Ever since the first Friday the 13th movie came out, that day has a bit of a stigma attached to it. A lot of people seem to stay home and as far away from other people as possible, fearing some kind of karmic backlash from the universe. In fact, I just heard on the radio that sales go down 6 percent on any Friday that falls on the 13th day of the month. The movie was scary but still…what gives?

Well it seems that this trend goes back many, many years to 1869, when a biography of Gioachino Rossini mentioned that the great composer felt that Fridays and the number 13 were unlucky. Surprisingly, Rossini died on Friday, November 13th. So the phobia has run deep for hundreds of years and the superstition has been passed onto elevators. Have you ever noticed that there are no number 13 floors on most elevators?

Of course, you can’t just skip a 13th floor – that would be a total waste of space – but there is a distinct skip from 12 to 14 on most elevators. This could be looked at as silly or necessary – either way, it’s a given fact when planning a building. For instance, this article about a former jail that was converted into a public safety building has a passage about their removal of the number 13:

“While the top floor of the building undergoing a $24.4 million makeover is on the 13th floor, the number on the control panel in each of the building’s towers will be changed, Essex County Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said.

‘This is the 14th floor,’ DiVincenzo announced. ‘The 13th is supposedly unlucky.’”

I guess the only way to get an elevator with the number 13 in it is to custom order one yourself. Otherwise, good luck finding one!



I was thinking about it the other day and I realized that there are innumerable classic scenes from movies and TV shows that take place in elevators.

Here are some of my favorites:

Inception – If you haven’t seen this movie yet, then stop reading and go right now. The scene where Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character has to bundle all of his allies together and escape the dream by blowing the elevator backwards against the laws of physics is totally time capsule-worthy. The way that he weaved in and out in the elevator shaft was also particularly mind blowing.

Grey’s Anatomy – A good portion of the melodrama on this mega-hit ABC drama has taken place in the elevators of (fictional) Seattle Grace Hospital. Arguably the most memorable (and adorable) of these moments was the moment when Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) finally get engaged. I mean, come on – you’d have to have a heart of stone not to at least smile at this proposal.

Toy Story 2 – Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) finally meets his match in Evil Emperor Zurg during a fight atop an elevator cabin in an elevator shaft. It is there that Buzz finds out that Zurg is his father, which causes everyone to gasp!

500 Days of Summer – So many romantic comedies have had cute scenes take place in elevators, but none match the humor that 500 Days of Summer comes up with. When Summer (Zooey Deschanel) begins singing along with The Smiths’ song on Tom’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) headphones, a truly wonderful meet-cute is accomplished by everyone involved.

OK. So my calling all of these scenes ‘classic’ may be a stretch, but these are scenes that I happen to remember. Maybe next time, I’ll write about some classics. Until then, what are some of your favorite elevator movie scenes?

Apparently there is a space elevator conference held every year. I’m pretty sure you’re with me – “Huh?” Well, the idea of an elevator that can lift items and other materials up to space has been a hot topic for decades, according to this article:

“The idea has been around for longer than that by now. This year, Yuri Artsutanov, a Russian engineer born in 1929, attended the conference. While Clarke tends to be the first person people mention when talking about the origin of space elevators, Artsutanov published a paper outlining the concept in 1929. His work went unnoticed outside of Russia, however. Clarke described a space elevator in his 1979 book “Fountain of Paradise” after reading a paper about space elevators published in 1975 by another scientist, Jerome Pearson.”

So what would be the benefit of a space elevator? Firstly, a space elevator would save inordinate amounts of money in a long term schematic of space travel need. It could transport materials, food and other supplies to astronauts who are docked at space stations or in shuttles. Secondly, a space elevator would be very effective at collecting orbiting space trash in nets and cleaning up the junk that space missions have left up there.

However, the article talks about the challenges of finding the technology that would appropriately be able to accomplish this feat. One technology that will be looked at is nanotube ribbon, which would potentially be strong enough to carry people and withstand atmospheric pressure. One thing in the way of such research is the cost, which may delay the future of a space elevator:

“…a space elevator will cost $1.5 billion in research and development and $18 billion to actually build. Subsequent elevators would cost less, with the second running around $7 billion.”

That’s a high cost for a custom elevator!

Elevators are a normal part of life for millions of people. If you work in an office building, you probably take an elevator every day. It’s probably safe to say that every person uses an elevator at least once a month. There are still a lot of people who are petrified of the danger that elevators can pose, even with innumerable fail-safes and safety systems that provide a huge net of protection for elevator passengers. Hollywood has decided to take that fear and spin it into a high concept film.

In layman’s terms, a high concept film takes simplistic characters and predictable film genre styles and combines them with one huge, sometimes obtuse plot element at the center. This is precisely what the new film Devil is doing with the elevator. At its most basic, Devil is about 5 strangers (who are largely stereotypical office workers of mixed genders and races) who become trapped on an elevator. A simple concept with simplistic characters, but there’s a catch. One of the passengers is the Devil. You know, Lucifer. So we, as the audience, must figure out which character is the Devil.

The newest poster has been released for the film and I’m in agreement with this blog post’s writer – this poster makes elevators look really, really scary. There are so many possibilities for elevator ad marketing for Devil that I don’t even have a clue of where to begin.

It stands to be seen if the movie will do well at the box office – according to the aforementioned post, audiences who saw the trailer scoffed because of the story’s creator, director M. Night Shyamalan, who is largely viewed as a one-hit wonder filmmaker. Nonetheless, Devil looks to inject some fear into elevator passengers across the country, particularly if they’re not scared already.

Elevators serve as a reliable mode of transportation when there are just too many flights of stairs between us and our destination. They are also critical for handicapped and disabled people who cannot make their way up and down stairs comfortably. Elevators are quite secure due to an abundance of safety features that should ensure that riders’ safety needs are met and given number one priority.

There are two different kinds of elevators: traction elevators and hydraulic elevators. Each type of elevator comes with its own standard set of safety features.

Traction elevators feature: (hoisted by strong cables; usually more than 5 stories tall)
- Brake system that works with a speed sensor to ensure a safe speed for the cabin
- Door sensors that detect movement as not to close on anyone entering or exiting the cabin
- Interlocks that control whether or not a cabin can begin ascent or descent – if the doors are not fully closed, the interlocks will stop the cabin from moving
- Switches in the elevator shaft detect where the elevator is located in case of emergency
- Buffers located in the pit that can protect the cabin and passengers in case of a fall
- The emergency evacuation latch, located in the ceiling of most cabins
- Almost all elevator cabins have an emergency alarm switch that can be manually operated. This, along with an emergency telephone that directly connects with lobby security or the fire department, gives the passengers control when normal operation ceases.

Hydraulic elevators feature: (ascends and descends on a lift system)
- In case of erosion or corroding metals, a safety brake can be installed to support a busted jack underneath the elevator.
- The features listed above for traction elevators