Perfect place to put a hidden floor. I was half expecting to see a room full of mythical creatures playing poker or something.

The sign should've said: "You didnt listen, did you?"

We had one of those in one of my old workplaces. Used to take the apprentices up to the top floor, "forget" to get out, and then do a handstand whilst screaming loudly as it went over the top. Hilarious to see their faces as you came back round upside down, but yes, dangerous. Also, that was back in the days when I could still do a handstand.

There was one at a hospital I went to as a medical student. It was great - no need to wait for the main lifts. Of course, everyone rode it all the way around at least once, despite the “get off now or you’ll die” warning. There was a “don’t worry, just stay at the back of the cab and you’ll be fine” sign as you want over the top.

As a student at the University of Sheffield, I can tell you that the paternoster is not as terrifying as it might look on camera. I use it instead of the stairs when I'm in the Arts Tower - bit of fun in between lectures. A lot of students do refuse to use it though, more because they're scared of it than anything else. Travelling over the top or round the bottom is not inherently dangerous - university just prefers you not to do it. Many people have, I accidentally went round the bottom on my first go! The One Show on the BBC tested Sheffield's paternoster against the ordinary lifts in the building a few years back, and it moves students a lot faster. Particularly those needing to get to the basement floor for a coffee before quickly returning to their lecture. Great to see a bit of Sheffield though, Tom! (:

I just imagine a grizzled old janitor nonchalantly sweeping up severed limbs every day of his job.

This is one of those things that could work brilliantly if you assume everyone is: A: able bodied B: not an idiot

I have literally had nightmares involving elevators that worked like this. I had no idea they were real.

This may be a bit stupid, but i was imagining that at the top the whole thing got turned upside down and you would end up getting tipped over after what tom said, then when i saw the sign an was really confused. Thank god the video clip cleared things up!

Theres one of these in the danish parliment. Theyre apparently very useful for escaping journalists.

“Last floor to alight. Further travel not dangerous” that just encourages people to go up.

Ten years ago I briefly worked in a hotel in Amsterdam (the former Scheepvaarthuis) that had a paternoster lift! It wasn't in use anymore since they get significantly more dangerous when you throw drunk/high tourists with suitcases in the mix, but they were still fully operational. They were turned on upon request or for special occasions, but every time we did guests would complain about the noise. Older people who had formerly worked in the building always came in to see them, and often expressed disappointment about not being able to ride them one last time.

This lift is bloody brilliant. On a school trip to Sheffield University, our English teacher encouraged us all to under-ride the Paternoster (while she distracted the staff member escorting us round the Uni). It was as much fun as a lift can possibly be. Which, surprisingly, is quite a lot.

over 35 years ago, when I was about 9 or 10, our school allowed us to go into Newcastle University to learn basic on print-based teletype terminals running into a HP 2000 Mainframe. The department at the time had a paternoster, and these computer classes were after hours, so there was always a massive temptation to try going over the top. 9-year old me, however, was a wuss and chickened out, despite the imagined promise of gateways into future worlds or at the very least, the sight of some cool machinery. Thank you so much for satisfying a 35 year old curiosity!

I love it, putting personal irresponsibility back into daily activities.

I like how there's graffiti on the walls past the point of no return so obviously some rebellious teens took this for a joy ride

Daub some red hand print smears along the top of the shaft as it goes around, just to freak out people who decide to ride it in a loop ;-)

I assume it's called a Paternoster because you have to say a prayer before you get on the bloody thing.

We have about 50 working paternosters in Czech Republic. Come and see them!:)

My father lived in Germany in the 60s while in the USAF and told me about these. I never really could grasp the concept until now. Thanks for this footage and for going "over the top". Much obliged.

Well, SOMEONE has been to the top that shouldn't have been, judging by the graffiti scrawled on the wall. xD

1:08 It says it isn't dangerous to go over the top

The “escalator” of “elevators”.

That wave is probably the cutest thing I’ve seen this week

With some improvements and some safety features, I can see these things actually being really good. It never stops and it doesn't have to go back and forth to whatever floors the riders are requesting. Of course, you'd need a couple of conventional elevators for handicapped folks or people who otherwise might have an issue getting on and off, but it's really nothing more than a vertical escalator. Maybe optical sensors plus some digital logic and there would be no "guillotine" risk.

I'd say that camera ride was a little over the top. ;-)

That brought back awful memory of watching my brother leaving me in the elevator alone while my hands were holding a heavy box. I don't remember how many floors I passed while I was standing there thinking I will live the rest of my life stuck in metal box carrying another box.

