Elevators

Originally posted Nov. 28 2005 at www.threeforcesofevil.typepad.com

ELEVATORS
By John Ross Harvey

Elevators are neat
They are more fun than stairs
At least without the music
There are several kinds of elevators
Hydraulic which is a large post assembly
That can work for only a few floors
Geared which can work for a few more floors
And Gearless, which is perhaps limitless
But those two use cables and counterweights
Don’t ever believe the movies
It’s unlikely you can hop on the roof after
Popping a ceiling tile
They usually forget the counterweight
It of course travels opposite to the elevator cabin
On a high-speed elevator, it’s high speed too.
Science Fiction writers like Arthur C. Clarke and others
Write about Space Elevators
Diamond Filament constructed towers
Anchored at Geosynchronous Orbit at 36,000 ft. or so
Above Sea Level
Though I believe such a structure is possible
And Diamond filaments should be strong enough
How in the world is a Structural Engineer
Going to design one
It’s not like Diamond filament is readily available
Or cost effective
We better start compressing Coal
Diamond is an advanced stage of Coal
But don’t expect them to work in a Barbecue
Perhaps a transporter would be a better option
36,000 ft diamond tower
Or several trillion gigabytes of DNA data
The person who figures that out
Would be a genius
Then we wouldn’t need elevators
And MUSAK would die
Yeah!