All language subtitles for The.Secret.Genius.of.Modern.Life.S02E06.Lift.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

Take three!

That speed.

Do you ever stop to consider
just how lucky we are

to be completely surrounded
by genuine wonders

of human ingenuity?

All of these super-clever
bits of tech

designed just to make our lives
a little bit better.

The problem is...

..we're now so used
to these devices...

These are plug-ins?

..that we've forgotten to remember
how clever they are.

I'm Professor Hannah Fry.

But you can think of me as your
extremely qualified

tour guide...

Oh, my gosh.

Don't mess with me.

..to the secret genius
of everyday objects.

How do I get myself in these
situations?

In each episode, I'll take one
seemingly ordinary item...

In each episode, I'll take one
seemingly ordinary item...

..and I'll look at it...

Oh, yeah. There we go.

..in frankly obscene detail...

This tiny little bit is the thing
that makes your microwave work.

..meet the people
who helped make it...

We really like ears here. We're kind
of obsessed with them.

..and follow the twisty,
turny journey

through the history of
its invention.

Here, carelessness could bring
instant tragedy.

And fire.

This time it's the lift.

Getting into a lift is something

that we've all done countless times
before.

You know the feeling. Just trying
to forget for a moment

that you are standing in a metal box
that is suspended from the sky.

that you are standing in a metal box
that is suspended from the sky.

But the thing is, behind those
metal walls,

there is actually an entire
labyrinth

of mechanical complexity
that is working

to make your ride as smooth
and as safe as possible.

to make your ride as smooth
and as safe as possible.

Winders, ready!

Born ready!

Walk on!

It's the story of medieval sieges...

Oh, my Lord!

..rickety lifts in 19th-century
coal mines...

Ooh!
SHE GIGGLES

..and a jaw-dropping PR stunt,
1850s-style.

GASPING

Prepare to be amazed.

Every three days, the world's
lifts carry the equivalent

of the Earth's entire population.

And the remarkable thing is lifts
very rarely go wrong.

I mean, if you think about it,

apart from Bond films or whatever,

you don't really hear stories
about lifts

plummeting to the ground.

And in fact, they're actually
the safest mode

of transport that there is.

At least that's what my director
told me before...

..he took me here to this
test tower.

Rottweil in Germany might
be most famous

for its breed of guard dogs,

but it's also home to the impressive
TK Elevator.

This multibillion-pound company
has built

hundreds of thousands of lifts
in over 100 countries.

They know that the secret to fast,
reliable lifts is testing,

They know that the secret to fast,
reliable lifts is testing,

and this 246-metre-high tower
is where they do just that.

and this 246-metre-high tower
is where they do just that.

I've just... I've chanced upon you
in a lift

with an entire camera crew!

LAUGHTER

Showing me the ropes, pun intended,
is Victoria Myers,

communications and business support
at TKE.

Why does it need to be so big?

Can't you just have one
that's a few floors?

I mean, why does it need to be,
I mean, this high up?

To test high-rise, high-speed lifts,

you do need to have quite
a long lift shaft.

Buildings are getting taller
and taller.

That's quite speedy that
we're going up.

We're going at eight metres
a second at the moment.

I'm struggling slightly.

I think it's just that bit
in your brain that's like,

"You're not really supposed
to be doing this."

Mm-hm.

We've made it to the top,

but what goes up must come down.

Do you want to have a look?
Yeah, go on.

OK, here we go.

To show me just how clever
and complex

these metal boxes really are,

Victoria is taking me to the parts
that most people never see -

for good reason.

What, we're going to go up and down
in the lift

when we're standing on top of it?
Yeah.

OK.

I genuinely don't know
if I can do it.

SHE SIGHS

OK.OK.

That's it.

SHE LAUGHS

I don't remember them being
quite so scared

in Mission: Impossible.

Yeah, it's not like Hollywood.
CLANGING

Oh, Jesus Christ!

OK, that's it. That's as fast
as it goes.

Inspection speed.

I am really trying very hard
to just ignore the fact...

I am really trying very hard
to just ignore the fact...

..that there's no wall there

and underneath us is this
gigantic drop.

and underneath us is this
gigantic drop.

And the only thing that's stopping
us from falling...

Is all these incredibly strong
cables. ..is this!

Oh, God.

LAUGHTER

And that's a cue to introduce
our first component.

I'm going to take apart the lift
and look at everything,

from the controls...

..to the brakes.

But I'm starting with the part that
holds the lift securely -

we hope -

and hoists it from floor
to floor, day after day,

person after person.

It's the cable.

Oh, my God!

And I'm still on top of the lift,

staring at the cables that
are stopping me

from hurtling to my death.

All right, how many are there?
Eight.

There's eight on this lift, yeah.

I mean, but they're not...

Considering how much this
is weighing -

there's four of us on top here,

there's another four people
underneath...

They're pretty skinny.

They are, but they are
incredibly strong.

Incredibly strong.

And there's eight of them so,
in the highly unlikely event

that one of them were to fray,

there's another seven still
protecting us.

A lot of lifts apparently
can just run on one.

Really?Yeah.

What, the whole thing could dangle
on one if it needed to?

If it needed to.

