ANACAM MAGAZINE - n.3 luglio | settembre 2021

39 s ono così strettamente collegati alla nostra quo- tidianità, da passare quasi inosservati. Eppure, gli ascensori ci hanno letteralmente cambia- to la vita, agevolandola e consentendo degli sposta- menti che altrimenti sarebbero a dir poco proibitivi. Ma quanto ne sappiamo davvero su questa straordinaria invenzione? I PIU’ VELOCI AL MONDO I primissimi ascensori, tra cui quello che fece la storia nel 1857, in un grande magazzino di Broadway a New York, viaggiavano ad una velocità di 12 metri al minuto. Oggi i numeri sono nettamente diversi, e quelli più strabilian- ti arrivano da Taiwan. Si tratta degli ascensori del Taipei 101, uno degli edifici più alti del mondo, che sfiorano i 60 km/h. Per raggiungere il tetto, a quota 382 metri, si im- piegano circa 40 secondi. Tuttavia, il record di velocità appartiene ad una coppia di ascensori di un edificio meno a s lifts are inevitably intertwined with our every- day lives it is easy to overlook them. Yet, they have changed our lives making them easier and allowing us to move in ways which would otherwise be difficult to say the least. But how much do we really know about this extraordinary invention? THE FASTEST IN THE WORLD The very first lifts, including the one that made history in 1857, were in a Broadway department store in New York and travelled at speeds of 12 meters per minute. Today the figures are definitely different, and the most astonishing ones come from Taiwan, the lifts of the Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world, reach 60 km/h. To reach the roof, at an altitude of 382 meters, it takes about 40 sec- onds. However, the speed record belongs to a pair of lifts in a less celebrated building than, the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center, in China. It takes 43 seconds to climb its 530 me- ters, at a sensational speed of up to 72 km/h. Mind-boggling numbers, but not to worry: each lift is equipped with ex- treme safety measures and excellent engineering designed to avoid issues to passengers’ ears, a sort of atmospheric pres- sure regulation similar to the one airplanes are equipped with. HOW THE UPPER FLOORS HAVE CHANGED Nowadays the higher floors are undoubtedly the most popu- lar ones. Breath-taking views and a higher degree of pri- vacy make for dream penthouses. Before the invention of the lift, however, the upper floors had lower rents than the apartments on the lower levels. The usefulness of lifts has changed everything, even the old “hierarchies”. As a result, the wealthy began to appreciate what were once apartments destined for less well-off people. Once the problem of effort- less access was solved ... the real estate market definitely changed! THE INCIDENT AT THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING Speaking of height, , the Empire State Building held the world record from 1931 to the 1970s. Over 380 meters for its 102 floors all served by its 73 lifts. A record height in 1945, but there was another side to the coin; at that alti- tude, there are planes flying by. World War II was drawing to a close when a US Army B25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building. The cause of the tragic accident was a pilot’s mistake, due to the thick fog and poor visibility. The imposing building was able to withstand the impact, but on the 75th floor the lift’s cable was cut by the military plane at the moment of the collision. Two of the three women who were inside the lift miraculously survived the fall, which was greatly slowed down by the emergency brakes. THE LIFTS OF OLD The first lifts looked very different from today’s decidedly more minimal ones. In the past they were conceived