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Technology Science

Vacuum-Controlled Elevator Developed 313

Posted by CowboyNeal from the tube-technology-arrives dept.
Aenox writes "Vacuum Elevators of Florida have released a one-man elevator system that easily slots into buildings. It has gone on sale in the U.S. for around $20,000 and uses only electricity to power vaccum-inducing suction turbines that can lift 204Kg several floors up. They claim it provides a smooth ride but from the video it looks like it could use some oil."
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Vacuum-Controlled Elevator Developed More

Vacuum-Controlled Elevator Developed

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  • Failsafes (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BWJones ( 18351 ) * on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:06PM (#12462399) Homepage Journal
    But O'Connor adds that a series of mechanical breaks will activate should there be a sudden loss of pressure, to prevent the capsule falling.

    I'm glad to see this because this was my first thought on watching the video. I can imagine all sorts of overly dramatic Hollywood type scenarios...... Cut the power to the building.....drama ensues. Or, a couple of well placed bullets into the side of the plexiglas causing a sudden implosion and dramatic falling of the lift. Also, one would want to ensure there are no leaks from the capsule to the inside of the lift tube. That sort of thing could play havoc on your eardrums, sinuses and eustachian tubes. Ask anyone who has been in a plane when they open a cargo door before completely equalizing the pressure in the cabin...... Wow, talk about uncomfortable.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:24PM (#12462516)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Ask anyone who has been in a plane when they open a cargo door before completely equalizing the pressure in the cabin......

      Usually there aren't too many survivors after such an event, so I doubt anyone here has actually had the opportunity to ask such a question.

      It's like asking someone what a successful suicide feels like.

      • Re:Failsafes (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @01:19PM (#12462800)
        Actually, depressurisation events are fairly common, as incidents go, and very survivable. United Airlines flight 811 suffered one of the worst when the front righthand cargo door opened in flight due to faulty wiring and none functional safety devices on it, at 23,000ft. The resulting depressurisation blew out most of the right hand side of the cabin before the wing and ejected a number of passengers. The aircraft landed safely. Funnily enough, this was the fourth instance of this happening, and Boeing hadnt even looked at the problem.

        • Re:Failsafes - image links, etc (Score:4, Informative)

          by loraksus ( 171574 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @02:09PM (#12463048) Homepage
          A rather low resolution image is
          Here [demon.co.uk]
          Probably a better example is Aloha Airlines flight 243, which looked a whole shitload worse.
          Check out the picture on page 2 [aloha.net]
          Only one fatality, which is kind of amazing if you look at the pictures (flight attendant blown out).

        • Re:Failsafes (Score:3, Interesting)

          by StarsAreAlsoFire ( 738726 )
          The survivability would be related to the fact that the explosions tend to happen on the way up or down; as opposed to while at cruising altitude.

          You don't live if you have explosive decomp at 40K feet. If there is a slow drop to ambient, maybe -- like a cargo door cracking open but not flying off. You will, however, pass out VERY quickly, so it isn't like you will care for long ;~)

          But hey! If you manage to get your ox mask and stay concious, the pure O2 will help pacify you anyway! Good to go either way

    • Bullets won't be much a problem. The glass in this thing is the same thing they make bullet proof glass out of. Maybe not as thick, but it should still be enough. Even if not, this stuff won't shatter like glass, so the leak won't be as sudden.

  • Editor desperately needed at NewScientist.com (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:06PM (#12462402)

    Does NewScientist.com have editors?

    Call me picky, but if you're doing a professional publication, there are some standards you ought to uphold.

    But O'Connor adds that a series of mechanical breaks will activate should there be a sudden loss of pressure, to prevent the capsule falling.

    Well. this certainly doesn't sound promising. I would think that in the event of a sudden loss of pressure, the elevator would 'break' quite satisfactorily on its own, without the need for additional mechanical help.

    The elevator costs between $20,000 and £22,000.

    That's actually quite a large price range, once you figure out the exchange rate.

    Clearly someone over at NewScientist.com is asleep at the switch. The sad fact is that this is nothing new....even sadder is the fact that this sort of thing is now acceptable, even in professional publications.

    • Re:Editor desperately needed at NewScientist.com (Score:5, Funny)

      by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:20PM (#12462487)
      But O'Connor adds that a series of mechanical breaks will activate should there be a sudden loss of pressure, to prevent the capsule falling.

