A paternoster is a continuous loop elevator with open compartments that briefly line up with floor openings for passengers to enter or exit. It was popular for its efficiency but had safety concerns and was difficult for some users. It combined the concepts of an escalator and elevator.
A paternoster is a type of elevator, consisting of a series of compartments, connected to each other, which rotate continuously in a ring. The compartments are open, and the paternoster is designed so that as the compartments pass each floor of a building, they briefly line up with an opening that allows passengers to enter or exit the compartments. Where a paternoster is installed, each floor will have two openings, one for ascending rooms and the other for descending rooms. In a sense, it combines the concepts of an escalator and an elevator.
Also known as the cyclic lift, the paternoster was first built by a British engineer in London in the late 19th century. This type of elevator was popular at one time because it allowed for more efficient transportation of passengers than a typical elevator, even though each compartment was usually quite small and only able to accommodate two people. The continuous looping of multiple compartments meant that if you missed a compartment, you only had to wait a few seconds for the next one instead of waiting much longer for a traditional elevator car, which could take up to several minutes, depending on how far it had to to travel and the number of stops made along the way.
This type of elevator had other advantages over traditional elevators. The open compartments meant that no buttons had to be pressed to open or close the doors. Buttons were not needed for certain floors, as the occupants merely stepped off the paternoster when the desired destination was reached. The compartments moved rather slowly so that passengers had time to get on and off, but even though they moved slower than a typical elevator, the time saved by the other design features of the paternoster made the journey between them much faster on average. floors.
However, due to safety concerns, the paternoster never achieved the popularity of traditional elevators. Open shafts could be dangerous, as people could be trapped between the shaft and the floors of the building. An inexperienced paternoster user has often had difficulty adjusting to its use at first, and many people have been injured. Elderly, disabled and very young passengers were more often the ones who experienced difficulties. Fatalities have sometimes occurred as people were crushed by moving compartments, and today, while there are still some paternosters in service, especially in Europe, many have been mothballed or replaced by traditional elevators.
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