Elevator

Due to the number of stairs that needed to be climbed to reach the top, buildings of over six storys were a rarity until the 19th century when the development of passenger elevators - along with advances in building materials and techniques - enabled the construction of taller and taller buildings. As skyscrapers continue to reach ever higher, elevators are required to carry more people further, faster. Mitsubishi already has the first problem licked with the development of elevators able to carry 80 people at once. Now it has tackled speed with technologies that enable ultra-high-speed elevators to travel at more than 60 km/h (37 mph or 1,000 meters a minute).  Read More

If you've ever been annoyed by the impatiently waiting for an office building elevator, this might just be the perfect building for you. Each of the new elevators installed by Mitsubishi Electric in Umeda Hankyu Building’s new office area in Osaka, Japan measures 11.2 x 9.2 feet in area by 8.5 feet high (3.4m wide, 2.8m long and 2.6m high), thus allowing for a whopping 80 person capacity.  Read More

If you’re claustrophobic you probably want to spend as little time as possible in an elevator. Therefore, sufferers will no doubt rejoice at the news that Hitachi is undertaking to create the largest high-speed, high-capacity people-movers by completing the world’s tallest elevator research tower (213m). Named the "G1Tower", it will reside at the company’s elevator R&D and manufacturing base in Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, and is due for completion in April this year. Prior to this, the company used a 90m tower built in 1967 for its research. Hitachi says it will use the new tower to conduct verification tests on the world's fastest elevator, which has an ear-popping rated speed of 1,080m/min (40.26mph).  Read More