The Kean University Showdown of September 2021: Vintage Edition

The Rising Salamander Academy
Sep 30, 2021
8 min read

Throughout this lift galore, 6 lifts were documented & filmed. Each of these lifts were installed before 1980 & each travel at a speed of 0.5 meters per second or slower. 1 of the 6 lifts are traction & the other 5 are hydraulic. Here is a map of where each lift is on campus in order from least recently filmed to most recently filmed:

🔥🔥 VERY OLD LIFT

The only vintage traction lift on campus is a 1961 Armor. It is a bottom-drive unit with its motor room on level B, below the building. A large pulley rests at the top of the shaft.

RS46 Stats:

Approximate Year Installed	1961
Approximate Year Modernised	1980's
Estimated Speed	30 meters per minute
Original Brand	Armor
Modernised Brand	Generic
Controller Type	Relay Logic
Power	Bottom Traction Full
Character Score	802 (Epic & Awesome) \| 4.6 Stars

At first glance, you see a narrow brown door with a brown painted door frame. The landing labels appear to be original from its 80s GAL mod. Up top you can see the original analog floor indicator from when Armor installed the lift back in 1961. Most of the numbers on the floor indicator are burnt out.

The call button, to the left, is mounted on a white painted cinderblock slab. The fixtures are EPCO SurvivorPlus, from the 1980's. These call buttons replaced the original Armor call buttons from 1961.

Upon the door opening, you're first greeted with a beautiful, polished wooden car interior which dates back to 1961. Above the door frame, slightly offset from the center, lies the original floor indicator from 1961. The entire lift seems to be in great condition, including the machinery. One of the fluorescent PCB light fixtures at the back of the cab was flickering, but only one of them flickered, so that was not a cause of concern. A lowered drop ceiling is employed, with light fixtures implanted on the white ceiling above the drop ceiling. The drop ceiling is grated with one-inch gratings. The inner door frame is metal but the inner door employs the same finish as the rest of the cab interior.

The original fixtures were replaced 40 years ago with new GAL JetPlus buttons. As you can see, the phone cabinet is to the right of the fixtures & two metal plates were screwed onto the wooden wall. There is no door close button. Most of the buttons were completely burnt out. The buttons are otherwise in great condition for being used constantly over the 40 years of use.

In terms of how it runs, it is epic & awesome & has all the characteristics of one of the best lifts I have not only filmed but ever been on apart from the Hard Rock hotel in Atlantic City. When accelerating, it accelerates with a jolt & reaches full speed very quickly. The speed is appropriate for the application, only going under 30 meters per minute. The building is 16 meters tall. The cables dangle throughout the shaft making a very loud dangling & rattling sound throughout the car. Despite the shaft ruckus, the lift rides very smoothly & it has 3-speed leveling. The door opens immediately after the lift comes to a stop.

Former G & P

No, not a Montgomery G & P. For this showdown, G & P stands for General-Payton. General-Payton is a conglomerate business between General Elevator Company & Payton Elevator Company, a local business in Closter, NJ. General installed the lift while Payton redid the fixtures. However, as of 2021, this lift was unfortunately nearly completely replaced with a bland generic lift. This lift is a submersible hydraulic lift with a decently loud motor, although the older lift ran much better.

Approximate Year Installed	1970's
Approximate Year Modernised	2000's
Estimated Speed	35 meters per minute
Original Brand	General
Modernised Brand	Payton
Controller Type	Relay-Controlled
Power	Hydraulic, Submersible
Character Score	784 (Epic & Awesome) \| 4.4 Stars

Approximate Year Replaced	2021
Estimated Speed	25 meters per minute
New Brand	Generic
Controller Type	Microprocessor
Power	Hydraulic, Submersible
Character Score	619 (Basic Standard) \| 2.9 Stars

At first glance, you see an EPCO call station with a new SurvivorPlus call button & tan-painted dual speed doors opening to the left (on the outside). The original call button was a GAL JetPlus call button.