When I was at University of Leipzig (Germany), there was a Paternoster. There it was not forbidden to go over the top or under the lowest floor. And it is not dangerous, as you can see in this video.

There's one at Northwick Park Hospital, But I've always been to scared to go on it. That and I never knew until recently what happens when you get to the top floor.

I live quite close to Sheffield, and I've been in that lift. It's kinda thrilling. You know, for a lift.

I can name at least three different places in Prague that have these, two being publically accessible. Growing up around them, they never struck me as something unusual.

Haha, we have several of them in Prague. Once me and my friend went round and I was also a bit scared. Some young people here are fascinated by those elevators because there are urban legends how it goes around - that it turns upside down, compresses at the top and the bottom etc. It's quite fun to be honest. I had to try and see for myself!

I looked up and Hitachi is currently developing a more high-tech one. They call it the "Circulating Multi-Car Elevator System" It's on KZfaq too

This looks really frightening. I would constantly be afraid that I would trip and fall onto the entry and then get snapped in half by the wall as it went up or down.

I remember being caught in one as a child perhaps about five years old. It was at a department store in Bristol (I think) and I got seperated from my parents and went round and up and down without jamming anything: presumably I was too light. Eventually I was freed by my parents and I was in a right old state. It is astounding to me that any of them are still in use.

I still have the occasional flashback to the paternoster in the University of Sussex which was the most terrifying thing I had seen up to that point in my life. This was 1979, and it still ranks in the top five.

I like that this is titled "Things You Might Not Know" instead of the more common KZfaq type of title "X Things you didn't know about _____" the X and the _____ being variable. Tom doesn't seem to assume that everyone but he is ignorant.

Hey Tom, University Of Essex, Colchester, have a Paternoster in their Library which if memory serves is 6 floors, so not quite as big as the one in Sheffield. It was still in operation when I graduated in 2005, and I believe it is still going strong - UoE KZfaqrs feel free to correct me... It has always been a bit of a 'Right of Passage' for new students (freshers) to be told the perils and dangers of going 'over the top' and 'through the basement' before being dared, or challenged, to 'endure' a full cycle all the way round - in reality you just see the huge chain pulling the cars around and, so long as you keep protrusions clear, there is no danger whatsoever despite the multitude of horrifying warning signs! (My favourite was to tell them that it 'flips over' at the top and bottom, so you have to be ready to rotate and get back on your feet - seeing them brace for the sudden change, then come around smilingly perturbed was delightfully satisfying!) So yeah, thanks for enlightning the world to the existence of the Paternoster Lift, and keep up the good work. :-) Best Regards, Tigger

There's one in the building of the main post office in Brno, CZ. As a kid I was fascinated by it and with my classmates we would scare ourselves by imagining what happens beyond the top and bottom floors (the cabin folding close, flipping over, spikes, ...). When we were a bit older we would ride through the transition areas as a dare. In the one I know, there is a massive metal wheel on top which turns the whole thing. It is covered in old bubblegums. Once, my friend and I got stuck there. The whole thing stopped and we were trapped until found by the post office workers. I haven't gone through the top or bottom since :o)

I was an international student there 2 years ago and I was too scared to use that thing. It did help reduce the morning student traffic which was unreal.

We had them at Salford University when I was there. One thing we use to do was to go to the top floor and someone would go in and come out doing a head stand. Then we'd push a poor fresher into the lift and watch their face as panic set in as they went higher and higher

I could kill the better part of a day with this thing and a portal gun.

I went to Birmingham Poly in the 1980s and took the Paternoster up to the top of B block whenever it was working! I loved it. As a small child I was trapped in a lift and became frightened of them, but because the Paternoster was open I didn’t get scared, even when it stopped and you had to be helped out. It helped me get over my fear of lifts. So glad to hear thar Sheffield Uni still has one.

In Czechia, there's about 70 páternoster lifts in total, however only a handful are working and available to the public. I've been to multiple and can say that you might eventually get used to it. The oldest one is in Prague in the building of Czech Radio, it was made in 1920 and installed in 1929 with 18 cabins, reconstructed between 2007-2008. The tallest one (58.5 m) is in Baťa's Skyscraper (AKA Building No. 21) in Zlín with 30 cabins. It takes 195 seconds to get from the 15th to the ground floor, its velocity is 0.3 m/s. It was installed in 1938 and reconstructed between 2018-2019. Apparently the package and letter delivery system was also using the same technology with an automatic tilt mechanism. The second tallest (56.8 m, 35 cabins) is in the Liberec region municipality building in Liberec, installed in 1971. It was reconstructed last year, but 2 months ago, some workers demolished two cabins and the engine room when a ladder they were transporting got stuck (severe safety violation, there are modern lifts in the building), so it's in non-working condition unfortunately. It is not known when it will be running again.

