Hacker News Reader

Comment by Someone | Hacker News Reader

That page got me to https://www.humphrey-manlift.com/belt-manlift/

It surprises me that, apparently, you can still buy these. They look too risky to me for modern risk-averse society (what if personnel carries a ruck sack? Is too voluminous to fit through that floor hole?)

View on HN

Thought the exact thing the first time I saw one in a Chicago full service parking garage. And they had very stern signs about being for employees only. So ya that’s likely how they solve the liability problem. But man they looked really cool. So wanted to try it out ;)

Funny, that’s the one and only place I’ve seen one as well (it was 35 years ago, on the Gold Coast just north of downtown...). I was just gearing up to post about this when I saw your post.

I don’t really see that as much more dangerous than various other forms of heavy equipment - think bucket trucks and those forklift attachments that turn them into bucket trucks - vs climbing a power pole.

I assume this is addressed by only having them accessible for trained personnel vs. the general public. It could also be solved by having a pressure sensitive, breakaway panel that stops the lift (triggers one stopping distance before a hard edge is reached).

My dad told me about those, in the factory where he worked. He said that once a guy put his tool caddy on the platform, the guy at the top forgot to take it off for him, and the whole place was raining tools.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com