Are elevators able to drop floors?
For example, could an elevator go up to the 10th floor, then suddenly drop down to the ninth floor (think tower of terror)?
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Elevators actually have a safety mechanism on the rails that triggers if the elevator begins to drop rapidly and will clamp and hold the elevator in place.
Yes, elevators can drop floors in emergency situations, but it’s not something that occurs regularly.
Every passenger elevator built in the past 50+ years has numerous independent safety mechanisms that prevent the elevator from moving downward faster than the elevator is designed for. Any significant downward speed detected by any of these systems automatically applies breaks and stops the elevator. Only an elevator technician is able to reset the safety systems. The elevator requires a re-inspection after any safety system activated before it is certified for passenger use again. All elevators are regularly inspected to ensure that the components including the safety systems are in good working order.
No. They might drop a foot or two but not usually a whole floor. The safety mechanism was designed in 1873 by Elisha Otis and his sons started the Otis elevator company.
Fun fact: in Tower of Terror the car is actually pulled down by the cable system so you fall faster than gravity.
Yes. I have been in a building built in the 1960s that did this. Regularly. Descending from the tenth floor to the third it would drop from 5 to 3. Happened for a few weeks before it was fixed. Absolutely terrifying.
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