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The Ersatz Elevator

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Book the Sixth: The Ersatz Elevator is the sixth novel of the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket . The Baudelaires are sent to live with the wealthy Esmé and Jerome Squalor.

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59-637: Mr. Poe takes the Baudelaire orphans to their new home on 667 Dark Avenue. The street is dark, as light is "out", or unpopular. The elevators in the apartment building are not working, as elevators are "out", leaving the Baudelaires to walk up several dozen flights of stairs to the penthouse where the Squalors live. Jerome Squalor welcomes the children to their new home. He offers them " aqueous martinis ", (water garnished with an olive served in

118-404: A monocle and horse riding boots to cover up the tattoo of an eye on his ankle. Despite their protestations, Jerome takes the children to the restaurant. Jerome believes the children are being xenophobic , and dismisses their suspicions of Gunther. Klaus notices that there is one elevator door on each floor except for the top floor, which has two. The children discover that the extra elevator

177-587: A "Chart for determining the number and size of elevators required for office buildings of a given total occupied floor area". In 1920, Howard B. Cook presented a paper titled "Passenger Elevator Service". This paper marked the first time a member of the elevator industry offered a mathematical means of determining elevator service. His formula determined the round trip time (RTT) by finding the single trip time, doubling it, and adding 10 seconds. In 1923, Bassett Jones published an article titled "The Probable Number of Stops Made by an Elevator". He based his equations on

236-541: A building is at its most busy first thing in the morning; however, in more complicated elevator systems, this model does not work. In 1990, Peters published a paper titled "Lift Traffic Analysis: Formulae for the General Case" in which he developed a new formula which would account for mixed traffic patterns as well as accounting for passenger bunching using Poisson approximation. This new General Analysis equation enabled much more complex systems to be analyzed however

295-426: A deeply grooved pulley , commonly called a sheave in the industry. The weight of the car is balanced by a counterweight . Oftentimes two elevators (or sometimes three) are built so that their cars always move synchronously in opposite directions, and are each other's counterweight. The friction between the ropes and the pulley furnishes the traction which gives this type of elevator its name. Hydraulic elevators use

354-407: A fancy glass), and introduces them to his wife, Esmé Squalor , the city's sixth most important financial adviser , who is concerned about what's "in" and what's "out". Jerome avoids disputes with Esmé, as he hates arguing with her, and follows her instructions. While Jerome, a good friend of the Baudelaires' mother, truly cares for the children, it becomes apparent that Esmé's reason for adopting them

413-461: A floor at the same time, are usually driven by the same motor. The system increases efficiency in high-rise buildings, and saves space so additional shafts and cars are not required. In 2003, TK Elevator invented a system called TWIN, with two elevator cars independently running in one shaft. In 1901, consulting engineer Charles G. Darrach (1846–1927) proposed the first formula to determine elevator service. In 1908, Reginald P. Bolton published

472-539: A more compact system. The IGBT also allowed the development of a small, highly integrated, highly sophisticated all-digital control device, consisting of a high-speed processor, specially customized gate arrays, and a circuit capable of controlling large currents of several kHz. In 2000, the first vacuum elevator was offered commercially in Argentina. Some people argue that elevators began as simple rope or chain hoists (see Traction elevators below). An elevator

531-580: A novel tourist attraction which they called the "ascending room", which elevated customers to a considerable height in the center of London, providing a panoramic view. Early, crude steam-driven elevators were refined in the ensuing decade. In 1835, an innovative elevator, the Teagle, was developed by the company Frost and Stutt in England . It was belt-driven and used a counterweight for extra power. In 1845, Neapolitan architect Gaetano Genovese installed

590-577: A small cabinet houses the controller. The equipment is otherwise similar to that of a normal traction or hole-less hydraulic elevator. The world's first machine-room-less elevator, the Kone MonoSpace, was introduced in the year 1996, by Kone . Compared to traditional elevators, it: Its disadvantage was that it could be harder, and significantly more dangerous, to service and maintain. Double-decker elevators are traction elevators with cars that have an upper and lower deck. Both decks, which can serve

649-460: A so-called 'flying chair' built for one of his mistresses at the Château de Versailles in 1743. Ancient and medieval elevators used drive systems based on hoists and windlasses . The invention of a system based on the screw drive was perhaps the most important step in elevator technology since ancient times, leading to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first screw-drive elevator

