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1961--Automated Parking Garage
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hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
May 20, 2013, 12:28:59 PM5/20/13
to
The following is an article extracted from Computers & Automation,
January 1961. I have no idea how the following automated garage
worked out in actual service or if the concept was repeated. Anyone
familiar with such projects?
(I've used some expensive parking lots where payment is fully
automated--one inserts the entry ticket into a machine and pays the
machine whatever is due.)
COMPUTERIZED AUTOMATION MAKES A PARKING
GARAGE A ONE-MAN OPERATION
New York, N.Y.
"Not a building but a machine," is the
phrase used to describe the eight-story completely
automatic garage being erected at 315
West 42 St., New York, N.Y.
The structure has electronic controls
operated by only one man -- and all he has to
do is put a key in a slot and collect the
parking fee. It will have a capacity of 270
autos; it will park or return anyone of them
in less than a minute. The revolutionary process
touches only the bottoms of an auto's
rubber tires. It was developed by Speed-Park
Inc., the inventor, M. Alimaniestianu, is a
Roumanian engineer and president of SpeedPark.
The precision of construction and the
close tolerances required to achieve such
automation are what lead to calling the automatic
garage a machine rather than a building.
The structure is standardized and prefabricated
on a unit stall basis to provide maximum
utilization of space and maximum economy of
construction. Each stall is 20 x 8 x 7~ feet.
There are no lights or windows in the car
storage area.
The all-steel structure, 58 x 200 feet,
is really three Meccano-type structures side
by side, with an alley between running the
full length and height of the building. A
traveling elevator tower, 85 feet tall, the
full height of the building, runs on rails in
each alley.
The electronic system begins to operate
the instant a car enters the garage from the
43rd Street end. An electric eye measures
its height and rejects it if it is more than
seven feet high. If it is less than seven
feet high, but more than five feet six inches,
it can be routed only to one of the higher
stalls on the first or eighth floors. An
electronic lock "freezes" the control panel
circuits for the small stalls so the attendant
cannot make a mistake.
If these tests are met, the car is driven
onto a set of bars, spaced ten inches apart,
alongside the entrance to one of the elevators.
Guard rails rise at the side and rear
of the car after the driver has left the car;
"fingers" slide out from the elevator into
the slots between the bars on which the car
stands, lift it up and draw it into the elevator.
While the tower moves along the rails
to stop opposite the stall in which the car
is to be parked, the elevator rises simultaneously
to the height of the selected floor.
When it stops, the fingers lift the auto out
of the elevator and set it onto the grids
that form the floor of the stall. The entire
operation is similar to that of a fork-lift
truck.
When the driver returns, he hands in the
key that was given him as his check; the
attendant puts the key into its slot; and the
car is "unparked" automatically. Meanwhile,
the electronic computer, which has "memorized"
the day and time the car was parked, figures
out the fee and flashes the amount on a console
panel.
January 1961. I have no idea how the following automated garage
worked out in actual service or if the concept was repeated. Anyone
familiar with such projects?
(I've used some expensive parking lots where payment is fully
automated--one inserts the entry ticket into a machine and pays the
machine whatever is due.)
COMPUTERIZED AUTOMATION MAKES A PARKING
GARAGE A ONE-MAN OPERATION
New York, N.Y.
"Not a building but a machine," is the
phrase used to describe the eight-story completely
automatic garage being erected at 315
West 42 St., New York, N.Y.
The structure has electronic controls
operated by only one man -- and all he has to
do is put a key in a slot and collect the
parking fee. It will have a capacity of 270
autos; it will park or return anyone of them
in less than a minute. The revolutionary process
touches only the bottoms of an auto's
rubber tires. It was developed by Speed-Park
Inc., the inventor, M. Alimaniestianu, is a
Roumanian engineer and president of SpeedPark.
The precision of construction and the
close tolerances required to achieve such
automation are what lead to calling the automatic
garage a machine rather than a building.
The structure is standardized and prefabricated
on a unit stall basis to provide maximum
utilization of space and maximum economy of
construction. Each stall is 20 x 8 x 7~ feet.
There are no lights or windows in the car
storage area.
The all-steel structure, 58 x 200 feet,
is really three Meccano-type structures side
by side, with an alley between running the
full length and height of the building. A
traveling elevator tower, 85 feet tall, the
full height of the building, runs on rails in
each alley.