Hitachi wants to make a modern paternoster lift with enhanced safety.

Exciting AND very dangerous? Someone get BigClive in there right quick!

I've ridden in that, it's a lot of fun and I wish they were more common. They're perfectly safe if you're able bodied and you don't prat about.

The building where I did an internship at 16 had a paternoster and you were allowed to go over the top, it was honestly so cool

This would scare the s*** out of me. I'd be perpetually terrified of falling. Or getting trapped between the wall and the lift. Or forgetting to get out and going over the top.

am i the only one that thought when the elevator was going over the top that it flipped upside-down?

That style of elevator honestly never occurred to me, and frankly it's genius. I really don't see why they can't co-exist with "normal" elevators. Could make a world of difference in large and highly populated buildings where waiting for an elevator is a significant time sink. Like many large downtown office buildings.

I remember thinking of something like this elevator when I was young. I didn't think it actually existed, much less had a name.

I like you for writing "you might not know" instead of "you don't know".

Uhm... I live in Prague... These are in every old building... Going to the doctor in the center? Yep. Visiting your lawyer? Yep. Going to a pub on the top of a building? Yep.

well, there are several in CZ left and operational :D now I feel even more special

This brings back memories of uni to me. I know everyone is talking about going over the top, but the real challenge is how many can you fit into a single carriage. It takes timing, teamwork, commitment and for the last person in, some very quick decision making. We managed four but didn't dare do more.

Can we have a counterpart video of going under?

there used to be one at Leicester Poly (uni) in a building that has since gone called the James Went building. Really amazing to go in and even more amazing how quickly you got used to it. I do indeed have the pleasure of riding over the top and indeed the bottom. What i found was lots of graffiti from students who had "dared" to be naughty and risk the whole thing closing. Which, considering there were no lifts as an alternative could spark of riots with students having to go up and down stairs. And no i didnt add my signature to the very exclusive club. Well, maybe once :)

Its interesting that most of the UK Paternosters seem to have been installed in Universities. I've ridden one at Leicester University, which I believe was decommissioned a few years ago. Absolutely fascinating things- I'd never even heard of them until I realised I was expected to ride in one. You never entirely get used to that tiny moment of tension when you jump on and off.

Going over the top didn't seem to be that dangerous at all.

Why the hell did I get a wheelchair add before this? Is it really that dangerous?

The office building where I worked (built in the mid 1960s) had a postal distribution system based on the paternoster principal. When I heard that name I thought it meant it worked if you prayed hard enough! :-)

I’m from Sheffield and went on a school trip to this University when I was younger. Me and 4 friends all went over the top of this exact lift, and then all the way down and round the bottom, in the same lift carriage, and nothing bad happened 👀 no secret floor, no off-balancing, no upside-down lift carriage, no damage to the lift... makes me wonder why so many people think it’s so dangerous or damaging? Maybe it might get damaged if absolutely everyone did it, but I’m sure it’s completely okay for the odd few people to do it 😅

This is an amalgamation of all of my worst fears.

Anyone notice the "Trapped!!" and other various graffiti around 1:28 when it went over the top? ;)

We have one of these in my city. One day I decided to give it a try. Oh boy was that a mistake. Turns out that I'm not afraid to hop on but I'm terrified of getting of. I gotta admit that I went over the top because I didn't realize that I missed the last floor. Whoops.

This thing appeared in one of my dreams a couple months back ( i somehow remember it) even though i had no idea these elevators existed.

Thanks for uploading this Tom, it took me back to one I used to use at Heathrow Airport in the 1990's. I'm going to show it to my teenage sons, I don't think they'll be able to believe it, hehe.

It was fun telling freshers stories about the paternoster. We once had someone virtually convinced it was hydroelectric powered by a stream that ran deep under the building.

Czech Technical University in Prague has 2 of these. And from what I can see in the video, they also have some extra safety features.

Can’t remember which year the Arts tower opened, but I can remember riding on it when my girlfriend was in her second year, back in ‘68. We now have two wonderful children and four delightful grandkids. Ah, happy days.

That thing looks like it would take body parts in an accident. But at least it will bring them back though. ;P

Thank you Tom! I didnt know these existed!

This actually gives me severe anxiety, I wouldn't step on that if I was paid to.