But we prefer not to do that.
Seven...

We... Yeah. And then the weight's
all distributed.

So it's fixed here and
it's going over,

up to the motor and over the sheath,

and then it's coming down
for the counterweight.

And all the weight of that
is distributed. OK.

It's just some basic physics.

It doesn't look... It doesn't look
like the physics should work,

though, does it? I mean, like...

Not that I'm doubting your
calculations.

No, it is kind of mind-blowing
how strong they are,

to be fair.

OK, can we get off now?
I really hate this.

LAUGHTER

You know something's wrong
when even the physics

doesn't reassure me.

The - thankfully - eight cables
that are holding us in place

can, in fact, carry the equivalent
of 12 times the weight

of the entire lift.

That is over 75 tonnes,

or around 12 large
African elephants.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

Ooh!

TKE's cables might be strong,

but when you're dangling over
an abyss,

it's imperative that they stay
that way.

So how do they make them
so resilient?

Let me demonstrate with the help
of a bucket,

a building site and some bits
of string.

So this string is made up of
these multiple threads,

like this, right?

Now, each one of these is,
of course,

capable of supporting a certain
amount of weight -

a surprising amount of weight,
in fact,

which I can demonstrate over here.

Let's see how many of these 2.5-kilo
bricks the threads hold

when they're separated out.

Six, seven, eight.

Nine, ten.

OK, that's 17 bricks.

Total weight - approximately
44 kilos.

Thing is, over time,

there's kind of a high chance that
one of these is going to break,

which I'm going to represent

using the smallest pair of scissors

that the production could find.

Right here.

OK, are you ready?

I'm actually quite nervous.

OK, here we go.

Oh.
NERVOUS LAUGHTER

Yeah, I mean, not ideal, is it?

Not ideal.

The problem is, when you're using
individual threads,

as soon as one of them fails,

the load on the remaining ones
is going to massively increase

in a really dramatic way

and cause them to fail,

which is exactly what
happened there.

But there is a trick
that you can use

to stop this from happening.

So I'm going to reset this

and show you how it works.

Right, let's go again.

But this time, when you look at
a string like this carefully,

you'll notice that all those
threads,

they're twisted around one another
like this.

Exactly the same number of threads
as before,

but that makes an incredible
difference.

Let me show you.

OK, so now that is exactly the
same number of bricks as before.

Except, this time, because the
threads are twisted,

it makes two key differences.

The weight of that lift is going
to be spread

throughout the threads
much more evenly.

But secondly,

because of the friction that exists

between these twisted threads...

Hang on, what friction?

There's friction because the threads
have a rough texture,

which creates resistance,

making them grip together.

Anyway, where were we?

Because of the friction

that exists between these
twisted threads...

..it means that even if one
piece fails...

..it's wrapped together so tightly

that it will still support
the structure

of this string all the way down.

At least, that's the theory.

Now it makes sense why I've got
such teeny, tiny scissors.

OK, here we go.

Right, let's see if I can get
in there with one of these.

Ooh, look at that!

There you go.
STRING TWANGS

One thread's gone and it's holding!

Look at that!

So, at that point there now,

it's only on two.

Like, nothing has changed.

We are using the same number
of threads,

the same basket,

and yet one time it fails and
the other time it doesn't,

just because you've twisted it
together.

Like...

It's like hacking the laws
of physics, almost.

OK, can I put more in the basket?

OK, the first time it failed
at about 44 kilos.

I've just added another
27 kilos -

nearly double!

I mean...

Look, I'm a mathematician,

so if I say it's double, you've got
to go with it.

Oh!
NERVOUS LAUGHTER

Obviously, I knew
it was going to go.

My lizard brain made me jump,
that's all I'm saying.

So twisted threads can withstand
wear and tear

to make hoisting large loads safer.

But to discover how we got
the extraordinary

twisted lift cables of today,

we have to go back to a far darker,
more dangerous time.

In the early 19th century,

the coal mines of Great Britain were
powering the Industrial Revolution.

These were notoriously perilous
places to work.

But what is probably less well known
is that sometimes

the lifts were the killers.

Which isn't a comforting thought
when you consider

that the deepest mineshafts
plunged further

than the Empire State Building
is tall.

I want you to imagine that you are
dangling in a lift,

I want you to imagine that you are
dangling in a lift,

descending that distance,

and you are crammed in with
19, 20 other people,

boys as young as six,

men as old as 70.

There's kit, there's coal,
it's dirty and noisy.

The conditions were grim,

but the coal had to get
to the surface.

And so it was loaded onto
that rickety lift,

which was supported by nothing
but natural rope.

This is hemp rope,

and this is what those lifts
were dangling from.

So, for 12 hours a day,

you've got these things going
forwards and back,

up and down, up and down,

carrying kit and ponies and men
and coal,

until eventually...

..an entire cage-worth of miners...

..plummets to their death.

Even though the rope was twisted,
it still failed.

But there was another option
at the time.

In some mines, iron chains
were employed instead.

Now, this is more durable.

It's much tougher, but it's also
unbelievably heavy.

And all it takes...
SHE GASPS

..is for one of these links
to break

and this will buckle under
its own weight,

resulting in the same outcome -

a cage-worth of people tumbling down
a mineshaft.