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708-588: A successful elevator enterprise in Austria-Hungary. The safety and speed of electric elevators were significantly enhanced by Frank Sprague , who added floor control, automatic operation, acceleration control, and further safety devices. His elevator ran faster and with larger loads than hydraulic or steam elevators. 584 of Sprague's elevators were installed before he sold his company to the Otis Elevator Company in 1895. Sprague also developed

767-420: A variety of factors. Hydraulic elevators are cheaper, but installing cylinders greater than a certain length becomes impractical for very-high lift hoistways. For buildings of much over seven floors, traction elevators must be employed instead. Hydraulic elevators are usually slower than traction elevators. Elevators are a candidate for mass customization . There are economies to be made from mass production of

826-409: A vertical cylinder, allowing the platform, carrying a heavy load, to be raised and lowered. Counterweights and balances were also used to increase lifting power. Henry Waterman of New York is credited with inventing the "standing rope control" for an elevator in 1850. In 1852, Elisha Otis introduced the safety elevator, which prevented the fall of the cab if the cable broke. He demonstrated it at

885-420: Is " ersatz ", fake, and consists of nothing but an empty shaft . They climb down the shaft, to find the two Quagmire triplets trapped in a cage at the bottom of the shaft. The Quagmires say that Count Olaf is planning to smuggle them out of the city by hiding them as an object at the "In" auction, which one of his associates will bid on. The Baudelaires return to the penthouse to find tools with which they can free

944-689: Is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems such as a hoist , although some pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack . Elevators are used in agriculture and manufacturing to lift materials. There are various types, like chain and bucket elevators , grain augers , and hay elevators . Modern buildings often have elevators to ensure accessibility, especially where ramps aren't feasible. High-speed elevators are common in skyscrapers . Some elevators can even move horizontally. The earliest known reference to an elevator

1003-426: Is applied in high-speed elevators worldwide. The Toshiba company continued research on thyristors for use in inverter control and dramatically enhanced their switching capacity, resulting in the development of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) at the end of the 1980s. The IGBT realized increased switching frequency and reduced magnetic noise in the motor, eliminating the need for a filter circuit and allowing

1062-411: Is because orphans are "in." Esmé sends the children and Jerome to Café Salmonella for dinner, because she will be busy privately discussing arrangements for an auction with trendy auctioneer Gunther but they knew that it was count Olaf. After Esmé gives the children over-sized pinstripe suits to wear, the Baudelaires recognize Gunther as Count Olaf , despite his attempt to disguise his unibrow with

1121-569: Is calling a Vietnamese restaurant instead of the police, and the three children are sitting on the steps in front of Veblen Hall. In the last picture of The Ersatz Elevator , a crow is flying overhead, foreshadowing the crow-obsessed village in The Vile Village . The book was adapted into the third and fourth episodes of the second season of the television series adaptation produced by Netflix . Elevator An elevator ( American English ) or lift ( Commonwealth English )

1180-446: Is essentially a platform that is either pulled or pushed up by mechanical means. A modern-day elevator consists of a cab (also called a "cabin", "cage", "carriage" or "car") mounted on a platform within an enclosed space called a shaft or sometimes a "hoistway". In the past, elevator drive mechanisms were powered by steam and water hydraulic pistons or by hand. In a "traction" elevator, cars are pulled up by means of rolling steel ropes over

1239-518: Is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius , who reported that Archimedes ( c.  287 BC – c.  212 BC ) built his first elevator probably in 236 BC. Sources from later periods mention elevators as cabs on a hemp rope, powered by people or animals. The Roman Colosseum , completed in 80 AD, had roughly 25 elevators that were used for raising animals up to the floor. Each elevator could carry about 600 pounds (270 kg) (roughly

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1298-463: Is revealed that Esmé knew who Gunther was, and was actually in on the plan to kidnap the Quagmires. When the Baudelaires show her the ersatz elevator, she pushes them down the empty shaft. They land halfway down in a net. Sunny climbs up the shaft with her razor sharp teeth, gets the ersatz rope and jumps back down into the net. Sunny bites a hole in the net, and using the rope, they climb down from

1357-576: Is thought to be the first office building with passenger elevators. In 1872, American inventor James Wayland patented a novel method of securing elevator shafts with doors that are automatically opened and closed as the elevator car approaches and leaves them. In 1874, J. W. Meaker patented a method permitting elevator doors to open and close safely. The first electric elevator was built by Werner von Siemens in 1880 in Germany. Inventor Anton Freissler further developed von Siemens' ideas and created