I've been in one, it didn't say anything about not going to it's "turn point''. But as I've crossed it, there was a sign telling that it's safe, an there's no problem with that. It was quite a fun to be in such a thing

Aha! So the cars are NOT inverted as they go over the top -- under the bottom. Again, I learn something new!

wow, I rode one of those like 30 years ago in Switzerland - and I went "over the top" too! Hadn't seen or heard of one since then. Thanks for the vid!

Back in the 1970's I was at Leicester University and there was one in the Attenborough Building. As I recall, people did sponsored Paternoster rides during Rag Week - they would sit in a car going round and round for hours at a time, all for charity. Crazy but less hazardous than the more popular 3-legged pub crawl, which I know from personal experience to be the cause of many injuries!

Fifty years ago, the old Siege Mill flour-mill in Colchester (Essex, England) had one of these that really did flip over at the top. It was just a flat continuously-moving belt about 2ft wide, with a simple grab-handle and an L-shaped step alternating at about 4ft intervals. To ride it, you jumped on the next step and grabbed hold of the respective grab-handle; you then jumped off at the respective floor. To go up, you did this on one side of the belt; to go down, you got on at the other side of the belt. Presumably the motor was at the bottom, though I never saw it; at the top the belt went over a roller about 1ft in diameter. The L-shaped step would flip over at the top with a clacking sound, as the brace on the way up became the step for going down. It moved quite fast, perhaps 4ft/second; we could hear this regular clacking noise at about 2-second intervals as each step flipped over at the top. Fun to ride, though with no real safety mechanisms at all - and you did _not_ stay on the thing over the top!

They have at least two of these in Copenhagen, Denmark :-D One in Cristiansborg (the Danish parliament building) and one in the KVUC building at Vognmagergade. I've taken a dozen trips with the latter while I studied there. Including the entire way around.

This is effing terrifying for me. Like, getting crushed in an elevator is one of the scariest ways of dying, and I'm clumsy enough to die in one of these.

Managed to have a go on this at Sheffield University's open day last weekend, and was reminded of your video! Thanks for inspiring me to (eventually!) also visit these amazing places

I just stumbled on this and remember fondly the Paternoster in the Science Building at Leicester University where I got my MBA. I actually didn't know of it during the years I attended but learned of it on visit to campus after graduation and rode it several times on visits back. Unfortunately it was retired something like a year ago. - I have been enjoying your videos but had held off on subscribing till now, but this has pushed me to do so.

There's one in the Umea University Hospital in Sweden as well

Should have done this in Leicester. They expect you to go over and just leave a sign saying no screaming when you do stay on ^^

We have a small version in the house, it actually also travels horizontally and it only fits about a microwave oven. Our staff uses it to distribute snacks and drinks across our home.

Two of the machines that I use at work operate on the paternoster principle. The other 8 use a more modern central lift frame that pulls shelves off of, well shelves basicaly, then bring them down to an area where I can pick the items the order I'm working on needs, then puts that shelf back, and then zooms up/down to pull the next shelf off the racks either side of the frame. Rinse and repeate for each order/item.

I've been over the top in that lift. It was less exciting than I had hoped :p

I expected to see "the cake is a lie "

The library at the University of Essex also has one. It's under refurb currently although finding parts for it has been difficult I've heard.

I remember the one at BNFL in Birchwood, Warrington. It went round at unbelievable speed, you had to be quick jumping on/ off.

we had one at Aston University in the 70's (am I giving my age away?) We could get six or seven people at a time in one car, but it had a weight sensor so if too many people climbed on it would grind to a halt. I still have dreams that I am on it, and it is traveling too fast and I cannot get off - 50 years later! BTW, I have seen a much simpler version in vertical food processing facilities such as flour mills, where you have only a foothold and handhold to hand on to. NO WAY you will go over the top on one of those!

Just when I thought normal elevators were the scariest thing in my life....

The University of Essex also has one. Tons of freshers sneak onto it and go over the top or bottom. It did break down a while ago and since they need specialists to repair it, it was out of service for about 3 months or something

In Prague are 28 paternosters still in daily operation and many of them are accessible by the public. In other Czech cities are too. Mostly under Heritage preservation.

The parliament house in Helsinki has one of these! It's pretty fancy.

God damn i saw this video and afterwards had a nightmare about a giant one that just lets you fall off, like im not already terrified of elevators

Took daughter for an open day at Sheffield University last year and we rode this lift. Didn't notice any signs. We went over the top. Highlight of our day. There used to be a similar lift in Northwick Park Hospital marked for staff use only in the 70s/80s but I remember my dad taking me on a ride. 😍

I must put this on my watch later to build in my red-stone house.

Darn, I've been going to the uni for almost 4 years now and haven't bothered to use it yet. Will get on it next time I can.