for theirs? Ring a dinner bell?

I haven't read it yet (I'll save it to savor in the print edition, aka bedtime reading), but maybe 15 years ago I happened to catch a documentary on public TV about elevators and the Otis elevator company, and it was fucking fascinating. I still tell people about it.

One great thing about that article was that I learned that I could let go of my silly fear of dropping down an elevator shaft in a broken elevator. Instead, the show allowed me to replace that fear with the new fear of being grievously injured as the elevator car bursts through the top of the building due to a catastrophic counterweight mishap.

new fear of being grievously injured as the elevator car bursts through the top of the building due to a catastrophic counterweight mishap

HAHAHA I hadn't thought of that untill I read this article! Now I'm in trouble.

If you love elevators, then read The Intuitionist.

I lived in San Antonio for several years and don't recall having problems with elevators there or that they were different from any other place I've lived. Maybe that woman needed some brain tissue.

Oh cool. . New Yorker. .It'll come in the mail. . .

this is awesome mudpuppie. I read part of it but I'll read the rest in print (easier on my eyes).

Very interesting indeed.

Joel Spolsky has complained about the usability of the press-your-floor elevators though: (here,here)

People who aren't used to the new system come into the lobby and see an elevator with an open door. They jump into it, and then get stuck going to some random floor because they can't key in their destination once they're inside.

You know how you feel about snakes? That's how I feel about getting trapped in an elevator.

I used to only take an elevator if it was more than ten stories, but now I think that might have to chamge to twenty.

In San Antonio, Texas, elevators ride you.

Great story and, "A machine the size of a marmot, rather than of a moose" "it will snap, like a stream of spit in a stairwell." What a way with words!

When I was 16 I got trapped in an elevator. I picked up the phone and a man answered. I told him of my predicament and he asked where I was. I gave him the street address and he asked me what city I was in. I told him Sault Ste. Marie and asked where he was. He was somewhere in Kansas. Call centres are all over the would now but that was very jarring back then.