Hundreds of miners lost their lives
to hemp rope cables

and iron chains snapping.

Records suggest that rickety lifts
caused around one in six deaths

in mid-19th-century mines.

While all of this is going on,

there is a guy called
Wilhelm Albert.

He's in Hanover in Germany working
at the Harz mines.

And he's like, "There's got to be
a better way than this, right?

"Chains and ropes?

"Surely there is something else?"

And I know what you're thinking.

What a kind man.

What a decent and honourable
gentleman

to care about the unnecessary deaths
of the miners.

Unfortunately, that is not what he
was thinking at all.

It was just that chains
were really expensive

and he actually just wanted
to save some money.

So he starts thinking about it,
and...

SHE SIGHS

..both the rope and the chains
have their own advantages.

The rope is very light,
it's very flexible,

while the chains are very durable.

So he starts playing around
with little bits of iron

So he starts playing around
with little bits of iron

and twisting them around

as you would if you were creating
a hemp rope.

And he realises that what
he's creating

is something that has the properties
of both.

By 1834, he developed his
twisted iron cable.

It was more robust than rope,

cheaper and lighter than
iron chains.

And it had that all-important
friction

that held the strands together.

He'd done it. He'd made things
a lot safer for miners.

And this here, this is a modern-day
lift cable.

See how thin it is?

But you can also see -

admittedly, there's more than
three threads -

but you can see that it's made
in that same twisted pattern

that Wilhelm first suggested

to result in something that is
extremely light,

extremely flexible,

but also phenomenally strong.

With cheaper, stronger,
twisted cable,

lifts could reach deeper and haul
heavier loads,

and many lives were saved.

However, back in the 1830s,

they were being made by hand.

And it would take another
penny-pinching -

sorry, I mean ambitious -

Victorian engineer to conjure up
a technique

for mass manufacture.

In 1838,

Dundonian Robert Newall sees
Wilhelm's innovation

and spots an opportunity.

Why make stuff by hand

when a machine could automate
the process?

The result was known as
the strander,

a machine that twisted metal strands
around each other.

Add in a bit of steam power,
and his invention

could churn out robust cables
at a rate of knots.

Soon, Newall's iron cables
had kick-started

a range of new inventions.

Like, in 1873, the world's first
cable car in San Francisco.

Like, in 1873, the world's first
cable car in San Francisco.

And by the end of the decade,
twisted iron cables

were commonplace in elevators.

In 1883, the cables were upgraded
from iron to steel

for the building of the engineering
masterpiece, the Brooklyn Bridge.

Today, steel cables are used
in everything

from construction to shipping -
and, of course, lifts.

But back in the 19th century,

the development of the
passenger lift,

the one that would change the modern
skyline forever,

that was taking a little longer.

And that's because it still lacked
one crucial feature,

And that's because it still lacked
one crucial feature,

a way to stop.

That brings us to our next

and probably most important
component -

a mechanical safety system
of levers, springs

and friction pads

that stops the lift from crashing
to the ground.

It's the emergency brakes.

I'm back at TKE to find out
about the part

that would stop you plunging
to your death...

..if, say, those really super safe,

definitely-won't-ever-break cables
were to suddenly snap.

I mean, I've seen the movies.

It could happen, right?

Normally I say, "Oh, come on,
you guys are not serious.

"That's never going to happen."

That is Martin Fetzer,
head of testing.

I'm trying to orientate myself

because this isn't a normal lift.

No, it is not.

This is for testing our safety gear.

OK, if this was a normal lift,
where would people be standing?

Above it?Above it.

So this is the safety gear, though,

this big black thing in here
which stands right there.

That's the cabin floor.

This simulation lift has no
passenger car or cables.

This simulation lift has no
passenger car or cables.

It is designed purely to test TKE's
safety braking systems

by dropping it straight down
this shaft.

You've got weights here to sort of
simulate the cabin.

What is it set up at at the moment?
Nine tonnes.

So, like, nine cars?
LAUGHTER

Nine...
Nine very small cars.

But, yeah.
Sure.

And how on earth do you stop
nine tonnes of material

in freefall?

OK, so we have brake pad.

This is the rail that gets
pressed towards the rail

by a really strong spring.

So it's friction, essentially?
It's friction.

It's basically like you're getting
two slices of bread and going...

Yeah.

OK, shall we do it?
Yeah, let's go.

To put the safety brakes
to the test,

the lift will drop
travelling at 30 metres a second.

That's nearly 70mph,

which I think technically counts
as plummeting.

It is definitely not
a passenger ride,

unless perhaps you are a few
centimetres tall

and made of plastic.

I've got a stunt double.
LAUGHTER

Do you think she'll survive it?

I'm not sure but we'll
find out later.

OK, we are good to go.

BEEPING

ON RADIO:Drei, zwei, eins.

Achtung, Abbruch jetzt.

CLATTERING

It's proper freefall.
LAUGHTER

You were not lying.

No, I was not.

Do you see? Like they should be.
Oh, my gosh!

It was free-falling all of that?
It was free-falling nine metres.

And then stopping at 12-30 metres.

