To ask what the lift is called?

[Downunderduchess]

Putting this here, because I don’t know what subject it should come under. I was fascinated with a recent thread where several people mentioned a particular type of lift. I had never heard of it before, definitely don’t think we have them in Australia. The lift goes around a track & you jump out at your floor. What is it called please?? I want to tell someone about it & would like to know it’s correct name. Thanks!

See the wiki link PP posted. Seems like injuries were few but fatal. Slightly dissapointe to see that my university got rid of one a few years before I started.

No no no no no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't be seen dead in one of those things. I have a fear of lifts anyway, but one of them? No thanks very much. I'd walk up 17 flights of stairs first.

PLEASE STOP putting down mugs of coffee/tea on the paternoster

Ha ha! I've got a vision of the office newbie putting their mug down and five minutes later wondering where on earth it's gone.

Lol. I knew this would be a paternoster. I work in a building with one.

They need a hell of a lot of maintenance so it's out of order frequently, and people have no idea how to use it.

Novelty wears off very quickly.

I used one regularly back in the day when at uni. Initially scared the pants off me but you do get used to them. They go rather slowly, which is a blessing.

My mum and her mates used to go over the top on the Sheffield Uni one and come back down doing handstands.

Ah happy memories... my department was on the top floor of the Attenborough tower at Leicester university. Sad to hear it's gone.

It was a very practical way of going up and down as the tower is very tall and thin, so not much room for lifts (there was one when I was there, maybe more now). I swear you could feel the tower moving in a strong wind!

Now having massive urge to get a wooden floor tube whilst smoking hop onto the back of a double decker (in heavy traffic obvs) on my way to a paternoster.
Living the dream.
Living my youth !

Maybe also slamming the old grille doors at aldwych tube somewhere along the way and an old slam door train with heavy bag in the net ‘shelf’ just to complete the joy.

@TheMemoryLingers it was a lively and active office (at least our floor was as we were the publishing and marketing on the 14th floor) so people often moving around, chatting, stopping in different areas. I think it most often happened when someone went over to the post area to post something but had to sort out an internal mail envelope etc. so popped their coffee down for a sec and then 'poof' it was gone.

Whenever anyone would say "does anybody know where I've put my coffee/tea" somebody would always reply "When did you last post anything?"

More than once I managed to rescue a mug from the paternoster on it's way up. occasionally my own or a colleagues I noticed before it was out of site but more often than not it was just a random drink passing through our floor on it's adventure.

There was one in the old library at Birmingham Uni. I never used it as I only went into the library once in the three years I was there. Also one in the Muirhead Tower, but that was Arts so another place that I didn’t visit much.

There's one at Northwick Park Hospital, I took a photo, but it's only for staff :(

I took a journalism exam at Sheffield although I wasn’t a student there. Me and my group had regular students act as minders to us for the bloody lifts, ie to pull us out of them and push us into them at the right time.
It was stressed to us that we MUST get out at the top floor as they turned over.
I’ve since wondered, did they really? I suppose they must have...unless they just shuffled across horizontally somehow to the downwards side.

@Papergirl1968 they were having you on !!

Also went to Sheffield, used it on a daily basis. I was terrified at first but went over the top and under the bottom, woohoo what a thrillseeker . Should have put more effort into my degree.

Yeah, Posey I just watched the video and realised how gullible we were!

Would have been funny to see everyone coming down upside down though !

Yep

Like Fred Astaire. ‘Dancing on the ceiling’.

My dad took me to Sheffield for a uni open day, must have been nearly 20 years ago and we spent ages playing on the paternoster. We had to fudge the questions my mum asked when we got back about the department and lecturers etc.

What a great thread ! Who’d have thought.
Lift life.

Now this is why I keep coming on MN after over 10 years. Something else I never knew 😁. Never had these in my small NZ town (2 storeys was a novelty) but we did have the Foyles-esque invoice/receipt tubes. Happy days.

@Papergirl1968 the graphic at the beginning of this wiki page may allay your fears.

I’ve never seen such a thing before. They terrify me though.....

Thank you, Bike, that is reassuring (till you read the section on safety underneath!)