8

Out of curiosity, I went to search for "world's largest elevator", but all the results were for grain elevators.

Now obviously, you can't ride in a grain elevator. What I meant was, what is the largest commercial elevator that humans can use? Large as in terms of square feet. I couldn't find anything of the sort.

|improve this question
  • 1
    I got several relevant results searching for "largest passenger elevator", which might help narrow down your search. – Greg Hewgill May 12 '14 at 3:52
13

If you don't mind floating on a boat, I guess the largest lift would be the Strépy-Thieu boat lift. Using it costs 5.50 one way on one of their tourist boats.

|improve this answer
10

Fujitec claims that its 120-passenger lifts at Dubai International Airport are “the world’s largest passenger capacity observation elevator model”. The airport media gallery has some photos.

Goods lifts/freight elevators can be much larger than passenger lifts, though probably less accessible to the travelling public. For example, there are two at Barclays Center in Brooklyn that you can drive a bus in to.

|improve this answer
6

Normally it is measured in the number of passengers that an elevator can carry.

There is a 80 passenger elevator installed in Japan.

|improve this answer
  • he did specifically ask in terms of square footage tho (although I agree with your definition) – Mark Mayo♦ May 12 '14 at 4:02
  • 1
    Technically you can consider the elevator on an aircraft carrier to be the largest since a human can ride on them. blogs.howstuffworks.com/brainstuff/… – Karlson May 12 '14 at 4:05
  • Yeah, I figure that most elevators aren't measured in sqft, but was curious. – geoff May 12 '14 at 4:07
  • @Karlson I am not sure if you can call an Aircraft carrier's elevator "commercial"... – uncovery May 12 '14 at 6:35
  • @uncovery Potato - tomato considering that some aircraft carriers are now museums that is open to debate. :) – Karlson May 12 '14 at 17:24
2

The 3 Gorges dam boat list is now operational. It can lift ships up to 3,000 tons up by 113 meters.

|improve this answer
1

There are freight elevators capable of lifting army tanks. One such was used during WWII in Kansas City. It's still in operation.

|improve this answer

Some of the information contained in this post requires additional references. Please edit to add citations to reliable sources that support the assertions made here. Unsourced material may be disputed or deleted.

  • This feels more like an anecdote than an actual answer. Can you give more detail and some kind of citation? – David Richerby May 6 '16 at 17:49

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.