      This statement is actually correct. In the event of a sudden loss of pressure mechanical arms break some of the passengers limbs and jam them into the sides of the elevator to prevent the elevator from falling, so technically they are mechanical break brakes.
    • Clearly someone over at NewScientist.com is asleep at the switch.

      I wasn't sleeping! I was drunk!

    • Looks like somebody didn't know about the Slashdot editor exchange program.

    • Re:Editor desperately needed at NewScientist.com (Score:4, Funny)

      by fdobbie ( 226067 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @05:15PM (#12464028) Homepage
      Does NewScientist.com have editors?

      If this upsets you, why are you reading Slashdot?!

  • Not too expensive... (Score:5, Funny)

    by seanadams.com ( 463190 ) * on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:06PM (#12462405) Homepage
    The elevator costs between $20,000 and £22,000.
    Sweet. My new Prius gets between 812448 RPH and 48 MPG. I think I've saved enough on gas to get one of these...

  • Vacuum Elevators? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Agret ( 752467 ) <alias DOT zero2097 AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:07PM (#12462407) Homepage Journal
    Futurama here we come!

  • It's like... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:09PM (#12462418)
    the world's largest penis pump. Good grief, I can't believe I just said that.

  • The future makes me shiver... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:09PM (#12462421)
    Mr. Johnson : WHere are the annual reports, Rick ?
    Rick : I think Richard Harrelson has them.
    Mr. Johnson : Get Richard in here NOW !

    Zoooooooof - plop

  • Something I noticed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by TheLink ( 130905 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:10PM (#12462425) Journal
    It seems there's no shield between the occupant and the sides of the stationary tube.

    If that is true there could be risks if stuff (like clothing) gets caught at the wrong places... Not very high I suppose - it's just like using an escalator - if you careless/stupid enough to get something caught you better hope it rips rather than you rip...

  • For Us Americans... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Doc Squidly ( 720087 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:12PM (#12462432)
    ... 204 Kg = ~450 lbs

  • Unfortunately at 204kg load capacity (Score:5, Funny)

    by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:15PM (#12462452)
    There are only 96 people in the US that it can actually lift....

    oops make that 74, McDonalds are doing an all you can eat special today.

  • 204Kg? Rules out some markets (Score:3, Insightful)

    by otisg ( 92803 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:16PM (#12462463) Homepage Journal
    Use your imagination... sad, but true.
  • Working videos (for now) here:
    http://www.vacuumelevators.com/video.htm [vacuumelevators.com]

  • Huh? Wha? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Skudd ( 770222 )
    An elevator that is sucked up a tube... I can feel my ears popping just thinking about it.
  • Next time when you post link to a video, can you point it to Coral Cache [coralcdn.org] instead? It makes the link available to more readers and makes the webmaster there happier.

    • Dear pikine,

      We editors no longer even care about Slashdot, much less some other site we link to. So shut up and buy a subscription.

      Love,
      Cowboyneal

  • These people are missing the main market. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by BrianH ( 13460 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:25PM (#12462518)
    The primary market for residential elevators is for the elderly and wheelchair bound. From what I can see, this elevator isn't stable or safe enough for a frail elderly person, and it isn't large enough to fit a wheelchair or scooter.

    So the only market for this thing is going to be for rich people who'd rather blow money on a toy than take the stairs. While I'm sure there's a market for that, it's not going to be a big one.
    • I was thinking the exact same thing. This thing would be killer at museums and other open floors. It seems portable enough to just rent one or two to install in cases of increased traffic at certain venues.
    • You know, there are people who have knee and joint issues that this thing would be an absolute boon too. Stairs can also be killer on many people with back problems.
    • Two- or three-floor versions are currently available, and the company is now developing a four-floor system and another that can accommodate a wheelchair.

      Wheelchair support coming in a future patch!
    • You're absolutely correct. One of the major trends right now in urban housing is for a developer to buy up a small section of older 1-story homes in a decent part of a downtown area, then knock those homes down and replace them with 4-story townhomes. Most of these townhomes are ~2,500 sq. ft. affairs, but the number of stairs has got to affect their ability to sell.

      During my time working for astructured wiring subcontractor, I saw several of these places setup with small elevators, but the numbers I usu

  • Video mirror (Score:2, Informative)

    by sucker_muts ( 776572 )
    Mirrordot mirror for the video mentioned:
    http://mirrordot.org/stories/9c88d25a2a2d153850db4 8a61bc5c74f/Elevator1.mpeg [mirrordot.org]
  • I reckon the intent putting classical music in the video is to distract customers of the sound of the pumps? Found it nowhere on their page.

