MULTI Elevator Travels Up, Down, And Sideways With No Cables

All around the world elevators are a very common way of moving people up and down in taller buildings. Elevators are a convenience for many of us and a requirement for the handicapped to move around buildings. A German firm called ThyssenKrupp has an idea for a new elevator that can not only travel up and down, but horizontally as well.

The new elevator uses technology that is similar to what maglev trains use and is known as the MULTI elevator system. The company claims that the elevator system is the first of its kind to operate without cables. The elevator system uses one motor to drive horizontal movement and another for vertical movement.

The elevator system travels in a loop at about 11mph allowing passengers access to an elevator car every 15 to 30 seconds. Faster elevators that can also move horizontally promise to save people who work in high-rise buildings a significant amount of time.

An executive from the elevator firm named Andreas Schierenbeck claims that the average New York City office worker spends a cumulative 16.6 years waiting for elevators and six years inside an elevator during their life. A faster elevator system that can move vertically and horizontally can reduce wasted time for passengers, reduce elevator footprint by 50% and increase the available space inside the building by 25% according to the company.

VIA: TheVerge