Going up? Elevators haven’t changed a lot since the 1800s. But one Willy Wonka-esque contraption in Germany not only goes up and down. It also zips sideways—back and forth—moving people in strange new ways.
ThyssenKrupp is a multinational conglomerate—a global company with interests in many areas. The company produces high-speed trains, ships, steel, driverless cars . . . and elevators.
When ThyssenKrupp engineers decided to develop a multidirectional elevator, people were skeptical. For 160 years, real-life elevators have gone only two ways.
Company CEO Patrick Bass admits, “There were some doubts.”
But ThyssenKrupp believed that technology from other industries might work with a multidirectional elevator. From that overlap, the “Multi” was born. An office high-rise in Berlin will house the world’s first Multi.
How does Multi work? Instead of the cables that pull a traditional elevator, the Multi uses magnetic levitation, called “maglev.” Maglev is the same technology that high-speed trains use to zoom along without touching the tracks.
Every Multi cabin has its own motor. Strong magnets guide the cabin along rails in the elevator shaft. During movement, the cabins seem to float in the shaft.
When the elevator needs to turn, a section of track rotates and clicks into place—much like a railway switch. A right-angle rotation of the section lets Multi go sideways.
Engineers can stack elevator cars. If one car blocks another, it can move left or right out of the way. Traffic can be managed like subway cars.
The new cable-free multidirectional marvel is turning the elevator world upside down . . . and every which way.
