It's the goods lift again - COP Inspection switch

I'm back at the goods lift installed by Express Lifts somewhere in the 1980s.

Inside the Car Operating Panel (COP) there are three toggle switches:
Left: ISOLATE / NORMAL
Middle: INSPECTION / NORMAL
Right: UP / DOWN

These switches enable you to stop normal operation and move the lift up and down using Inspection mode (these switches in the COP are apparently unique to older Express Lifts and may not be found on other manufacturers, except on the lift car roof)

When switching to Inspection mode, if the lift car is within a door zone - both sets of doors open (car and the landing you are at). When switching back, see the floor indicator gets mixed up! It seems to sort itself out after visiting the highest and lowest floors.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• express
• lifts
• lift
• elevator
• otis
• kone
• inspection
• goods
• freight
• battered
• Aufzug
• winda

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Thanks for showing us this

And do you know what, you've reminded me of that scene in Only Fools and Horses-Time On Our Hands when Del Boy purposely stops the lifts in Nelson Mandela House. He pulls the control panel open in exactly the same way you did at the start of the video

[mrmattandmrchay]

@Meanmanmartin2007 I've got to see that episode Martin! I don't remember seeing it.

[thyssenelevator95]

Also, are Express lift controllers relay logic or do they use microprocessors with relays to switch the motor on, work the doors, bells, lanterns, butttons, etc.?

[mrmattandmrchay]

Depends on the age of the lift, this one I would expect is a bit of both, but probably older style microprocessor cards.

The older Express Lifts had a floor select which had a unique sound - see this video:

watch?v=1iyhCcp5zEM (1:05)

This would have been totally mechanical.

[Rizzbriff]

Matt. I think that microswitch u describe that isolates the lift (9:51) may be the car preference keyswitch. putting the correct key in this would let you control the elevator via key. All hall/landing calls would be disabled. Express used the same key know as FE35 on all their equipment from the 50s to late 1990s

[mrmattandmrchay]

Hi Sav, you know you said about these lifts 'going out of step'...

when I pushed 2nd floor between 08:22 - 08:40, although the floor indicator is wrong (B) the lift still stopped at the 2nd floor.

How come the controller knew where the lift was and where to stop it, but the floor indicator doesn't? Is this to do with pulses (e.g. a pulse as the lift passes each floor, but this still doesn't account for the fact the car stopped on the right floor?)

[thyssenelevator95]

Just a question. How does Express do the floor indicator? Is there some circuitry on the controller that works the display, or is it worked by relays and a microprocessor?

[thyssenelevator95]

If Express Lifts used microprocessors, they seem to be just as bad then as Montgomery was here in the States!

[Rizzbriff]

I was based in Bucklesbury for a couple of weeks when an apprentice and went there occasionally on call. The site use to have a 2 resident lift engineers there Monday to Friday. I Think jacksons looked after Temple court. I aslo worked on construction as an apprentice and helped install a Hydraulic Car Lift At 1 Poultry across the road from Bucklesbury.

[Rizzbriff]

When u went to the top floor the lift found itself but the indicator needs a reset from the bottom floor. The lift works as normal but indicator displays wrong untill you took it to the basement and then started working normally.

[mrmattandmrchay]

The red switch takes the lift completely out of service (it's a bit like unplugging the whole lift!), whereas the middle switch turns on inspection mode - so that you can move the lift car up and down using the end switch.

With the left red switch in the ISOLATE position - nothing works, not even inspection mode.

Thanks for comment