It is enough to go to a shopping mall, stay in a hotel, go to the hospital, move around an airport or live in a building to have the chance to get on and off an elevator.
Elevator is the name given to a system designed to transport individuals (also suitable for pets and not so large items) within a construction segmented into several floors or levels. This vertically oriented device, also known as an elevator, is very common in buildings, monuments of considerable height, hotels (where the passenger elevator and the service elevator coexist) and large shopping centers.
This is a very old invention. According to records, Archimedes was likely the first man to create an elevator . Over time, transportation devices began to emerge based on cabins held by hemp ropes that worked by human effort or by different animal species. Little by little they diversified and perfected. It has been established that the traction of the old elevator was based on the mechanism of the cranes.
Around 1850, with the help of Henry Waterman , the initial prototype of the freight elevator came to light, a platform that, articulated to a cable, made it possible to raise and lower people and merchandise.
From manual doors we moved to automatic doors . The technology, design and system used in each of these devices contributed to the diversification and multiplication of elevators worldwide.
Key elements of an elevator
Today several key elements of an elevator are recognized.
First of all, this system requires having a cabin (under which there is an empty area recognized as the elevator pit ), a counterweight (where a braking system is usually also installed) and a motor . In order to allow a user or passenger to indicate their destination floor to be taken there, the installation and proper functioning of a button panel is required.
In the case of the electrodynamic elevator , specifically, a tractor group is required that consists of a motor that is assembled with a speed reducer and has a grooved pulley .
The so-called parachute system is necessary to stop descents (and, in the modern elevator, also ascents) when the apparatus moves at a speed that exceeds the permitted limit.
Many decades ago the presence and activity of the elevator operator was essential, but the automation of the control system made this human work focused on elevator management put aside.
The elevator panel reserves one button for each floor, in addition to including other options for passenger safety.
Security measures
Elevators , in order to be and be authorized by control organizations, must have a series of safety measures .
Although there is always a minimal chance of failures or accidents, today there are a large number of tools and resources to minimize inconveniences or dangers .
An electromechanical interlock , for example, prevents access distributed on the rest of the floors from being opened, with the exception of the door corresponding to the level where the unit is stopped.
The speed limiters , the load weighing system, the devices for an emergency stop , the system of levers intended to brake the car if the expected speed is exceeded, the bell reserved for extreme situations that require assistance (or elevator alarm ) and emergency lighting also contribute to making elevators as safe and reliable as possible.
Of course, technology alone is not enough: it is mandatory and imperative to have qualified personnel who are frequently in charge of elevator maintenance .
Although each elevator has exclusive characteristics, issues such as lighting and the placement of a mirror, for example, are always considered in the design of elevators.
Elevator classes
When reviewing the history of elevators and learning how this type of transportation system evolved, we notice the existence of a significant variety of types of elevators .
The mechanism by which people got on and off a moving elevator made up of two cabins, to describe one possibility, is typical of the so-called paternoster elevator , which was eclipsed by the emergence (far away and long ago) of the widely used escalators.
Although no person should have difficulties accessing and using these devices, the truth is that elevators for the disabled are not abundant in all areas. Accessibility is inevitably present in the vast majority of health centers, where the installation of lifting platforms of specific measurements and, at least, one elevator for wheelchairs is imperative.
Of course, the design of a hospital elevator brings together particularities that differentiate it from a library elevator , to cite a reference. Nor are they the same as the fire elevator that is placed with the purpose of facilitating the work of firefighters in case they have to make an emergency evacuation (especially if it is a skyscraper ) or the resistant ship elevator .
Before concluding the list of elevators, it is worth highlighting the fantastic and impressive experience that every panoramic elevator offers if the view it offers is wonderful and/or the device reaches a great height .