Genoa, Italy is a very hilly place, so there are already many lifts and trams that carry passengers, around, up, and down. But what makes the elevator at d'Albertis-Montegalletto Castle novel is that its elevator goes both vertically and horizontally as needed.
To get to the castle, you take the elevator horizontally through a tunnel for about 300 meters. Then the elevator goes up the mountain to the castle.
How does it work? Tom Scott explains that elevators have to move along only one axis to be safe. So the designers of this elevator arranged for the elevator to enter a second one before it makes its ascent. Although it looks like one elevator, mechanically speaking, it's actually two.
-via The Presurfer
The Great Glass Elevator finally becomes a reality..
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