Dialsmith

Ever wonder how elevators get tested?  Me neither. Then I learned of the Otis Research Center in Bristol, CT, where Otis Elevator Company uses a 29-story tower to test every aspect of an elevator’s performance as well as simulate all kinds of snarky problems like lightening strikes, blackouts/brownouts, bumpy transportation to an installation site and salty-air coastal environments that could cause corrosion.

From what I’m told by a co-worker in Bristol doing a project for ESPN, you can see this tower from everywhere because the town has a building height limit and this thing towers (pun intended) over everything.  While I’m sure the ESPN tour was cool, I sure would like to check out the inside of this place.

Now, click here for a cheesy elevator joke and my apologies in advance if you are Amish (which is unlikely since you wouldn’t be using a computer unless you were on some crazy new reality show…wait…oh yeah…never mind)…

An Amish boy and his father were visiting a nearby mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny silver walls that moved apart and back together again by themselves.

The lad asked, “What is this, father?”

The father (having never seen an elevator) responded, “I have no idea what it is.”

While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed, an old lady in a wheelchair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched as small circles lit up above the walls.

The walls opened up again and a beautiful twenty-four-year-old woman stepped out.

The father looked at his son anxiously and said, “Go get your mother.”