When you press the call button, you're greeted with a narrow & deep car interior, though not as deep as a sleeper (hospital sized lift). It is one of the only, if not, the only known lift on campus which has a rear door, which adds class & mystery to it. The handrails are plain stainless steel, while the lower part of the cab is stainless steel with a plain floor, with the upper part of the cab being a modern bright polished wood finish. The doors, as seen below, with the panels, are all stainless steel. The original General door tracks were preserved during the replacement. The original cab was entirely metal with fluorescent warm-hue lights.

The interior buttons, mounted on a standard-mount metal plate, are modern EPCO SurvivorPlus buttons. The rear door only opens on the ground level. These buttons are basic standard. At least the buttons light up in white, not in red. The original buttons were GAL JetPlus.

The indicator is a basic standard ACME floor indicator. There is nothing to write home about here. The original floor indicator was a rare GAL JetPlus analog black-screened floor indicator. A bell chime was located behind the floor indicator piece. This has been replaced with a low-pitched piezo chime.

In terms of how it runs, it is a basic standard lift with a decently loud (but not epic) motor. It accelerates & decelerates smoothly & takes slightly long to level. The controller is a bit unique, as it behaves differently from most other lifts on this controller. The door operates very smoothly & this lift travels 25 meters per minute.

Slither n' Slide

This is the third oldest lift on campus. The motor is still original from the 1960's, but the controller, fixtures & car have all been upgraded during the most recent modernisation it had 15 years ago. The buttons are now GAL Vandal Resistant pre-illuminated, shallow-cab, wide-cab & right-opening two-speed doors. The doors are very tall & this lift travels the same speed as the other lift, 30 meters per minute, covering a distance of 3 stories. This lift is located in Hutchinson Hall & is a stainless steel cab interior. It is pretty grotty with fluorescent lighting. In terms of how it runs, it is a basic standard lift, with a basic standard run character. It runs pretty much like any other hydraulic lift, but it levels very smoothly & the stops are unnoticeable to the average person.

RS46 Stats:

Approximate Year Installed/Replaced	1960s/2000s
Estimated Speed	30 meters per minute
Original Brand	Generic
Modernised Brand	Cesco
Controller Type	Microprocessor
Power	Hydraulic, Submersible
Character Score	669 (Basic Standard) \| 3.3 Stars

Boing Boing!

This is the fourth oldest lift on campus, installed during the early 1970's, tied with the Nancy Thompson Library. This lift is located in an exterior concrete shaft at the Science Building & boasts brown-painted center opening single-slide doors with jamb-mount 1980's EPCO Survivor+ call stations. On the inside of the car, you see a brown wallpaper cab interior with GAL JetPlus buttons from ARROW implanted into the right panel wall. The doors are coated with the same brown wallpaper as the car. The handrails are affixed to the cab & are painted black. There is an emergency light fitted to the right hand side of the lift car towards the back. The lights are fluorescent & the floor uses gray tiles, albeit a tad worn. There are neither floor indicators nor chimes. This lift travels at a speed of approximately 25-30 meters per minute. It bounces quite noticeably going up & the motor doesn't sound healthy, adding to the run character. This lift has been this way since I started riding it in January 2020. I think it's an epic & awesome lift. The doors close immediately when you press the button, but neither of the 3 floor buttons light up. There is no door close button & the lift doors open immediately as the lift stops leveling. Leveling thankfully does not take a million years.

RS46 Stats:

Approximate Year Installed	1970's
Estimated Speed	30 meters per minute
Original Brand	Generic
Controller Type	Relay-Logic
Power	Submersible Hydraulic (Pump Unit Replaced)
Character Score	784 (Epic & Awesome) \| 4.4 Stars

🔥🔥 EVEN OLDER LIFT

History & Positive Anecdotes

This is the oldest lift at Kean University, tied with the Administration building. It is located at the eastern junction of Bruce & Townsend Hall, right across from the technology building. This lift was installed in 1956, like the administration building. Everything about this lift makes it not only one of the best hydraulic lifts to ride & film in this part of New Jersey but also one of the best lifts in New Jersey that I've ever been on as a whole. I enjoyed every second of filming this lift & I already filmed this one once in 2020.

