Rare Lanterns: KONE TMS50e Traction Elevators - Adelaide Building - SP, BR

Описание: Now THIS was a find. And it was some of the last I was expecting to find in São Paulo, only 2 days in! Pair of KONE TMS50e at a small office building in downtown São Paulo. Commercial version - very rare and "endangered" nowadays!
Also ‪@rafaelrigoelevadores2417‬ first ever time seeing a Kone in person, finally! Only knew these from my videos for years since they weren't sold where he lives... appropriately I was along for this! We rode both cars, but only filmed this car to not overstay our welcome.

These are the only elevators in the buiding, it's pretty small. Actually seems to be much older, built sometime between the 1920s to 1950s, so certainly there were older elevators here that these Kones completely replaced in the late 90s. No remaining signs of those, however.

They're the regular, basic version of the 50e, of the smaller and less fancy cab, with COPs on the front wall. Pretty simple for the most part as far as design and features go, not much to be noted about the interiors, very plain overall. All steel walls, no mirrors, original acrylic ceiling panels, floor covered with a carpet. All in good condition, barely any damages, and very clean.
Fixtures are the TMS50e's default Series 100, gray 24V buttons and indicators by Sectron. Simpler version with the sheet COP. But the real highlight was our first finding of the overhead hall indicators with the classic TMS 2-tone chimes! And damn how these are VERY audible. We knew that these were around, but never personally found them (I actually knew that there were only 2 installations with it back home, but both now modernized). These are at most only similar to the "real" ones used in Europe and Asia but differ slightly, as just like the fixtures, they were made by Sectron exclusively for our market and do not use the same components as those. Notice the different arrow, the same Series 100 display used in the COPs/call stations, and the chime sounding slightly different in tone. This car didn't have it, but the other one still had the Kone logo on it's COP. BOMB switch isn't actually for triggering such a device, it's short for the word for Firefighter [operation]. Basic controls only, lacks any additional optional features. Still have the puffy silicon labels on the COP buttons on both cars, also a hard find for Kones nowadays.
Both cab and fixtures in great shape, these look pretty nice for their age, and use too. Very good care taken here, nice to see, especially with old Kones.

Performance is great on both cars, no differences between them. No issues or flaws seen, they run pretty efficiently and smoothly, steady, typical TMS50 ride quality. Only has a slight vibration issue when leveling sometimes... but it's passable. The car in the video had a nice startup sound from the motor, besides that, they're pretty quiet (as most MR12s). No brake bangs on these sadly, not all of them do it. The only issue are doors though... are very violent! Atlas/Westinghouse levels of "temper", with that much pull force coming from them. Close pretty fast and have a pretty strong pullback if reversed to open. Very loud too. They sound very similar to the QKS-8 from Schindler, oddly enough, never a Kone with this sound, but that's only a coincidence. Honestly quite impressive that these operators are still holding up as they are. Still mantained by TKE, as the desk clerk told us, pretty good service on their part here, and these rarely break down.


Specifications:
Manufacturer: KONE
Mantainer: TKE
Model: TMS50e
Fixtures: Series 100-24 (Sectron 24V buttons)
Type: Passenger Commercial
Hoisting: Traction
Doors: 2-speed sliding
Capacity: 420 kg/6 persons (apx. 925 lbs.)
In Service: ~ late 90s (~ 1996 to 1999)
Floors Served: 10 (0* - 1/9)
Controller: Kone TMS50e, microprocessor system, 2-speed AC + duplex
Machine: Kone MR-12 geared AC machine
Rating: 10/10! - For sure a great find! First time documenting these rare lanterns, main point. These are pretty basic but it's always nice getting Kones, especially if they're as well preserved as these. Pretty quiet, running nicely, just really that issue with the doors.
And best of all, the chance that someone finally had to know a Kone in person.


Filmed: May 5, 2025
Camera: Samsung Galaxy A54 - HD 720p 30FPS
© 2025 L. Naves