Elevator operator

“ The ordinary elevator is very useful in a large business or commercial house, where it saves the legs of people who, if they had to tramp up flight after flight of stairs, would probably not spend so much money as they would be ready to part with if their vertical travel from one floor to another was entirely free of effort. But the ordinary lift is, like a railway, intermittent. We all know what it means to stand at the grille and watch the cage slide downwards on its journey of, perhaps, four floors, when we want to go to a floor higher up. ”

“ The erection of tall office and other buildings, some to the height of more than twenty stories, made practicable by the invention of the elevator system, has in turn brought out most ingenious devices for operating and controlling the elevators to insure safety and at the same time produce economy in the motive power. ”

“ In the decade following the Civil War, tall buildings had just begun to emerge; and, although the skylines of the world’s great cities were still dominated by church spires, there was increasing activity in the development of elevator apparatus adapted to the transportation of people as well as of merchandise. ”

“ The first complete elevator machine in the United States, constructed in 1855, was a complex and inefficient contrivance built around an oscillating-cylinder steam engine. The advantages of an elevator system independent of the mill drive quickly became apparent, and by 1860 improved steam elevator machines were being produced in some quantity, but almost exclusively for freight service. It is not clear when the first elevator was installed explicitly for passenger service, but it was probably in 1857, when Otis placed one in a store on Broadway at Broome Street in New York. ”

“ Although this type of elevator is probably not so rapid as the vertical lift working in a straight line to the point it is desired to reach, its great advantage is that it does away with the waiting which often causes so much annoyance with ordinary lifts. ”

“ Such elevators may be constructed to carry either grain or minerals. The advantages are greater capacity than an ordinary elevator of the same dimensions and a more uniform delivery; moreover, smoother running is secured, since the buckets being close together need not plunge intermittently through the contents of the elevator-well. ”

“ The elevator stopped with a jerk. They carried the boy out and sent for the store doctor. Bob and Betty never had to be reminded, in all the years to come, to look sharp when riding in elevators. The memory of that bruised and battered face was warning enough.
"It's a dangerous machine," said Uncle Jack as they left the store. "A fellow who will scuffle in an elevator is foolish enough for almost anything. ”

“ The ordinary buckets used for grain or coal are replaced by other appliances for gripping and holding the object to be raised from a lower to a higher level, but in principle these appliances are essentially elevators.
Another kind of elevator, known as a lift or hoist, is used in mines and quarries and in serving blast furnaces. This is an elevator with one or two buckets. Essentially a heavy load lifter, it is intended for material of too large a bulk to be handled economically by ordinary elevators, and is employed for lifting in either a vertical or, more often, an inclined direction. ”

“ There are not only forty-four elevators in the city itself, but also forty elevator companies that have built more than two thousand elevators in the wheat States of the Northwest. The Jumbo of all elevators is here—a stupendous granary that holds 6,000,000 bushels, as much as may be reaped by two thousand self-binders from seven hundred square miles of land. ”

“ Operators of hotels and stores gradually became aware of the commercial advantages to be gained by elevating their patrons even one or two floors above the ground, by machinery. The steam engine formed the foundation of the early elevator industry, but as building heights increased it was gradually replaced by hydraulic, and ultimately by electrical, systems. ”

“ We do not feel compelled to shut our eyes to a fact so well known as that elevators have for many years been used for transferring grain from railway cars to vessels lying alongside, and that this method involves the use of a railway track entering a fixed or stationary building, an elevator apparatus, elevator hopper scales for weighing the grain, and a discharge spout for discharging the grain into the vessel. ”

“ While he is away you will find two wires dangling down the elevator shaft. Attach them to these wires from the bell and the batteries—these two—you know how to do that. The wires will be hanging in the third shaft—only one elevator is running at night, the first. The moment you hear the bell begin to ring; jump into the elevator and come up to the twelfth floor—we'll need you.”
As Kennedy and I rode up in the elevator I could not help thinking what an ideal place a down-town office building is for committing a crime, even at this early hour of the evening. ”

“ The elevator is not exactly a new idea. Its pioneer form may be traced back to the Middle Ages, when heavy weights were lifted by aid of an apparatus worked by hand power. But it was not until well on into the nineteenth century that the steam-power elevator came into service. The first example is said to have been produced by Elisha Graves Otis, who applied steam power to an elevating machine in a little shop at Yonkers, on the banks of the Hudson, New York. ”

“ The elevator as well as the escalator will play a vastly important part in the fabrication of the new Macy's. The one has by no means been overshadowed by the [Pg 269] growing importance of the other. There are to be in all fifty-six elevators, of one type or another, in the reconstructed building. Of all these none is more interesting than the ingenious lifts by which whole motor trucks, laden as well as empty, are carried into the structure, up eleven floors to the merchandising reception rooms and down into the basement and sub-basement for filling for the city delivery. ”

“ The passenger elevator has for its prototype the ancient hoist or lift for mines, but in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century it has developed into a distinct institution—a luxurious little [460] room, gliding noiselessly up and down, actuated by a power that is not seen, and supplied with every appliance for safety and comfort, such as governors, safety catches, automatic stops, mirrors and cushioned seats. ”

“ When an elevator is intended for lifting heavy materials, such as coal, coke or cement, it is usually set at a slant (figs. 15 and 16) , and the endless belt is replaced by one or two strands of endless chain which support the buckets and run over the terminal sprocket wheels. The buckets are attached to the links of the chains, and to prevent these heavy buckets and chains from sagging in their inclined position, rollers or more often short skidder bars are fixed to each bucket, sliding on well-oiled angle bars on each side of the elevator frame. ”

