# Purpose of the levers controlling a Trek Transporter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331 "2010-05-13T18:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/1 "2010-05-13T18:51:29Z")
What is the purpose of the 3 levers? Why not a single lever, or even just a single button? ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/2 "2010-05-13T18:57:14Z")
The set designer thought three levers looked cooler. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/3 "2010-05-13T19:02:44Z")
They actually control the three seashells. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/4 "2010-05-13T19:41:47Z")
One controlled the transporter sound, one controlled sparklyness, and the last was the Good/Evil control. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/5 "2010-05-13T19:47:02Z")
They went back to analog controls after discovering the hard way that pixelization is not something you want to happen to living beings. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/6 "2010-05-13T20:01:23Z")
The GUI Interface was too confusing, and usually resulted in the dreaded BSOD. Back to analog. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/7 "2010-05-13T20:02:04Z")
X, Y and Z coordinates. Sure it’s tricky, that’s why you need an engineer to operate the things. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/8 "2010-05-13T20:15:14Z")
They do nothing at all, except to give the dude running them some feeling of control at the time, especially when something is going wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/9 "2010-05-13T20:23:03Z")
That’s the beauty of it. They don’t do _anything_! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/10 "2010-05-13T20:23:53Z")
When deconstructing a physical organism and reconstituting it from an atomic level, there’s nothing more reliable than executing such an exacting process manually, rather than with an untrustworthy computer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/11 "2010-05-13T20:28:02Z")
I always figured they were power controls. I mean the thing eats a lot of energy. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/12 "2010-05-13T20:28:43Z")
Just be careful, lest someone arrive inside out. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/13 "2010-05-13T20:29:16Z")
There’s an inverse relationship between the range of the transporter and the strength of its confinement beam. You can beam someone over a longer distance if there’s no/little interference, or pump up the confinement beam to punch through interference - but that reduces range. You can increase both range and confinement a bit by boosting power to the transporter as a whole, but that’s undesirable because it takes the system longer to channel that much energy safely - which means the passenger spends longer in the beam, which increases the risk of an accident. And of course, the transporter is a high-energy system anyway, and energy efficiency matters even on a starship. Thing is, the interaction between these factors - range, confinement, and power requirements - is complicated enough that it can’t really be automated easily or safely. Thus, the transporter operator controls them manually, in response both to sensor readings and visual cues from the beam itself. Levers are used to provide tactile feedback, and allow the operator to control his console without looking at it - one of the rare instances on Starfleet vessels where it’s felt that the advantage of physical controls trumps the flexibility of touchscreens. So there you have it - the three levers provide real-time control for transporter beam range, confinement field strength, and the amount of power feeding into the system. Now how’s _that_ for a bit of Treknobabel? Totally out of my ass. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/14 "2010-05-13T20:30:42Z")
Brake, throttle, clutch. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/15 "2010-05-13T20:36:53Z")
Contrast, Brightness, Hue ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/16 "2010-05-13T20:40:24Z")
Hickory, Dickory, Dock ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/17 "2010-05-13T20:41:11Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > There’s an inverse relationship between the range of the transporter and the strength of its confinement beam. You can beam someone over a longer distance if there’s no/little interference, or pump up the confinement beam to punch through interference - but that reduces range. You can increase both range and confinement a bit by boosting power to the transporter as a whole, but that’s undesirable because it takes the system longer to channel that much energy safely - which means the passenger spends longer in the beam, which increases the risk of an accident. And of course, the transporter is a high-energy system anyway, and energy efficiency matters even on a starship. > > Thing is, the interaction between these factors - range, confinement, and power requirements - is complicated enough that it can’t really be automated easily or safely. Thus, the transporter operator controls them manually, in response both to sensor readings and visual cues from the beam itself. Levers are used to provide tactile feedback, and allow the operator to control his console without looking at it - one of the rare instances on Starfleet vessels where it’s felt that the advantage of physical controls trumps the flexibility of touchscreens. > > So there you have it - the three levers provide real-time control for transporter beam range, confinement field strength, and the amount of power feeding into the system. Now how’s _that_ for a bit of Treknobabel? Totally out of my ass. 😃 Absolutely beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/18 "2010-05-13T20:49:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Just be careful, lest someone arrive inside out. [http://www.teemings.net/series\_1/issue14/calmeacham.html](http://www.teemings.net/series_1/issue14/calmeacham.html) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/19 "2010-05-13T21:06:13Z")
If you’ve ever played with the T-Bar on a video switcher console, you know that it fades between two video feeds manually. That’s what the levers do. If the transporter operator was a dick, he could really mess around with you. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331/20 "2010-05-13T22:16:21Z")
It controls the Heisenburg Compensator. How does the Heisenburg Compensator work? “It works very well, thank you.” 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purpose-of-the-levers-controlling-a-trek-transporter/539331.md?page=2)