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Concept
Elevator
Summary
An elevator or lift is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems such as a hoist, although some pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack.
In agriculture and manufacturing, an elevator is any type of conveyor device used to lift materials in a continuous stream into bins or silos. Several types exist, such as the chain and bucket elevator, grain auger screw conveyor using the principle of Archimedes' screw, or the chain and paddles or forks of hay elevators. Languages other than English, such as Japanese, may refer to elevators by loanwords based on either elevator or lift. Due to wheelchair access laws, elevators are often a legal requirement in new multistory buildings, especially where wheelchair ramps are not possible.
High-speed elevators are elevators that move faster than regular elevators and are common in skyscrapers and towers.
Some elevators can also travel horizontally in addition to the usual vertical motion.
The earliest known reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius, who reported that Archimedes (287 BC – 212 BC) built his first elevator probably in 236 BC. Sources from later periods mention elevators as cabs on a hemp rope, powered by people or animals.
The Roman Colosseum, completed in AD 80, had roughly 25 elevators that were used for raising animals up to the floor. Each elevator could carry about (roughly the weight of two lions) up when powered by up to eight men.
In 1000, the Book of Secrets by Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi in Islamic Spain described the use of an elevator-like lifting device to raise a large battering ram to destroy a fortress.
In the 17th century, prototypes of elevators were installed in the palace buildings of England and France. Louis XV of France had a so-called 'flying chair' built for one of his mistresses at the Château de Versailles in 1743.
Ancient and medieval elevators used drive systems based on hoists and windlasses.
Official source
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