“ On the other hand, elevators handling heavy material must be set at an angle in order to give a clear delivery at a much lower speed of 50 to 60 ft. per minute; in other words, the elevator is so inclined that the shoot for the reception of the material can be put underneath the delivering buckets which slowly disgorge their load. To obtain good results, without taking up too much space, an elevator carrying heavy material should be set at 40° to 60° to the horizontal. ”

“ The lift is 754 feet and shortens the walk-in trip by about one and three-quarter hours. The elevator lets its passengers out at a point adjacent to the Big Room and the lunchroom. Installation of the elevator made it possible for elderly people and those who were not physically capable of walking in through the natural tunnel corridor to view the magic wonders of the great subterranean fairyland. ”

“ The section of the Tower presenting the least difficulty to elevator installation was that above the juncture of the four legs—from the second platform to the third, or observation, enclosure. There was no question that French equipment could perform this service. The run being perfectly straight and vertical, the only unusual demand upon contemporary elevator technology was the length of rise—525 feet. ”

“ As the stalks are carried back by chains, pins or hooks on bars tear open the husks of the ears; and the bars, in connection with rollers, break the ears from the stalks. The ears, when broken off, drop through an opening in the platform into an elevator, up which they are carried, and are discharged into a wagon drawn at the side of the machine. The box of the elevator is supported from the frame of the machine, and its carrier is driven from a shaft by an endless band. ”

“ While in some instances the elevator is run through hatch openings in the floor, without being enclosed in brick walls, it is not good practice, for the openings through the floors make possible the rapid communication of flames and smoke in case of fire, even when provided with an automatic closing hatch. Elevators are therefore generally built in an elevator shaft, the walls of which are constructed of good hard brick and made from 12 inches to 18 inches in thickness. ”

“ The sides of the car are usually designed to slide against timber guides on the shaft walls. Some form of safety device, of which there are several kinds, should be employed to prevent the fall of the elevator, in case the hoisting rope breaks, or some mishap occurs to the hoisting machinery, which endangers the fall of the car. ”

“ However, counterweights are provided which balance the weight of the car, so that practically the only weight lifted by the plunger is that of the passengers. The advantage of this type of elevator is that it reduces the danger of accident. The motion of the car is steady and easily controlled. [103] The car cannot move down above a given speed and the only possible danger is that the plunger might break. However, a shaft of steel 61⁄2 inches in diameter, even if hollow, is hardly likely to give way even under the most extraordinary loads to which it might be subjected in elevator service. ”

“ When the introductions had been completed, the committee led our little party to a small, cylindrical elevator which dropped us, swiftly and silently, on a cushion of air, to the street level of the great building. Across a wide, gleaming corridor our conductors led us, and stood aside before a massive portal through which ten men might have walked abreast. ”

“ The elevator car was nearly full of people from the roof [92] garden. Betty started to step in, hesitated, then turned back. Uncle Jack motioned her and Bob in, stepped in after them, and carefully turned so that he faced the elevator door.
"That was a risky thing you did just then," he whispered to Betty. "Three quarters of all the elevator accidents are due to stepping in or out in the wrong way. Never do the thing halfway, you know. Always wait till the elevator man stops the car at the floor level and throws the door wide open." ”

“ Further, by far the larger number of mishaps are not due to failure or fault of the elevator itself, but occur in and about the entrances of, or in the hoistways of such apparatus, from persons falling through unguarded openings into elevator shafts, and of course a number are due to the recklessness and incompetence of employes and operators. ”

“ There is another type of elevator that completely dwarfs anything used in office buildings. On some canals where it is necessary to make a sudden change of level of considerable extent, instead of using a flight of locks, a hydraulic elevator is employed to lift or lower not only the vessel but the water it is floated in. ”

“ Before making the adjustment be sure the first elevator jaws are not loose on the slide, that the left end of the second elevator bar is not battered, that the second elevator plate is not loose, or worn, that the second elevator is adjusted properly, that there is no dirt or gum holding the second elevator from seating, that there is no metal on top of the adjusting screw, that the screw which holds the first elevator slide stop is not loose. ”

“ The front edge of the elevator should be set about 3/8 inch higher than the back, and the model be tried first as a glider, with the rubber and propellers in position. If it glides satisfactorily, wind up the motor, say 500 turns, and launch by hand. When a good flight has been obtained, and the correct angle of the elevator has been determined, place the model on a strip of linoleum, wind up, and release the propellers. ”

“ The design and construction of the elevator will be varied to suit its purpose. Grain elevators are invariably cased in wooden or iron trunks, and the head and foot are also of wood or iron, iron trunks being particularly used in so-called fire-proof buildings. The trunk of the grain elevator (fig. 14) is almost always vertical whilst the band to which the buckets are attached may consist of leather, cotton, hemp, webbing or other suitable substances. ”

“ This will prevent the material from filling up the elevator well and spare the buckets from dredging through an accumulation of feed. Elevators erected at an incline are best fed at a point several feet above the well into the chain of ascending buckets, as under such conditions little will miss the buckets and drop into the well.
The reason why grain elevators are set vertically, whereas elevators intended to carry heavy bodies such as coal and ore are generally inclined at an angle, is that the former can be run at a much greater velocity than the latter. ”