Man climbs building using "vacuum-cleaner" gloves

Jem Stansfield almost became a Spiderman when he climbed a 120ft building using a kit developed from two old vacuum-cleaner engines.

The 38-year-old inventor of the suction glove contraption has shown its power by climbing up the BBC's White City building in west London last week.

His calculations had shown the forces generated by engines, taken from two 15-pound supermarket vacuum cleaners, would be easily enough to keep him pinned to the face of the building.
 
However, faced with a sheer, aluminium wall made greasy by traffic pollution, and the weight of expectation from a crowd of about 300 people, Stansfield was nervous as he prepared for the climb.

"For God's sake, in no way encourage anyone to do this," "It's a deathtrap, it really is. If it got cancelled by the weather I would be overjoyed ... I'm really feeling quite ill," the Telegraph quoted Stansfield as saying.

Each 'glove' - actually a wooden panel edged with latex rubber - is attached by a length of tubing to its own motor on a wooden backpack.

A vacuum is created when it is pressed against a flat surface, which can be released using a shutter on the back.

Everything went smoothly until Stansfield was about 10ft from the top, when the greasy film on the wall reduced the friction to the point where the gloves started to slip.

Stansfield was caught by his safety rope and managed to scramble on to the building's roof.

The climb was intended to provide a graphic demonstration of the laws of physics.