WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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For some reason or another, I find elevators
to be pretty fascinating.

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I’m partial to glass elevators because they
give you a glimpse of their mechanisms,

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like the door operator that sits atop the cab and...

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operates
the doors.

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Or the landing doors themselves, with this
one marked UL

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which I think stands for "unsightly lever".

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I think part of why I find them so interesting
is that we very much take them for granted

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when they’re often packed with interesting
technologies.

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Many are simply platforms atop a hydraulic
ram.

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Others like these are suspended by cables

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which (usually) loop around a large drum-like thing at
the top of the shaft,

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which with the help of the counterweight moves the cab

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in either direction without expending much energy at all.

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Then there are weird hybrids like this.

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Seriously, this is weird.

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Two pistons on either side, and what’s with the
the cables here?

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Anyway, limit switches help tell the controller
where the cab is, safety interlocks prevent

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the elevator from moving unless all the landing
doors are closed and locked, and lots of other

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neat things work together to make these moving
boxes functional and safe.

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In this video, I’d like to highlight a simple
accessibility feature that’s nearly everywhere

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(in the US at least), but that you might have
never noticed.

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The Americans with Disabilities Act defines
an elegant solution for the blind that is

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obvious once you know what it is, but that
may have simply never crossed your mind.

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Most elevators will have some sort of indicator
for which direction it’s going.

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Often you see them in the hallway, in which
case they are called hall lanterns, and I’m

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sure you’ll have noticed that it lights
either the up or down arrow

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(or other shape).

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They’re not always in the hall, though,
sometimes they’re inside the elevator itself.

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In either case, they usually make a sound.

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But have you ever really paid attention to
that sound?

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Many elevators will chime to announce their
presence.

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Take a listen:

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[ding]

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Now, that chime isn’t there just to be pleasant.

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It has a very important purpose.

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For the majority of us with sight, we can
see which elevator has arrived

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and which direction it’s going.

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But not all of us are sighted.

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You’ll have likely noticed the braille adjacent
to the floor buttons or the call buttons.

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Elevators after all are an accessibility device,
and to be accessible to the blind, the braille

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is added.

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But that chime is also an accessibility device.

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Pretend for a moment that you don’t have
access to any visual information.

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Here’s how that chime can help.

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You’ve pressed the down call button, and
now you’re waiting for the elevator to arrive.

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The one on your left arrives,

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[chime]

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but you know not to get in it.

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You haven’t heard the right sound.

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[chime, chime]

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Ah, that one’s yours.

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In the US, in order for an elevator to be
ADA compliant, it needs to produce a single

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audible signal for the up direction

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[chime]

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and a double audible signal if it’s going down

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[chime, chime]

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You might be surprised how nearly universal
this is.

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Here’s just a small sample of elevators
which follow this convention.

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I shot all of these with just my phone, so
apologies for the quality.

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This elevator is signalling up.

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[ping]

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Now the same elevator going down.

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[ping]

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[ping]

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This one’s going up.

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[bing]

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And now down.

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[bing]

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[bing]

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Up.

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[ting]

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Down.

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[ting]

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[ting]

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And now, a bunch more, all going down.

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[ring]

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[ring]

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[bwang]

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[bwang]

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[doot]

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[doot]

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This one wants to be extra sure you got the
signal.

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[DOOT]

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[DOOT]

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[bwawnng]

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[bwawnng]

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[deet]

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[deeee]

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[bong]

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[bong]

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[ding]

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[ding]

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In some of Schindler’s Lifts, you’ll discover
a signal that isn’t just the same sound

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twice, but a two-tone version that’s definitely
not obnoxious.

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[Ding-Dong]

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Then, someone at Otis decided to copy them,
but make the sound barely audible.

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[tin-

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kle]

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Of course there are others that not only chime
twice

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[fing]

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[fing]

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but then just come right out and say

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which way they’re going.

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[Going down]
(in the smarmiest voice imagineable)

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These are really great for the visually impaired,
because you’ll not only know that the elevator is

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*going down*

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but also that it has reached
the

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*first floor*.

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But on the landing, just a simple audible
cue is enough.

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In fact it can be so simple that it’s just
ringing a bell.

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[clang]

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[clang]

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I’m a big believer in accessibility features
like this, in fact that’s the main reason

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I caption nearly all of my videos.

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And I really love subtle, almost unnoticeable
things like this.

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Maybe you have noticed a double chime before.

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And maybe you already knew what it meant.

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But many people, in fact I’d wager the majority,
haven’t yet put two and down together.

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What inspired this quick video was a clip
I heard on the radio.

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A crowded office building, and an elevator
arriving with a Ding Ding.

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The subject aks, is this going up?

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And I, in sync with the passengers, said “no,
down”.

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I really don’t know when I first learned
this little tidbit but ever since it’s been

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kind of a neat novelty.

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And it’s also fun to find the exceptions.

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In fact, I live in a building which is bucking
the trend.

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In a lot of older buildings, there may not
have been a signal of any kind.

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So, to make their elevators compliant, a signal
is added in the cab, right next to the door.

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Now, these elevators were updated in the last
five years or so from their original 1970’s

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equipment (which sadly removed what I’m
sure was a charming floor indicator in favor

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of this boring thing).

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And right here you’ll find a new-looking
pair of arrows.

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But you’ll also see that they don’t do
anything.

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This is what they’re probably supposed to
do.

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[synonym for ding I haven't used yet]

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It’s my guess that the residents in my building
got fed up with this noise (it is after all

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fairly loud) and got the elevator company
to disable it.

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And the chime is probably integral to the
indicators, as I see no reason to disable

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the lights in any other case.

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But now these elevators aren’t technically
ADA compliant.

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Oops?

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It may have been better to lower the volume
if possible, as the chime only needs to be

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10 decibels above ambient sound levels.

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That’s how Otis gets away with this.

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[tin-

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kle]

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Anyway, now you know why the elevator sometimes
chimes twice.

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It usually just means it’s going down.

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I’m curious to know if this is a standard
around the world.

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It seems like it could be, but a little web
searching (admittedly very little) didn’t

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turn anything useful up.

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To the 56% of my viewers that aren’t in
the US, please leave a comment to your country’s

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practices in this matter.

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I be a wee bit curious.

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Thanks for watching.

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Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a lift.

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♫ excruciatingly smooth jazz ♫

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Oh sure, ThyssenKrupp, those are totally real
dot matrix LED displays.

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Definitely real.

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While trying to get some footage of these
elevators being all busy-like, I happened

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to film what at first I thought was a malfunction.

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But then, the landing doors opened and hotel
team member started cleaning the top of the cab.

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I gotta give props to this hotel because they
(apparently fairly regularly) are mopping

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the tops of these elevators to keep them nice
and clean.

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By the way, this was the winner in my mind
for the most pleasant chime.

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[bong]

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[bong]

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That is aside from this.

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[clang]

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[clang]

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I’ll take a mechanical bell any day.

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That’s a good idea.