The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-06-28
ELEVATORS ARE
| RUN ON SCHEDULE
|rwENTY-EIGHT CARS TRIPS Sky
WARD REGULATED WITHIN SEC
oNDs BY DISPATCHER.
no WOOL WORTH TOWER
INGENIOUS SYSTEM IN WORLDS
HIGHEST BUILDING OPERATED
BY WOMAN CONSIDERED WON
DER OF MODERN TIMES.
70 WOOL WORTHTOWER

Twenty-eisht elevators in one build
Ing maintaining a. schedule within
seconds is surely a. twentieth century
achievement. This wonder OF modern
times is to be found in the WOODWORK
building In New York, the highest
ONCE building in the world. The in
fgentous despatcf1ing system which has
made such service possible is the in
yent1on of man. but the dispatcher
who has charge Of II Is woman.
This woman sits before a despatching
board on the second floor gallery and
with push buttons and a telephone
Keeps the system working with such
precision that even n rush hours the
elevators give satisfactory service tn
the thousands Of men and women who
use them.
The mechanism by which this ap-
paratus Is controlled Is wonder in
ITSELF Take. for example, the posi-
ton Indicator. This Ia a wall panel
with hundreds OF incandescent lamps
seven etGhths of an inch in diameter.
arranged in rows in such way that
the whole design somewhat resembles
the towerlike shape of the building.
Each row indicates an elevator shaft.
and each lamp represents a. floor for
each OF the elevators within it's limits
Of travel. As an elevator passes a
floor the lamp which corresponds to
that particular elevator and floor Is
momentarily lighted
Panel Shows Conditions.
BY glancing at this wall panel the
dispatcher can tell instantly the exact
location OF each elevator and knew
at once whether the elevators are
the proper distance apart for main
Flaming the schedule. If any elevator
IL In a position which indicates that
II is little behind the schedule the
dispatcher sends the operator a
signal 10 skip certain number OF
. floors until he catches up with his
schedule. Sometimes. to get the same
result she simply transfers the stop
ss~aal fer one elevator 10 another
which is not behind is schedule and
thus allows the first elevator to make
| mp lost time The WAY the despatche
knows whether an elevator has been
signalled 70 stop la by n spot light
which appears In the tiny Indicator
lamp on the wall a red spot II the
down signal has been given. n white
light II the up signal has been given.
In every elevator is a telephone and
a megaphone In case OF necessity
| the dispatcher may communicate her
orders TO the operator by telephone.
but usually the megaphone liz used
transmitter that the operator Of the
elevator In able to hear the des-
patehers orders and messages re-
gardless of any noise.
Near the despatcher's desk Is an
automatic starting dev!ca which sends
signals TO the cars both at the bot
tom and tile top OF the hatchwaY.
This device can be set To send signal
at any interval desired whatever may
have been determined upon as the
proper time for "A round trip. During
non-rush hours this automatic start
ing device Is used almost exclusively
for signalling operators when TO start
for the top and when TO leave for
the downward trip. But during rush
hours when there Is necessarily much
.rreguIaritv the dispatcher often cuts
off this automatic timing device for
one car or group OF cars and sends
the starting signals herself, This
signal is sent over the telephone or
by pushing button which causes a
huxzer 10 sound.
Starters Not Needed.
One advantage of thisdespatching
system is that It does away with
starters, tina. II. with men whose bust
ness II is to stand on the first floor
Aand tell the operators of elevators
when 10 start. Another advantage is
that the system forces the operators
10 observe the strictest time economy.
They know that the dispatcher can
tell by watching the lamps on the wall
indicator whether they are lingering
overlong a, any floor, and that she
can also tell by watching the red and
white spots in the lamps whether the
operators are obey3ne the signals 10
stop. Should an operator have 10 dis
regard the stop signals Of tenants be-
<ar.se his car Is too fall to take OH
more passengers. he simply has 10
push a button and the mp and down
lirhts on the despatcher's wall IN
dicator will disappear, thus letting
her know that the reason the eieva-
ter Is not stopping II because there
Is no more room. AT the same time
that red and white lights disappear on
the wall indicator they also disappear
over the enclosure doors, thus per-
hitting waiting passengers to know
that that particular elevator will not
stop at that particular floor.
The elevators in the Woolworth
building are designed to run at a
speed OF 100 feet a minute The usual
speed for elevators in city buildings
Ia 500 feet minute.
Key 10 Whole Situation.
When the woolworth building Is
FULLY rented the elevators VIII nave
to care for about 1000 tenants and
perhaps $4,000 travellers day. This
shows at orce why 1t has been neces-
sary to devise a system which would
rrArate with the greatest efficiency.
giving a maximum OF service for a
minimum Of time. AT the same time
consideration had to be given to put
ting In the least number OF elevators
that would meet the traffic needs NOS
only because the elevators are very