    I certainly do not want a 120dB monster of an elevator in my home/business/whatever.
  • And you gets a turbolift!

  • My Uncle made an elevator (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    for my Grandmother whose mobility was starting to wane. It was powered by water pressure (from a regular tap (faucet)) on the way up with a valve controlling the water release for a smooth ride down. I have always wondered how it was able to provide enough lift (it still puzzles me today). Regular water pressure? I must take my camera next time I venture there. He's a metal-worker by trade (specifically I'm not sure) so the quality of the structure is first class.

    • Re:My Uncle made an elevator (Score:5, Informative)

      by bluGill ( 862 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @01:14PM (#12462775)

      Simple physics. Your water pressure it between 20 and 60psi. (Anything higher will break hoses) City water is generally on the high end because cities have to reach the upper floors of houses on top of hills, and regulators are a lot each to install and maintain than pumps. Well water is often on the low end because you set it for what you need.

      20 psi means that if you have a tube with a piston with one square inch of surface area, the piston will hold up 20lbs. A little math and you can find how big a piston you need to lift the weight (Not mass, we care about fighting gravity) you are concerned about. Now just place the piston in a tube long enough, and apply water. It will lift your elevator.

      The hard part is making this without digging a hold DOWN 2 stories to place your tube in. There are many solutions to this, they are left as an exercise for the reader.

  • I don't get it ... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Lemurmania ( 846869 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:31PM (#12462554)
    SOmething's really odd here -- the people who would most need this are folks who are in wheelchairs. And yet the tube is clearly too narrow for any sort of handicapped person. Why invent a freaking elevator for the people who don't need one? Do they have a handicapped version? Looking at the size of the capsule, I doubt a person with arm braces could fit in there. It seems really cruel to make an easy-to-install elevator that won't fit the people who need it.
    • Did you RTFA? Right in there they say they're developing a 4-floor version and a wheelchair-capable version.
    • It's easy to make and install only because the cylinder sections fit through a standard doorway. If the cylinder is made big enough for a wheelchair, the sections become too big to get into most houses.

      They're planning a larger version, but it will usually be installed in new houses during construction.

      Residential elevators [elevette.com] have been around for years, but they require more on-premises assembly and customization.

  • Hm... (Score:3, Funny)

    by TrevorB ( 57780 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:35PM (#12462565) Homepage
    They claim it provides a smooth ride but from the video it looks like it could use some oil

    Hmm I guess this elevator really sucks then...

    Thanks, I'm here until Wednesday, try the veal!
  • is a bad idea because it is already Slashed. Perhaps submitters should reward those who actually read the article by not including the video in the description. Not to whore, but here is the mirrordot mirror of the video. [mirrordot.org] It is pretty slow moving, but the ride looks really smooth.

  • Only electricity? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by conteXXt ( 249905 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:48PM (#12462630)
    news flash:

    elevators don't run on guinea pig droppings. All modern elevators (excepting perhaps the Space Elevator) run on ONLY electricty.

    Did I miss something here?
  • What happens if you open the door when the elevator is not on that floor? It looks like it would open right up. If that is the case, what would happen if you opened the door, and by accident dropped something into the tube? Would it get sucked up by the fan and blow out the system? Do the doors lock when the capsule isn't on that floor? (sorry for two posts in two minutes; my friend and I just got to discussing this sweet contraption)

  • CowboyNEAL is a THIEF!!! :) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by roman_mir ( 125474 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @12:50PM (#12462643) Homepage Journal
    He stole my story I tried to post yesterday, and I had a better tag line too:

    2005-05-06 18:01:29 Elevator from Futurama! (Hardware,Technology) (rejected)

    and a better description.

    This elevator comes in 2 modes: 2 floor mode and a 3 floor mode. It is easy to install, you only need to make a round hole in the floor/ceiling and put the round tube-shaft through it. It works by pumping the air out of the tube from the top (a pump generates 87dBA of noise,) and since the pressure underneath the cabin stays the same, the cabin goes up.

    Safety is guaranteed by a mechanical lock that stops the cabin dead in case if pressure under the cabin becomes weaker than the pressure from above. On the other hand if electricity cut off from the pump, the cabin wouldn't get stuck between the floors, it would slide down slowly due to slow pressure venting.