Exterior

On both levels, you're greeted with narrow side-opening 2-speed doors that are painted in baby-blue (previously painted in gray). The EPCO Survivor+ call station on the first floor is mounted right next to the door jamb facing inward while the call station on the second floor is mounted right next to the door jamb facing outward. Acoustic bells are used as the directional chimes on both levels & the lanterns employ a fluorescently-lit chevron as opposed to a regular triangle.

Interior

Upon entering the lift, you're greeted with a small car that appears to be no larger than a homestyle lift. The doors & panel are both stainless steel with the GAL floor indicator right above the door frame to the center of the door frame, relative to the door frame itself. The floor indicator is analog, not digital. The buttons, with the floor indicator, were redone during the mid 1990's. The lift used to have black buttons from when this used to be a Dover piston-pump unit. The cab has only one working light fixture, which is a fluorescent warm bulb, poorly illuminating most of the car. On the ceiling, it has been painted white over the years including the old-fashioned fan vent. The cab itself is painted in a dark blue, with the back of the cab being darker than the front of the cab. It is around 5x5x7 with a total cubic footage of only 175. There is no visible escape hatch from the inside of the lift. This lift is not for the claustrophobic. Luckily for me, I am not very claustrophobic, so the size & location of the lift was not a problem. In fact, I like smaller lifts better than larger lifts due to their cozier feel.

Mechanics

In terms of mechanics, this lift employs an overhead-drive hydraulic design, original to the building itself. The machinery is housed in a rooftop machine room, situated directly above the lift shaft, with a hydraulic line going down the shaft, through the ground & back up through a cylinder which pushes the lift up & down. The pump is a piston-pump unit, installed by Dover in 1957, as is the controller. The controller is original from 1957 with strictly relay-logic technology & has not been touched or upgraded since.

Run Character

In terms of run character, this lift is 🔥🔥🔥🔥 due to how it runs. Here are all the positives:

Low speed going up (only 11 meters per minute)
Medium-low speed going down (19 meters per minute)
Epic & awesome-sounding motor even when it's loud
Suction sound going down
Instant door opening upon lift stopping
Lift re-levels in place at the lower level very slowly

Overall, this lift ranks 4.9 stars (839 credits) on the Lift Character Report & is one of the best lifts to film not only at Kean University but also in New Jersey as a whole. It will be a shame if this lift gets re-modernised AT ALL.

Gallery

Lil D'Shawp

This, tied with Bruce Hall, is the oldest lift at Kean, also installed in 1957. The dimensions of this lift are similar, but reversed. The doors are right-opening 2-speed on the outside, with EPCO CircleLine call buttons from 1985 when this lift was last modernised. The floor indicator is completely burnt-out & is an analog EPCO CircleLine floor indicator from 1985, aligned relative to the center of the door frame above the door frame. The interior car is a polished wood style original from 1957 with the handrail & worn tile floor. The ceiling lights are original fluorescent white bulbs situated above a lowered drop-cage ceiling mount. The phone cabinet is on a side-wall separate from the buttons, which are mounted on a metal slab screwed to be affixed to the front panel. The interior buttons are GAL JetPlus, just like the science building. Both the motor & relay-logic controller are fully original from 1957, dry-powered & are housed in a motor room on the ground floor right next to the lift shaft. This lift travels at approximately 20 meters per minute going both up & down & has a D-Sharp dry-powered motor. It is epic & awesome at a 4.6 star rating (806 credits) on the Lift Character Report due to the constant vibrations going up & down & its smaller size. This lift is even smaller than Bruce Hall, yet it doesn't meet the criteria to be a homestyle lift. There is no 'door close' button.