Making a Newton's Cradle

[Mathew Newton]

Ah yes.. a Paternoster.

Some years ago I went to a university open day (I'm sure it was Sheffield) where they had one. It fascinated my mate and I - I think we must've spent more time in the lift than looking at prospective courses!

I do recall warning signs in every compartment saying not to remain in the lift as it went over the top... but didn't say why. We kept jumping out on the top floor but couldn't leave without knowing what the danger was.... So with the foolhardiness of youth I stayed in on the last 'go'....

I lived to tell the tale... obviously. I don't recall whether I really find out what the problem was. What I do remember though is that the compartment didn't flip upside down as I was otherwise braced for!

Mathew

[Bob Eager]

Dark.

[Tim Watts]

They should have a "Ghost Train" feature, like a luminous skeleton that jumps out at you if you do, then slaps you in the face and says "didn't you read the sign?"

[Bruce]

Yes, that's what it was called. But for the life of me, I cannot recall where it was. It was probably some University or other, they seemed quite popular with Unis. It might even have been at Liverpool, where I studied, but in a different department.

Brave man! I'm sure they didn't want people to stay in in case the whole thing failed and they had difficulty getting them out.

[Jules Richardson]

Yes, but they're engineers. If the tea took too long and there was any change that the urn might be at fault, they'd have it stripped down and parts scattered everywhere in no time flat :-)

[Jules Richardson]

ISTR reading about a student dying by doing just that. Or at least, part of them did just that; some of them may have remained behind.

I recall seeing a lift like that at one UK uni - and it could well have been Essex - in the early 90s. Wonder if it's still there...

All plastic-fantastic crap from China by then - guard rails and doors and stuff cost extra, y'know.

cheers

Jules

[Jules Richardson]

Bloody railway engineers, spoiling our fun!

[Jules Richardson]

make in flight!

(Hmm, bowling alley in town is closing down soon... maybe I should enquire about some ammunition :-)

[David J]

They had one at a company I worked at in Borehamwood many years ago. Great fun once you got your timing right... rather like getting off a moving Routemaster. Going over the top and under the bottom was no big deal.

The reason that the Paternoster manufacturer did not want passengers to ride over the top was that the suspended cabins passed rather close to each other as they turned there. Eventually there was a fatal accident at one location, where idiots going over the top rocked the cabin such that it clashed into another passing in the other direction.

As there were no doors, females were rather reluctant to hop on and go upwards, for modesty reasons!

David

[jkn]

Or a set of boules? ie. those hollow steel balls used in the French 'bowling' game.

Traditionally they have inscribed(?) grooves, but that's liveable with, I'd have thought.

HTH J^n

[Dave Liquorice]

Great fun, just get the timing right on entry/exit but no harder than an escalator.

Dark and a bit bumpy. Can't for the life of me remember where the one I used was though.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Clive George saying something like:

first one I discovered was in Luton in the late 80s, in a garment factory. It still worked perfectly, although the factory was demolished shortly after I found it.

That was my immediate thought on seeing it, but then I realised it was too daft.

[The Medway Handyman]

How about those Chinese stress balls? Up to about 45mm dia. Some chime as well - which could be fun.

[<me9]

Paternoster lift. Now no longer acceptable after student killed in one. I think it was in Leeds.

[Tim Streater]

There was one in the Biochemistry building at Imperial, IIRC.

[Matty F]

Yes I seriously considered that. Mild steel will be fine!

I have done some tests that are encouraging. They will be basically 6 inch wooden balls with steel rods through them. The rods make an interesting noise when they hit!

[dennis]

They had one at imperial college. Some thought it fun to go over the top and do a handstand so they were upside down when they re-emerged. There were quite a few who actually thought the compartments turned over at the top.

[Jules Richardson]

I remember the London Eye having similar issues :-)

[dennis]

Rubbish, I have been on a complete circuit of one, they are safe.

[Frank Erskine]

Sex, not gender. Gender is a grammatical thing.