    There is a clever cabin ventilation scheme...

    anyway, this thing looks a lot like the mode of transportation used in Futurama and my last sentence was:

    Now I wish someone came up with an american favorite Suicide Booth, then my day would be complete.

  • ... of those things at the bank drive-up window that suck your money away?

  • well that sounds... (Score:3, Funny)

    by jayloden ( 806185 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @01:06PM (#12462726)
    ...like it would really suck.

  • Poor Design (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fluffy99 ( 870997 )

    While still a clever design, this is a giant step backwards because it does not provide positive position control. Vacumn just provides a force, not a means of controlling position. From the video it looked like he had to tweak the elevator position before he could open the door.

    As for opening the door above the car while it's running, remember there is a vacumn holding the door shut with at least a few hundred lbf.

  • Why do they use a vacuum instead of pressure? I can imagine that due to the round shape it is better to have a higher outside pressure instead of a low one (to distribute the force), but this should not be a technological problem (use stronger glass, reinforce...). Creating a vacuum sounds more difficult to me than creating pressure. On top of this, pressure can lift any load, while vacuum is restricted to the atmospheric pressure times the surface area of the floor.

  • Does vacuum seem an odd choice? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by lazlo ( 15906 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @01:43PM (#12462924) Homepage
    It would seem to me that there's a limit to the amount of vacuum you can get above an elevator, but no limit in the pressure you could generate below it. I mean, if the elevator is 4 feet across, then the absolute theoretical limit of wieght that could be pulled up by suction (assuming standard sea-level pressure) would be...

    interesting. Google can't parse:

    (pi * ((inches in 1 foot * 2)^2) * psi in 1 atm) / lbs in 1 ton

    but substituting in values, you get:

    (pi * ((12 * 2)^2) * 14.6959488) / 2000 = 13.2965812

    OK. I guess that's not so very strange after all. In a 4 foot wide elevator, you can lift 13 tons with a hard vacuum above it. Damn. 15psi sure does add up quick.

  • You cant dig down in florida! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by apg88 ( 857318 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @02:28PM (#12463152) Homepage
    This company is from florida. As someone else stated before, a piston elevator would need a hole as deep as the elevator is high. When you are in florida, if you dig down, water comes out. This elevator is good for homes that cant dig for a pneumatic piston and cant have a huge pulley system to pull the elevator. They'll probably use it for two floor hotel suites and things like that.

  • Not handicapped accessible and other problems (Score:3, Interesting)

    by whitis ( 310873 ) on Saturday May 07, 2005 @09:44PM (#12465289) Homepage

    This elevator looks too small to accomodate a wheel chair. So, the only people who can use it are those who don't need it.

    For the price of this elevator, you could install a full size elevator. I have used one elevator that I am told cost $30,000 to install and that included boring a vertical shaft and horizontal tunnel through the side of a mountain. For considerably less cost, you could build a single person elevator.

    They claim that the elevator saves energy because it uses gravity on the descent. What they don't tell you is that it uses more than twice as much energy on the way up as a similarly sized elevator using the conventional counterweight design. A counterweight elevator only has to raise the weight of the occupants since the weight of the car is balanced out by the counterweight. Indeed, the counterweight might be as much as the weight of the car plus maximum occupancy load, in which case the elevator needs to use power to lower the car and only needs to release the brakes and overcome friction to raise. Futher, the inefficency of the vacuum pump could be considerable.

    A hydraulic elevator of the size shown could also have been constructed using a cable or chain over a piston that travels half the distance as the elevator car (same design as used on many forklifts). This would be simpler, more reliable, and avoid the dynamic load problem described below. The design could be as compact and "portable" as the vacuum elevator.

    Vacuum induced lift is a constant force rather than constant displacement technology. This is a very serious problem. When you step off the car, you can expect it to spring upwards. They probably hide this serious problem by making an elevator that can only serve two floors. At the top floor, you drive into a hard stop. At the bottom floor, you do not allow the door to open until the vacuum cylinder is fully vented. On a multifloor design, you could have a mechanical lock that engages before the door opens but then when the lock released there would be a sudden jolt if the passenger was not the same weight as the previous passenger (if any).

    The large seals required and the fact that they must operate past doorways (unlike a hydraulic lift) will lead to significant maintenence problems.

    This product looks to be pure gimmick. The technology used and other aspects of the design are totally inappropriate to the task.

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