Even as it streaks skyward at 41 feet a second, there is virtually no noise or vibration in the world's fastest passenger elevator. The only clues that one is moving, in fact, are a speedometer readout in the elevator and the popping of the passengers' ears. A 10-yen coin, about the size of an American quarter, can be stood on its edge and not topple during the 68-story journey.
In Japan, the race is on to build the world's fastest elevator.The Mitsubishi Electric Corp. built the record-holding elevator for the Yokohama Landmark Tower, a new 70-story skyscraper that is the tallest building in Japan. With a peak speed of 750 meters a minute, or 27.9 miles per hour, the elevator shoots from the second floor to the 69th-floor observatory in a mere 40 seconds. There, passengers take in a stunning view of Yokohama Bay with Tokyo in the distance.
Not to be outdone, its archrival, Hitachi Ltd., has announced an even faster elevator. Hitachi says its has hit a theoretical peak speed of 810 meters a minute, or 44.3 feet a second. But the elevator is not installed in any building, so, in Mitsubishi's eyes, it does not count.
"We have a certificate from the `Guinness Book of Records,' " said Eiki Watanabe, manager of the development department of Mitsubishi's elevator business.
Mitsubishi also made the previous record-fastest elevator, in the Sunshine 60 building in Tokyo, with peak speed of 600 meters a minute, or 32.8 feet a second. By contrast, the World Trade Center elevators in New York, made by the Otis Elevator Co., have a top speed of 480 meters a minute, or 26.2 feet a second.
Currently, Mitsubishi and Hitachi are ranked fourth and fifth in the worldwide elevator business, behind Otis of Farmington, Conn., Schindler Holding A.G. of Switzerland and the Kone Corp. of Finland. But with the unparalleled speed and extremely smooth rides of their elevators, Japanese companies might seem poised to conquer the vertical transportation market just as they did the auto industry.
There is more to elevator technology than speed, however. Having a race car does little good if there are too many red lights on the road. Traffic control, more a function of intelligent software than fast hardware, is an area in which Otis is concentrating, although the Japanese are hard at work on this technology, too.
In fact, Otis, a subsidiary of United Technologies, is not even entering the speed derby, although it is working on speed-related technologies. Joseph Bittar, vice president for product strategy of Otis, said there is little need for higher speeds until buildings get taller - a lot taller.
Here's why: It takes so long for the Landmark Tower elevator to accelerate and decelerate that it travels at its peak speed for only five seconds on each run. Even Watanabe of Mitsubishi calculates that the World Trade Center elevators, despite a peak speed 36 percent slower than his company's speed demon, would take only 6.4 seconds longer to reach the top of the Landmark Tower.
Moreover, such high-speed elevators have a limited market. They cost $3 million to $5 million apiece, at least 20 percent more than comparable elevators.