Ooft!
LAUGHTER

The braking system is completely
mechanical.

Connected to the cable is
a speed-sensing wheel.

If the lift goes too fast, the wheel
will spin

and a weight flies out to jam
the mechanism.

That pulls a rope down at the car,

releasing springs which slam
the brake pads

hard against the guide rail,

all in a matter of seconds.

Before anyone in the lift has even
had time to panic.

Talking of which,

I wonder what happened to
my stunt double.

So this is where it landed?

Yeah, this is where it landed.

Oh, look, the little stand that
Hannah was sitting on.

Unfortunately...
She's gone forever.

Yeah.

Was she at least smiling
on the way down?

Hopefully.

Having the brakes engage
at high speed

did knock my double off her perch.

But a heavier human being inside
a lift cab would be safe.

It's such a neat sequence of events.

The wheel turns, pulls the rope,
pulls the lever, the brakes...

You know, it's like...

At no point are you relying
on anything

other than the laws of physics.

It's partly thanks to these super
efficient brakes that lifts

are the safest form of transport.

In the US, there are only 27 deaths
per year

from over 18 billion lift trips.

That's 60 times fewer than
the deaths caused

by climbing the stairs.

Proof that taking the stairs isn't
always good for your health.

But it wasn't always this way.

Let's travel back to 19th-century
America,

a time when lifts had no form
of braking

and people were quite rightly
too terrified to use them.

Meet Elisha Otis, the key character
in the story

of how we got the safety brakes
of today.

And here he is in shadow puppet
form.

Now, like a lot of people
at that time,

Elisha is living quite
a tough life.

He's in near-poverty in New York

when he almost dies from pneumonia.

So he ups sticks and moves his young
family to the countryside,

where he ends up working
at a bedstead factory.

One day, legend has it that
he's toiling away,

trying to move large amounts
of material

from one floor in the factory
to another.

So, the avid tinkerer, he creates
a hoist and a platform

to move stuff between floors.

Now, this is nothing new.

There are hoists already in use
to move goods

and animals around.

But because none of these systems
come with any sort of brake,

they have a nasty habit of
plummeting to the ground.

But Elisha invents an entirely
new type of lift platform,

But Elisha invents an entirely
new type of lift platform,

one that comes with an automatic
safety brake

that stops the lift from falling
if ever the cable snaps.

And here I have a model replica
of Elisha Otis' invention.

And here I have a model replica
of Elisha Otis' invention.

You've got the platform just here.

You've got the cable that goes up
and down.

But, crucially, you also
have all of these ridges

along the side, these kind
of teeth.

Plus, at the top here,
there is a spring.

Now, when this lift is
operating normally,

it can move up and down very nice
and freely.

However, if at any point
the cable snaps

and there is a release in tension
up here,

the spring kicks out those feet

and locks the lift from falling
to the floor.

Very clever, isn't it?

All Elisha needs to do now is to get
people to notice his idea.

And so he comes up with
a genius plan.

He decides to show the world just
what his invention can do.

So he takes it to the 1854
World Fair

in Crystal Palace, New York City.

And then, in a death-defying stunt,

Elisha stands on top of
his safety platform

and raises it high above the
enthralled crowds below.

and raises it high above the
enthralled crowds below.

And then, in one dramatic move,

his assistant takes a blade and
slashes through the rope

that's holding up the lift.
GASPING

The crowd gasps!

But the lift stays in place.

Elisha Otis, standing on
the platform,

bellows down, "All safe, gentlemen!

"All safe."

And the rest is history.

With the success of this stunt,

Otis goes on to become the biggest
lift company in the world.

APPLAUSE

As PR stunts go, that's got to be
up there.

Elisha's invention paved the way
for the passenger lift.

And in 1857, the first one fitted
with his new brake

was installed in Haughwout's
Fashionable Emporium

in New York City.

This dawn of the passenger lift
coincided with a period

of rapid growth on the East Coast
of America,

allowing buildings to get taller
than ever before.

The age of the skyscraper
had arrived.

In the 1890s, steel guide rails
meant that the ratchets

in Elisha's system could be replaced

with spring-activated metal
brake pads.

And it's this brake,
albeit modernised,

that is still used in lifts today,
130 years later.

But as lifts became safer,

they also got a whole lot heavier.

Our lifts have to, well, lift
up to six tonnes

on every journey,

and that takes a lot of power.

So step forward our next component,

the workhorse of every lift.

It's the counterweight.

The thing about lifts...

..is that they are really heavy.

So...
SHE GASPS

..you've got the weight of the cab,

the weight of all the gears,

you've got the weight of all
of the people inside.

And if you've got to lift that up
and down all day,

all day long - up and down,
up and down...

..it's really going to take
its toll.

Luckily, however, lifts have
a little hidden secret -

and so do I.

Down here you have got,

on general gym equipment,

a giant stack of metal.

This is what's known as
a counterweight.

Now, essentially, if I was just
trying to pull up

my own body weight,

it's incredibly difficult to do.

Let me...
SHE LAUGHS

I mean, am I even going to be
able to dangle?

Probably not.

Here we go. OK.

SHE YELPS
Come on, Hannah!

