Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2023 September 6

= September 6 =

Skateboard-like riding toy
Back in my childhood children sometimes made rectangular or square wooden low-raised platforms on wheels to ride. One guy was usually riding in sitting position, while another powered it by pushing from behind. Those looked like something between skateboard and luge, kind of a summer variant of sleds. Was it a thing elsewhere and does it have a name, if any? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 20:41, 6 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Milk crate scooter? --jpgordon&#x1d122;&#x1d106;&#x1D110;&#x1d107; 21:06, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * If they're what we destroyed our fingers with by rolling over them in gym class...I thought they were just called floor scooters. --Onorem (talk) 21:08, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Soap-box cart.- gadfium 21:26, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Go-cart? Martin of Sheffield (talk) 21:40, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * They were not powered and basically just a square board on four (roller-skate? shopping-cart?) wheels. I think they could also be pulled rather than pushed. Usually there was no way to steer them, although I have a dim memory of having seen steerable ones (perhaps in Belgium) of a downhill race with steering with a rope attached to a front axle rotating on a central pivot. If they had a name, I either did not hear it used or forgot it. Compare also the that is the preferred mode of transportation of Calvin and Hobbes  --Lambiam 22:18, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I'd go with children's pushcart. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:35, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * In Britain a go-cart does not need to be powered. OED Noun 5: "Originally and chiefly British. A light cart, designed esp. to be ridden by children, typically built at home from recycled objects such as wooden crates, pram or bicycle wheels, etc., and usually propelled by the action of gravity." DuncanHill (talk) 23:39, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Here is a picture of a go-cart. DuncanHill (talk) 01:24, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Like a or like a furniture dolly? For some reason if it's got swivel wheels i call it a coaster but don't know why. fiveby(zero) 00:17, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
 * A post for Jenkem Magazine says "coaster toy", and points to a New York Times article from 1893 which calls for prompt confiscation to avert fatalities. fiveby(zero) 03:40, 7 September 2023 (UTC)


 * What the OP describes – a flat bed on four castored wheels – is the most basic form of the Flatbed trolley, long used in warehousing, delivery and other industries for moving goods. Although more advanced constructions are now more common, I myself have seen, and have used, this basic form in workplaces, and would call it a dolly. Doubtless children copying or independently inventing this device have come up with a variety of their own names for it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.81.165 (talk) 05:00, 7 September 2023 (UTC)


 * I believe he is talking about the design specifically for children to use, called "scooter boards." If you search any gymnasium supply (or even Amazon) for scooter boards, you will find a wide selection of multicolored plastic boards with casters on bottom. They are often square, but also come in rectangular models for 2 or 3 children to ride. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 09:59, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
 * The OP specifically wrote "Back in my childhood children sometimes made rectangular or square wooden low-raised platforms . . ." [my emphases]. This (a) suggests some period well past, not the present day, and (b) excludes retail products. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.81.165 (talk) 10:55, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Looks like they were custom-made flatbed trolleys or pushcarts, possibly actual ones taken from somewhere. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 11:10, 7 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I remember racing beds while at university. We have no article (!), but a number of search hits. See also Rag (student society). -- Verbarson talkedits 12:34, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

World Trade Center elevators
On the World Trade Center (1973-2001) page, there is nothing that mentions the elevators and which floors they went to. Could someone please tell me the elevator banks? I've been searching for a month with no success. Stickmanzero (talk) 23:00, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * There were 198 elevators, 99 for each tower. This USA Today article states that:
 * "Passengers took non-stop express elevators from the ground floor to elevator lobbies on the 44th and 78th floors. There, they walked across a hall to smaller local elevators that went to higher floors."
 * "Each tower had only two passenger elevators that went non-stop from bottom to top — to the Windows on the World restaurant in the north tower and the observation deck in the south tower." Clarityfiend (talk) 23:42, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * This article has a diagram showing the different types of elevators and what range of floors they served, as well as several paragraphs describing the "completely different system for the huge towers". Clarityfiend (talk) 23:45, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Wikimedia Commons has this two-part diagram, which shows not only the range of floors, but what looks like the actual number the arrangement of express vs local elevators per floor. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:54, 6 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I think there are some service elevators, though, that I want to see. Stickmanzero (talk) 00:08, 8 September 2023 (UTC)
 * The elevator diagram is confusing, though, as this diagram seems not to show all the elevators. I've found these images that confuse me, such as this image showing elevators going from 77-110, an image showing elevators going from 101-107, an image of elevator buttons, from what I can make out, floors 86-105, another image showing an express elevator from floors 78-107, and a image of an express elevator too hard to see, Stickmanzero (talk) 11:56, 8 September 2023 (UTC)