By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
ANDERSON, Mo. — An Anderson man soon will take a prototype of a cableless elevator he has built to a national stage.
Jim Neale, 46, said he spent the past five years honing his prototype and now awaits the Invention and New Product Exposition, set for June 11-14 in Pittsburgh, Pa. This national trade show highlights new products and innovations available to business and industry for manufacturing, licensing or distributing.
“It’s time to put it before the public,” Neale said of his work.
Neale’s prototype is an elevator that ascends by climbing a ridged rail instead of relying on a cable to be hauled upward. It’s propelled by a gas-powered motor and hydraulics.
The prototype is small and consists of an enclosed platform with a single seat, although a couple more people could fit onto the platform by standing. The gas-powered motor is started by a pull cord. The driver makes the platform move up and down with a lever next to the seat.
Although the prototype is small, Neale said it is a starting point. The goal is to show that the technology is sound enough that it can be expanded, he said, so that such elevators could be placed inside large structures and would be suitable for rescue operations.
The technology also can be adapted: Diesel or electrical motors could be used. Larger motors could be used for larger platforms, allowing them to travel faster and carry more weight.
“Two pounds or 2,000, it’s all in the engineering,” Neale said. “This is just a working model where we can prove the theory.”
Neale said he is still researching whether the same technology is already in use at structures. He has two patent applications pending.
Potential venues for such an elevator include skyscrapers, transmission towers, oil platform superstructures and microwave towers.
Neale said he embarked on his project in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. His hope, he said, was to construct an elevator system that could be used during emergencies by rescue workers or people needing to exit a building.
“I saw the individuals jumping out of the Twin Towers,” Neale said. “I knew there had to be a way to make sure that never happened again.”
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, he started his own company, Vertical Transportation System, to develop the idea.
Neale said he has no background in elevator design, and has spent most of his life as a “common worker and laborer” with stints in construction.
He said it is difficult to say how much time and money he has invested in the development of the prototype. The project has occupied much of his time. Neale said he has relied on support from his wife and a circle of friends.
The upcoming trade show will mark the first time Neale has taken his work public. He is hoping that someone from the elevator manufacturing or mechanical engineering industry who attends the trade show will see his prototype and show an interest in his design.
If nothing else, he said, he needs to start exposing his work and gathering feedback.
“We are at a point where we need to take the next step,” he said. “The way I understand the process, it takes years.”
Lucky seven?
The prototype that Jim Neale will take to the Invention and New Product Exposition this month in Pittsburgh, Pa., is the seventh he has developed.
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