1416-482: The "Flying chair", an elevator ahead of its time in the Royal Palace of Caserta . It was covered with chestnut wood outside and with maple wood inside. It included a light, two benches, and a hand-operated signal, and could be activated from the outside, without any effort by the occupants. Traction was controlled by a motor mechanic utilizing a system of toothed wheels. A safety system was designed to take effect if

1475-588: The New York exposition in the Crystal Palace in a dramatic, death-defying presentation in 1854, and the first such passenger elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in New York City on 23 March 1857. The first elevator shaft preceded the first elevator by four years. Construction for Peter Cooper 's Cooper Union Foundation building in New York began in 1853. An elevator shaft was included in

1534-466: The Quagmires explained that from inside the fountain, they could attach a message to a crow by morning who would take it to Nevermore Tree, where it would fall off. When Hector is directly overhead, on the functioning self-sustained hot air mobile home, he sends down the ladder. As the home continually rises, the Quagmire children climb, followed by the Baudelaires. With a harpoon gun, Luciana aims for

1593-440: The Quagmires, but they return to find that Gunther has cast the Quagmires away already. They return, dispirited, to the penthouse. Klaus finds a Lot #50, V.F.D., in the auction catalog . The Baudelaires believe this is the item the Quagmires will be hidden in, because the Quagmires had told them (at the end of The Austere Academy ) that Count Olaf was involved in a secret called V.F.D. The Baudelaires tell Esmé about this, but it

1652-479: The Seventh: The Vile Village is the seventh novel in the children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket . In The Vile Village , the Baudelaire orphans are taken into the care of a whole village, only to find many rules and chores, evil seniors, as well as Count Olaf and his evil girlfriend lurking nearby. This book marks a turning point in the structure of

1711-488: The audience. The doorman is revealed as the Hook-Handed Man, and the Quagmires are hidden in the statue of a red herring . Although Jerome wants to keep the Baudelaires, he insists on taking them far away so Count Olaf will not bother them. They refuse this, however, because they want to rescue the Quagmires. The story ends when Jerome is forced to give them up, because he is not brave enough to help them, Mr. Poe

1770-545: The balloons to make the home fall to the ground. Once the Quagmires are in the home, she hits the ladder instead, and the Baudelaires have to climb down to the ground to avoid falling to their deaths. The Quagmires throw down their commonplace notebooks, but Luciana succeeds in skewering both of them with a harpoon. However, Luciana also injures a crow with the harpoon, causing the villagers to turn on her. She reveals herself as Esmé Squalor, now Olaf's girlfriend, and escapes with him by motorcycle. The villagers leave to take care of

1829-409: The calculations are harder to develop and implement. For very complex systems, the solution is to simulate the building. In this method, a virtual version of a building is created on a computer, modeling passengers and elevators as realistically as possible, and random numbers are used to model probability rather than mathematical equations and percentage probability. The Vile Village Book

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1888-500: The car does not reach maximum rated speed or acceleration, and added the functionality of express zones. This equation is now referred to as the 'Up peak Calculation' as it uses the assumption that all the passengers are coming into the building from the ground floor (incoming traffic) and that there are no passengers traveling from a higher floor to the ground floor (outgoing traffic) and no passengers traveling from one internal floor to another (interfloor traffic). This model works well if

1947-688: The car passed through them. The first elevator in India was installed at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata by Otis in 1892. By 1900, completely automated elevators were available, but passengers were reluctant to use them. Their adoption was aided by a 1945 elevator operator strike in New York City, and the addition of an emergency stop button, emergency telephone, and a soothing explanatory automated voice. An inverter-controlled gearless drive system

2006-440: The children a couplet he found underneath Nevermore Tree, which resembles Isadora Quagmire's style of poetry. The children stay awake to see if any more messages arrive, and discover a second couplet the next morning. Along with Hector, they do chores for individual townspeople. After cleaning the crow-shaped Fowl Fountain, a council member tells them that Count Olaf has been captured by the new Chief of Police, Officer Luciana. Though

2065-427: The children spend the night repeatedly pouring the water down a wooden bench onto the jail cell wall, before reabsorbing it with the spongy bread. This slowly dissolves the mortar between the bricks in the wall, until a hole can be made by using the bench as a battering ram . They escape, after Hector passes them a fourth couplet through their cell window. Meanwhile, Klaus discovers that the first letter of each line in

