Paternoster

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This article is about the paternoster lift. For other meanings see paternoster (disambiguation).

A paternoster at the University of Vienna, NIG (Neues Institutsgebäude), late 1950s, still in operation

A paternoster or paternoster lift is an elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two persons) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers who are agile enough can step on or off at any floor they like.

First built in 1884 by Londoner J. E. Hall as the Cyclic Elevator, the name paternoster ("Our Father", the first two words of the Lord's Prayer in Latin) originally applied to the device because the elevator is in the form of a loop and is thus similar to rosary beads used as an aid in reciting the paternoster.

Paternosters were popular throughout the first half of the 20th century as they could carry more passengers than ordinary elevators. They were more common in continental Europe, especially in public buildings, than in the United Kingdom.

A common misconception is that it is dangerous to stay in an upgoing cabin after it has reached the top floor or in a downgoing one after it has passed the ground floor level. The compartment remains upright, and travel is possible provided that the passengers remain perfectly still. Nevertheless there are two risks of such a journey. The elevator is liable to shut down if an occupant of the cabin shifts position during the cabin's lateral motion from the upward to the downward shaft or vice versa. Also, the drive chain is exposed above the top floor. In 1989, the paternoster in Newcastle University's Claremont Tower was taken out of service after a passenger undertaking an up-and-over journey became caught in the drive chain, necessitating a rescue by the Fire Service.^{[citation needed]} A conventional elevator was subsequently installed in its place. This accident led to an 18-month close-down of all UK paternosters for a safety review, during which additional safety devices were fitted.

Today, in many countries the construction of new paternosters is no longer allowed because of the high danger of accidents (people tripping or falling over when trying to enter or alight). Also, an increased sensitivity to the needs of the disabled, e.g., wheelchair users, has led to the paternoster's gradual demise. Existing paternosters remain operative until they are dismantled, so their number is continually decreasing. As objects that belong to a vanishing world, for some people paternosters have achieved cult status.

In April 2006, Hitachi announced plans for a modern paternoster with computer-controlled cars and normal elevator doors to alleviate safety concerns. [1]

[edit] Surviving paternosters

A paternoster in former East Berlin, in use until 2004

Working paternosters include the one in the Finnish house of parliament, Eduskuntatalo. There are others in Trostbrücke 1, in the Altstadt district of Hamburg (although this is a working office and not always open to the general public), the IG Farben Building in Frankfurt-am-Main, and Stuttgart town hall in Germany. A functioning paternoster can also be found at the Flemish Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, where it is used as an art display. In the Informatics and Mathematics faculty of Universität-Leipzig one can still be found, although stays in operation only half of the day. The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, the current occupants of the IG Farben Building, have pledged to maintain and preserve the famous paternosters "in perpetuity".

In the Netherlands, paternosters are still in operation at the main office of the Corus Steelworks in IJmuiden (former Hoogovens). The remarkable building (by Dudok, 1951) was restored in 1999.

In England, paternoster lifts continue to operate in the Albert Sloman library at the University of Essex, the Arts Tower at the University of Sheffield, the Attenborough Tower at the University of Leicester and in the Fletcher building of De Montfort University, also in Leicester. The Pantheon, Oxford Street branch of Marks & Spencer still had a paternoster for staff use in the 1990s, and another survives in the Marconi building in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. A paternoster still operates in Rolls-Royce plc's tower block on Victory Road in Derby. Staff in the main ward building of Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, also have access to a paternoster in the central ward building, though this is slated for replacement as existing conventional lifts exist for staff use. A further one survives in the 4-storey British Airways Viscount House building at Heathrow Airport. This building is not open to the public. A paternoster also exists in the Dental Hospital in Birmingham although it is for staff use.

In Scotland, a working paternoster serves seven floors of the Pontecorvo Building (former Department of Genetics) in the University of Glasgow. The building is not open to the public. A paternoster was installed there on construction, in 1966–67 (architects Basil Spence & Partners) because each floor has a small area and it was anticipated that staff and students would make many short journeys. This expectation has been fulfilled, and the paternoster is considered to have been a very valuable device.

[edit] Cultural references

William Holden can be seen entering a paternoster in the 1962 film The Counterfeit Traitor

An example of a continuous-belt type paternoster of the type used in industrial plants can be seen in the 1966 film Our Man Flint, in which James Coburn uses a paternoster to escape pursuing enemies.

In the 1976 film The Omen, a paternoster can be seen in the Rome hospital visited by Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) in the course of his enquiries into the origins of Damien (located in reality in Northwick Park Hospital).

In the 1967 TV series The Prisoner episode "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" the Number Six character (played in that episode by Nigel Stock) is seen taking a ride in a paternoster lift (located in reality at the GEC Marconi building in Borehamwood).

In David Lodge's 1975 novel Changing Places, the transplanted Californian, Morris Zapp, is chased up and down a paternoster by a psychotic professor of literature at the fictitious University of Rummidge in England.

Paternoster was also the name of an Austrian progressive rock band of the 70's.

In his Diaries (1899-1941) the Austrian novelist Robert Musil uses the paternoster as an analogy of birth and death:

It is distressing to reflect that we hurry like little hunted dots along the line that is our life and finally disappear down some unforeseen hole. And that, in front of us and behind, at intervals that nothing can reduce, other similar dots go racing along, which have some kind of temporary link with us, like the next links in the chain of a paternoster lift that goes racing on round.