I apologize beforehand for how this post might read. I’m not at my best right now and can’t think clearly for some reason.
Anyway, can someone tell me why some elevators open automatically and horizontally whereas others (freight elevators?) open manually and vertically? Why the different kinds? Is there any benefit to one over the other or is aesthetics or what?
Not all freight elevators open and close manually. The ones where i work you push a button. As for the doors opening vertically…I think it has to do with size. Much shorter to open vertically as opposed to horizontaly.
On most freight elevators the doors open the full width of the cage. If they opened sideways, where would they go? Opening vertically they slide up and down the elevator shaft. The is a longer version of Reeder’s answer.
[nitpick]
Technically, it’s shorter:o
[/nitpick]
But better, no offense Reeder
[nitpick]
Technically, it’s shorter:o
[/nitpick]
But better, no offense Reeder
I swear it timed out both times. (I was about to try a third time, but figured I should check just to make sure)
Most freight elevators’ doors are a lot wider than passenger elevators to provide unobstructed access to the full width of the elevator. Sideways-opening doors on an elevator 12 feet across would require a very wide shaft (about 26 feet wide) to provide space for the doors to open into, and that would just be wasted space. (For fire code and structural reasons, the doors have to be fully contained in the shaft)
If a 12 foot-wide door opened vertically, there’s no wasted space in the shaft.
As for manual vs automatic, newer freight elevators have semi-automatic doors. Having passenger-style automatic doors that close in ten seconds and allow someone on another floor to summon the elevator would be rather annoying when moving things on or off. Freight doors are often set up to open automatically when arriving at a floor, and not close until the inside gate is closed and/or the door close button is held in.
They also open manually because of the time required to load freight onto them. Well designed ones do, anyway. You can’t have the doors closing on you like a guillotine while you are wrestling a 1000 pound pallet of crap onto an elevator. That sort of nonsense won’t do.
Freight Elevators are for larger movies