SHE LAUGHS

However, if I then add in
these weights...

However, if I then add in
these weights...

Now, I know it's a bit
counterintuitive

that you would add more weight on

and then that would make it
easier to lift,

but the thing is, you've got to
think of this like a seesaw.

If there is a perfect balance
of weight

at either end of the plank,

then it will only take the smallest
upwards force -

say one child pushing their legs off
the ground -

to move their side up and
the other side down.

That is exactly the same principle
that's happening here,

because now all of a sudden
you can go up and down.

It's very easy.

I mean, I'm barely doing
any work at all.

One finger.

You know, I can do this all day now.

OK, time for a break from my
extremely intense workout.

I'd like to see how this works
in an actual lift,

and where better to find out
than back at TKE?

It looks a lot like the
weight machines

that you get at the gym.

Well, actually, it is.

That's Martin Henger
from R&D at TKE.

It's just supposed to be weight.

So we pile up like you do
in the gym.

You don't have much space but you
want to have a lot of weight

because you want to power up, right?

Yeah, of course.

But I can't see the
lift itself.

How does this...? How does this
attach?

Well, we can use the glass door, OK?

So this is our building.
It's going this way.

We're standing at the very bottom.

At the top, we have the traction
machine.

The counterweight and the cabin
are connected by rope.

So, when the cabin goes down,
the counterweight goes up.

If the cabin goes up,
the counterweight goes down.

And everyone in engineering
loves balance.

In each lift shaft,

the balancing counterweight,

equivalent to the entire weight
of the cab,

plus around half of the maximum
passenger load,

runs up and down, doing most of
the heavy lifting.

Meaning the motor only has to do
a fraction of the work.

But how did the idea of using
a counterweight come about?

Well, that's a story that takes us
back many centuries

to a time of constant conflict.

It's the 12th century,

the age of the great Crusades.

And the Pope, the head of
the Christian church,

a famously peace-loving guy,

he is locked in a very bloody battle
with the Islamic empire.

he is locked in a very bloody battle
with the Islamic empire.

Now, the Crusaders,
as they're known -

that's Team Christianity -

they are holed up inside
the city walls

of Jerusalem,

which I'm going to represent with
this factually accurate castle

from a fish tank.

On the opposing side -
Team Islamic Empire.

They're being led by the fearless
Mr Saladin.

In order to defeat the Christians
and secure his place in history,

Saladin needs to take the city
of Jerusalem,

the Crusaders' holiest outpost.

So you would think,
"Oh, you know what?

"It's easy, Mr Saladin!

"All you've got to do is just,
like, storm the castle."

But Jerusalem, it's like a fortress.

With phenomenally high
and thick walls,

the only real option for Saladin
was to lay siege to the city.

That was a tactic that could
take years,

and it wasn't a guaranteed win...

..until one of his military advisers
offers him a solution

that means he could take the city
quickly.

And so what he does is he brings
to battle

an awesome and terrifying
new weapon.

He has brought to battle with him
this guy.

This is a counterweight trebuchet.

That's an old French word
for siege engine.

Its origins are a bit murky,

but the first-ever recorded use
of one was by Saladin.

I know what you're thinking.
You'd like to see one in action.

Well, me, too!

So, to show me how it works,

we've got Marc Alden Taylor,

a modern-day trebuchet master.

How far does it go?The furthest
we've gone at the moment

is about 160.
Metres?

Yeah, but we're not fully weighted
or fully loaded.

If we had more weight, we could
fling it way, way further.

That's so cool.

HE LAUGHS
So cool.

Trebuchets without counterweights
were actually around

as early as the fifth century BCE
in China.

But back then, firing one required
up to 250 people pulling on ropes.

But back then, firing one required
up to 250 people pulling on ropes.

Saladin's counterweight trebuchet
was radically different.

The genius was that it replaced
most of the people

with a huge amount of weight.

How heavy is that counterweight?

Er, well, it's got about five
tonnes of stone in it,

and with the wood it's about
seven tonnes.

I mean, it's quite heavy.
Yeah...

Seven tonnes?Seven tonnes.

We haven't got it fully
filled, either.

We can fill that up even more.

And that would make it
sling further?

Even further.
Wow.

Winders, ready!

Born ready!

Walk on!

Is that the medieval phrase?

It's what we use.

In order to fire this bad boy,

first we've got to raise
the counterweight

up into the air.

And what better way than with
a large pair

of medieval hamster wheels?

God, it is a workout!

It is.

Winders, slow and hold!

Ooh!There we go.
You can have a break.

With the counterweight lifted
high enough

and locked into place,

the trebuchet is ready to fire.

Right, prepare to load.

I-I'm prepared.
Right.

Load the machines.

Lift it into the trough.

Ooh!

All right, loader, you can leave
the machine!

I'm going. Quick as I can.

Clear to shoot?

OK, code green. All positions,
code green.

All positions, code green.

Getting ready to release the rock.

Chain removed!

Pin removed!

Trebuchet live.

Count down from three down to one.
Right.

And then we like to do a nice
little safety warning

of just yelling, "Have a care" -
and then we pull the trigger.

What, is...? Have a care?
Have a care.

It's just to warn everyone.

