[ExI] RES: RES: UltraRope could make kilometer-high elevators possible

[Kelly Anderson]

On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 1:52 PM, Henrique Moraes Machado <
cetico.iconoclasta at gmail.com> wrote:

> Not at all. I don’t think I’ve got the resources to do a cost analysis
> (neither know how to).
>

Well, we just have to find out what this UltraRope is going to cost. It's
probably researchy stuff at this point, so likely no good number for that.
Then you compare it to steel cable, which would be easy to price.


> ****
>
> I was just brainstorming and MagLev was just one idea. For instance, why
> do elevators have to have a shaft? They could as well spiral around the
> building.
>

Sure, but they would be either slow, or make the passengers dizzy, or scare
the hell out of people. Would be great for tourists though!


> They only need energy to go up and could be lifted by some kind of crank
> like rollercoasters
>

Or maglev them up around the circle.


> and go down by gravity alone, with air dampening or using Lenz current (or
> some other method) to slow it down.
>

Are you saying we use the same method of braking that the Prius does to
recover electricity from braking? That's cool.


> ****
>
> Elevator companies lack imagination. J
>

Clearly, you do not! Congratulations!

One of my ideas for getting people down from the top of a building is to
create a soft plastic chute (clear for the adventurous) inside of a hard
plastic shell... There would be air that would have to travel around the
person to get around them and that would provide the braking. Putting the
people's lower legs into some plastic thing that looks like a big dixie cup
would make the travel speed more predictable.

At the bottom, you just go into a big air bag and roll quickly out of the
way (or something... LOL) Have to think about it for another 5 minutes. :-)

But you could control the speed of descent to anything you wanted it to be.

-Kelly
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