| Entry: Belt-O-Vator originally posted by Jesus Jones [last edit 1/5/2009 10:49 AM by IIVQ - edited 7 times] | ||||||||
| A Belt-O-Vator is a primitive elevator. It is a belt with handles to hold on to and foot plates for your feet. They are found at the Canada Malt Plants in Toronto and Montreal. Though the one in Montreal is in poor condition, the one in Toronto is in great shape. This is from the plant in Toronto.
The real name for the device is Humprey Humanlift and was patented in 1889. At first the frame was made of wood, then of steel; as years passed, security was improved on the lift. The main feature of this elevator is that it takes much less space than a standard elevator and the flow of the users is not stopped as people get on and off. The company is still in business and still produces these lifts. The maximum speed of the belt is 75 feet per minute, or about 1.375 km/h, which is about a quarter of walking speed. Some rare examples can still be found working in some industries not accessible to explorer. This picture is from the malt plant in Montreal:
And here is a working humanlift from a Montreal area company:
A beltlift is not the same as a paternoster. A paternoster has cabins (similar to elevator ones) linked to the belt, which allways stay in the same position. It is not dangerous to not get off at the top of a paternoster, while it is dangerous to not get off at the top of a belt-o-vator (that is - a safety mechanism will usually shut off the belt-o-vator when one forgets to get off at the top - or bottom) See also Manlift. | ||||||||
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