" 'In most elevators installed since the early 1990s, the 'close door' button has no effect. Otis Elevator engineers confirmed the fact to the Wall Street Journal in 2003. "
Interesting. In a previous career I worked at a hotel and had, as part of my job, a "fireman's service" key. Very handy thing.
Elevator banks in NYC offices and hotels have a key slot that, when activated, pulls all the elevators to the lobby. You're supposed to only do this in an emergency, such as a fire.
While the elevators are set to fireman's service, the same key (well, a duplicate, if yours is the one that was used to pull the elevators) is used inside an elevator to control it.
While on fireman's service the doors will not open unless you press the "open" button. If you take the car to a fire floor you really don't want the doors opening on their own.
You have to press and hold the "open" button until they are fully open; also handy in case you start to open the doors and start inhaling smoke.
Likewise, once open, the doors don't close unless you press and hold the "close" button.
I'm pretty sure that once you closed the doors the car automatically returned to the lobby.
Bottom line is, not every control you see on some equipment or machine is meant for everyone to use.
One of the huge reasons for manual door control in fires is that the IR sensor to detect if something is blocking the door can't tell the difference between a person and smoke. Door opens up on a burning floor, smoke pours in, door refuses to shut, everyone gets stuck and dies.
To the non-firefighters, this is why there are so many signs telling you do take the stairs. Power failures too.
If you click through to the original wsj article this was all shamelessly stripped from, the actual statement is that the open and close door buttons are ONLY activated by the fireman's key. So it does serve a purpose, just not for most people.
The designers of some elevators include a hidden feature that is very handy if you’re in a hurry or it’s a busy time in the building (like check-out time in a hotel). While some elevators require a key, others can be put into 'Express' mode by pressing the 'Door Close' and 'Floor' buttons at the same time. This sweeps the car to the floor of your choice and avoids stops at any other floor.
Interesting. In a previous career I worked at a hotel and had, as part of my job, a "fireman's service" key. Very handy thing.
Elevator banks in NYC offices and hotels have a key slot that, when activated, pulls all the elevators to the lobby. You're supposed to only do this in an emergency, such as a fire.
While the elevators are set to fireman's service, the same key (well, a duplicate, if yours is the one that was used to pull the elevators) is used inside an elevator to control it.
While on fireman's service the doors will not open unless you press the "open" button. If you take the car to a fire floor you really don't want the doors opening on their own.
You have to press and hold the "open" button until they are fully open; also handy in case you start to open the doors and start inhaling smoke.
Likewise, once open, the doors don't close unless you press and hold the "close" button.
I'm pretty sure that once you closed the doors the car automatically returned to the lobby.
Bottom line is, not every control you see on some equipment or machine is meant for everyone to use.