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Comment by jjgreen | Hacker News Reader

Terrific things, there is one at the University in Sheffield. At the start of each academic year, freshers dare each-other to "go around the bottom" to the extent that there are stern warnings posted about this unbalancing the mechanism and leading to it stopping working (I'm pretty sure that's not true).

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We have two functional paternosters in my hometown and you can easily drive around the clock in them. There are warning signs, but once you miss the last stop there are another signs that tell you not to panic.

Reminds me about an elevator in a hotel in LA, around ~2008. The hotel and the elevator made the distinct impression of being about a century old. Maybe it even said so in the brochure.

In the elevator there was a plaquate(?) wich said something like in case of an emergency, don't panic. I mean, in which cases are we supposed to panic then?

It's fine to panic in safe situations.

Essex has (had?) one too, with the warning/invitation: "Overtravel in lift is not dangerous, but not recommended."

As I remember it, it said "overtravel through the loft and sump ...". Overtravel through the sump was somehow a lot less appealing than through the loft.

"Overtravel in lift is not fun" would probably make a better deterrent.

We routinely over traveled in the paternoster in the Lecture theatres at the Uni of Leeds in the 1980s. If you were on the top floor the queues to go down could be very long so it was faster to go up and over and effectively jump the queu.

Never saw any injuries, incidentally

One of my highest rated comments on reddit is about cutting the queue to go down from the top floor of a high-rise building by walking down the stairs to the floor below and requesting an elevator up.

Here is a segment that The One Show did on the University in Sheffield one, for anyone who is interested in seeing it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAjYAfb_HPk

My mother visited my sister at Sheffield University years ago and accidentally ended up going over the top-of course it was fine but it somehow took her by surprise and she mentions it every time the topic of Sheffield comes up.

'accidentally'

Like, there's no problem with going around the top. At Sheffield, the mechanics are all hidden away enough that the risk of catching something is fairly low. These areas became a site of illicit advertisements. Some of the best raves were publicised with posters over the top, for example.

The bigger risk is that the lift stops while you're in the top. Even then, it usually gets going within 20 minutes.

20 minutes ? wow, that's quite a long time to spend in such a small place and if you are outside the normal zone

I think the warning is more to discourage people from using the other direction as a shortcut.

That, and the huge chain wheels at the ends are even more dangerous to get things stuck in.

Going in the wrong direction is never a shortcut. It could be used to avoid waiting for an empty car.

Hence, a shortcut.

Shout out to the arts tower at Uni Sheffield, the first place I ever saw one of these!

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