Didn't the transporter platform on TNG have the usual 6 disks with a larger disk in the center, if this was the case, was the central disk also a transporter?
JDW
JDW
Transporter TNG ?
- Thread starter James Wright
- Start date
So that larger pad "could" mean a 7 person transporter!?
JDW
JDW
As I recall, possibly from the tech-manual, the center pieced, indeed, was a (molecular rather than quantum) cargo pad. But, if needed, could be configured for quantum (lifeform) transport.
As I recall, there were a few instances when Dr. Crusher and an injured person appeared together on the center pad.
I would imagine that it would also be used during emergency evacuations either to, or from the ship when a lot of people need to be moved as quickly as possible.
Of course, we also see people beamed up or down when they don't exactly position themselves over a specific disk.
The disks might be completely inert, really - just painted on the floor as rough guidelines for how to maintain safe separation during routine transport. But we know that safe separation isn't always necessary: you can also grab the chick, hold her on your lap, ride on her back if you wish. So probably the transporter could handle 47 tech students at a time, all crammed on the platform elbow to groin.
It's just that there is seldom such demand. Even when they evacuated the ship in "11001001", they weren't exactly pushing the capacity or anything: they transported five people at a time, not six! I guess with more than twenty transporter platforms on the ship, there's no real need to crowd any single one.
Timo Saloniemi
The disks might be completely inert, really - just painted on the floor as rough guidelines for how to maintain safe separation during routine transport. But we know that safe separation isn't always necessary: you can also grab the chick, hold her on your lap, ride on her back if you wish. So probably the transporter could handle 47 tech students at a time, all crammed on the platform elbow to groin.
It's just that there is seldom such demand. Even when they evacuated the ship in "11001001", they weren't exactly pushing the capacity or anything: they transported five people at a time, not six! I guess with more than twenty transporter platforms on the ship, there's no real need to crowd any single one.
Timo Saloniemi
They also had that big walk way between the Enterprise and the station to help, as well as all the stations transporters. I would imagine that at a starbase like in 11001001 a Galaxy Class starship could be off loaded in just a few minutes. I would be surprised if it took more than 10 minutes, using all the starships transporters, the walk way, the stations transporters and near by ship transporters. In fact I would guess it would take between 5 to 10 minutes given all the available transporters, if even that long.
I don't know if this is any help, but if you look at the teaser to "Too Short A Season", you will notice that the still-elderly, wheelchair-bound Admiral Jameson materializes on the central disk:
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=11
With the central disk shown materializing a live human, this should establish that the Enterprise-D's standard personnel transporters are 7-man units, as opposed to the 23rd-century mechanisms which were supposedly 6-man units. If the TNG tech manual says otherwise, it contradicts the on-screen depiction in "Too Short A Season".
http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=11
With the central disk shown materializing a live human, this should establish that the Enterprise-D's standard personnel transporters are 7-man units, as opposed to the 23rd-century mechanisms which were supposedly 6-man units. If the TNG tech manual says otherwise, it contradicts the on-screen depiction in "Too Short A Season".
Perhaps so. Or at least more resources than are usually brought to play when transporting a landing party.
Note how in early DS9, there seems to be a limitation of two people per runabout transporter, right until "The Circle" where up to six are beamed up. There is also actual mention of O'Brien's transporter skills being needed for achieving that feat. Perhaps he tied together the transporters of the three runabouts?
Later on, we see the system handle a few more people, like Odo, Dax, Dr Mora Pol and his assistant all at once in "The Alternate". Perhaps the limitation of transportees to the number of pads is not a "hard limit" at all, but rather an optimal workload, and the user can ignore the "soft limit" at will.
When people beam out in groups of six or less in "11001001" or "Day of the Dove", instead of all rushing into the machine at once, we could claim hard tech limits. Surely the machine would be used at maximum capacity in those emergencies. But we can always argue that there was no real hurry in "11001001", and that the Klingons beamed out in "Day of the Dove" had to be located one by one (or six by six) anyway, rather than being beamed out from a big gathering of dozens.
TOS "The Apple" is to my knowledge the only case where people have been beamed up or down in multiple groups of six or less in a non-emergency situation, as if six were the hard limit. But again, there can be other reasons for choosing to beam down in small groups besides tech limitations.
Timo Saloniemi
Note how in early DS9, there seems to be a limitation of two people per runabout transporter, right until "The Circle" where up to six are beamed up. There is also actual mention of O'Brien's transporter skills being needed for achieving that feat. Perhaps he tied together the transporters of the three runabouts?
Later on, we see the system handle a few more people, like Odo, Dax, Dr Mora Pol and his assistant all at once in "The Alternate". Perhaps the limitation of transportees to the number of pads is not a "hard limit" at all, but rather an optimal workload, and the user can ignore the "soft limit" at will.
When people beam out in groups of six or less in "11001001" or "Day of the Dove", instead of all rushing into the machine at once, we could claim hard tech limits. Surely the machine would be used at maximum capacity in those emergencies. But we can always argue that there was no real hurry in "11001001", and that the Klingons beamed out in "Day of the Dove" had to be located one by one (or six by six) anyway, rather than being beamed out from a big gathering of dozens.
TOS "The Apple" is to my knowledge the only case where people have been beamed up or down in multiple groups of six or less in a non-emergency situation, as if six were the hard limit. But again, there can be other reasons for choosing to beam down in small groups besides tech limitations.
Timo Saloniemi
THere's the proof. A Galaxy-class transporter room is designed around a seven-person transporter. This ep also shows how transportation isn't just limited to seven people or "things"; all that straw came aboard as well.
"Alright, everyone! Back into the infernal machine!"
Trivia I read somewhere said the circles (on top, I think) where the ones from TOS.
Indeed they were.
