Circular Elevator

As the earth’s population increases, we find ourselves struggling to find living space. We could always expand horizontally; however, this still limits us, as we would need to use up farm land, land that is necessary to our food supply. We could also try aquatic living; yet, technology at this time is insufficient to make this efficient. Therefore, as of now, the main method of expanding is up, or down. By doing this, we are using up vertical room that would otherwise have been unused. As the number of floors increase, the use of elevators become necessary; after all, no one wants to walk up five or six floors. Now, we get to the core of our problems: the speed of the elevator. The vertical speed is not a problem; it would be rather unsafe to make the elevator go any faster. The real problem is the time it spends on the floors, as people try to squeeze in and out through the same elevator entrance. This is extremely inefficient. My proposal is to make the elevator circular. This allows the elevator doors around the center, creating a bigger opening. While the average elevator has around a 90 degree opening from the center, a circular elevator of my design would create a wide 240 degree opening, allowing people to enter on one side, and people to exit on the other side. This reduces the amount of time that the elevator spends on each floor, reducing the wait time for the elevator in general. An additional benefit is the amount of space the elevator takes up; instead of the door moving outwards, taking up more room, the doors of this elevator rotates around itself, saving room. This is a perfect solution to especially populated buildings. For example, some shopping centers with five or six floors, where the elevators are forced to take on high volumes of people. School: Bergen County Academies, Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology Advising Instructor: Joseph DeFalco