Have a care, a trebuchet ball
is coming. I mean...

Yeah.
You ready?

Yeah.
All right.

Three, two, one.

Have a care!

Wow! Oh, my goodness me!

That is so high!

Oh, my Lord!

And there you go. You've fired
your trebuchet.

LAUGHTER

The sound that it makes!
CREAKING

It's amazing, isn't it?

They're like "woosh" as they cut
through the air.

Wow, look at that thing!

When triggered, that seven-tonne
counterweight drops downwards.

When triggered, that seven-tonne
counterweight drops downwards.

And all of that energy slings
the arm upwards

like a giant lever or catapult,

propelling the missile forwards
with devastating force.

Let's go and see where your
ball landed. OK.

Not only could Saladin's
counterweight trebuchet

project heavier missiles further
than ever before,

it could also fire every half
an hour.

And Saladin had 11 of them.

There you go.

So, OK, that's quite a big
distance, then.

Yeah, I'd say probably about
135 metres sort of range.

Oh, my word.

Yeah, I'll go pull on the rope
at the same time. Thank you.

Well done. My goodness me!

Look at that!

I mean, this is like a genuine
game-changer.

Completely. It completely
revolutionised warfare.

The only thing that made
the trebuchet

sort of become obsolete was when
the cannons came in.

Which was hundreds of years later.

Yeah, but otherwise, this...

This was it. This was the pinnacle
of war technology.

Counterweight trebuchets allowed
Saladin to overrun Jerusalem,

placing him and his weapon
in the history books.

You are one of five people who has
fired this new trebuchet.

Does that mean I'm a knight now?
Er...

Unfortunately, I don't think treb
masters are as much knights.

Oh. Can I just have a simple horse?

OK, we'll get you a simple horse.

The counterweight allowed armies
throughout the Middle Ages

to pound cities to destruction.

But fast forward nearly
six centuries

and the counterweight has moved
from being a tool of war...

..to one of love.

It's 1743 in France at the Palace
of Versailles.

King Louis XV wants to find
a fast way

to get to his mistress,

whose bedchambers are on
a different floor.

And so he commissions
a flying chair,

a chair concealed in a shaft

and operated by rope,

pulleys and, crucially,
a counterweight,

allowing the pair to fly

between each other's bedrooms
more easily.

Louis' flying chair didn't exactly
take off,

pardon the pun.

It took another 100 years

before the first counterweight
passenger lift came into use.

That was the one that Elisha Otis
installed

in the Haughwout Fashionable
Emporium,

allowing several of its fancy
customers at once

to travel up and down
its five floors.

Today, the counterweight
can be found in anything

from cranes to bridges

to lifts.

Anywhere they're needed to help
balance loads.

But while the brawn of the lift
has been there from the start,

it's a whole other story
for the brains.

Lifts aren't just feats
of engineering.

They're also getting smarter.

The latest generation can get you
to your floor

faster than ever before,

and the secret is probably the
cleverest component of all.

It's the control panel.

You're probably familiar
with the usual way

to call a lift -

button on the outside, press,

button on the inside,
choose your floor.

Check.

But as buildings get bigger
and we get less patient,

conventional control panels
just aren't as efficient

as they could be.

So what I have here,

I have two towers to represent
two lift shafts.

So here's my scenario.

You go into a building. Maybe it's
early in the morning.

Maybe you're clutching a coffee
and a croissant.

And when you're in the lobby,

you realise there's a big crowd
of people

all waiting to get into the lifts.

This is me, by the way.

It's matching my outfit for today.

So someone presses the button
outside the lift to call it,

and slowly both lifts make their way
to the ground floor.

And then it's a free-for-all
as everyone tries to get in.

OK, we're at capacity.

Doors closed. Off they go.

Once inside Lift A,

everyone selects their floors
and off they go.

Unfortunately, I miss that lift,
so I'm waiting for Lift B.

Finally, this lift has arrived

and is ready to take people.

In they go.

OK.

Meanwhile, this devilishly
handsome guy

with the blond hair and
the orange top,

he wants to get to the top floor.

He's got to wait for ages as all
of these different people

end up filtering out.

But he's at least further ahead
than I am.

I've only just got in
the blooming lift!

Up they go.

Finally, devilishly handsome guy
has reached the top floor.

Finally, devilishly handsome guy
has reached the top floor.

I, by the way, am still over here
on the second floor.

And then finally,

finally, finally, finally, finally,

after all of those people waiting
in the lobby,

I have arrived at my floor

just a little bit late
for my meeting,

which is the AGM of all Hannah Fry
lookalikes.

There we are.

Hi, guys. Hi. Hi, hi.

OK.

This system is directional
floor sequencing.

A simple computer knows which
buttons have been pushed.

It calculates which floors
to stop at

as the lift methodically works its
way up and then down the building.

It's been tried and tested
since the 1950s,

but people are often left waiting...

..and waiting.

And so, since the 1990s,

some of the biggest office blocks
and hotels

have installed a different system.

It's something called destination
control.

Instead of there being buttons
on the inside of a lift,

instead, this time you have to go
and select -

boop - which floor you want to go on

in this centralised control panel.

This is the thing that makes
these lifts smart.

