The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-07
CLUTCH WORKED.
LICK IN AN ELEVAToR ACCIDENT IN
THE ROWLING GREEN

Heavily Loaded Car set Going At TOP Hpeoa
by the Attendant soon Reached tue DANGER
Rate and tho snrcty Clutches stopped u
short-One Man Was Painfully Injured
As tho result of an accident to one OF the rast
running elevators in tho big bowling Sreen
building yesterday afternoon John scahlon OF
10 West Nineticth street suffered a complete
dislocation Of one OF his knees, and several
others who were follow passengers with scan
Ion were tossed about like peas In a rattle, and
got various punches and pokes from ono an
others elbows and shoulders.
The accident was one OF tho kind in which
ovcrybody who frcquents sky.scraping buildings,
or who uses elevators, may expect at some time
TO DO caught, but although it was very start
ling 10 those who we're caught by it or who saw
A., it was not OF a character TO create a panic
against elevators. Those who were in the elo-
yator at tho time thought 1t had fallen several
stories before they found themselves brought to
q sudden stop at about the level OF the NTH
floor. Some of them thought they had actually
fallen eight stories from the thirteenth floor.
There is room in the Bowling Green building
for a much greater fall than this, for, besides
being the biggest office building In New 1orR, IL
Is seventeen stories tall.
1t has a bank of fast elevators reaching along
the north wall At about 10 o 'iocE ges sUSr
the one %fnrthcst TO the west, was run to the top
floor by John Il. Campbell, the young man in
charge of ii. and presently 1t was started down
ward. AT the sixteenth floor five men got in.
Some OF these were mechanics employed about
f hM%s,n building 1,o and tt the 'So o bnfI5in were teh ahe ibi or
teenth floor another stop was made, and three
pore men got in. One Of these was MIR. Scan
and weighing more than $50 pounds. There
were several other big men in the elevator, and
erage load. 10 this fact Nir. Charles k. Bin,
the superintendent of the building, and Mr..
Otis Of Otis Brothers, the makers of the eleva-
tors, attribute what followed.
Campbell, the operator, either did not note
the size of his passengers. or did not realize what
this meant, and he threw the valve which. con.
trolls the movement of the car wide open, and
let 1t down at full speed. The extra weight in
the car added TO the speed. and BY tho time the
car got to the sixth floor, instead OF going at the
rate of 800 feet a minute, 1t had reached 600
feet and started the safety governor at the top
rope. which, drawing tight, set the safety
clutches under the car, and at the fifth floor the
s sSF T Iasds brought %H a s to q stop nl0P so "s sud sS e a as sb IL K
at that speed is about equivalent to that of u
clear fall of five feet.
The passengers were. jostlcd against each
other and thrown into the corners and against
the sides Of the car. but none fell. When they
got out all of them were able to walk. but a
moment later Mr.. Scanlon clappcd a hand to
his leg and cola psed. \ couch was brought
out of an adjoining office and he rested upon
this until all ambulance arrived from the Hud-
son Street Hospital; At the hospital it was
found that the combination Of the shock and
pr. SCdnIOn y weight ndu IOTCeu ono vi MS
knee joints completely apart. He will be laid
up for some time.
No attempt was made to release the elevator
and use it again yesterday, but Mr.. Bill exam.
ined all OF its working parts and found them
apparently intact. His Judgment was after
ward confirmed by the experts of the elevator
company who went over the same ground later.
The clutches will be unscrewed to-day and the
elevator put into use again.
such an incident as this of to-day" said the
representative of the elevator builders last
night, lis the best guarantee OF safety which
the public can have. Had the attendant kept
within the proper speed limit nothing extraor.
binary would have happened, but'tne moment
he exceeded. this limit 1t brought the safety
appliances into action and stopped the car,
There have been many cases where the safety
appliances have proved themselves to be effec
Sve and always ready, but the public never
hears OF these except in the rare cases like this
where some one gets hurt.
Had the hosting ropes broken or any othe1
thing happened which endangered the lives o.
the passengers in this car to-day. the safet,
clutch would have caught the car and held (
nafely whether the accident had happened with
the car at the top floor or lower down. In NJ
case would the shock have been greater than II
was to-day, and the chance is that no one woulc
be hurt under such circumstances moro thar
once In perhaps a hundred times"