should lifts/elavators be fitted with port holes?

Lifts that stop between floors are usually capable of being manually wound down to the next floor from the motor room. I recall being given instruction on how to do it.

Take the stairs!!! In later years I have developed claustrophobia and I cannot go use tiny lifts. Bigger ones I have to psyche myself up for. I know if it got stuck I would be a gibberish wreck. I think it’s that which scares me the most. A small window wouldn’t help. I have been in lifts outside the building with glass on 3 sides - doesn’t help if you are scared of heights!

Can't think of anything worse. I close my eyes in lifts.

Allira

Ps I never knew it was called a paternoster, thanks Trisha99

Is that because people recited the Lord's Prayer as they leapt in?

Apparently it’s because the chain resembles rosary beads. I prefer your explanation Allira !

Astitchintime

You would only be able to attract someone’s attention if the lift got stuck at a floor - otherwise all you would see would be the life shaft! A more agreeable option might be a display screen featuring a calming landscape or similar which might help allay panic in anyone stuck in the lift.
A healthier alternative would be to use the stairs.

Not if your feet have been amputated.

Trisha99

Allira

Ps I never knew it was called a paternoster, thanks Trisha99

Is that because people recited the Lord's Prayer as they leapt in?

Apparently it’s because the chain resembles rosary beads. I prefer your explanation Allira !

😁

JenniferEccles

I’m not at all fond of lifts and much prefer to use the stairs.

It must be ghastly for people who live in high rise flats where, for those on the upper floors, the lift is essential.

There’s a very funny Specsavers ad where a delivery man struggles up many flights with a heavy parcel only to learn he’s in the wrong tower block!

I live on the 8th floor of a block of apartments. The other day, I got out of the lift on floor 8 and panicked when my key wouldn’t turn in the lock. It was a Sunday so no caretaker, and my children are 10 miles or so away. Suddenly, I noticed that the number on the door was not quite the same as mine (eg 134 instead of 184) and I realised I was in totally the wrong block! Duh! Went back down, walked to the next block but one and found my way home!! I felt a right prat. Then I worried that it might be the start of dementia! That was a few weeks ago and I haven’t done it since, so fingers crossed!!

I was stuck in a wooden lift in a very old hotel. It had a grill that you pulled back then a hinged door. It stuck between floors and my 5 yr old nephew was beside himself. I tried to placate him and he howled” But I won’t get my fish and chips now!” Fortunately we were soon released and he got his seaside meal.

Oh dear Crossstitchfan ! I bet you were relieved when you realised why you couldn’t get into your flat though.

I’m sure it’s easily done especially if the flats all look alike from the outside.

They have fixed phones in them mostly so you can call for help. At least the ones around here do. One New Year’s Eve a bunch of us got stuck for about quarter of an hour which was scary because it was between floors so we wouldn’t have been able to just walk out. We had very full glasses of wine to celebrate our release afterwards!

When we stayed in a very old hotel in Wellington, NZ, we arrived early evening to find no staff just a letter with our name on it, the room number and the key, and absolutely no sign of any other guests. The lift was one of those old wooden ones with a wooden grille you pulled across. Didn’t fancy getting stuck in it with no one around so Dh went in it with our luggage and I walked up 3 flights of stairs so I could call for help if need be. We then had to go back to the car as Dh had forgotten something. So another down and up 3 flights for me! Dh had to come to make sure the front door didn’t slam behind us. I will never forget that lift!

Had the misfortune of getting stuck in a lift with eight other persons,
I was not particularly worried but some of the occupants had a very concerned look on their faces

Perhaps they were fearing a lecture on TV Sports coverage in Wetherspoons

Paternoster lift - there was a pair at Aston University, one shaft for going up, the neighbouring one for going down.
Newbies were always told not to miss the top floor when going up, as the lift turned upside down to come back down the downward shaft - I always wondered!

I’m terrified of lifts and have been since getting stuck between floor 29 and floor 30 of the Red Road Flats in Glasgow they were the tallest high rise flats in Scotland when they were built in 1960s. The lift was swinging like a pendulum, it was only me and my friend in the lift, I’ve never prayed as hard in my life as I did that day. On many an occasion we climb the stairs to her flat on 30th floor. Just wish I was fit enough to climb stairs now.

My parents nearly did not get married due to a paternoster lift!

Think 1947 and RAF regulations required British personal stationed in Germany and intending to marry to, once the had their superiors¨consent , marry according to German law, in other words have a civil ceremony. After this, they could be married in church if they so desired.

My parents duly applied to the registrar in Hamburg - nearest city to their station, were given a date and turned up in good time. Only to discovered that the office they needed was situated on an upper storey of a partially bombed building, that had apparently no stairs left and only a paternoster lift.

My later to be mother swithered for an age, not daring to jump into it. Finally, either Daddy shoved her, or she consented to close her eyes, hold his hand and jump when he said "Now".

Married they were before the registrar in Hamburg on 28. August 1947 and in church in Copenhagen on September 2. 1947.

Wouldn't it be better if lifts were fitted with a parachute? Then I wouldn't have to worry about stuck ones suddenly crashing 20 floors into the basement...

I think that the most important thing about a lift is a properly maintained and efficient alarm system. I'm not sure that a porthole would make any difference to me , particularly if, as others have said , the lift was stuck between floors.
Mind you I'm not claustrophobic and I've never been stuck in a lift ......... yet.......... Touchwood.

I really hate the glass lifts as I don't like heights but am not really bothered by confined spaces.
Going on The Eye was a nightmare, as is going in cable cars, I don't even like going up escalators rising in the middle of department store floors. Last time I went on a cable car it was a two section journey and I had to step from one car to another over a huge drop down into the valley below - not for me!

Gosh I remember those type of lifts used to scare me . Still not over keen on using the lifts . If I can find a flight of stairs I will!

Don’t read Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay!

I got stuck in the lift on my first job at 15. Pressed the bell several times before anyone came. The lovely manager stood outside talking to me making sure I was ok until the engineers came.

Grantanow

Would that be a opening porthole?

🤣🤣🤣

I have been stuck in a lift 3 times, first on my own in a cage lift, second in a glass lift with 5 others, and last in a typical metal lift on my own. Believe me, having it see through or closed in makes no difference when you suffer from claustrophobia. Just that thought of being trapped makes me feel ill, I can't even watch potholers or ice diving or sit on the inside seat on a bus without feeling a rising panic.

infoman

Had the misfortune of getting stuck in a lift with eight other persons,
I was not particularly worried but some of the occupants had a very concerned look on their faces,
I presume they could suffer from Claustrophobia.
What did not help is that there no port hole so you could see out and attract some ones attention,
the emergency button was pressed but it was not very pleasant experience, that you hear but not see any one with shouts of "help is on its way"

I avoid lifts wherever possible. My daughter got stuck in one once with two small children. It terrifies me.

That’s known as a Paternoster Lift. I think ‘Elf and Safety has banned them all now.