What do ya'll think of this manlift?

[chopped]

I was wondering Ive herd the term manlift here and found this type of lift.Apparently there has been at least one death related to them But I see they are still listed on some equipment sites. Does anyone know if these are still used to this day?

http://www.elevatorbobs-elevator-pics.com/images2/Manlifts/ml1.gif

 

[oldnslo]

I have sem some similar ones in grain elevators. Not sure the reason but posibly didn't want sealed do to dust build up an explosion hazard.

 

[WM75Guy]

I rode them in many a grain elevator in Fort Worth and Saginaw, Texas but that was in the 80s when I was getting my degree in fire protection technology.

 

[Mace Canute]

That brings back memories! I spent a full year in the Yukon from 1972 to 1973 working in an asbestos mill as a Pressure Packer Operator at first and then as a Floorwalker for most of the time. We would ride the manlift from the bottom floor up to the top (6th) floor and then walk throughout the mill from floor to lower floor making sure everything was copacetic. The floors were quite far apart, I think 14 feet IIRC. We'd support our weight with our hands on the stairs hand rails and slide down them instead of walking down...what with the constant dust on the rails and us sliding down them all the time, they were highly polished and between the 1st and 2nd floors, it was one straight staircase (the rest were a switchback design) and by the time you got to the bottom you would slide 20-25 feet along the concrete floor from the speed you picked up on the slide down! .

Even though the floors were numbered, you had to be careful that you kept track and didn't miss the last floor when using the manlift! There was a story that some guy had rode it all the way up once and was hurt quite badly after he failed to "disembark" at the top floor! Maybe it was true...probably it was just a scare tactic for us newbies.

We used to have a once a week shutdown where we would do maintenance and repairs in the mill which as a floorwalker so I got 8 hrs a week OT. I remember our company "Safety Officer" would walk throughout the mill taking air samples with his handheld mechanical sniffer. Of course there was next to no dust by the time he did that so I'm sure all the company's records showed just what a clean environment we got to work in! When questioned why he was doing it on those days he said he was just "trying the unit out". Yeah, right...made sooo much more sense to walk throughout the mill only on the days when it was shut down for maintenance and never once at full production!

 

[NC tractor driver]

I've seen those in coal preparation plants and paper mills. I never rode them though. They always looked like something that could hurt you real bad if you weren't careful.

 

[JamesHW]

When I was a kid we used to see them in parking garages. We would ride them for fun until someone chased us off.

 

[Advan]

There was one of these in operation at the ADM mill in Midland, Ontario until only a couple years ago. My friend took me to work and I got to ride it a few times. Talk about scary! It was a total shock that something like this was still allowed in todays health-and-safety diseased world. IIRC, they called it the "Humphrey Lift".

 

[Depmandog]

There are several still in use in the area. We contract work in the mills from time to time..these lifts are off limits to the contractors, but the mill employees ride them.

I got to ride one one time. That things moves right along, and the floor holes are not the biggest. I kinda felt like a cork stopping a bottle when I passed through a floor. Thought for sure I would get stuck!!

 

[Stick895]

The old IG Farben building that was V Corps Headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany back through the early '90's had elevators that worked in this manner; just stand at the opening and hop aboard or time your exit and hop off.

 

[firedog]

many a ride on one of those. We had one here at the plant where I work. Took it out of service about ten years ago.
Our's extended down into a pit, so you didn't have to hop up/down while embarking/disembarking.
In the photo, you'll note a cable running along the right side. The cable runs along both sides next to the belt and is connected to shutdown switches to serve as an emergency stop.