A paternoster is a lift in which a series of open cars hangs from two endless chains and circulates continuously: up one shaft and down the other. It never stops; you step in and out while the car moves slowly past the floor level. The name refers to the rosary — beads on one continuous cord.
The word is also used in office furniture for a rotating filing carousel, which unlike the lift can be stopped at the file you want.
How it works
- Two chains run over large sprockets at the top and bottom of the shaft.
- The cars hang between them, usually sized for two people, and have no doors.
- The speed is low — in the order of a few tenths of a metre per second — precisely so that boarding remains possible.
- At the top and bottom the cars swing around the sprocket into the other shaft.
Applications and current status
Paternosters were built from the late nineteenth century onward in offices, universities and government buildings, where many people move short distances between floors. Their strength is throughput: no waiting and no queue at the door.
Almost all surviving examples are in Germany and Central Europe; they are rare elsewhere, and none are newly built:
- Safety — open cars and boarding while moving do not meet modern lift regulations. Existing installations run under grandfathering arrangements and are frequently listed as heritage.
- Accessibility — a paternoster is unusable for wheelchair users, people with walking frames and often for visitors unfamiliar with the system. Any building with one also needs a conventional lift.
- Management — where an installation is retained, it needs a strict inspection and maintenance regime, emergency stops and clear instructions at every boarding point.
Related terms
- Lift
- Lift shaft
- Vertical transport
- Escalator
- Accessibility
- Listed building
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