The record-union., 1892-05-09
SPEED OF ELEVATORS.
Where the Largest and Best Elevators
are Located.


The maximum speed of the fastest pas
senger elevators which have ever been
built is l,500 feet minute, rate of one
mile in three minutes ana fraction
| Before the fire in the Western Union
| building occurred that company had a
machine which could run I,500 feet a
| minute. 1t was the only one of the kind
! in the East. Thomas Il. Brown, Jr., a
| consulting engineer Of this city, thinks it
| possible there are few of equal speed in
| the West. These machines are OF the
water balance type that of the original
hydraulic elevator, the invention OF Cy-
| rus Baldwin. Owing to its expensive
ness, and the fact that it could not be
controlled automatically, it went out of
| use. The speed was regulated by the en-
glneer, and 1t went last or slow, as he
pleased. With the modern elevator al
| most any speed desired can be obtained;
it all depends on the power used and the
distance travelled. In building which
has shaft of 250 feet, speed of from $50
to LOCO feet a minute can be obtained.
On a rise of $50 feet it is easy to get a
speed of 750 feet per minute with a weight
Of ZOO pounds aboard the elevator.
In New York the fastest elevators are
in the Union Trust Company's building
on Broadway, near Wall street. They
shoot up or down, carrying 5000 pounds,
at speed of 600 feet minute. When
tested with lighter weights they have
travelled from $50 to 900 feet in minute
But the average speed of elevators in Of
flee buildings in and around New York
is 800 feet minute. 1t is best adapted for
work, and experience has demonstrated
that more passengers can be carried daily
in car going at that speed in the Ordi-
nary large building than any other. The
increase in the size of elevators is in
keeping with Improvement in other di-
rections.
The largest passenger cars in the world
are those now in course of construction at
Weehawken. These elevators, of which
there are three, are designed to carry I35
persons on each trip, and are equivalent
to ten tons. They will be owned by the
North Hudson County Railway Com
pany. a Vladuct S75 feet in length has
been built out from the Palisades to a
point above the ferry depot. From the
rails on the viaduct to the river level the
distance is $50 feet. An elevator shaft of
that extent is now building, and passen-
gers who cross the ferry will be trans
ferred to the elevators and thence to the
strains, instead OF ascending the Palisades
by the inclined railway, as heretofore.
The railroad company's contract calls for
a speed of 200 feet a minute, but, as a mat
ter of fact, the cars will be capable of 90
ing much faster. Each elevator will he
worked by 200 horsepower. The entire
pJdIlL Will CDSI SoUSuOU.
Elevators are gaining favor in private
houses. The common elevators Of small
business buildings are worth at least
5000. From that they range up to Sl3.
900 in the same class OF buildings. The
American elevators in the Ethel Tower
| were costly affairs. They are somewhat
| similar TO those now constructing at
| WeehaWken, but have not the same lift
| ing capacity. The journey to the highest
| platform, a distance of more than 900 feet
| is done by three elevators. The longest
run of any of them is 420 feet Each
can carry fifty persons. These elevators
are remarkable because they do not 90
up in a straight line. Starting at an in
| cline of "a degrees, they run for dis
tance of 259 feet, then around a vertical
| curve of 90 feet radius, and then at an in
cline averaging about IS degrees.
From an elevated point OF view the new
Masonic Temple building in Chicago will
be the most important in the world. 1t
will have tweDty-four cars built in q cir
cular shaft having 250-foot rise. There
| VIII be express elevators, way and freight
trains. The first will go to the top floor
without stopping, while the others will
| stop either at every noor, or at the fifth.
| tenth, fifteenth, and so on Thew will
not run at full speed, probably because
passengers do not like the sensation of
| flying. With the present safety devices
it is just as safe 10 run fast as it is
| to run slow. Accidents are few. and are
| invariably due to negligence on the part
! Of the elevator attendants or the passen-
gers. When accidents do happen. it is
usually a case of the car catching persons
as they step on or OF. Passengers fire.
quently try to board car after It starts.
with the result that if caught by the ele-
vator between the car and the floor or the
ceiling they are killed in nine out of ter
cases.-Chicago Journal OF Commerce.
The Prohibition party has over 3f