Funny thing when I started looking at this. In the dictionary, paternoster means the Lord’s Prayer, especially in Latin (Roman Catholic Church). That was the first definition. But really pertains to the second definition because you will be saying the Lord’s Prayer if something goes wrong with a paternoster.
So what is a paternoster? The second definition states, an elevator consisting of a series of linked door-less compartments moving continuously on an endless belt.
Doesn’t sound dangerous, you know door-less elevator on a continuously endless moving belt.
The University of Sheffield in the Arts Tower is the location of one of the last remaining paternoster in the UK. The lift, with no doors, doesn’t stop on any floor level. You step on and off as it moves. Built by the Schindler Lift company some 40 years ago, the paternoster has 38 two-person cars and moves between 22 stories of the building. Each floor takes about 13 seconds making traditional elevators slow.
A little history of the paternoster, it was invented in the 1860s by Peter Ellis. Its reference in the dictionary to the Lord’s Prayer is because the lift system resembles that of rosary prayer beads and is Latin for “Our Father”.
I’ve included a link to a YouTube video of a shorter paternoster as someone rides the full circle.
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