Mitsubishi's elevator-testing tower
Mitsubishi has erected a tall, skinny, hollow tower filled with elevator shafts for testing high-speed lifts:
Link (Thanks, Geoff!)The 173m-high (567ft) structure is called Solae and dominates the skyline of Inazawa City...
The 5bn-yen ($50m;£25m) project will allow Mitsubishi to test new drives, gears, cables and other lift systems.
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Just staring at the picture, I am almost waiting for a Great Glass Elevator to come bursting out of the top. Then again, this building wouldn't be very good for testing elevators that also go sideways.
Schindler, ThyssenKrupp and all the major manufacturers have test towers, with some being located in the United States to facilitate witnessing of new types of safeties that have been designed in towers like these so they can be proven before they are allowed to be put to the real test. (i.e., Carrying real human passengers.) From a purely mechanical standpoint, these are super interesting structures to be inside if you are at all a mechanical person and love to see how things work. There is little more to enjoy in your job that seeing new things and approving them for the public.
(I'm an Elevator Inspector for the State of PA.)
The elevators that go sideways are sulking in the basement.
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The tallest elevator test tower in the U.S. is the Otis' test tower Bristol, CT, though it is only 29 stories/117 meters tall.
I don't have much more to add other than that the Otis tower looks out of place in otherwise fairly flat Bristol.
That would require some sort of elevator testing pyramid structure. But what about the elevators that go nowhere?
"World's Largest Wiimote"
Back in 1978 The Express Lift Tower was built in Northampton UK, 127M (418ft) tall and opened in 1982 by the Queen. Its not been in use since 1997 when Otis took over. Despite being disused (AFAIK), its now a grade II listed building. http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/360/tower.shtml
For fifty million dollars, they damn well better be working on anti-gravity!
I'd love to see the kanji for this. The name "Solae" probably means "to(wards) the sky". It seems kind of self-evident, but in Japanese it's pretty elegant.
#2 that is spot on. I was involved in the construction phase of the Sears Tower and had access to the small lift that ran all the way to the roof. It had construction plywood for the cage and wandered around a bit in it's shaft. I was granted access to the pulley room and saw a hidden world of engineering skills. When you think about the millions of opportunities elevators have had to screw up, and their safety record, we all owe You a debt of thanks for Your work.
Will they take the opportunity to plant a circular garden around it and also have the world's largest sundial?
I was speeding by this thing on the shinkansen the other day and I really wanted more info about it...only I went by too fast to read the sign and see who the company was! Thanks BoingBoing! Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.
Sebastien: Quite right. Solae (sora-e) = 空へ, meaning "skyward".
I believe there are a few more elevator test towers you can see while riding the Kantou Shinkansen.
zagabog@7:
I'm glad someone mentioned the Northampton Lighthouse (the joke being that Northampton is about as far inland as it's possible to be in Great Britain). I lived in Milton Keynes in the mid 90s and would happily point out the lighthouse to people when going to Northampton. I didn't know that it had only been built in 1982 though.
Location for Die Hard 5? :)
Nice. I like this better than just about any flashy new skyscraper design I've seen for years. They should build another for their corporate offices in some downtown!
My Grandad worked at the northampton testing facility. I remember the photo of him in the paper meeting the queen when she opened the tower.
Ironically I am currently writing a dissertation on elevator technology, looking into future systems. Why has this new tower got no sideways bits? Maybe there is no call for horizontal action. I'm guessing they have a vertical linear motor in there, or could it be that they are continuing with the roped and counterweighted system, and perfecting that??
Does anyone know of any new elevatoring technology that might be of use to me?