So, as I come in - boop -
and press it,

it tells me that I need to go
to Lift B -

flashes up with Lift B.

So off I go over here.

But everybody else has done this,
too.

Everybody else has gone up.

Boop, boop, boop.

Oh, hello.

Devilishly handsome guy's
in my lift.

By knowing your destination
before you get in,

the lift's computer can
allocate people

to the specific lift that will get
everyone there quickest,

before your Lego coffee
even gets cold.

This lift is serving only people
who want to go

to the first or the second floors.

On this side, however,

the smart control system knows
that there's no-one here

who wants to go to either of those
two floors

and so instead can go straight up
to floor three.

People reach their destinations

without having to sequentially wait
for everybody else

to get to their floors first.

And so you can see just
how much quicker

And so you can see just
how much quicker

everyone arrives.

These smart lifts can reduce
travel times by up to 30%.

But our lifts haven't always
been so clever.

Early elevators were basically
buttonless.

Instead, smartly dressed,
super skilled

lift operators did all of
the hard graft,

using a hand crank to direct the
lift up and down

and control the speed.

By the 1900s, lifts went electric
with a control panel and buttons,

By the 1900s, lifts went electric
with a control panel and buttons,

but it was a basic
one-journey-at-a-time system,

avoiding awkward small talk at
the expense of a long wait.

The aftermath of World War II
saw the biggest

shake-up to lift operation.

New York City was hit by a series
of strikes

which included the lift operators.

An elevator strike is no
laughing matter.

How would you like to walk up
from way down there?

Passengers began to brave lifts
on their own

and gradually lift operators became
a thing of the past,

apart from in a few chichi
department stores.

Second floor!

House and country, gardens!

By the 1950s and '60s,

lifts got fancier and a little less
frustrating

because directional floor sequencing
had arrived,

with lifts going up and down
in floor order.

But as buildings grew bigger,

with more and more passengers,

a new system was needed.

Step in a very British
computer scientist.

SHE LAUGHS

It's difficult, you know,
blowing your own trumpet.

That is Dr Gina Barney.

She has been at the centre
of the lift industry

for over 50 years.

Since 1968, I've been involved
in lift systems.

I think I might be leaving quite
an extensive legacy

that has influenced most of
the lifts around the world.

Gina's dedicated her academic career
to lift computer control systems,

puzzling out how to make lifts
smarter and more efficient.

We didn't call it artificial
intelligence in those days,

but we just said we were going to
make the lift more intelligent.

Even back in the 1970s,

Gina knew the floor sequencing
method could be improved.

And so she started working
on a new idea

to get groups of lifts in the same
building to work together

in the most efficient way.

The drive was that buildings
got taller and taller

and bigger and bigger.

Gina and her team ran computer
simulations

to model how real lifts worked

and came up with a new system.

In the new system,

the passenger would register
their destination

and the panel

on which they registered
their destination

would tell them which lift to go in.

They would get in. No buttons
in the car.

And the lift would go
to their destination.

Sound familiar?

Yes, it's destination control.

The system with the panel
on the outside.

But Gina didn't have a real bank
of lifts

to confirm her theories.

And so instead, she published
her team's radical idea

in an academic book in 1977,

which was met with, hmm...

The industry was very much
against it.

"Putting the buttons on the outside?

"What a crazy idea!

"The passengers would be confused."

It's interesting, isn't it?

I mean, you do these
research things,

and unless you suddenly invent a new
type of rubber or something

and unless you suddenly invent a new
type of rubber or something

that everybody immediately thinks,

"Oh, that's brilliant, we'll have
that," you know?

We were before our time.

It wasn't until 12 years later,
in 1989,

that her publication would
be unearthed

by Dr Joris Schroeder,
the CEO of Schindler,

one of the largest lift installers
in the world.

He tested destination control
on real lifts

for the first time.

He proved it. He proved what we were
doing theoretically.

He just suddenly announced
it at conference,

and I looked at it and I thought,
"I'm mentioned here.

"He's done it."

I thought, "Brilliant!"

Schroeder's experiment proved
that destination control

actually worked.

Schindler lifts released the first
commercial model in 1992,

Schindler lifts released the first
commercial model in 1992,

and then, as computing tech became
faster, smaller and cheaper,

by the early 2000s these smart
lifts began to be

widely used in skyscrapers.

It had taken a few decades,

but finally, Gina received the
recognition that she deserved.

I'm very pleased with it.

I hope I've left the world
a better place.

As someone who is frequently running
late for important meetings,

I can tell you, Gina, you have.

Destination control panels are set
to become the norm,

making lifts more efficient
with fewer starts and stops

and more secure,

as access is controlled outside
of the lift.

You can now even call a lift
with an app

on your smartphone from anywhere
in the building.

A proud legacy for Gina
and her team.

Over the last 250 years,

lifts have been getting safer
and smarter.

But now there is a new generation
that moves

in a completely different way,

one that could revolutionise
waiting times

and even the direction of travel.

This is the future.

If you ever get to go inside,
you will be safe,

I promise you.
OK. All right.

That is Ilka Ilieva,

part of the digital transformation
team at TKE.

I'm not completely sure I understand
what I'm looking at.