The electronic system begins to operate
the instant a car enters the garage from the
43rd Street end. An electric eye measures
its height and rejects it if it is more than
seven feet high. If it is less than seven
feet high, but more than five feet six inches,
it can be routed only to one of the higher
stalls on the first or eighth floors. An
electronic lock "freezes" the control panel
circuits for the small stalls so the attendant
cannot make a mistake.
If these tests are met, the car is driven
onto a set of bars, spaced ten inches apart,
alongside the entrance to one of the elevators.
Guard rails rise at the side and rear
of the car after the driver has left the car;
"fingers" slide out from the elevator into
the slots between the bars on which the car
stands, lift it up and draw it into the elevator.
While the tower moves along the rails
to stop opposite the stall in which the car
is to be parked, the elevator rises simultaneously
to the height of the selected floor.
When it stops, the fingers lift the auto out
of the elevator and set it onto the grids
that form the floor of the stall. The entire
operation is similar to that of a fork-lift
truck.
When the driver returns, he hands in the
key that was given him as his check; the
attendant puts the key into its slot; and the
car is "unparked" automatically. Meanwhile,
the electronic computer, which has "memorized"
the day and time the car was parked, figures
out the fee and flashes the amount on a console
panel.
Sancho Panza
May 20, 2013, 3:05:16 PM5/20/13
to
On 5/20/2013 12:28 PM, hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> The structure has electronic controls
> operated by only one man -- and all he has to
> do is put a key in a slot and collect the
> parking fee. It will have a capacity of 270
> autos; it will park or return anyone of them
> in less than a minute. The revolutionary process
> touches only the bottoms of an auto's
> rubber tires.
When it worked, it worked well. As it aged, and apparently as
> The structure has electronic controls
> operated by only one man -- and all he has to
> do is put a key in a slot and collect the
> parking fee. It will have a capacity of 270
> autos; it will park or return anyone of them
> in less than a minute. The revolutionary process
> touches only the bottoms of an auto's
> rubber tires.
maintenance slackened and maybe parts etc. were difficult to obtain,
breakdowns occurred with growing frequency. At first it was
odd/interesting to see the attendant climb up the structure and then
lower the car with obviously manual override controls. But with the
delays mounting, that spectacle became less and less entertaining.
Eventually it was torn down and replaced by a conventional parking lot.
It is next to the headquarters of the former Local 1199, now the SEIU.
N.B. Access was usually on 43rd Street.
richard
May 20, 2013, 3:45:57 PM5/20/13
to
On Mon, 20 May 2013 09:28:59 -0700 (PDT), hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> The following is an article extracted from Computers & Automation,
> January 1961. I have no idea how the following automated garage
> worked out in actual service or if the concept was repeated. Anyone
> familiar with such projects?
>
> (I've used some expensive parking lots where payment is fully
> automated--one inserts the entry ticket into a machine and pays the
> machine whatever is due.)
My guess would be primarily hydraulics.
> The following is an article extracted from Computers & Automation,
> January 1961. I have no idea how the following automated garage
> worked out in actual service or if the concept was repeated. Anyone
> familiar with such projects?
>
> (I've used some expensive parking lots where payment is fully
> automated--one inserts the entry ticket into a machine and pays the
> machine whatever is due.)
I've seen some modern ones that use a central lifting device, then that
rotates as needed and slips the car into the proper open space.
And I've seen some old time photos on the net of systems that were around
before 1961.
jgar the jorrible
May 20, 2013, 6:36:14 PM5/20/13
to
On May 20, 9:28 am, hanco...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> The following is an article extracted from Computers & Automation,
> January 1961. I have no idea how the following automated garage
> worked out in actual service or if the concept was repeated. Anyone
> familiar with such projects?
http://www.oobject.com/12-robotic-car-parks/1930s-automatic-car-park/7444/
> The following is an article extracted from Computers & Automation,
> January 1961. I have no idea how the following automated garage
> worked out in actual service or if the concept was repeated. Anyone
> familiar with such projects?
jg
--
@home.com is bogus.
http://acidcow.com/cars/12078-parking-lot-disasters-pics.html
Jimmy
May 20, 2013, 10:09:37 PM5/20/13
to
Sancho Panza <otterpo...@xhotmail.com> wrote:
30s: http://www.retroist.com/2009/05/06/old-parking-deckrackelevator/
NYC still has plenty of garages from the very early days of cars, and
a few that are converted stables.
