tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post7030483607052986705..comments2024-03-25T15:10:13.792+00:00Comments on English Buildings: From Liverpool to Sheffield...Philip Wilkinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-57896394115713973182017-04-30T12:05:17.224+01:002017-04-30T12:05:17.224+01:00I always thought the name came from the prayer you...I always thought the name came from the prayer you said as you stepped on and off! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14110498772343556155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-81644218559047468932017-04-18T23:19:13.797+01:002017-04-18T23:19:13.797+01:00I have had the pleasure/terror of riding the pater...I have had the pleasure/terror of riding the paternoster in the Arts Tower, Sheffield. Hearing about it, I was surprised it was still in operation but there it is, floating up and down and submerging itself to the depth of the lower ground level to do the dreaded turnaround. Truly a piece of history.Sarahhttp://www.loftexe.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-15938920653994674692017-04-16T19:40:12.742+01:002017-04-16T19:40:12.742+01:00Changing Places has been close to my heart since t...Changing Places has been close to my heart since the 1980s when I changed places with an English teacher from California. My colleagues in Wales nicknamed my exchange partner Morris Zapp, a role he was well suited for. I've never seen a paternoster lift but it looks like a fine invention. As Jack Kirby says, the destination control system is another way of speeding things up. There's one in the residential tower at the Barbican. For slowing things down, on the other hand, there's the Shabbat elevator, which I first encountered in the Jerusalem Hilton. Joe Treasurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452665782271458318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-81654825467311924092017-04-15T08:19:34.229+01:002017-04-15T08:19:34.229+01:00Jack: Thank you so much for clearing that up about...Jack: Thank you so much for clearing that up about the Muirhead Tower. I kicked myself for not looking this up, but I'd read that there was a paternoster at Aston University, and had therefore assumed that this would have been the one Lodge saw. But of course in the novel, the 'University of Rummidge' is modelled mainly on Birmingham University, so Lodge would have seized upon this memorable Birmingham paternoster and set the pursuit scene with Morris Zapp and Gordon Masters in and around it. <br /> It's interesting, too, about the 'destination control system'. Another clever engineering answer to a specific need - except that now the engineering is software engineering, not the oily cogs sort. Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-49542563973825927412017-04-15T02:56:15.537+01:002017-04-15T02:56:15.537+01:00I had never heard of a paternoster, but Changing P...I had never heard of a paternoster, but Changing Places by David Lodge was a super book.Ex Patnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-53114819076415622362017-04-14T23:21:53.156+01:002017-04-14T23:21:53.156+01:00There was in fact a paternoster in the Muirhead To...There was in fact a paternoster in the Muirhead Tower at the University of Birmingham (by Arup Associates, 1970) which would have been the inspiration for Lodge. It was gone by the late 1990s when I was there, replaced with conventional lifts which didn't cope very well with the numbers using the building. A longstanding academic remarked to me ruefully that "Muirhead worked with a paternoster".<br />A reasonably successful refurbishment about a decade ago added to the building not only the inevitable Starbucks (real coffee was unknown on campus when I was a student) but the latest in vertical transport, a 'destination control system', by which users punch in their floor number to a panel and are advised which lift to take, the software then grouping users by destination. This overcomes the necessity for the lift to stop at almost every floor when busy. Jack Kirbyhttps://twitter.com/jdk653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-54609722028178764492017-04-14T18:57:26.576+01:002017-04-14T18:57:26.576+01:00There was one in Duisburg Town Hall in the early 1...There was one in Duisburg Town Hall in the early 1950s but I have never seen one since, so thank you for this - now I know what they are called. It seemed very, very advanced and scary to use to a teenager! E Berrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15444426908291693984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-55783817265051927642017-04-14T14:54:54.486+01:002017-04-14T14:54:54.486+01:00Thank you all for your comments and memories. '...Thank you all for your comments and memories. 'Going over the top' was prevalent, I think, in those many locations in which students and paternosters got mixed up. In the Davids Lodge novel one of the characters (a professor not a student) goes over the top, but hasn't worked out how the paternoster works. He thinks the lift cars turn upside-down as they go around, so does a handstand in anticipation, to amusing effect.Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-10250704559949483962017-04-14T14:36:23.161+01:002017-04-14T14:36:23.161+01:00I remember the one in the Arts Tower at Sheffield ...I remember the one in the Arts Tower at Sheffield back in the 1970's on a visit to see what the University had to offer. Stephen Barkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03076287980465633357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-37025109044577634612017-04-14T12:28:00.898+01:002017-04-14T12:28:00.898+01:00Some parking garages in the US have them for the u...Some parking garages in the US have them for the use of the attendants. I don't drive much these days, so I don't know how common they are.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14819154529261482038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-32172820500761151262017-04-14T11:28:31.478+01:002017-04-14T11:28:31.478+01:00There's a Paternoster at Leicester University....There's a Paternoster at Leicester University. The one and only Mrs.Ashley completely misjudged her exit once with the attendant spraining of an ankle. It didn't help when I said "Poor you, but what a story to tell". Peter Ashleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00027878122724846472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-25958569973468050152017-04-14T09:42:13.751+01:002017-04-14T09:42:13.751+01:00There was a Paternoster in the LSE. There was a po...There was a Paternoster in the LSE. There was a popular student prank when someone would go "over the top" and stand on their head on the way down...Chris Partridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14883064324795042491noreply@blogger.com