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Elevator operators and driverless cars
Feb. 13th, 2019 12:06 pmI love reading about the history of technology, and I found
this article
https://www.1843magazine.com/technology/rewind/pushing-the-right-buttons
about how people used to demand there be elevators operators in order to fell safe enough to use them really fascinating.
When I was little, my dentist had an office in an old building that was right out of the 1940s, complete with Venetian blinds at the windows and frosted glass in the doors. It also had one of those old elevators with the floor numbers running alon a sort of half-circle with a long handle that the operator used to go from floor to floor. It also had that accordian metal grate, and sometimes the dorrs would open before the elevator was quite level with the floor, and you could see some of the dark elevator shaft. I always found it kind of thrilling, actually, but I can understand why some people thought elevators were dangerous.
Another elevator-as-action-adventure story: When I was at UMass Boston, the elevators had this glitch that, if you punched the button for the floor too many times, the elevator would just freeze up. One day, I figured this out, and then figured out that, if you pulled out the emergency button and, ignoring the alarm, pressed the emergency button back in, it would reboot the elevator and you could continue on your way.
Of course, there were always Very Importan Men who would step into the elevator and impatiently punch the floor button a bunch of times, and the elevator would inevitably freeze. I always enjoyed telling them how to unfreeze it because, if there is anything Very Important Men hate more than being forced to take advice from a woman, it is taking advice from a blind woman.
this article
https://www.1843magazine.com/technology/rewind/pushing-the-right-buttons
about how people used to demand there be elevators operators in order to fell safe enough to use them really fascinating.
When I was little, my dentist had an office in an old building that was right out of the 1940s, complete with Venetian blinds at the windows and frosted glass in the doors. It also had one of those old elevators with the floor numbers running alon a sort of half-circle with a long handle that the operator used to go from floor to floor. It also had that accordian metal grate, and sometimes the dorrs would open before the elevator was quite level with the floor, and you could see some of the dark elevator shaft. I always found it kind of thrilling, actually, but I can understand why some people thought elevators were dangerous.
Another elevator-as-action-adventure story: When I was at UMass Boston, the elevators had this glitch that, if you punched the button for the floor too many times, the elevator would just freeze up. One day, I figured this out, and then figured out that, if you pulled out the emergency button and, ignoring the alarm, pressed the emergency button back in, it would reboot the elevator and you could continue on your way.
Of course, there were always Very Importan Men who would step into the elevator and impatiently punch the floor button a bunch of times, and the elevator would inevitably freeze. I always enjoyed telling them how to unfreeze it because, if there is anything Very Important Men hate more than being forced to take advice from a woman, it is taking advice from a blind woman.
