"komodore comrade" wrote in message
oups.com...
i visuallise a lift as a cage; a motor; a cable and a switch.

Motorised lifts are much like that, except they usually have multiple cables
and a counterweight. There are also lots of switches, mainly to do with
safety. Hydraulic lifts usually have a big hydraulic cylinder up the back of
the shaft, with the cables running over a pulleys on the top, attached to
the lift at one end and to something solid at the other. Hydraulic lifts are
better at getting the floor of the lift level with the floor outside, so are
often used where most traffic is wheeled - hospital lifts and freight lifts,
for example.

why do
they get stuck?

Usually because one of the safety switches trips.

do you try to exit lifts stuck between floors? or do you fear
decapitation/amputation from a sudden motion of the lift?

The escape hatch is in the roof, so decapitation is not usually likely.
However, the right procedure is to press the alarm button and wait.

Colin Bignell