Give me a little tour of the visual
feast in front of us.

That's the first ropeless elevator
in the world,

that basically can operate without
needing additional ropes.

So what's it using instead
of ropes, then?

So, basically, we replaced the ropes
with electromagnets.

So we are able to pull the cabin
upwards or move it downwards.

And that's basically the new
technology

behind what you see here.

So they're not actually holding on
physically?

It's just magnets that are holding
them in place?

That's exactly what I'm saying,
Hannah.

OK, let's just unpick how
the humble magnet

can move a whole lift car.

So, inside of the cab,

you have got a permanent magnet,

and then running up and down,
those little black things,

these are all electromagnets that
you can turn on and off.

So, if you want your platform
to move up,

you switch on the magnet
that's just above it,

which means that it's going to
be attracted towards it

and move up.

Turn off the ones below, turn on
the one slightly further up,

and again and again and again.

Essentially, you're playing this
little game of Magnet Chase

all the way up this track,

causing the cab to move.

It's the same idea as how
high-speed railways work.

Just shoot it along the track

by switching on and off magnets
strategically.

The difference between high-speed
magnetic trains

and these lifts, though,

is that the lifts are moving
vertically,

which means gravity becomes a rather
alarming factor.

There's nothing stopping you
from falling

apart from magnets?

I know what you mean, but there
are a lot of safety mechanisms

in what is the brake.

So, basically, whenever something
happens,

we have those emergency brakes

that are going to prevent you
from falling.

Our industry is even more regulated
than the cars or the airplanes,

you know, so we really can't afford
to just put a person into there

without, like, being 300% safe.

OK, so they're safe.

But there must be other advantages
to a magnetic lift system?

The rope technology has its
limitations,

and basically, eliminating
the ropes,

now we can use this elevator
into huge skyscrapers.

And then, theoretically, because you
don't have the ropes,

then you can put also more cabins
in the same shaft.

So not only you can go
in the height,

but you can actually optimise
the people

in the building for that.

In fact, TKE imagines a day
when one lift shaft

in a 200-metre-or-higher skyscraper

could actually have ten cabins,

operating more like a subway system
than lifts as we know them.

The goal was that the cabins are
moving every 15 to 20 seconds.

Right? So, basically, if you just
missed the one,

then the next is coming
in a few seconds.

And that's not all.

There is another impressive
feature that this lift has.

And that's actually the coolest
thing about it,

because it can move also
horizontally.

So, basically, the cabin comes
through that exchanger,

and then it turns and then steers
the cabin horizontally.

Oh, wait, can I see it?

I want to see it!

You see that round thing here?

That's the exchanger, right?

No way!
See?

And that's how it changes
the direction.

So the cab stays exactly
the same orientation...

Correct.
..but it's the mechanism that turns?

Exactly.

No wonder architects are getting
excited.

It means that these lifts
will be able to operate

in different shapes of buildings,
crossing rivers, roads, walkways.

This is mass transit,

but on a more personal and
multidirectional level.

I'm pretty sure there's a chapter
in Willy Wonka where...

For sure.

..they talk about this.
Yeah.

Where you can just say what room
you want to go to,

and then up and through the building
like this, it'll take you there.

And, you know, actually,
if you think about

the urban mobility and then the
very futuristic scenarios,

at the end of the day, the elevator
is part

of the whole traffic of the city,
you know?

So eventually the elevator
is waiting for you

in the airport to get off
your airplane

and then brings you to
the taxi, you know?

And that is actually, like, a step,
you know,

allowing the development
of the elevator

as part of that urban mobility.

Oh, I like this...
I love it.

I like this idea. I am all
for laziness.

Some would say this is
a dystopian fantasy

where humans are mechanically
transported everywhere.

But from where stunt Hannah
is looking,

it could be the kind of future lift
that suits me down to the ground.

Very science fiction.

Like, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom!
That's what you see!

The science fiction is already
nearing reality here.

Yeah.
Yeah, I know.

But it's quite exciting.

I mean, it's amazing technology.

It's very cool.

Still freaked out by the fact that
you're not actually attached.

Whether I'll ever step confidently
into a Wonkavator -

sorry, I mean lift propelled
by magnets -

is a question to ponder.

But it's hard not to be struck
by the sheer genius

of innovation...

CLATTERING

..that has led to these
extraordinary

metal boxes that transport us up,
up and away.

I think the big thing for me
about coming here

is this realisation that
the story of lifts

is really inextricably linked

from the story of humans
conquering heights.

Because, you know, I mean,

evolution did not set up
our bodies...

..to be travelling those kind
of vertical distances

at that speed.

You are literally dangling
from the sky

from a cable that's about the width
of your thumb

that is held together by steel
threads and friction, right?

You've got these brakes that...

..are kind of the only thing
preventing you

from falling to your death.

And yet...

..with something that feels like
it shouldn't work,

what we've ended up with is actually
the safest mode of transport of all.

what we've ended up with is actually
the safest mode of transport of all.

What makes me want to buy
a new phone?

Er...

If you want to find out
how I answer,

or to learn more about how
technology

and product design can be more
sustainable, go to...

..and follow the links to
the Open University.