Before break, Messiah students discovered a note on the elevator near the entrance to Boyer which read: "Elevator is out of service. Maintenance has been notified." Although Facility Services is aware of the problem, they admit it will be difficult to repair.
Students and staff received an email apologizing for the inconvenience. In it, Faculty Services explained that the elevator had a cylinder failure. In order to understand why it will be difficult to repair the elevator, one must first understand the mechanics of an elevator cylinder.
Although some elevators work on a rope and pulley, most modern elevators use hydraulics. You may have heard this term used in reference to a car engine. Basically, this means there is a piston inside a cylinder attached to a tank usually containing oil. When fluid like the oil enters the cylinder, the piston is pushed up and the elevator moves up. When fluid leaves the cylinder, the elevator goes down.
Workers cannot easily access this system, however. The cylinder in Boyer extends 45 feet underground. Reaching and repairing it would be disruptive to classes in Boyer, so the demolition will occur during the J-term break.
If all goes as planned, the elevator will be fully functioning by February 6th.
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!