Back in town on a weeknight, Woohoo! Back in Chattanooga by 7:00 am tomorrow, Boooo! Friday night, I was in town for a total of eighteen hours. This time, it's twelve hours. This keeps up, and I'll just drive home, stick my foot in the door, pull it back out, and drive back. Me being the type of guy that I am, I made a joke out of it. I was talking to my sister at the shop today, and she made a comment about Ford and I being back on the job tomorrow, and I said "Yeah. If Ford and I have less than an eighteen hour turnaround time, they'll have to retrain us." My Sis' liked that one quite a bit. :^)
I've been reading some booklets lately that are part of a course to become a Certified Elevator Technician. There's all sorts of interesting little tidbits that are in there including the fact that a fully-loaded hydraulic freight elevator should lower no faster than 150 feet per minute. If it's not at its weight capacity, it'll go a bit slower. I had an opportunity to apply this knowledge the other day in a most entertaining way. We were just about to "knock off" for the day, and were jabbering with the Driller's helper for a few minutes before we left. He asked "So what do you guy's do when you're "on the set"?" I answered that we "Work some more. Hell, we're Elevator Men (tm). We eat, sleep, breathe, and dream elevator's." Ford added "Even when I Shit it comes out as a little elevator." I could not let it end with that, so I added "When I Shit it comes out at 150 feet per minute." I thought Ford was gonna split a kidney he was laughing so hard. So I decided to add fuel to the fire by also interjecting "Well it does depend on the load." He didn't stop laughing for a good ten minutes. Good times.
Earlier today, I was up in the original building looking for a part to complete a portion of the assembly I was working on, and the driller's helper was wandering around over there. We got to talking while I was digging through the boxes of parts, and something he said (I can't remember what it was) got me to "preaching" about elevators. No, I mean it. Imagine Jesse Jackson doing a sermon (I do a fair impression). "Let us now turn to the Book of Otis. If you find yourself lost...in a tall building... with NO IDEA...of your destination. Look ye unto the elevator. If your faith is TRUE, and your heart is PURE...you will be removed from your consternation. MOVE to the lift without hesitation, and let RISING ABOVE...be your motivation. But remember...brothers and sisters...that the Man there will judge you upon your entry. He can lift you up to the HIGHEST OF HIGHS...or he can take you ALL THE WAY to the bottom." This type of thing just kills on a jobsite. (I've got to be a little careful about it though. Ford is a Deacon at his church, and I don't want to offend him. Obviously, he doesn't know that I'm an Athiest.)
Up next week: best pickup lines of an Elevator Man (tm). Stay tuned!
Posted by Johnny - Oh at December 13, 2004 10:50 PMAlright E-MAN..... I want to know some fun facts about elevators. 1) do all elevators have a hatch in the roof of the car? 2) if stuck in an elevator (which happens at my work all the time) how can one get out of the damn thing instead of waiting for the maint. lackys?
thanks mac
Posted by: mac at December 14, 2004 07:31 AMMac, since my baby brother is still on the job site I will help to enlighten you. (I work for the same company he does, just a different field.) Answer to #1 question: yes they are supposed to, but they are locked from the top. Sorry, no climbing out like the things we see in movies. Answer #2: You are stuck until someone arrives to free you.
Sorry, I know they are ugly answers. Sounds like the elevator in question needs more than just TLC. Oh, amzingly enough they all don't have those ladders we see in movies either lol. Really bursted my bubble the first time I saw the inside of a hoistway.
Harvey - you are right, he is nuts. lol
Posted by: ME at December 15, 2004 06:47 PMMac, to further expound upon what my Sister was telling you: As she said, the openings on the top of the cab are all locked from the outside. Can't have any adventurous teenagers clinbing around on top of the elevator and getting crushed at the top, or falling off the sides. Also, the "gates" on the cab are electro-mechanically operated, and are "locked out" by the controller when the car is between floors. They can be manually opened, but you have to be a mechanic, and on top of the cab to do so. I'm sure you've notived the little "hole" thingy in the elevator door when you're standing outside wiating for the durn thing to arrive. There's a special key that goes in there to unlock the hoistway door, so that a mechanic can access the hoistway when the car is not at that level. (Like the gates, these are electro-mechanically operated as well) There is quite a series of electrical, and mechanical failsafes built into the system to make it pretty-much impossible to get out of an elevator that has stopped between floors if you're in it (Unless you have all kinds of heavy machinery, and a willingness to destroy the elevator in the process of extracting yourself.)
As Sis' says, start complaining loud and long to the people at you're work who have control of the money, and get them to sign a service contract with a decent elevator company. There are a lot of things that can cause an elevator's safeties to "set", and none of them are good for you, or the elevator. Bitch until they fix it, I sez.
Posted by: Johnny - Oh at December 17, 2004 03:13 PMCUDOS!! Baby Brother!! I really wanted to talk about what I always thought was a peep hole in the outer elevator doors but you did great. You could imaging my hubby going into hysterics when I learned exactly what the peep hole was. Especially knowing that I am not tall enough to even try to look in it. Now quit laughing and do something useful, like go fishing and enjoy your weekend.
Posted by: ME at December 17, 2004 11:04 PM