2124-485: The components, but each building comes with its own requirements like different number of floors, dimensions of the well and usage patterns. Elevator doors prevent riders from falling into, entering, or tampering with anything in the shaft. The most common configuration is to have two panels that meet in the middle and slide open laterally. These are known as "center-opening". In a cascading telescopic configuration (potentially allowing wider entryways within limited space),

2183-463: The cords broke, consisting of a beam pushed outwards by a steel spring. The hydraulic crane was invented by Sir William Armstrong in 1846, primarily for use at the Tyneside docks for loading cargo. They quickly supplanted the earlier steam-driven elevators, exploiting Pascal's law to provide much greater force. A water pump supplied a variable level of water pressure to a plunger encased inside

2242-445: The couplets, read in order, spells "fountain". The children work out that the Quagmires must be hidden in the beak of Fowl Fountain. Sunny stands on Klaus's shoulders as he stands on Violet's shoulders. Violet and Klaus fall and as Sunny is slipping off the fountain, she sinks her teeth into a crow eye that opens the fountain's beak. With the Quagmire children, the Baudelaires flee the villagers, who have formed an angry mob. As they run,

2301-458: The crow and the Baudelaires collect the damaged fragments of the Quagmire's notebooks. Sunny takes her first steps unaided as the children leave the town on foot. The last picture of The Vile Village shows Klaus in the foreground, trying to pick up the scraps of the Quagmires' commonplace books, and Violet and Sunny in the background, being blown about by the wind, about to walk into the horizon of emptiness. A copy of The Daily Punctilio appears in

2360-590: The design because Cooper was confident that a safe passenger elevator would soon be invented. The shaft was cylindrical because Cooper thought it was the most efficient design. Otis later designed a special elevator for the building. Peter Ellis , an English architect, installed the first elevators that could be described as paternoster elevators in Oriel Chambers in Liverpool in 1868. The Equitable Life Building , completed in 1870 in New York City,

2419-409: The doors roll on independent tracks so that while open, they are tucked behind one another, and while closed, they form cascading layers on one side. This can be configured so that two sets of such cascading doors operate like the center opening doors described above, allowing for a very wide elevator cab. In less expensive installations the elevator can also use one large "slab" door: a single panel door

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2478-452: The elevator shaft when the car was not being entered or exited. In 1887, American inventor Alexander Miles of Duluth, Minnesota , patented an elevator with automatic doors that closed off the elevator shaft when the car was not being entered or exited. In 1891, American inventors Joseph Kelly and William L. Woods co-patented a novel way to guard elevator shafts against accident, by way of hatches that would automatically open and close as

2537-598: The end of The Austere Academy . The village has a large number of unusual rules, created by the Council of Elders: their newest rule, outlawing villains, is meant to keep out Count Olaf. The children will live with the village's handyman, Hector. He tells them that the initials stand for the Village of Fowl Devotees—in reference to the large number of crows which follow very specific roosting patterns. At sunset they fly to Nevermore Tree, outside Hector's house. Hector shows

2596-482: The equations had now become so complex that it was almost impossible to do manually and it became necessary to use software to run the calculations. The GA formula was extended even further in 1996 to account for double deck elevators. RTT calculations establish an elevator system's handling capacity by using a set of repeatable calculations which, for a given set of inputs, always produce the same answer. It works well for simple systems; but as systems get more complex,

2655-491: The first book devoted to this subject, Elevator Service . The summation of his work was a massive fold-out chart (placed at the back of his book) that allowed users to determine the number of express and local elevators needed for a given building to meet a desired interval of service. In 1912, commercial engineer Edmund F. Tweedy and electrical engineer Arthur Williams co-authored a book titled Commercial Engineering for Central Stations . He followed Bolton's lead and developed

2714-818: The idea and technology for multiple elevators in a single shaft. In 1871, when hydraulic power was a well established technology, Edward B. Ellington founded Wharves and Warehouses Steam Power and Hydraulic Pressure Company, which became the London Hydraulic Power Company in 1883. It constructed a network of high-pressure mains on both sides of the Thames which ultimately extended 184 miles (296 km) and powered some 8,000 machines, predominantly elevators and cranes. Schuyler Wheeler patented his electric elevator design in 1883. In 1884, American inventor D. Humphreys of Norfolk, Virginia , patented an elevator with automatic doors that closed off

