I once spent an hour or so trapped in an elevator. It was a small building, only six stories or so. A bit of a rumble, and it was just stuck, a few inches out of alignment with the exterior door. I didn't know it at the time, but the elevator had actually fallen up, because it was counter-weighted and I was alone inside, well below its weight limit. It was very old and a relatively small building, so I had no idea that this happened, and I thought it was just jammed at my destination on the first floor.
The emergency brake had kicked in at the top floor, but the doors wouldn't open when misaligned like that. Most of the time I spent in there was the technicians (and, for some reason, they sent the police to talk to me) looking for me. I had thought I was on one of the lower floors, and that's what I told the person on the emergency phone, so they were looking for me in the wrong place.
The elevator was old enough that I guess it didn't have any mechanism for reporting its location, and may have even been a relay-controlled system, which explains why they couldn't find me. After they showed up, it took a fair bit of prying on both sides to get the doors to open. I was surprised when I left and found out that I had been on the top floor the whole time, as they didn't tell me until I was freed. Then I took the other elevator back down to the lobby with the technicians, showed my professor the card from the police officer and explained why I missed class.
The one thing I wonder while reading the article is how they managed to figure out where the elevator was if it was in a blind shaft - they couldn't just go from floor to floor listening like they did for me. I used to live in an apartment in at all building that shared a wall with a blind elevator shaft, and I didn't even realize it for a while because the walls were so thick that the shaft was silent.
The emergency brake had kicked in at the top floor, but the doors wouldn't open when misaligned like that. Most of the time I spent in there was the technicians (and, for some reason, they sent the police to talk to me) looking for me. I had thought I was on one of the lower floors, and that's what I told the person on the emergency phone, so they were looking for me in the wrong place.
The elevator was old enough that I guess it didn't have any mechanism for reporting its location, and may have even been a relay-controlled system, which explains why they couldn't find me. After they showed up, it took a fair bit of prying on both sides to get the doors to open. I was surprised when I left and found out that I had been on the top floor the whole time, as they didn't tell me until I was freed. Then I took the other elevator back down to the lobby with the technicians, showed my professor the card from the police officer and explained why I missed class.
The one thing I wonder while reading the article is how they managed to figure out where the elevator was if it was in a blind shaft - they couldn't just go from floor to floor listening like they did for me. I used to live in an apartment in at all building that shared a wall with a blind elevator shaft, and I didn't even realize it for a while because the walls were so thick that the shaft was silent.