Jimmy
> hanco...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>
> > The structure has electronic controls
> > operated by only one man -- and all he has to
> > do is put a key in a slot and collect the
> > parking fee.
>
> > The structure has electronic controls
> > operated by only one man -- and all he has to
> > do is put a key in a slot and collect the
> > parking fee.
> Eventually it was torn down and replaced by a conventional parking lot.
> It is next to the headquarters of the former Local 1199, now the SEIU.
> N.B. Access was usually on 43rd Street.
I'm sure it wasn't as automated, but something similar existed in the
> It is next to the headquarters of the former Local 1199, now the SEIU.
> N.B. Access was usually on 43rd Street.
30s: http://www.retroist.com/2009/05/06/old-parking-deckrackelevator/
NYC still has plenty of garages from the very early days of cars, and
a few that are converted stables.
Jimmy
Paul D. DeRocco
May 21, 2013, 2:28:30 PM5/21/13
to
In the early 1980s, I recall seeing a couple of completely automated
garages in Tokyo, but I wasn't able to see how they worked.
In my childhood in Boston, around 1960, there was at least one
semi-automated garage. An attendant would drive your car onto an
elevator, which would carry the car upward to an empty stall, which the
attendant would drive the car into. What was cool about it was that the
elevator shaft was an open frame which sat on a track that allowed the
entire shaft to move horizontally at the same time as the car platform
moved vertically. Thus, the vehicle ended up moving diagonally to the
appropriate stall.
The interesting thing to me is that, even with advances in modern
technology, we don't see these things any more, at least not in the U.S.
Apparently, decades of experience taught that the starry-eyed optimism
of the inventors wasn't matched by the reality. Once the costs of
maintenance, and the difficulty of dealing with breakdowns, are added to
the initial investment in machinery, it turns out that it is more cost
effective to make the garage twice as big (or hold half as many cars),
and let people drive up ramps and find their own parking spaces.
Perhaps the only places where it may still make sense are extremely
crowded urban areas like Tokyo, where vehicles are small and some alleys
are only big enough to allow one small vehicle to squeeze through. Even
Manhattan isn't that crowded, by international standards.
garages in Tokyo, but I wasn't able to see how they worked.
In my childhood in Boston, around 1960, there was at least one
semi-automated garage. An attendant would drive your car onto an
elevator, which would carry the car upward to an empty stall, which the
attendant would drive the car into. What was cool about it was that the
elevator shaft was an open frame which sat on a track that allowed the
entire shaft to move horizontally at the same time as the car platform
moved vertically. Thus, the vehicle ended up moving diagonally to the
appropriate stall.
The interesting thing to me is that, even with advances in modern
technology, we don't see these things any more, at least not in the U.S.
Apparently, decades of experience taught that the starry-eyed optimism
of the inventors wasn't matched by the reality. Once the costs of
maintenance, and the difficulty of dealing with breakdowns, are added to
the initial investment in machinery, it turns out that it is more cost
effective to make the garage twice as big (or hold half as many cars),
and let people drive up ramps and find their own parking spaces.
Perhaps the only places where it may still make sense are extremely
crowded urban areas like Tokyo, where vehicles are small and some alleys
are only big enough to allow one small vehicle to squeeze through. Even
Manhattan isn't that crowded, by international standards.
Jim Ellwanger
May 23, 2013, 12:42:41 AM5/23/13
to
In article <mf-dnUv_RZBRIQbM...@earthlink.com>,
blocks away from me, in Los Angeles:
http://autoparkit.com/our-gallery/gallery-1-col/
--
Jim Ellwanger <use...@ellwanger.tv>
<http://www.ellwanger.tv> welcomes you daily.
"The days turn into nights; at night, you hear the trains."
"Paul D. DeRocco" <pder...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> The interesting thing to me is that, even with advances in modern
> technology, we don't see these things any more, at least not in the U.S.
This new apartment building with an automated parking system is a few
> The interesting thing to me is that, even with advances in modern
> technology, we don't see these things any more, at least not in the U.S.
blocks away from me, in Los Angeles:
http://autoparkit.com/our-gallery/gallery-1-col/
--
Jim Ellwanger <use...@ellwanger.tv>
<http://www.ellwanger.tv> welcomes you daily.
"The days turn into nights; at night, you hear the trains."
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