Reply to: ok, lets see how clever you are

[vetran]

HowStuffWorks "How Escalators Work"

seem to be belt driven from the same motor , so one assumes the handrail has less loading so if the steps are overloaded the handrail will move faster as the steps belt is slipping / straining.

[stek]

But with standard gearing, you're not able to get it precise enough, are you? I mean typically on a whole escalator trip, the difference is perhaps 2 feet? Given the length of the run that's already pretty close.

But they never have slower handrails, I've never fell backwards yet anyway at the end....

[d000hg]

But with standard gearing, you're not able to get it precise enough, are you? I mean typically on a whole escalator trip, the difference is perhaps 2 feet? Given the length of the run that's already pretty close.

[vetran]

watch the join on the hand rail it appears in different places each revolution.

the handrail can be run from a 1:1 gear connected to the escalator, the hand rail is a loop so is the escalator. If the handrail is 1.5 times the length of the escalator it will do one loop for every 1.5 times the escalator does a loop.

don't need to be at different speeds.

[mudskipper]

Because the mirror reflects without reversing. Stuff at the bottom stays at the bottom, stuff at the left stays on the left etc.

When you look directly at something you are turned through half a circle and so left and right get swapped, but you don't have the same effect on up and down.

Have you tried standing on a mirror?

[alluvial]

Why?

If you imagine that some writing on a piece of glass is being reflected in the mirror. What you are now seeing is what you would see if you turned the glass over and viewed it from the rear.

Edit: Oh hang on, that's not right.

[original PM]

ok yeah see what you mean

[MyUserName]

Because the mirror reflects without reversing. Stuff at the bottom stays at the bottom, stuff at the left stays on the left etc.

Why?

[d000hg]

No it wouldn't. As long as the speed matches on the straight bits it doesn't matter how much longer it is.

That assumes they rotate independently and would require a device to measure the speed on the straight and adjust it (or a man to come along and tweak it every now and then). With escalators being pretty old technology, I think that's not the case?

[mudskipper]

surely the straight bit and the bend bits at the end are part of the same piece of hand rail so the whole thing moves at the same speed?

yes, but the hand rail doesn't do one revolution when the stairs do

[original PM]

Good point. So it doesn't have to do a full revolution, it just has to keep up along the straight.

surely the straight bit and the bend bits at the end are part of the same piece of hand rail so the whole thing moves at the same speed?

[mudskipper]

A pity that Newton did not use your boobs instead of an apple.

I've got an upside down fb profile pic from Oz in 2010 if you fancy a laugh...

[vetran]

A pity that Newton did not use your boobs instead of an apple.

he would probably have never bothered to write it down, he would just keep studying the effect.

We could be waiting for some italian called graffiti to discover the new force called Graffitiy.

[mudskipper]

No it wouldn't. As long as the speed matches on the straight bits it doesn't matter how much longer it is.

Good point. So it doesn't have to do a full revolution, it just has to keep up along the straight.

[Doggy Styles]

Because the mirror reflects without reversing. Stuff at the bottom stays at the bottom, stuff at the left stays on the left etc.

This.