2773-423: The imprisoned man has a unibrow and a tattoo of an eye on his left ankle, he is not Count Olaf. He says that his name is Jacques. Nonetheless, the villagers plan to burn him at the stake—the punishment for breaking one of the town's rules. Violet helps Hector with last-minute fixes to an invention he has been working on, against the rules of the town: a self-sustaining hot air mobile home so that he can fly away from

2832-461: The introduction of steel beam construction, worked together to provide the passenger and freight elevators in use today. Starting in coal mines, elevators in the mid-19th century operated with steam power , and were used for moving goods in bulk in mines and factories. These devices were soon applied to a diverse set of purposes. In 1823, Burton and Homer, two architects in London , built and operated

2891-445: The net. Using Violet's ersatz welding torches , they travel along the hallway at the bottom of the shaft, only to find that it leads to a dead end . Pounding on the "ceiling" reveals that it is in fact a trap door ; the children escape through it, and find themselves in the ashes of their old home. They rush to Veblen Hall, the location of the auction, and join the crowd already there. The auction has begun, and Gunther and Esmé are on

2950-457: The principles of hydraulics (in the sense of hydraulic power ) to pressurize an above-ground or in-ground piston to raise and lower the car (see Hydraulic elevators below). Roped hydraulics use a combination of both ropes and hydraulic power to raise and lower cars. Recent innovations include permanent magnet motors, machine room-less rail mounted gearless machines, and microprocessor controls. The technology used in new installations depends on

3009-415: The series and effectively marks the halfway mark between books one to six and eight to thirteen. It breaks with the following major patterns of the earlier books in the series: Mr. Poe receives a brochure about a program where villages have signed up to communally raise children—the Baudelaires choose the village V.F.D., an abbreviation which the Quagmire children communicated to them while being kidnapped at

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3068-432: The stage auctioning off Lot #46. The children ask Jerome to buy them Lot #50. Mr. Poe and Jerome both bid and then back down, but Sunny bids on it and wins. The Baudelaires open the box (without paying), only to reveal Very Fancy Doilies instead of the Quagmires. Gunther slips on the doilies and is revealed as Count Olaf when his boots and monocle fly off, revealing his unibrow and tattoo. Count Olaf and Esmé flee, pursued by

3127-412: The theory of probabilities and found a reasonably accurate method of calculating the average stop count. The equation in this article assumed a consistent population on every floor. He went on to write an updated version of his equations in 1926 which accounted for variable population on each floor. Jones credited David Lindquist for the development of the equation but provides no indication as to when it

3186-448: The town and live up in the air. The next morning, after the children find another couplet, Count Olaf has arrived, disguised as Detective Dupin, and Jacques is dead. Olaf frames the children, who are jailed and will be burned at the stake the next day. He plans to smuggle one of them away to steal their fortune. The children are given bread and a pitcher of water, as Klaus realizes that it is his thirteenth birthday. At Violet's instruction,

3245-512: The weight of two lions) 23 feet (7.0 m) up when powered by up to eight men. In 1000, the Book of Secrets by Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi in Islamic Spain described the use of an elevator-like lifting device to raise a large battering ram to destroy a fortress. In the 17th century, prototypes of elevators were installed in the palace buildings of England and France. Louis XV of France had

3304-403: The width of the doorway that opens to the left or right laterally. These are known as "single slide" doors. Some buildings have elevators with the single door on the shaftway, and double cascading doors on the cab. Elevators that do not require separate machine rooms are designed so that most of their power and control components fit within the hoistway (the shaft containing the elevator car), and

3363-554: Was built by Ivan Kulibin and installed in the Winter Palace in 1793, although there may have been an earlier design by Leonardo da Vinci . Several years later, another of Kulibin's elevators was installed in the Arkhangelskoye near Moscow . The development of elevators was led by the need for movement of raw materials, including coal and lumber , from hillsides. The technology developed by these industries, and

3422-448: Was first proposed. Although the equations were there, elevator traffic analysis was still a very specialist task that could only be done by world experts. That was until 1967 when Strakosch wrote an eight step method for finding the efficiency of a system in "Vertical transportation: Elevators and Escalators". In 1975, Barney and Dos Santos developed and published the "Round Trip Time (RTT) formula", which followed Strakosch's work. This

3481-506: Was the first formulized mathematical model and is the simplest form that is still used by traffic analyzers today. Modification and improvements have been made to this equation over the years, most significantly in 2000 when Peters published "Improvements to the Up Peak Round Trip Time Calculation" which improved the accuracy of the flight time calculation, making allowances for short elevator journeys when

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